Chapter 4 – Encounter 【1】

—Reconstruction of the sacrificial body complete. Commencing soul transplantation.

—Soul transplantation complete. Commencing memory anchoring.

My father was a doctor who specialized in biomaterials, and my mother was a researcher who’d completed her master’s degree in biology.

When I was born, they lovingly named me “Sugar.”

As a child, I never thought the name “Sugar” was strange. But when I started first grade and my classmates teased me, saying my name was weird, I started to hate it. Looking back now, it was just childish teasing—but to me back then, it was a serious problem.

Shocked, I began refusing to go to school. My parents were too busy with their research, coming home late every night, so they didn’t notice. I spent my days alone in the empty house, killing time by playing games, reading manga, and reviewing thermodynamics.

Then one day, the school contacted them, and my truancy was discovered. But my parents didn’t scold me. Instead, they talked things through with me about why it had happened.

They were ideal parents—far better than I deserved. When their child made a mistake, they explained things logically and helped the child realize the error and reflect on it. If they made a mistake, they admitted it and tried to improve. I now know just how difficult and admirable that was.

“So, the name ‘Sugar’ was the problem?”

“Yeah! Why did you and Mom give me such a weird name? I want a normal name! Change it!”

Hearing my tantrum, my mother looked troubled.

“You’re right. Your father and I thought it was a good name, but I suppose it does seem a bit unusual to others. I’m sorry. This was our mistake. But can you understand just one thing? The name Sugar is one we spent three months carefully considering. We wanted you to become a sweet man, like sugar. We didn’t just spot a bag of sugar lying around and name you on the spot, okay?”

What the hell. My name was the result of three months of careful thought?

Mom, Dad… your taste is seriously lacking…

I was dumbfounded, but then I suddenly realized something. Wait a minute. A man sweet like sugar means—

A sweet guy… a pushover…?

At that moment, my father burst out laughing.

“Wh-what’s so funny!?”

“Haha, sorry, sorry. I was just wondering where you learned a word like that. Sugar, your name doesn’t mean pushover or anything like that. It means a man who’s kind to others and considerate toward women. I met your mother by being kind to women, and that’s how I got to meet you too. I hope that someday you’ll meet a wonderful woman like your mother.”

“Oh, honey…”

My parents were lost in their own little world, and while I pouted, I wasn’t really all that upset—because they looked so happy.

After that, we talked a lot more. I told them how lonely I felt with them coming home late, and how anxious I was about going to school.

“You’re right. We didn’t play with you at all. That’s on us. You’ve always been such an easy kid that we didn’t think about it. How about we take a family trip for the first time in a while?”

“Oh my. Are you sure, dear? Don’t you still have experiments to finish?”

“Well, if it’s just one Saturday this week, I can manage. Family is more important than experiments, so it can’t be helped. But what about you? You’ve been pretty busy lately, haven’t you?”

“I can make that day work too.”

“Then it’s settled. Alright, a family trip it is! So, Sugar—where do you want to go?”

And just like that, the family trip was decided.

◆ ◆ ◆

The trip was incredibly fun. On the train, my parents taught me all sorts of things about our destination and talked about various topics. For example:

“The reason you’re easily hurt is because your sensitivity is richer than other children’s. It doesn’t mean your heart is weak. Listen, Sugar. Having rich sensitivity is a very good thing. And it’s also a characteristic of great artists. My son might become a great man someday.”

“You may not know just how much we love you. We’re truly happy that you were born, Sugar. Thank you for being born.”

“Studying is important, of course. Good grades get you into a good university, and having that education broadens your options. But even if you don’t become a great person, if you just have a normal romance, get married normally, raise kids normally, and become someone your children respect in the end—that’s enough for us. Well, that’s actually the hardest thing to do. Truth is, we’re aiming for that ourselves… Though I guess I’m in no position to say that when I didn’t even notice my own son’s troubles.”

“If someone teases you about your name again, why don’t you just tell them it’s ‘Satou’? According to statistics, ‘Satou’ is the most common surname in the country, and Suzuki is the second most common. So if you think about it, Suzuki Satou is the most ordinary name imaginable, right? Look—’Sugar’ written and read as ‘Satou.'”

