Chapter 17: It’s About Time You Face Reality
After that, we tried several more times.
But the hallucinations stubbornly refused to provide any useful information.
It did not feel as though they couldn’t reveal the method for breaking the curse.
Rather, it felt more like they were deliberately sneering:
“Not telling you any more. Now dance for me, peasants.”
The audacity.
For mere hallucinations to defy me like this.
Once again, I was reminded that hallucinations were unnecessary.
What possible value could something have if it failed to help during the moments that mattered most?
Still.
There was no point dwelling on what we did not know.
If we at least knew Kuwajima was genuinely cursed, then there had to be some way forward.
Having concluded our battle against the hallucinations, we relocated from the mysterious alley-like space behind the lecture hall to my apartment.
Standing around talking forever was hardly practical if we intended to seriously think about what came next.
We could have gone to Meiko’s house or Kuwajima’s instead, but both girls vetoed those options immediately.
Thus, by process of elimination, we ended up at mine.
To be honest, I normally preferred to limit visits to my room strictly to my “best friend” and “childhood friend.”
Inviting a girl I had only met that very day into my home felt slightly resistant to the spirit of ordinary college student behavior.
However—
Since this could reasonably be categorized as “helping a troubled girl,” I decided it did not count.
Therefore: no penalty.
“Kukuku… To think I would be invited into the chambers of a young man. I confess, suppressing the excitement within my heart is proving difficult.”
“She says, ‘Coming to a boy’s room my age is making me nervous.’”
“There is truly nothing noteworthy here. A pointlessly neat room that has been thoroughly cleaned is simply the natural habitat of a completely ordinary college student.”
That said, opinions on this topic were actually divided.
Generally speaking, ordinary single-college-student apartments fell into two categories:
Either absurdly spotless—
Or so catastrophically messy that there was no room to step.
However, once you added the existence of a “childhood friend” into the equation, the odds of the room remaining clean rose significantly due to the possibility of said childhood friend cleaning it without permission.
Given that reality, I had simply chosen to use “clean room” as my model.
It was not as though I personally wanted to live in filth.
And besides, I had no intention of burdening Meiko with something like cleaning my room, so I handled it myself.
“Now then, regarding what comes next… I have actually called in a powerful ally.”
“An ally? Are you implying my power alone is insufficient?”
“In this situation, I think we’re the ones lacking power…”
I ignored Kuwajima, who seemed to operate almost entirely on spinal reflexes.
I had already contacted our “ally,” and apparently he was willing to stop by briefly before his part-time job started.
And almost the instant I thought that—
The apartment intercom rang.
As the homeowner, I headed to the entrance to welcome our guest inside.
“What’s this about, Kirishiro? You said there’s something only I can help with?”
“You came quickly, Taketsuru.”
Indeed.
The ally I summoned was none other than Taketsuru, Hero Returned From Another World.
While ushering him inside the apartment, I gave a brief explanation.
“To put it simply, we found someone who’s cursed, so I figured I should call somebody who seems knowledgeable about curses and hexes. In another world, things like curses and maledictions must’ve been fairly common, right?”
“What the hell kinda image of fantasy worlds do you have…? I mean, they existed, sure. Anyway, I’ll take a look at least, but don’t expect too much.”
Giving off an uncertain aura that made it hard to tell whether he was reliable or not, Taketsuru stepped into my apartment room.
“Fufu… so you have arrived. A new familiar destined to become the key that releases my seal.”
Kuwajima’s first words upon seeing him.
Taketsuru took one look at her sitting there, his gaze sliding over her heavy black clothing, before turning to me with a tired expression.
“Kirishiro. Maybe you don’t know this, but chuunibyou isn’t actually some kind of curse. What she’s got is more like… pure desire or something along those lines…”
“We already covered that part. For now, just listen to the full explanation.”
Only after I shared the information gathered from the hallucinations did Taketsuru finally understand that Kuwajima was genuinely cursed in a serious sense.
“────Alright. I think I get the general situation now. So the real issue is figuring out under what conditions the curse can be broken, yeah?”
“Correct. I wished to know whether you had any ideas.”
Taketsuru stared at Kuwajima once more, this time far more carefully.
Under his gaze, Kuwajima visibly squirmed with discomfort.
For some reason, she then turned pleading eyes toward me, as though asking for help.
What was that about?
──────
Inner Thoughts:
“Wait, this guy just showed up and everyone’s casually acting like ‘returned hero from another world’ is a normal thing. Are they messing with me?”
──────
Ah.
Come to think of it, Kuwajima did not know Taketsuru had actually traveled to another world.
Well, it was not exactly something he went around announcing publicly.
Taketsuru himself never talked about it unless necessary.
“Taketsuru. Kuwajima doubts you’re really an ‘otherworldly hero.’ Got anything that can prove it?”
“Huh? You weren’t already explaining me to her? Man… proving it’s kinda hard…”
At my suggestion—prompted after reading Kuwajima’s thoughts—Taketsuru scratched his head in annoyance.
Then suddenly, his face brightened as he thought of something.
“【hi hkl tl el yi vi — ‘Illumination Magic’】… There, proof complete. Get it? Illumination? Proof?”
Together with the absolute worst pun imaginable, light bloomed from Taketsuru’s fingertips.
Oh.
