CGBTS Chapter 23

Chapter 23 – The Sacred Flowers

Novel Title: あの夏から戻れない (Can’t Go Back to That Summer)

Author：宮緒葵 (Miyao Aoi)

Illustrator：笠井あゆみ (Kasai Ayumi)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 櫛原夏生 (Kushihara Natsuo -MC) & 四辻柊 (Yotsutsuji Shuu -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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“Even though remarriage is considered normal, the young single women are inevitably chosen first. In Junko-san’s case, the person she could end up with would most likely be a widower who already has children, and someone considerably older than her. I suppose they thought that rather than having to struggle in another marriage, you—with no existing ties and a connection to me—would be a better choice, but……”

Without realizing it, Natsuo had apparently become a highly desirable prospect in Odamaki Village’s marriage market. But he wasn’t happy about it at all.

―――Booooong, boooooong……

As Natsuo massaged his increasingly painful head, the pendulum clock hanging on the wall gave off a muffled chime. It was such an antique that, in the original world, it looked like something that would belong in a museum. Speaking of antiques, this mansion was one as well, but how had they managed to build something this magnificent? Even if the building materials had been bestowed upon them by Odamaki-sama, Natsuo couldn’t imagine the villagers, who weren’t professional carpenters, being able to construct such a building from scratch. If that was the case, then……

……Maybe it was there from the very beginning? No, but still……

This village has continued to remain in the same state because of Odamaki-sama. In this unchanging, endless world, there’s no way to know where its ‘beginning’ was. To begin with, who knows whether such a thing even exists.

“…It’s already this late. Natsuo, sorry, but wait here for a moment.”

“Ah, ……!”

Shuu stood up and was about to leave when Natsuo instinctively grabbed the hem of his yukata.

“What’s wrong?”

Shuu turned around, his eyes widening in surprise. But Natsuo found himself unable to put his feelings into words. Natsuo didn’t understand them himself, either. He had simply felt terribly uneasy when Shuu was about to leave his side, and……lonely.

“Come on, Natsuo. Let’s go together.”

Shuu smiled softly and held out his hand. When Natsuo hesitantly placed his own hand on it, Shuu gently closed his fingers around it, then pulled him to his feet with a little force.

“…Is that okay?”

“I’d been thinking I should take you there someday. This is as good a time as any.”

Shuu led him by the hand to the rear garden of the mansion. Unlike the area around Megumi Lake, this place was clearly well maintained. There must be someone like a gardener in Odamaki Village as well.

At the foot of a large crape myrtle stood a small flower bed surrounded by granite. Planted there were clusters of purple flowers shaped like little bells. Natsuo recognized those flowers. Despite their adorable appearance, there was something about them that inexplicably stirred up a sense of unease.

“These were in the altar in the village chief’s room……”

“They’re called ‘Sacred Flowers.’ It is said that when Odamaki Village was born, Odamaki-sama bestowed them upon the first village chief.”

Apparently, only the village chief was permitted to cultivate them, and they were also the village chief’s family crest. That was probably why they had been displayed on the altar as well.

Just as Natsuo reached out toward the flowers swaying in the breeze, a sharp warning came flying at him.

“Never touch them with your bare hands. The Sacred Flowers are poisonous.”

“P-Poisonous?”

“The stems and leaves contain poisonous compounds in their sap. If it merely comes into contact with your skin, it’ll only cause irritation, but if you accidentally ingest it, it will corrode your stomach, and depending on the amount, it can even cause cardiac arrest and death.”

“Why would you deliberately cultivate something that dangerous…!”

Unable to help himself, Natsuo pulled his hand back and protested. Shuu gave a wry smile and picked up the watering can beside the flower bed. He filled it with water from the nearby faucet and sprinkled it evenly over the Sacred Flowers.

“It does have its uses. As something bestowed upon us by Odamaki-sama, it is also an object of faith for the villagers. Keeping the Sacred Flowers blooming without letting them die out is one of the village chief’s duties, too. Since the village chief is in that condition right now, I’m taking his place.”

Apparently, the Sacred Flowers bloomed regardless of the season, even flowering in the middle of winter. They required no special knowledge to cultivate, either. All one had to do was water them at a set time every day like this. Yet, strangely enough, they would only take root in the village chief’s garden. Even if someone stole them and planted them somewhere else, they would wither and die.

“Well, there aren’t many reckless fools who’d actually try to steal the Sacred Flowers.”

“Of course there aren’t…… You could accidentally die of cardiac arrest just from—……Ah!”

A memory that had been buried deep in the back of his mind suddenly flashed into Natsuo’s mind, and his eyes flew open.

…That’s right. Why had he forgotten about it until now? The body of the man who had gone missing thirteen years ago, floating in the lake on Mount Hinashi. The cause of death of that man, whose death had been what prompted Natsuo to visit Mount Hinashi for the first time in ten years, had also been heart failure, hadn’t it…!

“Natsuo, what’s wro—”

“Look at this, Shuu!”

Natsuo operated the smartphone he had kept in his pocket and thrust it toward the puzzled Shuu. Displayed on the screen was a photograph of the man who had been found dead, taken while he was still alive. Just in case, Natsuo had saved it as a screenshot from an article on the internet.

Sure enough, Shuu drew a sharp breath.

“…This person is…Yoshikawa-san…”

“You know him!?”

“He’s a wanderer like me. He married a woman from this world and had children, too. He came here a few years before I did…… At the time, Yoshikawa-san was the only wanderer here, so he was very kind to me as well. He disappeared about three months ago, and his family is worried about him, but……”

Unlike the original world, Odamaki Village had no city where someone could simply disappear and blend into the crowds. If someone went missing in this village, the only possibilities were that they had entered the mountains to hunt or gather wild plants and been attacked by a wild animal, been swept away by the river while fishing, fallen from a cliff…… In any case, it could only be assumed that their life had been put in danger. Apparently, the entire village had searched all over for days, but they had never managed to find Yoshikawa.

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Next update: 2026.10.24

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