Chapter 4 – Even If the World Turned into Your Enemy

Monday, a new week began.

And so did the three-day exam period.

During this period, all club activities were suspended as everyone was fully concentrated on the exam. Well, that was what supposed to happen. In reality, thanks to the suspension of club activities, everyone got more time to play around instead.

“Phew…”

I let out a sigh. I didn’t feel so good for some reason.

There was this indescribable hazy feeling in my chest.

Shinji, who was walking beside me, noticed this and asked,

“What’s wrong, Godou? You failed the exam?”

“You, out of all people, asking me that?”

“Haha, what are you talking about? I’ll pass no problem, of course!”

“Now, that’s a surprising answer…”

Yuuka would be astonished if she were to hear that.

He shrugged his shoulders before continuing.

“Well, other than math, that is. I’m sure that I’ll get red. Hell, it won’t even be close to the passing mark.”

“I feel you. In my case, my physics seems to be horrid too…”

The exam subjects for the first day were math, physics and modern japanese.

Honestly, I doubt that I’d get a red mark for any of those subjects even though I barely studied, but it was exactly for that reason that I doubt that I’d get any higher than the average score.

“So, why were you sighing?”

Shinji stopped walking and turned to face me.

“Let me guess. Is it because of Shiina Mai?”

“…”

“Bulls-eye.”

Actually, I wasn’t even sure if I was feeling troubled because of her.

Yeah, maybe I was worried about her a little, but, who knows…

‘…What are you on about? Of course my body is breaking down. Is it not obvious?’

I suddenly remembered the witch’s words.

The fact that her body was breaking down.

But, I didn’t think that was the cause of this indescribable feeling.

I mean, I had no reason to worry about the witch anymore. I was no longer a hero and I had no obligation to care about anyone who wasn’t my friend, not to mention the witch who was my nemesis.

So, logically speaking, the witch had nothing to do with this indescribable feeling I was having.

While I was trying to convince myself of that, Shinji muttered,

“Well, in any case, neither Yuuka nor I could do something about her.”

“What do you mean?”

“She seems to be suffering from something. She seems close to killing herself, you know? It’s just my feelings though. I don’t know why she would do that.”

After hearing those words.

My head went blank.

“I’m not the only one who noticed it, by the way.”

He continued,

“That was the reason why Yuuka held that study group in the first place. At first, we thought that she was like that because of some troubles at her previous school, but it seemed like our guess was wrong.”

“Shinji…”

“You know the cause, don’t you?”

Then, he continued his words with a dismissive tone.

“There’s only so much that strangers like us can do to her, you know? We can’t get her to open up her heart to us.”

After that, he stopped saying anything.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at the parking lot.

The roof of the parking lot blocked the sunlight, so the area was relatively cooler but, for some reason, that didn’t stop my sweat from running through my cheeks.

“Um… Shiraishi… Kun?”

There was a familiar voice calling me from behind.

I turned around to see the witch standing there. She probably called me ‘Shiraishi-kun’ because Shinji was with me.

Come to think of it, today was the day for her treatment.

“Alright, see you tomorrow then. Don’t slack off and study properly, okay?”

“…Yeah, see you.”

Reading the subtle atmosphere between me and the witch, Shinji quickly bid his farewell, rode on his bike and left.

A warm breeze caressed my cheeks.

I turned to see the witch staring at me.

“…”

Silence enveloped us. Thanks to the fight we had yesterday, there was an awkward atmosphere between us

I could keep my silence but, if we kept dilly-dallying here, we wouldn’t get any job done for today.

“…Let’s go.”

When I urged her, she nodded and walked behind me.

“?”

But, there was something strange about the way she walked.

She was staggering.

Even if it wasn’t me who was looking at her, if the person was attentive enough, they would notice it.

No matter how I tried to look at her, she looked unwell. It was obvious that she was trying so hard to endure the pain.

Just the other day, her condition wasn’t even close to her current state. I wouldn’t be able to tell that she was unwell unless I tried to observe her a little closely. And yet, she became like this overnight. What happened to her?

“…Oi, what’s wrong?”

I lent her a shoulder, then I realized something.

What if she didn’t become like this overnight? What if her condition was originally this bad and she had just been hiding it so well that I failed to notice it?

That would explain it.

“What do you mean?”

She asked me back. She knew what I was talking about, yet she acted like this anyway.

“Stop playing dumb! No matter how–”

“What do you care? It has nothing to do with you.”

When she said that, I couldn’t find any words to rebuke her.

After all, we were just cooperating because we had the same goal. It wasn’t like we were friends or anything.

I had no reason to care about her personal affairs.

Yes. I had no reason at all.

“…No, it does have something to do with me. If your condition is caused by the curse, then I have the right to know. It’s concerning your treatment, after all.”

After some hesitation, I managed to come up with that.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I could convince her with that or not, but I decided to roll with it anyway.

“…I guess your words make sense. But still, it has nothing to do with the treatment. I told you the other day that my body is breaking down, didn’t I? That’s it.”

After that, she didn’t say anything else.

We walked all the way to her house without saying anything to each other.

I couldn’t say anything to her.

Only the question, ‘is this really okay?’, kept echoing in my head.

