CH 82

Life and Living

Translated by SoundDestiny

Edited by SoundDestiny

Niigaki Takeo, who had been watching the scene of his best friend’s collapse from a bird’s-eye view, now realized that he was a rather heartless person.

The sight of Torao Shigenobu fussing, screaming, and covering his ears was probably the first time he had ever seen such a thing.

“He may be my best friend, but he is not my family. I’m not saying this to be cold, I’m just stating the facts from a bird’s eye view.”

It’s not as if Niigaki  didn’t notice that Torao’s mental state was slowly slipping into a dangerous state after being summoned to another world.

Of course, as his best friend, he wanted to support him as much as he could.

But friends are just strangers. Support and protection are just words that bind them together.

Being best friends with Niigaki was Torao’s mistake. Despite not being a stranger, Niigaki didn’t bother to ask why Torao didn’t let out his unbearable pain, or to help him scrub out his weakness and ugliness – his worries and pains – from the depths of his heart.

Niigaki was not strong enough to support Torao.

And Torao had no family in this world to turn to.

“…… But, of all places, Kirishima.”

Somehow Niigaki  had the feeling that there was some kind of pressure from outside.

Niigaki didn’t think that even Kanami and Saki were affected by that malicious poison, though.Right after the transfer, when Misuzu was going crazy and Torao was depressed, there was something that stuck with Niigaki.

The people in the royal court are treating the young highschool girl like a prostitute at night, aren’t they?

Isn’t there someone in the class who is excited by the transfer to another world and has changed?

Niigaki, who didn’t want to make a fuss or get involved in unnecessary cases, never spoke out about his suspicions, but he was a little more careful and tried to look at the class from a bird’s eye view.

“I tried to explore things casually while narrowing the distance between me and Inugami…… I can’t believe it backfired.”

Inugami Kanami is the picture of a kendo girl who protects the weak and punishes the wicked. Niigaki knew that if she noticed that the people in the palace were thinking of something wrong, she would be able to talk to someone about it.

If there is a problem among the girls, she will take action to solve it somehow.

In fact, Kanami was the first to notice the change in Saki  but instead consulted a reliable person, she kept quiet.

It is because of this that the ringleader of this case, Kirishima Ran, that the information in question was not passed on to Niigaki.

It is not that the existence of Ran Kirishima did not cross his mind.

The first time Niigaki had an audience with the queen, she said that she was going to erase Ran’s existence. The clean-up was to be expected. He was under the impression that it was the consensus of the country to exclude Ran and that the matter would be settled by the royal court.

It was a mistake to believe the knights’ words that they had taken care of it, and to remove it from the vortex of his thoughts.

And he didn’t think that such a dark-hearted boy would act in such a big way.

There were people who changed and treated the boys very coldly. Niigaki didn’t expect it to be a former fellow classmate who had been ostracised.

“Could be useful…….Kirishima.”

If Niigaki is a true friend, he can’t allow an outsider to take his best friend’s girlfriend away, and defend from  his vicious skills.

He can’t accept that Ran has taken control of the straightforward Kanami and even her friend from junior high school, Saki, with her fearless ability.

“………..”

Niigaki’s eyes are diverted from the bustle of the class.

The minister who had just acted to protect Ran, Walkins, was in his line of sight.

The aura that exudes from him alarms Niigaki. The dark blue colour, almost black as far as the eye can see, drifts over him, creating the illusion of a direct caress to the internal organs. A twisted personality instead of a straight one. He is a true scoundrel who has no aversion to deception and deceit.

He is willing to sacrifice anything to get what he wants. Although cleverly concealed, he can feel the dark malice seeping out of him.

“Who the hell is that guy?”

As he became more and more aware of the mental toll that Torao was taking on his life, Niigaki often took his roll and went to the royal court when called.

There have been occasions when he has been in contact with ministers – more often than not just face to face – but this is the first time he has come face to face with Walkins. A figure he had never seen before.

They may have passed each other in the palace. But he had never been in an audience when summoned by the queen or her ministers.

From the clothes he wears and the way he talks, Niigaki can tell that he is a man of very high rank.

