The Story Where I, the Strongest Mercenary, Was Reincarnated as a Bullied Introverted High School Student ~ When I Was Freely Enjoying My School Life, for Some Reason the Girls Around Me Started Glancing at Me~ - Chapter 10: Char and Ryuji

The captain had entrusted me with this blonde girl, Charlotte. I brought her to my room in the hideout.

Since her name was long, I decided to call her Char.

“I heard the story. Apparently you shot and killed your own parents and were on the run.”

When I asked in French, Char snorted and spoke defiantly.

“Hmph! Those people deserved to die! They were trying to inject me with drugs and make me service customers.”

Seeing her insolent attitude, I raised my right arm. Char tensed up and squeezed her eyes shut.

“…?”

Then Char fearfully opened one eye and looked at me.

“What are you doing? Come on!”

I kept my hand raised, but she looked confused, not understanding what I meant. Geez, this was what happened with introverts who only did internet stuff.

“High five! High five! You managed to kill your shitty parents with your own hands, so you say ‘Yeah!’ and give me a high five!”

“Huh?”

Char stared at my face with a blank expression.

“Ah, I see. Sorry, this was my fault too. A high five should definitely be with both hands, right?”

When I held out both palms, Char burst out laughing.

“Pfft! Ahaha! W-why a high five!?”

“Because they were trying to inject you with drugs, right? Parents like that deserve to be killed. Did you shoot them in the ass a few times too?”

“Ahahaha! S-stop it! I’m going to die laughing…!”

Char clutched her stomach and laughed so hard it looked painful. Light returned to her eyes, and relieved, I told her:

“I’ll tell you what your dead parents were thinking. ‘Thank you for killing me before I became an even bigger piece of shit’. What you did was charity work.”

“Ahaha! I’ve been blamed for killing my parents all this time! I never expected to hear something like that!”

“There are people in this world who’d be better off dead. The charity organization that kills those people is us, the United Nations Special Forces unit ‘SWORD’.”

With that, I held out both palms in front of Char’s face again.

“Welcome, Char.”

“Yeah! Ryuji!”

Char high-fived my hands.

◇◇◇

For the next year. I was often teamed up with Charlotte. I handled combat, while she handled hacking. Despite our constant banter, we had good chemistry.

“Make sure you protect me so I don’t die!”

“Of course! I won’t let you get so much as a scratch!”

In the middle of intense gunfights, I carried Char while eliminating enemies.

“Hurry up and hack to disable the trap! Before I get chopped to pieces!”

“I’m doing it now! Let’s see, this is a bomb so I’ll place a flag and…”

“Are you playing Minesweeper!?”

While dodging interceptor trap lasers, I coordinated with Char over radio. Like that, she and I slipped through the jaws of death many times, sometimes nearly dying but always cooperating. We completed countless missions.

Two years after Char joined ‘SWORD’.

“Gwaaaah!”

I collapsed face-first on the ground in the hideout’s training arena. I’d been beaten to a pulp by Oscar in combat training. Char, who’d been watching while typing on her keyboard, hurriedly closed her laptop.

“Show some restraint! Are you okay, Ryuji!?”

“Ryuji was the one who said ‘no holding back!'”

Char rushed over to me worriedly and tended to my wounds.

“Damn, I have more muscle but I can’t beat the lean Oscar.”

“Combat technique requires more than just muscle. If she wanted to, even Charlotte could pin you down.”

“Eh!? H-how do you do that!? Teach me!”

“You want to beat me up too?”

I laughed in exasperation at Char, who was blushing while asking Oscar to teach her.

Two and a half years later.

“Ryuji… um. I… I, I, I…”

One day, Charlotte came to my room with a bright red face, trying to say something. She seemed to be using the Japanese she’d just learned. Then, with what looked like determination, she said:

“…Sushi!”

She said it with the most serious expression I’d ever seen. I sincerely tried to understand Char’s feelings.

“Got it, wait a moment.”

Then I brought her to the kitchen where I’d prepared sushi rice and ingredients like tuna and salmon.

“You wanted sushi that badly?”

“…”

I’d heard rumors lately that Char was studying Japanese. And naturally, she’d arrived at sushi, the pinnacle of Japanese cuisine. She must have been embarrassed, but she asked for it anyway. I’d put my all into making it.

“…Mmm, it’s delicious.”

“Enough to cry over…?”

For some reason, Char let out a big, disappointed sigh. She watched me making sushi intently while talking.

“How old are you again, Ryuji?”

“Me? I’m already 37.”

“Ahaha, isn’t that what they call a late bloomer? Plus Ryuji has scary-looking eyes.”

“Leave me alone. From a 15-year-old’s perspective, I guess I’d seem that way.”

“…Right, I’m still 15. But don’t you think I’m already a proper adult? I can get married soon.”

“There’s no need to rush. Being a kid is fun too, right?”

I said that while serving Char salmon nigiri.

“…I see. From Ryuji’s perspective, I really am still a child…”

Char said that and hung her head for some reason. She then suddenly slathered wasabi all over her sushi and ate it.

“Whoa!? Don’t suddenly show off your comedian spirit!”

“Ah, it’s spicy! So incredibly spicy!”

Even when I served tea, Char kept chewing the sushi while crying.

“Ryuji, I wish you were a boy my age.”

“Sorry for being an old man.”

“Really! Ah, geez! I’m going to eat more, make lots more!”

“Yes, yes.”

Char kept crying and eating sushi like she was stress-eating. She must have had something painful happen. If I were her age, she could have confided in me, but apparently she couldn’t with an old man like me. I therefore kept making sushi to cheer her up.

◇◇◇

Then three years passed since Charlotte had arrived.

I held a wedding ceremony with Shiori, a woman one year older than me.

Among the comrades celebrating for us was, of course, Charlotte, beaming and applauding.

“Ryuji, congratulations! Really… really, congratulations!”

“Thanks, Char! You’re the best buddy!”

We high-fived with both hands.

She must have been sleep-deprived. Her eyes seemed a bit red and swollen.