CGBTS Chapter 35

Chapter 35 – Divine Will

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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Trembling breaths escaped through the gaps between the fingers covering Natsuo’s mouth. When the two villagers stood up holding the ends of the ropes, the other villagers moved aside toward the edges of the room, like a receding wave. In the open space that appeared in the middle of the room, an elderly female villager spread out a straw mat.

Natsuo had been too tense to notice it when he had faced the village head, but there was a ranma above the tatami. Something was strange about it, though. A rectangular opening had been cut into it, leaving only the surrounding frame. Along the bottom edge, there were dark marks that looked as though something had repeatedly scraped against it, and the wood was slightly worn down.

The two villagers forcibly made Etsuko and Kiyoshi stand and dragged them beneath the ranma. They passed the ends of the ropes through the rectangular openings and pulled them through to the other side.

“Carry out the judgment.”

When the village head gave the brief command, Etsuko’s parents, Kazuo, and Kasuya all staggered toward the villagers holding the ropes. Etsuko’s mother had somehow regained consciousness, but she looked as though she might collapse again at any moment. Her husband and Kazuo, whose eyes were bloodshot from crying, supported her.

“Ah……”

A strangled groan escaped Natsuo. ……He wanted to believe it couldn’t be what he thought. No matter how much this was another world where the common sense of his original world did not apply, surely they wouldn’t go that far.

…But…

“Go-ing, go-ing, re-turn-ing……”

The two villagers hummed as they handed over the ends of the ropes. Etsuko’s rope was taken by her parents and Kazuo, while Kiyoshi’s rope was held by Kasuya.

“Repeating, winding back, never quite full……”

A white-haired old man stepped forward and took hold of Kiyoshi’s rope together with Kasuya. They must have been related, judging by how similar their features were. When Kasuya bowed his head to him, the old man shook his head as if to say not to worry about it.

“It is Odamaki-sama’s divine work……”

Everyone holding the ropes finished the chant and tightened their grips with both hands.

Pulled from the other side, the ropes bit tightly into Etsuko’s and Kiyoshi’s defenseless necks as they slowly hoisted them into the air. The ranma through which the ropes had been passed creaked ominously.

……This really is a hanging!

“Stoooop!”

Natsuo screamed and kicked through the sliding door.

All at once, the villagers who had been waving their Odamaki turned to look at him. Enduring the piercing gazes coming at him from all directions, Natsuo pushed his way through the villagers and rushed out in front of the village head.

“Make them stop right now! This is way too much, no matter how you look at it……”

It was cruel enough simply to sentence them to death, but to make their own families carry out the hanging while the villagers watched was beyond the pale. He didn’t know what Odamaki-sama’s teachings were supposed to be, but this was insane.

“……The wanderer……”

“Alive… Did he really survive…?”

“Even though he was supposed to have been poisoned by the Sacred Flower…”

The villagers whispering among themselves probably did not know that, depending on the amount, the Divine Flower could have an aphrodisiac effect. Shuu had said that only a very small number of people, including the village chief, knew about it. Perhaps they had been half-convinced that Natsuo had survived, too.

“…Are you saying I should stop?”

The village chief did not so much as flinch at the intruder.

Darkness swirled within the eye sockets sewn shut behind his mask, making it impossible to read his emotions. At a time like this, if only Shuu were here—Suppressing the part of his heart that was about to give in to weakness, Natsuo nodded.

“I’m alive like this. I don’t want those two to atone with their lives.”

“…Big Brother Natsu…”

A small murmur escaped. Looking over his shoulder, Natsuo met Kazuo’s eyes; he looked as though he were on the verge of tears. Natsuo signaled to him that everything was all right, then turned back toward the village chief.

“Of course, I have no intention of going against this village’s rules… or Odamaki-sama. But if it’s a punishment, shouldn’t a lighter punishment be enough?”

“…Those who steal the Sacred Flower are sentenced to death. That is Odamaki-sama’s divine will. No one can overturn it. You were invited here through Odamaki-sama’s guidance, and yet you would defy the divine will?”

The mouth beneath the mask formed the words with surprisingly smooth ease. The voice was low, hoarse, yet still firm. Natsuo had thought the village chief was around the age of his grandparents, but perhaps he was somewhat younger.

“Oh… How terrifying, to defy Odamaki-sama…”

“Did Shuu properly educate him?”

“Could the poison of the Sacred Flower have driven him insane…?”

The villagers’ prickly murmurs caused the sweet, thick air to churn.

The source of that scent was the Sacred Flower displayed on the altar… wasn’t it? Natsuo didn’t think it had given off such an intense smell when they had faced it before.

…Shuu…!

A wave of dizziness came over him, and Natsuo tightly gripped the pendant through his T-shirt. Its hard, cool sensation pulled his wavering consciousness back.

…Think. Think. How can I keep those two from being killed?

What would Shuu do in a situation like this? As Natsuo desperately racked his brain while fumbling with the pendant, an idea suddenly struck him.

…That’s right. If Odamaki-sama’s divine will comes first…

“—I’m not defying the divine will. I’m following it.”

Natsuo let go of the pendant and stared straight at the village chief. Amid the villagers’ loud commotion, the village chief’s eyes seemed to widen behind his mask.

“What do you mean by ‘following the divine will’?”

“I was made to eat the Sacred Flower, which contains a potent poison, yet I didn’t die. I believe that must be because Odamaki-sama did not wish for me to die. …In other words, isn’t the fact that I’m alive like this now Odamaki-sama’s divine will?”

The village chief remained silent, but the villagers murmured, “Oh…” The reaction seemed considerably more favorable than before. As expected, ‘Odamaki-sama’s divine will’ was the key to moving them.

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*Translator’s Note: I’d rather have the girl dead though. Spare Kiyoshi, but Etsuko should die. -K

*GLOSSARY: 

A ranma (欄間) is a traditional Japanese architectural feature: a decorative panel fitted into the space above sliding doors or partitions, often between the top of a doorway and the ceiling. It usually looks like the picture below;

But for the story, however, the ranma seems to have an unusual rectangular opening cut into it, rather than a typical decorative design. The bottom edge is scuffed and worn, suggesting that something has repeatedly rubbed against it. So, it’s probably something like the picture below;

And that thing was the type of ranma that is in the middle of the room instead of at the sliding door. Like the picture below (this one with wood carvings though);

So, imagine a horizontal wooden frame above Etsuko and Kiyoshi, with a rectangular hole cut through it. The villagers pass ropes through that hole and pull the other ends from the opposite side. Anyway, this is a diagram of how it looks like;

Next update: 2026.11.05

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