* * *

Cerys’ PoV

I think…

That person was always like that. He always acted like a hero.

To other people, that person, Grey Handlet, was always a hero and nothing more.

He kept telling me that he wouldn’t help me yet, here he was, helping me without making any fuss.

Even back then, his decision to not help me was actually his way of helping me.

He didn’t seem to realize that, though.

But that action became the justification for the church to execute him.

That action caused the whole world to judge him as a sinner who aided the witch.

“…Seriously, what a foolish hero.”

Trying to help the enemy of the world was clearly a foolish thing to do.

He was too immersed in his role and ended up paying the price for it with his life.

I could say that he deserved it. If only he didn’t force himself to help me, none of this would’ve happened. Besides, I’ve never wanted his help to begin with. That was why, there was no reason for me to mourn his death.

There was no reason at all.

Instead of mourning him, I should condemn him for his foolishness.

And yet, I found myself crying.

I didn’t even know why I was crying.

I was being chased by the elites of the church and I learned of Grey’s death through them. And I knew that they weren’t lying.

After all, they were his comrades, the exorcists created by the ‘Hero Creation Project’. To them, Grey was the person they placed their hopes in, their hero.

That was the reason why I knew they weren’t lying.

Even though I had no reason to care, the revelation made me flustered.

And they used that chance to give me a mortal wound. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to survive it back then.

And so, with my last ounce of strength, I reincarnated both me and the hero to another world.

I crushed the headless corpse of the hero and turned it into a pool of blood before dying next to it.

It felt terrible.

Even though this man was the person who kept annoying me until the very end.

Until his dying breath, he kept ignoring my wish and did whatever he wanted.

But, I didn’t want this fool to end like this.

So I prayed that he wouldn’t be burdened as a hero anymore in his next life and could live happily until the day he died again.

Of course, one of the reasons why I chose to reincarnate in another world was to prevent my curse from going haywire in the other world. But, the main reason why I did it was because I couldn’t let him die like this.

And yet, when we finally met again, that fool was still acting as if he was a hero. Even in a world that didn’t need a hero’s existence, he still tried his hardest to reach out to those people in need.

Even when he couldn’t find anyone to reach out to, he would try his hardest to look for them.

“…If this keeps up, you won’t be able to find your own happiness, you know?”

He was still a foolish man, instead of looking for happiness, he kept making himself unhappy for some reason.

That was why I made an oath. This time for sure, I’ll make him happy.

However, I couldn’t live in this world without his help.

To cover up that fact, I made an excuse to him. I pressured him to help me because he didn’t kill me back in the other world. Because of his actions, I became like this. Since it was technically the truth, the excuse worked perfectly.

Though, I didn’t expect anything more than that from him. The matter of my body breaking down was out of the scope of our cooperation.

It didn’t really have anything to do with the curse. I had expected it to happen since the very beginning because this body was different from my previous one. My previous body had an unnaturally high resistance to curse, meanwhile this body had nothing.

Back then, even though I casted that terrible curse upon the world, I couldn’t feel any pain from the curse’s side effects.

This pain was something that I should’ve felt to begin with. It was the punishment I deserved.

.
The pain I had to endure… I couldn’t even begin to describe it with words. Since I was a child, back when the memories of my previous life hadn’t awakened, I had to deal with this pain. My consciousness was always hazy. I kept getting hospitalized for unknown causes to the point that my parents always worried about me. Living in constant pain, even before I knew what pain was, became my new daily life.

Then, I dreamt of my previous life. Gradually, I recalled everything about my previous life.

At first, I thought that those memories were nightmares.

Who would have thought that I was the ‘main character’ of the dream.

But, as I got older, I was forced to believe it. When the memories of the magic and witchcraft I had learned came back to me, I casted them to my body to ease my pain a little.

Then, in the third year of my middle school, I finally remembered everything about my previous life and more importantly, about the hero. So, I used my magic to look for him.

…At that time, I was impatient.

Because of my resistance in the previous life, I underestimated the curse’s strength.

I realized that if I stood by doing nothing, the curse would eventually crush my heart. While that itself wasn’t really a big deal because it was what I deserved, the world would have to pay for it if it were to actually happen. That was why I decided to look for him so he could completely get rid of the curse in my soul.

And so, I moved into his school.

I had to take such a drastic measure because I was close to my limit.

Gradually, by each passing year, the curse started to erode more part of my soul.

As the erosion worsened, the pain became harder to bear.

It was to the point that it was hard to hide it. Even Grey had noticed my condition at some point.

Nevertheless, as long as I could receive his treatment once in a while, it would alleviate the pain a little.

I could rely on it to survive for the time being.

Honestly, I was at my limit, but I didn’t really care if anyone were to find out about my condition. I’d die soon anyway, it didn’t really matter in the end. As long as Grey could live happily in this world, I didn’t care about anything else.

I was the witch of Calamity, someone who plunged the world to disaster.

It was a witch’s fate to be unhappy, that was all there to it.

Compared to me…

Grey was the hero who saved the world.

It was his fate to be happy.

For someone who worked the hardest to save the world to go unrewarded, I couldn’t let that happen.

So, I’d definitely make him happy.

If the hero role made him unhappy, then I’d free him of that role.

I swore to make him happy.