So why didn’t he appear in front of him and the others until now?

And most importantly, why did he do what he did to protect Ran?

“…………..?”

Walkins, who seems to have noticed his gaze, catches Niigaki with a snake-like stare.

It was as if a warm snake’s tongue had licked his cheek, and Niigaki turned his gaze away from Walkins.

“…Tsk.”

He unconsciously touches his cheek and clicks his tongue in discomfort, but doesn’t know that he’s not the only one. Two classmates of his –  saints who probably know everything about why Ran was ostracized and why the current situation was created. Subaru Kiryuin and Reika Queenigaoka also seem to be thinking of joining Ran’s side and oppose Walkins.

In Niigaki’s view, Queenigaoka Reika has not been affected by Kirishima Ran’s poison. Despite his distorted and twisted ideals, Subaru Kiryuin is a man of strong convictions. He would never do anything against his beliefs, even if threatened.

It’s not exactly the most admirable thing to do, but Subaru went along with Ran for his own protection. He forgaveRan for what he did. Since Ran has all the girls except Reika.

For the Subaru, it doesn’t matter what happens to the rest of them as long as they can return to their world with Reika.

It would be so much easier if they could just get on with it.

But Niigaki Takeo is a rather self-centred person.

He has a lot of pride, and being cuckolded by the woman he loves would be the most humiliating thing of all.

If he was acting on instinct, he would want to separate Ran’s head from his lustful body right now.

If only the wards weren’t there – if only he could have sealed Sayaka, his natural enemy, the user of the peripheral barrier wall cancellation.It’s not impossible to blow up everyone in the palace who gets in his way, not to mention Ran.

(TL:Sayaka power is able to negate everything, be defensive or offensive skills)

It might be possible to escape from the palace and defeat the Demon King without any help.

“….. No, calm down. You’ve got a lot of blood in your head and you’re thinking out of the box.”

Niigaki’s goal is not to overthrow the Demon King. It’s just a transit point to the final goal. After that – to return to the original world is the final goal that he aims for.

He doesn’t know about the otaku who are interested in the beautiful girls of other worlds, but Niigaki, who left behind friends, family, ex-girlfriends, juniors, seniors, and everything else in his original world, has no intention of burying his bones in this world.

If he is looking for a way to get back into his world, he’s going to have to go through the trouble of finding a way to do it.

Even if he manages to shake off the humans in the royal palace and defeat the Demon King by himself, he will not be able to return to the original world.

That would be meaningless. In order to achieve his goal, he must choose the best shortcut.

Having made up his mind, Aragaki walked over to Ran and Torao.

Despite losing her skills by wards, Kanami grabs her sword and becomes Ran’s shield in order to protect the person she loves with all her heart.

The look in her eyes, as if she were looking at a foreign enemy, made Niigaki bite his lip, feeling a mixture of emotions.

“Inugami…. i can’t believe this is happening to you, too. ……”

With a sad look on his face, he looks onto Kanami. The person in question looks puzzled and tilts her head.

The dignified look on her face turns into the “girly” look she sometimes shows, and Niigaki feels a burning in his heart.

“–Damn, she’s so cute.”

The decision he had finally made was about to be shaken. But he can’t afford to lose his way here.

If they’re going to have a split in the ranks, the defeat of the demon king would be delayed – or worse, he loses the means to return home.

He didn’t want the girls to lose their strength by killing or threatening Ran.

Besides, there are many questions he need to ask him.

“It’s not that I’ve forgiven him.”

“I just don’t want to get in trouble for being stubborn here.”

“Kirishima”

“..Niigaki”

Ran meditates with one eye and looks at Niigaki with a condescending look. He doesn’t seem to take offense at all. It is impossible for a normal person in a normal state of mind to persuade him with a good argument, Takeo Niigaki realized.

“With Kiryuin and Queenigaoka here, you must be planning to go back to your world, right?”

“That’s the plan, isn’t it?”

His classmates, including Megane and Torao, are watching with bated breath as Niigaki and Ran face each other.

“I don’t think I can give them the closure they want here.”

It’s a touch and go situation. The first one to pull out his sword loses. In such a situation, it is impossible to cut off the passive Ran with a single sword.

