Part 1 Chapter 11.10

After the reorganization of the Azure Syndicate, I sought out Hikari to retrieve the Cube. Hikari, who had briefly come up to Seoul, responded to my call before heading back down to New Seoul, and I demanded the return of the Cube.

“Yes. I understand.”

Surprisingly, Hikari readily handed the Cube over to me. Hikari, who so easily offered up such an omnipotent item, felt like an enlightened sage.

“Why on earth?”

“All the researchable parts have been researched. A world-ending switch, you know, researching it further would only cause accidents. This isn’t fun.”

“……What did you say?”

“All the research was finished yesterday. If there were other Cubes, I’d just cross-verify, but it doesn’t seem like they’d be very different. I used it well, Leader-nim…. Oh, you’re Phoenix-nim now, right?”

The Cube in my hand suddenly seemed trivial. Hikari yawned and was about to leave for Gwanak, and I called her back as she was about to head to the station prepared in Gwanak.

“I’ll take you, so just a moment. Did you analyze the entire Cube?”

“As far as it could be analyzed? From the start, this thing can only be used if you’re level 95, you know.”

“S+.”

“Oh, mixing terms makes it easier for people to understand, don’t you think? Compromising, it’s something you can only use even a little if you reach the very end of S-rank, so I can’t use it even if I wanted to.”

Hikari licked her lips and glared at me.

“Rather, I’m interested in Phoenix-nim, you know?”

“Huh?”

“The way Leader-nim constructs their body…. It’s incredibly interesting. So, I was wondering if Leader-nim would be willing to be my test subject.”

“What kind of research are you planning to do, exactly?”

She was a genius who, merely from keywords, grasped and developed future technology from five years later to create mass-produced versions, and completely analyzed-according to her-the alien Cube in just over a month.

What kind of experiment would such a genius conduct on my body? My mouth involuntarily watered.

“Hehehe, it’s nothing much.”

Hikari took my hand with a sinister expression and stroked it.

“If I learn about the technology that forms a body by weaving mana, don’t you think not only Spirits but also regular ability users could transform their bodies?”

“What would you use the transformation for?”

“To make my brother manly!”

Hikari threw her arms wide open and began to blab about her research plan.

“My brother, well, Jilpungek’s biggest trauma is his appearance, you know? Honestly, I hate to say this, but he’s prettier than me, so it’s really hard to look at. I love him, but sometimes he feels less like a brother and more like a sister? Whenever we go somewhere, people ask if we’re sisters and tease us, and because of that, he’d get pissed off and try to cut people’s heads off more than once or twice.”

“That’s why he was called a murderer and forcibly entered the Round Table.”

The anecdote of Gawain personally beating Hayate into submission with his sword and bringing him into the Round Table ignited the rosy fantasies of some women worldwide.

“Yes! Thanks to that, my brother can’t even come back home, and I was bullied, ……that was a slip of the tongue. Phoenix-nim probably heard all about it in the future anyway.”

“Yes. I heard it directly from you.”

Since Hikari was also one of the heroines, I didn’t hide that fact. Hikari had already noticed that she was one of the candidates.

“As expected. Then, you know what?”

“Yes.”

“Did the ‘Make My Brother a Macho Man’ project succeed?”

“……Are you curious about that?”

It was a very Hikari-like question, but her reaction was different from others, making me feel quite strange.

“Aren’t you curious about what kind of relationship your future self had with me?”

“? Why would I be curious about that? It’s just a possibility that might exist. There’s no such thing as a fixed future. Everything is just the most probable outcome approaching reality within the organically formed relationships between people.”

“But the world’s destruction is 100% certain.”

“Oh, that’s a contradiction. Phoenix-nim believes that 100% is uncertain, which is why you’re trying to stop the world from being destroyed, aren’t you?”

“……That’s true.”

I heard a wise answer from Hikari, who was only 15 years old. I stroked Hikari’s head, and Hikari’s mouth dropped open at my touch.

“Did my future self like this kind of thing?”

“Yes. A lot. Very much.”

Nadefo, was it?

Perhaps because she had a difficult past where she lost her parents early, fled Japan to Korea, and was then almost kidnapped by Cheongsong Kang Soyeon to only do research during her childhood, the original Hikari was quite the type to crave affection.