So this was what magic looked like.
Interesting.
Apparently it still functioned in Japan too.
While Meiko and I observed with mild admiration—
Kuwajima screamed.
“M-m-my goddddddddddddddd?!?!”
Immediately afterward:
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The neighboring wall thundered violently as someone next door pounded on it in protest.
Realizing what she had done, Kuwajima shrank awkwardly and bowed her head.
“M-my apologies. In my unbecoming excitement, I allowed joy to escape me…”
“Do not worry, Kuwajima. Nobody lives next door to me.”
“I see, then I may rest easy—…hweh?”
Well, regarding housing conditions alone, I had deliberately abandoned my ideals of “normal” in favor of cheap rent.
Since this was not a normal apartment to begin with, a few abnormal occurrences hardly mattered.
In fact, considering the circumstances, strange things happening here was probably the normal outcome.
Meiko nodded solemnly as though fully agreeing with that logic.
“Now then. With proof established that Taketsuru truly is a hero from another world… what do you think, Taketsuru?”
“Hmm. I can at least say one thing for now.”
Watching Kuwajima cycle rapidly between bright red embarrassment and pale blue panic, Taketsuru calmly continued:
“I can sorta tell she’s cursed, yeah. But I’m not exactly a professional exorcist or curse specialist. So if you’re asking me to actually remove it… I got nothing.”
“Meiko. Prepare the bubuzuke.”
“Can you maybe calm down for a second?”
For someone who had literally served as a Hero in another world, this man was shockingly useless on a regular basis.
No—
That was the wrong conclusion.
Expecting a “best friend” to solve problems for you in the first place was mistaken.
Even in textbook light novels, the “best friend” archetype only provided advice.
They were not the one who handed over the correct answer.
“Still, generally speaking, curses tend to break under one of two conditions. Either the curse is fulfilled… or it gets canceled out. If this ‘Curse of Chuunibyou’ is real, then it’s basically made from Kuwajima’s own feelings and everyone else’s desire for her to remain chuuni, right? In that case, there’re probably two possible solutions.”
“And those would be?”
“She either fully commits to being chuuni until she’s genuinely satisfied and burns herself out completely… or she comes to truly, sincerely hate it from the bottom of her heart and rejects it entirely. Something like that. Though this is all just my guess.”
“I see.”
So that was it.
Kuwajima’s curse stemmed from “incomplete combustion.”
Back in middle school, she continued acting chuuni purely through inertia.
She neither ended it with satisfaction—
Nor rejected it wholeheartedly.
Instead, she was dragged forward by the expectations of those around her while trapped in a half-finished emotional state.
That ambiguity cursed her.
Which was why she could neither continue properly nor stop properly.
Meaning first, that incomplete state itself had to be resolved.
Kuwajima either needed to embrace it completely—
Or deny it completely from the depths of her soul.
In that case—
Why not test it immediately?
After hearing Taketsuru’s theory, I turned directly toward Kuwajima.
She stiffened warily.
“W-what is it…?”
“Kuwajima. It’s about time you faced reality. What practical use is chuunibyou ever going to have in your future? If you truly wanted to quit, then this curse would’ve broken already, wouldn’t it? The fact it hasn’t means part of you still wants to stay chuuni. You’re using the curse as an excuse—telling yourself ‘I can’t help it because I’m cursed.’ You’re running away from reality. How long are you planning to keep this up? Is this really something worth inconveniencing everyone around you over? What’s the point of memorizing all those complicated kanji and dramatic terms? Is Norse mythology supposed to be common sense for society? Who’s happy listening to words nobody understands unless they’re translated? You know all it does is trouble other people, right? Is it really that hard not to inconvenience others, Kuwajima? It’s embarrassing. I’ve never met your parents, but even they’re probably embarrassed. Even if they’re too kind to say it outright, they’re definitely worried about your deranged behavior and wish you’d stop. And honestly, I don’t even like denying the things people love. But if those things are going to ruin your future, then yes, I will deny them properly. Do you understand? I’m saying all this because I’m thinking about your future. Kuwajima, stop being chuuni already. You’re a university student now. Grow up. How long are you planning to stay stuck in middle school? Seriously—stop turning your eyes away from reality already, Kuwajima.”
“FUBUGUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!! I-I WANNA QUIT TOOOOOOOO!! Y-you don’t have any right to say all that to meeeeeeeee!!”
Kuwajima burst into tears completely without restraint.
Again, the neighboring wall shook violently with angry pounding.
But—
That was all.
Nothing changed.
“…Hm. I tried thoroughly rejecting the chuuni aspect until she completely broke down crying, but the curse doesn’t appear to have lifted. She’s still speaking in cursed language. So this method fails.”
“Kirishiro… do you actually have a human heart?”
“Gouto-kun, even if someone wanted to test that idea, normal people wouldn’t do it instantly without hesitation…”
Despite the fact I had done it entirely for Kuwajima’s sake, both Meiko and Taketsuru stared at me with horrified disbelief.
Why?
Surely it was normal for a completely ordinary college student to willingly dirty himself if it meant helping someone else.
“You know… the bare minimum would’ve been getting consent first, or at least giving her time to mentally prepare herself…”
But if I obtained consent beforehand—
Then it would no longer count as genuine rejection, would it?