If Her Flag Breaks Volume 1 Chapter 7

Flag 7: The Resurrection Spell

The day after the declaration that Akane and Souta should date.

Nanami ended up locking herself in her room the previous night, so Souta’s bedsheet was not returned. In the end, he had to borrow an amazingly fragrant bedsheet from Megumu to wrap himself up and spend the night on the uncomfortable sofa.

Thanks to this, he slept very poorly that night, so he had to go to school dead tired.

To make matters worse, Akane’s attitude towards Souta became stiff and awkward. The Quest House squad, which had always been harmonious, became different from usual, and a stiff atmosphere permeated the air.

Then again, the establishment of Quest House was still due to Akane. Akane had always played a central role in Quest House as a beacon of happiness. Only now had Souta painfully felt how important her presence was.

“Ah, being home is so relaxing!”

In contrast, Kikuno seemed to be more free-spirited. After returning to the dorm, she sank deeply into the sofa.

“There’s still construction going on, how canst thou be so relaxed…”

The whole of Quest House was currently in a state of half-finished construction. This was because the craftsman and her club often came here at will to carry out various renovation projects without paying attention to the building codes.

“Let’s build an underground bunker.”

“Let's build a lookout tower on the roof.”

“Are you guys done?”

The craftsman heard her club members’ casual chatting and immediately scolded them loudly.

“We should first install conveyor belts in the hallways to make moving walkways!”

They might be planning to go to war on something.

If left alone, there was no guarantee that they would actually start construction. So Souta approached them and said:

“I’d say… we don’t need any weird equipment… so, senpai, since the living space is already roughly completed, there’s no need to be so particular about every place—”

“Bullshit!! There are rooms here that haven’t even been painted yet, and nearly half of the rooms haven’t been remodeled yet! The kitchen doesn’t even have cabinet doors installed!? This is just too incredible!!”

The craftsman’s subtle meticulousness was unnecessarily excessive.

So— boom boom, bang bang, the sounds of construction, which however you listen to it sound more like the sounds of destruction, resounded throughout the dormitory.

“There’s no way to relax here!”

“Is it relaxing or not?!”

Hearing Kikuno’s mood flip flop, Nanami couldn’t help but retort.

This is just too incredible. Seeing these boarders wasting their lives listlessly, the craftsman couldn’t help but have the idea to use their manpower. She said to Souta, saw in hand:

“I’d say, if you guys have time to play, then go move stuff out of the rooms on the second floor. There’s a pile of old stuff over there. Can’t renovate without moving it all out.”

“Oh, okay.”

“How troublesome…”

The boarders climbed up to the second floor, murmuring to each other, and ran into the rooms that needed to be cleaned up.

Souta originally planned to enter the room closest to him, but the moment he was about to grab the door handle, he noticed something moving in the corner of his eye, so he stopped.

“…?”

He looked in that direction again.

There really was something at the end of that dim, windows-boarded-up hallway.

“… A flag?”

Looking closely, there really was a flag there. Souta seemed to be attracted to it and unconsciously walked deeper into the hallway.

The place was covered in dust, and it looked like no one had been there for a while. There was only an unfamiliar flag, twisted into a strange shape, standing in front of the door.

Souta looked at the flag and felt an inexplicable chill in his heart that he had never felt before.

This was different from the ordinary flags that he would want to break by reflex, and it made him feel an extremely strange emotion.

Fear.

Goosebumps.

Suspicion.

Disgust.

All kinds of negative emotions rushed up.

“What kind of flag… is this...?”

Until now, Souta hadn’t seen an unidentifiable flag before. This was the first time he had come across a flag that was thoroughly unrecognizable.

“……”

After thinking for a while, Souta made up his mind to open the door.

At that moment, the flag disappeared.

He looked inside and saw that the room seemed to be used as a half a storage room. There didn’t seem to be anything special. Just cabinets, chairs, cardboard boxes, heaters, tables, beds and other furniture. Some of the same type of furniture was stacked up layer by layer, making it difficult to even walk in.

Among the pile of miscellaneous items in the corner of the room, there was something that looked like a small storage box with a drawer. Souta frowned as soon as he saw it.

The small storage box caught Souta’s attention because there stood the same flag.

“As they say, either don’t do it, or go all the way… right?”

Souta didn’t choose the Stop here option, instead opening the drawer of the storage box, which was only slightly larger than his palm.

At that moment, the flag disappeared again. At the same time — though it might not have been the exact same time — a sealed letter appeared in the drawer.

“…A letter?”

Souta felt that this was some kind of message from the flag. Thus, he took out the letter, embraced an indifferent mindset, and read both sides.

…But—

On the back of the sealed envelope, there was a string of small words written in blurry, faded, old handwriting. The content of the words shocked Souta's heart.

