Chapter 61

Chapter 61 \n“Nee-chan, I hear Usato is up to something again.”\n

After today’s classes ended, I met up with Kyou.

‘Again…’ Those were my only thoughts to Kyou’s words. Just what was that outrageous healing magician up to this time….?

“If I remember, he looked worried when Nack wasn’t here this morning… Does that have anything to do with it?”

“I don’t know. But from what I heard, Usato has really lost it.”

“Lost it…? Like he snapped? Usato did?”

Although Usato looked scary, I couldn’t imagine him with an angry expression for some reason. Well, he was borrowing the school’s training grounds… It wouldn’t hurt to go and take a look. I had already seen Usato carry a Blue Grizzly around while running, I probably won’t be too surprised anymore.

I listlessly dragged my feet as we moved towards the training grounds.

It wasn’t particularly far from here but I noticed that the students along the way had some strange expressions.

“….?”

Although I had my doubts, I felt like there was no need to worry and continued on.

We arrived at the entrance of the training grounds. There were a few students observing here and it seemed like they were focusing their attention on something inside…

‘I should find Usato first.’ As I thought so, I started making my way around the group of students near the entrance… But then I discovered a hooded girl with blonde hair— Amako.

Just as I was about to greet her, I paused when I saw the look on her face.

Her eyes seemed to be looking far away in the distance. Since I had never seen Amako with such empty-looking eyes before, I was confused. Kyou then lightly tapped me a few times on the shoulder from behind…

“Ne..Nee-chan…”

“Hmm? What’s the matter?”

“What is that….?”

For some odd reason, the color from Kyou’s face had drained as he pointed towards the training grounds with his finger.

What is it?

I turned my head to where Kyou was pointing as I thought this.

“………..Eh.”

My reaction was same as Kyou’s, but much stronger…

After all, Usato…. ‘That’ Usato had a gruesome smile on his face and was trampling onto the back of Nack who had fallen down.

 

*

 

“….Are you telling me you were seriously running just now? You think you can become a first-rate healing magician like this? Get up, you can still run, right? ….Hurry up, you dunce. Do you have any idea how much time you’re wasting by lying down so pathetically like this?”

“Hah… Hah… Y-yes.”

Healing magic light was being emitted from Usato’s foot as he used it to poke Nack and transmit it. Seeing the smile on Usato’s face, I couldn’t help but think he was someone else. What happened to the gentle Usato from yesterday?

Nack was in tears and got up while groaning. He then started to run just like Usato had instructed. Usato didn’t move and only glared at Nack from behind.

I was obviously in disorder upon seeing this scene.

“Ee…. Eeeeh? W-wait a moment. Who is that?”

“Nee-chan, I know you can’t believe it but… That’s Usato.”

That was Usato? There has to be a mistake… Did an orge infiltrate this school?

Usato had to be an ogre! I mean, he still looked the same. But! He had completely changed on the inside!! In comparison to this, Usato’s actions seemed normal two days ago! Just what happened this morning!? He looked normal when he woke up at least…

My thoughts were in chaos as I couldn’t believe the person in front of me was really Usato.

It didn’t end there… Before I knew it, Usato had vanished from my sight. He had leaped and my eyes couldn’t keep track of him.

As soon as I could see Usato again, he had landed near Nack. While Nack was pushing his limits and running with overflowing tears, Usato moved behind Nack and lightly kicked him in the air….

Wait, eh!?

“Uguah!?”

“That won’t do, Nack. You have to make sure to use your healing magic while running.”

Usato looked at Nack with cold eyes and grabbed a tight hold of his head. Usato forced Nack to face him.

“I told you before, to feel and sense your magic, right? So why did you lose your concentration after a light poke from me…? Are you really trying? If you’re really trying, I would really appreciate it if you could show me, Nack.”

“…..But…. I-I’m not used to it so….”

“Huh? It’s already been two days, you know? Do you think you can use that as an excuse? You started learning magic before me. In other words, you have a head start and should be able to learn faster than me. I might’ve forgiven you yesterday but it’s different today. ‘I can’t do it’ those are not the words I’m looking for, you understand?”

His tone was gentle as usual but his face was terrifying. I felt a chill and quivered.

Just looking Usato from afar was enough to intimidate me and paralyze my muscles. Nack’s body was shaking and averted his eyes from Usato’s gaze… But Usato forced Nack to look him in the eyes.

