CGBTS Chapter 37

Chapter 37 – I’ll Kill Her

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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“…That’s… kind of heartbreaking.”

“What are you saying? It’s a charitable favor far too generous for that insolent little girl.”

“Exactly. After all, her life was spared by Odamaki-sama’s divine messenger.”

The older woman accompanying her nodded repeatedly in agreement as the other woman rattled on.

…Odamaki-sama’s divine messenger?

Before Natsuo could find out who she meant, the sliding door decorated with an image of the odamaki flower opened, and Shuu appeared. Seeing his utterly frantic expression, the woman and the old woman, sensing the mood, gave ambiguous smiles and withdrew.

“Shu-…”

“Natsuo!……… Natsuo!”

Before Natsuo could call his name, long arms wrapped around him like ropes. Shuu pulled him into a tight embrace, and even when Natsuo struggled to breathe, Shuu would not loosen his arms. If anything, he held him even more deeply, as though determined not to let him escape.

“…When I heard that you had appeared at the trial… I thought my heart was going to stop…”

“I-I’m sorry. But I just couldn’t leave them to their fate…”

Even though the embrace was so tight that his body ached, the warmth and heartbeat he could feel through Shuu’s yukata were comforting.

The tension gradually drained from his entire body, making Natsuo realize just how tense he had been. Come to think of it, he had been fast asleep only about an hour ago. And before that, he and Shuu had…

“…! Ah…”

“Natsuo? …Are you feeling sick?”

“N-no, I’m fine. I’m fine, really.”

Embarrassed by the cheeks that were probably bright red, Natsuo vigorously shook his head. There was no way he could tell Shuu that at a time like this, he had been remembering their far-too-intense lovemaking.

“Um… where have you been all this time, Shuu?”

“I was waiting in the village chief’s room. I am, after all, merely a stand-in. During rituals that only the village chief can perform, such as a trial, I make sure not to show myself.”

That might have been why Shuu had not been present at Natsuo’s first meeting with the village chief. Imagining what would have happened if Shuu had been here during the trial, Natsuo suddenly went pale.

“…I’m sorry, Shuu.”

“What…?”

“I… I might have put you through something terrible…!”

The reason Natsuo survived the poison of the Sacred Flower was because it was Odamaki-sama’s divine will, so Natsuo’s wish for Etsuko and Kiyoshi not to die was also divine will. That kind of reasoning only worked because the village chief, who was Odamaki-sama’s priest, accepted it. If Natsuo’s argument had instead been deemed an act of defying the divine will and he had been punished, Shuu, who had been appointed as his caretaker, might have been dragged into it as well.

The penalty for merely stealing the Sacred Flower was death. And the crime of defying the divine will—

“Go-o-o and co-o-ome ba-a-ack…”

A song sung by men and women, young and old alike, reverberated inside his head like the buzzing of winged insects.

The rope coiled tightly around his neck. His body being hoisted into the air…

“I’m sor…ry… Shuu, I’m sorry…”

“…Natsuo…”

“If you… if you died, I…!”

Natsuo wanted to punch his earlier self, who had been so determined that he alone could save Etsuko and Kiyoshi. Shuu had surely anticipated that if he brought Natsuo along, Natsuo would interfere in the trial… and that it could put Shuu’s own life in danger. That must have been why he had locked Natsuo inside the house before leaving.

Natsuo did not regret saving the two of them. But… but if Shuu were to lose his life because of it…!

“…I felt the same way.”

A low, sweet whisper fell from Shuu’s lips, filled with a maddening heat. The moment Natsuo looked up in surprise, those green eyes held him captive, as though binding his very heart.

“When Kazuo told me that you might have been made to eat the Sacred Flower, I was trembling just like you are now. My mind was filled with nothing but the worst possible scenarios, and I thought my heart would break… The moment I saw you alive, I nearly went mad with relief and anger toward Etsuko.”

“…Shuu…”

“If you had been dead, I would have killed Etsuko right there. …No, even if you had been safe, I probably would have killed her anyway. The reason she managed to survive until today’s trial was because you asked to save her.”

The green eyes took on an even deeper intensity, as though they meant to drown Natsuo in them.

“That’s why, even today, I absolutely didn’t want to bring you along. If I had seen you and Etsuko in the same place, I probably would have killed her for good this time.”

“…Wasn’t it because you thought you’d be punished if you let me interfere with the trial?”

“Punished?…… I don’t care about something like that. I can’t forgive anything that threatens you. Unless I bury it with these hands, I won’t be satisfied.”

Despite saying something more dangerous than ever, the hand slowly stroking Natsuo’s back was endlessly gentle.

……It was almost like a barrier.

The wall with bright-red paper dolls nailed to it. The ranma with a rope still threaded through it. The altar wrapped in crimson thread. The Sacred Flower containing deadly poison. The red light of the lanterns flickering on the ceiling.

In this room, where there was nothing but things that stirred up anxiety, the only place where Natsuo felt at peace was in Shuu’s arms.

“Natsuo……, please. Don’t leave me.”

With his voice trembling in his throat, Shuu buried his face in the nape of Natsuo’s neck. His heart jumped at the hot breath blown against his skin.

“If I’d been swept away to this village… and never been able to see you again, I could have given up. But you came to me. …And because of that, I could no longer give up.”

“Shuu… I…”

“I know you still have feelings for your original world. I know you can’t just let go of it so easily. But I have no one left except you.―――Not in this village, nor in the world we came from.”

Natsuo couldn’t bring himself to argue that it wasn’t true. Shuu had already realized when he was eight years old that neither his father nor his mother wanted him to return.

And even after Natsuo had caused him to stray into this otherworld, Shuu had continued waiting for him. When Natsuo couldn’t even recognize Shuu after ten years apart, Shuu had recognized him at a single glance.

Natsuo hadn’t wanted the pendant Shuu had said he intended to give to someone precious to him to go to Etsuko… No, he hadn’t wanted to give it to anyone. Because he wanted to be the only person who was precious to Shuu. He couldn’t stand the thought of someone else being held in Shuu’s arms……

The sweet scent of the Sacred Flower melted away everything that had accumulated in his chest. His reason, his hesitation, his confusion.

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Next update: 2026.11.07

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