Uncanny Valley | Rimuru x Arifureta

「 ✦ Rimuru Tempest ✦ 」

"We need you to capture someone," Brixton had said, sliding a dossier across the table. "Alive. But it needs to look like he died."

I'd opened the file, expecting to see another corrupt official or dangerous criminal. Instead, I found myself staring at a photograph-like portrait of a kid who couldn't have been more than seventeen. Dark hair, pale skin, and eyes that held something that made my stomach turn cold.

"This is Shimizu Yukitoshi," Brixton continued. "One of the summoned heroes of the church from another world.

"I know this guy. What's up with him?"

"He's problematic."

"Problematic how?" I'd asked, though something in the kid's expression already gave me a pretty good idea.

"My boy here ain't right in the head, you see. Serial murders, verified demon affiliation. He has issues that makes him a threat." Brixton's voice had been clinical, professional. "The Heiligh Kingdom and the Church secretly wants him executed already, but we think he could be useful."

And there it was.

The real reason the Hoelscher Empire wanted him alive. They didn't care about justice or protecting people—they wanted to study him, experiment on him, use whatever made him dangerous for their own military purposes. The Empire was a military nation first and foremost, after all. They didn't share the Heiligh Kingdom's devotion to the church, but they had their own brand of ruthlessness.

"He's just a kid," I'd said, even though I could see from the file that there's more to this kid than just being a kid.

"A dangerous kid," Brixton had replied. "Who's already beyond saving by standards."

The black runecard he'd slid across the table contained half my payment—probably enough to maintain my lifestyle for months. The other half would come once I completed the mission. To make it look like Shimizu died while secretly delivering him to Empire agents.

I'd taken the job, of course. I needed the money, and Brixton's justifications had sounded reasonable enough. But sitting there in that restaurant, staring at the photograph of a teenager whose eyes held too much darkness, I'd felt something twist in my gut.

No one is allowed to take youth away from young people—that had been my principle when I'd saved Shizu's students. That had been what drove me to help the kids who'd been pulled from their world and thrown into a world they didn't understand. And now here I was, being asked to essentially do the opposite.

The thing that bothered me most wasn't even the moral complexity of the situation. It was that I genuinely sympathized with these summoned heroes. They were regular citizens from Japan—high school students, for crying out loud—who'd been ripped away from everything they knew and forced to fight monsters and demons in a world that didn't make sense.

I'd gotten close to some of them. Shizuku especially—there was something about her that reminded me of better parts of myself. I had beef with some of them, but that didn't mean I'd wish them the worse..

These kids were doing their best in an impossibly unfair situation, and most of them were handling it better than anyone had a right to expect.

But even I can tell Shimizu was different. I'd only ever met him once, but I could tell he was a psychopath trying to fancy himself a protagonist.

The reports in his file painted a picture of someone who hadn't just cracked under the pressure—he'd shattered completely. Multiple disappearances that coincided with his presence. Witness accounts of behavior that ranged from disturbing to downright sociopathic.

Even if I wanted to save him, even if I honored my principles and tried to help instead of handing him over to the Empire's researchers, what then?

I could only save people who wanted to be saved.

And from everything I'd read, Shimizu had already chosen his path.

The worst part was the nagging fear of what would happen after. I couldn't babysit him forever. What if I saved him only to have him go right back to hurting innocent people the moment I left? How many lives would be on my hands because I'd chosen to spare one troubled kid?

··—–—⚜—–—···

Now, I stood on the cliff overlooking Lake Town of Ur, the cool night air carrying the scent of water and the sounds of people cleaning up the destruction I'd been partially responsible for.

"Gee, how'd you find me?" I muttered to the darkness, not bothering to turn around.

Footsteps approached from behind. When I finally looked over my shoulder, I saw Iu walking toward me with that same fashion style she'd had the first time we met. Tonight she was wearing something that managed to be both formal and casual, modest yet sexy.

She came to stand beside me, close enough that I could catch a hint of whatever expensive perfume she was wearing, but far enough away to maintain that careful distance we'd somehow established over the past week.

"I have my ways," she said simply, her eyes fixed on the lake below.

I'd always thought of Iu as... well, just a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, she was unbelievably attractive—anyone with functioning eyes could see that—but there was something about her that kept me from thinking of her in romantic terms.

Maybe it was the way she never seemed impressed by anything, or how she could tear apart my arguments, or just the fact that most of our interactions involved some form of bickering.

Part of me was curious about her background, of course. Someone who dressed like she did, who could afford a consistent lifestyle in Fuhren's most expensive establishments, and seemed to know things she shouldn't—there was definitely more to her story than she let on.

But I'd learned not to push for answers she didn't want to give.

"How's Daisy?" she asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Oh, she's safe. I've got her staying somewhere she can't get into trouble while I handle business." I glanced at her sideways. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm good." A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Though I did manage to finish that book you were hogging."

"What'd you think?"

"Pretentious rambling disguised as profound insight. Exactly what I expected."

"See, this is why I prefer practical learning over theoretical nonsense."

"Practical learning," she repeated. "Is that what you call whatever you've been doing?"

I winced. "You heard about that?"

"Hard to miss. Half the town is still talking about the mysterious stranger who fought three people two days ago and then paid for all the damages." Her tone was carefully impassive, but I caught something in her expression that might have been concern. "Expensive evening?"

"You could say that. Unfortunately."

