Side Story – To You, Waiting at the Ending (5
by Afuhfuihgs
Side Story – To You, Waiting at the Ending (5)
As I pulled away from our joined lips, I suddenly found myself speechless. It wasn’t because I had nothing to say… but because I had too much to say. The fact that I could endure the endless pain without dying was all thanks to Luna. And now, Luna had even come to pull me out of hell herself, so it was only natural that I’d have a mountain of things I wanted to ask and say.
“Ross…”
“…Luna.”
The warmth that had touched my lips was as vivid as if I’d been burned. Just a little more. Seeing Luna’s pretty face before me, the desire I had forgotten all this time slowly reared its head.
“Hey, are you done smooching!”
I barely managed to overcome the intense impulse thanks to the sudden, urgent voice. I received great help in the labyrinth, and I’m getting help again this time… I think I did well to give him the nickname Demon King after all. The title of King means he’s the best.
“Sorry to interrupt your touching reunion! But I’m in danger too, you know? I recommend getting out of here first and sharing your hot love in a safe place-“
The Demon King’s urgent voice was cut off, followed by an explosion and Nyarlathotep’s angry voice echoing.
“Dare you set foot in this place without my permission and then leave as you please again? You must think I’m a complete joke just because I made one mistake.”
I could see the surroundings distorting. The space was warping due to the influence of chaos. The Demon King, waving his staff and backing away towards us, squinted one eye.
“Thanks for saving me for now. But do you have a way out of here?”
“Of course. Did you think I came here without a plan?”
Saying that, the Demon King reached into his cloak and took something out. It was a vial with something like opaque jelly inside. Without hesitation, the Demon King threw it at Nyarlathotep and then took out another object from his cloak that looked like obsidian flashing red.
In the meantime, the vial thrown at Nyarlathotep burst in mid-air, and its contents spilled out. Nyarlathotep, who tried to push it away using chaos, couldn’t block anything and was completely covered in the contents. He looked as if his entire body was buried in something like slime.
“What is this…! What is this thing that ignores my power…! No, it’s not ignoring it, it’s chaos of the same nature…?!”
Ignoring Nyarlathotep’s bewildered question, the Demon King shook the red-flashing object at me.
“This is a receiver that calls the Administrator.”
“By Administrator, do you mean Patulga?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Actually, without the Administrator’s help, even the smartest me wouldn’t have been able to find you trapped in the outskirts of the Outer World. You should at least say thank you to the Administrator.”
I glanced around and slightly bowed my head in gratitude. The Demon King gave me a thumbs up, turned around, and threw the receiver he was holding at Nyarlathotep.
“Alright, mission complete! Now let’s escape! Hurry, grab my staff!”
It seems I won’t be able to see Patulga directly. I was going to meet them in person to say thank you… They must be quite shy, or there must be a reason why they can’t face me.
As Luna and I grabbed the Demon King’s staff, a bright light suddenly burst from the staff, instantly turning our vision white. Along with the sensation of using a portal, the white vision returned to normal.
“Where is this…?”
Instead of the temple where Nyarlathotep’s throne was, a room with a familiar feeling came into view. Could it be the place where Ross of Desire was?
“It’s my temporary base set up outside the Labyrinth. The location is still on the outskirts of the Outer World.”
My temporary base? Then it’s different from where I thought it was.
“…I thought it was where Ross of Desire was.”
“Huh? Oh, of course, it’s the same memory, so the inside of the room is the same. But the location is different. In the first place, Ross of Desire died shortly after you returned to your original world, killed by Nyarlathotep, who immediately tracked your traces. The place where Ross of Desire lived was also absorbed into the Labyrinth.”
“…What?”
That was the first time I’d heard that. I naturally thought that Ross of Desire, true to his personality, would be smirking slyly and cheering me on for a wonderful ending… To think he died. And right after I left. It was so unexpected that the shock was great.
“Ross of Desire, you mean that other Ross in the memory that Ross showed you…?”
At Luna’s cautious question, I nodded silently.
“Oh, you didn’t know…?”
The Demon King, who seemed to assume that I knew about the death of Ross of Desire, scratched his forehead for a moment and said.
“You were being tracked by Nyarlathotep. If you had left your traces as they were, Nyarlathotep could have summoned you to his presence in reverse. So, Ross of Desire chose death instead of erasing the traces.”