And so on.

Of all that, I really liked the idea of writing “Sugar” and reading it as “Satou.” I regained my confidence and decided to go back to school. My parents were delighted by my decision.

And my father’s words—that being easily hurt wasn’t weakness but rich sensitivity—became a great source of comfort for me at the time.

…

After that, we arrived at our destination. We took photos at the station, did some sightseeing, and that night at the inn, we played a card game.

The game was called The Template☆.

The rules were simple. Each player chose one of four player cards—King, Princess, Hero, or Demon Lord—as their character. Each player card had Life points and a special ability, and when Life reached 0, you lost.

Once player cards were chosen, each player drew six cards from the deck as their hand. There was no hand size limit.

Aside from player cards, The Template☆ cards were divided into two main types: Skill Cards and Character Cards. Skill Cards had a “Special Ability” and an “Attack Power.” Character Cards had special abilities and attack power, plus a third stat called “Sacrifice Ability.”

Each turn, a player could play up to two cards from their hand—one Skill Card and one Character Card. Cards used to attack went to the graveyard, while cards whose special abilities were activated stayed on the field.

Depending on strategy, you could also choose not to play any cards. In that case, however, you had to draw one card from the deck and add it to your hand.

If you wanted to activate a Character Card’s Sacrifice Ability, you “offered” the card to the Altar. In that case, it didn’t count as playing your Character Card, so you could play another Character Card.

There was no limit to how many cards you could offer to the Altar. If you had no cards left in your hand, you drew one card from the deck and ended your turn.

After explaining the rules, my father chose the King.

“The special ability’s good.”

My mother chose the Princess.

“I’ll be the Princess. Even if it doesn’t match my age.”

“No, that’s not true. You’ll always be my princess.”

“Oh, honey…”

I ignored my parents’ flirting and chose the Hero, whose illustration looked the coolest.

The game began. The turn order was King, Princess, Hero.

It was the King’s turn, and my father played a Skill Card.

“Alright, Skill Card: ‘Ancient Summoning Circle,’ activate. Special Ability: ‘Summon the Entire Class.’ I add twenty new cards to my hand.”

“What!? What the hell!?”

“Oh my.”

“Heh heh heh. But that’s not all. Now for the Character Card. Hmm, I see… Very well, I offer these two cards to the Altar.”

My father pulled out cards called “The One Who Got Dragged In” and “Literature Girl.” Their descriptions read:

The One Who Got Dragged In
【Description】
An ordinary person caught up in the otherworld summoning simply because he was standing next to the Hero. He’s hiding it, but he actually likes the Literature Girl.
【Special Ability】
None
【Attack Power】
1
【Sacrifice Ability】
None

Literature Girl
【Description】
A girl who’s always reading. She likes the One Who Got Dragged In.
【Special Ability】
Multiplies the One Who Got Dragged In’s Attack Power by 5.
【Attack Power】
50
【Sacrifice Ability】
If the One Who Got Dragged In is sacrificed to the Altar, return him to your hand after 5 turns and multiply his Attack Power by 1000. At that time, deal 2000 damage to any player holding “Summoned Hero” in their hand.

“Huh!? What kind of effect is that!? That makes no sense!”

“Indeed. It probably goes something like this. The One Who Got Dragged In was an ordinary student. He liked his classmate, the Literature Girl. One day, as he was working up the courage to confess to her, the ‘Summon the Entire Class’ was suddenly activated, and he was transported to another world. After being appraised as useless, his classmates ignored him. But he decides to work hard to protect the Literature Girl… so his Attack Power gets multiplied by 5. However!”

My father pulled out another card.

Summoned Hero Ikemen
【Description】
The handsome center of the class. Has a strong sense of justice, but also strong jealousy. He likes Heroine C.
【Special Ability】
If the One Who Got Dragged In is in your hand, double the Attack Power of all allies except the One Who Got Dragged In.
【Attack Power】
500
【Sacrifice Ability】
If the player is the Princess, double the player’s Life.