To Hatate Souta

“…To me?”

Incredibly, the inked words looked to be more than 20 or 30 years old, yet they were clearly addressed to him.

This experience couldn’t be more horrifying. Souta held back his goosebumps and read a piece of letter inside the envelope. The text was very concise:

Find them

Princess Knight, Magician, Priest, Ninja

Their sword and magic shall plant the first flag

“……What’s this?”

The letter ended there.

You could say the contents were meaningless.

Before he was born, had the letter sat here, mentioning him by name?

Of course, this letter could also be addressed to another person with the same name… but could it really be coincidence?

Could it be that he had entered a territory he shouldn’t have entered… and was imprisoned in this unusual cage known as the Academy?

Or maybe it had something to do with that hateful shipwreck…?

A feeling of uneasiness, bordering on despair, came over Souta.

No matter how many times he reread it, the letter did not give him the answers he really wanted.

The uneasiness that permeated Souta’s heart was just purely uneasiness for now.

That’s right—

—Just for now.

That night, after they were covered in dust cleaning stuff up—

Kikuno was still taking a bath to relieve the soreness caused by lifting heavy objects. Meanwhile, Akane had used up all her energy in the bath and collapsed on her bed. As for Megumu, he was so tired that he couldn’t move.

Only Nanami, who’d barely lifted anything, was up and about. She had positioned herself boorishly on the long sofa in the common room, legs straight, reading a book in the spot that seemed to have recently become hers exclusively.

… But Nanami didn’t turn the page at all and appeared to be distracted.

“……”

“What’s wrong, Nanami?”

Souta, who had just finished washing the dinner dishes, walked into the common room while wiping his hands. According to the chore rotation, Akane was supposed to do the washing, but since she was too tired to work, Souta ended up doing it instead.

Souta, who was cold to pretty much everyone, actually took initiative to show concern for Nanami. This was a rare step in a positive direction.

“Before… thou once saidst that staying with others would bring misfortune to them… or something like that.”

Nanami’s quiet voice made Souta frown.

“…That thing?”

“Is it because of that power? Or is it because the shadow of the accident is still there?”

“That question was quite blunt.”

“We have said this before. We are interested in strange people. Why didst thou become so detached and disillusioned? We are very curious.”

Nanami looked up at Souta’s self-deprecating smile.

“Let me think about it… a bit both, probably.”

Souta didn’t elaborate. In the end, she still couldn’t find out the reason for his heartache. But Nanami could see the depths of his heartache.

“Why ask such a thing?”

“… Hard to say.”

While Nanami mumbled, she began to recall what happened when she was cleaning up the old stuff on the second floor earlier.

In the dusty room —

“Hey, Akane.”

Nanami, who was slacking off and wasn’t doing anything, called out to Akane, who was working hard to move out the unused old stuff.

“What’s up?”

“Thou hast not talked to Souta much lately.”

When Souta’s name was mentioned, Akane trembled in surprise and dropped the chair in her hand.

“We know thou art embarrassed, but if thou continuest like this, Souta might be snatched away by Megumu.”

“……”

Akane forced a troubled smile and lowered her head.

“I feel like someone like me… can’t make Souta-kun happy.”

Nanami thought she had heard this somewhere before, so she fixed a stare at Akane.

Akane seemed to have succumbed to the pressure of Nanami’s gaze… and also seemed to have finally decided to get rid of the knot in her heart that had been holding her back for a long time. She looked towards the old, dirt-covered window, at the view of the spring-green forest, and opened her mouth to speak.

It was like she was in the prison of her own heart, looking out at the beautiful world outside…

“It was something five years ago…”

At that time—

Akane often skipped her extracurricular classes to hang out in the nearby library.

This was to meet a girl she had made friends with there.

Friends… For Akane, the granddaughter of the chairman of the Mahougasawa Group, it means the attendants given to her by her relatives.

At that time, in order to broaden Akane’s horizons, the tutor actively took her to places of interest. One of these places Akane was interested in was libraries. For a rich heiress like her, the act of “borrowing books” was very interesting.

Although she had forgotten how they met, the feeling of having a “friendship as equals” there for the first time was very new to Akane, and made her extremely happy. She never forgot that feeling.

But one day, the interaction between the two was naturally exposed.

Because the two proposed to exchange treasures, the girl gave Akane a cute hairpin, and Akane gave her a precious fountain pen of extraordinary value. The fountain pen was seen by the girl’s parents, who then learned of Akane’s existence.

Unfortunately for Akane and the girl, the girl’s father was a candidate for the leadership of a company related to the Mahougasawa Group.

The friendship between the two, which had nothing to do with their identities or positions, collapsed just like that.

The girl no longer spoke to Akane using anything other than honorifics, nor did they laugh together carefreely anymore.

