A World Only for You (10)

My talk with Ryuji had more or less wrapped up.

I'd wanted to free the test subjects still locked in the lab, but he'd already severed each of their brains once — they were vegetables in all but name. The ordinary people were no different. None of them would ever go back to normal.

So I just cracked Ryuji across the skull one more time for good measure and walked out.

As for the researchers I'd knocked cold before entering the research wing, I didn't bother hunting them down to finish the job. Someone had to be left standing to speak up for Ryuji, after all.

"Hah. One less thing to worry about."

I'd saved Yui — and by saving her, I'd saved Misaki too.

There was still a long road ahead, but maybe, just maybe, I could finally breathe.

"Ren!"

Misaki's voice carried from a distance. She was sitting in the passenger seat with the door open.

I told her to take off the second it hit six. Why is she in the passenger seat instead of behind the wheel?

She clearly hadn't planned on leaving without me. I pulled off the mask and waved.

Misaki had been through hell of her own, and still she'd stuck with me the whole way. Honestly, I'd half expected her not to make it back to the car at all.

I came down the mountain road and wiped the tears welling in her eyes.

"Did somebody die? Why are you crying?"

"Hic… I really thought you weren't coming back…"

I pulled her into my arms and gave her a gentle pat.

"It's okay. I'm right here. I made it back, and I got Yui out. Everything's fine, right?"

Misaki nodded silently against my chest.

Once I'd calmed her down, I climbed into the driver's seat, turned the key, and hit the gas. The mountain where so much had happened began to fall away behind us.

"Ren."

"Yeah? You must be exhausted — try to get some sleep."

I glanced over. Her eyes were a little puffy from all the crying, though she didn't seem to notice.

She shook her head.

"It's not that far. More importantly… what happened inside the lab?"

"That…"

I started to tell her, then shut my mouth just as fast. I'd almost talked about killing people like it was nothing.

Is it the synchronization rate?

I called up the system on the spot.

It had climbed as high as sixty-five percent while I was slaughtering the researchers, then dropped a bit during my conversation with Ryuji.

Even so, it was still high.

Fortunately, it looked like I could cut it short mid-use. I shut the skill down immediately.

So ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the cooldown starts counting from the moment I activate Immersion.

Checking the rate again, it had dropped sharply. Ending the Immersion skill must reset the boosted synchronization back to normal.

I was nodding to myself over this new discovery when my silence led Misaki to draw her own conclusions, and she spoke up again.

"It's fine. I already know enough. Even if you killed people, I'm not going to look at you differently or start hating you. As long as you're safe, that's all that matters to me."

Something about the raw sincerity of it sent a prickle of goosebumps across my skin. And Misaki meant every word — she was looking straight at me like she meant it.

I scratched my head.

"Alright. First, let me tell you just how bad those bastards were."

"Huh?"

"You saw Yui's experiment schedule, right? Turns out they did that to every single Awakened they had. That's why they all ended up as vegetables — I couldn't free any of them. The ordinary people couldn't go back to normal either, he said."

Misaki's face went white. That was the future Yui would have faced if we'd been even a little later.

"So I killed them. The researchers, the guards, the Awakened. Leave them alive and they'd just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do it all over again."

"Good."

The answer caught me so off guard that my head whipped toward her on pure reflex. Misaki nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Hey! Eyes on the road when you're driving!"

"Right, right."

I faced forward again. Beside me, Misaki let out a sigh and gave a small snort of laughter.

"I'm no saint. I don't care what happens to people like that. They were going to do that to Yui. They already did it to everyone else."

She bit her lip and kept going.

"And they would have tried to kill you too."

"Yeah. That's true."

I nodded.

I'd left Ryuji and a few of the researchers alive, but there was no reason to make her worry about that.

"You really went through a lot. It couldn't have been easy for you either."

Not easy, huh.

…Toward the end, I'd almost been enjoying myself. But still.

"Oh, right. Here's Yui's phone."

I pulled a navy-cased phone from my coat. It had been sitting in a storage room inside the research wing.

"Whoa — you grabbed this too, in the middle of all that?"

"You said she carried it around like treasure, right? If I could bring it, of course I was going to."

Misaki ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smiled faintly.

"This is what let us find her in time. Still don't know why she installed a couple's app with me, though…"

Misaki had no idea how much Yui actually liked her. Not just as a close older-sister figure — something more than that.

She stared at the phone for a moment, then tilted her head.

"But why didn't the lab just dispose of a phone with location tracking still on?"

"…Good question. Maybe they were in too much of a rush — they only grabbed her today."

