Diverging Fates, The Truth (2)
This couldn't be happening!
Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible—it was completely impossible!!!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
There was no way gear that heavily enhanced would show up from the very first episode, and the enemy's skill level was anything but ordinary.
"Miss Adel?!"
This wasn't simply something that had strayed from my "expectations."
If this world had truly been the one I knew from Four Crowns, this was a situation that had broken free of a destiny that should never have been able to change.
Originally, the problem should have been running into a few cartel members standing rear guard. Because of that, the first students to arrive would get slaughtered, and then somehow the rest of us would manage to subdue them afterward.
But that man just now…
Was there even anyone among the students currently at the Academy who could face him?
No matter how promising they were, they were still nothing more than trees that hadn't even borne fruit yet.
Even if the professor-level powerhouses stepped in themselves, victory against a surprise attack like that would be hard to guarantee.
"Just what…"
What had I gotten wrong?
And on top of that—[Stage 1 Withdrawal Symptoms]?
What the hell had I done to start showing withdrawal symptoms?
No matter how hard I thought about it, the only thing I'd eaten that could possibly cause something like that was the Growth Powder.
In the game, no matter how much of it you ate, it never caused any problems—it only ever made the character grow stronger.
And of course the issue only showed up when I ate it?
Was all of this…
Was this entire situation just because of the difference between the game and reality?
"Miss Adel!"
No matter how hard I closed my eyes and racked my brain, the frustration in my chest only grew worse; my thoughts kept tangling themselves into knots.
Me, laughing in a mad fit of convulsions.
Professor Enut rushing toward me in horror.
Ah… I'd lost control and slipped up again.
I really couldn't keep confusing reality like this.
If I did, I'd just be a complete lunatic, wouldn't I?
"Hee—"
So I rewound time once more.
Would you like to load the save file?
Maybe I'd entered too quickly and run into a cartel executive who happened to be on patrol.
I could give up on the little things.
There was no real need for me to take the lead, was there?
I mean, right?
If things had gone according to the story, the ones who charged ahead and died would just be the disposable side-character students anyway.
The only ones I was trying to save were the heroines.
Wasn't it better for a few useless extras to die than for me to suffer like this?
"Then, who would like to go first?"
So I quietly shut my mouth and watched the situation unfold.
Who would step forward and die for us first?
Was there even a single student with any courage in here?
"Haa… is everyone really going to be like this? Is it that scary?"
But then—
Apparently fed up with the students who refused to move, Professor Enut started walking forward herself.
…Huh?
"P-Professor…?"
This wasn't supposed to happen.
I tried to call out and stop her, but the horrific pain I'd felt before froze me in place.
The moment I tried to raise my voice, something clamped shut around my throat; only a hoarse rasp came out.
"Professor, it doesn't make any sense to send students into a battlefield that hasn't even been confirmed safe first."
"Oh? So you'd rather I go in first so I can put you back together when your limbs get chopped off? Or are you planning to go back to your home countries and just keep trailing behind the soldiers, whining the whole time?"
Even when another student started complaining in that irritating tone, Professor Enut didn't get angry once. She simply kept leading the way.
I had to stop her.
If she went now, she would die exactly as the story dictated.
But…
How was I supposed to stop a professor?
Even if I managed to hold Professor Enut back, the situation wouldn't change—someone still had to go in, whether it was me or the other students.
So in the end…
No matter what I did, no matter how hard I struggled…
Nothing would change, would it…?
We were all going to die anyway, right?
"Then I'll begin the transfer."
Even in this very moment, the pain of a bullet punching clean through my skull was still vivid.
The sensation of soft, unidentifiable chunks of flesh bursting out through my nose, ears, and throat was just as clear.
If I threw up right now, would thick clumps of organs come spilling out of my stomach?
While I let time slip away, drowning in useless thoughts and fear, Professor Enut finally vanished beyond the launcher, her white coat fluttering behind her.
The time left until she died was only a few seconds at most.
"Ah."
What the hell was I even doing?
This was only the second time.
At the plaza it had been worse than this.
And I'd still managed to save more people.
I thought back to the outcome of the plaza incident.
Because I had suffered so much then, I was able to build this happy bond with Novena that had lasted all the way to this moment.
"I-I'll go next!"
I shoved past the students blocking the path and threw everything I had into reaching the launch platform.
10.
"Student! The launch isn't ready yet!"
"Shut up and start it! The professor is in danger!"
The staff, thrown into a panic by my words, scrambled to gather even their own mana and began rapidly charging the device.
4.
"It's still not enough!"
"Just send me already!! Are you going to take responsibility for this?!"
"Haa… you'd better be ready to get scolded when you come back, student."
—Woooooooom!!
The launcher, hastily activated by drawing not only the machine's mana but the staff members' as well into its battery.
1
I immediately checked the condition of my helmet and prepared so I could pull out a scroll and use it at any second.
—Beeeeeeeep!
A flash of blue light, followed by empty space.
0
This was already the third time, so the sight was fairly familiar, and I was able to calmly keep the flood of sensations under control.
A little motion sickness like this was more than bearable compared to the pain of having my organs shredded by buckshot.
