Chapter 2: Stranded in the Desert
To go home, I have to die.
To be honest, I was half giving up on that fact.
Right now, with this Halo on me, I thought dying was impossible.
Common sense says a Kivotos body that barely gets a scratch from a bullet couldn’t possibly die easily.
Grrrr
Yeah, I thought it was impossible.
“…Damn it…”
That is, until I went days without eating anything, rolling around in the middle of the desert.
The one who brought me here didn’t have an ounce of consideration.
They just dumped me on some random street, so I had no idea where to go to find Abidos High School.
Let alone a home, I had no money, no identity—there was no way to live normally in this desert.
Grrrr
“Shut up…”
After days of not eating or drinking a drop of water, sleeping on the streets, I finally started walking across the desert to find Abidos.
At the very least, the Abidos kids might give me something to eat.
Of course, that thought came only after getting brutally rejected by those Helmet Gang punks I tried to mooch off of.
“Those damn jerks… Couldn’t they at least spare a piece of bread…?”
Some of them didn’t just refuse to give me food—they even attacked me, saying I must be from Abidos.
Thanks to that, my whole body aches like hell.
I get why those Arius kids keep spouting “futile” all the time.[^1]
“Ah, crap.”
No matter how much I wandered, I couldn’t reach Abidos High School.
Before long, my strength gave out, and I collapsed in the middle of the desert.
Grrrr
“Haa…”
Lying there, I didn’t even think about getting up.
I just clutched my stomach and stared at the sky.
“The sky’s so damn clear…”
While my heart’s clouded with storms and lightning.
Grrrr
“I’m starving… Really… Really… Why is this happening to me… Sob… What did I do wrong…?”
Thinking about my situation again, tears welled up.
Back home, I’d be waking up, eating with my parents, and heading to school right about now.
But here I am, barely scavenging scraps of food.
And the worst part? The longer I can’t die, the longer I’m stuck away from my normal life.
I’m still way too young to accept something like this.
“Just… let me die like this…”
Come to think of it, even Kivotos people, tough as they are, are living beings who need energy to survive.
If I stay like this, I’ll die eventually.
Sure, the process will be pure agony, but compared to living like this, it’s probably better.
“How is this supposed to be a youth story…?”
Cursing this world to the end, I closed my eyes.
…
“…”
But it seems this place won’t even let me die.
“Haa… Where the hell am I now, damn it…?”
When I opened my eyes, it wasn’t my home—not even close.
Another unfamiliar place.
“You’re awake?”
And standing right in front of me was the root cause of my TS reincarnation here—
Takanotsume Hoshino.
“Goddamn futile, damn it.”
That was my first meeting with her, Takanotsume Hoshino.
Since then, a lot has happened, but I ended up becoming a student at Abidos.
That’s where I am now.
Oh, but just because I’m an Abidos student doesn’t mean I’m fulfilling that message’s request or giving up on dying.
If I could die right now, I would.
It’s just that my goal shifted a bit—to repay a small kindness and, until then, to find a way to die in one shot, no matter how.
And the ironic reason my goal changed?
“Sora-chan~”
It’s her, Takanotsume Hoshino.
Funny how that works.
“…Hoshino-san.”
“Uhe~ Not Hoshino-san, call me Big Sis~”
“No way.”
No matter how much I got TS’d, my pride won’t let me call her Big Sis.
“By the way, Sora-chan, what were you doing here?”
“…Looking at the sky.”
‘…Did she figure it out?’
I thought I’d been hiding it well until I got cocky with the world’s strongest handgun.
‘Should’ve done it in the middle of the desert like usual.’
The reason I’m looking for a way to die in one shot?
“Uhe, really? Then what’s this .44 Magnum doing here?”
It’s so she doesn’t have to see me trying to kill myself anymore.
I quickly picked up the gun I’d tossed on the ground and stammered.
“…I-It’s a gift! You’ve done so much for me, Hoshino-san, so I thought I’d give you a nice weapon…”
“Hmm~? Then why’s there blood coming from your head, I wonder?”
“What.”
‘Oh, crap! It hurt like hell, but I thought it didn’t even draw blood?!’
I hurriedly touched my head, but—
“H-Huh?”
Weirdly, there wasn’t a trace of blood or even a scratch.
“Uhe, that reaction. You really did it, didn’t you?”
“…Crap.”
Looks like I fell for a sting operation.
Hoshino’s blank expression is terrifying.
“…Would you believe me if I said I was testing the gun’s power?”
“Uhe, nope.”
“Haha, of course you wouldn’t.”
Looks like I’m getting locked up for a while.
“…Could you maybe let it slide just this once…?”
“No way.”
“Hnng.”