EP.16 Adaptation Training -4
EP.16 Adaptation Training -4
"Aah~! Fucking great. Now this is what sex is all about!"
"I don't care what you do in front of me, but don't let Tia see that side of you."
Before I knew it, I was in a hot spring with some fucker I couldn't stand.
True to form, Jack let out a plain, folksy middle-aged-guy reaction.
But considering his actual age, it didn't fit at all. Since when did a man pushing his mid-eighties react like that?
"Come to think of it, you were quite fond of that little Divine Beast lady, weren't you? What if I took her hostage?"
"Try it, if you can."
"Mm, well, what's inside her is a Divine Beast, after all. If anything, I'd be the one in danger. Haha!"
"Enough with the small talk. Just tell me why you called me here."
"Didn't I say I wanted to chat a bit? We both have plenty we're curious about regarding each other."
"You seriously called me out here just for an information exchange?"
"That's right. Or would you prefer I rip out another organ or two for you, since I couldn't last time?"
"Not interested. Rip 'em out and wolf them down yourself."
"Oh? How would you know my organs are delicious?"
"..."
Jack said it like he'd actually tasted his own organs before. I didn't pick up the slightest hint of a lie.
All I could do was marvel that a batshit bastard like this existed in the world. The world really was vast, and it was full of lunatics.
"Don't twist your face up like that. Spend ten days in the middle of nowhere on an empty stomach, and anything starts tasting delicious, you know?"
"You wouldn't have died anyway. Did you really have to go that far?"
"Doesn't matter if you don't die—you still feel hunger. When your stomach's screaming for food, you can't exactly eat nothing, can you?"
"Even if you're starving, a man who rips out and eats his own organs is—no, forget it."
What was the point of launching into a passionate speech at a madman? His mind and my mind didn't work the same way.
No matter how long I talked, I'd never understand this crazy bastard.
"Right now you're thinking I'm insane."
"Thinking you're not insane would be even crazier."
"I won't deny it. I spent nearly sixty years on battlefields where lives were on the line. Turns out you can't endure that with a sound mind."
"So you're aware you're a madman?"
"From my standpoint, I consider myself perfectly normal, actually. I live however the hell I want. That's extremely normal, isn't it?"
"Your whole premise is fucked."
"Fucked, you say? I eat because I want to eat. I sleep because I want to sleep. I fuck because I want to fuck. Is that a wrong way to think? I'd say it's perfectly natural."
If you looked at it as living true to your desires, he wasn't wrong.
Humans were animals too, after all. Everyone had desires of one kind or another, and pursuing them was not inherently wrong.
But sometimes people also need to practice moderation and keep those impulsive desires in check.
In that sense, the word moderation simply didn't exist in the crazy bastard in front of me.
"Haha! If we keep talking, it looks like I'll just end up getting nothing but hostile glares before we're done! Guess I've got no choice—shall we get to the point?"
I wanted to hurl a torrent of abuse at him, but I kept my mouth shut and nodded.
A long conversation with Jack would do me absolutely no good.
"First, just to confirm—you also made a Provisional Contract with a Divine Beast, right?"
"...What makes you think that?"
"On the battlefield, you get to see all sorts. There were ones with physical deficiencies who had trouble moving, and some with congenital disabilities too. Just like you right now."
"And?"
"When we met before, you were perfectly normal. Now you're acting like you're half-crippled—suspicious, isn't it? Don't you think?"
"Ha, fuck..."
I'd wondered if he might notice, but I didn't expect to get caught right away.
I myself did think an unnaturalness was showing because I'd lost half my senses.
But I'd put on an act to try not to show it, and apparently that had its limits.
I guess it meant I needed to get more used to my changed body...
"Yeah, I made a Provisional Contract with a Divine Beast at the cost of half my senses."
"Half your senses as the price, huh... Not too bad a condition!"
"Then what did you offer as your price?"
"Me? Obviously, I handed over my Companion Animal."
"...You crazy bastard."
When I'd first met Jack, I'd wondered why there was no Companion Animal at his side.
After that, when Jack had said he'd put something precious up as collateral, I'd thought of his Companion Animal.
Still, I'd kept telling myself no one would hand over their precious partner.
But hearing the truth directly from that madman's mouth, I couldn't stand it without feeling outright revulsion.
"Haha! You're giving me a really murderous glare. If you don't want to end up a wrinkly old man like me, you'd better loosen up that expression."
"Shut up. Let me ask you one more thing. What reason could you possibly have had to sign a contract that made you hand over even your Companion Animal?"
"As it happens, I don't think I can tell you about that. That particular subject has a non-disclosure clause attached to it, you see."
"I see... In that case, I have no further business with you."
"Oh? Already leaving? You haven't even asked me what ability I got."
I had been curious, but the desire to ask had vanished long ago.
