After moonlighting as a firefighter, Kain came back and escorted the final convoy all the way to the Takagi residence.
By then it was already past eleven, which meant he had less than five hours left in this world.
Right now, he was standing on the balcony. It looked like he was admiring the stars and enjoying the cool night breeze, but in reality, he was chatting with a cross-dimensional net-friend whose ID was "Tendō Civil Security."
At the moment, only the two of them were online.
As for who this person was, the instant Kain saw that ID, he already knew.
So he took the chance to ask for intel about that world.
From the conversation, he finally understood why that world was so sick.
Why people had lost their minds and harbored such irrational hatred toward the infected children, branding them Cursed Children.
Why the tolerance for them was so low it was like they were rats in the street.
The reason was simple: public opinion had been deliberately steered.
In a ruined world, the survivors needed an outlet for their rage. Any direction would do.
So the people at the top guided it toward the children.
Whenever something went wrong, the authorities were terrified the furious public would turn on them, so they pushed the blame onto Cursed Children to redirect anger and cover up institutional failures.
Wasn't that unbelievably stupid?
Weren't they afraid the Cursed Children would awaken one day and fight back?
Kain didn't even need Kisara to explain. He could already see why this "redirect hatred toward the Cursed Children" policy usually wouldn't end in some organized uprising.
It was simple.
Since the Cursed Children began appearing, the oldest of them were only about ten. Their minds weren't mature.
And most of them were essentially left to fend for themselves, like feral kids. They received almost no education. In terms of strategy and intellect, they were no match for politicians who played power games for a living.
On top of that, the system used another vile trick: over the years, it constantly fed the children the message—overtly and subtly—that they were the world's sin.
They didn't need to "teach" them directly. As long as propaganda and broadcasts were everywhere, the children would see it.
It would seep into them, little by little, until they started believing it themselves—that they were guilty, that they were filthy.
[
Mr. Golden Toilet: Aren't you worried someone might secretly take in Cursed Children and train them on a large scale, turning them against humanity?
Tendō Civil Security: Large-scale training is basically impossible. But secretly grooming a small number is possible. Those disgusting trash-types aren't idiots, and they've got people watching Cursed Children movements specifically.
Mr. Golden Toilet: Even so, this is going to blow up sooner or later. If some Cursed Child shows up with a special ability and matures early, things get interesting.
Tendō Civil Security: I'm looking forward to it too.
]
After a couple more lines, the other side said they had something to do and logged off.
So Kain was alone again.
Correction: not entirely.
There was still A2.
But chatting with her was a great way to kill a conversation on arrival. That was just how A2 was—quiet, blunt, and sparse.
2B was also quiet, but her "settings" made it sound like she had a lot going on internally, like she was actually the shy type underneath.
No idea whether the real version was like that.
A2, though, really did feel rigidly serious. You asked, she answered. She didn't volunteer anything beyond the question.
Kain came back to himself and opened his eyes.
A soft fragrance drifted over.
At his side, a deep-purple-haired girl leaned against the balcony railing.
In the moonlight, her already pretty face was veiled in a hazy silver glow, making her look dreamlike—almost unreal.
"Is the sky here the same as where you're from?" Saeko asked softly.
"I don't know," Kain said with a shrug. "But the Big Dipper looks about the same."
Then he glanced at her.
"By the way, when I left earlier, what happened?"
After returning from putting out fires, he had noticed something strange.
Three pairs of eyes kept dodging his.
It didn't look like the usual "we know what you and Saeko were up to" awkwardness. It felt like something else had happened while he was gone, something that made their gazes turn… complicated.
Some of them blushed when their eyes met his, but that clearly wasn't because they'd figured out what happened between him and Saeko.
Especially Saya, who looked downright disgusted. The moment she saw him, she called him a "super pervert."
"Oh, that," Saeko said. "That stuff in the teapot that looks like Earth Elixir. They drank it by accident."
Kain nearly sprayed the drink he'd just lifted to his mouth.
That was the substance Saeko had… collected. She'd planned to taste it in front of him in a way that was more "temptation" than "medicine," and then they'd been interrupted at the worst possible moment.
"What're you drinking? Come on, drink another one with me, Saeko," a voice slurred.
A drunk came wobbling over, couldn't even stand straight, and leaned heavily onto Kain.
"Kain, you too," Shizuka said, shoving a bottle at him. "If you don't drink at all, it's like you're not manly enough."
She was completely plastered.
If she were sober, she wouldn't have pushed alcohol on him. She knew he was going back soon, and the place he was returning to was probably worse than this—dangerous enough that he shouldn't be drinking.
"Ugh—bleh! Ah, sorry, sorry!" Shizuka yelped.
Even more drunk now, she still realized she'd thrown up on him. She panicked, apologized, and started wiping at his clothes.
It only made everything worse, smearing it around instead of cleaning it.
"Shizuka, that's enough!" Saya snapped, marching over. "Go drink with my mom instead!"
She dragged Shizuka away.
At this point, the whole place was full of drunks.
What was supposed to be a small send-off for him had turned into a full-on booze party.
Saya herself had been forced to drink quite a bit, and her head was spinning.
Normally, a high schooler wouldn't be allowed anywhere near alcohol, but with the world collapsing, nobody had the energy to enforce rules like that.
And for Saya, drinking was also a way to numb herself.
So after hauling Shizuka away, she looked back—her expression complicated—as Kain and Saeko stood close together.
Her mind replayed what she'd seen earlier.
After she accidentally drank that "teapot" stuff, when the candles were relit, she'd seen something slip out from under Saeko's apron.
And because she wasn't stupid—and because she'd watched Rika and Yuko's reactions—she understood immediately.
Part of her wanted to show off.
If there had been more time before Kain left, she might really have used the alcohol as an excuse to throw a tantrum.
But now she couldn't.
At a time like this, she needed to stay calm.
Because Saeko had let slip more about Kain's situation. The place he was going back to sounded like hell so bad it would make the word "nightmare" feel soft.
And from Saeko's expression, it almost felt like she was hinting at something worse—like once he went back, he might not survive the danger at all.
In that case, Saya shouldn't make things harder. She shouldn't annoy him.
Why was Saeko the lucky one?
She was the first person Kain met the moment he arrived in this world.
Why hadn't it been her?
Saya was jealous.
…
In the bathroom, Kain was about to relive that "help with washing" from the other day.
This time it would be more thorough.
More complete.
Maybe even deeper.
But right as things reached the same point as before, the door opened again—eyes widened.
Only this time, there was someone else.
Someone unexpected.
Yuriko.
And the woman looked drunk beyond words. Her damp eyes made it seem like she wasn't seeing the world in front of her anymore.
It was as if a watery haze warped everything, twisting it into the shape of her imagination.
Then her gaze met Kain's.
And her eyes grew even wetter.
Kain's posture stiffened.
Whatever was about to happen next, he couldn't let it go any further.
(End of Chapter)
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