/
Chapter 12
Chapter 1, Childhood Friend And I — Episode 12 : Incompetent
Translated by KaiesV
Edited by KaiesV
————The morning before the argument between Kaori and Yoshino.
Ding～ Dong～♪
In the morning, as I was about to go to school, the intercom rang. I didn’t think it was that mendacious woman again, so I looked at the monitor to complain and was surprised.
Are you serious…
I hurriedly opened the front door.
「Good morning, Kaname.」
「Kagetsu-san, good morning…」
But why is she at my house? I can’t believe a girl I’m not dating is coming over before school…
「Can you explain, why are you here?」
「I want you to tell me the story while we go to school.」
I knew it, Kagetsu-san’s distance is strange. But by chance, I had the good fortune to be picked up in the morning by the most beautiful girl in school, and we went to school together.
A beautiful girl walking with me next to me.
The girls I met in the other world were cute, but Kagetsu-san was no less so. When I look at her, I can’t help but feel my heart pounding with excitement.
Her plaid pleated skirt of grayish blue and navy blue with white stripes is not too long and not too short. Her navy blue knee-high socks, which could be called a buffer zone, accentuated the absolute area of her soft skin even more beautifully.
The dark-colored socks made her calves and ankles look more slender, and the loafers she wore were polished and clean from their luster.
But since this was my first time going to school with a girl, I was at a loss as to what to say, but thankfully there was no shortage of topics of conversation.
But thankfully, there is no shortage of topics to talk about, because what she is looking for is a story about another world.
「Bonan matenon!」
「What, what was that?」
「It’s an otherworldly language.」
Kagetsu-san was walking straight ahead, but she seemed dissatisfied with my answer, looked at me quizzically with jittery eyes, and made it clear.
「It’s sounds contrived.」
「Did you know? When I spoke that, I could communicate normally, but Hanayama and the others said it sounded fake, so I thought about it.」
Kagetsu-san shakes her head in an exaggerated manner. I wondered what was wrong…
「I believe in you, Kaname.」
「Ah… Thanks.」
Kagetsu-san’s dark amber eyes catch and stare straight into mine. She is petite, but her words, which remind me of her core strength, penetrated deep and profoundly into my heart.
I’m going to have weird feelings if I keep looking at her. She only likes my otherworldly stories. But if I was a boy who suffered from Chuunibyou in my younger days and has not fully recovered from it, wouldn’t I be surprised if Kagetsu-san likes me? Such a thought crossed my mind.
「If I was as adorable as Kagetsu-san, wouldn’t other boys talk about other worlds?」
「The other boys are conventional. I prefer Kaname. I like Kaname better.」
Kagetsu-san is not so much tongue-in-cheek as she is really clear about things… I repeatedly told myself that she didn’t like me, she just liked the other-worldly fantasy I was talking about.
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else heard that kind of favoritism and misunderstood me.
「Ah… okay, I understand. It might be nice to hear it again.」
「I want to hear a lot about your experiences. Tell me more.」
As I was resisting the charm of a natural little devil who unknowingly tries to make people fall in love with her, I met up with Hanayama at the shoe box at the end of morning practice.
It was during a short break after the first class of the morning, as I was thinking that my school life was becoming different from what it used to be since my return from the otherworldly transfer.
The corridor is awfully noisy.
「Don’t be so coy! You two were walking side by side.」
「Whoever I walk with is my business. I was with Kaname because I wanted to hear what story he had to tell. Besides, Kaori isn’t dating Kaname.」
The mendacious girl who has been tangling with me is crowding Kagetsu-san with a threatening attitude. In the crowd, I refused to apologise and interceded at the scene where they were arguing.
「What the hell are you doing? This is the hallway.」
I asked them, and that girl made a pass at me…
「It’s because of Kagetsu-san, she was trying to seduce Kaname, so I was just asking her not to do that…」
Wha—!?
I sensed something was wrong with Kagetsu-san. I pushed away the girl who was trying to slip up to me and stood in front of her as if to protect Kagetsu-san.
「I don’t know you. And I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing raising your hand!」
Kagetsu-san’s once fair cheeks were red and swollen. However, I felt myself tense up at the sight of her holding on so stoutly without retorting to the girl.
「Let’s go, Kagetsu-san.」
「I’m fine.」
How could it not hurt…?
「Kaname-chan… why…」
「Shut up! The next time you do something like this, I won’t forgive you. Don’t ever get involved with us again.」
I can’t believe that some strange girl would slap her on the cheek just for being friendly with me… But no one blames Kagetsu-san. What is she, in comparison?
「It’s Kagetsu-san who is to blame… It’s not my fault! Kagetsu-san was wooing Kaname-chan out of hand because you lost weight and became better looking. Why didn’t you notice that…」
Ignoring her sobbing, and not caring about the stares of the assembled students, I headed for the infirmary with Kagetsu-san.
I asked the school nurse for a cooler and returned to the classroom with Kazuki-san, but the next class had already started.
