Chapter 10
—Either choice is hell.
Then, Columbus-like in conception, one must choose not to choose.
Let me take a strategic retreat here.
“Well! Do I have a stomach ache…?”
(clash)
“”You won’t get away, will you?””
Reina and Kaguya grabbed me by the shoulders and I couldn’t escape, ouch, ouch, seriously.
That’s right, they’re both soldiers, so if anything they’re more physically fit than I am.
Kenya realised that it was impossible to escape.
Then, he only has to offer a desperate solution.
“…How about the three of us practising together on the simulator?”
It was a random suggestion, but I think it’s not a bad idea.
Then they look at each other, look at Kenya and answer.
“I don’t mind as long as I can fight with you.”
“Hm, if I can practise too, that would be great..”
Kaguya also really wants to get better at operating the KOG.
Reina doesn’t particularly care about being second class or racial, and as long as Kenya is her partner, she has no problem.
The decision was made quickly and easily, and the three of them went to the simulator room.
“I’m really glad Reyna was there, they would never have lent it to us on our own.”
“I really hate it when second class people say things like that are a waste of time.”
“It’s a national policy, but I feel it’s gone too far these days”
Discrimination is a national policy.
The Emperor himself has declared that ruling the colonial subjects is the right thing to do as a citizen of the Asgar Empire.
The people who had lost their identity and gone through the justice system ran amok, to the point of malice at one point.
It may be the nature of human beings to abuse if they are told to do so, rather than being allowed to abuse.
“First, let’s try Kaguya vs Reina.”
“Huh? Me?”
“I’m not interested in this person…”
“Reina, Kaguya will be strong. She’ll be as strong as you.”
“? I can’t believe it.”
“Hey, what are you talking about, I’m as strong as the Ice Princess!”
Reina looked dubious, while Kaguya was surprised by Kenya’s statement.
“All right, start.”
The two get on with it.
The match starts, but as expected, it ends in a crushing victory for Reina.
They take turns to try various combinations, such as Kenya and Reina, Kaguya and Kenya, etc.
The three of them are engrossed in running the simulator for a while.
Before they knew it, it was dinner time and they had been playing for three or four hours.
“That’s it for today, I’m hungry.”
“…you’re running away with a win?”
“No, I’m not running away. I will accept any challenge, any time, if and when you want.”
“Then let’s do it again now.”
“No, I don’t want to do that. Tomorrow… is my day off, so let’s do it again next time.”
Reina’s motivation was like the time when she used to forget her day and night, and she was smiling, but as expected, it ends here.
Kenya, who can’t just keep playing, has plans for later.
“.. I understand.”
–Thank goodness she’s letting me go.
Reina, who has never been able to win a single match from Kenya, grumpily but reluctantly agrees.
“It was good practice for me too, I thank you in advance. Reina-san.”
“I didn’t get any practice, though.”
“Huh?”
–Stop, why are you trying to fight?
Kenya thinks that this might be what it means to be “dog and cat” and fumbles around.
However, an unexpected word was uttered by Reina.
“But in the last round. I only praise you for striking me a blow, it was a good move.”
The face of Kaguya, who had been staring at her, instantly turns red with surprise.
She was not expecting to be praised and was amused.
“Ah, ah thanks.”
She expresses her gratitude with an embarrassed face, looking down.
She still can’t seem to be honestly feel happy, the racial barriers created by the war can’t be overcome overnight.
But.
Kenya wants the two of them to become friends.
That’s why I proposed this place.
“Well, if you can move like that, It’ll least little bit exersice to my fingers through mock battle with you.””
“Huh?”
–Stop, why is it looks like you’re trying to pick a fight?
Kenya gets between the two who are about to fight again and soothes them.
This role is much more tiring than KOG.
Then Reina flutters her silver hair and turns away.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll return the card myself, all right?”
“Okay, thank you, Reina. Well, Kaguya, shall we go, too?”
“Huh? Where?”
“Where? On a date, of course.”
“Nya, nyaat!”
–Wow when she’s suprised she’s biting all over the place… A very cat-like. I want to put a cat ears on you.
Kaguya is very cute when she gets suprised with her cat eyes look.
Kaguya, who is cat-like to begin with, Will definitely looks good in cat ears.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Kenya decides to take her forcefully without pause.
Because today Kenya has something to say.
I can’t hold back.
“It’s getting late at night. See you later, Reina!”
With these words, he took Kaguya by the shoulders and tried to leave the classroom.
“Don’t touch me so casually!”
Kenya and Kaguya left the simulator room with such an exchange.
They looked like a couple flirting happily.
