✦ Endo & Kobayashi ✦
Chapter 19
After watching Liselotte and Finné exchange their vows of sister-ship, we quietly saved the game. Until we turned off the console, both of us were as silent as mice. But, the quiet that had descended upon Kobayashi’s living room didn’t last long.
“…I’m so happy. I’m so happy for them!”
Kobayashi cried that out as tears and mucus began to run down her face.
“I’m happy for them too. You really did well hanging in there through all that as well, Kobayashi.”
I held out the tissue box I had handy as I said that.
“Thanks! But gosh, really, that was so hard to bear! Can you imagine if I ruined that scene with my spluttering and sniffing?!”
Whilst saying so, she vigorously tried to clean her face with a fistful of the tissues from the box. As we had watched the two girls become sisters on the screen, Kobayashi had actually begun to cry even earlier than Finné did. In a titanic struggle to fulfill her role as a commentator, she somehow managed to resist letting it show in her voice. That said, although her commentary had been voiced perfectly, her face really had been a mess through all that.
“But, was it really that moving?”
Am I just not a sensitive enough person?
As I expressed a bit of doubt, Kobayashi blew her nose strongly, before turning around to talk to me, still sniffling. Her eyes were red.
Does she need some more time to cool down?
“No, it’s just, how do I say it, it’s like their destinies have changed. Changed… We changed it… It just really hit me for the first time, I guess…?”
Now that she mentions it…
We had changed the course of Finné’s life in a way that definitely wasn’t possible in the game, and even had impacted the future of a major noble house. It definitely felt like we’d done something big for the first time.
“Also, seeing Liselotte and Finné smiling together like that, for some reason, it makes me feel like…”
Kobayashi dabbed her eyes with another tissue. It seemed like the tears had started up again. In the game, those two were rival characters. Except for the reverse harem route, those two never really got along at all, much less became friends. Instead, they often fought to the death. Either Finné or Liselotte would have to die for the other to survive. It was as if they were always destined to oppose each other. But now, those two were so close that it was even making the Prince nervous.
That’s definitely a great thing to see.
“By the way, in the other routes, do you find out that Finné and Liselotte were cousins only after Liselotte dies?”
Kobayashi nodded as I asked that, since I only vaguely recalled the details of the game outside of the reverse harem route.
“It’s only in the reverse harem route that Liselotte lives after the Ancient Witch is defeated that she ever finds out… But now that I think about it, isn’t she taken in by Mama-Finné’s former house, House of Marschner?”
The Duke of Marschner, so impressed by Finné saving the world with her friends, takes both her and her mother into the House’s care. It’s a short afternote in the epilogue of the reverse harem route. ‘It was in that way that the girl who was raised as a commoner became a princess beloved by all.’, I think was the line.
But, now that we know more about the Duke and Duchess of Marschner’s true nature, that ending seems way more sour.
“To have The Crown Prince Siegward, The Marquis’ Daughter Liselotte, The Future Marquis Baldur, The Elite Priest Artur, The Genius Magician Shota and The Scheming Teacher all completely charmed by a girl who’s treated like a savior… Won’t the country be in trouble…?”
“Right? And if the key pieces of Finné and Mama Finné are held by the Marschners…”
They could start a coup d’état, or even rule the country from the shadows.
Kobayashi didn’t say it, but she was probably thinking the same thing I was. Her expression looked fierce.
“The reverse harem ending really is a problem, just like I thought before.”
“Right.”
Kobayashi agreed with the words I inadvertently muttered to myself. Looking at each other seriously, we nodded. Reverse harems or fooling around with multiple people isn’t good, after all. Nobody would find real happiness.
“So, that’s why I was like that earlier! It’s even more moving knowing that now, right?!”
Kobayashi asked me with a determined look on her face.
“Yeah, I got it.”
As I nodded, Kobayashi laughed happily. Until now, I didn’t really realize what it meant to be ‘gods’. It’s definitely true that I’d grown really attached to those who lived in that other world and I wanted them to be happy.
If I could, I’d like to guide them down the direction that would lead to that.
As I felt something warm well up in me as I thought about those people in the other world, I saw Kobayashi’s smile, and couldn’t keep hold of my words.
“…Everyone over there, I was just thinking it’d be great if they could all find happiness, right?”
As she heard me say what was on my mind, Kobayashi’s smile looked a little solemn as she gently nodded.
“…Right? I really think that too. We’ve done really well so far but, until the end, let’s keep doing our best, okay?”
Then, Kobayashi extended that small hand of hers toward me. The moment I grasped it,
Ah… It really was worth spending my summer holidays here.
That’s what I thought.
“…That’s right! Let’s go out and celebrate tomorrow!”
Kobayashi suddenly said that, completely changing the serious mood from before.
“To celebrate Liselotte and Finné becoming sisters, the two of us should go out somewhere! We’ll have a night off from the game!”
…That’s a date, right? The two of us going out together like that, that has to be a date, right?!
Although Kobayashi’s suggestion made me want to jump for joy, I managed to wrestle down that feeling and try and play it cool.
“Ah, yeah, it would be good to get out occasionally, wouldn’t it? The summer holidays are almost over, too.”
The coming weekend would mark the end of the summer holidays. I’d gone to hang out at Kobayashi’s place almost every day, although I could barely remember what happened on the first few days since I was so nervous. I was always thinking that it would be nice to go out somewhere with her though, even if it was just once. Barely believing my luck that it actually seemed to be happening, obviously, I agreed to go.
“Then it’s settled! Tomorrow, we’ll go out!”
Even though Kobayashi’s words had me doing flips in my mind, all I did was give her a nod.
“Nfufufu… A date, huh?”
I whispered that like a naughty kid.
Ah, jeez. Honestly, I really love her.
But because I’m an idiot, I couldn’t say it.
Where the hell are the words I need?
Please let me know if there’s anything inconsistent or that needs further editing/corrections!!
-emrld
Scarlett Shoujo 