321 â A scene of carnage
Yikes⌠Back out, back out. So this is what they call âa scene of carnageâ huh.
What is unfolding in front of my eyes is a womenâs battle. Imouto-chan and Ooshima-kun are carrying out a full-on battle over a single man. The look in their eyes is freaky. That look is⌠the intent to kill! Youâve done it, Yamada-kun! You sure are popular! This is whatâs meant by âto be flanked by two beautiful womenâ! In addition, they both look like poisonous flowers.
On one hand is the crazy psycho yandere bro-con imouto. On the other hand is the cool and calculating gender-swapped girl who knows everything about being a man. Whoever you choose it seems problematic. Whoever you choose seems likely to dominate you too. Do your best Yamada-kun! Iâll cheer for you! I wonât do anything tangible though!
Or rather, before all that, what should I do about this feud?
Do your best Yamada-kun! Iâll cheer for you! I wonât do anything tangible though!
Hey, itâs not my fault you know? The cause of all this is imouto-chan anyway. I think itâs appropriate for her elder brother Yamada-kun to resolve this! So, I shall leave everything to him.
While I had been talking about the truth behind the bombing incident caused by the Hero from two generations ago and the previous generation Demon King, I was being pestered by this chronic complainer. The chronic complainer called imouto-chan. In short, âI demand to meet onii-sama.â
Iâve always had one of my clones with imouto-chan, but then she started talking endlessly to it like she was invoking some kind of curse. I figured that since she had cooperated so far that I might as well grant her that wish. With a ghastly appearance on the edge of insanity, she had grabbed my clone and continuously spoke to it okay? So scary! Even if this is just via one of my clones, it felt like a never-ending horrific whisper. I might have nerves of steel, but there is still a limit to things!
Basically, thatâs why I decided to grant that broken imouto-chanâs wish. Well, just letting them meet is fine I guess. Thereâd been a time when I had actually thought that. Indeed. Itâs true that imouto-chan was currently acting a bit unusually. So let me make the excuse that I never would have expected her to try killing him the moment she met him. After all, normally itâd be unthinkable for the onii-sama supremacist imouto-chan to actually try to kill her onii-sama, right? At least it was incomprehensible for me with my sensitivity of a rather normal person. Eh? What do you mean âYouâre not normalâ? Thatâs not the case at all. Or rather, if youâre going to object to something surely it should be âYouâre not a personâ?
While escaping from reality like that, I watch over the battle becoming more heated up. Imouto-chanâs ice magic and Ooshima-kunâs fire magic are clashing and cancelling each other out.
ăBoth of you! Stop this!ă
When thereâs a pause Yamada-kun tries to intercede, but even that seems to fan the flames of war. Ack. Was it a mistake to bring Ooshima-kun I guess? Well, you know, I had thought that Ooshima-kun might be able to stop the rampaging imouto-chan, okay. When I saw imouto-chan rush in to attack Yamada-kun, I decided to also hurriedly bring over Ooshima-kun. I never expected that would actually make things more chaotic. Why is this happening? Itâs weird, right?
âŚâŚIs it okay for me to leave already? You know, âIâll leave the rest to you youngstersâ and all. No good?
I wonder why itâs come to this. When I thought I could clear up the problem with the troublesome imouto-chan, it mysteriously became an even more troublesome situation. Dammit. Yamada-kun, since youâre her elder brother, I wish you had kept a firm rein on such a dangerous imouto-chan! Just whoâs the person who first brought in this powderkeg imouto-chan and created the current situation? Eh? Me? No, no. That is whatâs called a false accusation. You see, thatâs something Natsume-kun did and has nothing to do with me. Eh? I was the one controlling Natsume-kun you say? LALALA! I canât hear you! I⌠canât⌠hear⌠youâŚ!
Fine thenâŚâŚ. From a practical point of view, imouto-chan becoming so fired up was caused by me. Well, once she shot her own father through the head, she likely thought that there was no going back for herself now. Her onii-sama didnât have romantic feelings for her in the first place. Since she commited that act right in front of her onii-sama, her hopes would have become incredibly slim. Hmm. While already on the path to betraying the Kingdom she was plagued with feelings of guilt, so I had Natsume-kun brainwash her, creating an established fact where she was brainwashed so that it couldnât be helped what she did though. It seems like it was pretty meaningless to try that excuse huh. I guess she felt completely trapped and overenthusiastically took action huh.
âŚâŚThis is why itâs hard for me to make use of others. In my case, I only take efficiency into account and whether they live or die. For my plans, I donât take into consideration what others might feel or think about it. I canât take such things into account. I donât understand such things anyway. So I just ignore them. Even if something inconvenient occurs because of that, so long as it doesnât become an obstacle to my plans then I donât care. At least, thatâs what I had thought.
The time when sensei collapsed with a pallid expression. The Demon Kingâs expression at the time when she found out that Sarielâs interference was behind the bombing incident caused by the Hero from two generations ago and the previous generation Demon King. I canât help recalling their expressions in the back of my mind. Thereâs no way that I had taken action because I had wanted to cause such expressions.
Sigh. Even if Iâm told about friends and such at such a late stage, just what do you expect someone like me to actually do? I donât know. I donât get such things. Besides, the project is reaching the finale. Itâs far too late to rely on such things as âthe power of friendsâ anyway.
For now, I guess Iâll do something about this mess. Yamada-kunâs been getting the short end of the stick anyway. Iâll stick my nose in, though I doubt whether Iâll be able to sort things out peacefully though, but itâs surely better than doing nothing.
However, before I do anything, the situation changes. A moment before imouto-chanâs and Ooshima-kunâs blades meet, Yamada-kun physically inserts himself between them, stopping them both. By catching their blades in his body.
Imouto-chan and Ooshima-kun gasp. Imouto-chanâs sword has pierced Yamada-kunâs stomach and Ooshima-kunâs sword has cut into the shoulder and is buried up to the collarbone. On top of that, Yamada-kun grasps both of them in his arms, stopping them from moving.
ăPlease. I beg you. Listen⌠to me. I donât want⌠to lose anyone else. So⌠soâŚă
I stop myself before I could move. Listening to Yamada-kunâs heartbroken voice. I have no right to approach him because I have stolen many things from him.
âA scene of carnageâ â the word used for this (俎çž
ĺ ´) can sometimes be used a bit like âcatfightâ (ie women fighting over a man) and also âcrunch timeâ (typically for an author trying to meet a deadline).
âflanked by two beautiful womenâ â this is from the phrase 严ćăŤčą which literally means âa flower in each handâ but is often used to mean âflanked by two beautiful womenâ (or, having a pretty girl on each arm) though can also mean âtwo blessings at onceâ.
âwith my sensitivity of a rather normal personâ â essentially the joke here is that Shiro is neither ânormalâ nor a âpersonâ (human) and sheâs saying that calling her out on being ânot a personâ makes more sense than calling her out on being ânot normalâ.
âWhy is this happening? Itâs weird, right?â â think of Shiro saying this in a spaced-out tone.
âIâll leave the rest to you youngstersâ â the cliche place to use this phrase would be at an omiai (arranged meeting with strong possibility of marriage), when the adults leave to give the possible couple some space.