If Only You Could Be Happy
Amazing… That was what Yua thought.
“Natsumoto… you’re really good at fighting, huh…”
After taking down Takahiro’s entire gang in one go, Ryu let out a long breath to steady himself, then turned his head at the sound of her voice.
“Hm? This much is just the basics.”
He said it like it was nothing while wiping away his sweat, but when he felt Yua’s gaze on him, he tilted his head slightly.
“This… is just the basics…?”
“Ah, I’ve done a bit of training, that’s all.”
It was true that knocking out five people at once wasn’t exactly common. Still, if this was a love comedy, wasn’t the villain supposed to be ridiculously weak? While entertaining such pointless thoughts, Ryu had been about to help Yua to her feet when he suddenly realized something and bent his knees instead. He turned his back to her.
“…Eh?”
“Get on. You can’t walk like that anyway.”
He knew her condition all too well. Her body wouldn’t have any strength left, and keeping her balance would be nearly impossible. It wasn’t that she had taken any drugs or anything like that. It was simply because the novel had described it in such explicit, shameless detail.
“U-um… okay…”
Yua obediently climbed onto Ryu’s back. She told herself she had no choice since she knew her own state.
#
It feels refreshing to work up a sweat after so long.
There had never been any option of losing. Of course not. He hadn’t lived such an easy life that he would lose to punks like them.
Steadying his breathing, he began walking. With every step down the mountain path, he felt the soft, heavy press of her voluptuous breasts against his back and the silky smoothness of her snow-white thighs in his hands.
“…Um, I’m not too heavy, am I?”
“Hm? Not at all.”
Considering she had breasts no normal high school student should possess, this much weight felt almost too light. He reassured the unnecessarily worried Yua and picked up his pace.
It was late at night, so there were no people on this path, but he still carefully tied his jacket around her waist to prevent anyone from catching a glimpse under her skirt. You could never be too careful. This was an NTR world, after all.
Yua, clinging to his back, remained silent for a long time. She might have been thinking about something, or perhaps regretting something.
“This way.”
The only times she spoke were to give directions to her house. Since the novel had never mentioned the route from school to Yua’s home, there was no way Ryu would know where she lived. He simply followed her instructions until they reached what looked like a small playground. Or maybe a tiny park? It was hard to define exactly what the place was when Yua finally spoke again.
“…Can we rest for a bit?”
“Of course.”
He gently set her down on a park bench. Yua, who seemed to have regained a little strength, sat with her head bowed low. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the courage. After a moment of hesitation, Ryu headed over to a nearby vending machine.
She probably had a lot on her mind. The betrayal of friends she had trusted so deeply, and the absence of faith in Daiki. Yua might be wandering lost in the darkness right now.
—Just like he once had.
That was why the only thing someone like him could do was something as ordinary as this.
He bought a cold bottle of water and a can of moderately warm coffee. Even by the time he returned from the vending machine, Yua was still sitting with her head down, deep in thought.
“…Eep?”
When he pressed the cold water bottle against her cheek, Yua let out a strange little sound and jumped in surprise.
“Drink.”
She looked like a startled cat, and before he knew it, a smile had formed on his lips. Yua stared at him with her large, round eyes for a moment before snapping out of it and accepting the water.
“Thank you… Natsumoto.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Watching her take the opened bottle without any suspicion and bring it to her lips, Ryu let out a small internal sigh. Taking advantage of someone’s drink by spiking it was NTR 101, yet she was far too trusting. That aside, the sight of Yua drinking was so breathtakingly beautiful that he couldn’t look away.
Every time she swallowed, her slender throat moved delicately. A few drops of water spilled from the corner of her mouth, tracing down her chin before falling onto the swell of her generous breasts. They slid along her cleavage in a glistening trail.
If I shoved my cock into that tiny mouth, grabbed those massive tits, and thrust my hips until I came so hard it gave me chills… would she swallow every last drop like that?
…Wow. I really am a sick bastard.
He must have been really pent up. If just watching a girl drink water made him think things like that, how far gone was he?
He shook his head lightly to clear away the stray thoughts. Soon after, Yua’s voice reached him.
“……Why does this kind of thing keep happening to me?”
It was self-blame… and something like a lament.
Ryu sat down beside her, quietly sipping his canned coffee as he listened. He felt it was best to simply stay silent and hear her out for now.