That was why.

I couldn’t let him help me.

* * *

“It hurts…”

I muttered those words involuntarily.

Was it allowed for me to complain when I was alone like this?

Even now, the pain tormented my soul. It was hard for me to get up from my bed. Luckily, this was my own room and no one else was there. I didn’t need to pretend. I could lay down all day if I wanted to.

“It’s painful…”

I remembered his face when I scolded him harshly the other day.

Honestly, I had no right whatsoever to scold him like that. He could just shove me away and slap me in the face if he wanted to and I wouldn’t complain. But, he listened to me properly. Even though no one would blame him if he were to ignore me, he listened to my story anyway.

Everyone else in the previous world called my story nonsense. I could understand that, as it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want anyone’s sympathy anyway. To me, words were just another form of weapon to take my opponents down, there wasn’t anything more to it.

But, thanks to that man, I discovered the joy of talking to other people.

He was the only person who would listen to me earnestly.

“It’s sad…”

In this world, he was the only one who knew about my identity as the witch.

That was why there were people who’d come forward and talk to me. That made me happy. But, at the same time, it made me feel guilty. After all, I was someone who plunged the world into a disaster. I had no right to talk to those kind people. I wasn’t a being who should be alive to begin with.

I realized that I was afraid of being hated.

What if they were to find out about my true identity?

As a being who should be hated.

“It hurts…”

I knew that I deserved it, living in this kind of pain.

After all, I was someone who should be hated, the witch.

That was why.

I couldn’t ask for help, even if I desperately wanted to.

* * *

Godou’s PoV

“…You know…”

It was the second day of the exam.

I did better on today’s exam compared to yesterday’s.

The current time was 1pm.

Because of the exam, we only had to attend school for three hours. I was currently on my way home.

Actually, no, I was supposed to be on my way home, but for some reason, I was inside a shopping mall near the school area.

Before you assume things, no, I didn’t come here out of my own volition.

“Don’t you have to study?”

I asked Hina, who was walking in front of me, that question. Hearing it, she turned around to face me.

She placed her hands behind her backs as she smiled.

“I’ll study properly when I get home~”

“Alright, what are we here for then?”

“Lunch, of course. Studying is important, but taking a break is also important. Since school finishes early, we gotta make the most of the time!”

She then scurried around the streets filled with restaurants.

“You brought me here just for that?”

“…What’s that? You got a problem with that? It feels lonely going here alone, you know?”

She averted her gaze slightly as she pouted. Her cheeks reddened a little.

“If you’re too lax, you’ll end up like Shinji, you know?”

“Shinji who?”

“Wow, that’s just cruel…”

“Anyway, why are you worried about me? I got way better grades than you. Worry about yourself instead.”

“I mean, yeah, but… Honestly, I don’t think I’ll get any red marks even if I were to slack off a little.”

“See?~”

She was in an unnaturally good mood, I wonder why?

Did she do well in the exam or something?

“What do you want to eat?”

“Omurice.”

“Of course, what did I expect from you, anyway?”

“There is a western-styled restaurant there.”

“I don’t wanna go there.”

“Why?”

“I want some ramen!”

“Then, why did you ask me what I wanted to eat?”

“So I know what I should make for you later.”

“Oh, really? I’ll look forward to it, then.”

“…Yeah, go ahead, but can you back off a little? People will think that we’re a couple.”

Said Hina in a whisper before she turned her head away.

“What’s the problem with that?”

When I asked that question, Hina’s face reddened as she stopped dead in her tracks.

“…You really don’t care much about what other people think of you, huh?”

I mean, I used to be a hero back in my previous life. People assumed a lot of things about me back then, so I was pretty much used to it by now.

“…Hina?”

Hina let out a cough. She then scolded me for some reason.

“You should pay more attention to how people think about you. That’s why you’ve never noticed what me or other people are thinking about you.”

Well, I guess what she was trying to tell me was correct. I was executed by the church because I didn’t notice what they were thinking about me back then. Though, I had no regrets about that since I did my job as a hero properly before I died.

While thinking of this, I followed Hina to enter a certain ramen shop.

I sat by her side in front of the counter and ordered a large-sized tonkotsu ramen. They only sold tonkotsu here and Hina knew it too as we used to come here often back when we were younger as the price here was cheap for students like us and the food was tasty. I didn’t come as often nowadays, though. Mostly because I had been busy.

We slurped our ramen without a care in the world.

Even with sweats trickling down from our foreheads, we enjoyed this momentary blissful feeling.

“Phew~ I’m full.”

I muttered as I pat my stomach. I noticed that Hina was staring at me.

Her eyes looked serious.

“So…”

She shook the glass in her hand as she asked.

“What’s bothering you these days?”

“…You noticed?”

“Of course I did. Who do you think I am? I’m your childhood friend.”

She snorted and crossed her arms.

Her boastful attitude looked adorable.

Seriously, I couldn’t beat this girl.

She probably knew about me more than I did myself.

“You know…”

That was why, it should be okay to ask her this.

“Yes?”

“There’s something that I don’t understand…”

She listened to me in silence.

I thought about the witch.

“…There’s this one person that I hate. My enemy.”

Her eyes widened as I said that.

“Now, that’s rare. I thought you liked everyone.”

