Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 70: When I Fell in Love with the Heroine
“Why… why… do you fight?”
A girl sat alone, crying.
Even after they disappeared from sight, she continued to cry.
“Risking your life… why… why would you throw your life away? For what purpose…?”
Why does the boy fight?
Why does he fight in such a battered body?
Even standing must be painful. Just keeping his eyes open must be unbearable.
And yet, why does he fight?
His opponent is the strongest knight in the Empire.
Stronger than her father, who stood at the pinnacle of strength, a knight revered as the greatest in history—a Sword Saint.
Fighting someone like that in a body that can barely stand—death was inevitable.
Reina couldn’t bear to see Kenya die.
That’s why she couldn’t stand up.
She didn’t have the courage to watch. Her legs wouldn’t move.
“Why… why would he protect someone like me… more than his own life… why?”
Reina sobbed, repeating the words over and over.
She recalled the last thing Kenya said before leaving.
A boy, battered and broken, had said he would fight to protect her.
The boy who once told her he loved her was now risking his life for her.
“Ugh… ugh… I’m not worth it… I don’t deserve to be protected… I don’t…”
Reina clutched her head as memories of her past suddenly resurfaced.
Triggered by Kenya’s words, her emotions spiraled, unlocking memories she had buried deep inside.
“Mom…?…”
She remembered.
She remembered the person who once risked everything to protect her.
◇ Reina’s Past
“It’s okay. Mommy will protect you. No matter what. Mommy will protect you with her life.”
A woman shielded Reina with her body.
Her back was riddled with bullet wounds, blood pouring out.
In a dark hole, Reina felt the blood drip onto her face.
Gunfire echoed. Japanese voices screamed.
Her mother wrapped her arms around Reina, shielding her from harm.
Doing everything she could to keep them hidden.
To keep her safe from bullets.
Risking her life. And when Reina woke up—her mother was…
Her memories faded beyond that point.
◇
But now, Reina remembered.
Fragments, yet clear as day.
“That’s right… Mom…”
She remembered the war between Japan and Asgard.
She remembered her mother sacrificing herself to save her.
She remembered waking up, held tightly in the cold embrace of her mother’s lifeless body.
“She risked her life… to protect me… how could I forget… ugh… ugh…”
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Her chest tightened painfully.
Remembering her mother’s face, the past she had tried to forget—it felt like her heart was shattering.
The face of the mother who had shielded her from bullets while holding her close.
The face of the mother who still smiled despite everything.
Her body trembled. She felt like she couldn’t breathe.
But because she remembered—she had to face it.
She had turned away from the truth, forgotten it, and now she was about to make the same mistake again.
“I have to go.”
So she stood up.
Even if she trembled.
Even if tears streamed down her face.
She lifted her head.
She thought of Kenya—the boy who once told her he loved her, who was now risking his life for her.
Just like her mother had.
Yet, she had tried to run away again.
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“I can’t let that happen…”
Back then, she couldn’t do anything.
Even now, she felt powerless.
But she didn’t want to regret it anymore.
She didn’t want to look away just because she was afraid.
Maybe she couldn’t do anything.
Maybe all she could do was watch.
But she had to see it with her own eyes.
She had to watch the battle of the boy who vowed to protect her with his life.
“I have to cheer him on. I have to watch Kenya without looking away!”
She ran.
To the battlefield where Kenya was fighting.
“I won’t run away anymore!”
…
(Wait… what was I doing again?)
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Kenya barely managed to block Osiris’ strike.
But the impact was too much. His head slammed violently against the cockpit.
He was already close to losing consciousness.
Oxygen deprivation made his blood pressure drop.
The shock easily knocked him out.
Blood loss worsened his condition, leaving him in darkness.
(Why am I even piloting the KOG?)
Kenya’s mind was blank.
For a moment, his consciousness drifted. His memories felt hazy.
His dull eyes stared vacantly at the cockpit.
