Chapter 36: Chapter 36

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Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: Date

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"Hey, Yu Siwoo."

"Hm?"

"Let's go on a date."

"···What are you talking about, out of nowhere? In your condition, where do you plan on going?"

I chided Amelia, who lay in bed.

Even if she meant 'going out to play' when she said 'date,' her body needed rest right now.

She wasn't severely injured, but she had pushed her body to its limit, so she needed several days of complete rest.

For a senior who's practically hospitalized, talking about going out...

There's a limit to how much you can joke.

"No, not me. With Arte."

"···Huh?"

"We were supposed to go on a date there, but we couldn't. Don't you think we should do it now, even if it's late?"

"No, what is this...? Wasn't that supposed to be over? The very idea of her liking me is absurd. Now that I think about it again, it really doesn't seem like—"

"No, I'm sure of it. Arte loves you! Let's do it. Right now!"

Had she finally lost her mind?

It seemed she had gone insane from having to lie in bed, suppressing her usual personality.

To think that a friend I considered a comrade has lost her mind... It's a pity.

"Why, why are you looking at me like that? This is the perfect opportunity, I'm telling you! Really!"

"What opportunity? There's no way to even meet Arte. And the topic is a date? It's only been a few days since the attack. I'd be lucky if I wasn't treated like some pervert obsessed with women."

It hasn't been long since the country was turned upside down by the Übermensch attack.

An attack targeting academy students, and their mysterious annihilation.

It wasn't a problem that could be covered up like Lyra's, so their name spread quickly.

"Besides, weren't there hundreds of those guys originally? Even though they all died."

"Ah, you mean that. There were rumors that it was presumed to be some kind of internal rebellion."

"···Was that reported in the news?"

"No, I heard it from my dad."

I often forget, but Amelia was a young lady from a prestigious family. The disparity between the glimpses of that side of her and her usual demeanor was severe.

"Wow, it was apparently horrific. The sight of humans diced into small pieces was enough to make even seasoned veterans vomit."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"And from the hallways to the rooms, it was a sea of blood! On the walls, a spider emblem was drawn with playful handwriting that read [Arachne was here.]. Both were apparently drawn in blood."

A spider, huh.

Indeed, it made sense to think it was an internal rebellion within the Übermensch.

"Spiders are animals, right?"

"Yeah. Though people often mistake them for insects."

"···And they shoot out silk?"

"That's right."

Everyone would probably think it was an internal conflict within the Übermensch.

But Amelia and I couldn't help but have a different thought about that spider emblem.

"I think it's Arte. What do you think, Yu Siwoo?"

"Me too. Silk, spiders. And even that smell of blood from back then. There's no mistaking it."

When she parted ways with me, she said...

...that she was attacked while going to the restroom and was a little late.

That couldn't be. After subduing that many villains in an instant, it couldn't have taken that long.

My suspicions deepened. No, perhaps I should say it became a certainty.

She was at odds with the Übermensch.

"Could she be a traitor to the Übermensch?"

"But Arte didn't have any animal parts. All the other villains had at least one, didn't they?"

"Hmm... We don't have enough information."

What on earth is her true identity?

A traitor to the Übermensch?

Or a villain organization vying for power with the Übermensch?

As I pondered her identity, Amelia raised her voice once more.

"No, this isn't the time to think about that! Think about the date itinerary!"

Here we go again.

What on earth is this obsession with dates?

Sighing, I opened my mouth to calm her down again.

"I told you. A date at this timing is..."

"If it's not a date, it's fine!"

"What?"

Another nonsensical thing to say.

Whenever Amelia was like this, I always found myself strangely convinced by her arguments. And the results were never good. In fact, I thought I shouldn't listen to her, but...

...I couldn't overcome my curiosity.

They say curiosity killed the cat. It really was true.

"Operation #0: Make you love me more than anyone else in the world to stop Arte, failed due to an unforeseen accident."

"Operation #0, seriously...?"

"So, it's Operation #1's turn to step up...! Operation Name: Clothes Soaked by Drizzling Rain!"

I wondered if another absurd operation would be proposed.

Despite thinking that, Siwoo couldn't help but listen intently.

"What do you think a date is?"

"Well, it's when a man and woman who are in love go out somewhere together."

"Hmph, this is why virgins are like this."

"?!"

W-what?

Did I say something wrong?

No, I didn't? I mean, didn't I say it right?

