Chapter 342: A Letter from an Acquaintance
On the first day of the opening ceremony, in the student council room.
"Exhausting, Sakurai, you don't know how annoying those club presidents are. They don't treat me as senpai at all." Shirogane Miyuki had just finished the regular meeting of the clubs.
Because of graduation and handing-over matters, most of the attendees this time were the new presidents — and Shirogane hardly knew anyone.
"Do humans consider chimpanzees to be the same species as us?" Sakurai Saki continued flipping through the opinion sheet in his hands.
There was also a white envelope on the table.
"I don't think so; after all, chimpanzees are intelligent creatures just below humans." Shirogane Miyuki finished and tilted his head: "Wait, Sakurai, isn't that a bit too much? I'm not that much like a chimpanzee, am I?"
"In my eyes, you're the student council president, but in their eyes, you're just a pathetic poor guy who will never climb their social class."
"Sakurai, do you think I'm useless?" Shirogane began to doubt his life.
"No, you're strong. The reason those presidents isolated you this time is just because you didn't bring your secret weapon."
"Secret weapon?"
"Yes, the strongest weapon of our student council!" Sakurai Saki slowly spoke the name: "The ultimate humanoid armament — Shinomiya Kaguya!"
Reality proved that at Shuchiin, as long as you brought Shinomiya Kaguya, you could avoid 99% of trouble.
If you didn't want to choose a girl, you could also bring along the super-handsome supreme general affairs Sakurai.
Unfortunately, this time Shirogane didn't call him, otherwise...
"Hmph." Sakurai Saki let out a faint cold laugh.
"All right, next time I'll bring Kaguya over to show them who's boss." Shirogane found that suggestion reasonable.
Shinomiya Kaguya in the student council usually did nothing, every day only drank tea and... flirted and joked with Sakurai Saki.
...Hey, isn't our female student council member being way too lazy?
After finishing the club discussion, the room fell into a few seconds of silence.
Sakurai Saki picked up the envelope and opened it to see what his beloved little sister had left.
[To Whom It May Concern]
[Dear Divine Son-sama, because the organization is running at a loss, we're preparing to flee]
Sakurai Saki: "?"
A bolt from the blue!
[Actually, we sisters once thought about kneeling before you and begging you to return and lead us to continue conquering the world, but you left so decisively.]
[Next is the situation of the organization over the past two years——]
[Losing you, we are completely no match for other supernatural organizations, every day we have to pick up trash to eat.]
[Sometimes it's leftover restaurant food thrown away, sometimes it's expired bento boxes from the supermarket.]
[Trash is actually quite tasty, the flavor is very complex, hard to describe.]
[Divine Son-sama, you must live well, don't ever come back.]
[Oh right, Yami is blood-related to you, she inherited your genes!]
...
..
.
[All of the above is a lie!]
[Damn it! You little shit brother, come back to me at once! I let you leave the organization and handed you to that damned fox so you could fix your attitude, stop scowling all the time, stop fighting and killing, live like a normal person, yet you disappeared for two whole years without even making a single phone call? Do you still consider me your sister at heart? That damned fox Tamamo no Mae even bragged to me that she could openly hug and kiss you while I could only watch and not get any. I was furious to death!]
[You bastard little brother, how long are you going to sulk?]
[Also don't know who the person was who bawled when we parted that year... Wait, are you mad because I sent you away?]
[Oh no, Zero-One, don't tell me you have some perverted feelings for me? I already thought you were the one who adored me the most… I didn't expect it to be true.]
Stiffened, Sakurai Saki's fist went numb.
[The rules I gave you — have you been following them properly?]
[That was the promise between you and me back then, don't forget it.]
[Ah, right, remember to take care of Yami. She's a remnant of the old organization, just woke up a few months ago, so her personality's a bit unstable. You have to be gentle with her.]
[Well then, it's time to sleep. Let's stop here. I've attached a nice picture of me — don't do anything weird with it, okay?]
[Your poor sister who lost her legs — Sakurai Tooru]
[Written on the wheelchair, March 28]
Sakurai Saki folded the letter.
"Shirogane, is there any hole nearby? I want to crawl into it."
My damn memories are attacking me.
So it's finally come...
Sakurai Tooru — his so-called older sister, and also the doctor responsible for taking care of him back then.
The old organization's Project X revolved around him, with a very cliché goal — to use the Divine Son to conquer the world.
Of course, at the final stage, everything went wrong. Since they couldn't brainwash him, the organization decided to use a "soft" approach — having a woman with a charming presence (questionably) play the role of the Divine Son's mother or sister, to guide him into serving the organization.
'If her conscience hadn't awakened and told me the truth, maybe I'd still be deceived even now,' Sakurai Saki thought to himself.
His immature mind at that time was nothing more than a walking killing machine, having wiped out quite a number of evil factions that also sought world domination.
When the old organization was annihilated, who knows how many people secretly rejoiced.
By the way, it took Sakurai Saki less than a minute to erase the entire old organization.
'Thinking back, I really was pretty hot-headed back then.'
Sakurai Saki gently shook his head.
Those painful memories probably aren't worth remembering anymore.
The trust built over nearly five years collapsed in an instant — that feeling was truly unbearable. Even the candy he used to like now tasted bitter and empty.
Though he understood that Sakurai Tooru had her own pain, the words "forgive" weren't so easily spoken, were they?
When Kaguya learned that Hayasaka Ai had betrayed her, she must have felt the same unbearable pain.
"The hole?" Shirogane Miyuki didn't understand.
"Why must humans always have a past so painful that they're afraid to recall it?" Sakurai Saki sighed.
"Sakurai, you're already a senior in high school. You'll be entering university next year. Having chuunibyou doesn't suit your age anymore."
"…Shirogane, you might not believe me when I say this, but actually, I'm an Esper."
"?"
"Alright, I was joking."
"You were so serious that I almost believed you." Shirogane Miyuki smiled faintly.
"But speaking of painful pasts, I have one too."
The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.
"When I was in elementary school, my father's company went bankrupt due to business failure. My mother demanded a divorce at that time. But I wasn't special at all — compared to Kei, I was ordinary, mediocre, unremarkable. So she took Kei and left home."
"I kept wondering — why didn't she choose me? Was it because I hadn't tried hard enough? That's what I thought back then." Shirogane Miyuki's voice softened. "But later, I understood."
"Understood what?" Sakurai Saki asked curiously.
You can actually justify something like that?
Without expression, Shirogane Miyuki said, "Understood that my mother was a piece of practical trash. Later on, even Kei couldn't stand her anymore, so she came back."
"You're really calm about it — that's good." Sakurai Saki let out a breath of relief.
But perhaps it wasn't as lighthearted as he made it sound.
Now, Shirogane always works twice as hard in everything — perhaps that's the reason why.
He doesn't want to be abandoned ever again.