Vol 3 Chapter 5 (1/2)

VOLUME 3

Chapter 5: Behind the Door

I knew all I was doing was buying myself some time.

My brother might’ve been an idiot, but the Yagami sisters were not to be trifled with… they would probably find a way to guess my plans and break through the trap, making their way into my room.

“Of course, the best case scenario would be for them to just not realize anything and end up going home…”

In my heart of hearts, I did want to ask everyone for help.

I wanted to see them, talk about my problems, and then reach some kind of solution.

After all, I was weak and needed the help of others.

But that’s why, to make sure this weak, dependent part of myself didn’t accidentally conjure up an alteration that would bring my brother and the others here, I had already cut that part of myself off and customized it into “Tsukuyomi Sasami’s dere side.”

Like this, I should be able to defend against unforeseen events to some degree.

“One… two… one… two…”

I opened the door to my room (the one with a large sign on it which read “To those who plan to break into my room: Cursed be you all. -Tsukuyomi Sasami”) and began to drag my unconscious brother and the three unconscious Yagami sisters one by one into my room.

Everyone had his or her eyes shut as they were all sleeping.

I was never very physically strong (and, for various reasons, right now I couldn’t move my body as well as normal), so it was really tough carrying these people into my room, but with the help of some alterations, I managed.

My brother and the others were really worried for me and had come to help me.

I knew that all too well.

But… I also had to try my very best.

“Phew.”

Even though it was winter, I had broken out into a sweat. I wiped my forehead while lining these four bodies up on my bed.

Not a single one of them seemed to recognize where they were though.

Even with the full strength of the Supreme G.o.d, it was difficult to affect the Yagami sisters with an alteration.

However, there was one other time in the past when these seemingly invincible girls had been robbed of their powers and rendered relatively harmless.

That was the time of the Yamata no Orochi SNS incident.

During that incident, all our psyches had been separated from our bodies, and none of us could use our divine abilities as we wished.

What I had done here was very similar to what had happened then.

The instant they had broken through the Ama-no-Iwato, everyone was busy dealing with the resultant shockwave.

So, I had used that little gap to separate their psyches from their bodies.

I left their bodies as is, but threw their psyches into a few dolls I had made.

These were the dolls which looked like younger versions of themselves.

If they were in kid’s bodies, then they would be immature and inexperienced; it would be hard for them to move around, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they lost the ability to use any of their spiritual powers. Sounds reasonable, right?

And then, it was just a matter of not letting them realize that their psyches had been separated from their true bodies.

To do this, I would continue to throw impossible problems and riddles at them and force them to play a game they would never be able to win.

When they failed, I would also give them the option of retrying. I a.s.sumed they would get desperate and hotheaded and try the game over and over and over again.

Or maybe they would give up at some point and go home.

I didn’t care which one ended up happening.

At any rate, while they were busy with their “game,” I would be free to carry out my plans.

“Umm…”

I gulped and went over to one particular person on my bed…

Over to Tama. I picked up one of her soft, flawless arms.

“Tama is a next-generation G.o.d, and so, she can consume the older-generation G.o.ds.”

She could eat and absorb any of the G.o.ds who wielded authority right now… she was a predator who could ignore all the rules and make everything her own.

“If there’s one being who could gouge a hole in… even kill the person who has the power of the Supreme G.o.d… it’s Tama.”

So, I chose Tama’s arm as my lethal weapon, and pointed it towards my own body.

I wasn’t planning to die here.

But this was definitely a plan that needed a lot of determination.

“Before everyone else figures out the game they’re playing or accidentally clears it and charges into this room… I have to do something about this body.”

If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to look them in the face.

I’m sure they would just worry and ask me a lot of annoying, prying questions… but in the end, I doubted any of them could do anything about this.

All that would happen is that I would end up piling my problems on them, things would get awkward, and they would go out of their way to keep me happy.

I would rather die than face that.

