Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne?

Author"s Note: Just give up already. I think you already know where this is going but I"m still writing all of it.

Side Story 24 - In the Case of Heiuchi Yoko (Age 17 at time of accident)

"No~ I"m glad I was able to buy it~ Thanks for accompanying me~"

In front of me Wakana said that to Misa as we got on the bus. I follow after Wakana and get on and then we all moved to the priority seats lined up on the front of the bus. I sat down next to Wakana, and after placing the obligation chocolate I just bought on top of my lap I exchanged glances with Wakana and smiled. It seems we"ll somehow be able to return to school by the time it ends.

Today is Valentine"s Day but Misa accompanied me, Yukino, and Wakana as we snuck out of school to go shopping since forgot to buy our obligation chocolate. Putting aside myself and Wakana, if Misa and Yukino who let alone cla.s.s-wide, could be considered some of the cutest in the entire school disappear from before lunch I"m sure about now all the boys are going insane.

Today with Wakana, we laughed together that about now the boys of our cla.s.s would be screaming in despair.

Wakana and I have known each other for a long time and we could be considered best friends. Since the time we were in elementary school when Wakana transferred in, we"ve always spent time together with the two of us. Today when Wakana saw that I forgot my obligation chocolate at school and was turning pale, she realized she was playing with my yesterday as well and got pale together with me. It was then that we realized Yukino seemed to have forgotten it as well and started talking about just going all out and skipping out of cla.s.s with the three of us to go and buy some.

However, since it seems that Yukino didn"t have the courage to sneak out and buy some obligation chocolate herself, she invited Misa who"s shes on good terms with and the four of us decided to go together. It"s completely just an escape from cla.s.s to accompany us for Misa but for some reason her expression seems bored. If you were to ask me, rather than Yukino who always has a p.r.i.c.kly and sharp att.i.tude, it"s easier to deal with Misa who while always looks tired still acts friendly to anyone so I welcomed her accompanying us.

We bought chocolate at a department store in West Shinjuku and it"s only obvious that we got back on the bus to return to school. I would be troubled if you criticized me for that but even if we didn"t pick the bus we could have taken the method of riding the train to nearby station. Of course, it would have been a slightly round about way and the distance we would have had to walk would increase so I don"t think anyone would normally pick that option but I"m sure the words about not standing in front of regrets are true.

Along with an impact of being hit forward from behind the last thing I remember is being sent flying pa.s.sed the male student who was holding the leather handle in front of me and flying head first in the salary-man who was sitting on the other side of seats.

..................

Over six months pa.s.sed since I was reborn, I"ve been able to grasp an outline of the situation. Since I occasionally see the appearance of my family in comparison to others I"ve understood that I"ve been born into something other than human. Obviously I can"t accept it though. Since there"s these sorts of children living here I"m sure it"s only obvious this isn"t Earth. It seems that there"s people living in the neighborhood as well but after seeing a person with animal ears growing I knew that this wasn"t Earth. I might be an idiot but even I can understand that much.

It"s that, that. What was it again? The people who come out in the movie about throwing a ring into a volcano somewhere. Their heights are short but their feet are the size of a normal adult human. The people who"s heads are the same size as normal humans as well. Ah, really, it"s on the tip of my tongue up to here. Well it"s fine. In any case, it seems I was reborn as child who doesn"t get very big even after I become adult. It seems I"m the youngest child in my family and above me there"s an older brother and sister. Other than my parents, my grandmother and grandfather are living with us as well. Grandfather and grandmother both still look to be in their mid-40s and look young.

It was around then that I started to get used to my strange body. There were 6 digits on each of my arms and legs. Of course moving them individually is possible. Just from a glance all of the rest of my family seems to have six as well so I guess it"s not all that unusual.

My families job is agriculture and during the field work I"m laid down in a hollow tree near the fields while my older brother and sister are working. Obviously I was able to look around outside but just as I imagined it was a lifestyle like people far in the past. It"s only obvious since there"s no electricity, gas, or water services. All of the field work is done using sickles, hoes, and human labor. The farming people of j.a.pan that I saw on television would always use various machinery but it seems that there"s no sign of things like that here.

..........

One such day, a bunch of people came to our village. I can somehow hear a word I"m not used to like Devas or something. In the language that"s normally spoken I can somehow hear English-sounding words mixed in so recently I"ve been able to understand the meanings a bit. Somehow it seems that the enemy is coming to attack this village so these people came to protect the village. I wonder if they"re something like the SDF?

However, the people (supposed they"re the army) that came to the village treat the people of the village like slaves and yell at us. It seems we"re even handing over all our food. My parents said "if we end up occupied by Rombert then it"ll be even worse" while enduring it.

That sort of lifestyle continued for a short while. I guess one or two months? Even if the start with the army people was like they still had some amount of control and they didn"t act too arrogant, but recently it"s gotten severe. They"ve started to be violent towards young women while they"re in the middle of field work.

Next door there"s a 14 year old girl named Mary with rabbit ears growing but around dinner the army people stormed into her house and were rough with her right in front of her family. I got chills hearing that. What a frightening world. I wonder if there"s no police to arrest or judge them?

However, I don"t know why but there"s almost no damage to my house. I was able to confirm the reason for that a bit later. Among the army people who came to the village was my father"s little brother, in other words, my uncle. Thanks to that relation it seems that we didn"t have food stolen and mother wasn"t treated violently. Both my parents and grandparents were pleased with the good luck but I couldn"t help but feel uneasy.

