Volume 6 - CH 36

The End of Hosokawa Seiko

——– *splash, *splash*, *splash*.

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Blood splashed on my face.

The 3 Hunters were lying dead in front of me.

I couldn’t understand what was happening.

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“Are you okay……?”

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A middle-aged man called out to me.

If I had aged normally, would I have become an old lady around his age I wonder…….

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No sound left my mouth even when I tried to move it.

I realized that I have been saved but it looks like I am still destined to die here.

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“Takeru, I finished off all the Gift Hunters.”

“Ahh, thanks. Good work, Yoru.”

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Next to him was a young and innocent-looking girl who seemed to be about 10 years old. She’s smiling at the man with a combat knife wet with red liquid.

Maybe they are father and daughter………?

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I can’t tell anymore but it doesn’t matter.

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“Damn it…….I’m too late again…….. Oi, please wake up! Say something!? Don’t lose to those Gift Hunters! We’ll protect you from now on! Please, wake up!”

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I can feel the man shaking my body.

I want to get up but I can’t stand with my bones broken.

I want to say something back to him but my voice doesn’t come out.

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“Oi, Takeru, your Gift is working on her.”

“Nn? Her face changed? ……..don’t tell me…….? Oi!? You are Hideyori’s little sister right? Hey, you are right!? You’re Hosokawa Seiko-chan who ran from me back then!? You changed your face with your Gift, weren’t you!? Seiko-chan!? Seiko-chan!!”

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When is back then I wonder…..?

What is this person talking about?

……now that I think about it, something like this happened back when I was in school huh.

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Eh?

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There are wrinkles on my hands.

I should have looked younger when I left for work today though…..?

…………………Could it be that my Gift was undone…….?

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Has it come undone because I was recalling my past?

Or is it because I’m at my death door that my Gift just stopped working?

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Anyway, it doesn’t matter now.

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“Hey!? I’m Juumonji Takeru! I’m Akechi Hideyori’s best friend! Your eyes, they are just like his……..you are Seiko-chan right!? …..!

Hey, please don’t die! I’m begging you, you’re the only family Hideyori has left! I’ve been looking for you for so long! I’ve been looking and looking for years! ……..I’ve never given up on you! I love StarChild too!

I’m a member of your official fan club you know………I’m still listening to your song to this day! StarChild still hasn’t retired yet right!? She just went on an indefinite hiatus, didn’t she!? Please go on a stage and sing for your fans again! Please….., I’m begging you…….Give me the will to live…….

You can’t go join Hideyori yet! You must have suffered right!? You’ve been enduring so much hatred for the past 20 years alone, haven’t you!? It doesn’t make sense if you are not rewarded after all you went through right!?”

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Onii-chan’s best friend.

So a person like this does exist after all.

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Even though mom abandoned me, there’s still a person who genuinely cared for me.

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There’s a person who would cry for me.

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Someone who understood my pain

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Someone who told me that he still likes the songs of a fake idol like StarChild.

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Come to think of it, StarChild really hasn’t officially retired yet huh?

Now I want to try and make a comeback.

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Still, his words were enough to make me feel that my life was rewarded.

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I wish I could have met my brother’s best friend sooner….

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It would be nice if the three of us could play together…….

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At the last moment, I finally felt that I was needed……

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——- thank you.

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“It’s no good…….she already stopped breathing.”

“I couldn’t keep my promise…….I promised Seiko-chan that even if it takes years I will cut all these chains of sadness………I promised that I would save her……..but she ended up murdered right in front of my eyes…….I’m sorry, Hideyori……..I’m sorry, Seiko-chan………I lost someone……., important to me again………”

“Takeru……”

“God! If you have time to hand out these Gifts then please just end this hell!”

“……..I’m sorry…….if I was faster then we might have been able to save her……..”

“How long……..How much longer until I can cut these chains!?….. Hey……..how much longer do I have to keep seeing my important people taken away from me!? Tell me, Risa…….Hideyori……..someone please tell me…….why is everyone leaving me behind………did that fun school life really happen………I can’t even tell anymore…….JUST WHEN WILL THIS HELL END!”

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The man’s cry and scream of regret forever echoed in my ears.

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“……..”

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It was a very terrible waking-up experience.

Even though today is supposed to be the day I meet Onii-chan, I had a very sleepless night.

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“Why am I so afraid of meeting Onii-chan I wonder…….?”

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There are tears in my eyes and there’s this horribly disgusting feeling like my heart is being squeezed.

I can’t even tell which is the real world and which is the dream.

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“I’m scared, meeting Onii-chan is too scary……..”

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He wrote me a lot of fan letters.

He vented his feelings to me through them.

He’s a very kind person who always has a smile on his face.

Even though he is such a person, it’s still scary for me to tell him my secret.

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“Onii-chan……..are you a nice person……..?”

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Just a single time is fine.

It would be enough for me if you call me [Cute].

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Before I knew it, my body already started shaking……..

Author note: V6C23 Juumonji Takeru talks romantic comedy, Hideyori talked about a dystopian world and the fact that killing Akechi Hideyori does not necessarily lead to a happy ending.

The world of [Breaking the Chain of Sadness] is a world where ceaseless conflicts over Gifts are an eventuality.

For example, killing Hideyori at the end of Risa’s route does not make humanity’s qualms with Gifts go away so this is the kind of world that follows that ending.

Even if Takeru or someone else killed Hideyori it would be treated as self-defense or something similar.

That’s why killing Hideyori would only lead to a quick release or you might not get arrested in the first place.

After all, the crimes Hideyori committed would be much heavier in comparison.

This middle-aged version of Takeru has lost both the heroine and his child.

No matter who he picks, whether Risa or Towa, the heroine would be killed by the Gift Hunters.

*In case the heroine doesn’t possess a Gift, there’s a possibility that she might have been alive had she not gotten involved with Takeru.

Please interpret that most Gift Holder characters who appeared in the game would be dead in the future except for Takeru.

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On a side note, in this case, Hideyori died in his second year of High school while Seiko was in her first year. They are both in the same school as Takeru.

If Hideyori died in the first year of high school and Seiko was in her third year of middle school then she wouldn’t have a chance to meet Takeru since they would be at two different schools.

In that case, she would not be rescued by Takeru and Yoru in this scenario and simply get murdered by the Gift Hunters.

The time they ran past each other was the first time Seiko and Takeru met.

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In the game, there is no route where Takeru and Seiko meet before Hideyori’s death so she was not capturable by Takeru so the result would be the same in almost every route.

The original Akechi Hideyori was not a fan of StarChild.

Naturally, he knows her name but nothing else about her.

Since he doesn’t watch TV in the first place, he has no interest in idols.

The original Takeru was a fan of StarChild but since Hideyori has no interest in her, he never talked about her in front of him.

Since his relationship with his uncle and aunt was so terrible Hideyori wasn’t even aware of the fact that he has a younger sister and even if someone tells him about Seiko, he probably wouldn’t be interested in meeting her.

Both the current and the original Hideyori share their disinterest in their real parents.

He’s truly someone who causes nothing but trouble whether he lives or dies.

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Similar to Emi and Sakuya, Seiko is a character who would lead an unhappy life and die after the conclusion of the game.

Aside from how Takeru found her on the verge of her death after some random story branching, she has no salvation.

TLN: And that’s the end of this section. Next up we return to the coffee shop.