Humanity Salvation Academy Episode 9: 'A Mortal Struggle with the Unforgivable' V

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V.

　Hate me.

　Hate me. Hate me. Hate me. Hate me.
　You might as well hate me, Houomaru.
　And then...!

　Kyusei coldly readied his blade.
　Nakamiya sneered.

“Oh, oh, how brave. Hehehehe! Yumedono Kyusei! Do you really think you can defeat me all by yourself?”

“I have been watching your battles for a long time.”

“Oh? You talk a big game.”

“And my opponent is...”

　Kyusei’s eyes widened.

“...not you.”

　At that moment, a scarlet flash pierced the corridor, and a scream roared out.

“Kyusei!”

　Yes, that’s it...

　Kyusei smiled and shouted back.

“Houomaru!”

　Forgetting even the pain, Houomaru dashed past Nakamiya and leaped toward Kyusei.

“My, my, my...”

　Nakamiya was laughing, looking somewhat pleased.
　Houomaru screamed as if weeping.

“You... you...!”

He swung the war hammer down toward Kyusei. The war hammer emitted a scarlet glow, as if it were white-hot. Kyusei elegantly held up his sword and parried it.

"............"

Kyusei remained silent. Then, while still in the posture of having parried the war hammer, his figure emitted a series of afterimages like shadows. He then moved as if sliding sideways.

"Even you, Sakura...! You! You...!"

Houomaru remembered.

Sakura's innocent smile. And the sight of him lying in the infirmary. He hadn't wanted to get him involved. He shouldn't have let him follow. It was his fault. His... all his.

But, precisely because of that.

"You...!"

Houomaru twisted his body as if to chase Kyusei's afterimage, spun around, and swung the war hammer down. Kyusei parried it with his sword. And once again, he moved sideways like an afterimage.

"Oh my."

The new teacher, Rokuharamitsu Benzai, muttered.

"Ho ho, I see, I see. Not bad. That student named Kyusei..."

And a step behind, Nakamiya also realized it.

"...!?"

Houomaru chased Kyusei and swung the war hammer down. Kyusei parried it, then left an afterimage and moved sideways. Though the details differed, it was a repetition of that.

And that repetition... was like a dance, elegant yet fierce, forming a circular motion centered on Nakamiya, and it was increasing in speed!

"This is... this is...!"

Darkness swirled, and light burst forth. It rotated. It swirled. It was a magnificent taiji drawn by the black of darkness and the scarlet flash of light.

Within that swirling power, Houomaru!

Thump. He felt Kyusei's heartbeat. Thump. He knew that Houomaru's heartbeat was being transmitted.

Kyuse-kun... you...!

Houomaru swings his war hammer with frustration.

Thump. Their heartbeats resonate with each other.

He swings the war hammer.

Thump. Their heartbeats resonate with each other.

He strikes with his rage.

Thump. Their heartbeats resonate with each other.

Before they knew it, the two were staring at each other amidst a torrent of darkness and radiance. Kyuse was silent. Even so, Houomaru continued to vent his anger. Carrying the painful cries of everyone who had been expelled, he struck out.

Kyuse was as if... a statue carved into the darkness. Beautiful, cold, closed off, and unresponsive.

The two connected, synchronizing their heartbeats. And they began to understand each other more deeply.

Never, to be understood.

To understand that. More deeply. More deeply. More deeply. The fact that they cannot understand each other.

A fierce conflict. A tragic opposition.

A magnificent dance born from that.

I see... Kyuse-kun. You did this to synchronize our heartbeats. For that reason, you had Sakura-kun expelled and stoked my hatred. By having our two heartbeats align, surely, we will be able to defeat even the Hanka Shii Chugu. That is what you thought...

Don't mess with me.

Don't mess with me... How could I ever forgive you? How could I ever forgive such a ridiculous thing?

Kyuse looked at Houomaru with sadness. And Kyuse thought.

This academy is hell. And even graduation is not salvation... You don't understand anything, Houomaru. Unless we destroy this academy, this suffering will repeat... A temporary expulsion means nothing... Trapped by trivial events, losing sight of the essence, losing sight of the big picture. I, we.

Must bring a decisive ruin upon this academy!

Houomaru... shook his head.

No.
That is wrong.
It is absolutely wrong.

Houomaru stares.

Ashura Naniendo.

On the floor, her chest rose and fell with ragged breaths as she lay prostrate. She was still enrolled. Houomaru remembered her unique way of tuning her breathing. She was still resisting. Even on the verge of expulsion, she was tuning her own breath and fighting. She surely had not given up yet. She was trying to hold onto life. She was resolutely resisting expulsion.

And then, he looked at Rokuon Kagami.

Her blood was spilling all over the floor. She lay there, staring at Houomaru. Their eyes met. Rokuon tried her best to put on a wide... vicious smile. And her eyes were telling him:

Don't give me that pathetic look.
You're the one who has to deliver the crushing blow.

Houomaru's eyes snapped wide open.

If so, then he could not afford to give up.

