Chapter 208: Ferdinand ①

◇◆Ferdinand’s POV◆◇

“Looks like it had more of an effect than I thought.”

I looked at the High Efficiency Map of the Surroundings as I smiled at my plan having gone well.

The two points that were staying in place until now and denoted the Chosen were moving away from each other rapidly.

It will at least buy time.

“I don’t think they seriously think the northern Chosen is really Souma Nanami, but it seems like he still can be shaken with that topic.”

Everything is laid bare the moment you are chosen by God as if you were now made public domain after all.

It became somewhat of a problem at the beginning, but in the end Chosen are ‘humans that will be saying bye and leaving to a different world’, so they are probably treating it technically as if we are ‘people heading to heaven’.

‘The dead have no rights’ -the legality may be different, but the reality is that you can’t do anything about it. And so, the families, marriage, the existence of a romantic partner, their job, school, grades, and hobbies were exposed, and there were even anthologies written about what they dreamed to be.

Even with that, the information published of the Chosen was mostly positive. Probably because the Chosen were still on Earth. After the first group had been transferred, the mass media began writing whatever about them as if they were ‘already dead people’. Moreover, they were articles whose source was from baseless internet posts.

They have probably already written about a variety of things regarding me.

And so, I have a pretty complete array of information about Souma Nanami.

First of all, she wears glasses and gives off a meek impression. She was apparently a student that didn’t stand out even in high school. A childhood friend of the 3 Kurose siblings, raised as if they were practically family.

A normal person that you don’t even need to compare to Celica Kurose and Karen Kurose. In the first place, she was easily killed by Ozawa Yuichi when she was chosen. She had no ability in hand-to-hand combat, and her intelligence was that of a teenager. Basically, a normal girl.

In that case, the chances of her choosing darts as her teleport location are even lower.

Even if not, she has Celica Kurose as her brain, so she should have chosen the safe way.

That’s what Celica would do after all.

“…Celica.”

Soon.

It felt long and short at the same time.

Soon.

I will soon be able to free you.

◇◆◆◆◇

The forced isekai transfer that began from the self-proclaimed God.

I at first thought of it as being completely someone else’s business.

I had my own life to worry about, and only 1,000 people in the whole world will be transferred, which is practically a number that could be taken as a margin of error.

I do think there’s worth in it as entertainment, but my involvement in it would realistically be dim… No, if there’s really a parallel world, the crimes might increase.

In that case, it is not like it would be unrelated to me -that’s how I thought.

The first time I saw Celica Kurose was when she was in the TV news advocating for the innocence of Hikaru Kurose.

My eyes were stolen by that appearance of hers.

Celica Kurose, who was asserting the innocence of her brother with fluency of a native, was lovely like a windflower, and I was shocked at how there’s someone as intelligent and beautiful as her in this world.

Since that day, I began following her actions every day as if it were my daily life.

This was my first time holding such interest in someone else.

My chest pained just thinking about her.

My whole body grew hotter just from hearing her voice.

I didn’t tell anyone about those feelings of mine.

Celica Kurose looked mature, but she was still a 13 year old, and I could objectively assess that the feelings I held were those of someone having feelings for a TV star.

It was the same as me having nothing to do with the parallel world.

—That’s how it should have been.

I watched the streams of Kurose Hikaru in secret from my roommate.

The highlight videos from Twin/Sis. As someone who didn’t have much leeway in money, these highlights that you could watch for free and had translations were convenient.

I was in the law department of a decently prestigious college in Belgium.

I intended to take the bar exam before graduating and becoming a lawyer, but it is not like I had any strong sense of justice like the other students. My parents were lawyers, so I kind of decided to follow their footsteps.

I had no hobbies or dreams that I could get absorbed in.

I was simply thinking that if I could follow this route, I could lead a life of minimum hassles.

That was my train of thought, but I felt like the job of a lawyer, which you can just follow the justice called laws to defend your client, was suitable for me.

I would be able to defend even the cruelest of criminals without issues.

That’s how uninterested I was in other people aside from myself.

The one who brought color to my gray daily life was Celica Kurose.

She was the first thing I could ‘get absorbed into’.

Hikaru Kurose overcame a dangerous situation and survived.

This meant that I could hear the voice of Celica Kurose from here on, and I was honestly happy about this as a fan of hers.

She would most likely stop doing watchalong streams if Hikaru Kurose were to die.

If that happens, my connection with her will be lost.

I needed Hikaru Kurose to continue surviving.

A certain day of such days continuing…

Celica Kurose is coming to the neighboring country of France.

I somehow managed to pick that piece of info when I was desperately trying to understand what she was saying in japanese in real time.

France…Jeanne-san…we will be going…taking a break for a while.

I managed to understand what she meant with just those fragmented pieces as if a shock ran through my body.

I plugged it onto a translation software just in case, and it was apparently about visiting the foster father of Jeanne Collet in person.