“Ikemen liked Heroine C, but Heroine C actually liked the One Who Got Dragged In. So Ikemen got jealous and sacrificed him. Maybe he pushed him to the bottom floor of a dungeon? At that time, the Literature Girl, who tried to save him, also fell with him. Thanks to the Literature Girl acting as a cushion, the One Who Got Dragged In survived, but the Literature Girl died instantly. The One Who Got Dragged In awakens and becomes a vengeful demon… So it makes sense that having Ikemen in your hand would cause you to take damage, right?”

“What kind of backstory is that!? That’s horrible!”

“Well, it’s just my speculation. Anyway, I’ll play Ikemen to attack the Hero, then send him to the graveyard. That way, when the vengeful One Who Got Dragged In comes back after 5 turns, the King won’t take damage. By the way, this action represents the Ikemen Hero (lol) being manipulated by the King and attacking the Hero with his shallow sense of justice. The Hero is popular with the people and has achievements from defeating the Demon Lord. The King was wary of such a Hero.”

“The King’s dirty!”

And so my father’s turn ended, and my mother’s turn began. My mother played the Skill Card “Agricultural Reform” and raised her Life. Then she attacked my father with the “Princess’s Knight” card and made me a proposal.

“The King is being terrible. Will you help me defeat him? I don’t have any good cards yet, but I’ll help you when I get some.”

I trusted my mother and earnestly fought against my father. My father focused his attacks on me. Meanwhile, my mother played a series of understated Skill Cards like “Tax Relief,” “Science and Technology,” and “Social Welfare” onto the field—cards with seemingly no real effect.

As time went on, the battle intensified further. The King’s side used the vengeful “One Who Got Dragged In” along with “Heroine A,” “Heroine B,” and “Heroine C” to attack the Hero’s side. The Hero’s side activated the Skill Card “Comrades, Lend Me Your Strength!”—which could only be activated when you had the “Warrior,” “Mage,” and “Saint” cards—and blocked the One Who Got Dragged In’s attack. But on the next turn, my father played the Skill Card “New Game Plus,” and the One Who Got Dragged In was revived.

The revived One Who Got Dragged In was incredibly strong. I sacrificed the Warrior, Mage, and Saint to the Altar and somehow managed to survive.

Then my mother played the Skill Card “Modern Weaponry”—which could only be activated when you had “Agricultural Reform,” “Tax Relief,” “Science and Technology,” “Social Welfare,” and “Domestic Cheat”—and instantly defeated both of us to take first place. When I realized I’d been tricked, my eyes welled up with tears, but my mother just smiled and boldly declared:

“See, Sugar? The Hero is just dancing in the palm of the Princess’s hand.”

“That’s terrible!”

“Yes, well… when you think about it, card games really are rather cruel.”

No, what’s cruel is Dad’s scenario and Mom’s strategy.

◆ ◆ ◆

The fun times passed in a flash, and the next day arrived. After we got home, my parents rushed to the research lab. At first, they tried to leave me at home, but I didn’t want to stay alone, so I threw a fit and went with them.

Because their work had piled up from taking the day off, my parents decided to pull an all-nighter, and I ended up sleeping on the couch in the break room. And in the middle of that night, the research lab burned down.

According to what I heard later, it was caused by the negligence of a new researcher. What started as a small fire reacted with a large amount of hydrogen and exploded.

I was sleeping in the break room when I woke up to the sound of the explosion. The break room was completely surrounded by flames. I panicked and couldn’t do anything. As the flames crept closer, I cried out.

It’s hot, I’m scared, I don’t want to die!

Help me!

The moment I screamed, the door suddenly burst open and a man rushed in, putting out the fire as he came.

“Dad!”

“Sugar, are you okay!?”

My father, relieved that I was safe, hoisted me onto his back. We escaped from the break room and reunited with my mother.

The moment I saw my mother, I understood why only my father had come to save me. My mother’s legs were badly injured.

“Sugar! You’re safe. Thank goodness…”

“Mom! Your legs…!”

