novelburst
Chapter 435: Coming Out
Chapter 435: Coming Out
Chapter 435: Coming Out
“S-Suicide together?”
Lulu’s eyes widened in surprise, and she immediately raised her voice.
“What… what are you talking about!!”
“Why, is that not okay?”
“Of course not!”
She grabbed my shoulders urgently.
“You can’t die, Master!”
Lulu clung to me as she spoke.
“I’ll die alone! I can’t allow you to die!”
“…Really?”“Yes!”
I was overwhelmed with emotion for a moment.
I could still clearly remember her distrustful gaze from before.
And now, Lulu was so devoted to me.
The same was true for the other heroines as well.
No matter what the final outcome would be, our shared experiences had made us incredibly precious to one another.
“Still, we have to commit suicide.”
“If you keep saying that, I’ll use force–”
“That’s the condition for the happy ending.”
“…What?”
Lulu looked confused as I gently took her hand and began to explain.
“This isn’t about me sacrificing myself like before.”
“…?”
“It’s actually for the good of everyone.”
Lulu still looked puzzled.
“You’re just trying to die alone again, aren’t you!”
“…I told you, it’s not like that.”
I realized I needed to explain it more clearly.
“To catch the mastermind behind all this, we have no choice.”
“The mastermind? Who is it?”
“…The ‘God of Chaos.’ I have to catch it.”
“The God of Chaos…”
“You remember that eyeball from the battle? I’m talking about it.”
Lulu’s expression turned icy.
“Is that thing the one tormenting you, Master…?”
“Not just me, it’s been toying with all of us.”
Lulu’s eyes burned with anger as she shouted.
“Where is it? As your pet, I will…!!”
“Shhh…!”
I covered her mouth, whispering.
“It could be listening to us right now.”
“…!”
“Let’s talk quietly.”
Lulu nodded, her face tense.
I felt a pang of guilt for using the excuse of being overheard, but I continued.
“Anyway, the point is… to fight the God of Chaos in its main spiritual form, I need to become a spirit too.”
“Ah…”
“The details are all in the final quest that appeared after I met Glare.”
Lulu nodded, and then her expression grew sorrowful.
“Then… does that mean you have to die, Master?”
“Temporarily… yes.”
“Ugh…”
“But I’ll come back.”
“…What?”
I smiled, causing Lulu to tilt her head in confusion.
“The reward for completing the quest is a happy ending, which includes my resurrection.”
“R-really?”
The newly updated system was thankfully more flexible than before.
I guess it had to be, or Glare would have torn it apart.
The good news was, besides the ‘Sun God’s Prophecy,’ I now had another means of resurrection after everything was over.
Additionally, the Sun God’s wish could be used for something else.
“I’ll use the Sun God’s wish to bring you back. Then there will be no problem.”
“…”
“When it’s all over, you and I will be resurrected and live happily with everyone. How does that sound? Isn’t it great?”
It was a perfect plan.
I explained it confidently, but Lulu looked uncertain as she asked.
“Th-then… what about your seed inside me…?”
“I’ve already asked the Sun God. Thanks to Serena’s magic, there will be no issues.”
When I visited the Sun God with Kania, she reluctantly nodded in agreement.
Sometimes, I wondered if she was really a god.
“Then… there’s really no problem?”
“Yes, no problem at all.”
I hugged the tearful Lulu.
“Then… I’ll do it! Joint suicide…!”
“…Can we call it something else?”
“I’ll die with you! Hehehe…”
“…”
The term didn’t quite sit right, no matter how it was phrased, making me smile wryly.
So… should I tell the others about this or not…?
I still hadn’t made a decision.
The dilemma was simple.
Should I bring everyone with me to increase our chances, knowing it would put them in extreme danger?
Or should I go alone to minimize the risk, even if it lowers our chances of success?
“Hmm…”
It was too difficult to decide on my own.
Considering we’d be facing the final enemy, and since I trusted everyone, should it be an all-out war?
