I Don’t Want to Die as a Mob in My Second Life! ～A Story Where I Kept Training from Inside the Womb and Ended Up Being Mistaken for a Monster～ - Chapter 43: Exam Over! Everything Went According to Kanata’s Plan…! / The Smiles of Children Everywhere

Chapter 43: Exam Over! Everything Went According to Kanata’s Plan…! / The Smiles of Children Everywhere

Several hours after the chaos—

The Spirit Conductor Qualification Exam had safely resumed. The mock battles continued into the second half, and everything was finally wrapping up without issue.

And yet—

“Heh… Hehehehe…! (Aaaaaaaah, I really messed up… I totally messed up…!)”

Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, I sat in the corner with my knees drawn to my chest, endlessly regretting my actions today.

“Hehe, hehehehe…! (I overdid it… I went way too overboard…! Now Commander Ouma absolutely despises me…!)“

What even was that? 

After snapping for the first time, I completely lost it.

By the latter half, I was reveling in the chaos.

“Haaah… (I’m supposed to be a quiet mob character… There were cameras rolling… so why did I do that…!?)”

“Kanata, my man, you’ve been acting weird for a while now. What’s wrong?”

As I sulked, Hinosuke Muramasa—the arms dealer himself—plopped down cross-legged next to me and started chatting.

“Ah, I see, I see. You must be in awe of your brand-new spirit gear, Cursed Steel: Hellbird, huh!?”

“No, that’s not—”

“Ahhh~~ but I was so excited too! I added an AI function to help stabilize your spiritual energy, but I never expected you to actually pull off the Phantom Particle Destruction Beam!!! Kuhhh—! You managed to trigger a pseudo-nuclear fission attack!? That’s just insane! You’re the best, Boss! A true embodiment of evil!”

Stop treating me like that!

I’ve been sitting here seriously reflecting on all the evil crap I said after losing my temper at Rouga…!

“You really saved my hide, Boss. Thanks to you, this new spirit gear made with Hihiirokane got the best advertisement possible. Now all the top-tier Reisoushis with deep pockets are gonna be lining up to buy it.”

“Oh… that’s great…”

Good for you. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here in a pit of self-loathing, and you’re grinning like you just won the lottery.

“This was all part of your plan too, wasn’t it?”

—Wait, huh!?

“What are you even talking about…?”

“Boss, you’re the master of the Conceptual Spirit, [Hihiirokane], aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, I guess…”

“Which means you also have the power to erase any Hihiirokane you create. The more Japan’s Reisoushis depend on that spirit gear, the less they’ll be able to go against you, right?”

Hah!? I mean, technically that’s true, but I never even thought about that!?

“What the hell are you saying? That’s not—”

“I get it, Boss~. And let’s be real, the whole thing with the Shiranui siblings attacking you… that was your setup too, wasn’t it?”

H-Hah!?

What the hell is this guy saying!?

“I mean, the man himself admitted it, didn’t he? He attacked because you changed Ouma’s behavior, and that pissed him off.”

“…!?”

I mean… yeah, he did say that, but—!?

“You know, Boss, the way you were talking… it sounded like you already knew everything about those siblings—their personalities, their background. You were totally planning to control them, weren’t you?”

“!?!!?”

T-T-That’s not… okay, sure, I did know about their past and violent tendencies from my first life…!

But from an outsider’s perspective, it must’ve looked like I deliberately investigated them…!

“Kuku. From your point of view, that ‘Ouma’s adopted kids—unhinged and unpredictable’ time bomb exploded at just the right moment, huh?”

“Uh, hold on a sec—”

“And! If you think about it, the only reason the cameras were even here in the first place was because of you and that little ‘softball explosion over Kanto’ stunt!”

“!?!”

“The media had to jump on that, no matter what. And with all those livestreamers sneaking in too? Not surprising at all.”

At that moment, Hinosuke grinned wickedly.

“Everything connects…! You planted the problematic bomb, then invited the cameras, and right when the explosion happened, you conveniently showed off your new spirit gear—which you control—by stealing the spotlight! Damn, Boss! You made a huge impact while advertising your weapon at maximum efficiency!”

No, no, no, no, no, no, NO…!?

“Reisoushis are always one step away from death. So when you show off that kind of ridiculously OP equipment… they’re obviously gonna buy it. Even if it means putting themselves under your control.”

“That’s not what I—”

“I get it. It’s the ‘Remarketing Effect’ in business strategy, isn’t it?”

—What even is that?! WHAT DID YOU JUST UNDERSTAND!?!