Niigaki’s best friend is kneeling at the edge of his vision, he could only utter the word ‘sorry’ in his heart. He had to betray him in front of his heartbroken friend.

Even a selfish, lazy man who never felt the slightest guilt for blaming others for his theft still had that level of conscience and common sense.

“I’m counting on your ability, Kirishima.”

“I’m going with the strongest side” – Niigaki Takeo’s dirtiest part spilled from a shell called the heart.

◇◇◇

This is the cheat skill that some of them once fantasized about: the ability to repel hostile actions against a person without question.

It was only natural that Niigaki Takeo’s flip-flop, given the absolute defense wall Mirror Force, was the catalyst for an instant change of atmosphere.

While the skill is active, it will not even accept healing magic from others. It is the most reliable counter-skill when it comes to defending oneself, as it is difficult to find any holes or flaws. It’s the best way to defend oneself, but it’s also the best way to attack.

The warding prevents him from activating the skill itself. Once he escapes from the wards, no offensive person in the room will be able to stop him.

But his skill will be useless and he will inflict a painful blow if Ran uses Sayaka Sadogashima’s barrier peripheral.

If it’s just simple muscle strength, Sayaka couldn’t hold off even a boy her own age, Yamashiro Hirokatsu and Niigaki Takeo, an experienced fighter with solid combat training,who is accustomed to fighting and has gained reliable combat training, while activating his skills in a concentrated manner.

Again, if Sayaka held him down, and then Kanami, Saki or any other agile attacker caught them by surprise, they would be able to knock Niigaki and the rest into a coma.

No matter how much Niigaki theories what could happen, in the first place, in the current situation, such things make no sense at all. There was no point in talking about it.

That’s why Niigaki tried his best to approach Ran with feeling the urge to kill him, only then, there would be no reason for Sayaka to turn on Niigaki.

With a gulp, it is as if the transformation of the air is heard as a sound.

The rest of the boys, including Eiichi Megane, who still had the will to attack, could not have foreseen this development, let alone Torao Shigenobu, who was too broken to act any more.

Eiichi Megane’s face twisted into a wobbly mess. Perhaps he was planning to use Niigaki’s argument as a final breakthrough.

The change in air has the power to inflame and tilt the beliefs – too clichéd to be called beliefs – of a neutral person.

Niigaki Takeo, who not only has simple fighting skills, but also has a voice and a position in the class, is a flip-flopper. He wonders how many people are foolish enough to be drawn in by this?

The first to lean towards the idea was the students, who were initially happy to see Ran back alive.

The first to step forward was Kenjiro Mitagawa, the most timid and easily swayed of the students, whose gaze wandered furtively, hidden by his fringes.

A person who is not confident and cannot take responsibility for their own opinions will instantly lose faith in their own beliefs if the scales they have chosen to weigh their opinions on are shaken.

“…… Inu, Inugami-san!”

“Me again?”

Kanami looks dubious as she crosses her arms under her chest. Kenjiro Mitagawa scratches his cheek as he looks at Kanami’s face – then quickly looks away and stares at an empty spot.

His wandering, unsure gaze and lazily swaying hands give the impression that he is a dishonest man. Strangely enough, it didn’t seem as if he had stood in front of Kanami with a lax attitude.

“I-I-Inu-Inugami-san Y-y-you see, Weh-will y-y-you come back to o-our world w-weth-wiht me, with me?”

“I’m going back for the sake of Ran. I’m going back to our world with my dear Ran.”

Mitagawa brushed off his fringes, which were so annoying that they covered his eyelids, and looked down.

As a friend, Eiichi Megane thought something about that gesture and grabbed his arm as if to hold back his friend from going down the wrong path.

“Mitagawa. But you–”

“Oh, thank you, Megane.I don’t think it’s a bad situation or anything like that. In any case, the two of us, Inugami-san and I, are not well-matched.We were never meant to be together in the first place.The only difference is whether it was taken by Niigaki-kun or Kirishima-kun. I mean, of course, as a man, I’m a bit frustrated, but…”

In a whispered voice that only his friend could hear, Kenjiro Mitagawa spoke his mind.

