Chapter 348 – Volume 70 – Project Pass (3)
“Are you calm now?”
“Yes…”
The one standing before my eyes was clearly alive and moving.
She caresses me with her warm hands.
It is not a corpse that I was afraid of until now, but a living person.
“What happened? He suddenly apologized to me and cried…”
“I had a dream.”
Actually, I don’t know if it’s okay to call it a dream.
Because it is something so vivid.
It felt like I had just experienced everything.
“Dream? What kind of dream was this…”
“After my choice, everyone died. It was a dream where I regretted that choice.”
Even the person there was not alone.
I feel like there were other precious people there too.
… However, it is unclear who it is.
“It’s just a dream. Don’t worry too much.”
“Yes.”
I answered that way.
It was also not a problem that could be easily overcome.
I think I had a similar experience in the past…
“…!”
When I first heard about marriage from my parents.
I thought this was the first time I felt this kind of discomfort.
At that time, I just thought I didn’t like people treating me like an object.
When I think about it now, at that time I was afraid of marriage itself.
What on earth is going on?
Why do I experience this strange sensation, as if I can predict the future?
To just treat it as something like a nightmare, I got a headache every time I made that decision, as if my body was rejecting it.
Never take it so lightly…
It feels like an unconscious warning.
“Ah.”
At that moment, names come to mind, as if in passing.
… Hana, Hitori, Loammi, Ares.
Even the face didn’t come out perfectly.
The feeling of being forced to read blurry letters written on a piece of paper.
And I quickly understood what the names meant.
“Party…”
To evaluate practice at the academy, colleagues in a unit called a party are assigned.
Of course, since the team is randomly organized, you don’t know who your colleagues will be.
But if that memory is really from the future…
“There is one thing I want to tell you.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“Hitori, Loammi, Ares. Do you know any of these three names?”
“No?”
“… Please remember. If those names have meaning, I will tell you everything then.”
“Okay, if May says so, you should remember it.”
And as time passed, the party to be held at the Academy was announced.
As soon as she checked the results, Hana looked at me and made a fuss.
… Of course, I, who actually said that, was looking at the results blankly.
“Huh, how did you know?”
“I told you before. About the ominous dream.”
And this is not a very good situation.
What I previously thought was a dream actually happened in the future.
… Of course, if I make a different choice, I may reach a different result.
Just like the one in my dream that I regretted immensely.
Even though I am now, I have no intention of running away unless it ends like that.
Even if I stay there and fight, I could end up just dying along with myself.
“The dream where you said I died?”
“Yes.”
“Okay…”
One was looking at me with a quite strange expression.
This is probably no different from a death sentence for yourself.
I think the mind is bound to be complicated.
“Meiya. But, I don’t think that will change my mind.”
“Yes?”
“You said I said it in your dream, right?”
They haven’t decided to become a passer, so leave it to them and run.
Passers are people who risk their lives to protect the public.
May thinks she is a normal person.
“…”
So, if you’re going to move with that kind of guilt, the tone was that the right answer is still to just sacrifice.
She probably felt it too, that even if I stay, there is no guarantee that everyone will survive.
… So, if you aren’t prepared, don’t even think about getting involved.
‘Doing what you value is the real you.’
It reminds me of what she said before.
Thinking you are worthy and paying the price for that path.
She said it was about creating her own life.
“Ah…”
Her appearance is very shiny.
As expected, her appearance from that future is still the same even now.
I let out exclamations before sadness.
『In a world where erotic comics are legal』
Hitori is a self-harming dealer who must fight and sacrifice himself in order to use his abilities.
Ammi is a nun who overcomes her physical limitations and becomes a passer while somehow trying to save people.
Ares does not give up no matter what happens and tries to protect everyone.
Seeing everyone on the team fighting and doing their best.
It really made me think a lot.
They are completely different from me, who came to the academy without much thought and because I didn’t want to get married.
People who shine very beautifully.
People who deserve the name hero.
Yes, that was the passer.
“So, Mei quickly runs away.”
Originally, we came to a dungeon prepared for the academy’s test.