“Hmm… this isn’t bad either! Hehe.”

Hikari enjoyed my petting and beamed.

“Hikari. Is there anything you want? I’ll grant it.”

“Um, me…. Can you let me meet my brother?”

“Jilpungek? Who knows where he is right now-“

“No. Seung-hyung oppa. Fire Fist, I mean-Ouch!”

I unconsciously scratched the top of Hikari’s head with my fingernail.

“I’m sorry.”

After quickly apologizing, I gathered my hands and smoothed down Hikari’s disheveled hair.

“But Hikari. You know better than anyone that I dislike him.”

“But Phoenix-nim, he’s the one who saved me, you know? I want to help him in many ways.”

“……Haa.”

As expected of a presumed DLC protagonist, he had already strongly planted a flag with a heroine.

“……Do you really like Lee Seung-hyung?”

“I like him as the benefactor who saved my life. Hmm, if you’re thinking of a romantic relationship…. Pfft.”

Hikari snorted, finding it funny herself.

“If I said I liked someone, their head would be gone, wouldn’t it?”

“……Indeed, there’s one crazy bastard who cuts off wrists if you send a love letter to you.”

“That crazy bastard is my only blood relative and my brother, but what he does is so insane that I don’t even feel like shielding him, even as family. So, Phoenix-nim, can’t you help me out a bit?”

Hikari earnestly grabbed my hand.

“So my Seung-hyung oppa’s neck doesn’t get cut off by my brother’s sword.”

“……I’ve lived this long, and this is the first time I’ve heard such a request.”

“You know my brother’s personality. Even if someone saved my life, if they so much as flirt with me a little, he’ll fly into a rage and draw his sword.”

You shouldn’t look at Himeji Hayate from a normal person’s perspective. He’s the kind of guy who forcibly seated a bona fide Villain at the Round Table.

It’s hard to say this in front of his only blood relative, but Himeji Hayate was also completely insane.

“So, you want me to strengthen Lee Seung-hyung?”

“Not necessarily strengthen him, but to help Seung-hyung oppa preserve his life. Either make Seung-hyung oppa stronger, or curb my brother’s temper.”

“How?”

“I’m going to make him a muscular macho man. By mastering the method of transforming an ability user’s body.”

……I was faced with a serious problem.

“Hikari.”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember what I said before?”

“What… was it?”

At my serious voice, Hikari tensed up and froze. But instead of easing her tension, I pressured Hikari even more, even using mana.

“The saying, ‘Do well when your brother is still your brother.'”

“……I don’t quite understand. Did my future self do something wrong?”

“Yes. Something so heinous that you only survived because you were his younger sister.”

“……Hick.”

Hikari gasped. I patted Hikari’s back to help her compose herself, but Hikari couldn’t calm down easily.

“What on earth did my future self do…?”

“You grew up in a much worse environment than now in many ways. Separately from that, your future self also conducted all sorts of research to make Jilpungek manly. And then….”

I deeply pondered whether I should tell this to a minor, but I couldn’t stop midway. For Hikari’s sake, and for Jilpungek’s sake.

“……The research failed, and your brother became your sister.”

“Gasp.”

Hikari’s face twisted in an indescribable way.

“Is my future self a fucking idiot? How could she cause such a research failure?”

“……Don’t insult the Himeji Hikari I know. That child went through tens of times more suffering than you have experienced so far.”

“Even so, that, haa, this….”

The current Hikari was being scolded, as it were, because of her future self, but Hikari seemed unable to accept that she had ‘failed.’

“Do you happen to know how it failed?”

“No. But I know one thing.”

I briefly mentioned the future possibilities to Hikari.

* * *

The original work.

That is, the future five years from now, which I claim is a regression to the past. Hikari is rescued by the priest’s party and reveals the dangers of the Cube to the world.

Hikari, currently on board the Baeknaro, was an NPC-like companion who, as a researcher, modified and enhanced the party’s weapons and suits, further improving their abilities.

Naturally, as a heroine, she had her own individual route, and her brother, Jilpungek, could only be recruited as a companion on Himeji Hikari’s route.

As a woman.

Himeji Hayate underwent a sex change due to a failed experiment in his sister’s individual route, and eventually, under the protagonist’s demonic hands, was subjected to a sister sandwich and returned as a man.