“The core of this entire plan—the true genius behind it—was tying the advertisement for your spirit gear to ‘Ouma’s out-of-control adopted kids.’ Because of that, the news will keep repeating the story for days. And every time it does, the people who are either too scared to buy your gear or still undecided will be reminded of just how powerful it is.”

“Uh—”

“In other words! The option to buy will keep appearing in their heads—over and over! More people will fall for it! Ahhh, so this was your plan all along, Boss! You’re the pinnacle of evil…!”

I’M TELLING YOU, NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I wasn’t thinking about any of that! And I’m not evil!

“Yo, all hail the Supreme Overlord of Wicked Schemes! A darkness deeper than the Mariana Trench! The Baby of Nuclear Fission!”

I’ll kill you.

“Please stop with the weird misunderstandings…! I have no intention of erasing Hihiirokane, and honestly, seeing people grow stronger makes me happy. (Even though in a month and a half, the Conceptual Spirit of [Erasure] is going to show up…)”

“Hahaha. So, seeing more strong warriors under your command makes you happy, huh!?”

STOP TWISTING MY WORDS!!!

“Well, I should get going. Thanks to you, I got to see something amazing, and I gotta start working on some new spirit gear for Ouma too.”

Hinosuke stood up, dusted the sand off his pants, and turned his back to me.

“See ya, Boss. Oh, and looks like your wife just arrived, so I’ll leave you to it.”

“Wife?”

Just as Hinosuke left while spouting nonsense, I suddenly heard a voice calling from the other direction.

“Kanata!”

 “Huh?”

“What are you doing sulking in the corner? Come, let’s go watch the mock battle.”

“Setsuna?”

That sharp, slightly haughty tone—it was definitely her. I looked up, and—

“Fufun! The final match is Sharo’s turn, so I made sure to bring my A-game!”

She was… wearing a cheerleader outfit.

“Whoa, that looks… dumb.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘DUMB’!?!”

She was absolutely furious.

No, I mean, sorry. A cool, busty, ice-attribute, sideboob beauty should look amazing in a cheerleader outfit, but… when it’s Setsuna, somehow…

“Setsuna’s intelligence… it’s gone…”

“It has NOT gone!?”

No, seriously, my bad.

The image of her from my first life—when she was in full Ice Queen mode—was still burned into my brain. Seeing her like this now made her seem kind of… airheaded.

I should apologize.

“I’m sorry. Uh… you were just so beautiful that my brain short-circuited, and I lost control of my words.”

“Beautiful—wait, then why did you insult me!?”

She gave me an exasperated look, then grabbed my arm.

“Come, let’s go. The final match is Sharo vs. your sister.”

“Wait, Hinami is fighting?”

“Yep. She’s got a pretty face, but she gives off the vibe of a really smug little rat.”

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about this.

“Alright, then. I guess I’ll just cheer for both of them.”

Big sister is fighting Sharo, huh?

A battle of the gutter monsters.

“Mmhh! Kanata, you should only cheer for cute little Sharo!”

Well, I did train Sharo, but Hinami is still family.

This swamp monster showdown is gonna be no sides for me.

“Oh, and Kanata! You should wear a cheer outfit too!”

I’d rather die.

◆　◇　◆

The battle between top-ranked student Hinami and Sharo, the class reject was underway.

Under Moyoko’s supervision, the two clashed head-on.

In the first timeline, Sharo lost almost instantly, but…

“Tch! Stop dodging! Why are you so damn fast!?”

“You shall not hit me, de gozaru! Die!”

“EXCUSE ME!? You die!!!”

The mini-skirt ninja girl Sharo was slipping past all of Hinami’s violent attacks.

She wasn’t even using the power of her Conceptual Spirit [Ninja].

Her spiritual techniques were all just barely above the passing mark, and if she kept spamming them, her spiritual energy would run out in no time.

That’s why she relied on pure movement—dodging, dodging, and dodging again.

She took a few grazes here and there, drawing some blood, but none of the attacks struck her vital points.

“Training with Kanata was life or death, de gozaru! He even made me jump rope with vibrating blade wires, de gozaru!”

“WHAT KIND OF TRAINING IS THAT!? If you so much as nicked your heel, your foot would end up looking like peeled shrimp!!!”

My sister looked absolutely horrified.

Hey, that was just a motivational strategy for Sharo.

I was planning to stop the vibrations right before she got hit.

…Whether I would’ve made it in time is another question.

“But thanks to Kanata, I’ve changed, de gozaru! I’m not the loser Sharo anymore, de gozaru!”

She stopped dodging and turned to face Hinami head-on.
Then, forming the Nine Syllable Seals, she dashed forward.

“I’m going to win!”

She was going all in. A rapidly spinning sphere of water formed in her hand.

