Chapter 49

(￣(エ)￣)＜Cumulative PVs have exceeded 2 million, Kuma!

(=ↀωↀ=)＜Thank you, and thank you!

In just one month since the start of the uploads, we've come this far.

It's all thanks to everyone's support.

I'll keep working hard!

◇◇◇

□ Somewhere in Duel City Gideon

‘Hey there, Lord Fig, it’s been a while, Kuma!’

“Ah, I recognize the voice, but I don’t know the face. A new costume, Shu?”

‘You have a good eye, Kuma. This is the [Hind Bear] MVP reward, Kuma.’

“...Another costume, huh?”

‘...Is it bad that it’s another costume?’

“How many costumes have you gotten as MVP rewards?”

‘I can’t remember exactly how many, Kuma. But I only have one thing that isn’t a costume, Kuma.’

“...That’s a bit one-sided, isn’t it?”

‘That’s strange. No matter how many I defeat, the only MVP reward I get is the one I got from [Gloria]! It’s unbelievable, Kuma!’

“Well, it’s not easy to defeat a <UBM> normally.”

‘Even if you say that, it feels like “That’s how it is,” Kuma.’

“Maybe. Oh, by the way... hasn’t it been a while since you wore a bear costume?’

‘A while? ’

“When Shu and I first met.”

‘Ah, now that you mention it, I was a bear then too, Kuma. A commercial one, though.’

“We fought our first <UBM> back then.”

‘Yeah, it was nostalgic, Kuma.’

“It was tough back then.”

‘It had only been about ten days in real life since <Infinite Dendrogram> started, and we were still low-level beginners.’

“Yeah, about that much.”

‘We did well to win back then... Honestly, it’s a mystery when I think about it now.’

“But Shu didn’t give up at all back then.”

‘Hahaha, I wouldn’t give up. I told you that back then, didn’t I?’

‘Possibilities are always—’

◇◇◇

□ A Past Dream - [Holy Knight] Ray Sterling

On that day in 2035, my brother was hit by a truck while protecting me.

He was not in danger of losing his life.

However, his right leg was severely injured.

The flesh was swollen, the blood vessels had burst under the skin, and the bone was broken.

In <Infinite Dendrogram>, it could be healed with recovery magic or items, but this was a real-life injury, and it wouldn’t heal quickly. It required hospitalization.

Moreover, the final match of the Unlimited Pancration U-17 tournament, which was very important to my brother, was to start in just an hour.

‘What can we do, nothing at all?’

“That’s right. There’s nothing we can do.”

...Under normal circumstances.

In front of us, passersby were in an uproar, surrounding us.

Some were screaming, some were calling an ambulance, and some reporters who were marking my brother, a finalist, were calling out, “Hagino!”

In the center of the crowd, my brother was lying down, and the little girl he had saved was looking down at him with tears in her eyes.

The girl was probably crying from the shock of the accident, and I... I was crying because my brother was severely injured due to me.

I remember what I was thinking at that moment.

It was a mix of regret and the plea, “Please, help my brother as quickly as possible.”

But even as I thought this, my brother, still lying down, looked at me for a moment...

“Ouch.”

He jumped up with a voice that sounded like he had hit his head on a ceiling beam.

Everyone was stunned.

The little me, the girl, and the passersby were all speechless, their eyes wide.

To add to that, the silhouette next to me now seemed surprised as well.

“Ah... It’s broken, this one.”

My brother, standing on one leg, looked down at his broken right leg and said this.

It was as if he was saying, “A part of my model kit is broken, and it’s a bit disappointing.”

Of course, what was broken was not a model but my brother’s leg.

‘That, reaction, is strange.’

The silhouette pointed this out.

“Yeah, he’s my brother.”

To the current me, my brother’s such behavior is nothing new.

But back then, I was not used to his eccentricities and was shocked.

“Ah, I called an ambulance! It’s coming soon! Stay still!”

A passerby who had called the ambulance told my brother this.

But my brother said,

“Eh, ah... Thank you. But it’s fine for now.”

“““It’s fine?”””

“I have a final match to go to, so I’ll go to the hospital afterward.”

Time seemed to stop.

Not just me, but everyone there, except my brother, must have had the same thought.

‘What is he saying?’

The silhouette seemed to share the same thought from its reaction.

◇

The scene in the dream changed to my brother’s waiting room.

Of course, there were no passersby there.

Until just before, there should have been a sports doctor who had given emergency treatment and a teacher from the dojo my brother attended, but they were gone now.

In the waiting room, only the young me and my brother were there.

My brother’s right leg was covered with a bandage and a plaster.

But that was all.

There was no cast or splint.

Because my brother intended to participate in the match.

He said that a cast or splint would be a weapon and was unnecessary.

It was a serious injury that would normally require surgery.

‘...Will he fight?’

“Yes.”

The silhouette, with no expression, seemed to be half in disbelief and half in shock.

‘Will you stop him?’

“In a normal martial arts tournament, it would be a doctor’s stop, but this is Unra, so...”

To repeat, Unra allows anything except the use of weapons and threats, and the only ways to lose are by KO or submission.

It’s questionable whether it’s a real modern martial arts tournament.

‘But, is he weak? Can’t he win? Does he not need his right leg?’

“The dojo my brother attended focused on striking techniques. Kicking is essential, of course, but so is using the legs when striking.”

That school, it’s a bit like a manga.

They break logs as thick as a person’s torso in demonstrations.

What was that kick called? I remember it had a cool name.

‘Is the opponent weak?’

