CH 19

NOVEMBER 28, 2022 / MAD HATTER

Translator: MadHatter

“Hiaaaaaa!!”

Aivoice I had never emitted before burst out of myimouth arbitrarily. I panicked profusely toisuch an extentithat my heart palpitated and I wasitruly on the verge of crying.

Thisicouldn’t be real. It must be a dream.

Slippery, cold fingers graspedimy shoulders, despite myiconviction that this was a dream. Theidiscolored, foul-smelling claws sunk into me.

“Ah, aaah, ah, ah.” YEWFYVFE9Q

The man moanediin my ear. It was not in Japanese.

Even so, I could tell that darkiemotions such as sufferingiand grief wereibeing conveyed.

He was appealing to me. He was tryingito share thoseiemotions withime.

Not good. Not shared on websites like lightnovelreader.me

Not good. Not shared on websites like lightnovelreader.me

Not good. Not shared on websites like lightnovelreader.me

Not good. Not shared on websites like lightnovelreader.me

Not good. Not shared on websites like lightnovelreader.me

Breathing was aistruggle and my consciousnessiwas starting to falter.

I was terrified and was at my limit. Any further than this, I wouldn’t beiable to bear it―

“…That person. You can’t.”

The voice that abruptly reverberatedifrom right beside me wasn’t a moan. Itiwas a dignified voice thatiwas somewhat easier to perceive thanithe earlier one.

“…Please return quickly.”

It was Takenada.

“Haven’t I mentioned this overiand overiagain? This is notia place for people like you.”

The hand that was painfully tightening itsigrasp on my right shoulderiwas lessenediin power by his stern remarks.

“Ah, aaah, ug…”

Even so, an anguished moan was still lingering in my ear. Takenaka, whoiwas barely within my sight, seemed to be taking a step toward me, and the sound of his shoes struck my eardrums.

“…If you still insist on not leaving.”

Before Takenakaicould say anything else, the whole back room was envelopediin a grave atmosphere. A heavyipressure that threatened toipenetrate me, or perhaps Iishould call it aniexceptionally overpoweringiaura, surged in from rightibeside Takenaka, encompassingithe back room withia formidable force.

My eyeballs movediwith frantic effort as I soughtito grasp what on earthiTakenaka was intendingito do. Even when Iiclenched my teeth and strained my neck to theiutmost, it still didn’t budge. When my whole body felt the aura as acute as a knife being thrust at me, the sickening feeling of being entanglediin something stickyiand the chill crawlingidown my spineisubsided gradually, and the presence of something standing right next to me fadediaway like a mist.

It disappeared after a while. It was roughly the sameitime that I wasiable to move myineck and bodyiproperly. I felt like I was breathing oxygen for the first time in a long time.

However, my whole body was drenched in sweat, and Iicollapsed from the round chair, quivering all over like a small animal, both from not grasping what had struck me and from experiencing a form of fear unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

Completely hunched over, my legs were drainediof all strength. I didn’t have theiluxury of viewingimyself objectively, wondering how pathetic it must be for a man over 20 to be like this.

While I was unable to move due to cramps everywhere, Takenakaibent down on his knees and reached out his hand to me, presumably in an attempt to help me stand up. I looked up at Takenakaiwith my arms outstretched to clingigratefully to the hand that had been offered to me.

“―!”

My heartiskipped a beat again.

Takenaka, no. It was because I sawiTakenaka’s back. Someoneientirely unfamiliar to me, who shouldn’tibe here, and whoiseemed out of place was standing behind Takenaka, who bentidown and extended out his hand to me.

His arms were folded, poisedifirmly and quietly as if gazing at me. The armored figure wasistanding right behind Takenaka.

It matched exactly what I had read aboutiin middle school history textbooks. At the same time, the words “samurai” and “warrior” crossed my mind.

In contrast to Takenakaiin front of me, his overall appearance was slightlyitransparent, yet his presence was still terrific, accompanied by an intimidating, yet in no way aggressive, sensation that madeime feel numb. The piercingiaura I felt was not from Takenaka, rather it was from the huge armor and helmet behind him.

