Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - V4 Chapter 17

Chapter 17: “Madoka’s Reason?” ①

“Hey, back in the day, I was amazing, okay? Between us, do you have any idea how much chaos I caused while bringing the yokai together? Nuranura.” 

Ignoring the sulking Nurarihyon, who sat hugging his knees in defeat, Natsuki and the others turned back to face the Abe Clan psychic from Kyoto.

Madoka Abe shrugged, a mocking smirk on his face.

“What a farce that was. Hey, Bear, get up already. Let’s grab what we came for and head back to Kyoto. I’ve had enough of this place.”

“…”

“Bear?”

“…”

Madoka called out, but Kumazaki didn’t respond.

He was alive but remained on the ground, clutching his groin and trembling uncontrollably.

“Hold on a sec.”

“Oh, uh, sure.”

Natsuki instinctively responded, though internally he was wondering what to do about this absurd situation.

Meanwhile, Madoka ran over to Kumazaki, crouched down, and spoke to him softly.

“Hey, Bear… You seriously can’t move? Are you okay? Want me to pat your back or something?”

“…”

Madoka leaned in closer, catching Kumazaki’s barely audible murmurs. His expression shifted to something difficult to describe before he stood up and turned back to Natsuki and the others.

“Bear says he’s going to live as a girl from now on.”

“Like I care!”

“It’s all your fault! Take responsibility and marry Bear! Treat her well!”

“No way! And what responsibility are you even talking about!? If you guys hadn’t come here to capture the yokai, I wouldn’t have had to hero-kick that old man’s groin in the first place!”

“Bear gets misunderstood a lot, but he’s only twenty years old.”

“Liar! He looks like he’s thirty-five!”

“Be happy—she’s an older wife now.”

“Give me a break!”

As Natsuki stomped on the ground in frustration, Madoka summoned a shikigami.

A massive oni, even larger than Kumazaki, appeared wielding a spiked club. It swung the weapon down toward Natsuki, but with a flash of his demonic sword, Eternal Darkness, drawn from the void, Natsuki sliced the oni and its club clean in half. The creature collapsed, spilling its innards onto the ground.

“Not bad.”

“Summoners are so annoying!”

Seeing Madoka’s smug expression, Natsuki swung his demonic sword at him.

Empowered by magic-enhanced physical strength, Natsuki’s blow easily cut through Madoka’s torso.

“Wow, you’re crazy strong, aren’t you?”

Despite being visibly sliced, Madoka stood unharmed.

Natsuki had aimed to kill and had clearly bisected him, yet Madoka remained alive. While his clothes were slashed, revealing glimpses of his unscathed white skin underneath, there wasn’t a single mark on him.

“You’re wearing a school uniform, same as me, yet you come at me intending to kill, without any hesitation or malice. You’re such a fascinating kid, it gives me chills. If you weren’t on the yokai’s side, I’d have loved to invite you into the Abe family.”

“I’m not really on the yokai’s side.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“That’s right. But, you know, Grandpa Nurarihyon personally invited me to this village, showed me the yokai’s way of life, and even bowed his head to me. I’m not going to side with all yokai, but if you lay a hand on the yokai of Tono, you’d better be ready to face me.”

Natsuki had only promised Nurarihyon not to harm the yokai of Tono.

While he wouldn’t hesitate to fight enemies, Natsuki wasn’t the type to attack non-hostile yokai without reason. Out of curiosity, he might mess with them a little, but only in a friendly way.

If he approached a yokai and got into trouble, he’d likely blame himself for it.

Even if a yokai did something to him, as long as it didn’t harm his family or friends, he’d probably laugh it off.

Natsuki didn’t intend to become an absolute ally to all yokai, but unlike Madoka Abe, he also didn’t view all yokai as enemies.

There were yokai like Nurarihyon who could communicate and coexist peacefully. However, there were also yokai, like the ones Madoka fought in Kyoto, that he might need to fight against.

On that point, Natsuki didn’t plan to argue or take sides.

—But lumping all yokai together as enemies is a sad way to see things.

Natsuki had once been summoned to another world as a hero and exploited. As a result, he came to hate the people of that world, and even when he realized that the demons he fought weren’t inherently evil, he killed them for the sake of returning home.

He didn’t regret it, and if faced with the same situation, he would likely do it all over again.

Because of that, he couldn’t act self-righteous. Still, he felt that Madoka should have more options than he was allowing himself.

Fighting the yokai in Kyoto that harm humans was a good thing—something to be grateful for.

But turning the yokai of Tono into enemies as well, needlessly increasing the number of foes, was foolish.

At the very least, starting with an attempt to negotiate and form an alliance would make more sense. If force was necessary, it could come after negotiations failed.

(…Not that I can preach about it. And honestly, if I said anything, it’d probably just cause an argument. But there’s one thing that’s really bothering me.)

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“Why do you sound so full of hate every time you talk about yokai?”

Natsuki knew it wasn’t really his business, but he asked anyway.
Madoka let out a scoffing laugh in response.

“That’s obvious—I hate yokai. Those monsters killed my friend. That’s why I’ll never forgive them.”

“Ah…”

“I didn’t even know much about them beyond their name, so I couldn’t even deliver the bad news to their family. Isn’t that cruel? The yokai took away the first precious friend I ever cared about—the one I loved. I’ll kill them. I’ll kill every last one of them.”

Hearing Madoka’s story, Natsuki understood.

He could see the reasoning behind Madoka’s actions.

It made sense. Even if it meant turning all yokai into enemies, it wasn’t hard to understand why.

“Sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine. You’re not a yokai, so it’s not your fault.”

“Still, my actions here won’t change. You have your reasons, and I respect that. But the only thing I can do for you is this—I’ll make sure you don’t feel a thing and take you out with one clean strike.”

〜〜Afterword〜〜

To clarify: From Natsuki’s perspective, he thinks, “Well, your reasons make sense, and I can understand them. I’d probably feel the same way in your position. But since you’ve found out about the yokai village, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to silence you.” …Yep, that’s how it is.

If you enjoyed this chapter, a follow, review, or comment would really encourage me.
Thank you for your support!