My eyes catch Chronos’s sword.
It’s still coming down, and my blade misses it completely.
Chronos’s sword is too slow.
I easily counter. I rotate my right wrist, hitting the sword’s hilt with the back of my blade.
Chronos is knocked off balance and falls.
“…Huh?”
He makes a foolish sound, not understanding what happened.
I don’t get it either.
No, I understand perfectly. I saw everything.
The constraints I’ve unconsciously placed on my assessment of Chronos fall away.
Was he always this weak?
Chronos seems to sense my realization. He stands and charges again, swinging wildly from the right.
I easily dodge. Stepping forward, I duck under his swing.
He’s full of openings. I could cut him anywhere. I could even decapitate him right now.
But it’s not my job to kill him.
I assess and then strike his shins with the back of my blade.
Both legs were bounced off with the force of the blows, and Chronos, without time to support himself with his sword, spun around so that his legs and head were interchanged and he hit the ground face-first.
“Aaaargh!”
He screams in pain, desperately trying to mask it.
His pitiful cries echo in the square.
Only the moon watches us. The area is empty, and Chronos’s screams reverberate.
I stay alert but feel my strength draining.
Even in this state, Chronos hasn’t given up. He rolls, trying to grab his dropped greatsword.
“No, you don’t.”
I run and kick the sword away, then step on his hands and break his forearms with the back of my blade.
Chronos screams and thrashes.
Rolling seems to exacerbate his pain, making his injuries worse. He tries to stand, only to collapse in agony.
I aimed to break his bones cleanly for easier healing, but at this rate, he’ll die from his injuries.
“Damn it! Damn it!”
His screams turn to frustrated cries.
“Don’t mess with me! This can’t be happening! Damn it, aaaargh!”
Chronos glares at me.
With his arms and legs useless, he twists his body and neck to look at me, his face dirty and bleeding.
I let out a deep sigh.
—I’ve been tied to this?
The fight is over.
I’ve already called the guards. It ended sooner than expected. They’ll be here soon, but I have a bit more time.
“You! It’s your fault!”
Chronos’s shouts are full of resentment. His face is red from straining his throat.
There was no more tension on my side; I was in an absolutely superior position. Visually, I was now looking down on Chronos.
“…Well, regarding you, I think that’s definitely not the case. You brought it on yourself.”
Before I knew it, my mouth was moving.
What was I planning to say, I wondered.
Did I have anything I wanted to say to Chronos? No. I didn’t plan on giving a lecture, nor did I have the right to.
“Um, I didn’t particularly want honor or anything. I received a lot from everyone in [Night Dragonflies].”
What was it again?
Ah, yes. Just a little, just a tiny bit, I wanted to be praised. That’s all.
Words smoothly flowed inside and outside my head.
“Don’t be ridiculous! You did all of this! You!”
“Listen.”
It was noisy, so I grabbed Chronos by the collar and slapped his cheek.
He went silent.
He had a funny look on his face.
His face seemed to say, “I can’t believe this.”
“I don’t care, Chronos. It doesn’t matter what happens to you.”
This isn’t something I want Chronos to hear; it’s just something I can say because it’s him.
“I just didn’t want to get involved. You could have done as you pleased. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even bother to correct the story about the labyrinth floor master subjugation. Because if you held a grudge against me because of that, it would be troublesome.”
My true feelings were becoming clear.
By putting them into words, I understood what I had been thinking.
“I thought I would just suffer a little, something insignificant. That’s why I did it.”
I have never acted out of a sense of justice. I just didn’t want to cause trouble.
I felt guilty for not extending a hand to those in need.
In the end, I just didn’t want to take responsibility for anything.
“And yet, you did something unnecessary.”
I was burdened with something extra without my consent.
A dark map is heavy.
Why did you involve me in such a thing?
I had already helped Laura. I had become a part of your crime. I couldn’t escape.
Before I knew it, Chronos was making a fuss again.
He was screaming, even though his throat was hoarse, perhaps trying to hide the pain.
“You were in [Night Dragonflies]! If I had been in a good environment like you!”
I slapped his cheek again.
“Hey, Chronos.”
I got excited about the reversed power dynamics. I felt sadistic.
“I think I’m pretty strange.”
But well, I hope you can forgive me for this much.
“It seems that this kind of thing gets conveyed quickly, and it doesn’t make people feel good. But everyone tried their best to accept me; they were really good people. As you said, the environment was good. But it didn’t work. It didn’t suit me.”
The problem was on my side.