It was strange, sure. But on another level, it made a certain kind of sense.

There's something people with a little too much free time always say:

Don't go looking for plot logic in erotic manga.

If you're going to nitpick about what's realistic or complain that nobody like that exists in the real world, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠don't bother reading in the first place.

Erotic manga only needs to get you off!

This was probably just erotic-manga license at work.

Anyway, we'd saved Yui. All's well that ends well, right?

I smirked and pressed down on the accelerator.

Misaki and I lived right next door to each other.

Two two-story houses standing side by side across a narrow alley — close enough that opening a window gave you a clear view straight into the other's home.

Yui's place was already compromised, so we couldn't go there. I parked at my house first, then carried Yui over to Misaki's.

No matter how you sliced it, I couldn't leave a girl alone in a house with just one guy living in it.

"This is the first time you've ever been inside my place, Ren."

Misaki's face flushed with embarrassment.

The interior was… not exactly tidy.

Half-changed clothes and cushions lay tangled across the living room sofa. A half-finished drink and an open bag of snacks sat abandoned on the table.

A bag and several outer layers hung in layers over the back of a chair — and right beside them, a dainty set of underwear…

"Kyaah! D-don't look at that!"

Misaki snatched up a black bra and panties and hugged them to her chest.

"…I can already see the one you're wearing, you know."

"That's completely different!"

If she said so, then sure. Whatever she wanted to believe.

"Anyway, show me to the master bedroom. Let's get Yui into bed first."

I was still holding her. She looked fine on the surface, but I wanted to give her a more thorough once-over.

"This way."

I followed Misaki upstairs to the master bedroom.

Inside sat a large bed, a low dresser, and a small vanity. Misaki hurriedly shoved the clothes strewn across the mattress to one side.

I carefully laid Yui down in the cleared space.

"Let me check her real quick."

I supported her neck to straighten her posture, then checked her breathing first. Her chest rose and fell at a steady rhythm.

No problems there.

I took her wrist and felt for a pulse. A little slow, but regular.

No problems there either.

I gently lifted each eyelid and checked both pupils. Same size, and when I shone my phone light on them, they reacted — sluggishly, but they reacted.

Clear here too.

"Ren, you know how to do this stuff?"

Misaki asked from beside me, looking impressed.

I couldn't exactly say it was Kenji's knowledge, so I improvised.

"You wouldn't know this, but I used to study for med school."

"Studying for med school and actually examining a person aren't the same thing, are they?"

"…"

Why was she so sharp about the weirdest things?

I pretended to inspect Yui's arm and looked away.

"I got curious back then, so I looked a bunch of stuff up. Studied first aid and all that."

"Ahh, so it ties into your mercenary work too?"

"…Yeah, something like that. Mercs get hurt on jobs all the time."

Misaki nodded, satisfied.

I checked Yui's head, neck, arms, and legs in turn. A few bruises on her limbs, and shallow scrapes on her wrists and knees.

Probably from when she was abducted.

Beyond that, no visible trauma, nothing that looked immediately dangerous.

"Well?"

"Looks like she's fine, thankfully."

Misaki's face lit up with relief.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just bruises and scrapes. They probably knocked her out with drugs, but her breathing and pulse are stable, and there's no unusual reaction."

I laid a hand on Yui's forehead, then pulled it away.

"She'll wake up on her own once enough time passes."

Only then did Misaki let out a long breath.

"Thank god…"

She sank down beside the bed and carefully took Yui's hand in hers. She gazed at Yui's face for a while, then turned to me.

"You're okay too, right?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. You fought Awakened. You're not hurt?"

"Me? I'm pretty much fine."

I shrugged like it was nothing.

Misaki didn't buy it. She stood, came over, and carefully took hold of my arm.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

A throbbing ache bloomed through my entire arm.

"Ngh."

My body flinched before I could stop it. Misaki's eyes went wide.

"See! You are hurt!"

"It's nothing. Just got clipped a little."

"Where?"

Truth was, my whole body was throbbing.

During the fight the adrenaline had been screaming through my head, so I hadn't noticed — but apparently I'd taken more hits than I thought.

Most of it was probably from before I used Immersion. But I couldn't exactly tell her that straight.

"I blocked a few punches with my arm. So just this part's a little sore."

"…I don't believe you. Show me."

"Show you what?"

Before I could answer, Misaki grabbed the hem of my shirt.

"Wait — Misaki."

"Hold still."

Worry had overridden any hesitation. She yanked my shirt up without a second thought.

The hands pulling the fabric over my arms were rougher than I expected.

…Huh?

Wait wait wait?