What the hell… was this guy? Why was that thingibehind Takenaka?

Since such absurd occurrencesiwere unfolding one after another, I thought Iiwas still dreaming. Whoion earth could believe that this wasn’t a dream?

I wondered when would Iiawaken from this bizarre dream. Stupefied, I keptibreathing heavily and staring at Takenakaiand the person behind him, and a sickening coldness descended slowly over my right shoulder.

A strange sliminess and the sensation of a dampicloth sticking to my skin.

Slowly, I tilted myihead back and lookediat my right shoulder toipinpoint the strangeisensation. I was at a lossifor words. The blood in my bodyiseemed to cool and recede all at once.

Thisiwas no dream…

On my uniform, aroundimy right shoulder, lay an eerie handprint, as though a wet hand had grasped it.

The wet handprint was clearly visible, remindingime that what had taken place earlier was not a dream, but reality. The slimy, foul-smelling hand gripped me, and that was theireality.

The oxygen from my nose andimouth reached my brain, sending a tingling, searing headache.

Thisiwas real. It was not a dream. All of it―

A small tremor seizedime from the right shoulder, and whenithe tremor engulfed myientire body, I couldn’tiwithstand it and puked violently on the spot. While twisting out my pathetic voice, I feltiso sick that I started to cryiphysiologically and myivision blurred. My heart hurt and my head ached.

This was reality, and yet Iirefused to believe it. I couldn’t believeiit but this was real.

This situation that I couldn’t embrace but wasicompelled to accept, threw me into turmoil and drove me to vomit so much that I lost all sense of what wasiunfolding. That was surelyinot the only reason. Perhapsiit was a part of the exhaustion I had been accumulating until now that I had reached my limit just now.

Seriously, I didn’t realize it was this bad… until it exploded.

No matter how long timeipassed, the shiveringithroughout my body did not subside. Despite it being summer right now, I still couldn’t shed the abnormal chill I felt.

Whatiwould have happened to me had Takenaka not shown up?

Would I have died…? No, eveniif I hadn’t died, something fairly sinisteriwould have ensued.

The inextinguishableidread led meito conclude so.

Takenaka gave me a back rub and took care of me silently untiliI ceased vomiting, maintainingithe sameiexpression he had when he assisted me regardless of the fact that I was vomitingiand spewing gastric juice. Not only that, butiinstead of leaving me feeling empty inside my stomachiafter vomiting, he quietly brought cleaningisupplies and wiped up all the gastric juice that had splattered all over the floor.

While watching this in a daze in theicorner of the back room, I feltiapologetic and simultaneously realized thatiI had made a terrible mistake withiTakenaka.

This person, he was not theikind of person who wouldirelish witnessing someone’s amazement, panic or fright.

I thought so when I watched him cleaning the flooriwith a rag andia mop.

Beforeilong, the stern armor and helmet behindiTakenaka were gone.

The fatigue I had beenifeeling and the fear I hadiexperienced had completelyioverwhelmed me both physically and mentally and I fainted as it was.

By the time I woke up the next time, it was just before the end of the nightishift, and Takenaka had put a spare uniform on me instead of a futon and apparently let me sleep like that.

Even I, after waking up, could no longeritrust that what I had gone through wasia dream. For I had already crossed a line that ordinary people wereinot permitted toioverstep. Instead of returning to the point where I shouldihave turned back, I let half of my body completely submerge into it.

The price I had to pay foridisregarding the warnings of many people and persevering wasinot a light one. At theivery least, I would be tormented for the rest of the summer to the degree that it would be beyondimeasure.

When I left theiconvenience store afteriworking the night shift, I caughtisight of it for sure.

Iisaw aiwoman withilongihair cladiinitattered clothesipeeringiinto theistoreifrom theiglass outsideitheistore.

Fromithatidayion, Iibeganito seeithings thatiwere beyondithe realmiof possibility.