Takemura Itsuki

“Whaddya mean?” I asked as I looked at his eyes with my narrowed eyes. “What else do you know?”

The sun was setting in, and it was turning dark. The clouds were all over the sky. A drop ran down from the silent heights of the sky down through the busy crowd of people walking in the street beside us as we stood, ultimately being crushed as it hit the ground. Kurayami was smiling as he looked at me—a smile that looked like a little smirk. “See, Takemura-kun, kiddo, this thing… is more insane than you think it is. This story… is deeper than you think it is. There’s a ton more which you don’t know, and you might ever know.” He then turned to the front. “I’ll eventually narrate to you all of it, but first, listen about the atrocities of the king to the peasants in the countryside. So, the power mills have arrived, and—”

“Shut this shit, Yamazaki-san.”

Kurayami turned his head backward.

“Tell me what I wanna know.”

“It’s not something I will tell you, kiddo. It’s something you’re gonna discover on your own.”

“Tell me how you know about the prophecy.”

“I can’t. As I said, you needa discover that on your own.”

“What the fuck does tha—”

“Stop it, kid,” He narrowed his eyes irritably. “It’s not like I know a lot about it. It’s just that I know a few leaked bits, just like everybody else in the town.”

“It’s not really something you’d just listen to and then jump onto creating a whole gang of isekai’d members to fight off the king. I know something’s up inside.”

Kurayami silently looked into my frowning eyes as I looked into his narrowed irritated and angry eyes. “I don’t really lose my temper, kiddo, but that doesn’t mean you gotta push me to my limits every time we talk. It’s already a mess dealing with someone like you, motherfucker.”

“What the heck was that? Yamazaki-san who I knew wasn’t someone like this.”

“So before I break your whole existence of life, shut the fuck up.” He then turned his head to the front and continued walking with his hands in his pocket. PAT. PAT. PAT. PAT. PAT. Kurayami then smiled a little, stopped after a few steps, and then turned back toward me. “Don’t make me angry, kiddo. Now come, we needa go home.” He turned to the front, starting to walk on the bricked ground. PAT. PAT. PAT. “It’s gonna rain soon.”

***

Tachibana Ichika

“You see, what I’m most afraid about is that Yamazaki-san can be really strict sometimes, and really, really angry,” I told Yumiko as I stood in front of the table, my hands on the table, my eyes on Yumiko, who was pouring tea from the kettle in her hands at the cups on a tray at the table on my right.

“Yeah, but it’s a truth which will eventually come out in front of him, right?”

“Yeah…” I turned my eyes to the front. I then turned at her again. “You see, Yamazaki-san is like someone completely outside the understanding of us. He’s full of secrets inside him.”

“Yeah, but once Takemura-kun understands that what he’s doing is for the greater good, he’ll feel comfortable with Yamazaki-san again. Don’t worry about it.” Yumiko took up the tray in her hands and raised it at me. “Yamazaki-san’s a charismatic personality on a battlefield.”

“Hope Itsuki experiences it soon…” I replied as I took the tray from her hands.

***

Takemura Itsuki

“Yamazaki-san… Just who is this guy?” I thought as I suspiciously looked at the back of Kurayami walking in front of me, narrating some history lecture with his faint voice.

“So that’s how the power mills took over the countryside. But, you see, the peasant generally had the cloth weavers and spinners at their farms already, so this kind of enraged them. It led to a peasants’ revolution some time back. And from then, the countryside is turning more and more rebellious and ‘anti-king’ as some state it.”

PAT. PAT. PAT. PAT. We continued to walk on the bricked street. It had turned completely dark, with the shops around us lighted up with orange flames. “Yamazaki-san is hiding something. No, he’s hiding a lot. And, from everyone.” I turned my head to the left, looking at three carriages with two horses each pushing them. They were tapping on the bricked street with their hooves, with men in black coat-suits on the driver’s seat. I looked at the horse carts with my sharp narrowed serious eyes. “This city…”

“This city is more than I thought it is.”

***

Kabata Katsuki

“What… do you mean…?” My eyes were wide open as I heard those words in shock. In front of my narrowed sharp eyes open wide in shock stood the feminine figure in dark green robe, looking coldly at me with her sharp eyes with black thick eyelashes and outlines. “Are you… fucking kidding me?”

“No, Katsuki. I’m damn serious.”

“You… are giving the rankings a go? Seriously?”

She nodded slightly. “I know you’ve fought the hero and know him, but we just can’t kill someone solely on your single observation, Katsuki.”

“Akira… do you even fucking know that if the hero gets famous after the rankings, we… we won’t be able to kill him. Do your fucking ass know it?!” I angrily shouted at her.

“I know it already, but to counter it, we’re gonna do what we do best, and what we’re doing for so long.”

“What?”

“Lie about the scenario after he’s killed.” She shrugged.

“Those filthy citizens of your empire don’t buy that now, do you know?!” I shouted at her. “I won’t be approving of it.”

“Kamiyama-san and Ishida-san already gave me the permission. I was just passing the message that you should stay silent for now too and stop all investigations.”

In my mind, I thought, “Tch! This bitch…”