“That person is a special case.”

Honestly, it felt strange even to me.

“I hate that person. I don’t want to get involved with them. Like I said, we’re enemies, we don’t get along well. We sometimes work together but, even during that, we’ll curse each other as we go.”

That was how our relationship went.

“…Toward someone like that, there should be no reason to sympathize with them, right? As long as they didn’t ask me, I shouldn’t care about them, right? I mean, there’s no reason for me to help them…”

“…”

“But…”

I…

“Why am I…”

While I was staring at my own hand, Hina asked me a question.

“So, you want to help that person…”

“…”

“But, you don’t know if that feeling is coming from your heart or not, am I correct?”

“…Yeah.”

I didn’t know why.

But I had been struggling with this. I didn’t know where this feeling came from. Was it from my obsession? Or was it my true feelings?

“…You know.”

Hina held her forehead with her hand and sighed in exasperation.

“You’re an idiot.”

I didn’t expect her to suddenly insult me like that.

When I looked up at her in surprise, she was frowning while rubbing her brows.

“You looked so down these days, I wondered what was wrong with you… Turns out it’s just this dumb thing… Then again, what did I expect from you? …Jeez, seriously, what an idiot.”

She muttered those words.

“…Hina? You know, I’m actually struggling here–”

“Listen here, idiot.”

“Stop calling me an idiot.”

“Shut it and listen. Your assumption is wrong in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your hatred. What enemies? If you really hate that person, you wouldn’t be worrying about them like this. You think that you hate them, but in truth, you don’t. That’s all there is to it.”

“Huh?”

“You care about that person. Maybe you even like that person.”

I wanted to deny her words immediately.

But no words managed to come out of my mouth. Maybe, somewhere in my heart, I was aware of that already.

“You want to help them because you like them. Since you like them, when you notice that they’re in trouble, you want to help them. It’s simple, isn’t it?”

My memories together with the witch flashed through my mind.

There were barely any good memories.

Most of the time, we were just fighting or cursing each other.

In the first place, we were enemies. Because that was the case, I refused to help her and she stated clearly that she hated me and cursed at me.

Based on the knowledge that I had learned, I always assumed that I hated her.

It was impossible not to hate your enemy, after all.

I thought that way of thinking was the correct one.

Thinking back, I had never really learned about how relationships worked.

When I thought about the time I had with the witch.

I never felt bad around her.

I never felt uncomfortable around her.

Our silly banters, stupid quarrels… Those times when we did it, felt really fun.

At that time, I didn’t realize that feeling.

After all, the witch was the first person I had a real relationship with.

“…I don’t hate that person?”

It was only when Hina put it into words for me that I could come to terms with my feelings.

“Yeah. I don’t know who that person is… But you actually like that person. You just didn’t realize it.”

It felt like my common sense was overturned

What we were talking about felt so obvious that it was embarrassing that I felt troubled by it in the first place.

“When you want to help someone so much even though they refuse your help, that means you like that person and you don’t want to lose them.”

Said Hina in a gentle tone.

“It’s the same as me, you know?”

“…What do you mean?”

“Even though you don’t want my help, I’m here to help you anyway. You’re someone I care about. We’ve been friends since we were kids. I’m always worrying about you every day, you know?”

“Friends, huh?…”

Friend, a relationship.

Connection.

A word that symbolized mutual support.

What was it that made me reluctant to befriend the witch?

“I see.”

The words came out of my mouth involuntarily.

I looked out the window. The sky was clear.

I knew what I should do now.

“My bad, Hina.”

I stood up.

When I was racking my brain for an excuse to tell her, Hina waved her hand dismissively and said,

“Just get going. That person is waiting for you, aren’t they?”

She really could see through me, huh?

Or maybe I was just too easy to understand.

I placed the money for the ramen on the table and dashed toward the exit.

“I’m going.”

“Go get ’em, tiger.”

“Roger!”

I got on my bike and pedaled it to the witch’s house.

Maybe I didn’t really need to do it now, but…

I wanted to save her as soon as possible.

After all, I found the reason I had been looking for.

However…

It was a simple thing, it was unthinkable that I had been ignoring it for so long.

Hina was right, I was an idiot.

Sweat poured down on my face like a raging wave.

The summer heat was slowly taking my energy.

But, I had no intention of slowing down my bike.

I had no reason to hesitate anymore.

This time, I’ll definitely save her.

* * *

I was trying to catch my breath in front of the witch’s apartment.

I coulda just took it slowly and went here normally instead of pedaling my bike like a madman, but oh well.

Anyway…

I needed to talk with the witch.

I pressed the intercom in front of the apartment. But, only silence greeted me for quite a long time.

Just right before the security guard was about to kick me out, the witch finally answered.

{What do you want?}

“I need to talk.”

{I don’t want to talk with you.}

“I don’t care. Just come out and listen to me.”

My voice sounded more forceful than I thought. The witch was surprised to hear it.

{…That’s unusual. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard you sounding so forceful.}

“You won’t listen to me otherwise.”

As I said this, I heard her let out a sigh.

{Hero, you…}

“Stop calling me that. I’m not a hero anymore. You said it yourself, didn’t you?”