“Okay… on three…”

My face paled as I held Tama’s arm up and prepared to bring it down on myself.

“Theoretically, a next-generation G.o.d can eat even the Supreme G.o.d from the old generation. It’s like when the wolf Fenrir killed Odin by eating him… I’ll be okay. This will work. One… two…”

It was the end of a civilization.

They were sweeping over the land with their overwhelming power, and as the new, proud conquerors of the world, they were killing countless humans in the blink of an eye.

The war had spread like a ma.s.sive forest fire, and this peaceful little town had already fallen prey to the evil.

They showed no mercy, even if their opponents were normal people.

Killing humans was like squas.h.i.+ng a bug to them. They felt nothing.

In their eyes, humanity itself was nothing more than garbage lying at the roadside.

“Please stand up to their overwhelming cruelty, struggle through their frightening weaponry, and send me safely to school.”

“Wait please.”

Kagami reached out and tried to stop the young me from walking forwards.

But, she remembered that this young me was like a ghost and couldn’t be touched, so she just sighed with an exhausted look on her face.

“This is… clearly strange…”

The score KG(-)12035 was displayed above her head.

“I have no idea what’s going on…”

Her Sasami Points were in a terrifyingly rapid freefall, and her prospects of clearing this game were very depressing at this point.

By the way, Kagami’s score was still relatively high… everyone else’s score was already (-)99999. Of course, this was just because the digital display didn’t go past five digits. In reality, their scores were probably even more dreadful.

“Kagami-nee~…”

Even the innocent, naïve Tama looked a bit stumped.

“Tama is tireeed… aren’t we done yeeeett~~?”

The four of them were in a normal-looking residential district, but there were round and cigar-shaped UFOs flying through the sky, which were continuously sending down what looked like giant insect monsters awkwardly walking on two legs. The aliens were also shooting extremely destructive laser guns.

A house burst into flame and evaporated nearby… but Tama just grumbled.

“Tama is booorreeed… Tama is going home!”

“Just be patient for a bit longer, Tama-chan.”

Tsurugi gripped Tama’s hand tightly with a worried expression on her face.

Now that the Yagami sisters were elementary schoolers, they couldn’t use any special abilities and couldn’t fight very well either.

They had no choice but to just try and follow the rules of the game, but there was very little they could actually accomplish. They were just continuously tossed around by the game, and were closing in on total exhaustion.

“That’s right, Tama-san. We’re here to save Sasami-san.”

My brother seemed to be able to motivate himself on that point alone, and he was still one of the more energetic players.

“All we can do is try to build up Sasami Points before that young Sasami-san over there reaches her school. But, this game is strange… it started out as a quiz game, but now it’s slowly turning into a shounen alien invasion manga…”

“In any case, it seems that we can earn Sasami Points by defeating these alien-like creatures.”

Kagami had picked up one of the insect people’s laser guns somewhere and shot down a UFO with it.

“It seems that we receive 200 points for shooting down a UFO… hm, we should try to do things that Sasami-san would want us to do, or things that would make her happy in order to obtain Sasami Points. In that case, if we exterminate some of these insect people that are blocking her path to school, then we should be able to earn more points.”

But the aliens weren’t about to ignore the fact that one of their UFOs had been shot down.

The insect people let out a shriek high enough to crack gla.s.s before coming at Kagami with their strong arms swinging. Kagami’s body was completely torn up.

Ironically, she had been torn up like a small insect by a human.

The elementary schooler, Kagami, was now in pieces.

“I died again…”

Kagami’s corpse vanished, while a healthy, spotless Kagami appeared once again at the young me’s side.

In this game, you would revive no matter how many times you died.

“Death subtracts 10000 points from your score. This game is impossible.”

“This is too mean! It’s not fair!”

Tama rubbed her eyes as she began to cry.

“Mamarin doesn’t want to see Tama. Mamarin hates Tama!”

Tama looked much younger now, so her sorrowful pleas were much sadder than usual.

