"Kuku—My comrade, Maiden blessed by the Thunder of Heaven, Dream Weaver who connects the Heavenly Laws. It is not difficult to understand your apprehension that such taboo knowledge falling into the mortal realm would bring disaster. However, you and I are bosom friends who have forged a blood pact. With the mighty power of I, the Child of the Typhoon, you have nothing to fear. So speak without hesitation—the truth hidden beneath the kaleidoscope!"
At this mont, beside Yutsuki, Yamai Kaguya was speaking incomprehensible words in her usual chuunibyou tone.
Yutsuki tried to translate Kaguya's words in her head.
—We're such good friends, spoil a little bit of the story's continuation for .
(This is bad, I can actually decipher Kaguya's words now.)
Sweatdropping slightly in her heart, Yutsuki kept her composure on the surface and answered flatly.
"No."
"Ugh... stingy."
Staring at Yutsuki with a slightly resentful gaze, Kaguya muttered softly.
"Leak. When Kaguya read Yutsuki's novel for the first ti, she secretly cried."
"Yu-Yuzuru, how did you know?!"
Seeing her secret exposed, Kaguya shouted in a panic. But to this, Yuzuru just smiled and remained silent.
"Admiration. I didn't expect Yutsuki to have a talent for writing novels. Thanks to Yutsuki, the books sold so smoothly."
"It wasn't just my effort alone." Yutsuki shook her head with a bitter smile.
Honestly, if Natsumi hadn't been able to perfectly realize her requests in the manga, and displayed a sufficiently impactful scene on the last page, combined with everyone's promotion, Yutsuki's novel alone wouldn't have achieved such an effect.
"Well, writing after such a long ti, I was actually quite nervous. Knowing you guys gave it good reviews, I'm relieved."
"I actually have a ton of complaints about this work."
"Agreent. It being good is one thing. But Yuzuru feels the sa as Kaguya. Why did only one person steal the spotlight at the end, and why did you write such a sad story?"
"And the ending is the worst part, leaving 'Shido' with such a difficult choice. Yutsuki, didn't you consider the feelings of the characters in the story?"
Faced with the Yamai sisters throwing out their dissatisfactions one after another, Yutsuki didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Calm down. That was just sothing I made up and fictionalized, it's not real. There's no need to get so worked up, right?"
Hearing Yutsuki's words, although Yuzuru and Kaguya still couldn't quite accept it, they cald down.
(Honestly...)
Yutsuki sighed secretly.
Actually, it wasn't just the Yamai sisters. After reading her novel, quite a few people had already approached her privately.
Probably because the protagonist of the story was an Inverse Spirit Yutsuki conceptualized based on herself. Although Yutsuki rely took so elents of reality and extre-ified them without any deeper aning, everyone always thought there was a hidden ssage in her words.
But I guess this is also proof that everyone cares about . Yutsuki thought helplessly in her heart.
"Question. If it were Yutsuki, what choice would you want the 'Shido' in the story to make?"
Yuzuru asked quietly. Seeing through the other party's intention to get an answer out of her, Yutsuki looked up and answered nonchalantly.
"I don't know, I haven't thought about it at all."
———————————
After scanning the QR code, a webpage popped up.
A dark background with white text, giving off a very oppressive atmosphere.
"Ah... it's so hard to read. It's not like it's nightti, is it necessary to deliberately make it this color?"
Taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes, Nia squinted at her phone screen.
Unlike the manga, the opening of the story started with a girl's narration.
Unlike the Spirits in the story, the girl was originally an ordinary person living in a normal world. During an accident while on a trip, she was turned into a Spirit by a nonsensical (self-proclaid) god and sent to an unfamiliar world.
Detached from normal society, she stepped onto the opposite side of humanity, living a life on the run from endless pursuit.
Wandering in such an excessive world, the girl wandered around at a loss, constantly searching for a place that could accept her, a ho that would welco her.
A blessing in disguise, the world wasn't completely ruthless. A boy nad "Shido" saved the girl and fulfilled her wish.
"Thank goodness..."
Reading this, Honjou Nia couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Unlike the manga, the novel clearly focused the narrative on a single character, so it didn't suffer from the problem of having too many characters to explain clearly.
Moreover, the author's writing skills have to be ntioned here. Although not many words were used, the girl's experiences, troubles, and psychological changes were expressed very clearly. The pacing of the story was also quite comfortable, making it very imrsive to read.
So when she saw the girl gain a place to belong, Nia's heart also settled down.
The novel's story continued.
The girl was soone who knew contentnt. Having a ho that accepted her and being able to live a peaceful life, she was satisfied.
But the boy was different.
In this world, there existed Spirits like the "girl" who were ostracized by humans. Not wanting them to be sad, wanting to save them and let them live peaceful lives—that was the boy's wish.
And the girl was just one of the Spirits who was saved. Although she didn't want to see him face danger, she couldn't stop him either.
At the sa ti, the boy's figure, risking his life to save others, was also what the girl admired.
So, the girl made up her mind to help the boy, to assist him in helping those Spirits who, like her, were trapped in a desperate situation, and to protect the boy from falling into danger.
"...Eh?"
A strange sense of incongruity made Nia frown in confusion.
According to the description in the novel, it seed that from a relatively early stage, the girl had already joined "Itsuka Shido" to assist him in saving Spirits. But in the manga, the girl's storyline had been completely omitted.
"No... wait!"
In a flash, Nia seed to understand sothing. She abruptly opened the manga and flipped to the corresponding pages based on the contents of the novel on her phone.
"Holy crap... I actually found it."
Nia couldn't help but gasp.