“Hinami! I won’t lose to you, de gozaru!”

“Tch! A dropout like you doesn’t get to bark at me—!!!”

Unleashing her full spiritual power, Hinami wrapped herself in wind and charged straight at Sharo!

“Hinaaaaaamiiiiiiiii!”

“Shaaaaaaaarooooooo!”

Their shouts echoed under the setting sun.

And then—the moment of impact—

“Ninja Art: Suiton—Kirisame Mirage. …That was an illusion, de gozaru.”

“Eh?”

Sharo’s figure vanished.

The real her—appeared behind Hinami.

“Take this—Ninja Chop!”

“GYAH!?”

…A clean strike to the back of the neck.

Hinami collapsed on the spot, twitching slightly before going completely still.

“And that’s it—Hinami is down! Final match—Sharo wins!“

“I did it, de gozaru~~~! Victory kick on the corpse!“

“HEY! DON’T KICK HINAMI!? MEDIC TEAM, GET OVER HERE!”

Unbelievable—Sharo wins in a major upset!

The audience of Reisoushis erupted in shock.

“What the hell!?”

“No way…!”

After all, Sharo Kirisame was infamous for being a failure despite coming from a prestigious family.

“I see now… She was scattering water while dodging by converting her spiritual energy’s attributes.”

Looking closely, the ground was wet.

Her Ninjutsu: Suiton – Kirisame Mirage worked by creating illusions with water vapor.

She had been setting up this reversal all along.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH~! AS EXPECTED FROM MY CUTE LITTLE SHAROOOOO~! Gyu~!”

“B-Big Sister, that tickles, de gozaru~!”

“Wasshoi! Wasshoi!”

Meanwhile, Cheerleader Setsuna had gone completely feral, hugging Sharo, poking her cheeks, and even messing with her… um… certain places.

She had zero intelligence left.

“…Yeah. This definitely wasn’t a scene in the first timeline.”

Setsuna probably comforted her sister in the first timeline too.

But that obvious kindness must have pushed Sharo even harder, driving her to achieve results, become a Reisoushi, and challenge the highest-tier Conceptual Spirit—[Erasure]—in order to prove herself.

…Which, of course, led to her torturous death ending.

Yeah, that definitely wasn’t happening this time.

“With that, the qualification exam is officially over! The results will be announced at a later date! Good work, everyone—thank you for your efforts!“

Moyoko wrapped things up real quick. Well, it was getting late.

Her former students, the Reisoushis, all responded in unison: “Thank you for your hard work~~!”

“No, seriously, I’M EXHAUSTED…! I… I thought so many times today, ‘That’s it! The exam is RUINED!’ and… aaaaaaauuuughhhh!!!“

…Ah. Now she’s crying. Poor thing.

“Ms. Moyoko, you really did a great job today.”

“AS IF!!! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU DEFECTIVE NUCLEAR FISSION REACTOR, KANATAAAAAA!!!“

…Excuse me, what does that even mean?

◆　◇　◆

In the infirmary.

“…I see. So the exam is over.”

Michio Soranaki had finally woken up.

He was still groggy, having just regained consciousness, but the voices coming from the training grounds told him everything he needed to know.

Everything—everything had finally come to an end.

“Haaah… I completely lost to Kanata.”

Michio stared at the bandages wrapped around his body, deep in thought.

He hadn’t been taken down by some mystery assailant. No—he had already reached his limit from the damage he took against his own little brother.

That final charge of his… deep down, he knew how it would end.

As he sat there lost in thought—

“Uwaaaaaahhhh—! I CAN’T BELIEVE I LOST TO THAT SHAROOOOOO~!!!“

Hinami Soranaki stormed into the infirmary, wailing.

She had apparently woken up along the way but had shooed away the medics because she didn’t want anyone else to see her crying.

“…Oh? So you lost too, Hinami?”

“Ugh, shut up, Michio! You idiot. IDIOT!“

“If I’m an idiot, and we have the same grades, then that makes you an idiot too.”

“Haah?”

With identical expressions, the two began hurling insults at each other.

It was so dumb that they both just sighed and went silent.

“Haaah… So in the end, we both ended up as losers. I don’t even want to think about what the academy’s gonna say…”

“We got cocky ‘cause we were too good, huh~? Well, we might still pass the exam, but…”

The final mock battle wasn’t about winning or losing—it was a test of skill.

And they both knew they were well above the passing mark.

“But a loss is a loss. And in the world of Reisoushis, results are everything. …It’s humiliating, but maybe I should adjust my attitude a little…”

“I like confident Michio, you know~. But if you softened up just a little, maybe you’d be even more charming~? “

“Well, since Kanata was the one who beat you, I doubt anyone will make a big deal out of it. But me? Starting tomorrow, people are gonna call me ‘worse than Sharo’…”

“Eh, just win next time. And if anyone still talks smack, just beat the crap out of them~.”

“…Hmm?”

“…Wait.”

It was only then that the siblings realized—

A third voice had joined the conversation—?!

“Oh my, what’s the matter, you two?”

“”…M-MOM!?””

They turned toward the source of the voice—the ceiling.

And there, smiling lovingly down at them, completely drenched in slime, was none other than their mother—Hinako Soranaki.

“”WHY THE HELL ARE YOU UP THERE!?””

“Ufufu~. Mommy died, so I decided to watch over you two from heaven~♡.”

“”YOU’RE OBVIOUSLY STILL ALIVE!!!””

The two of them screamed.

Meanwhile, their mother casually responded with a cheerful, “Oh my, so full of energy~” as she slithered her way down from the ceiling.

—Soranaki Hinako was the wielder of the Conceptual Spirit [Eel].

By hosting it within her body, she gained extreme flexibility and the ability to secrete mucus from her entire body, allowing her to slip into any place undetected.

Because of this, despite being a lowly Rank-4 Reisoushi, she was a key player when it came to infiltrating Medium hideouts.

“It’s been a while, you two~. I was actually up and moving a few days after giving birth to Kanata, but I had to go through tons of tests, so I couldn’t leave. But now, I finally get to see you~!”

“What kind of mother shows up dripping in slime from the ceiling…!?”

Michio groaned in disbelief. Hinami looked just as horrified.

Seeing their expressions, Hinako simply placed a hand to her cheek and tilted her head.

“Oh my~? So you do acknowledge me as your mother?”

“”!?!””

“Not as some ‘defective breeding ground’ or a ‘grinning, annoying, trash-tier gacha parent’?”

“”!?!!?””

—Those were exact words they had once muttered to their father during a conversation about her.

Words that had earned them their first-ever slap from Michitaka.

Words that had almost gotten them disowned.

“H-How… do you know that…?”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter~.”

With a sweet smile, Hinako raised her palm.

The sight instantly triggered their trauma.

A strangled “Ugh…!” slipped from their mouths as they instinctively tensed—

And then—

“I’m so glad… that I could see you both again.”

—Gently, softly.

Before they even realized it, Michio and Hinami were being embraced.

“Eh…?”

“Mom…?”

She stroked their backs in a soothing motion.

…They had been praised for their talents from a young age.

At some point, they had started looking down on their inferior parents, stopped returning home from the academy dorms, and cut themselves off from their family.

For Michio and Hinami, this was the first warmth they had felt from their mother in years.

“Mock battles can be deadly sometimes, you know? I’m so relieved you’re both safe…!”

“Ah…”

Her voice trembled with relief.

Hearing that warmth—feeling it—made their vision blur.

—The bitterness of their first-ever loss.

The fear of making their father truly angry for the first time.

The uncertainty of what would happen next.

All of it crashed into them at once.

Before they knew it, their throats tightened, and their voices shook.

“”M-Mom… we… we…!””

“There, there. It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

With tears in their eyes, they looked up at Hinako.

She smiled at them—gently, warmly.

“No matter what happens, I’ll always be right here with you, okay?”

“”—!””

That was it.

That was their breaking point.

“A-Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry—!”

“I’m sorry! I said such horrible things—!”

Like small children—no,

Like the ten-year-old kids they truly were,

They clung to their mother, making up for all the time they had tried to act grown-up.

“Ufufu~. There, there. Do you two want some milk?”

“”…We’re good.””

This was a scene that never could have happened in the first timeline.

Back then, Michio and Hinami had never been given the chance to break down.

They had grown up, never faltering, never bending—only to become cold, ruthless adults who looked down on their parents.

And yet—

Because of Kanata Soranaki, because they had been forced into hardship,

For the first time, they had found happiness.

In the depths of darkness, they had finally discovered light.

“Fufu. Once you two calm down, let’s go see your father. I’m sure he’ll forgive you.”

“T-That’s…”

“Oh my, are you scared~? But don’t worry. Look.”

Hinako turned toward the doorway.

—And there, just beyond it—

Their father frantically ducked out of sight.

“Dad… No way… Were you watching us the whole time— Wait, pfft!”

“Kuhihi! He totally panicked and tried to hide, but we saw him~!”

Laughter spilled from Michio and Hinami’s lips.

The sound of children’s laughter.

Just like any other ordinary kids.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Michio & Hinami: (Mom was really warm… but also really slimy…)

End of Act 4: Exam Arc Complete!

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