“—chan, hang in there! Big brother!!”
A voice called out from outside.
But the words barely registered.
The KOG’s systems picked up external sounds, but Kenya couldn’t comprehend them.
(Big brother? What does that mean? I’m so tired… cold… exhausted…)
He stared blankly into the void.
(…Now that I think about it… this has happened before…)
A memory surfaced.
A distant past.
A similar situation.
In his previous world, alone in a house, burning up with a high fever.
No one was there.
No parents to rely on. No friends to help.
He lay in bed, coughing, freezing, starving.
And most of all—he was lonely.
Being alone was unbearable. Even if he was going to die, he didn’t want to die alone.
Loneliness was suffocating. Desperate. He wanted someone to need him.
But he didn’t have the courage to reach out to the parents who abandoned him.
So, feverish and barely conscious, he reached for his VR headset.
He logged into his favorite game.
Even though he was too weak to play properly.
Because in that world—he wasn’t alone.
Because there—he could see them.
Reina… Kaguya…
Because in that world, someone would call his name.
In the real world, no one spoke his name anymore.
No one even saw him.
But Reina and Kaguya—
They called his name.
They looked him in the eye and spoke to him.
That was enough.
That name meant everything.
“I want to hear it again…”
He wanted them to call his name one more time.
Because being called by them was truly special.
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“Stand up! Stand up!”
(Why do I have to stand…?)
“Please… please…”
Reina had arrived at the arena, calling out to Kenya in a desperate prayer-like voice.
She climbed up the wall near the spectator seats where Kenya had been thrown, calling out to him with all her strength.
But her voice didn’t reach him.
Still, she kept calling out to her temporary brother.
She called out to Kenya, who was still unable to stand.
And before her stood the ominous red-and-black KOG, sword at the ready.
“Wake up. Wake up! Please…”
(I’m so tired…)
Kenya was sinking into the darkness.
His consciousness was about to completely fade away.
“Kenya-kun… Kenya-kun.”
(…I can hear… a voice.)
But—he heard it.
A voice calling his name.
That voice was clear—it was calling out to him.
“Wake up! Kenya-kun! Wake up!!”
“Farewell, Sword. If possible, I would have liked to fight you even more… Without a doubt, you were the strongest knight I have ever faced.”
(This voice… Is Reina calling me? …Wake up? Wake up and do what?)
Osiris thrust his bullet-like strike straight at Kenya.
“Farewell, Sword!”
At the same time, Reina screamed.
From the very depths of her soul, she called out to him.
“Wake up and fight!! Mitsurugi Kenya!!! You’re supposed to protect me, right!!”
CLANG!
The sharp sound of metal clashing against metal echoed.
A sword deflected the strike—both were swords.
The white giant’s blade knocked away the red-and-black giant’s attack.
“Kenya-kun…”
The desperate cry from the girl—the voice of someone who loved him—reached the depths of the boy’s heart.
It awakened him.
The voice that had called him over and over again.
“I heard you, Reina…”
Osiris’s full-force strike had been deflected by Kenya.
Though surprised, Osiris laughed.
At the return of his worthy opponent.
“Hah. Waking up to a woman’s voice… You’re a simple man.”
Even though his finishing move had been blocked, there was a sense of joy in his voice.
And the white giant slowly rose, the knight inside speaking in a hoarse but resolute voice.
“That’s right, I’m wide awake now. I’d love it if she woke me up every morning.”
His once vacant eyes now glowed with determination as he faced forward.
“Hahaha! You’ve fallen for a good woman.”
Blood dripped from his head, and his mouth was stained with it.
His condition was poor—he was in the worst possible state.
“Yes, and I’ll never let her go…
Even so, Kenya had awakened.
To the voice of the girl he loved.
The voice that had given him courage countless times before.
“Because she is…”
Because that girl was Kenya’s—
“The wife I fell for, head over heels.”
She was the reason he fought.