To be precise, Nia didn't find the girl's figure in the manga, but found the "traces" left by the girl.
If one only read the manga, these plots would give the impression of "plot convenience," "because the male protagonist has plot armor," or "the author didn't know how to continue and glossed over it." But after reading the novel, all these incongruities received a perfect explanation.
At every crucial mont, the girl was always playing a vital role in places unseen in the manga.
"An unreliable narrator trick, huh... You really got , Biri-chan."
Nia sighed with mixed feelings of surprise and admiration.
The unreliable narrator (narrative trick) is a special technique in writing novels. The author uses story structure or literary techniques to cleverly lead the reader into preconceived notions, hiding certain facts until the later stages or the ending to reveal them, giving a kind of indescribable shock.
Although the way it was used in this work wasn't mature, it was indeed an application of an unreliable narrator.
If you only look at the manga, this is just a brainless harem manga where a boy collects girls. But combined with the novel, it becos a story of a girl's unrequited love, selflessly dedicating herself to the boy.
Nia felt like her face had been slapped repeatedly.
Just now she said that using sixty-five pages to flesh out eight characters was too stiff, and the author told her that she was using sixty-five pages to flesh out an "unseen" heroine.
Although her face hurt, she had to admit that her curiosity had been completely piqued.
Although they experienced many dangers and hardships, with the help of the girl and his companions, the boy finally overca them without any major mishaps.
At the sa ti, as ti passed, the boy was moved by the girl's dedication and gradually developed feelings for her.
Just as the distance between the two was gradually closing, a mutation occurred.
One day, without any reason, the girl was forgotten by everyone.
"Eh?"
Reading this, Nia was taken aback.
No one could see the girl or hear her voice. All records related to the girl were erased. The world seed to operate on its own, as if the girl had never existed.
Faced with such a reality without any preparation, the girl did not give up.
She remained calm, racking her brains to understand and analyze the current situation, trying hard to think of ways to make everyone notice her.
Even if it's just one person.
Just one person would be enough.
"..."
Reading the girl's monologue, Nia couldn't help but feel a pang in her heart.
Because the answer to whether her struggles were successful or not had already been clearly given on the last page of the manga.
Reality is extrely cruel. Even if you put in the effort, it doesn't an you'll be rewarded.
The girl used various thods, trying to convey her existence and her na to her family.
However, even though she could still interact with objects, she couldn't convey the information.
"..."
Seeing this, Nia wordlessly flipped back to the manga.
On one of the pages, in a corner of the floor, a row of aningless scribbles was carved.
But in the novel, the girl had actually written her na clearly.
And the girl's family, the protagonist, and the readers had all completely ignored this doodle on the floor.
The sa outco constantly repeated itself before the girl. Gradually, like an engine losing power, she lost her warmth.
Finally, looking at everyone ignoring her and finding happiness on their own, the girl couldn't help but think.
—I have been betrayed by my family.
The mont she reached this conclusion, the girl was swallowed by the "beast" within her heart.
"And then it connects to page sixty-five... Th-this is way too tragic... Biri-chan, you can't play with people's tears like this."
Holding back the tears flowing from her eyes, Nia's mood right now could be described as incredibly complex.
There was only the final segnt left in the novel's story.
As if to destroy the world that ostracized her, beneath the "beast's" innocent smile, ferocious fangs were revealed.
The power that had once assisted the boy was now completely inverted, ruthlessly slaughtering all the humans present without any hesitation.
And perhaps because there was still so lingering attachnt sowhere in her heart, the boy was not attacked by the "beast" and luckily survived.
The boy couldn't recall the identity of the person before him, but he faintly noticed that he had forgotten sothing important.
Then, after experiencing this and that, the boy finally rembered everything.
Subsequently, due to various unavoidable reasons, the boy faced two choices.
One: give up on the girl. This way, the girl would return to her original world and live a peaceful life. However, the boy and the girl would forget each other's existence and be separated forever.
Two: the boy would abandon all the bonds he had accumulated so far, bet on an illusory possibility, and bring the girl back to his side.
"Ah... another frustrating choice like this."
Nia couldn't help but feel a surge of irritation.
Unlike the choices that appear in common tropes, both of these choices were cruel, but at the sa ti, both left so leeway. If he chose one, the girl could return to a peaceful life without any risks, but everything the readers had seen happen so far would vanish into nothingness for the two of them.
But if he chose two, even if he succeeded, the boy's surroundings couldn't return to how they were.
To gain sothing, one must give up sothing.
No matter what choice the boy made, Nia wouldn't find it strange.
For so reason, in Nia's eyes at this mont, the figure of "Shido" was overlapping with the Tokiya who made his choice back then.
"What exactly will he choose?"
[I have already decided.]
After a long silence, "Itsuka Shido" finally made his choice.
Reading this, Honjou Nia couldn't help but hold her breath.
[I will—]
However, the text ended right here.
Thinking it might be a bad internet connection and the page hadn't refreshed, Nia stubbornly swiped the phone screen.
However, things didn't go as she wished. The webpage suddenly turned completely white, and then a line of English letters appeared.
—To be continued☆⌒(*＾-゜)v.
After freezing for several seconds, Nia finally understood the situation, and her body began to tremble with anger.
"Are you—"
With an almost frantic voice, Nia slamd the manga onto the ground.
"Are you freaking kidding eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
(TL note: this is important, the content of the novel was actually the original ending the author think of for this fanfic, which he will talk about in afterword after final arc, but basically though he have so idea but the developnt of this ending, later on he think that ending was kinda ASS so he abandoned it and make a new ending, and yes we will have inverse Yutsuki later, just not on the 'real world'.)
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