My shoulders feel heavy. So heavy that my head naturally droops. One more person has died because of me, so if I have any conscience, it can’t be helped. I lost all my precious friends whom I swore to protect. And they sacrificed themselves for me. The person who promised to protect them ended up only receiving help. A favor I can’t even repay.
Can I really call this a success? Was the choice I made really the best? I can’t shake that thought. If I had tried just a little harder… could I have saved even one more person?
I saved the world, and I saved Luna, whom I love more than anyone… but I couldn’t save my precious friend and the protagonist of my novel, Roel. Moreover, Roel even killed me again, so I can’t even imagine the pain he must have gone through.
Luna, noticing my emotions sinking, quietly approached me and took my hand. Forcing a bitter smile, I held her hand tightly as if I would never let go again.
“Alright, then here’s a surprise reveal!”
As if he didn’t like the somber atmosphere, the Demon King even clapped his hands and suddenly took off the mask he was wearing. Luna, seeing the Demon King’s face, suddenly twitched the hand she was holding and shook her head violently, comparing my face and the Demon King’s face.
“E-eh…?!”
She seems flustered because there are two people who look exactly alike. The Demon King, with a satisfied expression at Luna’s reaction, shrugged his shoulders.
“Ta-da! Actually, I was another Ross! How about it, aren’t I a bit more handsome?”
Without hesitation, I pushed away the face of my friend, who was rudely asking a question while bringing his face close to Luna without any sense of distance, and sighed.
“…Stop with the obvious nonsense. So, do you have any plans for the future?”
Come to think of it, living alone with Luna on the outskirts of the Outer World wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe the Demon King, who is surprisingly quick-witted, would leave us alone. Or maybe he’d be a neighbor?
But the Demon King’s answer was unexpected.
“Of course, you guys have to go back to your original world, and I have to go back to the world I lived in.”
“…You could go back?”
“You’ve done it before, why are you asking like it’s something new.”
…That’s right? I had already experienced it once. I wanted to retort at his annoying voice, but unfortunately, nothing came to mind.
“You don’t have to worry about the world’s rejection either. You know? The runic letters that can prevent the world’s rejection. Of course, like a Magic King, I’ve realized how to use magic.”
I shifted my gaze to the side and looked at Luna. As expected, she didn’t seem very happy at the thought of going back. Luna, who was pursing her lips, quietly smiled faintly when she met my eyes. It seems we feel the same way.
“…We don’t necessarily have to go back, do we?”
As I said that tentatively, the Demon King, who was waving his staff and muttering something to himself in the air, looked at me with a surprised face.
“What? You’re not going back? Why?”
Before answering, I looked at Luna. Seeing her nodding slightly, I could confirm again that Luna had the same thought as me.
“…Because there’s no reason to go back. You know too. I lost my precious friends at the hands of the cult leader. Raelran also died for me. So, I no longer have any attachment to that world. Rather, I think it would be hard if I were there. I think I would feel the absence of my friends too much.”
As I finished speaking, Luna nodded and quietly continued.
“Actually, it was too hard for me. It was the first time I had visited the Messiah club in years. I hesitated so much in front of the door… Of course, Navier and Eunice are also good friends, but Lacar, Aria, and Kane were really precious friends. Wouldn’t it be happier to live quietly here with Ross….”
The Demon King, who had been listening to our words with his arms crossed, frowned and tilted his head.
“…What the hell are you talking about? Then shouldn’t you go back even more?”
Feeling frustrated by the Demon King’s gaze, which seemed to not understand us, I sighed.
“Haa, don’t you understand? Either way, the dead won’t come back even if we go back to the world we were originally in. Going back doesn’t mean much to us-“
Suddenly, the Demon King waved his staff and cut me off. The Demon King looked at me with an even more dumbfounded expression than the dumbfounded expression I was giving him and opened his mouth.
“No, what the hell are you talking about?”
“?”
Seeing my puzzled expression, the Demon King scratched his temple with the end of his staff and shouted as if frustrated.
“We’re going back to the starting point again. To the first day you possessed Ross! Of course, the dead will be alive and well!”
“…What?”
“…Huh?”
As Luna and I asked back with stupid faces at the same time, the Demon King, who had been rolling his eyes at the strange atmosphere, suddenly smirked, twisting one corner of his mouth.
“Could it be… you guys didn’t know?”
Luna and I blankly watched as the Demon King’s shoulders slowly rose. The fact that we could see everyone alive again… was too unbelievable.
0 Comments