{…So you’ve come to admit that already?}

“Of course. It’s about time for me to grow up. I can’t be a chuunibyou forever.”

There was a short period of silence after I said that.

{…Whatever, come in.}

She granted me permission.

I went up to the floor where the witch was living in.

In the meantime, I managed to catch my breath.

Sadly, I didn’t have enough time to organize my thoughts, so I still didn’t know what I should say to her.

I knew what I wanted to talk about, though.

I should be able to work out something from there.

The door to her room was opened.

I went in and took off my shoes.

The room hasn’t changed since the last time I came here. The bookshelves were still occupying every corner of the room.

The smell of old paper tickled my nostrils.

“…Yo.”

The witch was sitting cross-legged on the sofa at the back of the room.

As she was sipping her tea, she turned her gaze to me.

“So, what are you— W-Wait, are you okay?!”

Her composed gaze turned into a gaze filled with anxiety after she saw me.

“What? Are you worried about me? How kind of you.”

“What happened? Why are you sweating so much? Your face looks pale too…”

“Haha, this is nothing…”

I wobbled a little mid-sentence.

“W-Wait, there’s no way you’re okay!”

“I’m okay. I just forced myself a little when I pedaled my bike to get here. Had to turn off my limiter and all that.”

“There’s no way you’d be okay after that then!”

“Don’t worry, if it comes to it, I’ll just vomit here. That’ll make me feel a whole lot better”

“Don’t you even dare to think about it!”

I calmed the fidgety witch down and sat down on the sofa.

“Ah… My head hurts…”

“Did you get a heat stroke? What is the temperature outside?”

Probably thirty eight or something.

Who knows, who cares. It was hard to think with this kind of headache.

“Why were you even?…”

The witch picked up the AC remote and turned down the room’s temperature.

“In any case, I’ll get you something to drink. Maybe I still have a sports drink or something in the fridge…”

I knew it, she was a kind girl.

She always pretended to be cold and detached, but whenever she panicked like this, her true personality came out.

“You know, witch…”

“What is it?”

“Now you can no longer escape! HAHAHAHAHA!”

“E-EH?!”

I laughed with all my heart. It seemed like she took my joke seriously as she took a step back from me.

I took a deep breath.

“My bad, that was the wrong character to play.”

“You’re creepy, you know that?”

“Now, that’s just mean.”

“Seriously, what is wrong with you?”

Said the witch as she handed me a bottle of sports drink.

“Thank you. I’m more of an Aquari¹Aquarius guy than a Pucari²Pocari guy though.”

“Shut it.”

She cut me off.

“Just drink it already, you’ll get dehydrated otherwise…”

I obeyed her words and gulped down the Pucari. Ahh, that hits the spot…

After a while, the headache finally went away.

I turned my gaze to the witch.

“So that’s how you normally dressed at home, huh?”

“…You got a problem with it?”

She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Her style was rough, but it was a staple for summer.

If I could describe how she looked currently, it would be…

“You look cute. The gap between how you look right now and your normal self actually makes me excited.”

Whoops, I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I guess my mind was still hazy as I normally would never say something like that. I could feel my face starting to heat up. Yikes.

“W-Wha?! What is it, all of a sudden?!”

Her face turned bright red as she shouted at me.

“N-Never mind that, it isn’t important. There’s something I want to tell you.”

“W-What?…”

Still flustered, the witch asked.

I looked at her closely. What should I tell her?

I started to scour through my memories with her. The days when we spent our lives together.

“Cerys… You’re a pain in the ass, do you know that?”

The first thing that came out of my mouth was an insult.

After hearing that, the witch furrowed her brows and almost immediately, sent out a complaint to me.

“Have you ever tried to look in the mirror?!”

“I know that I’m the same, though I hate to admit it. Still, you’re way worse than me, do you know that? I know you’re THE witch and all, but you’re still too much.”

“No?! What are you even talking about?! You’re even worse than me! You’ve never listened to anything that anyone said! Always neglecting yourself and running toward a problem recklessly like a headless chicken! You’re way worse than me! Worse!”

“Look in the mirror! So were you! I’m the only one who knows of your true nature! Self neglect is literally your middle name! Also, why are you so afraid of other people? No one in this world knows that you’re the witch. No one will hate you unconditionally. So, stop struggling in the dark by yourself! Ask for help, seek for help! Everyone will help you if you were to ask them! Just lean on someone when you’re in trouble, it isn’t that hard!”

“So what?! I’m still THE witch, my sin won’t go away even if no one knows who I am! In fact, just by existing, I’m already putting the world in danger! You already know that, don’t you?! I shouldn’t be alive in the first place! How could someone like me have the right to depend on other people? I’m a monster who should be hated! I deserve to be burned in hell! I don’t deserve to be saved! So, stop worrying about me and worry more about yourself instead!”

“Don’t fuck with me! There’s no way that’s true! Someone as kind as you don’t deserve to be hated, let alone be burned in hell! I’ll make sure of that! I’ll save you!”

“Hah?!”

The witch held her breath for a moment before showing me an exhausted smile.

“You’re still trapped by the curse, aren’t you? That’s why you’re acting like this. You lied to me earlier when you admitted that you aren’t a hero anymore, right? Well, I expected it, there’s no way that problem of yours could be solved so easily. Haah… I was a fool to believe you.”

