Read Novel Full Bonus Chapter 8
Bonus Chapter 8
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Side Story: Yoshua and the Fragments of a Dream
It was all a dream.
The summoning of heroes, the escape from the royal capital, the war in Casemaian, the revenge on the kings.
And the days with the girl whose name I can’t even remember.
It was all just a miserable fantasy concocted in the mind of a lowly office worker.
Today, too, I emerge from my murky, cloudy sleep to the sound of my alarm clock.
I chew my toast like sand and wash it down with coffee that has no taste or smell.
I go to work on a crowded train and do my job while suppressing my murderous intent and anger.
“Takefu-san, is there anything going on with you these days?”
My junior colleague, Michiko Yamazoe, spoke to me. I became her mentor when she was a new graduate, and since then, I have sometimes been asked to give her advice on various matters. She has a charming face and a good personality, but I have no romantic feelings for her. I’m sure she doesn’t either, and I’m pretty sure she feels the same way.
“What do you mean, ‘something’?”
“I don’t know. Lately, you’ve been looking a little lost and sighing a lot.”
“No, nothing has changed. Nothing at all. If you want to call it dissatisfaction, I guess you could say that.”
Nothing. The same day comes as yesterday, and the same tomorrow comes as today. It’s been like that for over ten years since I started working, and it will probably never change.
“…Well, that’s good.”
“Have you finished the inspection?”
There was concept art that had been outsourced and included in the presentation materials. It was a picture of a girl standing in the forest with her characteristic frizzy hair. For some reason, looking at the picture made my heart flutter a little.
“Is this okay?”
A voice echoed in my head. Before I knew it, I was standing in the forest. The girl, standing in the sunlight filtering through the trees, looked up at me.
“Are you happy with this?”
The girl’s expression was hidden in the shadows. I couldn’t stand the pain in my chest any longer and turned away from the girl.
“Whether I’m happy or not is irrelevant. This is my job, and this is my life.”
“I see.”
The girl said quietly.
“If that’s your decision, then I won’t say anything. Be well.”
Stop saying all these selfish things. It’s just a hallucination. Happiness? There’s no such thing. It doesn’t exist anywhere. It’s a dreamland so far away in the west that it’s like a never-ending shit dream. You can’t go there with three days of paid vacation a year. What do you know about it? You are just a hallucination that came out of nowhere.
“Takefu-san…”
I heard Michiko Yamazoe’s voice.
“…Takefu-san!”
“What is it?”
“Why are you crying?”
The tears came for no reason and would not stop. Michiko Yamazoe said this was an early symptom of depression. She urged me to go to the psychosomatic clinic and said she would make time in the afternoon. She spoke with a strong tone.
“I lost one of my relatives. Please consider this for my sake.”
Although she had a presentation to give that evening, it was a company-wide meeting before it was given to the client. She wanted to do it alone.
“The materials and the meeting are all set. I’m actually worried that you won’t be able to do a good job, Takefu-san.”
Sent out on the pretext of visiting clients, I went to the psychosomatic clinic Michiko Yamazoe had given me the note for. She had made the appointment for me. I didn’t ask her why she was so flexible, but I didn’t laugh about it.
It was the first time I had ever seen a doctor for a mental problem, but strangely, I didn’t feel any particular emotion. Everything seemed like someone else’s problem, shrouded in a pale fog.
“It’s not a bad company, but when I think about working there forever, I can’t help but feel…”
At the intersection, I could hear a group of female students in their recruiting suits laughing and talking with two casually dressed men who looked like their friends.
“What are you talking about, being naive? Are you in a position to be picky?”
“You’re just getting an unofficial job offer through your OB connections, so you’re just as naive as everyone else.”
“What’s wrong with you, Tomonori? You act like it’s none of your business, right?”
“I wanted to look for a job too.”
“Then who’s going to take over the family temple?”
Hearing their voices, I start to cross the intersection.
I feel like I had a time like that, but then again, I don’t think I did. Anyway, I became a company slave in a black company.
So the result is the same.
“Hey.”
I turn around and hear a wet, squelching sound. The skinny man is crawling around, his lower body torn off. In the middle of the intersection, blood spurting from the femoral artery draws a distorted edge like a crazy compass. As far as the eye can see, everyone has stopped moving.
Except for one person.
“Why?”
The student looks at me, her long hair disheveled. Her eyes are bloodshot, a complete change from a moment ago. She moves awkwardly, rubbing her inner thighs together. She slowly approaches me.
She tramples on Tomonori’s hand, which is twitching on the ground, with her heel, not caring for the blood and flesh scattered everywhere. Her eyes were wide open, and she smiled a twisted smile, looking only at me.
“Why did you kill them?”
“Huh?”
“Why⁉︎ Why did you have to go that far⁉︎ Tomonori, Hiroki, everyone! Why did you kill them!”
What was that?
I was frozen in the middle of the intersection.
In front of me was the gorilla-like “Hero” with his arms and legs bent at the elbows and knees. The skinny “Sage” with one leg nearly torn off. The “Saint” with the wig holding the dead body of the prince with a hole in his stomach.
All of them raised their voices in unison.
“This is because you tried to kill me.”
I spat out. I shook off my resentment along with my anger.
“Because you tried to hurt me, my friends, and the things I care about. No matter how many times you attack us, if you try to lay a hand on us, I will…”
As I have done so far.
“Kill you.”
When I realized, the saint had disappeared. The sage, the hero. In the city that had stopped moving, I sighed and looked up at the sky, which had lost its color.
Light flickered, and I heard a voice.
“Hey, Yoshua.”
A warm, familiar voice. A voice I’d heard for a long time, a voice I’d never forget.
“Is that regret?”
“No way.”
I laugh.
“I have no regrets in my life since I met you. I’m just a little ashamed of myself for not being able to tell the difference between dreams and reality.”
“I, too, sometimes feel confused and afraid. I wonder if the days I spent with you were just a dream and if everything will disappear like a phantom.”
An invisible, soft, small hand touches me. I wrap my fingers tightly around it and vow not to let go.
“I won’t disappear. I won’t leave you again.”
The city fades from view as I am engulfed in a blinding light. Nothing resonates in my heart. Only the relief of being able to return.
There is nothing left here.
“As long as you are by my side, this is where I belong.
I am surrounded by light.
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