CH 207

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“Sniff. Even though I told him to stop. Souma said ‘I will teach you what a real man is’ and forcefully…”

“There there, it must have been scary… Souma!”

Sazan had recovered slightly from curling up at the corner of the room, and cried to Maki. When she did, Maki glared at me with an incredible face.

“N-No, listen to my side too!” (Souma)

It is true that I taught Sazan a bit about human biology, but it was mostly in good faith and there was practically no evil intent.

Even if there were, it would be just a tiny grain.

Aside from that, I did it with pure good intentions just like the ones in charge of the Nekomimi Neko events.

But I wasn’t given the time to explain myself.

“And here I came, wondering what was happening. So it was you.”

“…Souma.”

They must have heard the voice of Maki making a ruckus, or a bird told them about it. My comrades that were investigating were coming back one after the other.

And it obviously turned hectic after that.

“…Sexual deviant?” (Ringo)

Ringo, who seemed to have understood the situation roughly, spoke a pretty nostalgic phrase, and dealt mental damage.

“I don’t think this is that good of a situation, but there might be room for consideration depending on the circumstances.

How about replaying the events with me?” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki is normally the one serving as the intermediator, but she stared intently at my cat ears for some reason as she made this weird proposal.

—*Pomf*

The Bear punched my stomach with its perfectly cushioned hand, and showed me a manly smile as if saying ‘I will call it even with this’.

“Even if I wouldn’t notice, to think you would perform lascivious actions right by the side of someone reading a book…

I see, so this is the peak of a hero… That’s nice too.” (Seirie)

At some point in time, Seirie-san had come back after finishing one book, and casually joined in.

“Wait! A-About that…hm? Speaking of which, where’s Ina?” (Souma)

“Aah, if it is her, I saw her while we were coming here, but it seemed like she was doing her best in the investigation.” (Mitsuki)

Ina, who is not especially good with her ears or her instincts, has once again been left behind.

Because of the details of the story, it is not like I can just talk about it without the permission of Sazan.

I began explaining things with the supervision of Sazan who had recovered to a certain degree, but when the important parts like George, the Horned Paon, and the bath came up, Sazan would shout ‘Umyaaaa!’ and would attack me, so I got interrupted. It took quite a good deal of time.

I did try to avoid the private details, but for the sake of the future, we revealed to them that Sazan is actually the Seal Priestess and that she is actually a girl.

I thought they would be surprised by this, but the reaction of everyone was unexpectedly low.

It seems like they were indeed surprised by the part where she is from the Seal Lineage, but we are talking about Mitsuki (expressionless), Ringo (expressionless), Seirie-san (somewhat expressionless), and Maki (who already knew).

There was barely any reaction, and as for the part where Sazan is a girl…

“I did think that would be the case. It was only clear to me after seeing the recording though.” (Maki)

Maki said this easily.

“I did have an inkling as well. It seemed like she didn’t want that topic touched on, so I acted like I didn’t know though.” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki confessed this.

“…Hn, I did…have a feeling…” (Ringo)

Ringo said something cool.

“Yes, of course, of course. I obviously saw through something like that.” (Seirie)

And at the end, Seirie-san fluently spoke the truth with her glasses and voice trembling profusely.

(Speaking of which, Leila reacted strangely when I was entering the bath with Sazan…) (Souma)

I currently have no means to confirm this since she is staying at home, but we are talking about that girl that has animalistic instincts when it comes to men and women.

Considering the reactions she has had, it should be safe to assume that Leila has also noticed that Sazan is a woman.

In that case, that would mean the only ones who didn’t know aside from me would be Seirie-san who doesn’t have much of a relationship with her, and Ina who is not here.

I was instead surprised by this.

The theory that Sazan might be a girl has been talked about since a long time ago in the Nekomimi Neko community.

But the events normally treat her as a man, she didn’t equip female exclusive gear, and there was also the faction that psychologically rejected the possibility of a person like her being a woman, but I did know that there were a number of people who loudly proclaimed this.

Of course, we are talking about the Nekomimi Neko players that loved verifying stuff.

There were a number of experiments to confirm or deny whether Sazan is a woman, but because of the robe and mask that she definitely wouldn’t take off, there was no definite proof. Couple that with the fact that there was no marriage event found for a character with this much personality, and it stirred up a big argument that’s said to last for a century.

(But well, the marriage event was probably unimplemented.) (Souma)

The homeland of Sazan being the south solitary island would definitely have to do with her event, but it was unimplemented, so I don’t think it would be possible to avoid a battle against the 2nd Evil God Fragment and the main body of the Evil God if you are deeply involved with Sazan, but that was also unimplemented.

I don’t think they would be able to prepare an event to marry Sazan in that state.

However, in the publicity before the game came out, there was one that said ‘The strongest enemy?! Big reveal of the absolutely secret last boss is currently in development!’ and they showed the silhouette of a monster that seemed like the Evil God, and Sazan herself was a character that had a decent amount of effort put into.

There’s plenty of possibility that the events related to Sazan and the Evil God were planned to be added too.

Also, it was practically set in stone that a continuation would be made about Nekomimi Neko -or so the rumors said.

Well, because of how big they messed up, that got scrapped, but it is a different story when it was in development.

Were they planning on having the Evil God come back with all and main body in the sequel, or…I want to think this is not the case, but there were even rumors that they would make a version that has all its bugs fixed and had new elements to it that would be sold for full price. Technically what you would call the Complete Version Pack…

“Geez, Souma, what are you spacing out for?!” (Maki)

Maki slammed the table and made me snap back.

I was on the verge of having my heart taken away by the darkness of the game industry.