“It’s… all my fault, isn’t it? Because I have this lewd body, and because of the way I act… that’s why…”
Suzuki Yua. In the original novel, she was supposed to be gang-raped right there by Takahiro and the other boys. Drugged and drunk, she would be violated over and over. They would take photos and videos to blackmail her, and then rape her again and again, day after day. At school, at home, on the mountain, on the street, in the bathroom. No time or place was off-limits. Takahiro’s crew would use her like a sex slave, over and over.
—Was any of that Yua’s fault?
Even before this incident, she had faced similar situations many times. Nearly dragged off by delinquents on the street. Strange old men trying to get her to do compensated dating. Someone trying to make her take suspicious drugs.
So was it this girl’s fault?
“…No way.”
“Huh…?”
Wasn’t it this world that was broken?
“What kind of nonsense are you saying?”
When Ryu had read the NTR plot of Sonajoh, he had felt clear, unmistakable anger. Naturally, that anger wasn’t directed at Yua. It had been aimed at the author who created such a plot, and at the spineless Daiki.
Yua had done nothing wrong.
“No matter how pretty or cute you are.”
No matter how massive those breasts were, or how perfectly built that body was for creampies.
“That is not a reason for you to have to suffer something like that.”
The ones who would do such things were obviously the ones in the wrong. Meeting her blue eyes directly, he spoke. He smiled as he felt those eyes tremble violently, as if struck by an earthquake.
“I think it’s important for you to value yourself a little more.”
There was no need to scold the current Yua. Once again, she had done nothing wrong. He spoke to her as gently as possible, his voice warm and kind.
“It’s not your fault, Suzuki. Those guys are the bad ones. So you don’t need to blame yourself.”
It’s not your fault.
Everyone who had approached Yua had said the same thing. They all claimed it was her fault. That it was her fault for being born with a body like that.
But Ryu absolutely did not think so. Anyone with a normal way of thinking would never believe that.
And yet Yua could not believe those obvious words.
“I’ve… always had things like this happen to me…”
Yua continued carefully.
“Before, there was Katamura… and this time, there was you, Natsumoto…”
In other words, this time Daiki had not been there.
“Next time…”
Big, fat tears began rolling down Yua’s cheeks. As expected, even in an NTR world, the heroines still thought normally.
“What… should I do…? Natsumoto…?”
She grabbed his sleeve and asked. What should she do? How was he supposed to know?
He let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky. Daiki was strange. This world was strange. In the end, the victim was Yua. Was being born beautiful in a world like this a sin?
“So even you, Natsumoto…”
Yua seemed to have read something from his gaze and his sigh. She muttered bitterly and lowered her eyes.
The sight made Ryu feel like his heart was sinking.
What the hell am I doing?
She was suffering right in front of him. Despairing. Agonizing. And what was he thinking about?
He might have been consciously avoiding getting close to the heroines.
Because I thought it was their happiness to end up with Daiki.
And because he had believed it would happen that way. At least, he had trusted Daiki.
But was that really right?
In the end, Daiki never came. As if being robbed was his designated role, he unconsciously avoided getting involved in this awful event with Yua. All that remained was a wounded Yua.
……That’s—
No. He shouldn’t think about that right now. What he needed to focus on was comforting Yua.
Ryu crouched down, positioning himself in front of the bowed-head girl.
“Don’t worry.”
“…”
The sight of Yua crying was beautiful. Pretty. Cute. Lovable. Suppressing the emotions rising from deep within his chest as much as he could, he reached out and gently stroked her hair.
“I’ll protect you anytime.”
“……Why?”
“Why, you ask…”
Her eyes, asking that question, looked sad. Staring into those eyes filled with sorrow and a tiny spark of hope, Yua’s cheeks flushed as she asked again.
“Natsumoto… why are you helping me?”
Why was he helping her? She was asking something so simple.
With a small smile, Ryu answered her question in a calm, steady voice.
“Because I want you to be happy.”
Because I want all of you—the heroines of my favorite novel—to be happy.
A gentle breeze blew past. Like something out of a manga. In what felt like slow motion, Yua’s large eyes grew even wider, and her small mouth fell slightly open. Her snow-white skin flushed a deep red, and she gave him a tiny, beautiful smile.
He wasn’t sure whether his sincere words had truly reached her. But by saying them, he had simply reaffirmed his own resolve.