Logically and emotionally, no one else was at fault.
I was the only one who needed to make adjustments. Everyone went beyond the bounds of common sense and tried to make too many concessions.
But I couldn’t respond.
I couldn’t help but think it was different.
I couldn’t help but feel disgusted.
“So, in a way, I didn’t dislike the feeling of not being forcibly accepted, like [Dragon’s Wings]. It wasn’t comfortable, though.”
Chronos’s eyebrows moved.
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“At the ninety-eighth floor, I did well. I got a bit carried away. I thought I was needed by everyone. I thought I could respond to that.”
“…Then do it! You could have done it! I would have!”
Suddenly, the conversation made sense.
I was caught off guard. I thought I was talking one-sidedly.
“Hmm… I think Chronos could have used a bit more guidance, but it wasn’t that great for me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You were so blessed, and yet!”
“Listen.”
For the third time.
I slapped his cheek again, harder than before.
“Hey Chronos, you’ve gone mad. You’re too obsessed with me.”
When did it start? Chronos wasn’t particularly cautious to begin with, but he wasn’t a complete fool either.
Something went catastrophically wrong somewhere.
If I was the foreign element that caused it, then maybe I bear some responsibility too.
I’m not going to carry that much guilt, though.
“So, forget about me and live your life. It might be too late, but.”
Chronos was stunned. He finally seemed to quiet down.
The military police arrived. Just in case, I tied up Chronos’s hands and feet before handing him over.
Once these people took Chronos away, everything would be resolved. He would go through the proper procedures and be judged.
I don’t know the outcome of the trial.
What will happen? Many people were sacrificed, but he didn’t directly kill anyone, so maybe he won’t get the death penalty. But killing dozens without any direct grudge might be seen as particularly malicious.
In any case, with this, Chronos and I will really have nothing to do with each other anymore.
I’ll leave the rest to the judiciary. Whether it’s the death penalty or life imprisonment, maybe some rehabilitation if there’s a set term.
“…Please.”
I greeted the military police.
“Hey, look over here.”
Chronos, being stubborn, still seemed to think he could provoke me.
The military police ignored his words, nodded at me, and carried Chronos away. The way they lifted him like luggage was almost amusing.
“Look over here, I said!”
Even though I was watching from the side, Chronos said that.
Ah, really, how persistent.
“…I’ve been looking, all along.”
I muttered to the departing Chronos without replying directly.
Even though I had been tied to [Dragon’s Wings] to the point of nausea. Now that everything was settled, what does it matter?
Chronos kept shouting incomprehensibly until he disappeared from my sight.
Left alone in the square, I began to understand the meaning of what I had just revealed.
Yeah, that’s right.
There’s no place for me in Villeborn. It’s not that they won’t accept me; it’s that I don’t want to be accepted, so there’s nothing I can do.
…Really, there’s nothing I can do about myself.
The hesitation disappeared.
I was aware that I was about to make an abnormal choice. But it wasn’t a dream.
“…I’ll go as told, but how about it?”
I spoke to the empty air.
Half as a joke. I just wanted to show a bit of confidence.
“https://i.imgur.com/6L03rpq.jpeg”
I was surprised when I got a response, as I hadn’t expected it.
The voice was pleasant.
The only place for someone like me with no place to go is one.
The chosen path and the remaining option matched.
Looking back halfway, there was a direction that felt right.
Taking the first step brought a sense of achievement and guilt.
I was nervous. It was a good kind of nervousness. The first decision to selfishly throw away something I had been told never to discard.
Let’s go. To the labyrinth.
He was looking down on me.
“So, forget about me and live your life. It might be too late, but.”
Stop it. Don’t look at me like that.
It’s not about seeing through me.
He’s not even acknowledging me.
He’s not even looking down on me.
“Hey, look over here.”
In the middle of talking, the annoying military police picked me up. They do nothing, only acting after something happens, and yet they play the part of justice now.
He looked back lazily.
Black, inorganic eyes, like looking into the abyss.
I hated those eyes.
Humbling himself, constantly unsure, yet making it clear from the start that he had no intention of involving others in his world.
“Look over here, I said!”
“…I’ve been looking, all along.”
It’s a lie.
You’ve never once looked at me.
“Look at me! Vim=Strauss!”
Even though I banished him, it was useless. As he grew distant and disappeared from view, those eyes never stopped capturing me
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Having guy with inferiority complex and guy with apathy in the same party didn’t work out… Although it good to finally know what they thought about each other.