“She locked herself in, then made this Ama-no-Iwato thing, and now she’s making us play this bad game so we get sad and go home! That’s so mean, Mamarin! Tama and the others are just worried… we just want to see you happy!”

Kagami hung her head at her little sister’s mournful screams.

She was always so calm and emotionless, but it seemed she might’ve also reached her limit.

“Sasami-san!”

Her young, round eyes filled with tears as she glared at the young me.

“I’ll never give up!”

As the young me just continued to simply walk towards school through all that wanton destruction, Kagami picked up another laser gun and fired blindly at the enemy.

“You’ve made this h.e.l.lish, hopeless game for us, but no matter how unfair it might be, I’ll get through it and clear it, even if it takes me an eternity! No matter how many times I die, no matter how much it hurts, I’ll never give up and go home!”

–

“… Why?”

–

The young me suddenly muttered that.

It seems that Kagami’s strong emotions had genuinely reached this part of me.

“Why are you willing to go so far? Being forced to play this impossible, mean-spirited game for the sake of an ungrateful girl who won’t even show her real face to you… why do you want to meet with her so much? I hope you realize that meeting that girl is the only thing you’ll get through this game.”

Even if she beat the one in a million odds to clear this painful game, the only thing waiting for her at the other end was me.

Did she want to meet me so she could yell at me?

Maybe she wanted to punch me and tell me to stop s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with her?

“Because we’re worried for you.”

The one who answered was my brother, who had also picked up a laser gun like Kagami.

“Because we can’t watch as someone who always works so hard tries to deal with such a heavy burden all by herself. Because someone who is usually so spoiled and pampered is trying to fight something alone and rejecting all help from others. All of that makes us worry.”

Tama and Tsurugi also ran up.

Even the usually good-natured Tama and Tsurugi were probably starting to get fed up with this game.

But I had a feeling that beyond that, they were also trying to do all this for my sake.

Even though they weren’t any stronger than a normal person, they fought through their tears and challenged this unfair, cruel game that the Supreme G.o.d had fas.h.i.+oned for them.

It was a beautiful sight.

It was enough to touch the heart of someone who had decided to shut everyone out.

“Why?”

The young me just stood there, stock-still, and began to tremble.

“Why? Why? Why?”

I repeated that like a broken computer.

A broken computer which had just tried to load a program it didn’t understand.

“Worry? Why? Because you’re family? Because you’re friends? You’re just acting out of a sense of duty, right? In reality, you want to go back, right? Or you’re actually angry at me for this prank, so in order to meet with me you’re just acting nice…”

“Stop grumbling all that nonsense.”

Kagami led the way and beckoned to the young me.

“Let’s go. To your place.”

Kagami said that with a beatiful, human expression on her face, one filled with both sadness and anger.

“Of course I’m angry. Let me just ask you one question: why won’t you believe in us? It doesn’t matter what secret you might be hiding, or how heavy the burden is that you might be carrying right now. Why are you trying to drive us away instead of letting us help you carry your burdens, carry your sins… that’s what I am angry about. Of course I am angry about that!”

Flames seemed to dance in Kagami’s eyes as she shouted.

“’Why,’ you ask? Because I’m worried about you, of course! Because we’re friends! Please do not make me spell it out word for word for you. It’s because I love you! Please believe me and let me see you… I want to see Sasami-san…!”

Kagami collapsed to the ground, her hands covering both her eyes.

Seeing that…

I couldn’t take it anymore.

–

“U. Uuu… uuuuuu…”

–

The young me began to tremble, hair in disarray and feet rooted to the spot.

At the same time, the war raging on around them froze, as if someone had pushed the pause b.u.t.ton on a remote.

The UFOs soaring to and fro, the insect people, the laser beams flying through the air… it all stopped.

And in that frozen world, the young me began to cry.

Tears began to fall to the ground as I looked at Kagami.

“… Can I believe you?”

Those words came right from the heart and echoed my true desires.