With his eyes fixed on Megane’s forehead, Mitagawa continued to speak as if he had reached an understanding.

“No, you’ve been transported to another world. If you don’t try to change yourself, nothing will change.I’m not going to live in a world like this, where there is no internet or anime.”

“It’s one thing to accept Kirishima-kun, it’s another to return to the original world!　With Mitagawa’s skills, it’s obvious that he can easily defeat the Demon King! I’m sure it’s not that difficult to return to the original world!”

“I’d like to go back to the world with you, Inugami-san. Same as before. I don’t care if it’s just a view of my youth, you know? If Megane is right and we leave all the girls behind and defeat the Demon King…I’m going back to the world – if I ever get back and Inugami-san is not there.I would be lonely.”

Refusing to let anyone know about his secret infatuation, Mitagawa spits out his own beliefs in vague terms. He is also introverted and reticent when it comes to women. He seemed to be able to understand the original name that Mitagawa had hidden behind the three conventional letters “Minna”.

Accepting his friend’s conviction, Megane lets go of Mitagawa’s arm, though he looks pained. When it comes to speaking up in class and hierarchy alone, Megane also is not the kind of person who takes the initiative to speak up at the bottom of the class – even in the otaku group.

However, the skill Mitagawa was given was an [Imperial Disaster] – a unique offensive magic that would be very useful in battle.After Subaru Kiryuin and Niigaki Takeo, it will be quite a blow to lose him.

And – there were others who were encouraged by his determination.

“If that’s what Mitagawa wants, I’m with him.”

“Ka-Kawasaki……?”

A student, Shinzo Kawasaki, creaks on the floor and snorts like a pig. He belongs to the same otaku group as Megane and Mitagawa, and like Mitagawa, he is a male student who has been trying to accept Ran’s return.

“I was in this class because I was fat and I didn’t like anyone – not even the girls I was close to. In fact, I was mocked behind my back.–I don’t care about Kirishima,. I want to go home early and eat a full meal of sushi, katsudon and hamburgers.”

The more people they have, the quicker Shinzo can get home, wiping the edge of his mouth. For him, appetite was more important than sexual desire. If he had to choose between food or classmates, he would pick food without a single doubt. He is more selfish and vicious than Kiryuin, who accepted Ran.

However, his statement was powerful enough to bend the beliefs of the so-called neutral students who were looking at the situation from a bird’s eye view – half resignedly. In other words, it was powerful enough to bend the beliefs of the students who chose “neither”, which reflects the common sense of modern Japanese people.

Shiratori Sho, who originally tried to accept Ran. Tanaka Haruto, who has washed away his relationship with Sayaka as a thing of the past and is already developing a sexual relationship with Nyanya, a beautiful beastman from another world.

Tsubasa Ryuzaki has witnessed Hirokatsu Yamashiro’s transformation and has grown to distrust him.

The “neutral” students who have no firm convictions and no crazy desire for revenge, who must have looked on this incident as something unrelated to them. When Ran was ostracized, they were probably thinking that they should keep quiet because they didn’t want to get involved in whatever the fuss was about – typical easy-going people.

Were they unhappy with the poor quality of the food? Or is it that, following Niigaki Takeo, Mitagawa, who has Imperial Disaster, and Shinzo Kawasaki, who has Accel Lolita, a physical attack reflex modification, have turned their hand and begun to feel threatened by the fact that ‘neither’ will be in the minority?

Did the unrealistic sense of relief that “I” would not be brainwashed by the [Underling Training-Sexual Lunatic] prevail over the fear that “I” might not be able to return to “my” familiar home?

They don’t know what steps each of them has taken and what they are seeking to achieve with their new vision.

“It’s not like I didn’t like Kirishima that much either…….”

“If you play with fire and take away my nyanya, I won’t understand!”

(TL: Nyanya, the female beastwomen haruto bang)

“…………….”

Following in the footsteps is Sho Shiratori and Haruto Tanaka,.Tsubasa Ryuzaki also walked up to Ran. He didn’t make eye contact with him, either out of spite for Ran, or awkwardness for having gone at Yamashiro’s instigation. As he walked forward, he seemed to give Yamashiro a meaningful glance for a moment.