But…
—Squelch!
The scene I arrived at
—Squelch, squelch
was already soaked in blood.
"Ah… aaaaaah…"
A horrific massacre.
Chunks of flesh scattered in every direction.
The acrid stench of gunpowder hanging in the air.
—Thud
The strength drained from my legs.
It was starting again.
It had started all over again.
That terrible, repeating hell.
"Uh… hee… heeheehee… Professor?"
Still collapsed on the ground, I stretched out a hand and swept it across the floor.
Dirt and dark red blood gathered in my palm, sticky and warm.
This was the professor's body heat.
"Heeheeheeheehee… P-Professor?"
Ah.
I could still feel abundant life force.
Why… the warmth was still there.
Corpses go cold.
So the professor wasn't dead yet.
I lifted my hand and rubbed the professor's blood against my cheek, breathing in that rich scent.
Was this my first skinship with the professor?
I couldn't quite remember.
Her blood was
soft yet rough,
warm yet metallic.
Suddenly my gaze was stolen by the soft-looking apricot-colored pieces mixed into the blood that had spread everywhere.
I reached out, picked one up, and felt it—moist and yielding on the inside, soft and smooth on the outside.
Which piece of the professor had this been?
"Heh hee… first kiss."
I pressed that scrap of her flesh to my lips.
It was still warm.
Ahh.
This was all because of those incompetent nobles and irresponsible professors. Those useless side characters who never helped anyone. Those bastards should have come first and died, but they chickened out, and so the professor ended up dead instead. What kind of lunatic had pushed Professor Enut into the team leader position? Ah… now I understood. This was murder. Someone had deliberately created this situation to kill both me and Professor Enut.
"Ha… so this wasn't a student—it was a crazy bitch."
A familiar voice reached me.
But so what?
"…If you're going to shoot, then shoot."
Even if I died, I'd just come back.
"You've got neither the will nor the ability to fight, so there's no need to bother dirtying my hands. I won't kill you."
"Kill me."
"And if I don't?"
"I'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyouI'llkillyou!!!"
So for now, at least, I would stay with the professor.
Ignoring the man's reaction, I crawled across the ground, gathering the professor's pieces one by one.
Even in that moment something white flashed behind me, followed by noise and vibration, but I paid it no mind.
Sometimes a fresh flood of blood would wash across the floor where I was lying, almost making me irritated.
But thanks to that, the professor's warmth never faded, so I didn't get angry.
Aha.
So this was what a transfusion felt like?
Then wasn't that actually something to be happy about?
"Ahaah, ahahahah—"
"Tsk. There's no longer any reason for me to stay."
"Don't go—where are you going? Don't go!!"
That familiar voice came again, and the wet footsteps gradually grew distant.
The enemy of two Adels and one professor.
Part of me wanted to chase him down, grab him, demand why he'd done this, then snatch his gun and blow his brains out.
But I couldn't.
The professor was still here.
"Professor. Professor? Professor Enu?"
Fortunately her face was intact.
Just like when I'd first been hit by him, she'd taken a shot to the chest; broken ribs jutted out grotesquely, and organs that looked like heart and lungs lay spilled like burst balloons.
Huh.
Something felt off.
I'd been diligently searching the ground, so why were there three pieces of lung… and a male organ lying there too?
"Professor, were you actually a guy? Hmm?"
Was she a futanari or something?
Or if not that…
"You… crazy… bitch…"
Aha.
Now I got it.
Those stupid side characters had finally followed after us.
That was why they were all dead and scattered like this.
Disgusting.
How dare they defile the professor's body?
Her blood and flesh had all gotten mixed together.
How were they going to take responsibility for that?
Hmm.
I didn't know.
For now I'd just pick everything up and put it in my inventory.
Then somehow it would work out later, right?
"Professor, you said it yourself when we first met."
Ah, found a finger.
But why was the hand cut off?
"You asked if I wanted to go to the hospital and get counseling sometime."
Huh, this wasn't the professor's hand after all.
The skin tone was darker.
No wonder the fingers were severed too.
"I guess you really were the health professor. I've gone completely insane, you know? If I'd gotten counseling back then, maybe I could have held out through another ten saves, don't you think?"
Unfortunately the professor's corpse wouldn't go into my inventory. Whether it was because of those heavy breasts or simply because a full human body couldn't be stored, scraps of flesh and organ pieces went in just fine, yet I couldn't take the professor's body with me when I left this place…
"Ah, hah! I really have gone crazy, haven't I? Right now it would be easier to rewind time and get revenge than to take the professor somewhere and try to save her. Right? Then, Professor Enu—since you're the health professor, let me ask you. How do I get rid of withdrawal symptoms? I have to take the same drug that caused them again, don't I?"
Stats decreased. Damage taken increased.
But what was I supposed to do about that?
I'd already used up all the Growth Powder.
Then…
Hmm… I just needed to use some other drug, right?
Something roughly addictive.
And this was that famous cartel stronghold.
There had to be at least one stash of drugs hidden somewhere.
First, I'd look for that.
Then I'd check whether it could clear the withdrawal symptoms.