Reina watches their backs, crosses her arms and stares at them while stamping her feet restlessly.
–Huh? Why am I feeling a little annoyed?
But I’m not sure what that feeling is, so I’ll just quickly switch it off and forget about it.
“Now I must return the card.”
But there is one man watching the scene from the shadows.
“Should I report this to Seig-sama? And about that irregularity.”
The man is Instructor Alfred.
Seig is Reyna’s father, boss, headmaster and also the head of the country’s military, known as the God of War.
He decides to report the three of them to Sieg Sylphid.
***
“When you say dinner, there isn’t a place close by that we can go to!”
“Eh?”
All restaurants are said to be only accessible to first class.
Of course, if you leave the capital, there are some that even second-class citizens can enter, but here in Tokyo, or rather in the 13th Special District Capital, only mainly first-class or second-class military personnel live here.
Third-class citizens commute from far away every day and are treated like slaves from morning till night for low wages, such as cleaning the streets.
And all food and drink is for the first class.
They are not allowed to eat in the same places as second-class people.
But then, what about food?
“Is there a supermarket?”
There is a supermarket near the school.
Of course, the shopkeepers were 3rd class Asgardian and ex-Japanese.
They are forced to do all kinds of chores and are treated like a black company.
They are treated as if they were going to die, but there are no 36 agreements in this world to protect third-class asgar citizens.
“Even if you buy food, where are you going to eat it?”
“That would be my room.”
“What?”
“What’s what?”
Silence falls and Kaguya looks at me.
Immediately afterwards, she moves away from Kenya like a rabbit.
Holding her body with both hands, she looks at me resentfully in a protective pose.
“Yo, you suddenly tried to take me into your room! What’s going on with your ethics!”
“No, no! I’m just going to take a little rest! I’m just taking a break!”
“Stop! Don’t touch me!”
“Don’t you dare come in here and argue with me! Just a little bit! It’s just the tip!”
Kenya thought that he was like a man who tries to take in a woman who suddenly changes her mind in front of a hotel.
But after a desperate struggle, Kaguya calms down.
“Ze, don’t ever do anything weird, okay?”
“You mean I should? Ugh!”
–Isn’t that a signal to push…..?
I’ve heard that was the way the code worked in the original world, but here the code seems to be different.
I cringe when Kaguya kicks me in the stomach.
In the first place, it is a hurdle for a shut-in to ask for a date.
I would like to believe that it is not a communication disorder, but I am not that good at talking to people.
As for Kaguya and Reina, I’m not bothered at all because I’ve talked to them a lot throughout the game.
Don’t talk about to game heroines? Shut up, shut up.
“I’ll just have a curry.”
–Good, I wondered what I would do if it was an ingredient I’d never seen before or something.
The supermarket was more normal than I expected.
Except for the dead eyes of the shopkeepers.
You work 24/7 and have no entertainment.
How hard it must be to live like that until you die.
“……”
Seeing this, Kaguya makes a sad face.
When passing through the cash register, I thought that Kaguya was still a kind girl who thanked him properly.
She is concerned about the resistance and the current situation in Japan, so perhaps she feels a little sad even though she knows there is nothing she can do about it.
After a quick shopping trip, they went to Kenya’s house.
The money was paid by KOG devices.
It seems that the military provides some money, and this world seems to be more cashless than the previous one.
***
“So this is your room.”
She crossed her arms and looks around.
“It’s so empty it’s not even cluttered, though.”
A room from a previous world.
“But why do I feel so at home?”
It may be because of the tatami mats.
Kenya’s room is a six-mat Japanese-style room.
Tatami mats are the heart of the Japanese people, so perhaps Kaguya feels nostalgic about them too.
Kenya then begins to cook.
He has lived alone for a long time, so he is at least a good cook.
“Can you cook?”
“Yeah, since it’s just curry and I don’t have anything in particular to do, I’m fine on my own, Kaguya”
It looked like a conversation between new couple, Right then scene from one of the game he played comes to mind.
In these situations, where she comes to visit him in his room, the boyfriend has a certain word to say.
“Shower first. Go ahead and take a shower, until i prepare everything..”
I said that with a determined look on my face.
Footnotes~
A black company (ブラック企業, burakku kigyō), also referred to in English as a black corporation or black business, is a Japanese term for an exploitative sweatshop-type employment system.
While the term “sweatshop” is associated with manufacturing, and the garment trade in particular, in Japan black companies are not necessarily associated with the clothing industry, but more often with office work.
36 Agreements -https://www.employmentlawworldview.com/the-form-labor-agreement-thats-making-headlines-in-japan/