The Gal Game Heroines Who Were Supposed to Die Somehow Learned My Secret ～By the Way, Where Did My [Diary] Go?～ - Chapter 19: Thank You━

Chapter 19: Thank You━

“I’m so tired… Why are university lectures so boring? I thought they’d be more fun.”

“It can’t be helped. Professors are experts in research, not in teaching. To find it interesting, you need to build up your own knowledge. But seriously, what’s with all the people who keep talking during class?”

“It’s rare for someone to actually pay attention during lectures~. There are so many desperate monkeys looking for a connection, it’s exhausting~.”

“I just shut them up by saying, ‘I already have a boyfriend.’”

“…Isn’t that kind of cheating?”

“Oh my? The Four Beauties Agreement didn’t ban it, now did it?”

“As expected of Reine-san, a genius at bending the rules.”

“I’ll start doing that too~.”

It was 6 PM. I’d stayed with Satsuki through her fifth-period lecture, and now it was this late. A pleasant breeze swept through the plaza in front of the nearest train station, carrying the scent of cherry blossoms as their petals danced in the air. The people spilling out of the ticket gates looked both tired and relieved, a hint of freedom in their expressions.

It was Friday. The knowledge that tomorrow was a day off seemed to brighten everyone’s mood. We weren’t exceptions to that.

Even so, how can they all talk so cheerfully after everything that just happened…?

The events in the elevator came rushing back to my mind.

The sheer hatred the heroines of LoD displayed toward the protagonist after failing to raise their affection levels left me dumbfounded. In the game, any heroine who wasn’t united with the protagonist met a death ending, so in a way, it felt like I was witnessing some kind of hidden lore. But the way the four of them looked when they ganged up on Yuto at the end—it was terrifying. I tried to blend into the background just to avoid drawing their attention.

What was even scarier was how, after all that chaos, they acted completely normal while eating ramen.

He was bleeding, for god’s sake!

Though, I guess that’s not the point I should be focusing on…

The five of us moved along the train tracks. In the silence, only the faint sound of the four of them talking and the wheels of my wheelchair rolling echoed. There wasn’t another soul in sight.

Suddenly, the distant clanging of a crossing signal broke the quiet, vibrating through the air. Moments later, the roar of a train slicing through the wind drew closer, passing right by us and shaking the tracks beneath it. The light from its windows flashed on us intermittently, and as the sound and vibrations faded away, the silence returned once more.

It felt like the world had staged this moment just for me.

“Hey, Satsuki…”

“Hm? What is it, Satoshi-kun?”

“I’ve got something I want to say to everyone. Can you turn me around to face them?”

“Got it!”

Satsuki skillfully turned the wheelchair around, positioning me to face the four of them. They looked at me with puzzled expressions, silently waiting for me to speak.

I knew this was my last chance to brush everything off with a joke, to laugh away Yuto’s accusations and ignore the truth buried in my heart. I could have chosen to keep pretending, to extend this life for even one more day.

But━

“I don’t need your care anymore. Go live your own lives as you please. Thank you for everything up until now.”

I forced the brightest smile I could muster and bowed deeply, my head almost touching my knees, as I expressed my gratitude.

“We’re… not needed anymore? You don’t want us…?”

Satsuki’s voice trembled, filled with darkness, as she spoke. When I looked up, the light had vanished from all their eyes. This was the moment where I couldn’t let myself falter.

“Of course not. I was so happy to have you all by my side. Honestly, if I could, I’d want you to stay with me forever.”

“Then why…?”

I took a deep breath. The words that had risen to my throat sank back into my stomach again and again.

It was agonizing. I didn’t want to say it.

But I couldn’t stop now. This was something I had to do.

“I… I hate people who twist someone else’s life for their own selfish reasons. And yet, here I am, sitting in this ‘savior’ role, wearing the noble title of ‘lifesaver.’ I’ve placed an unremovable collar on all of you—a collar I can’t even take off myself. I’m the worst, and I hate myself more than anyone else could…”

“━━━”

“That’s why… it’s okay now. From here on out, I’ll handle everything on my own. You don’t need to feel guilty anymore. Forget about me and live your lives however you want. Please… just let yourselves be free. I’m begging you.”

I bowed my head again.

In the end, this was all for me. I didn’t want to keep suffering under the guilt of ruining other people’s lives. I wanted to finish as a hero who had saved these girls, not as someone who had chained them down.

Reine had said they weren’t staying by my side out of guilt, but I chose to prioritize my own selfishness. A self-centered, unilateral wish. I ignored the feelings of the girls, who were carrying an even greater burden of guilt than I was.

“…You’re so kind, Satoshi-kun.”

“…No, I’m not. I think I’m the worst.”

And then, I heard the faintest breath of laughter, accompanied by a gentle smile.

“It’s your wish, Satoshi-kun, and it’s an important one. I’d love to grant it for you, but I’m sorry. Truly, I am. This is the one thing we can’t do.”

“…Why… ah?”

Confused, I lifted my head to question Satsuki’s refusal. My eyes were drawn to her hands as my voice trailed off.

“I can’t stand seeing you hurt yourself anymore, Satoshi-kun. So, I’ll confess. No, we’ll confess.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that…!?”