“If I remember correctly, you said this… I’m going to beat that shitty, arrogant little girl and make her pay for everything she’s done to me so far.”

“I-I didn’t say that much…”

“Huhh?”

“I-I said it!! I want to beat Mina very much! Yes, I’ll beat her till she has bruises all over her body!”

Nack responded with a loud voice while his head was still being grabbed.

I got goose bumps as the contents of this conversation were too disturbing for me. If Mina were to witness this scene right now, even I would feel pity for her.

In truth, the students who were intending to train here were speechless and looking at Nack and Usato.

“I see, I see. But you know… Are you really taking this training seriously? Just from your attitude it looks like you are… However, you don’t actually have to try that hard for this training.”

Nack looked like he couldn’t fully comprehend Usato’s words.

Even I didn’t really understand what Usato was trying to say. It wasn’t necessary to do his best for this training? What did Usato mean?

“There’s nothing wrong with using words to express your intent in doing your best. But that’s not what I’m trying to accomplish. This isn’t the kind of training you can do just because you want to do your best. In fact, it actually gets in the way of this healing magic training. What are you trying to do your best for? It’s just harsh training. If you think like that, you’ll get tired of it. If you plan to support yourself with such empty words, then it’s useless and futile. That’s why you shouldn’t think you’ll obtain some sense of accomplishment from this training. Forget about all that. You’ll only achieve results by concentrating on the training itself. Discard any unnecessary thoughts.”

Usato rapidly spoke his thoughts.

I see. In other words, don’t think of anything. Just become a puppet that follows the training…. To obtain definite results, you needed to focus on what was in front of you. For this type of training, this was very true. It was really efficient and a dreadful way of thinking.\nBut you’ll definitely run from that kind of training. At the very least, I would. I had no doubt that every other student here felt the same way.

“You’re just relying on these feelings of ‘doing your best’? Are you underestimating healing magic? You need to give it your all. What you’re doing is simple. All you have to do is focus on running. You’re not used to using healing magic while running? Do you want me to run beside you and constantly remind you? If you have time to think about such worthless thoughts… Then run.”

“Kuuh……”

“I will make you stronger. But no matter how much damage you suffer during this process, I’ll heal you as much as I can. But if you just want some half assed results— I’ll stop being so strict towards you. It looks like I was an idiot to try and help you.”

“Ong…. You’re wrong…. I don’t want some half-baked results….!”

“Then start taking this seriously and concentrate with everything you have. You have no strength or stamina. Obviously you’re going to need to rely on your reflexes… To the very limit. If you can do it, do it. If you can’t do it, you will still do it. If you can’t succeed on your own, I’ll lend a hand and succeed somehow anyways.”

Usato roughly let go of Nack’s head. I couldn’t see Usato’s expression from this side but there was no doubt that he was looking at Nack with a frightening gaze.

“Then get up. If you don’t stand here, then you really are a good-for-nothing.”

Nack, I think you’re going to break.

Usato’s training was something you couldn’t back out of once you started. It was dangerous and there was no telling just how far Usato would take it. Even if your body was fine due to healing magic, there was no way your mind would be.

Usato was the weird one to have overcome that…

But unlike my expectations, Nack violently wiped off his tears and returned a sharp glare back at Usato.

“…! I’ll… do it…. I just have to do it, right…?”

Nack forcefully gritted his teeth and started to run, despite staggering.

While Nack was running in such a dangerous fashion and wobbling, a green aura coated over his body. Thanks to Usato, Nack was able to fully concentrate.

It was apparent that today’s training was different from yesterday’s…

“Kuu… Kuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”

Nack was frantic.

No other words could describe his current situation better.

Once Usato saw Nack’s change, he no longer glared and sighed in relief. He returned back to his usual gentle expression and smiled.

We ended up seeing such a moving scene without really understanding what was going on and the situation seemed to have already resolved.

“Fuh, this is quite the nostalgic scene….”

“……! Sensei.”

While we still hadn’t recovered from the shock of this situation, a tall woman had suddenly shown up… It was Carla-sensei. She was the magic teacher in charge of our class. Although her personality was troubling, she was one of the few humans who didn’t discriminate against other races here.

She looked happy and was laughing. Did she know the reason why Usato became like this…?

“Hmm? Kiriha and Kyou…. That reminds me, Usato is staying at your place, right?”

