Volume 10 - CH 35

Sasaki Emi Screams

“Hi, Hi, Hi, Hideyori-kun!?”

“Eh……!? Ah!?”

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I took Emi in my arms and she raised a scream of surprise.

What am I doing……..

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When I came back to my senses, I almost got drunk by Emi’s sweet smell.

I got scared that Emi would not be Emi anymore so I unintentionally acted out. Realizing what I’m doing, my face started to heat up.

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“Hi, Hideyori-kun! Sh, Should we…….k, Kiss?”

“O, Of course not!?”

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Emi blushed and said something outrageous.

Do I want to kiss Emi? Such doubt came to my mind and I hurriedly denied it.

Really, what am I doing……

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It’s like I’m forcing myself on her just like the original Hidoyori and I feel bad because of it…….

“……wh, why did you suddenly hug me?”

When I silently sat down, Emi shyly asked with her face still blushing.

“B, Because Emi suddenly said that……abuse, I mean.”

Flustered, I answered.

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“Abuse……? Eh, what do you mean?”

“Eh?”

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Emi’s face seems like she’s truly confused.

It’s like she doesn’t even remember herself saying the word [abuse] at all.

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“Abuse….Ahh! I meant the show featuring a man who shared his abusive experience on prime time yesterday. You watched it too right, Hideyori-kun?”

“Y, Yeah….. Nakamoto-kun right? The one who used to belong in Snap.”

“That was so scary wasn’t it……..”

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[It made me so uncomfortable when he said that he got hit at least once a day……..] Emi said sympathetically.

At the end of the program, he shared that he was only saved when his brother who was living abroad heard about what was going on and rushed back to get him out.

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Well, when I heard that he had someone to help him in the end, I lost my interest and played a Galge instead.

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Hah……..

In the end, there was no one who would help me from the bullying and abuse so I guess I’m just a hated person after all……

I don’t have the expectation that there would be a hero out there who would come to save me.

That’s why all I have left was to acquire the strength to stand up for myself.

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“Nnn. I still want to see what Hideyori-kun is like before I met you though…… Alright!”

“Hmm?”

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Emi suddenly got up and walked to the door.

I follow her with my eyes.

When she turned her back on me, my eyes naturally focused on her butt.

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“I’ll go ask auntie if she has any old photos of Hideyori-kun!”

“What!?”

“Be back soon!”

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Ignoring me, Emi ran off…….

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Still, when she said [Abuse……] was that all she really meant……..?

I felt at that moment that Emi’s eyes overlapped with her eyes in the game.

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Fear wells up in my heart.

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I want Emi to be happy. I don’t want her to get involved with all those terrible things in the game.”

Maybe it’s wrong of me to wish her happiness when I (Hideyori) was the one who put her through all those pains……

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Don’t want to think about it anymore, I sit myself down on the bed.

The coming future according to the game………

The rise of Gift Hunters.

The final battle with Ennoia.

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What kind of ending will this world have……?

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“……..pictures from before huh?”

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My life was practically a series of abuses until just before I met Emi.

It’s doubtful whether Oba-san would have a picture of me in that period.

About 5 minutes later, Emi ran back into the room.

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“She doesn’t have many of them but Auntie said that she has a few!”

“She has!?”

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In Emi’s hand was a very thin album.

“I still haven’t opened it yet” she said excitedly.

……..there’s not going to be a picture of me getting beat up right?

It’s Oba-san so I think she’d made sure that it’s okay to show others though……..

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My throat dried up as Emi opened the album filled with pictures from the dark part of my life.

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“Kyahhhhhhh!?”

“!?”

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Emi screamed.

Her body is shaking.

W, What is it…..?

What is in there?

With fear and anticipation fighting inside me, I take a look at the contents of the album.

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——–then, I almost stopped breathing.

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“S, So cute! Hideyori-kun’s cross-dressing! KYAAAAAAHHHHH! So GOOOOOOOOD!”

“THE HECK IS THIS!?”

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It’s a picture of me dressed up like a girl.

I remember this.

It’s the outfit my uncle forced me to wear.

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“G, God!? You’re a GOD, AUNTIE…….”

“What was she thinking!?”

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I never thought I’d get exposed like this…….

Even during the period when I was abused, there were some normal moments as well. I think this was when my uncle went out for a walk. My aunt found me cute so she took some pictures of me.

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Back then, I was not really fond of my aunt as I am now but she was still the only family I could rely on.

I don’t have many fond memories of her but I didn’t hate her either.

Oba-san was quite a delicate existence for me.

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Perhaps when my uncle was absent, she snapped the picture on a spur of the moment? I ended up imagining what my aunt may have been thinking back then.

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“Hideyori-ku~~~n, dress up for me.”

“No way…….”

“Fufu. I’m taking this photo. Ahh, so cute.”

“What are you doing……..”

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I don’t know what she’s going to do with it but Emi’s snapping away at the album with her smartphone.

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“I’m using this as my wallpaper.”

“DON’T!”

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I don’t know if she was really going to do it or not so I desperately lowered my head and begged her not to.

I’m so embarrassed that it feels like my face is on fire. To think that my exposed cross-dressing figure could cause so much mental damage…….

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“Kidyori-kun is so cute!”

“It’s Hideyori!.”

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There were also several pictures of me in that thin album where I’m not dressed like a girl.

And Emi would keep staring at my child-self for sometimes………

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At that time, I had no idea……

That I would go beyond cross-dressing…….

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——and become a girl for real……..

TLN: Now that’s something I’d like to see……..