Deep inside Houomaru, a hot, quiet intensity was boiling. Come to think of it, it was Houomaru who had started it all. Not Guse, not Nakamiya. The entire catalyst for this situation was Houomaru. In a sense, it was Houomaru himself who had driven Guse and Nakamiya mad and dragged them into this.

──Then.

Houomaru shouted.

"It's me. I am the one who created this hellish situation. The one who should not be forgiven, the unforgivable one, is none other than me! That is why I must bear the sin and see it through. As a great sinner who cannot even atone... I must fulfill that responsibility! As the unforgivable one, I will win this mortal struggle. And then!"

He remembered the words of everyone in the Disciplinary Committee.

──There is no evidence. But we believe in you. We believe that even in a situation like this, you will turn it around. You will surely bring back even the students who have been expelled and lead them to graduation... You make us feel that way. Surely, you will...

Houomaru gripped his war hammer.

"And I will never give up. I will ensure that everyone, including those who have been expelled, will reach a hopeful graduation together. I will never give up!"

Houomaru's eyes shone with a flame-like brilliance.
Rokuon smiled as if relieved.

Well said.

Those eyes were telling him as much.

And then Kyusei... he let out a soft laugh.
Kyusei whispered.

“Houomaru... you really are dazzling.”

Thump. Houomaru felt Kyusei’s heartbeat.
Thump. Houomaru’s heartbeat was being transmitted to Kyusei.

And then—

Houomaru was inside the radiance. Light was flickering. That light soon emerged as a vivid flash... it was the second flash of the day.

Kyusei and Houomaru.
The two of them began to move at the same time.

Kyusei raised his Japanese sword.
Houomaru was sprinting forward.

“What is this... what is this!”

Nakamiya screamed like a madman. Beyond his line of sight, darkness swirled around the sword Kyusei had raised.

Kyusei said.

“Black Heaven.”

The darkness overflowing from the sword surrounded Nakamiya. It was just like night clouds covering the moon.

“Th...is... is...”

Nakamiya’s movements, covered in darkness, became sluggish. To slow down the flow of time for an opponent covered in darkness for a split second... that was Black Heaven.

And then.

The darkness flowed away in an instant. But as if piercing through that flowing darkness, a flash of light ran through. It was like a single bolt of lightning in a storm on a rainless night.

Houomaru was shouting.

“Cloud Flash!”

It was a strike like a lightning bolt, unleashed at an opponent whose time had been slowed. That was the ultimate technique born from the conflict between the two.

Kokutenun Yo!

The darkness flowed, scattered, and vanished in the wake of the lightning strike, much like clouds dispersed by a sudden gust of wind. Houomaru's lightning was on the verge of capturing Nakamiya. The outcome would be decided in an instant, less than a second. That was why Nakamiya... smiled. Houomaru... widened his eyes.

"!?"

The darkness cleared away completely. And standing there was Nakamiya. Houomaru's war hammer was frozen in place right at his chest, just inches away from his amulet. Houomaru gritted his teeth and groaned.

"You...!"

Nakamiya... Kamimine's face smiled.

"You really are kind, aren't you?"

His hand was shaped into a blade, and it was pressed against Kamimine's throat.

"I believed that you wouldn't be able to abandon Kuzuryutaki-san. Yes, I believed it..."

"You...!"

At that moment—

"Gyah!"

That laugh was the laugh of a queen, possessing both vulgarity and nobility. Kyokaen was collapsed on the floor, laughing while continuing to cough up blood.

"I thought as much, you damn shut-in bastard... that's why, you see."

Nakamiya's... Kamimine's face twisted in suspicion, and then he looked down at his own chest.

"Impossible..."

On his chest.

"Impossible..."

Countless thorns were clinging to him!

"Impossible!"

The amulet was shattered into pieces!

"Impossible!"

The purple radiance scattered. Slowly, the body of Kuzuryu Takigamine collapsed.

A purple glimmer.

"Ah... ah..."

Within that glimmer, Nakamiya's consciousness faded. Nakamiya was watching. Staring. At the glorious days. At the days of the past. Looking back, at your smiling figure. At you by my side. At you who ran with me. At you with whom I spoke of the future.

Enrollment and graduation. Enrollment and graduation. In the repetition that seemed to last for eternity, my memories eventually became clouded. And so, the figure of you that I recall... that expression... I was no longer even certain what kind of face you had.

Lonely. Nakamiya whispered.

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time... and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death... Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player..."

And then the purple radiance vanished.
Forever—.

"No way..."

Ho-omaru took a step, then another, on trembling legs.

"Kagami... Rokuon..."

Ho-omaru was looking at Rokuon. Staring at him.
Rokuon... is smiling.

"Gyah, what a pathetic face... don't tell me you're crying, you bastard... Gyahahaha..."

It was a smile that was somehow satisfied and peaceful.

"Ah... no... even you!"

"...Gyah."

Kagami Rokuon laughed... and was expelled.

【To be continued in the Final Episode "Byodoin Ho-omaru"】

"Humanity Salvation Academy" is scheduled to be updated Monday through Friday at 7:30 PM (tentative).