“…..Yes.”

It wasn’t that strange for her to know that Usato was staying at our place.

The problem was… Why did Sensei suddenly bring it up? I felt a little tense due to Sensei’s smile.

“You don’t have to be so cautious. I don’t think it’s particularly strange or anything.”

“….Usato is a human while we’re beast kin. I think if other people knew, they would think it’s quite strange.”

Kyou interjected.

“I have no intention of stopping Usato from staying at your place. I have a general idea of what kind of person he is. Meeting a human like him must be a first for you two.”

I couldn’t retort back.

It was true that I haven’t met such an unreasonable human like Usato before. Kyou was somewhat used to Usato’s existence by now but I felt like something was still hindering me from accepting Usato. I didn’t have any negative feelings towards him for sure but there was some sort of irritation.

As I was being tormented by my own complicated feelings, Sensei turned back her attention to Usato.

“That’s just an act. Usato’s master is on a completely different level. His master is the real brute. Even so, Usato is doing a great job at acting and passing Rose’s training. Seriously… I couldn’t help but be happy at seeing a disciple being so similar to his master, but at the same time, they are also different….”

“A-an act…? He’s doing that on purpose?”

He was performing such an absurd role too. He’s outrageous.

Usato was like a demon that could make people shiver just with his very presence. There was an even more frightening existence than Usato and she was the one who trained him?

….My image of Usato’s master didn’t look like a human anymore.

“But if he didn’t do this, it would really be impossible to strengthen Nack in such a short period of time. In reality, his training yesterday was too gentle. I don’t know if something happened but Usato is finally teaching some real healing magic training. It was something I used to seeing in Lyngle but to think I would get to see it in Luquis too… It’s moving.”

“Uwaaah…”

Sensei’s healing magic training and our healing magic training obviously differed.

“In any case, three days have passed including today. Nack’s efforts will definitely bear fruit. Well, there’s no helping it if his personality changes a little. Hahahaha.”

Sensei gave a lighthearted laugh as she said this jokingly.

But her joke felt convincing due to the fierce training happening right in front of me. Kyou felt the same and weakly smiled… He turned away and looked at the setting sun.

Seeing that it was already so late, I said,

“We should return… It seems like Usato won’t be done any time soon.”

“Then I’ll go and pick up Satsuki.”

“I’m counting on you.”

There was no problem in coming here to see Usato’s training but we stayed here longer than expected. I still wanted to observe him but we should really go home.

I entrusted Kyou to pick Satsuki up… It was probably a better idea to leave Amako alone. As a form of courtesy, I also lightly bowed my head to Sensei before leaving.

“Why are you sluggishly running like that!? Run with all your strength!!”

“Y-yes!!”

“….I should probably make more than usual for tonight’s dinner.”

I vaguely thought this as I saw Nack madly sprinting.

 

*

 \nIn the end… Usato, Nack, and Amako came back almost immediately after I had finished making dinner. Kyou and Satsuki had already returned as well. And so dinner began with 6 people…

But….

“Ugu, uo… Delicious… Agu…. I’m… I’m alive….”

“N-Nack… You shouldn’t cry while eating.”

Usato brought back an unconscious Nack. As soon as Nack woke up, he started eating dinner. While tears and snot dripped down from his face, he drank the soup in front of him in one gulp. Despite my warning, Nack didn’t seem to mind and instead look delighted. Meanwhile, Usato was looking at this spectacle with a pleasant smile.

“Hahaha, you’re really exaggerating, Nack.”

“No no, isn’t it your fault? Your personality was completely different during training.”

Kyou lightly reprimanded Usato.

“I was just trying to act like my Master. Didn’t it seem like an act?”

“It didn’t seem like an act at all! It looked like you were enjoying it!”

“H-how rude! Don’t put me on the same level as that sadist!! Amako! You should know, go on and tell Kyou! Am I similar to Leader!?”

“A child that should return will return, I guess.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s a beast kin phrase! Its meaning is similar to ‘you can’t differ too much from your own parents!!’”

Satsuki excitedly shouted.

“Thank you Satsuki. But I wasn’t really asking for the meaning… I was sort of asking why Amako would think that…”

“Eh, you meant that? Then I think Amako meant your Master is something like an ogre.”

“…..Wait a moment. Then if I followed the phrase you described just now, it’s like you’re saying you thought I looked like an ogre during today’s training. Hey, let’s stop saying something that can be easily misunderstood…”

“You’re not wrong, you’re definitely an ogre.”