“The opponent in the final match is Gregory Ashimov Kaiser. He’s nearly two meters tall, weighs over a hundred kilograms, and is a well-built super athlete. He is proficient in striking, submission, throwing, and joint techniques, making him the strongest student at the time. He’s now at the top of the professional fighting world.”

‘A student... a child... a child?’

“He was 17 at the time, so a minor.”

Even now, ten years later, Mr. Gregory is a familiar face in Japan’s year-end fighting programs.

I remember watching him on TV with my brother during New Year’s Eve last year.

‘Will my brother lose, then?’

“Even if he were in perfect condition, his chances of winning would be slim. With a broken right leg, it’s at the level where everyone would try to stop him.”

In the end, my brother didn’t stop.

...Now that I think about it, the teacher from my brother’s dojo didn’t try to stop him either.

“Brother, stop! If you fight with such a serious injury against such a strong opponent, you’ll die!”

The young me was still clinging to my brother, trying to persuade him to withdraw from the final match.

Of course.

When my brother was injured because of me, I felt a fear that was almost like death.

And yet, my brother was about to take on an even more reckless challenge.

I couldn’t just stand by and watch, it was too scary for me at the time.

“Well, with this right leg, even a Kodachi would be dangerous.”

Ah, I remember. That was the name of the kick from my brother’s school.

The kick, known as Mokudan or Gekki in my brother’s school, is a front roundhouse kick that aims to cut the neck.

It’s a high kick, and my brother was skilled at it.

The powerful kick, which was said to be able to cut a tree like a sword, was feared by the fighters as much as Gregory.

But with his right leg broken, he couldn’t use it.

Even if he tried to kick with his left leg, he couldn’t use his right leg as a pivot, so it was impossible.

My brother had to fight without using his best kick.

This meant that he had no chance of winning.

Because of the injury I caused, he might lose and even die...

I blamed myself and tried to stop him.

But my brother showed no sign of changing his mind.

He has always been like that.

My brother was often quirky and did strange things, but he was a person with a firm resolve.

No matter how much I tried to persuade him, it was useless.

Realizing this, the young me looked down.

My young mouth muttered, “If I hadn’t jumped out...”

“Hmm.”

For some reason, my brother squatted in front of the young me... and placed his hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eye.

“But, Ryoji. If you hadn’t tried to save that girl, you would have regretted it even more, I think.”

“But, even if I hadn’t jumped out, you could have saved her! I couldn’t save her alone! All I did was hurt you!!”

The young me, crying, expressed my powerlessness.

It was a mix of regret, sorrow, and anger at myself.

“You’re right. I was injured.”

My brother acknowledged my words and then said,

“But if you hadn’t jumped out, I might not have been able to save that girl either. Because you tried to save her, I noticed and was able to jump out and save both you and her. In the end, it was your choice that saved her.”

That might have been the truth.

Or it might have been a lie to comfort me.

But my brother was looking at me straight.

“That’s fine, Ryoji. There’s no need to regret the choice itself. Making a choice is the premise for grasping the possibilities of the future you desire.”

My brother said this as if to emphasize it.

“It’s just whether you can see or not, whether you can grasp or not, after you’ve made your choice.”

“Just whether you can grasp it or not?”

“Yes. Possibilities are always there.”

The words my brother said at that time...

“Possibilities are always with your will.

No matter how small, even if it’s a decimal point far from a string of zeros... possibilities are always there.

Not having possibilities means giving up on grasping the future you desire.

As long as your will doesn’t give up and you choose to desire the future, even if it’s a decimal point away, the possibility doesn’t disappear.”

These words are still firmly in my heart.

“So, your choice to try to save that girl was not wrong.”

“Brother...”

My brother smiled at me and stood up.

“Today, I’ll show you something. The way to grasp... the full potential.”

With that, my brother left the waiting room, heading to the match venue with a crutch.

◇

There, the memory dream ended.

The match venue disappeared, and now there is only a vague, white mist-like dream scene.

There is no longer the young me or my brother, only the current me... Ray and the silhouette.

‘Is this the end?’

“There is a match after this, but...”

Well, if you want to know me, it’s not strange for this conversation to be a good stopping point.

‘Can I ask one more thing?’

“Yes.”

I know what the silhouette wants to ask.

‘Did he win?’

“He won.”

Yes, my brother went on to win the final match... against Mr. Gregory.

‘How did he do it?’

“...”

I don’t really want to say it.

But if I leave this question unanswered, the silhouette will be curious, so I’ll say it.

The news of my brother’s right leg being unusable in the final match had spread throughout the venue, and I could hear the rumors in the stands around me.

Moreover, when my brother arrived at the match venue with a crutch and bandages, and when he climbed into the ring without putting his right foot on the ground, using only his left leg, the audience understood the extent of his injury.

The fact that he had been injured while protecting a child had also somehow spread, and the audience was looking at him with sympathy.

Some martial artists praised him as a true warrior for not backing down from the fight despite being injured while protecting a child.

Even the opponent, Mr. Gregory, said, “It’s a pity I can’t fight you at full strength. Someday, we’ll fight when we’re both at full strength.”

Mr. Gregory, despite his intimidating appearance, was a good person.

My brother also replied, “Yeah, someday,” with a cheerful smile, and the two of them lined up in the ring.

There was a height difference.

There was a weight difference.

And the condition was vastly different.

The outcome was clear.

What was about to begin was a ritual for my brother as a martial artist to uphold his pride and dignity.

Everyone thought so.

Then, the ceremonial bell for the match rang,

At the same time, my brother’s “right leg” kicked out a Mokudan, striking Mr. Gregory’s jaw and knocking him unconscious