Humanity Salvation Academy Episode 3: "VS. Kyokaen!" iii

【Previous】

iii.

　I woke up in pain.

　Sunlight filtered through the trees, swaying. Small birds were chirping gently. A cool breeze was soothing the heat in my body, which had been beaten and kicked mercilessly.

　The taste of blood spread in my mouth. My prone body felt powerless; it seemed impossible to stand on my own... Nanzen Sosui thought.

　From nearby, I could hear the sound of flesh being crushed. This was followed by vulgar insults. The insults gradually faded away, like a parting shot...

　Silence returned.
　Sunlight through the trees, the chirping of small birds, and the pain.
　A cool breeze.

　Crunch, crunch, crunch—I heard the sound of someone approaching. Nanzen barely managed to move his eyes to see the source of the sound. A shadow fell. Against the backdrop of the sunlight filtering through the trees, someone was peering down at Nanzen's face.

“Hey, you’re a mess.”

　It was a beautiful face that exuded a wild nature.
　A boy... wearing a brazen smile.

“But I was watching... you’ve got guts. That’s why.”

　The boy held out his hand.

“I like you.”

　It felt as if time had stopped. Nanzen stared at that face as if spellbound. The boy’s expression was arrogance itself. Yet, there was something about it that made me feel a kindness I could trust. It was warmth.

　Yes, just like this sunlight filtering through the trees...

　The boy tilted his head, urging me on. Nanzen... lifted a trembling hand. This moment... it was eternal, and surely, I would never be able to forget it... Thinking that, before I knew it, I had taken the boy’s hand.

　That was my first meeting with Rushana Kondo.

◆

　Ah.

　Nanzen thought.

This is a lingering shadow of days gone by.
An eternal moment that has passed and will never return.

Along with a vivid scarlet radiance, the war hammer unleashed by Ho-omaru drew near. Within that scarlet glow, Nanzen... ah. He whispered that he could see it. Your Rushana. I can see your broad back.

I was always watching. From behind you. Watching your back as you constantly moved forward. Great and magnificent. Stern yet warm. Your back, which was the very order of the academy itself. Your kind back, which was always thinking of everyone...

"Rushana..."

I believed. I believed that we would continue to walk together from here on, and that we would graduate together. I thought that was how it would be. I believed it was only natural that it would be so. Along with that miraculous, eternal moment.

"Rushana...!"

The scarlet radiance drew near.
There was no longer any way to escape.
Nanzen cried out in despair.

"Rushana...!"

Ho-omaru instinctively closed his eyes.
He turned away his face, which looked as if it were about to cry.
The momentum of the war hammer did not stop.

"Ah... I'm sorry...! I... I...!"

Immediately after, the scarlet radiance pierced Nanzen's entire body.
His sapphire prosthetic eye shattered, dancing into the air while leaving behind a pathetic glimmer.

"Rushana!"

A scream.
Along with the sapphire, the eternal moment shattered and scattered... and Sosui Nanzen was expelled.

【To be continued in iv】

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