“I’m fine, so don’t worry. More importantly, dear, hurry and get Sugar out!”

“Right, leave it to me! Once I get Sugar evacuated outside, I’ll come back to save you! So…!”

“Yes. I trust you, dear.”

… Thinking about it calmly, at the time I was a first-grader, so for me to escape from the fire scene, I needed my father to carry me. However, my father, who never had much stamina to begin with, had already been seriously injured in the process of rescuing my mother from under a collapsed wall and getting me out of the locked break room.

Moreover, the air in a fire is thin. In that situation, carrying my mother with her injured legs while also holding a child and running—that was beyond what my father could do. In the end, my father decided to evacuate me to a safe place first, then come back for my mother.

But at that moment, I—a completely helpless brat—just couldn’t accept it. Leaving my immobile mother in such a dangerous place while I escaped? To me, it felt like abandoning my mother to save myself.

So I stubbornly stayed put. Then my mother, who had always been gentle and never once scolded me even when I made mistakes, scolded me for the first time that day. My father carried me on his back toward the exit. As he ran, my father explained to me:

To him, his son and his wife were precious beyond anything else in the world. There was no way he could prioritize one over the other.

But reality was forcing him to choose. When my father was agonizing over what to do, my mother said: “I’ll be fine, so save Sugar.”

“Of course I’m coming back to save her. Sugar, I promise you. I’ll bring Asuka back right before your eyes!”

Despite his many injuries, my father evacuated me outside. Then he rushed back into the building.

How much time passed? When I heard the sound of sirens in the distance, I saw my father walking toward me with my mother on his back.

My parents tried hard to smile to reassure me. They were badly injured, but they’d made it back safely.

—Or so I thought for a moment. The pillar supporting the building collapsed, and right before my eyes, my parents were crushed to death. The last expression I saw on their faces was…

◆ ◆ ◆

At the hospital, I listened blankly to the full account of the accident. The new researcher who caused the fire had died in the explosion.

He was right in front of the hydrogen gas when it exploded, so it was the expected outcome. And with that, the person I should hate most was gone.

After I regained consciousness, I did nothing but cry. I wanted to die and go be with my parents. But I had no right to be with them.

If I had just stayed home quietly that day, my father could have saved my mother and they would have evacuated safely. Or if I had immediately grasped the situation and evacuated with my father without throwing a tantrum, maybe they would have made it in time.

No—if I had just gone to school normally in the first place and not acted spoiled, my parents wouldn’t have taken time off. Then they wouldn’t have had to force themselves to pull an all-nighter that day. In the end, my parents’ deaths were my fault.

I should never have been born.

I was filled with regret and self-blame. As I continued crying like that, one day a photo of a station—left behind by the family of a neighboring patient, a place whose name I didn’t even know—caught my eye.

In that instant, the scenery from that day and my conversation with my parents flashed before my eyes.

—You may not know just how much we love you. We’re truly happy that you were born, Sugar. Thank you for being born.

… I knew. I knew my parents’ love. They loved me enough to prioritize my life above all else. They thanked me for being born. At the very least, the fact that I was born wasn’t a mistake. That became a small source of comfort for me.

—Studying is important, of course. Good grades get you into a good university, and having that education broadens your options. But even if you don’t become a great person, if you just have a normal romance, get married normally, raise kids normally, and become someone your children respect in the end—that’s enough for us. Well, that’s actually the hardest thing to do. Truth is, we’re aiming for that ourselves… Though I guess I’m in no position to say that when I didn’t even notice my own son’s troubles.

I never once thought “you’re in no position to say that.” I threw tantrums and pouted, but I respected my parents. But no matter how much I said “I respect you” or “Dad and Mom were the best parents—better than I deserved”—my voice would never reach them now.

—The reason you’re easily hurt is because your sensitivity is richer than other children’s. It doesn’t mean your heart is weak. Listen, Sugar. Having rich sensitivity is a very good thing. And it’s also a characteristic of great artists. My son might become a great man someday.

