Chapter 70
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—“Why… why… why are you fighting?”
The girl was crying alone.
She sat on the ground and cried long after they were out of sight.
“Why… why… why would you risk your life… why would you give up your own life for…”
Why does the boy fight?
How could he fight with his body like that?
It must be hard to even stand up. It must be hard just to open his eyes.
So why is he fighting?
His opponent was the strongest knight in the empire.
He is stronger than my father, who is stronger than the clouds, and is called the strongest knight of all time, the Sword Saint.
If you fought such an opponent with a body that couldn’t even walk, it was obvious that you would die.
To watch Kenya die was not something that Reina could do.
That is why she couldn’t get up.
She didn’t dare to look at him. She couldn’t move her legs.
“Why are you doing this to me… why is there something you want to protect more than your own life…?”
Reina cries, repeating those words over and over again.
She recalls what Kenya said to her as he left.
The words of a tattered boy who said he would fight to protect her.
I repeat the words of the boy who told me he loved me that day, that he would fight for me with his life on the line.
“Ugh. I’m not worth it… I’m not worth being protected… I’m not worth being protected…!”
Reyna holds her head immediately afterwards, and she suddenly has a flashback to her past memories.
Triggered by Kenya’s words that he would protect Reina with his life, her emotions swept over her and the memories that had been closed deep inside her mind came back.
“Mum? …”
Reina recalled.
The person who protected her with her life on that day.
*◇ Reina’s past.
“Don’t worry, Mum will definitely protect you. Absolutely. I’ll protect you with my life, Rei-chan.”
A woman covers Reina.
Her back is covered in blood after a bullet wound.
In a dark hole.
Blood drips onto Reina’s face.
The sound of bullets rings out and the screams of the Japanese can be heard.
The mother covered and protected her child.
Desperately trying not to be found by the enemy and not to be hit by bullets.
Risking her life, and when she wakes up, her mother…
From there, Reina has no memory.
*◇
However, Reina remembered the past.
Fragmentary, but still clear.
“Yes, I… my mum…”
What she remembered was the memory of the war between Japan and Asgard.
The face of her mother, who had lost her life protecting her, and her mother’s body, cold and still embracing her when she woke up.
“She risked her life… to protect me… how could I forget… ugghh…”
I was in so much pain that my heart felt like it was going to burst.
Remembering my mother’s face, remembering her past, I felt like my heart was going to break.
I remember the face of my mother, who protected me from the bullets while hugging me.
The face of my mum, my favorite mum, who still smiled at me.
When I remember, my body trembles and I almost hyperventilate.
Yet, because I remember, I remember.
I remember myself, who had turned away from reality, who had forgotten, who is now about to do the same thing all over again.
“I have to go.”
So she stood up.
She remembers that painful past that she just couldn’t face, even though she is shaking and shedding tears.
She raises her face.
What she remembers is the face of a boy.
The boy who told me he loved me, who is now risking his life for me in the same way.
Just like my mother at that time.
And yet I again tried to run away and look away.
“That’s no good…”
I couldn’t do anything then. I can’t do anything now either.
I can’t do anything if I stay here, I don’t want to regret it anymore.
I don’t want to not look anymore because I’m scared.
I might not be able to do anything.
All I can do is stand by and support.
Even so, I have to stand by and watch with my own eyes.
I have to see the fight of someone who said he would protect me with his life.
“I have to support you, Kenya-kun. I have to look at him without looking away!”
She ran.
to the battlefield where the boy was fighting.
“I won’t run anymore!”
***
(Huh? What was I doing?)
Kenya barely prevents a stab from Osiris.
However, the impact was not enough to kill him and he hit his head violently in the cockpit.
Kenya, who was originally on the verge of losing consciousness, combined with the lack of acidity, lacked blood.
The impact easily knocked him unconscious.
It also caused a state of anemia, and his consciousness was in the dark for a long time.
(Why is he on the KOG?)
Kenya was unable to understand anything.
He was momentarily disoriented, his memory was fuzzy, and his thoughts were unable to turn.
Looking at the cockpit in a daze are empty eyes.
“──-Ken, do your best! Onii chan!!!!”