「Thank you, Kaname.」
「No, I’m sorry I kind of got you involved in my affairs.」
「I don’t mind.」
I apologize, but she doesn’t mind. But the sight of Kagetsu-san holding a handkerchief-wrapped coolant to her cheek is painful…
That girl slapped her cheek and sat down in her seat with a shun. I can’t believe she would raise her hand to just me, but even to Kagetsu-san. It’s really annoying that she does this kind of thing out of some incomprehensible jealousy.
Despite all this commotion, it was lunchtime, and I was about to eat my lunch.
「Kaname, can I join you while you eat?」
「Ah, yeah.」
As expected, Kagetsu-san sits in front of me, whether while taking lunch or being seen by others. I don’t know if the cooler is no longer cold or not, but she didn’t hold it down. It’s still a little swollen, but she said the pain has eased.
I started telling otherworldly stories just for the two of us…
「Kaname-chan… I need to talk to you about…」
At that moment, a thud hits Hanayama’s well-trained body, and the girl wobbles. Hanayama says a single word,「Sorry,」raises one hand, and apologizes to the girl.
「Kirishima! Let me hear the rest of the story. I couldn’t sleep because I was so worried.」
「Hanayama is right. I’ll be counting on you again!」
Also, without any sexual misconduct, that girl tried to approach me, but Hanayama and the others gathered around me, knowingly or unknowingly barricading her from coming near my side of the room.
Eventually she went away. I don’t know why she’s coming closer… I don’t get it.
One person is bitter about the behavior of these boys.
「Stay away… boys.」
The upper half of Ms. Kagetsu’s face goes completely dark, and her eyes glow suspiciously red…
「「「「「Hiie!!」」」」」
The boys, staring at Kagetsu-san, trembled like frogs and cried out to me.
「Kirishima! You should ask Kagetsu-san to do the same for me. I beg you!」
「Kiritanpo-sama, please. Convince Kagetsu-san! We want to hear it too!」
I wouldn’t be surprised if they put their hands together and worshiped me. I don’t mind at all, and I’m honestly glad that you share my painful story.
「Kagetsu-san, can these guys stay with us? If they look at you strange, I’ll ask them to leave.」
「If that’s what Kaname wants, I’m fine with it.」
There were shouts of joy from the boys.
「「「「「Alright!!」」」」」
I got my classmates involved and we started talking, and Hanayama raised a question to me.
「Well, the bottom line is that you were judged incompetent and whipped by a sadistic saintess, right?」
Hanayama…
Did I tamper with your memory or something? I’ll admit that Yurielle is a douchebag, but I didn’t get whipped.
「I was wondering about that too. I wish you would talk to me.」
「Kirishima’s unique skills are actually the strongest and make you amazed, make the Sadist Saintess scuffle, right?」
「My unique skills weren’t the strongest, they were optimized for Dragalea.」
「Optimal? That’s unclear. Can you elaborate to us.」
「Okay.」
＊＊＊
————A room in the basement of the royal palace.
I asked a beautiful girl sitting next to me. She looks somewhat tired and have dark circles in her eyes… What’s wrong?
「Uhh, does Marielle know why I’m being called incompetent by Yurielle?」
「Yes…」
The angelic smile she had earlier disappeared, replaced by a dark, somber expression. Since she was so serious about being mistreated by her sister and still acted cheerful, it was expected that my incompetence would be so bad.
But I had to ask her!
「Please, if you know, please tell me. It’s a waste of time to keep agonizing over this. If I can do something about it, the sooner the better.」
「I understand. I must be frank with you that you do not have the storage to accommodate and use the slot before acquiring the… skills….」
Learn more
Pause
Unmute
「Does that mean that I can’t learn or use the skill, by any chance?」
「Yes.」
Don………
Marielle’s words pushed me into an abyss and she was giving me words of encouragement, but for a while I couldn’t hear her at all.
「Kaname-sama! Kaname-sama! If Kaname-sama needs me!」
「Ah, ahh… Marielle. What’s wrong?」
「What’s the matter with you? Please be careful. The heroes have unique skills that you don’t have. Don’t give up hope until the end.」
Ah… yes. That’s right. Even if Yurielle doesn’t approve of me, my saint, the angel in front of me, approves of me as a Hero. I can’t be depressed!
My last hope. I asked about that thing that was displayed in the status.
「Does Marielle know anything about my unique skill【Phantom Pain】?」
「I have also researched and studied all the literature of the wise men and sages of the past, but I could not find any clues about Kaname-sama’s【Phantom Pain】…」
Are you serious!?
No–no, Marielle was doing all kinds of research for me in all directions… for that I am grateful.
「The only thing you need is a unique skill, and that is a Passive Type… The other heroes had Active Type.」
「Don’t tell me that my Passive is… not good for attacking?」
Mariel nodded silently.
My knees crumpled at the fact that Yurielle despised me not only because of my looks, but because I was truly incompetent. But I would live to see ×× again. That will was the only thing that kept me going.