CH 224

Chapter 224 – Uneasiness Before War

“First, we’ll have to take out the boss… That would most likely be the young master, Hosen Touya. The community that takes his head will be the one that can decide how to take control over the remaining surviving yakuza.” (Torimoto)

In response to my proposal, Sayuri said that she had no complaints, and Otaka and Kuzuhara agreed as well.

This way, they would all be able to fight in the war without running into any internal conflict. Well, the problem was when the war started and when Hosen Touya was actually right before their eyes…

Well, I didn’t really care whether or not the yakuza were wiped out. I decided to just let the matter take its course.

—

When the meeting between the three forces came to a close, only the Apostles of Peace took their leave. They still had to deal with the task of procuring weapons.

Sayuri and Kuzuhara continued their discussions to finalize strategies and other matters.

At 9 PM that day, a deal was made between Otaka and Enjou Yuri, which lined my pockets with money. I was more than satisfied with the result.

I promised him that I would deliver the goods as soon as possible, since I was aware that Otaka also had to participate in the strategy meeting the next day.

However, a rather unexpected turn of events awaited me… or rather, Torimoto.

“Well then, Torimoto-sama. We’ll be counting on you from here on.”

“R-Right….” (Torimoto)

The person in front of me was the doctor of the Maiden’s Rebirth Order, Asamine Yuna. I’d had contact with her in the past. If I had to guess, I’d say that she wasn’t really the type that openly hated men.

As for why she was counting on me, well….

“Torimoto-sama, we would like you to please treat the ones who will be brought here.” (Asamine)

In a corner of the church grounds, there was a massive blue tarp laid out and a big tent pavilion set up on it. Several crude beds were lined up in the tent, making for a set-up that was ready to accommodate the wounded at any time.

“Anyway, I’m awfully surprised that Sayuri-san gave permission to allow men to enter the grounds.” (Asamine)

“Even though they are hateful existences to her, they are only teaming up temporarily. If she wants to fight to keep this base, she has no other options.” (Torimoto)

In spite of them calling men invaders to this ‘sacred ground’.

Well, as a healer, I voiced my opinion that it would be easier to gather all the wounded in one place, so Sayuri and the other followers must have forced the followers to accept it.

Plus, there were unexpectedly quite a few followers who voiced their approval, and they would also do something as long as I said so. Most likely, many of the followers who gave their permission were from the reformist faction.

This proved that my opinions already had power behind them. It could certainly be a reason for the religious order to end up splitting. This was probably what Aoyama was afraid of.

And since I had no intentions of becoming the founder, it was an extremely troublesome situation.

“So the followers will be brought over there, I’m guessing…” (Torimoto)

I caught sight of a building that I had entered before. It was set up right across from here such that I could move over there right away if I needed to.

“That’s, well… it can’t be helped. There are some of us who would rather die than be carried into a space with men in it.” (Asamine)

How difficult. In the first place, it was unthinkable to me that someone would throw away their life over something like that.

For example, if it meant my life would be saved, I wouldn’t mind having to share a hospital room with Ohsaka… Wait. Huh? Actually, that would be terrible.

Just thinking about it, that would be a little… no, quite…. No, super, super bad.

I could somehow understand how the followers felt, so I stopped speaking out against them.

“Um, may I ask you a question?” (Asamine)

From what I had heard about her, she used to be a doctor. She was a doctor of psychosomatic medicine though. But she said that she had studied in various departments as an intern, so she knew some internal medicine and surgical techniques.

She was entirely dedicated to healing people. Someone like her wasn’t a person who hurt or killed others.

There would be a lot of deaths from here on. I was going to participate in this, so I planned to make sure as few people died as possible. Of course, I would be asking for a huge reward afterwards.

But still, many people would die. There would be people who died instantly before they could even be brought here. And the enemy would have more casualties than we could imagine.

It would be complicated. As a doctor, all those deaths would make you feel like it was your fault.

“If you’re afraid, then why don’t you leave the order?” (Torimoto)

“I… can’t do that.” (Asamine)

“…But still… I was saved by Founder-sama… by the order.” (Asamine)

Apparently, she was being assaulted by a mob when Sayuri and the others saved her.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t wish that all men would disappear. But to me… this religious order is like my family… the place where I belong. So… I want to protect them.” (Asamine)

“I see. Then… I think you should cherish them as much as you can.” (Torimoto)

“Eh?” (Asamine)

“It’s hard to find a place where you feel like you belong, especially in a world like this. But you were fortunate enough to find that place. So I think you shouldn’t let go of that so easily. At least, that’s how I chose to live my life.” (Torimoto)

“Torimoto-sama… Thank you. I… feel a bit better now.” (Asamine)

Asamine felt that by staying with the order, what she was doing was wrong. But to me, right or wrong didn’t matter. A third party could decide that as arbitrarily as they wanted.

What is important is staying in the space where you’re able to be yourself, and… to not come to regret anything. Coming up with your answer after thinking through the things that are troubling you… and the choice associated with that. All you can do is believe that the answer you came up with is the best for you.

And if there are people who try to forcibly take that choice away from you, beat them down through whatever means. That was the attitude and resolve I felt it was best to have.