“No, the curse doesn’t affect me anymore. Hina had told me enough that I’m just a normal high school boy.”

“Then, why?!…”

Her face was distorted.

“Then why are you trying to save me?! You are not a hero anymore! You have no reason to save me! We’re enemies! I was the reason why you lived like that back in the previous world! I was the reason why you were killed! Hate me! Hold a grudge against me! That’s the feelings you should have about me!”

“You’re seriously a major pain in the ass…”

I stood up and stared at her face.

“What? Am I wrong? I am THE witch! I’m the most troublesome, evil, disgusting, the worst person you can ever meet in this world! That’s a given!”

“If you’re really like that, Hina and the others would never go out of their way to help you. They cared about you because they noticed your kindness. You’re a kind girl, nothing you said would ever change that!”

“Shut up! Shut up! You won’t fool me with lousy lies like that!”

The witch tried to catch her breath after that outburst. There were tears in her eyes.

“…Surely you didn’t come here to talk about this kind of thing? Just hurry up and cut the case already.”

“Fine.”

I stepped forward and closed my distance to the witch.

“W-Wha?! D-Don’t come any closer!”

She summoned her staff and held it against my throat.

“I refuse.”

But I ignored her and took another step forward instead. She panicked and moved her staff away.

“What are you doing?!”

She took a few steps backwards as I continued forward.

Eventually, her back hit the wall. I immediately slammed my hand against that wall and leaned closer to her.

I showed her a daring smile.

“See what I meant? Even right now, you’re showing me your kindness.”

“Seriously, what do you want?!”

“Cerys… No, I should stop calling you that. Shiina Mai.”

I changed my way of addressing her.

Shiina looked surprised as her staff shook a little.

If the curse from her previous life was still bounding her, then I would be the person who would free her from it. I found the whole situation funny. She said all those things about me being cursed when it was her who was suffering from a curse.

I didn’t mean it literally, of course. Yes, her soul was bound by that heinous curse, but that wasn’t what I was meant to say.

Shiina was afraid.

Afraid of being approached by people, afraid of being touched by people. She was like this back then too and she hadn’t gotten any better since then. Even when we were linking our arms together for her treatment, her fear showed clearly in her manners.

When it came to communicating with others, she tended to take a step back before even doing anything. It was because she was afraid of getting hurt.

The reason for that was because she always thought that she deserved to be hated.

After all, for all her life, she had been living in a hell filled with nothing but people who were hostile to her.

That was why.

To save this idiot who was holding her tears back.

I said this without any hesitation,

“Be my friend.”

My face felt hot.

Maybe it started to redden as we were speaking. Did she notice that?

“Huh?…”

Shiina looked at me with her mouth slightly opened.

Soon after, her face turned bright red.

“Y-You?! W-Why suddenly?!—”

She let out those words while panicking.

Well, that was a natural response, I guess.

If she were to say the same thing to me, I would react the same way as her.

In any case, I should explain myself clearly to her.

“I… Want to help you. I want to see you smile… You’re right, this isn’t how I should feel toward the enemy from my previous life, but…”

Her face was red up to her ears as she heard more of my words.

Why couldn’t she have a more serious reaction? It was hard trying to come up with those words, you know? In any case, I continued,

“Being enemies and such… Let’s bury that relationship in the past already. Be my friend. If we became friends, then, I don’t need to think of a reason to help you. Because that’s what friends are for, right? To help each other when needed.”

Maybe, I was mistaken about something.

Normal friends wouldn’t have a tighter bond than we currently have.

The feelings I had about her were way heavier than the feelings I had towards any of my friends.

Nevertheless, nothing would change if I didn’t change the nature of our relationship. It was indeed a troublesome one, I admit that.

“Becoming friends? …To help me?…”

Shiina gripped the hem of her clothes. There was a sense of longing in her eyes.

“In the end, you haven’t changed at all, huh?…”

“How many times should I tell you so you can understand?”

In order to remove the curse that had been eating this girl’s heart for years, I had no choice but to repeat those embarrassing words over and over again.

Well, in a way, to remove that curse was a part of my duty. Not as a hero, but as an exorcist.

“I’m not helping you because I’m a hero or anything like that. I have no obligation to do so because I’m not a hero to begin with. You were correct. For the longest time, I had been tied by my past as a hero. Only when I decided to let it go did I realize that there are a lot of things I wanted to do in this world. And the first thing I want to do is to help you.”

I finally realized that.

I finally realized that feeling of mine.

“That shows you how much I like you! I love you! I love your clumsiness! I love your foolishness! I love everything about you! Everything! You are important to me! To me, you’re the one I cared about the most! I would do anything for you! That’s why, be my friend!”

In my desperation…

I uttered those ridiculous lines before turning my face away.

I didn’t have the courage to look at her face now.

“…So, what do you think? Do you believe me now? I’m not trying to help you because of my duty or anything like that.”

Silence enveloped the room after I said that.

Before long, Shiina opened her mouth to speak,

“Lies. There’s no way that anyone in this world could like me.”

“Then, even if everyone in the world hates you…”

The words flowed out naturally out of my mouth. It was how I truly felt about her.