Jilpungek, who underwent a sex change, was so popular that people demanded a separate character, Himeji Hayate (Female). More popular than Hikari.

……Although I was forced to exploit him once due to an omake scene, I certainly didn’t do it knowing he was a man. If it was something I absolutely had to do, I would have abandoned the route itself.

Fortunately, the developers included a ‘skip function.’

I couldn’t bring myself to experience the scene directly, and after pressing skip, I sealed that flashback scene forever.

As for what happened afterward, I only confirmed the details someone experienced on the wiki. There were truly many people in the world who, regardless of whether the other party was formerly a man, shouted “anything is possible” as long as there was a hole.

– The protagonist was forced to exploit Hayate, who was soaked in a lethal dose of sleeping pills, at Hikari’s request, and Hayate, who woke up midway, wanted to kill the protagonist but fell into the pleasure of a female body.

– …But ultimately, the experiment to return Hayate to his original state failed, and Hayate abandoned the name Himeji Hayate and lived as Hikari’s sister under a new name.

That was the only route to recruit Jilpungek as a companion. A mission impossible for me, as only those who experienced it directly could use Jilpungek as a companion.

……There was no need to mention the story that after the Azure Flame Phoenix died, the awakened protagonist would decide whether Hayate would live as a man (Hayate) or a woman (Hitomi).

* * *

“Her name is Himeji Hitomi.”

“……This feels quite sordid and dirty, somehow.”

“I’m sorry. You were too curious.”

‘It was the ugly desire of the production company that wanted to somehow include a Yamato Nadeshiko sister sandwich.’

If that were the case, I wondered if it would have been better to just make Hayate a woman from the start, but regardless, Hayate was a being with such an unfortunate fate.

“So, don’t rashly research body transformation. Understand? Unless you want to turn your brother into your sister.”

“……No. That means I need to research even more.”

“Did this kid just ignore my words completely?”

Why is it that heroines these days won’t listen to a damn thing I say? As I reflected on whether I had been too lenient lately, Hikari put her hands on her hips and struck a confident pose.

“My past-present self succeeds where my future self failed! There’s nothing more fulfilling than surpassing myself! So, Phoenix-nim, please help me so that my brother doesn’t become my sister!”

“I’m telling you, you just shouldn’t do that research!”

“Oh, come on~ If I research, I can make my brother’s… thing bigger, can’t I?! Huh?! He’s already someone who subtly, no, openly sighs deeply because his is small!”

“How do you know that?!”

“I saw it when we went to the mixed-gender hot spring!”

“Hmph.”

My mouth dropped open. Just how far into fantasy was the unreality of this sibling pair going to fly?

“You want to make your brother’s thing bigger that much?”

“That’s the only way he’ll live with confidence as a man! That’s the twisted root cause for him!”

“……Indeed. That’s true.”

His sensitive reaction to his feminine appearance isn’t for any other reason. It’s because he lacks confidence in that area, and his self-esteem as a man has hit rock bottom.

“When people say my brother looks like a woman, it’s because his inferiority complex is low, so he distorts it that way, but honestly, that, that….”

Hikari bowed her head, as if embarrassed to speak.

“His thing is small?”

“Kyaaaak?!”

Hikari shrieked.

“Be careful! My brother is a petty man, so if he hears something like that, he takes it all to heart!”

“……Alright. Tsk. Ah, no.”

I changed my mind.

“If this goes well, I might be able to make Jilpungek a complete ally?”

What is the condition for recruiting a companion? Isn’t it to offer the method that would most entice them?

“Hikari. Can you really do this research well?”

“Yes! Just leave it to me!”

Hikari showed more enthusiasm than ever. Although it was quite annoying that the results of this research would also affect Lee Seung-hyung, if I could sacrifice myself to turn a member of the Round Table into an ally instead of an enemy, it was a sufficiently valuable sacrifice.

“……I don’t think I can spare more than about an hour a day.”

“That’s enough! Kyaaaak!”

Hikari clapped her hands and jumped up and down. What could make her so happy?

“Now my brother won’t throw a fit at me about his thing being small! Ahahaha!”

“…….”

Cube retrieval complete.

I set an appointment time with Hikari on my schedule, then moved to the next location.