Yamashiro looked at Ryuzaki with self-satisfied disdain, as if to say, “What the hell are you doing?”

Ran has no idea how Ryuzaki Tsubasa helped Yamashiro Hirokatsu with regard to this matter of Sayaka and Misuzu. Neither does Ran know whether Ryuzaki or Yamashiro is the proposer.

However Ran does have one thought. While they were clearly engaging in disgusting behaviour. Now that they’re plan failed, both of them are starting to blame each other. Ran could see, Tsubasa Ryuzaki, looks at his accomplice with contempt.

“Yamashiro.”

“…… what?”

Yamashiro Hirokatsu sits down, looking soulless, and lets out a sigh. At Ran’s call, he looks away cumbersomely.

Currently, there are a total of 18 students who have taken action to accept Ran (even if only formally), including Yuri and Emi, who are not present. There are a total of 21 classmates,including Ran, there are a total of 9 people who have become a part of Ran’s harem . And then there are Reika and Subaru, who lend their support because they share the same desire to go back to their world. Including them, there are 12.

At this point, the ratio was already 12:9, with Ran slightly ahead. But that was not a decisive factor. Even though he had been educated in a democratic school system for more than ten years, he did not believe that he could sway the opinions of his classmates with a difference of only three people.

The aforementioned ratio was wrong. The exact ratio of forces was 12:3:6. Strictly speaking, there might have been a little more of the so-called “neither” in the middle. As a result, he ended up with 18 people.

Anyway, the accuracy of the number is not that important. What Ran wants to tell Yamashiro is something much simpler.

“….. surprisingly few, isn’t it?　Boys who hate me from the bottom of their hearts and are full of determination to never let me in.”

Many of the students were easily influenced by the atmosphere around them. Ran is sure that this class had more than the average number of people who think like that, which is more than normal for high school students in modern Japan.

No one has raised any objections to Ran’s exclusion. If he thinks about it, it’s a strange situation.

Of course, the situation is completely different now.

There was a girl in that room and there was a person who would never accept Ran’s skills, and who would stubbornly maintain her own opinion, and who was in danger of being killed.

It was inevitable. In fact, if there had been a person with the skills to extract only boys and put mental pressure on them, the boys would have looked at him the same way. They could have been kicked out, just like the Ran.

The viciousness of the skill of [Underling Training-Sexual Lunatic] and the instinctive fear and suspicion that arose from it – propagated and solidified the unstable atmosphere immediately after the transfer. The unconscious desire for solidarity led to self-protection, trying to make one person the bad guy so that they could escape.

As a result, Ran was kicked out.

“Most of the boys were only in agreement with the girls. It’s my fault, too, for making a childish fuss and poking fun at Torao and Megane. If a man with such dangerous skills as brainwashing another’s wife, I’d be terrified.”

“What’s your point?”

“Is that the case with Yamashiro?”

Yamashiro Hiromasa’s gaze turns to Ran.

“Does Yamashiro hate me too, from the bottom of your heart?”

“AAaa?”

In response to these words, Hirokatsu Yamashiro replies in a voice filled with anger.

“Of course you do. How can you not hate a man who mentally trains his friends and classmates and as he pleases?”

“Is your hatred so great that you would give up the option of returning to our world?”

Ran tilts his head annoyingly, as if it were the life of another person.

That gesture, that attitude had struck a nerve with Hirokatsu Yamashiro. He almost gave up on his brokenness but now it rises like a flame.

Of course, it was not only Hirokatsu who was stimulated by this attitude. Aside from Torao Shigenobu, who fell down the slope of resignation, Eiichi Megane continued to point out the mistakes of his friends until the end. He, too, had rekindled his resentment against Ran.

“I don’t – I don’t approve! It is insane to rape girls who have done nothing wrong, for whatever reason, just because you want to!　I can’t approve of such a person – or people who defend such a person. I will never follow you, Kirishima!”

With bloodshot eyes, he closes in on Ran.

