Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for just $7 to get early access to all upcoming chapters!
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations
________________________________________
Chapter 34: And You Say It Wasn't on Purpose?
"Well?"
When Rei didn't answer, Suyan prompted her again.
Rei answered automatically, her mind still stuck on her misinterpretation, "I think we should probably have something light for din—"
"Who asked you about that?"
Suyan flicked her forehead lightly with his finger. "Miyamoto, are you awake in there?"
"Ah..."
Rei rubbed her slightly red forehead, falling silent.
So I didn't mishear him.
He really is offering to kill Koichi Shido for me.
Did she hate Shido? Did she want him dead?
Absolutely.
If given the chance, Rei would gladly run him through with her spear herself.
But did she want Suyan to kill him right now?
Rei mentally shook her head in vehement denial.
Her father was an officer in the Tokonosu City Police Department. Everything she had been taught growing up told her that murder was wrong.
Furthermore, Suyan had never used his Nen in front of her. As far as Rei knew, he was just an incredibly skilled swordsman, but ultimately still a normal human.
Without a long-range weapon, the only way Suyan could kill Shido would be to leave the safety of the infirmary, sprint across the zombie-infested campus, catch up to Shido, and strike him down in close combat.
Shido was almost at the school gates. Making that run was essentially suicide.
She absolutely refused to let Suyan risk his life for her vendetta.
Rei shook her head, her tone resolute. "No. Scum like Shido... even if we do nothing, karma will catch up to him eventually."
"Is that so?"
Suyan looked at her intently, waiting for more.
"Besides, if it wasn't for Shido..."
Rei trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
But her shy, darting gaze made her unspoken words perfectly clear.
If Shido hadn't forced me to repeat a year, I might never have met you.
In a twisted, convoluted way, she almost owed the man a debt of gratitude. She was forcibly pushing down her hatred for Shido to justify convincing Suyan not to risk his life.
"I see," Suyan nodded.
Rei let out a massive sigh of relief.
Thank God Suyan hadn't acted impulsively and charged out to kill Shido. If something happened to Suyan because of her, she would never forgive herself for the rest of her life.
However, Suyan's next words shattered her assumptions.
"Karma, huh? That's unfortunate for him, then. Because his karma has already caught up to him."
Suyan had only asked Rei for her opinion. He had never once promised that he would actually abide by her answer.
With that, Suyan raised his hands, miming the motion of drawing a bowstring.
Aura surged from his body, instantly coalescing into a shimmering, translucent bow and arrow constructed entirely out of Nen.
If Suyan belonged to any other Nen category, hitting a target at Shido's distance would be impossible. Even if he imbued a piece of paper with aura and threw it like a dart, the enhanced paper would lose its momentum and power long before it reached the gates.
He wasn't a master archer, nor had he specifically trained in throwing weapons.
But unfortunately for Koichi Shido, his luck had run out.
The Nen affinity Suyan had copied from Shizuka was the Emission Type—the one category specifically specialized in separating aura from the body and launching it over long distances without losing power.
Moreover, unlike Enhancement, which simply reinforced an object, Emission aura could be controlled in flight. After all, the category right next to Emission on the hexagram was Manipulation!
Down on the field, the school gates were agonizingly close. Even a hypocritical snake like Shido couldn't suppress the overwhelming joy of surviving the ordeal.
But just as Shido's foot crossed the threshold of the school gates...
An invisible arrow of pure Nen materialized behind him and blew cleanly through his heart.
"Guh!"
A violent wave of agony ripped through Shido's chest. The metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth, and a torrent of crimson spilled over his lips.
H-How...?
He was one step away. One single step away from escaping this hell. How could he die here?!
His vision blurring rapidly, Shido's sheer desperation forced him to reach out a trembling, bloodstained hand toward the fleeing students.
But just as he had shown no regard for their lives, they showed none for his.
They were too busy scrambling for their own survival.
Some students didn't even bother running around his collapsing body; they simply used him as a stepping stone, trampling over his dying form to reach safety.
And the assault wasn't over.
A split second later, two more invisible arrows rained down from the sky.
One pierced his right lung. The other blew a hole straight through his skull.
Taking an arrow to the heart and the head would permanently kill a zombie, let alone an ordinary human.
Koichi Shido was dead before he hit the ground.
"That hits the spot."
Suyan exhaled softly, retracting his aura.
Before transmigrating, he had read countless fanfictions. But almost all of them shared a trope that he absolutely despised: the protagonist rigidly adhering to the canon plot. They would encounter a villain they could easily crush, yet let them walk away time and time again.
They always justified it as 'preserving their plot advantage.'
Some spineless protagonists would even step aside and let the canon protagonist take the heroine they supposedly loved, all for the sake of the 'timeline.'
Suyan scoffed at the very concept.
The plot? Who gives a shit about the plot?
If following the plot didn't harm his interests, fine. But the second it infringed on what he wanted, the plot could go to hell.
If you can't even live how you want right now, what right do you have to worry about the future? To have the power to change everything, yet willingly leash yourself to a predetermined script?
Suyan pitied people like that.
As for Koichi Shido? He was dead. So what if he canonically had connections to the vaccine or the broader political plotline?
He killed him, end of story.
Who cared?
Well, Rei Miyamoto definitely cared.
"Suyan!"
Witnessing Shido actually die right in front of her eyes, Rei threw herself into Suyan's arms, overwhelmed with emotion.
She didn't even stop to question how Suyan had killed a man from hundreds of meters away with nothing but empty hands.
She just stared up at him.
Her eyes were glassy, practically melting with affection and devotion. Her mind was entirely consumed by a single, blinding thought: He did this all for me!
Rei's lips parted slightly, trembling. Looking at Suyan's handsome face so close to hers, an intense, irresistible urge to offer him her lips surged through her.
She closed her eyes, slowly leaning in, bridging the gap between them.
Right as their lips were about to touch, she froze.
"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"
Shizuka, who had been sitting quietly in the background this entire time, was suddenly chanting like a cheerleader at a sporting event.
That singular chant violently ripped Rei back to reality, reminding her that there were two other people in the room.
The romantic tension evaporated instantly.
Her face flushed a deep, volcanic red. She lowered her head instantly, her eyes glued to the floor, her toes curling in her shoes as she wished the floorboards would just open up and swallow her whole.
Suyan shot a glare at Shizuka, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
Good going, Shizuka. You ruin my fun again, huh?
And she dared to claim it was an accident?
Then why was it that every single time things were about to get interesting, she was always the one interrupting?
________________________________________
Support this fanfict by leaving Positive Review, Comments, and Power Stones.
For Advance Chapters:
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations