When the final battle ended, I was taken to the hospital.
Kyouka, on the other hand, is resting at her home. I wanted to do that too, but there’s no helping it since I didn’t wake up.
I received emergency treatment, and even received a thorough checkup. The doctor said “It’s just anemia.” I could only reply with “I suppose that would be the case.”
(Well, I’m glad that I can skip school for the time being…)
While laying in my hospital bed, I continued to be puzzled from daytime.
Ryuuga and the others tried to visit, but since I was going to leave the hospital soon, I declined their visit. Thanks to some luck, I was able to just barely convince them with an explanation of “I don’t remember anything during the final battle.” However, I’m not sure what to do beyond this point…
In the end, I learned the fact that Ryuga is a woman. Of course, the flag with the heroines are still there. I also got acquainted with a woman apostle who was part of the upper echelons.
And the biggest problem is that I returned to being a mystery character.
All of the foreshadowing has been cast away, and peace for this world has arrived.
There’s no point in returning to a friend character anymore. Ryuuga’s battles have already finished.
“As for me…I wonder what will happen with Ryuga.”
While I was saying that to myself, I received a message from my cellphone.
The sender was Ryuuga. I suppose that just she wants to decide on a day to show off her bunny cosplay. Either that, or she wants to decide on a name for a future child.
‘To Ichirou. How’s your condition? Don’t push yourself too much.’
The message began with such sympathies.
However, the contents that followed were outside of my expectations. Or rather, they were outrageous.
‘Actually, I have one important matter to say. I was worried about whether to tell you now, but…I think it really would have been better if I had told you sooner.’
Once reading the words, my face gradually began to stiffen. My heart rate accelerated.
‘In his final moments, the ‘Evil Spirit’ said something. He said that he was one of the four fiends. Sooner or later, the other three rulers will revive.’
Four fiends? What are the four fiends?
An explanation was immediately written in the following sentence.
‘The four fiends are ‘Evil Spirits’ that have been hostile towards humanity since ancient times. They are the evil gods Hundun, Taotie, Taowu, and Qiongji…my mission is not over yet. It seems that the apostles are already looking for a way to bring the next ‘Evil Spirit’ to life.’ (TLN: Some more Chinese mythology)
It’s not over yet?
Only “part one” of Ryuuga’s story has finished?
‘Sorry, Ichirou. But, I’ll keep trying my best. There’s still much more to do for our lovers training, so──’
I shifted my sight away from the cellphone in the middle of reading the message.
It was because I noticed a dark aura coming from my hand.
“W, what is this? There aren’t any enemies around…”
I shifted myself upright while confused, and then I felt a strong presence in my back.
“!”
…To be honest, I feel like I shouldn’t turn around.
I felt that if I turned around, there would be a more terrifying and freaky being than a ghost coming from behind.
(Don’t tell me that my true character is being a second Kyouka…? Or more accurately, a character who’ll take a position akin to Kyouka’s during “part two”…?)
Mion talked about something before. She said the reason she couldn’t attack me was because I “was an existence close to them.” Furthermore, this dark aura…is definitely the same as the one Kyouka was emitting.
While I was frozen stiff, the presence from my back grew steadily stronger. It was an ill will, I already knew that long ago.
Eventually, it turned towards me.
“The being” on my back called out to me with an easygoing tone.
“Boss, is it okay to be lying down here? Your finals are coming up soon.”
He was unexpectedly fluent at speaking. What is this guy so uneasy about? (TLN: The previous ‘Evil Spirit’ spoke in katakana whenever hiragana should’ve been used, which indicated a certain rough/inarticulate manner to his speech. This one speaks normally.)
“Thanks to that attack from Hundun, I was able to completely awaken. That damn bastard, serves him right to get done in.”
That “damn bastard” was the “Evil Spirit” dwelling within Kyouka, right? Then, this guy is──
“Boss. Please don’t ignore me.”
“That being” had a bit of a peeved tone. I turned to face it, and gave a reply.
“…Are you also an ‘Evil Spirit?'”
“Yep, an ‘Evil Spirit.’ You can call me Tie.”
Tie. He’s probably that. One of the four fiends, Taotie.
The story of Hinomori Ryuuga still continues. Perhaps that’s a good thing.
However, returning to a friend character seems pretty much impossible.
TLN: Okay volume 1 is now complete. Thankfully I managed to do it right before heading off to a camping trip my friends and I have planned. I’m gonna use this chance to take a break from translating. See you all a couple days later.