A voice is heard from outside, vaguely unintelligible.
The KOG also picks up the outside voice, but Kenya still couldn’t understand the voice.
(Onii chanr? What’s that about? No good, I’m already sleepy… cold… painful ……)
Kenya doesn’t understand the meaning of that voice and just gazes into the void.
(Come to think of it… there was a time… like this…)
Suddenly in his brain is a memory from the distant past, a memory of a similar situation that he suddenly remembers.
When I had a high fever in the only house in my previous world.
There was no one at home, no parents, or friends to ask for shopping.
I was just alone under the covers, coughing, bitter, cold, hungry, and crying.
And most of all… I was lonely.
I didn’t want to be alone, even if I was going to die, I didn’t want to be alone.
Loneliness was hard, I was lonely. I couldn’t help it. I wanted someone to want me.
But I didn’t have the courage to ask for help from my parents who had abandoned me.
So, with a high fever, I started up, under the covers, my VR device on and my favorite game.
I was swooning with a high fever, and of course I didn’t have the strength to play the game.
But if I go there, I can see them.
Because I can see them, because I won’t be alone.
“Reina… Kaguya…”
Because they would call my name.
In a world where no one spoke my name anymore.
In a world where no one could see me in their eyes any more.
Because Reina and Kaguya called me, because they called my name.
Because they looked me straight in the eye and called out my name.
So I want you to call me again.
Because only the name called by the two of you was really special…
“Stand up! Stand up!”
(Why do I have to stand up?)
“Please… please…”
Reina had arrived at the venue, calling for Kenya in a loud voice, as if she was praying.
She climbs up the wall near the spectator seats where Kenya was sent flying, and calls out loudly for Kenya in front of her.
Even so, that voice does not reach him.
Even so, she calls out to her temporary Onii-chan again and again.
She calls out to Kenya, who still cannot stand up.
And in front of him is a red and black disfigured KOG, sword at the ready.
“Get up. Wake up! Please…”
(I’m already sleepy…)
Kenya falls into the dark depths.
He should have completely lost consciousness.
“Nn-yaku-n… ken-ya-ku-n…”
(…I hear… a voice…)
But I heard a voice.
A voice calling my name.
That voice clearly calls Kenya.
“Wake up! Kenya-kun! Wake up!!!!”
“Farewell, Ken. I wish I could have fought you more… you were definitely the strongest knight I’ve ever seen.”
(Is this voice… is Reina calling? …Do I wake up? Wake up and do what?”)
Osiris’ bullet-like thrust is released to shoot through Kenya.
“Farewell, Ken!”
Reina shouts at the same time.
From the bottom of her heart, she calls out to him in a loud voice.
“Get up and fight! Kenya Mitsurugi!!! You said you would protect me!!!!!!”
Keen!!!!!!
A resounding, metallic sound of iron clashing with iron.
It was the sword that played. It was also the sword that was repelled.
The White Giants’ blow repels the Red and Black Giants’ blow.
“Kenya-kun…”
The desperate cry of the girl’s heart. The voice calling out for her loved one.
Reaching deep into the boy’s heart and awakening him, with a voice that has been called again and again.
“I heard you, Reina…”
Osiris’ full force blow bounced off Kenya.
Osiris laughs in surprise.
At the revival of his worthy opponent.
“Hahaha. To be awakened by a woman’s voice… you’re a something.”
His voice is somewhat happy, even though he has been repelled by a killing blow.
And the white giant slowly rises, the knight inside it with a voice that sounds like it’s about to fade away, but still has a definite will.
“Yes, I’m wide awake. I even want you to wake me up every morning.”
His empty eyes certainly light up and look forward.
“Hahaha! That’s the best. You’ve fallen for a good woman.”
His head is bleeding, and so is his mouth.
I’m not feeling well. I’d say the absolute worst.
“Yes, I won’t let you go forever…”
Nevertheless, Kenya awoke.
With the voice of his beloved girl calling out to him, the voice that had given him courage so many times.
“Because she is…”
Because that girl is Kenya’s.
“Because she’s my wife who I fell in love with so hard.”
Because it means fighting.