Chapter 5: The Sinful Bad Woman
Because Nagi had been chatting with Mana, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time.
By the time Nagi and Kanade left school, it was already dusk.
Ever since Mana decided to pursue a career as an actress, her manager had been picking her up and dropping her off every day.
She no longer returned home with Nagi and the others like before.
The orange sunset cast a warm glow on the buildings lining the streets, making the eaves’ outlines shimmer in the afterglow.
The skyline of the city at sunset was peaceful and tranquil.
In front of the convenience store.
Kanade stood at the entrance waiting for Nagi, and an overwhelming sense of loneliness and confusion washed over her.
The city, shrouded in the sunset’s glow, felt like it was drifting away from her.
It was as though she was about to be abandoned by the people around her and this world.
Time passed mercilessly, pushing her unprepared self toward an uncertain future.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting!”
Nagi’s clear and pleasant voice called from behind, pulling Kanade back from her melancholic thoughts.
“I’m sorry for making you wait so long. As compensation, hold out your hand!”
Nagi made a fist with her right hand, as if hiding something.
Although Kanade wanted to explain that she hadn’t really waited long, she silently extended her palm due to Nagi’s insistence.
Then she received a brand-new eraser from Nagi.
It was in the shape of a black rabbit.
The slogan on it read, “Rabbits will die from loneliness, you know?”
It was an eraser that perfectly matched Nagi’s innocent and childlike side.
“What do you think? Cute, right?”
Although Kanade wanted to say that no middle school student should be using such childish animal-shaped erasers, she couldn’t bring herself to voice it in the face of Nagi’s triumphant smile.
“Well, how much is this?”
“Huh? You don’t need to pay! It’s a gift for you, Kanade-kun.”
“But I always receive gifts from little Nagi without giving anything in return…”
“Don’t worry about it! As long as Kanade-kun is happy, I’m satisfied!”
“But I do care! Does little Nagi want anything?”
Kanade had received various gifts from Nagi since childhood.
Having known each other for almost ten years, Kanade received a gift from Nagi for every holiday, yet she seldom returned the favor.
Although she had brought this up to Nagi before, Nagi always brushed it off.
Kanade felt she was now a middle schooler and needed to talk to Nagi about this properly.
“But I have already received the best gift from Kanade-kun!”
“Really?”
Kanade racked her brain but couldn’t recall giving Nagi anything particularly valuable.
At that moment, she noticed the notebook that Nagi was holding in her other hand, which she had just bought from the convenience store.
The notebook had a simple and plain appearance, with a smooth leather cover in a solid color, lacking any flashy decorations.
This reminded Kanade of the time he bought a simple and plain notebook with his limited pocket money to celebrate Nagi’s successful performance at the school culture festival.
Could it be that the best gift Nagi was referring to was that notebook he had given her?
Although it was indeed the first time he used his own money to give Nagi a gift, it was just a cheap item that even a child could afford…
“Yeah, it really is!”
Nagi stepped lightly out from under the eaves of the convenience store.
Her slender body was silhouetted against the orange sunset.
“Meeting Kanade-kun is the best gift I’ve ever received!”
Nagi suddenly glanced back and stretched out her right hand, her waist-length black hair dancing in the wind, and a smile brighter than the dusk spread across her cute, neat face.
As their gazes met under the waning sunlight, it felt like time had frozen, leaving only the two of them in the entire world.
Kanade’s light yellow eyes refracted a dazzling golden glow in the sunset, reflecting Nagi’s bright, shining eyes, dotted with countless starlights like the stars that would rise after the sun set.
Even when the afterglow faded, I would turn into starlight, accompanying you through the long night.
Without realizing it, Kanade grasped Nagi’s outstretched hand, and the smile in her eyes deepened.
“… Don’t tease me.”
“But what I said is the truth!”
Hand in hand, they began their journey home.
The street, dyed orange by the dusk, cast long shadows of the two behind them.
For Kanade, this was a daily routine since childhood, regardless of whether they were in the same class or whether it was sunny or rainy.
Nagi would always come to find him and walk home together.
— I want to always be by your side.
— I can’t imagine a future without you.
Yet at the same time, a sense of dread surged from Kanade’s heart.
— Watching her grow more beautiful and charming day by day.
— How long can this close childhood friendship between us last?