The look in her eyes, as if she was looking at some thing from another world, made Akane feel heartbroken.

At that time, Akane looked in the mirror and could never forget what she looked like at that time.

That was the look of a sad person.

Even if I wanted to, I just couldn’t save that sad, sad, sad person.

When Akane met Souta, it was like she saw something she hadn’t seen in a long time — that version of herself.

Maybe this is the chance to save them?

She thought so. She hoped she was right.

At the same time—

“Will this be like that time again — like that girl — and his heart will be broken?”

She thought so. She couldn’t help but think that.

The girl who was once her friend must have been hurt in another way. She must be in pain too.

“If it weren’t for me…”

This thought was still deeply rooted in Akane’s mind.

Akane showed Nanami the cute hairpin that she still wore as a talisman, representing her girlhood memories. After she finished speaking, Akane sighed deeply.

“… I feel like if I’m the one closest to Souta-kun, Souta-kun would no longer be able to find happiness.”

Just like what happened with that girl.

“I… don’t want Souta-kun to look at me like she did. I won’t be able to bear it a second time. So…”

Akane smiled.

“… So, I can’t be the one closest to Souta.”

Nanami had never seen such a lonely smile in her life.

She was clearly smiling, but her expression looked like she was crying.

So Nanami smiled.

Smiled as usual.

She put on what Souta considered “fake-evil” — a sarcastic smile.

“Hmph, ye two really suit each other. Souta too… that guy said the same thing. Said something like if he was around, other people would not find happiness. Though the underlying reasons are kind of different…”

Nanami guessed that he was probably asked insensitive questions like “Why are you the only one alive?” after the shipwreck, so he was upset about being the only one to survive.

Then, Nanami tried to look like she found these two people annoying, as if to say You stubborn bastards, shrugged, and added:

“Not thinking about thy own happiness, but rather the happiness of others — since ye are this kind of people, ye shall surely be able to create an unbroken chain of happiness.”

This sentence made Akane’s eyes sparkle like ancient stars.

“It’s a poem! How enchanting!!”

Nanami realized that she had made another slip of the tongue, and her fair skin immediately turned red. Even her ears turned red. Her calm attitude was gone, and she panicked completely.

“What just happened doesn’t count! F-forget it! Forget it right nyowwwww!!”

Although she was actually just talking to Souta, Nanami suddenly started meowing and waving her limbs on the sofa. Souta shot a look of extreme suspicion towards her.

“Are you okay…? I think you should take a shower and go to bed.”

“Yea… We shall do just that.”

Nanami followed Souta towards the bath and stepped into the hallway..

Turning the corner of the hallway, Souta stopped in front of the bathroom, while Nanami went straight to the bath inside and said goodbye.

Then, after Souta opened the bathroom door——

“……”

In front of her was Akane, sitting on the toilet with her white panties pulled down to her knees. Her eyes twitched and looked up at Souta, who was frozen in the position of opening the door.

On one side was Souta, unable to move and having trouble breathing. On the other side was Akane, who had completely stopped thinking. The one change in them was that their faces gradually turned red and cold sweat ran down their cheeks. Hey, it clearly says one change, but there are two changes!

Anyways, their reactions showed how panicked they were. At this moment, Nanami saw in the corner of her eye that Souta looked a little strange, so she turned back from the changing room and went into the bathroom.

“What are you doing, Sou-”

Nanami was halfway through her words when she saw Akane in front of Souta — this also made her freeze.

However, Nanami was not involved, so she recovered faster. She made an expression between crying and fuming, and stretched out her arm to hit Souta's head.

“What art thou looking at!!”

“Oww!!”

Since the balance of staring at each other had been broken, Akane — previously white as a sheet — turned red as a blanket. But wait, what kind of color is that?

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!”

Akane’s thunderous scream echoed throughout the dorm.

At the same time, Akane grabbed wood next to the toilet — originally intended for building cabinets — and threw it at Souta’s face. Souta, hit dead on by this blow, fell backwards and hit the hallway wall.

“Gahhh!”

This attack made a destructive BANG!! sound, and Souta was wounded in action.

Watching the violent scene happening in front of her, this time Nanami’s brain couldn’t keep up with the situation. She stared blankly in place.

“……Huh??”

Instead, it was Akane who came to her senses first and rushed towards Souta.

“S-Souta-kun!? A-are you okay? It’s just a small wound! Cheer up!”

As Souta was being shaken about, his eyes rolled around. His hands hung limply, without any reaction.

Just then…

“Akane-chan!! I just heard a loud scream, what happened!?”

Wrapped in a towel, Kikuno rushed from the locker room to the hallway.

“Akane-chan… what was that shriek just now...?”

Megumu was so scared after hearing the shriek that he couldn’t stand up straight. Plus, his muscles were sore, so he could only stagger.