More importantly, how did she know I'm a virgin—!

"Even if you're not officially dating, you can still go out and hang out together!"

"Well, yeah, but..."

"It's easy to meet too. We're comrades who faced that incident together, aren't we? On the surface, anyway."

"I-is that so...?"

"Just say you want to talk about the incident, and while you're out, if you go to a cafe or something, that's a date! You just don't tell Arte!"

I was confused.

What? Why does it sound right? No, isn't it right?

But had anything good ever come from listening to Amelia? I don't think so.

Yet, this time, it really did sound plausible.

"The goal of the first operation, 'Clothes Soaked by Drizzling Rain,' is simple. It's to raise her favorability...!"

"No, I'm sorry. This really doesn't feel right. I'm out."

I felt like I shouldn't listen to Amelia any further, so I cut her off.

D-dangerous.

If I had listened just a little longer, I might have ended up doing something strange, just like that time I was swayed by her words and went into the locker.

It definitely sounded right, but I had to cut it off here...

"Oh, really? ...But I already called her."

"What?"

"Miss Amelia. ...Oh, Yu Siwoo-kun is here too. Hello."

It seemed I had no choice from the beginning.

As I stared blankly at Arte, who had suddenly entered, she smiled and spoke to me.

"Haha, were you surprised? I was told not to say anything for Yu Siwoo-kun's surprise. ...You were surprised, right?"

When I gave Amelia a look that asked 'What have you done?', she just grinned widely.

You wicked woman.

You truly stop at nothing, just as you said.

I should take back my assessment from back then.

Heroic qualities? What nonsense. She's brimming with villainous qualities.

***

[D-date! It's a date!]

A date? What nonsense.

I wanted to lecture the Author, but Yu Siwoo was next to me, so I had no choice but to hold back.

[A date where the protagonist walks around town with a girl! Kyaa! I love it so much!]

"Shall we go to a cafe?"

"Uh, huh? S-sure."

[A cafe is good too! A sweet, romantic date!]

Ugh.

I barely managed to suppress the string of curses threatening to escape my lips.

Wandering the streets is a date, resting at a cafe is also a date.

It felt like I had met a truly malicious person who tied everything to romance.

A date, my foot.

Amelia said Yu Siwoo had something he wanted to talk about regarding that incident, didn't she?

The senior was hospitalized. Amelia couldn't move her body.

Since it would be uncomfortable to talk in the hospital room, she just told us to let her know later and sent us out.

But what? A date?

Are you kidding me?

The protagonist wants to consult with a comrade about an incident.

I wanted to start nagging the Author, but I couldn't.

Because Yu Siwoo was still in front of me.

"···So? What did you want to talk about?"

"Ah, yeah. ···Um, have you heard about those villains?"

"Of course. Aren't they an organization called Übermensch?"

"···Not that."

Huh?

What? Wasn't he going to talk about the Übermensch?

Wasn't this development supposed to show the protagonist learning the demeanor of a hero and reveal the first executive of the villain organization to demonstrate their power?

Was there anything else to find out?

"Those villains, apparently there were nearly 200 of them."

"Ah, oh. Is that so? But why were there so few...?"

"They all died. Horribly."

Ah, that story.

Now that I think about it, Amelia's setting is that she's a young lady from a wealthy family.

Her father is a famous hero, making her a heroine in the classic rich daughter style, practically straight out of a painting.

She probably told Siwoo what she heard from her father. That's the kind of information-gathering ability a young lady would have.

···Though her personality is completely different. Why does she have such a background with such a personality?

"But you know, they say something a bit peculiar was discovered there."

"Peculiar?"

"Yeah."

Was there anything peculiar?

Hmm, I'm not sure.

Turning the villains into cube steak?

···That's peculiar if you consider it, but didn't he just talk about them dying horribly? It wouldn't be that story, would it?

"On the walls, there were drawings made of blood."

"···What?"

[Ah, this is bad.]

I could hear the Author making a fuss.

But her noise didn't bother me at all; my mind was spinning intensely.

···What? Drawings on the walls?

"It was a drawing made of dark red blood, and it was in the shape of a spider. Below it, it said [Arachne was here.]."

Author!!!

What on earth have you done!!!

Unable to express my annoyance aloud, I bowed my head deeply.

Because I felt my face must have crumpled completely upon hearing that story.

"···By any chance, what do you think about this story?"