— Would there come a day when she would show that smile to someone else?
This thought gripped Kanade’s throat like a cold poisonous stinger.
Making him instinctively tighten his grip on Nagi’s hand.
“Kanade-kun?” Nagi’s confused voice brought him back to reality.
“Ah, I’m sorry…”
Kanade hurriedly released her hand, but Nagi tightened her grip instead.
Don’t worry, I will always be here, okay?
Nagi’s soft whispering, too faint to reach Kanade’s ears, drifted away with the wind.
— Until death separates us.
…
Kanade took Nagi back to the entrance of her upscale apartment.
Living in a high-rise luxury apartment in the city center, the Hoshimi family was one that couldn’t be compared to Kanade’s ordinary household.
At this moment, Kanade realized once again that Nagi was indeed a true daughter of a wealthy family.
Moreover, because of Nagi, Kanade had become familiar with residents and management of the upscale apartment, with whom he would otherwise have had no contact.
“Good evening! Thanks for your hard work again today, Tsuki Miko-san!” greeted the friendly, fresh-faced uncle who was the doorman to the two.
“You two look quite close today!” giggled the aunties chatting in the apartment lobby.
Basically, everyone living there knew Nagi and liked her a lot, indicating just how popular his adorable childhood friend was.
“Really! It’s not what you all think!”
Every time this happened, Nagi would protest with a slight blush on her cheeks.
“Well, see you tomorrow.”
Kanade could hardly stand the teasing from the older uncles and aunties.
“Yeah, Kanade-kun has to go to school with me tomorrow!”
Nagi’s slightly lonely tone made Kanade’s heart race.
“Yeah, I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow.”
“Okay, be careful on the way.”
Nagi stood at the entrance of the apartment, gently waving her arm to bid Kanade farewell.
Every time Kanade took Nagi home, they would say goodbye in a similar manner.
Kanade noticed that Nagi would keep waving until he turned the corner and disappeared from view before she turned to take the elevator upstairs.
This small detail warmed Kanade’s heart each time.
…
…
After all, men hope for this.
At parting, they want to hear a slightly lonely “Be careful on the way.”
When meeting, they wish to hear a joyful “Good morning.”
After saying goodbye and raising Nagi’s favorability as usual, she didn’t immediately take the elevator upstairs.
Instead, she turned and walked toward the garden in the center of the apartment’s first floor.
“Garuda.”
Nagi’s voice was low, and the charming look on her face no longer had the cute aura of a young girl.
Her once shimmering eyes had become dull.
At this moment, her eyes looked as murky as a tangled ball of black lines drawn repeatedly by a kindergarten child using a dark crayon.
The air seemed to chill slightly.
As Nagi spoke, a sound of something piercing the air exploded above her head but quickly dissipated in the wind.
A pure white dove floated down from the sky.
It landed steadily on Nagi’s delicate shoulder.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Same to you.”
The girl and the bird exchanged greetings typical of office workers ending their shifts.
“Now, let’s start with the daily work summary as usual.”
Nagi said while reaching up to massage her temples. She sat down on a long bench, her demeanor and movements remarkably firm, devoid of any feminine gracefulness.
“First, let’s report on the target’s activities in the neighboring Kawanishi City today.”
“That guy is still active within Kawanishi City as usual, showing no signs of leaving, but recently it seems like he has noticed he’s being monitored; his actions have become increasingly strange and erratic.”
“Good. If there’s any intention of approaching Kawanoya City, notify me.”
Nagi’s tone was cold and calm, switching to the demeanor of a corporate worker from her previous life.
The target she had Garuda surveilling was the villainous monster “Doppelganger,” which would only appear in the later parts of the original story of “Starlight 2.”
It possessed transformation abilities, making it a troublesome monster both from a gaming and a real-world perspective.
Although according to the original arrangements, it shouldn’t be showing its claws just yet, since the timing of her appearance had already greatly disrupted the original plot, caution was necessary.
After all, “Starlight 2” is a gal game, but it doesn’t solely revolve around the sweet daily lives of young couples.
This is a world where one can encounter monsters at any moment and engage in battles of extraordinary abilities.
Monsters, or what are called fantasy monsters, are entities created from the collective fantasies or impressions of human groups and draw strength from them.