“I’ll still be by your side. I’ll be the only one who loves you in this world. That’s why, I’ll remove both curses out of your heart and soul.”

“I-I’m the witch, you know? Even if you could save me, I shouldn’t be saved in the first place! I don’t deserve it! A witch like me has no right to be happy!”

She was just speaking in circles now and her eyes looked more clouded than before. It started to irritate me. So, I shouted at her to shut her up.

“Shut the hell up! What witch? Who has no right to be happy? That’s all in the past, you dumbass!”

She flinched when she heard me shouting. Thanks to that, her eyes began to regain their clarity.

“B-But…”

“In any case, you are not allowed to be unhappy. I won’t let you be unhappy.”

“H-Huh?!”

“Be happy instead. I’ll make you happy, I promise you.”

I pulled her closer to me and embraced her small, frail looking body in my arms.

“Listen, you’re not a sinner anymore. You’re a new person, you didn’t carry your sin from your previous life over. Everyone who knows you in this life likes you. Hell, even I, who knows you from your previous life, like you. You’re liked by everyone. You are not alone anymore. Even the people in our previous world would like you if they knew the truth about you. You’re a victim, not a villain. So, stop trying to take all the blame. Who do you think you are? You’re just a normal girl!”

“!”

I pressed her face against my chest so she wouldn’t be able to say anything to reject my words.

A soft, sweet scent tickled my nostrils, reminding me of the fact that the girl in front of me was a girl.

But that didn’t matter in the current situation.

“I’ll save you! I’ll make you happy! So, be my friend and let yourself be saved by me! I’m the hero who has saved the other world, you know? I’m more than reliable enough to save you. So, rely on me. Don’t keep everything to yourself. Talk to me if you need help. That’s what friends are for, at least that’s what Hina told me.”

I had to tell her everything that I wanted to say.

No matter how embarrassing it sounded.

“Also, if you were to be my friend… I can be your exclusive hero.”

Shiina flinched after she heard those words. When she relaxed her body a little, she,

“You’re such an idiot…”

Smiled at me.

“I can’t believe you said all that just for my sake…”

Tears trickled down from her eyes.

One after another, water droplets fell down from her cheeks.

“…Seriously… Why even?…”

She let out a sigh. It seemed like she had finally decided to yield.

I released her from my embrace and her body slid down the wall she was leaning on. She sat down on the floor.

“Now that you’ve resigned yourself to your fate, I will never let you go.”

“I give up. I can’t beat a stalker like you anyway.”

“Who did you call a stalker, you menhera?”

“W-What?! I-I’m not a menhera! I’m a mentally stable person, thank you!”

“Reflect on what you’ve been doing and say those words again. This time, slowly.”

I shrugged my shoulders as a response to her glare.

She tried to be intimidating but the tears in her eyes made her look pitiful instead.

“…Are you sure you want me as a friend? Am I not a major pain in the ass for you?”

“You are. I know what I’m getting into though, so you don’t need to worry.”

“If we’re going to be friends then we’ll be friends forever, is that what you want?”

“Yeah.”

When I nodded, she giggled.

“Alright then. There’s no reason for me to nag you anymore, let’s be friends. I’ll grind you hard, so be prepared, okay?”

“I don’t think that’s how friends work…”

“But you were the one who offered yourself with such vigor just now.”

“I had to do it because otherwise a certain thick-headed woman wouldn’t even bother to listen to my words.”

“…Pot calling kettle black.”

“At least I’m better than you.”

“Fine, fine, I admit that I’m the most troublesome person in this room.”

She pouted before reaching out her hands toward me.

“What?”

“My legs are weak, help me stand up.”

“Huh?”

“C’mon, we’re friends aren’t we? Won’t you help me?”

I pulled her hands and helped her.

She wobbled before falling into my chest.

“Oi.”

“…Shoulder, please…”

“Is your body hurting again?”

“…My body is always hurting… Today just feels… Worse than usual…”

“You shoulda told me beforehand!”

I held her waist and lifted her. I think this was the so-called legendary princess carry?

“G-Grey?!”

“Don’t call me that. I’m Shiraishi Godou now.”

“…Godou… Put me down…”

“No. It’s faster this way.”

“B-But…”

“But what?”

“…Never mind.”

“Jeez, seriously, you…”

Shinna had a strange expression on her face.

In any case, I decided to carry her to her bedroom.

I found the door to the room when I looked around the spacious living room.

“Is that your room?”

“Eh? Yeah… Why are you asking? …No, wait, can’t we just do it on the sofa instead?!”

“It’ll be more comfortable on the bed.”

“But, am I not… Heavy?”

“You are.”

“W-What?! I’m not that heavy!”

“Oi, stop hitting me! Ouch, my neck!”

Seriously, that was dangerous.

I opened the door to her bedroom while moving my aching neck around. Inside, there was a fancily decorated large bed. It was surrounded by a horde of plushies.

“…”

I took a look at the witch’s face and her bed alternatively.

“…Anyway.”

“Don’t just dismiss it!”

She retorted as she blushed.

“I mean, I won’t judge you. Everyone has their own hobbies.”

“…Just kill me.”

As soon as I laid her down on her bed, she immediately crawled under her blanket.

Then, she took a nearby plushy and hugged it.