“Easily hurt.” That was the root of everything. If I hadn’t been hurt by the teasing, if I’d just gone to school normally like an ordinary elementary schooler, my parents wouldn’t have died. I resolved to kill my sensitivity and become an ordinary person.

—If someone teases you about your name again, why don’t you just tell them it’s ‘Satou’? According to statistics, ‘Satou’ is the most common surname in the country, and Suzuki is the second most common. So if you think about it, Suzuki Satou is the most ordinary name imaginable, right? Look—’Sugar’ written and read as ‘Satou.’

… Come to think of it, I’d promised my parents back then that I would “go to school.” My father had rushed back into the flames to keep his promise, and he’d actually brought my mother right before my eyes. Now it was my turn to keep my promise.

I’d go to school. And I’d accomplish what my parents wanted. So that even in heaven, they could be proud.

I’d have a normal romance, get married normally, raise kids normally, and become someone my children respected—a father, just like mine.

I’d become a man who was kind to others and considerate toward women. So that someday I could meet a gentle woman like my mother.

And so I’d never experience something like this again, I’d develop situational awareness. So I could protect the people important to me no matter what.

After making that resolution, with help from my relatives, I started attending a new school.

On my first day, after I finished my self-introduction, my classmates laughed and said, “Sugar, that’s such an unusual name.” I didn’t care. I explained proudly:

It’s written “Sugar” but read “Satou.” It’s a precious name my parents gave me. It’s a combination of the most common surname in the country and the second most common. In other words, the most ordinary of the ordinary.

But as I spoke, I choked up more and more, and in the end I couldn’t finish—I just cried. My classmates were flustered by the transfer student who suddenly burst into tears, but afterward they heard my situation and apologized, saying, “Sorry for calling it weird.”

And so I became part of that class. Only one boy didn’t apologize to me, but a few months later, he became my closest friend.

From then on, I always lived as “Satou.” Satou became an ordinary student. He hung out with friends normally, got a girlfriend in middle school and had a normal romance, fought over trivial things, and broke up normally. He attended classes seriously and got into a school that was ambiguously prestigious. It was one of those so-called “escalator schools” where elementary, middle, and high school were all together.

Due to various things that happened in middle school, game development became my hobby, so after enrolling I met Club President Shimura and became a member of the Game Development Club. Then in the winter of my first year, I went to the President’s classroom to collect my gym uniform, and I encountered a girl who was clutching my gym uniform and sniffing it.

She—Kobayashi Eri—was a bit of an odd one. She was a hopeless stalker, and no matter how many times I asked her to “please call me Satou,” she kept calling me “Sugar-senpai.” So at first, I didn’t really like her.

The reason I came to recognize Eri as “a bit weird but a cute kouhai” like I do now was because of one thing she said by chance.

“But Sugar-senpai is Sugar-senpai, right?”

… That’s right. Because I’d lived as “Satou” for so long, I’d forgotten. No—I’d been mistaken from the start.

The name my parents spent three months carefully considering wasn’t “Satou”—it was “Sugar.” The baby whose birth first made my parents happy was named “Sugar,” not “Satou.” “Satou” was just one strategy my parents came up with to help me when I was hurt. Eri taught me that simple fact.

And so I went back from being Satou to being Sugar again. And I fell for Eri, who brought Sugar back. Every time we met and I’d say, “Can’t you call me ‘Satou-senpai’ properly?” and Eri would retort—that trivial back-and-forth became so much fun I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to do something for her too. That’s when I started going along with her various romantic consultations/criminal activities.

Of course, I only liked Eri as a cute kouhai. I intended to have a normal romance and get married normally. A romance with Eri wouldn’t be normal. And more than anything, she liked the President.

Come to think of it, the President liked yandere girls. Maybe they’re a good match.

Wait. Hold on. I feel like I’m forgetting something important…

—Memory anchoring complete. Commencing consciousness awakening.

That’s right! What happened to Eri!?

I regained consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I saw a desolate room that looked vaguely familiar, and a dark hallway connected to it. And so the story comes back to the beginning.

Whoever made this thing is definitely insane!

…Or so I thought, in this very moment.