Therefore, we were able to finish it without difficulty for our party’s level.
However, the dungeon next to that dungeon was interpreted as targeting the city.
The critical time has reached its limit right now.
There is not enough time to ask someone for help.
In the end, we had to rush in to conquer this dungeon.
“That’s right. We will be enough.”
Actually, I thought a lot about it before this time came.
No matter how much I said I wanted to stay, they actually refused.
A country that was certain to survive wanted to save one ordinary person.
I admired those sparkling images even though it was only for a short time.
But I didn’t think it could happen like that.
Because I didn’t think a guy like me could have such a great mind.
‘But…’
Even though I know that I am not the kind of person who should be a hero.
Something I want to do has come to me.
That’s why you can’t choose to run away from here.
It’s not that I don’t run away simply because I know I’ll regret it.
I’m not running away because I don’t want to give up.
It is not such a clumsy feeling.
“No. I’ve made up my mind now. I’m going to be a passer.”
“… It’s okay not to overdo it.”
It wasn’t overdoing it.
Because I truly wanted to do it.
“I want to protect you all.”
If I can’t be a shining hero.
On the contrary, I want to bring more sparkling heroes to life.
If the future I saw then was real, I want to twist that future and save them.
Because that’s what I ‘want to do’.
I thought I wanted to be a passer who saves at least one hero, not a passer who becomes a hero.
I thought I wanted to give my all for that.
“So, I’m not overdoing it.”
If they work hard to save all mankind.
I can do my best for them.
That alone will help humanity, so I can become a passer.
“That’s another unusual opinion.”
“May has fascinating ideas.”
And as if my sincerity was conveyed, everyone smiled and accepted me.
The strategy that would have originally been carried out without me began to be carried out including me.
“… This must have been difficult.”
“Thank you, May.”
“No. Rather, I’m sorry for making this decision so late.”
Actually, I’m not doing anything big.
Among the enemy attacks, Ares receives what he cannot handle.
It erases fatal debuffs because it can be erased more easily than Loammi.
In the end, the role is just to help a little with what the party can already solve, so it’s not absolutely necessary.
When dealing with enemies of extremely difficult difficulty like now, it was definitely improving stability.
“Honestly, when I first heard about it, I thought it was a big fuss. If I was a little unlucky…”
“But there’s no need to worry anymore, right? Because May stayed with us.”
“Yes.”
… No.
Even though everything was going well now, I still felt uneasy about something.
Because it was unlikely that these heroes could have been defeated at this level of difficulty.
And that anxiety quickly became reality.
“… Everyone prepares for battle.”
“What on earth is that!?”
The moment you stand in front of it, you will feel the overwhelming difference in power.
A feeling of intimidation to the point that the common sense that you can never win is deeply rooted in your mind.
We were unable to properly respond to the overwhelming power of that new type of demon and were pushed out.
‘… All I can do is take some time.’
Originally, everyone would have been satisfied with that.
If I run away and ask everyone for help, reinforcements will come while I stop this guy.
Even if they die, they would have prevented the mass murder that would have occurred if this thing were released into the city.
But this time, I decided not to run away but to be with everyone.
So we must completely deal with that enemy.
“Damn…”
Attacks made while burning oneself leave no vital energy behind.
Even if you try to block it with the will to never fall, even that will burn out.
No matter how hard you try to support everyone, your own strength is not enough.
“I see.”
But still, we fight.
Because only then can we protect everyone.
Put yourself on the line and stand in the path of the enemy.
Looking at the end of those heroes.
I was convinced that what I wanted to do was to protect them.
I really wanted to protect that sparkle from disappearing.
“I couldn’t achieve anything, because there was nothing I wanted to be.”
No, it can’t be done in the first place.
Because I decided not to be a hero.
“So there is nothing in me.”
But rather, there is something that can be done.
Since I don’t contain anything, I might be able to force it.
Therefore, I will deny you everything by accomplishing nothing.
“No bustle (无番和)”
At the same time my magical power explodes.
The movement of the demons stopped.
