Chapter 93: I’ll Use Anything That Saves Time
“In other words, Kuwajima, who possesses absolutely no special abilities or latent potential, thought the Sea God’s power she finally obtained might be her last chance, so she couldn’t bear to let it go. Correct?”
“This power belongs to me!”
Kuwajima clenched her fists and took a defiant stance, pressing her breasts between her upper arms.
What was with that childish tone? Decide whether you want to act cute or act important.
Now that I understood the current situation—or rather, Kuwajima’s rampage—I released an enormous sigh.
I wouldn’t claim to understand Kuwajima’s feelings, but I didn’t completely fail to understand why she was reluctant to surrender a power that had fallen into her lap.
Despite her haughty behavior as Lady Goetheschwarz Sanzen Sanbyaku Sanjuuin, Kuwajima had always faced the reality that she wasn’t special.
Even so, she’d been unable to abandon her aspirations. Eventually, they would’ve become a curse that bound her and driven her to close off her own future.
Now, although its output was meager, she’d obtained a special power. Even if it happened accidentally, she must’ve been happy.
I understood that sentiment. But right now, it was a problem.
“Kuwajima, you understand this isn’t the time to be selfish. You properly avoided eating the watermelon we specifically identified, didn’t you? That means you understand you shouldn’t really keep this power.”
“Urgh, that’s…”
Yes. If Kuwajima had deliberately eaten the spirit-power watermelon, I might’ve pursued the matter without question and cornered her until she cried.
However, she had technically obeyed my instructions. This was an accident.
That was why I was now gently reasoning with her.
The villa had suffered actual damage from being flooded, but we could count her time hanging in the garden as compensation.
If possible, I wanted Kuwajima to understand and relinquish the power voluntarily.
“Well, Kuwajima? Have you changed your mind?”
“Grrr. But the appointed hour of destiny has not yet arrived, has it? Then there should be no need to surrender it immediately! Yes, I require a suspended sentence!”
“No, you’d be better off getting rid of an incomprehensible power quickly. We’d have a problem if it became fixed inside you and couldn’t be extracted.”
“There would be no problem!”
Of course there would.
Your output was below one percent.
After this, Hero Taketsuru and his merry companions had a sea-serpent extermination mission waiting for them.
In any game, if you had to choose between a level-one and level-one-hundred party member before heading to the Demon King’s castle, you chose the level-one-hundred one.
You weren’t a challenge-run feature.
Kuwajima was apparently trying to stall, hoping she might somehow acquire the power by allowing matters to become a fait accompli.
She might even be thinking that, if most of it had to be surrendered, keeping just a little would still be a victory.
“…It can’t be helped. I didn’t want to use this method.”
“W-What is it!?”
When I gave another conspicuous sigh, Kuwajima became wary of Meiko.
Was Meiko the one she primarily feared because Meiko was her natural enemy?
But while feeling truly unpleasant about it, I spoke not to Meiko but to empty space.
“Hallucination, tell me how to forcibly tear the power out of Kuwajima. You must know something.”
“What…?”
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“Me @ Apparently an Appraisal Skill★”
Comment: “What…? (Confused)”
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Kuwajima and the hallucination reacted identically, though the hallucination made no actual sound.
Taketsuru, who had been listening quietly nearby, couldn’t help retorting.
“Kirishiro, didn’t you emphatically say something like, ‘I don’t need a hallucination,’ a little while ago…? Huh?”
“I believe I said, ‘I’ll use anything that saves time.’ Torturing Kuwajima would probably be fastest, but she hasn’t done anything to deserve torture in this case. However, neither is this the time to spend hours persuading her. That leaves using the hallucination as the next best option.”
“I understand the reasoning, but the way you compartmentalize is incredible. And this is absolutely the time to persuade her properly. Nekoyanagi-san, is this okay?”
What did Taketsuru mean by “Is this okay?”
He made it sound as though I’d broken a rule.
After being asked, Meiko hummed thoughtfully, then made a large circle with her arms.
“Safe. As Gouto-kun said, the old him would’ve tortured Tae-chan by the shortest route without considering mitigating circumstances. He deliberately chose not to torture her, so he gains points for having a human heart. Therefore, safe.”
“Naturally. Didn’t you just say torture gave an ordinary university student you could find anywhere a bad image?”
“That comment deducts enough points to put you slightly in the negative overall.”
Wasn’t this where my flexible, ordinary response was praised?
Well, an ordinary university student you could find anywhere didn’t torture people very often.
If anything, one more often saw a protagonist who’d accidentally become popular being tortured by his friends.