They are essentially a collection of human beliefs or fears, so they thrive on creating panic in human society, treating lives as mere weeds.
Although Nagi had no intention of continuing to be a corporate worker, she still planned to protect humanity from the claws of monsters within a reachable range before Kanade grew stronger.
“Next, what’s the status of the ‘Barrier’? Is there any sign that our activities have been discovered by the ‘Special Environment Management Association (S.E.M.A)’?”
The Special Environment Management Association, abbreviated as “S.E.M.A,” is an organization of supernatural beings in the original story.
S.E.M.A operates as an unofficial organization active globally.
On the surface, it’s an environmental protection charity focused on governing and protecting the world’s environment.
In reality, it is a mysterious organization composed of individuals with supernatural abilities, dedicated to addressing the extraordinary disasters caused by monsters.
In addition to S.E.M.A, they have other ventures, such as “schools” for cultivating the superpowered, global “security employment companies” for fundraising purposes, and more…
Nagi had no intention of contacting them too soon; at least at this stage, both her existence and Kanade’s must remain unknown to them.
Garuda shook its bird head in a very human-like manner, indicating everything was normal.
“Under these circumstances, it’s not necessary to work overtime.”
Nagi let out a long sigh, speaking as if she wanted to lighten the atmosphere with a smile.
Garuda echoed the change of topic.
“By the way, what do you have in your hand, master?”
“This? I haven’t told you about it yet.” Nagi raised the notebook she just bought from the convenience store and said, “It’s a Death Diary.”
“… What?”
Ah, it’s certainly not a little notebook that curses whoever’s name is written in it to die.
As the name suggests, a Death Diary is simply a “diary for viewing by others after death.”
Nagi had once heard a saying: “What serious person writes a diary?”
She deeply resonated with it, so what she writes is not a diary but a biography.
A diary is what she writes for herself, while a biography is what she writes for others.
All of this rooted back in the gift Kanade had given her when they were children.
It was a very simple and plain notebook that had troubled Nagi for a long time.
Since it was Kanade’s first gift to her, she wanted to endow it with more significance, allowing it to take on greater effect when he might later regret not having done more.
But unfortunately, this was just a notebook; if it had been a hairpin or something similar, it would have been much easier.
She could have used it to clip her hair from childhood and thus express how much she cherished it through that act.
Later on, perhaps on the day Kanade actively sought her out for a date, she could intentionally get attacked by a monster at the designated place he arranged.
Finally, amidst the fiery ruins, he would find a charred corpse adorned with a very familiar hairpin…
Hmm, too bad Kanade didn’t give her any accessories.
However, after some reflection, Nagi found a good way to use the notebook as a catalyst for lifelong regret.
That is to write her “biography” on it, which Kanade would see after her death.
— “Date X, today Kanade-kun and I both became middle school students. Kanade-kun looks so handsome in his middle school uniform, and he even complimented me on how cute I look in mine; I’m really happy…”
— “Date X, today Kanade-kun suddenly doesn’t want to hold hands with me anymore on the way to school. Does he maybe dislike me? Even though I love those days when we hold hands to school, I’m afraid Kanade-kun finds me annoying and won’t want to hold hands anymore…”
— “Date X, today I saw a survey on TV stating that childhood friends of the opposite sex tend to grow distant as they age. Would the relationship between Kanade-kun and me turn out like that? Feeling anxious, I couldn’t help but call Kanade-kun at night, and not only did he not get angry, but he also chatted with me…”
— “Kanade-kun is so gentle. I like you the most.”
…
Death is just a moment; witnessing the death of a loved one is naturally heartbreaking.
But what truly leads to lifelong regret—
Is the stark contrast formed between “a world with you” and “a world without you.”
Therefore, the contents of this diary aim to help him recall “the beautiful times spent together.”
While also documenting her aspirations and yearnings for “a wonderful life together in the future.”
Through simple and straightforward words, deeply etch this sense of despair into his very bones.
Making him truly regret “for a lifetime.”
Phew~ I truly am a sinful bad woman.
But I absolutely have no regrets.
However, it’s still too early.
Considering the plot of the original work.
Nagi plans to make Kanade regret for a lifetime after high school, awakening him to the supernatural abilities needed to save the world.
Until then, let me continue to play the role of the perfect beautiful childhood friend who is always by your side.