But spirits can’t be harmed without the Hero’s Armament, like the Demon King.
Bringing the heroines along wouldn’t change the outcome if I couldn’t win alone.
In that case, shouldn’t I protect them?
…But if I lose, the world ends, doesn’t it?
That thought made me shake my head.
Recently, the physical body of the creature parasitizing the sun had collapsed.
That meant it would take a long time for it to reassemble and affect the world again.
At least the heroines could live happily for a while.
Happy?
But soon my thoughts shifted again.
Would a world without me be happy for them?
I’ve seen it repeatedly.
A world without me was worse than hell for them.
Especially now that everyone knew the truth.
So, should I get everyone’s help?
But what if one of them dies?
Would I be happy then?
“Ugh…”
I was caught in a never-ending dilemma.
A logical loop with no clear answer.
What should I do?
I had wanted to confide in my ancestor about this yesterday.
I don’t know.
After coming this far, I couldn’t make a decision.
I was feeling pretty pathetic.
“M-Master…?”
“Ah.”
Had my thoughts shown on my face?
“What’s wrong…?”
Lulu, looking anxious, asked cautiously.
“It’s nothing…”
I quickly composed myself.
“Hey, Lulu. Let’s keep this a secret for now.”
“…What?”
“T-That Eye bastard is monitoring us closely. If he finds out, it could be bad. Understand?”
“A-Ah, yes…!”
After telling Lulu another lie, I lay down on the bed with a sigh.
“I-I… I’ll do my best!”
“…Okay.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by doing her best, but anyway, Lulu was full of enthusiasm.
“T-Then, I’ll go first!”
“Sigh…”
As I waved at her, she scurried away like an assassin, keeping low and glancing around before rolling across the floor.
With a slightly bitter smile, I stared blankly at the ceiling and murmured.
“What should I choose?”
It seemed like tonight would be another sleepless night.
.
.
.
.
“Ugh…”
My foreboding was completely accurate.
“What time is it now…”
I hadn’t been able to sleep properly for several days since then.
Today too, I woke up drenched in cold sweat from a nightmare.
“4:30 a.m….”
Checking the clock, it was a time too early to get up and too late to go back to sleep.
Just like my current situation…
Thinking that, I got up from my bed and wandered out of the room, trying to shake off the drowsiness.
“I should train…”
There’s nothing better than early morning training to clear the mind.
“…Huh?”
While rubbing my eyes and walking down the corridor, I saw something strange.
“What the…?”
A disheveled girl was standing with her back to me.
What the hell?
Was it a ghost?
“…Hero.”
“G-Glare!?”
Approaching her with a tense expression, I realized that the girl, who looked worn out from a worsening illness over the past few days, was Glare, and I was shocked.
“Y-You’re awake? H-How’s your body?”
“…”
But for some reason, Glare just looked at me weakly.
“You shouldn’t be here! If you’re awake, you should be in bed…”
I hurriedly picked her up and looked towards the room where Glare had been resting.
“…Zzzzz, zzzzz.”
Inside, Miho was curled up, sleeping soundly on the bed.
And…
“What?”
What the fuck?
“W-What is this?”
Next to Miho, I saw Glare lying with a pale face.
So, who am I holding now?
“Ouch…”
“Thanks to sister Miho, my body has recovered a bit… So I can use astral projection magic.”
I was completely bewildered when the faint Glare in my arms pinched my cheek and spoke to me.
“Astral projection? But why…”
“There’s no time. Watch and listen carefully.”
She said firmly, covering my mouth and raising her finger.
- Swish, swish…
As Glare moved her finger, light gathered at her fingertip, tracing letters in the air.
“What…?”
It was a message written in an ancient script that only a few knew, left by my ancestor.
“This is…”
“Your ancestor left this message with Glare during the battle a few days ago.”
“…”
“Got it?”
As Glare smiled brightly, the message in front of me shone even more.
“…This is a message from my ancestor.”
So, my ancestor had left a message for me.