My disgust for Jack moved my heart more than curiosity did.
The last time we'd met, it had stopped at just being repulsive...now the mere fact that I was sharing the same space as him made irritation boil up too.
There might have been some unavoidable reason for him. Blackmail, or an emergency, all sorts of hardships—some pitiful circumstance that had forced him to hand over his Companion Animal.
If that were the case, there would have been plenty of room to understand and sympathize with him.
But the fact that he spoke of the situation where he'd thrown his Companion Animal up as collateral as if it were nothing made me shake my head.
A bastard I'd never understand even if I died and came back to life. I wanted to get as far away from him as possible, as soon as possible.
"Ah! Hold on a sec!"
"What? I told you, I've got no more business with you."
"It's nothing big, but before you go, could you pick up the soap that dropped down by your feet?"
"You son of a bitch!!"
Lord, please, I beg you, grant me permission to kill this gay bastard.
***
"...Seon-ju?"
"..."
"...Seon-ju~?"
"..."
-Clap!
"Gah! You scared me!!"
"Have you finally come to your senses?"
"M-Miho. Clapping right in my face like that out of nowhere startles me...!"
"But no matter how many times I called you, dear husband, you didn't answer."
"I did that?"
"Yes."
I must have been so lost in deep thought that I hadn't heard her voice.
"What were you thinking about so intently?"
"Ah, well...I was looking back and recollecting everything that happened during this trip."
"Aha, and how was it?"
"Honestly, I don't even know anymore. This was supposed to be a vacation, right...?"
"Yes!"
"Then why are the memories left in my head not from an enjoyable vacation?"
Day 1 morning, we set off on an exciting healing trip with the Divine Beasts, feeling happy.
Day 1 afternoon, I clashed with a unicorn over the lake problem the director dumped on me.
Day 1 night, I nearly died fighting Taotie alongside Yata and the corrupted unicorn.
Day 2 morning, I woke up after forming a Provisional Contract with Qilin in a dream.
Day 2 afternoon through Day 4 morning, I got trained by the Divine Beasts and adapted to my abilities and new body.
Day 4 afternoon, I slaughtered terrorists who suddenly attacked.
Day 4 night, I fought an ass-poker in the hot spring like I was trying to kill him.
And now Day 5, currently riding the train back home.
...So, no good memories aside from when we first departed?
"Was that really the vacation I knew...?"
"Dear husband, to be honest with you, that was..."
"That was...?"
"Not a vacation."
"Ah... Yeah, I figured."
In my heart, I wanted to jump around and throw a fit.
I wanted to scream, "Give me back my vacation," bang my head against the seat, and let out my emotions exactly as they were.
But I knew full well that I realistically couldn't. So I just sat still and wiped away the tears that were about to fall.
'Fuck, the whole world's dead to me, everything's gone.'
Where the hell did happiness even come from...? I decided to think it through, tracing the question all the way back to the beginning of time.
I knew that very line of thinking didn't mean a goddamn thing, but right now, if I didn't at least have thoughts like these, I felt like I'd lose my mind.
"Dear husband, I know a good way to heal your heart at times like this!"
"A good way...? What is it?"
"Would you follow me for a moment?"
"Yeah."
Like an older sister gently soothing a teary-eyed child, Miho kindly took my hand and headed somewhere.
A good way to heal the heart, huh...What could it be?
Even though I was in a post-vacation clarity state, for some reason my heart fluttered a little.
"In here!"
"Uh... Miho?"
"Yes."
"This is the bathroom."
"Yes, that's right!"
The restroom on the train, placed between the passenger cabins.
Miho had dragged me into a space meant for only one person.
"How on earth is this supposed to heal my heart?"
"That would be..."
Miho gently pushed my body down and forced me to sit on the toilet lid.
A man and a woman crammed into a space that felt cramped even for one person.
In that instant, my train of thought came rushing back, and I grasped Miho's true intentions.
"Y-you! Don't tell me...?!"
"There's an old saying, you know. When your mind is troubled, you take a load off."
"No, I'm fine now! My mind is completely at peace...!!"
"No! From where I'm standing, your head looks absolutely brimming with wicked thoughts right now, dear husband!!"
Only then did Miho reveal her true colors. Her crimson eyes stared down at me chillingly.
A red light blazed in my survival instincts, and an evacuation alarm blared along with it, but in this cramped space, there was nothing I could do.
"So, dear husband."
-Clink!
Handcuffs locked around my wrist and the grab handle meant for when the train sways.
It was effectively the finishing blow, telling me I could no longer run.
"I'll help you take a load off so you can't think about anything at all♡"
"Ah, aah...!!"
Thanks to Miho's intense comfort, I stopped shedding tears from my eyes...
Instead, my lower half cried endlessly, and my vacation came to a complete end.