“…”

I sat down on the bed. Her back was pressed against my waist.

The room was enveloped in silence for a little while.

“Godou…”

“Hm?”

“You said you were going to save me… How exactly?”

She asked in almost a whisper.

“There isn’t an easy way to get rid of the curse, you know?”

“I guess so, huh?”

“Well, it’s you after all. You’re probably going to say something like ‘I’ll think of something later’…”

Actually, I had been looking for a solution for quite some time now.

But not a single one came to my mind.

After all, even Shiina didn’t manage to find it even though she was a genius in the field of magic.

The best thing I could do was to ease her burden.

“Your curse… I’ll take half of it.”

“What?!”

She looked horrified.

“If you do that, your life will be in danger!”

“Actually, I don’t think so. I’m an exorcist, remember? We have a stronger resistance to curse compared to normal people. As long as I use my exorcism, I should be able to prevent the curse’s erosion on my soul. Honestly, it’s easier to just transfer your curse as a whole to me. I could dispel it little by little if that was the case, but you won’t allow that, will you?”

“Of course! If you do that, who knows what kind of burden will you—”

“That’s why I’ll settle for half. If it’s just half of it, I should be able to do something about it. My curse resistance is higher than you anyway, so it should be fine.”

I wasn’t planning on sacrificing myself.

I came up with this plan based on my experience on handling my exorcism. If I were to use my exorcism all the time while taking on the curse, the curse shouldn’t be able to harm me. If I wanted to save her, this should be the way to do it.

Perhaps she understood my intentions. Shiina’s eyes started to waver.

“Don’t try to handle everything by yourself, Shiina Mai. We’re friends, aren’t we? We should share both our happiness and pain. That’s what friends are for.”

She went silent for a while.

I held my hand to her and she took it timidly.

“…Even so, it’s a give-and-take relationship, right? You can’t just expect your friends to help you all the time without giving them something back…”

“Yes. So, I’ll be looking forward to your help whenever I get into trouble.”

“Is that even possible in the first place?”

“Well, of course. I’m not as clumsy as you are, but there are some troubles that even I can’t handle alone. I’ll come to you whenever I come across them in the future.”

Then, there was silence after that.

Only the voice of the cicadas from outside the building could be heard.

We stared at each other’s eyes.

“If that’s so, then…”

Shiina then uttered words filled with determination.

“Please save me.”

I grinned when I heard those words.

After all…

This girl who was hated by the whole world…

This girl who was trapped in constant self-blame…

This girl who always convinced herself that she had no right to be saved…

Had finally asked me, her first friend, for help.

“…Alright, don’t complain after this, okay? Here goes.”

I pressed my lips against hers.

“Mmph?!”

She was surprised, but she didn’t resist me. She probably found out that this was part of the procedure to transfer her curse to me. To build a bridge to her soul, we needed to be in physical contact. For treatment, holding hands was sufficient, but for transferring curses, we needed something more than that.

“Mm… Ah…”

Honestly, I didn’t really want to do it like this, but if I wanted to do it quickly, then, this was the way to do it. Actually, I should speed up the process even more. I put my tongue inside her mouth. In the process, our teeth bumped and it hurted me a little. To be fair, this was my first kiss, so I didn’t really know the details on how to do it, so I wish that she could forgive me about that accident later. I raised my concentration.

The way to transfer her curse over to me was for her to guide me to her soul with her magic. Then, I’d sever the connection between her soul and the curse. After that, she could push the curse over to my soul using her mana. The kiss was to maintain the connection during that process.

My only problem with this method was that I had to keep kissing her the entire time. It was a bit awkward, but whatever, just think of it as CPR or something.

Also, I did this to help her, so I wish she could forgive me for stealing her lips like that.

“…Phew…”

“Nhah…”

When everything was finished, I let her lips go. Shiina looked a little dazed. The work required concentration, so it was no wonder that she was exhausted.

“You okay, Shiina?…”

When I called out to her, she became startled. Her body started to tremble.

Her face started to redden up to her ears. She looked like an apple, but I probably was in the same state as her. My face felt hot, as if it was on fire. It was the first time that I had done this, so this should be normal, right?

“That was my first kiss…”

She gave me a resentful look. Hey, it was my first kiss too!

“Who cares about that right now. How do you feel?”

Her expression was lighter than usual. She no longer looked like she was struggling.

“Don’t just dismiss it! …Well, it’s certainly better than before… What about you?”

When she asked me back, I placed my hand on my chest.

There was a heavy feeling coming from deep inside my chest. However, thanks to my exorcism, I didn’t feel any pain coming from it. My body felt slightly more sluggish than usual, but I should be fine.

“…Hm, yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I think I can take more of your curse if you want me to.”

Her face reddened again as she turned her gaze away and clenched her fists.

“…I don’t want to kiss you again.”

“I mean, as long as we make physical contact, it’s all good. It doesn’t need to be a kiss.”

Oh crap, I shouldn’t have said that. Her face instantly turned uglier as it started to redden even more.

“Y-Y-Y-You?! Are you kidding me?! I’m going to kill you for real now!”

“W-Wait, let me explain myself first!”

I tried to explain myself, but her hand landed on my face first. What an impatient girl.