As if to tell him to withdraw, Eiichi Megane pushes Hirokatsu Yamashiro away and stands in front of Ran.

But Ran took one look at the determined Megane and pointed his finger at him with a gesture that made him feel as if he had already seen what he’s going to do.

“What are you trying to do?”

“Unlike you, I’ve been given the skills to build unity. I don’t think it’s very commendable to be so stubborn and try to crack the unity that’s been built up.”

Megane runs his hands over his eyes and raises the corners of his mouth. With his bare eyes, he mimics the gesture of clinking his glasses, and smiles slyly.

“Oh? Don’t worry. I’m not expecting you to forgive me, not at all. We don’t want anyone disrupting our unity, do we? –Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We’ll defeat the Demon King ourselves. When we defeat the demon king, if everything goes well and we remember the three of you, we’ll bring you all home.”

The madman did not ask for forgiveness.

The one word “revenge” is used as an excuse to justify his actions. Ran wanted to break his heart head on – he wanted Megane to feel what he felt when he slandered him.

It’s as if everything Ran has been doing is for the preparation for this day.

“Being righteous is not always the right thing to do. To agree with the strong – to read the atmosphere around you and sympathize with them, to protect yourself – is the right thing to do in today’s world, especially in modern Japan, to survive in high school.”

Ran has noticed.

No matter how much emotion he puts into his arguments, no matter how much he tries to make people understand, it turns out to be pointless.

For Ran, tonight’s outburst was simply a way to retaliate for being kicked out by creating a distorted form of violence by numbers.

There is no point in pointing out ethics or right and wrong. He believes that this is an exercise in justice.

Eiichi Megane collapses to his knees.

He must be disgusted with himself for being so helpless in his defiance of a corrupt group.

He wanted to shout. He wanted to scream. He wanted to throw up and get out of there. How much easier it would be if he could just let his emotions get the better of him and use violence against Ran.

But Megane couldn’t do it. He knows that there is no point.

There is no point in running away from the situation here, letting his emotions get the better of him – nothing will change. No one will come to his aid.

Even if he is excluded for unreasonable reasons and runs away. There are no students in this class who have the guts to try to save him.

It’s the same as when they kicked out the dangerous Ran Kirishima.

The three of them, including Eiichi Megane, were excluded from the group because they were seen as a threat to the unity of the group.

◇◇◇

Of the three, it was Hirokatsu Yamashiro who was the first to break.

His beliefs were almost destroyed when Sayaka was disarmed, but like all neutral students, he suppressed his emotions in the hope of returning to a peaceful life.

He later told Ran that he had tried to take his own life on several occasions, unable to cope with the skills he had been given and the world he was living in. He must have been at the end of his rope, both mentally and physically.

Torao Shigenobu was next.

In his case it was probably more a case of complete resignation than an admission.

Unable to bear the enormous mental strain, he sought to escape from reality and return to his normal life.

Eiichi Megane did not give in to Ran until the end.

Quietly, as if ignoring Ran, he blended into the group, as if to say that he only agreed with his friends Kenjiro Mitagawa and Shinzo Kawasaki.

At last, the twenty-one classmates who had been summoned to the other world, albeit in a distorted way, had come together to achieve a single goal: to return to their own world.

Whether it was sweet or a lousy revenge, Ran doesn’t know.

Ran just chose the way he wanted to live.

He could not continue to live in secret in the palace forever. He would never have been allowed to escape with half his forces at his disposal, and even if he had, he would have lived in fear for the rest of his life, wondering when he would be found and killed.

“I don’t think I got the best result.”

It was a spur of the moment thing, not a plan with a clear path to follow. It’s full of holes, and it’s not as if Ran’s situation turned out to be a good one.

But it was definitely a step in the right direction.

It is not a praiseworthy act according to common ethics and common sense.

But Ran can say this.

The words of a single person with no position and no charm will never touch the hearts of the masses.

Even the most insane rhetoric can sway the hearts and minds of those who lack conviction, if it is supported by a large number of people, some of whom are worthy of trust.

Yes – it’s not that hard to move the “neither” and get them to nod! The only question was whether he could mobilise enough people to make the complete opposition give up. That was all that mattered.