CGBTS Chapter 19

Chapter 19 – Unchanging

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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“If each household sinks a piece of paper into the lake listing the supplies they are short of, Odamaki-sama bestows these blessings upon us every day like this. It is also the village chief’s duty to distribute those blessings fairly among the villagers.”

“…What the hell, even though it’s a god, it’s basically an online supermarket…”

Even as he let out a dry laugh, Natsuo’s spine involuntarily trembled. …Because he understood now. He finally understood why Shuu had declared that those who defied the divine will could not survive here.

The supplies piled up there were all things that could not possibly be manufactured in this village, where there were no factories or anything of the sort. And yet, without them, the villagers could not maintain a proper standard of living. If they could not have supplies brought in from elsewhere, then they had no choice but to depend on Odamaki-sama’s blessings…on the divine will.

That was why the village chief could reign as the person in power. Even if he claimed to distribute everything fairly, the village chief was still a human being. It was impossible for his personal whims not to influence things at all. He could give more of the good stuff to villagers he favored, less to those he did not, and nothing at all to those he disliked.

That was why the villagers had no choice but to submit to the village chief, the priest of Odamaki-sama, and their faith in Odamaki-sama continued to grow stronger.

So that was why Etsuko had backed down. If she angered Shuu, the acting village chief, not only she but her entire family could end up starving. For a god, it was rather nasty… Yet, precisely for that reason, it was an extremely effective method.

“…But, why?”

The question slipped from Natsuo’s lips.

“What does Odamaki-sama do this for? Why does Odamaki-sama do all this for the villagers?”

Natsuo did not know how Odamaki-sama accomplished it, but continuing to provide this much in supplies every single day must be quite a burden, even for a god. And the villagers could not offer anything in return. Surely Odamaki-sama did not simply want to be worshipped and revered?

Shuu leisurely folded his arms. Despite there being no wind, the sleeves of his yukata fluttered.

“To maintain the unchanging.”

“Unchanging………?”

Natsuo’s heart stirred uneasily. Shuu had said it before, hadn’t he?

―――Odamaki-sama is this world itself. The god who governs the unchanging.

“Odamaki-sama probably wants to keep this village…to keep itself, exactly as it is now, without allowing it to decline or develop. That’s why it provides the things necessary to prevent the humans who make up the village from evolving.”

“…! That…”

It was frightening, Natsuo thought.

It was precisely because humans wanted a more convenient and comfortable life that they developed civilization. But if they were satisfied from the very beginning, if they knew nothing of any other way of life, they would probably never think to make the effort to advance and develop.

That was why this village continued to maintain a level of civilization only several decades behind that of the original world. The reason things like cars and tractors did not exist was probably because Odamaki-sama had determined that they were unnecessary for maintaining this level of civilization. Of course, the villagers who had been born and raised here probably did not even know that vehicles existed.

“Then does that mean Odamaki-sama creates these supplies too?”

“The villagers believe so, but… I don’t.”

Shuu unfolded his arms and picked up a small box of caramels. The package, with its caramel-colored background and the product name printed in white, was a long-selling product from a famous manufacturer that probably everyone in the original world had eaten at least once. Shuu himself must have eaten them before he wandered into this place.

“I think they were probably drawn here from the world we came from. By whatever entity is called Odamaki-sama.”

“…Why do you think that? Odamaki-sama could have simply copied the products from our original world and made them here, couldn’t it?”

“Because that would be the more natural way to think about it. …You and I both washed ashore at this lake from the original world. If it can draw living human beings here, wouldn’t gathering things without life be easy?”

“…! Then, this is…!?”

As Natsuo stared wide-eyed, Shuu nodded.

“That’s right. I washed ashore at this lake and was picked up by the village chief. And yesterday, you appeared here as well. It happened just when I had come in the village chief’s place to receive the blessings.”

The blue lake, which could have been a tourist attraction in the original world, suddenly felt to Natsuo like a bottomless pit, and he unconsciously stepped backward.

……Was Mount Hinashi really an entrance to another world?

Had Natsuo passed through the same entrance as Shuu and somehow wandered into a different world?

Could Natsuo really never go home again? Was he going to have no choice but to live here?

As Natsuo shook his head vigorously, trying to drive away the resignation that was beginning to well up inside him, Shuu asked, almost as though he pitied him, “Do you still not believe it? This isn’t the world where you were born and raised. …It’s another world that you can never escape from again.”

“…Something like that… Of course I don’t believe it. Because…”

If he accepted that this was another world, then he would have to give up the wish he had clung to for ten years… to bring Shuu back with him.

Shuu had been alive all this time. And he had been happy to see Natsuo again…!

“……Then come.”

Shuu firmly grabbed Natsuo’s arm and started walking. As they went around the lake, Natsuo nearly stumbled several times before they finally reached the wall of mist towering beyond it. On the other side, shimmering like a heat haze, stretched the same forest they had just passed through.

“Try going through it.”

“Eh…”

“Then you’ll understand. You’ll understand what I meant when I said you can’t leave this village.”

He gave Natsuo a light push forward.

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Next update: 2026.10.20

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