Kyou interrupted.

“Yup, an ogre!”

Satsuki consented.

“Kyou, why don’t you step outside with me for a bit?”

“Why are you only calling me out!!”

It was a lively and noisy dining table. In the middle of all this, Nack was wholeheartedly eating my cooking. I couldn’t help but sigh and asked him something that was on my mind.

“Nack, are you okay?”

“Uguh…. Okay? What do you mean?”

“You’re being pushed so far by Usato, aren’t you scared?”

Since he was going through with the training despite how harsh it was, he was probably willingly doing it.

My questioned caused Nack to open his eyes wide in surprise and he looked a little hesitant in answering my question.

“It’s certainly scary but it’s something I personally desire.”

“…I see.”

Nack had properly thought through this on his own.

The look in his eyes was evidently different from the first time he came here.

I suspect that something had happened.

“Additionally, I think of the Usato during training and the Usato who is sitting at this table as two different people.”

“Aah, I see…”

What was that? I felt like the light in Nack’s eyes disappeared just now.

Nack was staring at Usato, Kyou, and Satsuki who were joking around. Nack’s eyes were lifeless and his cheek twitched.

Usato at this moment seemed to have remembered something and turned to face Nack.

“Ah, that reminds me. Nack, I had something to give you.”

“Something for me? …Is it related to training?”

“Hmm, something like that. You might need it so you should take it.”

As Usato said so, he retrieved a stack of paper from his pocket… No, he presented a notebook to Nack.

“….What am I supposed to use this for?”

“It’s a diary. I recommend you to write in it starting from today. But if you don’t want to, that’s fine too.”

“Heeh, healing magicians have something like this in their training? Let me guess, you write in the diary to record your own progress. These records allow you to confirm how much you’ve grown, right?”

Kyou questioned.

“Hahaha, it’s not something as cool as that. This is just something to aid you because of how harsh the training is. I did this too. Leader said to do it and so I did… And thanks to this, I was able to not lose sight of myself and continue with the training.”

“……? Not lose sight of yourself?”

“What’s the purpose of writing in this diary, Usato-san?”

Nack also had doubts and asked.

A diary was something you wrote for yourself so why would you lose sight of who you are?

“You might want to escape reality due to the training and this diary is to prevent that. Well, we only have two more days of training to go. Nack might not need it.”

“……”

That’s not a diary….

I couldn’t say anything in response but I was clear of one thing…. This was a diary that wasn’t a diary… Usato.

Nack was bewildered upon receiving the diary.

Usato smiled as if he was seeing a nostalgic scene.

Seeing this pair of master and disciple caused me to worry about Nack’s training tomorrow.

 \n\n“….But I don’t think like that.”

“It’s this town’s… No, it’s this world’s common sense. You’re able to talk to use normally. Usato, you’re the strange one here.”

But after saying this and seeing his troubled expression, I felt some regret.

He didn’t do anything wrong. As I was thinking of how to apologize to him… He spoke first. He sat on top of the wooden box he blew away a moment ago and said his next words with a sense of yearning,

“This world’s common sense, huh… But I’m not someone from this world so it doesn’t matter to me.”

“……Haah!?”

His words were so unrealistic that I couldn’t help but raise my voice.

“There’s something called the hero summoning in Lyngle. It was only supposed to summon the two heroes you saw before but I ended up being caught in this summoning too.”

“The heroes… It’s really like the heroes from the stories!?”

“….? What else could I be referring to?”

What else you say… For these past few hundred years, people would earn achievements in war and a few would be chosen to serve directly under a king. These people were revered as heroes. At the very least, that was what the students here thought.

Although there aren’t many, there were still heroes. However, these heroes weren’t really the heroes from the stories but just a title.

But the heroes that Usato mentioned— Inukami and Kazuki. They seemed to be genuine heroes. A few hundred years ago, a hero was summoned from another world and they sealed the Demon King. Usato was from the same world as the two heroes… I could somewhat understand why he had an absurd amount of power now.

“You got caught in the summoning and came from the same world as the heroes… I see. Now I know why you’re so strong.”

“Hahaha, I’m different. I only have a bit more magic power than most people. My strength comes from the results of my training.”

“I think that’s also a problem…”

Despite the lack of talent, he possessed strength that could rival the heroes’.