In the first place, there’s no proof at all that they tried to sell anything like Nekomimi Neko Plus, Golden, F or G, International, Director’s Cut, Returns, Recharged, or Dark-whatever.

Also, there’s even cases where they would actually end up falling because of a remake.

I was on the verge of spitting out criticism here, but let’s check the state of things for a bit.

I don’t want to make everyone panic with my speculation.

“Souma, continue with what you were saying already!” (Maki)

And so, we would deviate every now and then in that fashion. After I finish telling them everything…

“…As I said, I had no choice but to show her that book.” (Souma)

That should have cleared the misunderstanding, but…

“There was no room for consideration.” (Mitsuki)

“…Even though you said…you would become a decent human.” (Ringo)

—*Pomf Pomf*

“I will say this as a librarian, but it is unbelievably reckless to suddenly make someone read that book!

You first have to draw them in with something soft, and then slowly shift it to more intense directions, training them little by little…” (Seirie)

“Ah, so you were all gathered here! I had no progress on my si—hm?”

For some reason, the attitude of everyone didn’t change much, and I received a whole lot of input.

And then, after the long sermon…

“Ina, listen! Sazan was actually a woman!” (Souma)

“Eeeeeh?!” (Ina)

“Moreover, her identity is actually a priestess that has sealed the Evil God for generations!” (Souma)

“Eeeeeeeeeh?!” (Ina)

“And the last Evil God Fragment is sealed in the right hand of Sazan!” (Souma)

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?!!” (Ina)

I enjoyed the reactions of Ina that came straight from her heart.

We did try to investigate with all we had, but the result was zero.

The diary of Neitia that Seirie-san told me before was actually of someone else that had nothing to do with the Evil God so, in the end, there was almost no progress that day, and we returned to the mansion after passing pointless time.

“…Fuuh.” (Souma)

I collapsed on the bed and looked at the ceiling of the room absentmindedly.

By seeing the memories of Sazan, we learned the location of the last Evil God Fragment which I wanted to know the most, but it is hard to say that we have enough information.

In the memories sealed in the bracelet of Sazan, there’s the memories of the first generation Sazan, in other words, Nameless who saw the Evil God. However, there’s only the warning ‘you must not fight the Evil God’ left in that.

You apparently can add memories into the bracelet afterwards.

And yet, the fact that the fight against the Evil God, which is very important, wasn’t left behind means that Nameless for some reason deliberately didn’t leave it behind.

I once again tried to ask the details of this from Maki who should know the reason why Nameless hid this, but…

“I think it would be better for you to confirm for yourself, Souma.” (Maki)

She simply responded in a stiff tone without giving me an answer.

While at it, I thought that Sazan might have knowledge of the Evil God that isn’t in the memories of the bracelet, and I tried to ask her in detail, but…

“Hssssss!!”

When I approached her, I was presented with the back of Maki and the hissing of the masked girl like that of a wounded cat.

It at the very least seems like it will be difficult to have a proper talk with them.

(The strongest enemy of Nekomimi Neko, huh.) (Souma)

I remember the advertisement for Nekomimi Neko from before it came out.

Gamers have a certain type of aspiration towards the word ‘strongest’.

Behind those great causes like defeating the Evil God, bringing peace to the world, and not wanting to repeat the tragedy of the past world, I can’t deny that there’s the childish desire to become the strongest existence.

(However…) (Souma)

The silhouette that was shown in the article was not the exact same as that of the Evil God Fragment even if it did resemble it.

I would say it is more similar to the original Evil God that Alex and Nameless fought in the recording.

In that case, it isn’t only the Evil God Fragment, the Nekomimi Neko development…no, even if they didn’t develop it, it would mean that that was the monster that they had a framework of.

The Evil God was so nasty even when it was just a fragment. I can’t even imagine just what kind of unbelievable enemy it will turn out once it is complete.

I can’t imagine it, but there might be something in that Evil God main body to make even the stalwart Maki falter.

Was it really not a mistake to choose to fight the Evil God?

I was thinking that while turning around in my bed and facing the window…

“A-Aaah!” (Souma)

The sight there made me notice the unbelievable mistake I made.

(Why didn’t I remember…?) (Souma)

Even though I should have had enough time to remember and achieve my objective.

The gender of Sazan, the harmful books, and the good reactions of Ina had stirred my heart, making me completely forget about my own objective.

That’s right. In other words…

“I forgot to buy the metal fixtures for the curtain!” (Souma)

So I have to live for a while longer with half of the curtain off, huh. I was lamenting my own mistake and…

—*Knock Knock*

The door was knocked in a reserved fashion and I tilted my head.

“Hnn, who is it?” (Souma)

It is late at night.

The ones with the highest chance of coming here at this time are Maki or Leila, but the knocking of Maki is more energetic, and Leila’s knock is more…sticky.

I opened the door while tilting my head, and the one there was an unexpected person.

“Hm? Sazan? Wa—” (Souma)

But I couldn’t speak those words out.

I staggered from Sazan suddenly jumping onto my chest.

“What’s…the matter?” (Souma)

Sazan has been taking distance from me since that incident.

It is to the point where,  even at dinner time, she would be completely on guard and run away just from me getting close to her.

Just what brings this?

“Anyways, let’s gather everyone and…” (Souma)

There’s no doubt this is an abnormal situation.

I tried to go call our comrades, but she grabbed my chest tightly as if clinging onto me.

“Sazan?” (Souma)

I can’t see her face because of the mask.

However, her hands holding me were trembling.

“…it…” (Sazan)

“Eh?” (Souma)

She whispered in my chest while I was confused…

“—I saw it. Everything.” (Sazan)

At the left wrist of the girl that said this in a raspy voice, there’s the Soul Bracelet that was brought from the rewinded world.