(I might be able to meet her.)

If I ride the train from Leuven where my dorm is at, it would take about 2 hours to get to Paris.

It is not a place I can’t reach. I should be able to manage somehow on the monetary side too.

(I can meet her.)

(I can meet her.)

(I can meet Celica Kurose.)

This reality made my chest pulse fervently.

I could feel an intense heat that I couldn’t believe came from my own body.

My actions following that were fast.

I was entranced. No thoughts about restraining myself here.

I don’t know when she will go there. It might be tomorrow, or it might be 10 days later.

That’s why I needed to move as soon as possible.

By the time I noticed, I was in France, at the Charles de Gaulle Airport.

I am sure Celica Kurose will be coming here in first class from America.

I didn’t imagine myself doing something groupie like this, but it didn’t feel bad.

I waited a full day there.

If it had been my past self, I would have considered this as a waste of time.

My encounter with Celica Kurose made me find out several things about myself.

I wanted to meet her and tell her my gratitude.

Tell her that I am cheering for her and to do her best.

Or we might even be able to exchange contact numbers.

I waited there while doing simulations that were like dreams.

Even though I was simply waiting, I felt a sense of fulfillment.

“She is here…! She has come!”

She showed up in between many large sized americans.

I thought of the possibility that I missed her.

But that was unnecessary worry.

She is special, so there’s no way I would miss her.

She was far more slender than on the screen.

Beautiful bluish black hair.

Thin eyebrows, slit eyes that show her strong will.

Everything about her looked dazzling in my eyes.

For some reason, I couldn’t move a step from my location. Not because the black suited men that are most likely her bodyguards were following her as if protecting her.

(Ah……Aaaah…)

I just wanted to greet her like a gentleman, give her a word or two, shake her hand, and then leave.

Even though that was the plan I took a whole day thinking about, my legs were not listening to me as if it were not my body.

That’s why I looked at her without even blinking.

That was the real Celica Kurose.

Not the streamer Twin/Sis, but just the plain Celica Kurose.

It is not through the screen.

The real her was there.

That side-profile of hers that had youth remaining had the color of fatigue in it.

I could tell from her pale face that she is lacking both nutrition and sleep.

I knew from her streams that she was in pain from the matter of her brother Hikaru Kurose, and her childhood friend Nanami Souma.

However, she had been working strenuously in order to prove the innocence of her brother and to make him win the viewer race.

Even though she herself should be in pain too, she was still facing forward and fighting.

Whipping that thin body of hers.

For the sake of her brother.

To have her brother survive.

She traveled to a foreign country, contacted the family of a different Chosen, and earned money from the video editing…all for the sake of her brother.

I somehow managed to move my legs and ran to Celica Kurose who was leaving.

I had the confidence that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t talk to her now.

“Lady, I am sorry for the abruptness, but you are Celica Kurose-san, right?”

When I spoke to Celica Kurose, she seemed to be slightly surprised.

The bodyguards stood in the way to protect her.

“Désolé. Je suis pressé. (I am sorry, but I am in a hurry).” (Celica)

She spoke in fluent french and turned back.

There might be a lot of people who wait for her in this fashion.

“How can you work so hard? Even though…you look like you are in so much pain.”

Those words leaked out from my mouth.

No words of gratitude or encouragement.

Why did I ask her that?

Most likely because I saw that side-profile of hers that felt as if it would break at any moment.

Celica Kurose stopped her feet and looked back.

“…It is something I began myself, so I won’t withdraw from this battle. Ever.” (Celica)

She left with hurried steps after saying only this.

I stayed motionless there as if I had been sewn in place.

That was the manifestation of her resolve.

The motive of her actions is most likely ‘love’.

I don’t know if it is familial love or something different which she at times would dress as a joke.

That love of hers was being monopolized by her brother Hikaru Kurose, and yet, he doesn’t know about her exhaustion and even love, and lives with the face of a victim.

The romance between Hikaru Kurose and the native Rifreya Ashbird has gathered the attention of many, and at present, there’s almost no people who don’t know about this couple.

Even though Celica Kurose loves her brother, she would act as if she is cheering for the love of the two in her streams.

I actually thought that she was cheering him on as a little sister before I saw her in person.

But now that I have seen her pained face, I can understand that that was also a ‘battle’ of hers she had coated on.

Me… I am the only one…who knows about the real her.

If she continues to adhere to her brother, she won’t ever be happy.

It is clear that she will eventually scrape off her whole body.

As long as Hikaru Kurose lives.

That’s right.

If Hikaru Kurose dies, she will be freed.

She can drop this battle.

But what do I do?

How can I end Hikaru Kurose?

He is in a parallel world where I literally can’t put a hand on.

Even Celica Kurose with her assets and proactiveness is lacking in a decisive move.

There’s…nothing I can do for her.

I would have to go to the parallel world and…do it myself.