Chapter 3

Kousuke had one younger sister.

Past tense.

She is no longer here.

His sister was often selfish, sassy, and troublesome, but she was kind-hearted.

She was shy around family but gentle to others, caring for her friends, and popular among those around her.

Kousuke would tease and mock her, but he admired her natural ability to behave so well.

He doesn’t think his sister, Towa, hated such a brother.

Towa, who might have been seen through the eyes of a family member, was a very cute girl.

But perhaps because of that, she died.

She was murdered.

It happened in the dead of winter.

Towa’s body was found in the park.

Naked.

The ashes of her burned clothes were scattered around.

She had been raped, abandoned, and left to freeze to death.

While his sister was being gang-raped and freezing, Kousuke was playing with his friends.

For the first time in his life, he understood the concept of wanting to die.

He wanted to die.

He wanted to die.

Indeed, suicide seemed like the perfect escape from an unbearable reality.

But it wasn’t possible.

A brother who couldn’t protect his own sister should have died.

But before that, he had to avenge her.

It took him five years to find the group of perpetrators and exact his revenge.

He stripped them naked, made them apologize, recorded it, and immediately uploaded it to the internet.

Along the way, he tortured and killed many of their accomplices.

At some point, Kousuke’s actions became recognized as a major incident in the news, and he was called a killer.

He wasn’t wrong.

To kill the scum who had hurt his sister, he had also killed many other scum.

To Kousuke, it was no more than pest control, but the average, decent person couldn’t see it that way.

Still, he had avenged her.

And all that was left was the desire to die.

So, the boy tried to do it.

But he couldn’t.

In front of him was a woman who called herself Shiro.

It was a waste.

He understood after hearing it twice in a short time.

He had successfully verbalized the reason he hadn’t immediately killed himself in this world.

He wanted to believe that life had value.

If he denied that, even his sister’s death would become meaningless.

He couldn’t allow that.

His sister’s life was precious.

It was very precious.

That’s why, after her life was taken, Kousuke sought revenge.

The lives of the people he killed must have had value too.

A value worth trampling and taking.

To Kousuke.

To Kousuke’s life.

His life must have value too.

He couldn’t find that value outside of avenging his sister.

But if this world could show him that value.

He wanted to know.

Kousuke said, “I’ll listen.”

Shiro grinned lewdly.

“Good. Honesty is the most adorable trait in humans.”

She made a peculiar movement, bouncing on her tiptoes.

Her breasts jiggled.

The serious atmosphere was disrupted, and Kousuke frowned.

“Just talk.”

“Pretty bossy, aren’t you? High education?”

“Does that even matter in this world?”

It couldn’t be determined just by the temple and the forest.

It might have been premature to assume it was a fantasy world just because there was no Japan.

“There is an institution called an academy, and you can join if you want. But if you bring up your academic credentials from your original world, everyone will just stare blankly at you.”

It didn’t seem to be a world where things like which university you graduated from or what qualifications you had mattered.

If it were, he would be considered incompetent.

“I don’t have any impressive academic credentials or family background.”

“Right. People who were happy in their previous life can’t come here. ...No, high education doesn’t guarantee happiness, so that’s a mistake. I’ll correct that.”

She shook her breasts without any shame and kept bouncing on her heels.

It was probably a habit.

He decided to focus on the conversation.

“I don’t know how often visitors come, but if everyone is unhappy, I’m worried this world will become gloomy.”

As he said this, Kousuke made a bitter face.

It was as if he had been indirectly told that he was unhappy.

He couldn’t argue because it was true.

“Haha, at least I’ve become cheerful in this world.”

“You could have been a barmaid in the real world too.”

“Just so you know, this is your reality, and you should understand that.”

Reality.

Not the thoughts or delusions in his mind, but a tangible world where he was forced to share with others.

If this wasn’t a dream, it was indeed reality.

He had chosen the wrong words.

He accepted it and prepared a new question.

“What do you call this place?”

“Arcelia.”

Shiro answered immediately.

“It’s called Arcelia. It’s like ‘Earth’ in your world, but it’s not used frequently in daily life.”

That made sense.

People rarely talked in planetary terms, and if they did, it would sound too suspicious to be worth listening to.

“Let’s talk while we walk.”

With that, Shiro started walking.

Kousuke hesitated for a few seconds but eventually started walking.

Shiro turned her head and said,

“Kuro! Welcome to Arcelia!”

Her smile was radiant, almost angelic, unlike before.

Kousuke felt it was suspicious, probably because his heart was still raw.

Even though he understood, he still doubted.

Was a visitor so special that they deserved such a smile?

Was this world so wonderful that she could smile like that?

While thinking about these things, Kousuke followed her.