If I thought about it carefully, the fact that I could make such a comparison was weird. Usato only had physical attacks while the heroes possessed strong and powerful magic…

“I got off topic. As I was saying, I come from a different world so this kind of discrimination doesn’t really exist. I can’t really comprehend it. In fact, my world doesn’t have any beast kin or non-humans.”

“…Then aren’t you afraid? Because you’ve never met someone like me…”

I was astonished that there weren’t any non-humans in Usato’s world but shouldn’t that mean Usato would be even more disgusted at seeing me and Amako?

“Like hell I would be scared.”

But Usato rejected my words.

“People with ears like us aren’t normal. Humans don’t have tails either. Our eyes and noses are several times more powerful than a human’s… Our strength too, we could easily split a large boulder with our bare hands.”

“Even I can smash a boulder into small fragments.”

Eh. But I didn’t say anything about smashing a boulder into small fragments…?

No no. I can’t be pressured here.

“No matter how I look at it, we’re more like monsters…!! There are monsters that are capable of human speech!! No matter how similar we look to humans, there’s something about us that’s decisively different”

“Then I guess I’m an ogre. It’s just like you said, there’s something different about me from other humans. I might as well be a monster.”

“You’re similar to an ogre and your very core is like a monster’s but… You’re still a human.”

“I’m really curious about that statement and want to comment on it but… Let’s leave that aside for now.”

Usato turned his entire body towards me and folded his arms before continuing to speak,

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter for me whether you’re a human or a beast kin. That’s why you’re misunderstanding me. My perception of this won’t change either so there’s no point in trying to tell me about the common sense of this world.”

Even after saying all this to Usato, he didn’t hold any disgust towards me.

It was still the gentle Usato who smiled, just like when I first met him.

“I just think of you as some girl who’s wearing cosplay… For your ears and tails that is.”

“Hah? Cosplay?”

“…It looks like some of Inukami-senpai’s bad influence rubbed off on me… Forget about that word just now….”

“….? Well, I don’t mind.”

“….Ahem. I have a vague sense of you’re worried about, Kiriha. But let me say this again, humans, beast kin, or even the demon kin, they’re not that much different in my eyes. To begin with, I think that the perception of the people in this world is a little off. I don’t think there’s any real need for you to change yourself to match other people’s perceptions. If you were to ask Inukami-senpai if she were scared of you, her answer would certainly be this ‘Scared? A foolish question! Of course I’m aroused!’”

“…Fu… Fufu… What was that just now? Was that supposed to be an impression of Inukami?”

“You absolutely cannot tell her I said this. Her real nature is like this which causes me to be embarrassed…”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Usato who tried to imitate Inukami with a slightly higher pitched voice. Even though I was overcome with doubt and suspicion a moment ago…

“I see….”

The worry that I had over these few days might’ve been simpler than I thought.

When I first arrived in Luquis, I held the hope of getting along with other humans. Before I knew it, I had forgotten about this hope. I was just scared of remember this feeling I had forgotten…

I had seen a lot of the cruel acts of humans and didn’t want to be betrayed. I didn’t want to be abandoned by the human I could believe in. I was trying to deny it myself. My heart wouldn’t allow me trust another human. But deep inside, I was still thinking ‘Maybe one day…’

“I was just overthinking things… It doesn’t need to be that complicated…”

That feeling from the depths of my heart was revived upon seeing a human like Usato getting along with Amako. My emotions were all over the place with this unexpected encounter but I finally understood my own emotions.

“You really are a weird human. Your magic is unusual and your attitude towards us isn’t normal either. Your training is also beyond my understanding because of how abnormal and strange it is.”

“Eeh… You’re really talking without holding anything back…”

“Even though it sounds bad, I’m actually praising you. Thanks to how strange you are, Amako was able to find someone like you and Nack is able to stand up on his own. And I’m able to talk to you like this.”

“I don’t feel like I’m being praised but… Well, it’s fine.”

I noticed it this late… But I could still make it.

After all, this was something I wanted long ago.

When I first arrived here, this was something I desired from the bottom of my heart.

I wanted human friends.

It was a foolish desire I had when I was still only a child. But I lost sight of that somewhere along the way.

However, the reality was right in front of me. My wish could be granted. I could finally… Take a step forward again.

First of all… I’ll try my best to become friends with this strange human in front of me.