Never mind. I glanced at Kuwajima.
“W-Why are you casually discussing whether to torture me!?”
Despite her haughty language, Kuwajima was visibly terrified.
It wasn’t as though I wanted to torture her. I’d explicitly said I wouldn’t.
However, with a flood and tsunami potentially threatening a town, we couldn’t afford to consider only one Kuwajima’s feelings.
I directed the kindest smile I could manage at her.
I envisioned the determined smile of a protagonist in a world that weighed one person against everything else, after resolving to save them both.
“Kuwajima, rest easy. If it would kill you, I obviously wouldn’t consider the option. But if torturing you would save both you and the townspeople, I think it would just barely qualify as ordinarily acceptable. In a world where only one side can be saved, if you can still save both, isn’t that the best choice?”
“Gouto-kun, that thinking is unacceptable. That kind of ordinary behavior is only allowed in the pattern where the protagonist suffers in the heroine’s place. Reread your textbooks—light novels.”
“I see…”
Apparently, even in a pattern where both sides could be saved, accepting another person’s injury wasn’t ordinary.
Ordinariness was difficult. If it were me and that were the best choice, I wouldn’t hesitate.
In any case, we ultimately wouldn’t torture Kuwajima, so it didn’t matter for now.
Thus, only the hallucination remained.
Any further time savings depended on its pop-up.
The hallucination, which had sulked after I told it I didn’t need it, displayed information from Kuwajima that was slightly different from what I’d requested.
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“Kuwajima Taeko”
Current Feelings: When a handsome man says he’ll torture me with a gentle expression, my heart beats a little faster.
That Aside: I wonder if there’s some way I can keep this power.
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Kuwajima’s feelings were incomprehensible, but I understood that she still hadn’t abandoned the hope of somehow appropriating the ability.
However, the hallucination apparently intended to stubbornly withhold the information I wanted.
Forget that. Tell me how to tear the power out of Kuwajima.
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“Kuwajima Taeko”
Unrelated Observation: At times like this, shouldn’t you begin with an apology?
General Principle: Ordinary people are hurt when told they’re unnecessary.
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Don’t lecture me on general principles, hallucination.
What right did an entity without basic human rights that had abruptly taken up residence inside my head have to say that?
By that reasoning, it should’ve first asked, “I’m this sort of hallucination. May I reside within you?” and obtained my consent.
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“Kuwajima Taeko”
Regarding That: There is such a thing as going with the flow and reading the atmosphere…
More Importantly: Why can’t you say sorry when that would settle everything?
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Why should I apologize when I’d done nothing wrong?
I was beginning to grow irritated too. However, because I’d been having this exchange inside my mind while staring steadily at Kuwajima, she had started trembling even more.
Incidentally, I’d been smiling the entire time.
…Whew.
Calm down, me. Be cool. Cool yourself, Kirishiro Gouto.
There was no shame in asking someone else’s opinion at a time like this.
And I was an ordinary university student you could find anywhere.
In that case, I could ask my “childhood friend” and “best friends.”
“I want everyone’s opinion. I told the hallucination illegally lodging in my mind that I didn’t need it, and it replied that I should begin by apologizing. Should I apologize? Haven’t I done nothing wrong?”
“That’s a new kind of question. Still, if you want to meet halfway, beginning with mutual apologies isn’t a bad idea. Unless the other party is a barbarian incapable of language.”
“You should understand, Gouto-kun. An ordinary protagonist begins by forgiving the other person. Then that person rescues him during the crisis in the latter half.”
“An apology is merely one strategy for making an opponent lower their guard! Think of it that way!”
After hearing their opinions, I spoke in the ordinarily correct fashion.
“Sorry.”
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“Me @ Apparently an Appraisal Skill★”
Comment: “It’s okay. I’m sorry too.”
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“I accept your apology.”
Thus, the hallucination and I reconciled.
With that settled, hallucination, let’s get started.
Tell me how to tear the ability away from Kuwajima, the involved party who had quietly joined the discussion about my dilemma.
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“Kuwajima Taeko”
Solution to the Current Situation:
Borrowing the local deity’s power and persuading her inside her mental world is probably fastest.
In the real world, her true feelings are concealed behind chuunibyou language, but inside her mental world, you should be able to hear them honestly.
And inside that world, your feelings should reach her directly too!
*Relieve her anxieties!
*Recommended Skill: Human Heart (Average)
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That meant borrowing the auditory hallucination’s power, so didn’t it prove you really were unnecessary after all?
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“Sorry! (Angry)”
“It’s fine! (Angry)”