We fell into the kind of easy conversation we'd never really had before. Usually our interactions were all bullshit and banter, but tonight felt different. Maybe it was the setting, or maybe we were both just tired of constantly trying to one-up each other—because I definitely was.

"For someone who claims to enjoy the high life," Iu said after we'd been talking for maybe twenty minutes, "you look pretty miserable right now."

I was about to brush her off when I realized she was right. I was miserable. Things were weighing on me in ways I didn't usually let things affect me.

"Just work stuff," I said finally.

"Must be some job."

I looked at her more carefully. There was something in her voice, in the way she was watching me, that suggested she wasn't just here to chat. When I finally moved to leave—the northern mountain ranges weren't going to search themselves, and I had a very disturbed teenager to locate—I paused.

"Why did you come all the way out here?" I asked. "I mean, you tracked me down to the middle of nowhere just to... what? Chat?"

Iu was quiet for a long moment, her gaze fixed on the lake below. When she spoke, her voice was softer than usual.

"You looked like you needed someone to talk to," she said simply. "Someone who'd understand you not in the way that Daisy does, but..." She shrugged. "Everyone needs that sometimes."

I stared at her, suddenly seeing something I hadn't noticed before. Not romantic interest—nothing that obvious—but a kind of care that she'd been careful not to make too direct.

Veldora would get along well with a fellow tsundere, I thought to myself, amused.

"Thanks," I said, meaning it more than I probably let on.

She nodded once, already turning to leave. "Try not to mess things up more."

"…I'll try. No promises, though."

I watched her walk away, then turned toward the northern mountain ranges. Somewhere up there, a troubled kid was either becoming a monster or had already become one. Either way, it was my job to find him. And figure out what the hell I was going to do with him once I did.

··—–—⚜—–—···

「 ✦ Yukitoshi Shimizu ✦ 」

The wind was cold up here in the Northern Mountains. I pulled my cloak tighter and tried to stop my hands from shaking. Almost half a year since I got summoned to this world, and what did I have to show for it? Nothing.

I pulled my cloak tighter and looked out at the sea of glowing eyes scattered across the mountainside. Thousands of monsters, all kneeling before me. All waiting for my command.

It should have felt amazing. This should have been my moment of triumph.

Instead, I just felt empty.

"You are truly fit to be a hero."

I turned around to see him stepping out of the shadows again. The demon in the dark robes who'd been visiting me for weeks now. At first, I thought I was going crazy from the isolation. But he kept showing up, always when I was at my lowest point.

"I don't know," I said, my voice coming out shakier than I wanted. "What if this is all a mistake? What if I'm not actually—"

"Look around you," he interrupted, gesturing at the monster army. "This is your doing. Your power. Not Kouki Amanogawa's. Yours."

Just hearing that name made my jaw clench. Kouki. Perfect, noble-hearted Kouki. The designated hero who everyone loved without question. The guy who got to play the protagonist role that should have been mine.

When we first got summoned to this world, I was so sure it would be my story. I'd read enough light novels to know how it worked. Ordinary guy gets transported to fantasy world, discovers he's special, gains incredible powers, collects a harem of hot girls, becomes the hero everyone looks up to.

That was supposed to be me. Yukitoshi Shimizu, the main character.

But then the status checks happened, and my numbers were just... average. Not terrible, but nothing special either. And when the real fighting started, when we actually had to face monsters, I kept freezing up while others stepped forward to claim the glory.

Meanwhile, Kouki got stronger and stronger. Everyone praised him, looked up to him, treated him like some kind of messiah. Even the instructors started acting like he was their precious golden child.

It made me sick.

"I should be the hero," I muttered. "I should be the one they all admire."

"And you can be," the demon said, moving closer. "You've already taken the first step. These monsters follow you because they recognize your true worth."

I looked back at the army of creatures I'd gathered. It had started small—just one goblin that stopped attacking when I screamed at it. Then a few wolves. Then more and more, until I had this massive force under my control.

The others back at the capital had no idea.

"But what if I go back and they don't accept me?" I asked. "What if they reject my power?"

The demon laughed softly. "Why would you want their acceptance? They had their chance to recognize your worth, and they chose to overlook you. To push you aside in favor of their hero boy."

He extended his hand toward me. "You could be so much more than any of them. A real hero, not some pretender who got lucky with his stats."

My hands were shaking. I stared at his outstretched hand, knowing that if I took it, there wouldn't be any going back. But going back to what? Being ignored? Being the background character in someone else's story?

"The world needs heroes who understand struggle," the demon continued. "Who know what it means to fight for power instead of having it handed to them. Heroes like you."

I thought about Kouki and his perfect smile, his righteous speeches, the way everyone hung on his every word. I thought about all the other classmates who'd surpassed me.

"I'll do it," I said, my voice getting stronger. "I'll become your hero."

"Wise choice."

When our hands touched, I felt something flow into me. Real power, not the weak stuff I'd been given when I first came to this world. This was different. It felt like it belonged to me.

The monsters around us started howling and roaring, their voices echoing across the mountains. The sound would probably carry for miles.

Good. Let them hear it.

Soon everyone would know that Yukitoshi Shimizu wasn't just some nobody they could ignore. Soon they'd all understand that I was the real hero of this story.

The demon's laughter mixed with mine as we stood there surrounded by my army. For the first time since coming to this world, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.