Chapter 435. Why Are You Wearing Crusch's Clothes?
After Fortuna's explanation, the people of the forest finally understood the situation.
Although it felt inconceivable—having closed their eyes only to open them more than a hundred years later—seeing Fortuna and Geuse openly holding hands and straightforwardly expressing their commitment to one another made it much easier for the villagers to accept reality. After all, if even these two "straight-as-an-arrow" types could finally confess to each other, what else in this world was impossible?
Following the initial daze came the lingering fear of a narrow escape, followed quickly by preparations for a celebration. They were celebrating everyone's revival, the long-overdue fruition of Fortuna and Geuse's marathon romance, and the fact that the beloved "treasure" of the half-elf village, little Emilia, finally had a sweetheart of her own.
Due to time constraints, Fortuna hadn't told everyone everything yet. Among the omissions were Hikigaya Hachiman's complicated romantic entanglements; consequently, the villagers naturally jumped to the conclusion that Hachiman was Emilia's other half.
Hachiman found himself unable to defend his position. He opened his mouth, hesitating several times. He wanted to deny it, but he worried about Emilia being ridiculed, and he didn't want to throw a wet blanket over the village's buoyant, positive atmosphere.
In the midst of his hesitation, it was Emilia who stepped forward. She stated candidly that she was the one pursuing Hachiman and that their relationship was currently undecided. Then, with her typical straightforwardness, she laughed brightly, scooped up the startled Hachiman, and ran off as if she were a bandit making off with a groom.
"Emilia..."
"Hmm, I've seen Rem hold you like this so many times, I felt like I was missing out if I didn't try it. It felt ve~ry unpleasant, so I took the liberty. I'm really sorry—how does it feel? Is it comfortable, Hachiman?"
To say it wasn't comfortable would be lying to his conscience, but Hachiman offered no praise; he simply told her to put him down. If he truly said it felt good, Emilia would think it was something beneficial for him, and she might start giving him bridal carries every other day.
Emilia did as she was told. After setting Hachiman down, she looked around, her face filled with nostalgia as she introduced the forest to her knight. "Before Roswaal found me, I lived here with Puck the whole time."
"Over there is the pine grove; I used to go there often to pick pinecones. And here, this is where I always bathed. When the heavy snow fell, I would hide in the house, wondering when everyone who was frozen would finally wake up..."
Her excited tone gradually leveled out. Her small feet tap-tapped as she stepped on the snow. She murmured softly, "It's getting thinner... the heavy snow caused by me, which blew for over a hundred years, is finally going to disappear completely."
She had envisioned this scenario before. The old Emilia thought she would be incredibly agitated, but now her heart felt only a sense of relief. Once the initial surge of joy passed, there was a bit of a hollow feeling.
She didn't know how to process this emotion, so she quietly turned her head to steal a glance at Hachiman. In that instant, the surge of longing and shyness, accompanied by a rising sense of security and satisfaction, filled her entire being. Emilia realized immediately that there was nothing left to "process."
All the emptiness was replaced by an incredibly urgent, steadfast dream. In this unremarkable moment, Emilia's desire to "be with Hachiman" suddenly reached its highest peak in history. The trigger was simply a single look at her knight.
Unaware of Emilia's expression, Hachiman crouched down and dipped his hand into the bone-chilling river. A look of determination appeared in his eyes as well.
"I can't go on like this," he whispered.
Emilia tilted her head. "What?"
"I can't keep being this cowardly. Indecisiveness is not a good thing. Even if I can't make a final decision immediately, I must at least have a stance. Otherwise, they will be the ones who suffer... I can't keep making this mistake."
Hachiman's eyes sharpened. He turned to look at the bewildered Emilia and said resolutely, "Emilia, I'm going to gather Yukinoshita, Anastasia, Rem, Crusch, Priscilla, and you. We're going to have a meeting together."
His earlier stuttering and hesitation had made Hachiman despise himself, pushing him to make this decision.
Emilia was a bit at a loss. She didn't feel that, up to this point, she had any significant advantage... Even so, upon sensing the resolve of her best knight, her best Hachiman, she offered no rebuttal or question. She simply carried a gentle love, condensed all her emotions, and supported him without hesitation: "Okay! I'll go contact Miss Anastasia and the others!"
Seeing her about to turn and get to work, Hachiman—who was far from being a cold-blooded capitalist—grabbed her.
"There's no rush. Wait until after you've finished celebrating here."
Emilia shook her head solemnly, rejecting the idea with a serious face.
"It's not 'me,' it's 'us'—me and you. Whether or not I become Hachiman's wife, I can never leave Hachiman for the rest of my life. Even if I can stand on my own in the future, it absolutely won't do without Hachiman!"
Hachiman was almost moved to the point of giving her a response—to kiss her as she wished. After suppressing that impulse, he looked up at the sky and sighed in self-abandonment, "...What a sinfully wretched bastard you are, Hikigaya Hachiman."
This was why he was so afraid of Emilia and Rem. These two girls had no self-awareness; the moment they opened their mouths, they were likely to say things that moved him beyond words. They weren't like Anastasia, who could maintain her reason even when alone with him, knowing which way was north and south, and restraining herself just as he did.
Emilia and Rem were liable to drop words at any moment that made him want to confess to them, fix the relationship, and get married immediately. It was far too dangerous.
Thinking of this, Hachiman suddenly felt that Priscilla wasn't much of a threat. Even if she appeared naked before him, the stimulation she provided was nowhere near that of the current Emilia. Nor was it as potent as a properly dressed Rem or Anastasia. Perhaps she only broke even with Yukinoshita.
Emilia let out an innocent "Eh?" as if she were unaware of how high her lethality was, or how much she had done to inspire such adoration.
On their way back to the village, she even had a sudden inspiration, saying she wanted to try wearing Crusch's or Anastasia's clothes in the future to see if she could possess Crusch's coolness or Anastasia's cuteness. If she did, she could satisfy Hachiman even more.
Hachiman followed her logic for a second. He imagined Emilia in Anastasia's clothes, Anastasia in Crusch's clothes, and Crusch in Emilia's clothes. He felt a violent shiver.
If that happened, he wouldn't be able to resist at all. He grit his teeth and killed the idea at the source:
"ABSOLUTELY. NOT!"