I mean, after that they repel the opponent who"s coming to attack (I couldn"t even imagine something like them failing to repel them), there"s no doubt our family will be resented by the rest of the villagers. People recognize those who are as unfortunate as themselves as allies and they might offer a hand to those who are more unfortunate than themselves but it"s only obvious to envy those who are more fortunate. Particularly, since it was just because of the reason that our relatives were in the army the fact that we received those leftovers I"m sure the other people of the village won"t not feel envious towards us.

Even if, we had a relative in the army that entered because we predicted a situation like this, there"s no way anyone would show admiration for such insight. It would be stranger for no one to think "They managed to do things well." or "Why just their place." I"m sure if I was born in a different family and found out about this situation I would think the same as well.

It seems that father"s little brother is named Karodo. I"ve been lifted up by him a number of times. He has darkish skin that"s burn from the sun but somehow I feel like he resembled grandfather, grandmother, and father so I felt he was my uncle. However, occasionally he makes a sneaky expression so in the end I couldn"t help but realize he"s one of the army people that is violent towards other. Just, towards us three siblings he showed a true smile. Thinking that this person is protecting our family I smiled back as best as I could. Seeing that uncle Karodo made a soft expression as well.

I"m begging you. Uncle Karodo. Please protect us.

..............

It was a morning after another month or so had pa.s.sed. There was an uproar in the village. We were inside of our hollowed out tree as usual while I was held by mother making a scary face. The entrance of the hollow tree was sealed with woven mats and it was tied from outside. The one who sealed it with mats and tied it up from outside was father.

I can hear something like the hooves of horses and battle cries from here and there. I can hear screams and shouts as well. My older brother and sister got afraid and are crying while holding on to mother. Mother is crouching over sealing their mouths. I guess that Rombert or other has probably come to invade. I was so scared I couldn"t help it either but I tried to bite down with my teeth that haven"t properly grown out without making a sound. If I can"t control my feelings here and let out a cry then mother and father"s efforts could be wasted. Also, it"s only obvious, but the fear of being killed if we"re found by Rombert made me do that as well.

Mother is holding both my older brother and sister while repeating "It"s alright, it"s alright. Calm down." like a chant. She"s repeating it in a whisper almost as if she"s telling herself. Hearing that I was strangely able to calm down as well. It"s probably because the screams have stopped as well.

................

I don"t know how much time pa.s.sed at all. Just ten minutes, several hours, or it felt like it might have even just been a few minutes but as expected that"s a bit too short. The screams have almost completely stopped. I wonder if they were able to repel them? I wonder if the frightening dispute has already ended?

It was that sort of time, I felt like I could hear uncle Karodo"s voice. It seems like he"s talking about something but I can"t hear the details. Sometimes I feel like I can hear a voice enduring pain as well. And the sound of flesh being hit as well. The sound gradually got closer. It seems that it"s not just uncle Karodo.

"Ehe..mister, it"s over here..there"s a good woman.."
"Hmph, I see. Well if her appearance isn"t good it"s just a matter of killing her."
"Mister you"re a Halfling as well right? Then a woman of the same race is somehow better right.."
"That"s only obvious.."

What is it? What in the world is uncle Karodo saying? Inside of the dim hollowed tree, I could tell mother"s face was pale and stiff from inside of the basket.

I could hear the sound of the mats sealing the hollowed tree being forcibly pulled off.

Uncle Karodo who was missing his right arm from below the elbow looked in with a twisted face. He"s heavily injured! Uncle Karodo was immediately kicked over by another man and made a voice like "Gebu~" A different man wearing some considerably polished lather armor looked inside.

"Hi~!!"

Mother embraced my older brother and sister and crouched in the corner of the tree to escape from the man. Due to the suddenly fear not just my siblings but I couldn"t hold back crying out as well. The man glared at mother from the entrance and then left and instead put the end of a spear inside towards us.

"Hey, woman, it"s troublesome so come out right now. If you don"t then I"ll kill this brat!"

The man from Rombert said that threatening mother.

"Sister-in-law Myure! It would be best to listen to what he says! If it"s just like that then you"ll be killed!"

I heard Uncle Karodo"s voice. Mother"s face was stiff as she tried to go even further into the hollowed tree but obviously she was already at the limit. It"s just the voices of my older brother, sister, and me crying out.

"Shut up~!! There"s already no more use for you! With that arm you"re useless as a slave as well. Die!"

The man pulled his spear back from the entrance and thrust it to his side.

"Guwa~!! Th..that can"t be..isn"t that different from what you"

"I said shut~ up right!"

"Ga!!"

I stuck the blood-stained spear back into the hollowed tree.

"I"ll count to three. Come out. I"ll make you into a slave. If you don"t come out right away I"ll kill those brats. One."

"Ple...Please wait. I"ll come out right away! That"s why just my children!"

Mother screamed in a panic.

"Come on, hurry up!"

Carrying my older brother, sister, and me who was still in the basket as we cried my mother left the hollowed tree.

The man holding the spear was a short child the same as father.

He made a creepy expression as if he was a.s.sessing mother and stuck the spear over while saying "lower the brats on the ground". Mother said "Please just my children!" while screaming but the man just ignored mother"s words.

"You"re my spoils from this fight! There"s already no choice but for you to become a slave! I"ve been telling you to lower the brats already, now~!"

The spear stretches out and stabs into my chest.

"No~~!! Chumin!"

That was the last word I heard that I could understand.
I felt the cold yet hot end of the spear stab into my body.