Satsuki held something in her hands—the one thing I thought I’d lost forever back in high school: my diary. Its faded cover and softened, worn corners were the unmistakable marks of something that had been with me through it all.

I had believed it was gone for good, but apparently, Satsuki had it. A flood of questions surged from within me, yet my lips refused to move. Seeing my frozen state, Satsuki gave me a troubled smile.

“Sorry. I picked it up the day you had your accident. Without asking.”

“…?”

“And I read it. About LoD, about the world’s enforcement mechanics, about Satsuki Saionji, about everything… I know it all now.”

“━━━”

I glanced at Shino, Shuna, and Reine. Their expressions made it clear—they knew everything, just like Satsuki. My body felt like it was draining of all strength.

Satsuki gently flipped through the pages of my diary as if it were something precious, her voice soft and tender.

“You’ve been protecting us, haven’t you, Satoshi-kun? Supporting us all this time. All on your own.”

“Ah…”

Her words fell gently, one by one, like jewels being placed on display.

“But… I’m sorry. We don’t remember anything. Until we read your diary, we didn’t even know someone named Satoshi Iriya existed. Even though you were the one who supported us all along, we mistook it for someone else entirely. We’re awful, aren’t we?”

That’s not true. It wasn’t their fault—it was because of the world’s enforcement mechanics. They had no choice.

Yet, even though the words were at the tip of my tongue, I couldn’t bring myself to say them.

“What you gave us was unconditional love, Satoshi-kun… Truly, it’s such a cruel, tragic, and unacknowledged feeling, isn’t it…?”

Tears welled up in Satsuki’s eyes, and she lowered her head.

“But now we know… We know who it was that saved us…”

Her voice quivered, choked with sobs. Even so, Satsuki lifted her face, her gaze sharp and unwavering as it locked onto mine.

“You gave everything, even with that broken body of yours, supporting us from the shadows. Do you really think we could just live carefree lives while forgetting all about you?! Don’t insult us!”

Holding back tears, Satsuki’s voice grew louder, trembling with raw emotion.

“Don’t tell us to forget! We’ve already forgotten so much—what else do you expect us to forget now?!”

Her voice surged with intensity, spilling over with a flood of emotions.

“If you told us to give you our bodies, we’d gladly hand them over! If you told us to die, we’d happily do it right now!”

A moment of silence fell between us. Then, with a trembling voice, she forced out her next words.

“…Please, don’t ever say something that devalues yourself like that…! Don’t think of yourself as the worst…! To us, you’re irreplaceable. You’re our hero, our savior━the person we love most…!”

Tears streamed down Satsuki’s cheeks. The other three looked at me with the same determination in their eyes, their faces reflecting the same emotions as hers. I could only sit there, stunned, as I slumped deeper into my chair and lowered my head.

“In my past life… I was a shut-in NEET with nowhere to belong. Even when I was reincarnated, my new family found me creepy, even my own parents avoided me…”

The words I had never spoken to anyone began to drip from my lips, like droplets of condensation breaking free. The part of my heart I had kept hidden from everyone was slowly starting to thaw.

In my past life, I had no place because I was useless. In this life, I had tried to live for others, using my past knowledge to help, but my efforts only made people find me unsettling. And once again, I had no place.

“…If no one needed me, I thought I’d just live alone and make peace with that. But when I realized I was Satoshi Iriya, I clung to life as desperately as I could.”

“Living just to avoid dying”—that summed up my high school years. But━

“No matter how hard I tried, my achievements were always taken away. I kept wondering if a life spent serving the protagonist, just to survive, had any meaning at all.”

Every time Yuto Sano grew closer to the heroines, a mix of relief and emptiness would wash over me. Eventually, I learned to treat it all like just another task.

“…When the bad ending became inevitable, and there was no turning back, I couldn’t stand the thought of dying without saving anyone. So I decided to leave proof that I had lived in LoD—even if it meant dragging everyone into my revenge.”

I was alone. Always alone. It was painful, unbearable. Fighting a battle no one knew about, day after day, with nothing to gain—what was the point of such a life?

I’d thought that once I died, it would all disappear. A part of me even believed that death might be a form of salvation.

But deep down, I wanted someone to know.

I wanted someone to praise the life I had lived. The crushing weight of my unspoken struggles pressed down on me every day. I wanted to believe that, someday, the fate that doomed me to die no matter how hard I tried might finally be rewarded.

And then━

Suddenly, a soft warmth touched my whole body. The warmth enveloped me even more strongly and gently.

“It’s enough now. You’ve done more than enough, Satoshi-kun. So this time, let us save you. Bind our lives with your love.”

Binding them with love instead of guilt… was that really the right thing to do? Could I really impose such a selfish, self-serving wish on them?

“Can I really do something like that…?”

“Of course. I was prepared for this from the very beginning.”

“Me too! So cheer up already~!”

“I’m still alive today because of you.”

Thank you…

“—!”

Those were the words I had always longed to hear. Words I had wished for, over and over again, deep in my heart.

The moment they reached my ears, a warmth spread through my chest, and in the next instant, tears began to flow. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold them back.

‘Rewarded’ isn’t enough to describe this feeling. How many emotions had I carried, all for this single moment?

Thank you… No, that’s what I should be saying to you━

━━━

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