And it was exactly what I needed in this situation.
My heart felt warm.
“No more sweet potatoes, Hero.”
In an unusually low and mature voice, the astral projected Glare whispered and smiled at me again.
“…Right. I understand now.”
“Understand what?”
“What I have to do.”
I answered her with a smile, and she smiled back.
“That’s the Hero I know.”
“…I have one question.”
“What is it? I’ll answer as much as time allows.”
As I stroked her hair, I asked my question.
“Are you really Glare?”
“Doesn’t I look like it?”
“No, but… something feels different.”
“In what way?”
As she tilted her head with a slightly mischievous expression, I felt a strange sensation.
“First of all… you feel very different from the usual Glare.”
“How so?”
“Glare is innocent and cute… but you feel mysterious?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“And more importantly…”
Pressing her with a slightly frowning expression, I continued.
“You referred to yourself as ‘Glare’ earlier. Isn’t it weird to refer to yourself by name?”
“Hehe…”
She smiled as if she’d been caught.
“Who are you?”
There was no hostility, so I asked out of pure curiosity. She nestled her head against my chest and spoke.
“…An unconscious part of Glare that emerged when she lost consciousness?”
“Is that all?”
“Hmm…”
“Why do you feel so familiar?”
She chuckled and replied.
“It can’t be helped.”
“…”
“I’ve always been by your side.”
Right after she said that, a system window appeared in front of me.
Isn’t that right?
“Are you… the system?”
“You could say that. I branched off from the management system.”
“From the management system?”
“To counter the mischievous entity that roamed through dimensions, the main god of this dimension borrowed a concept.”
As I stared blankly at the system window, she rubbed her head against my chest and smiled.
“Perhaps you could call it a vaccine?”
“…Hmm.”
“If that’s difficult, just think of me as your unconditional and eternal ally.”
She whispered and then kissed my cheek before stepping away.
“Thank you for fighting for the entire dimension.”
With those words, she began to fade away.
“You’ll wake her up again, right?”
Her finger pointed to the still-pale Glare lying in bed.
“…Of course.”
Now that I’d made my decision, I nodded firmly, and she closed her eyes with a satisfied smile.
“It would be nice if you didn’t forget her too…”
“…?”
I looked at her with a puzzled expression as she disappeared, her last words lingering.
“Well, anyway… this settles it.”
I shook off my thoughts and headed outside.
Although I’d made up my mind, it was still early morning. I couldn’t wake everyone up.
“I’ll just train.”
With the blue roses as my backdrop, I trained until everyone else woke up.
.
.
.
.
Morning came.
“What’s going on, Frey?”
“What is it that you called us all for?”
“Is there something wrong?”
Having summoned all the heroines except for the still-unconscious Glare, I looked at them, feeling nervous. Beside me was Lulu.
“By the way, why is Lulu sticking so close to you?”
“Exactly.”
I had decided, but I was still unsure how to begin. Lulu, sensing the rising tension, started to receive some intense looks.
“Oh, come on, everyone, get along.”
“Right, Lulu is close to Frey.”
“Ahem, ahem…”
“Tch…”
Despite the tension, Ruby and Serena chuckled, which made the atmosphere even more chaotic.
“So, well…”
I realized I couldn’t delay any longer and was about to start explaining when…
“Um, I’m going to commit double suicide with Master!”
Lulu, unable to contain her anxiety, blurted out.
“No, Lulu, that’s not exactly…”
I tried to clarify, but…
“…”
All the heroines stood up with icy glares.
“No, it’s a misunderstanding. Listen to me…”
“”…Get him.””
The moment Ruby and Serena gave the order, chaos erupted.
- Crash, bang…!!!
“Ugh!”
“Ack!?”
All the heroines pounced on me and Lulu at once.
“This crazy martyr maniac…”
“Should we tie him up?”
“Let’s confiscate his left arm first.”
“Maybe make him a cripple for a month?”
“Let’s rape him!”
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