What the two saw was Akane and Nanami desperately shaking the unconscious Souta. But seeing Akane’s appearance made the two of them say in sync:

“Akane-chan, it might be better if you pulled up your panties…”

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”

A few minutes later—

Akane’s room was covered in a heavy atmosphere.

Akane and Souta quietly sat facing each other, as if they were playing a game of chess.

Nanami, who hadn’t had a chance to take a shower due to the incident, stayed in the position like that of a chess commentator, and watched the two silent people.

“…First, I want to confirm something.”

Akane, expression gloomy, spoke with a sigh after a very heavy silence.

Nanami and Souta, not knowing what question would come out, took a breath and waited for the next sentence.

“… Souta-kun… what places did you see?"

Direct shot! Nanami took a deep breath. This is a very important question for a girl.

“No, n-n-n-n-no, I didn’t see! I didn’t see anything! I just c-caught a glimpse of… panties… just a little bit, really… s-s-s-s-s-sorry.”

Seeing Akane blushing furiously and helplessly welling up with tears, Souta immediately dogeza’ed in apology. He jumped off the chair like a man, stepped back a few steps, and knelt down. By the way, looking up from this position, Akane’s panties could be seen again, which made Akane hurriedly hold her skirt down and squeeze her thighs together.

Akane and Nanami saw Souta panicking for the first time, and just based on this fact, they were considering forgiving him. These two were really easy to deal with.

“No, n-n-n-n-no, it’s okay! After I talked to Nanami, I was just spacing out… It’s my fault for forgetting to lock the door… I don’t mean to blame Souta-kun… It’s just… I can’t get married anymore…”

Akane’s speech became intermittent and she burst into tears. This was probably better than bursting into laughter, but maybe not. If she burst into laughter at this time, that would be pretty terrifying.

“It’s just panties, what’s the big deal? It’s not like losing an arm or a leg. If thou breakest over such a small thing, what would happen after a true tragedy?.”

“Wahhhhhhhh…”

Nanami tried to comfort Akane, but Akane still did not fully recover.

“A-aha! Just let the chief offender Souta take responsibility and marry you. Eh? Everything’s solved! Although this man seems like a loser, he must have at least one redeeming quality. Okay? Okay? Just think about it! For example, thou willst acquire a Big Sis who will spoil you in everything.”

“That’s not a quality about me, though?! Mmpf!”

The reason why Souta ended his words a little strangely was that he was surprised that he had no actual redeeming qualities, so he raised his head in protest while kneeling down — but Nanami, wearing smooth silk socks, stretched out her small feet, stepped on his head with the soles of her feet to shut him up, making him emit that sound.

“…sob. N-no. If Souta-kun takes responsibility for someone like me, it would be too sad…

“The way We see it, it is thee who should be sad for being the one Souta takes responsibility for…”

The two girls’ thoughts did not align at all..

“You really… didn’t see everything…?”

“I didn’t see everything! I swear.”

“Liar.”

Nanami’s behavior as neither friend nor foe hit Souta hard.

“I pretty much didn’t see the important part… probably!”

After shouting loudly, Souta began to hold his head in despair, immediately regretting his words.

“Everything…” Akane’s face, which had looked about to cry, suddenly changed into a different kind of worried expression.

“Souta-kun… Even if you saw my everything, can you please not change?”

“Akane…?”

That was obviously not Akane’s normal reaction, so Souta was confused.

“Even if you know my everything, would you still remain the same Souta-kun?”

Hearing Akane’s repeated question, Souta could tell that she was serious.

So, Souta also murmured with a serious expression.

“If I could change… I would also want to change.”

“…!”

Akane felt both happy and sad at Souta’s words.

Happy because that was her own feelings.

Sad because she sympathized with Souta.

Then, she thought—

Ahhh…

This person... will definitely stay this person.

Whether or not he changed…

No matter what happens, he will always treat me as me!

Akane lightly clenched her fists in front of her chest and closed her eyes happily.

Akane’s mood seemed to have improved. Souta, relieved, suddenly realized…

The countless love flags on Akane’s head began to transform…?

The love flags gathered one after another, and finally transformed into… a super huge love flag.

The ridiculously overwhelming presence of the flag made Souta sigh deeply.

He didn’t know if Akane knew what was in his mind, but her cheeks were flushed and she smiled happily.

Even if he wanted to deceive himself—

The girl’s heart, which had been restrained until now and is in love with a certain someone, seemed to suddenly blossom..

If only this were the case… Souta would only have to feel a headache, but…

The next moment, he was heartbroken by the scene before him.

“…!”

Because behind her huge love flag...

There was a death flag.

“……”

“……”

… Akane and Souta stared at each other, each gaze carrying different meanings.

Looking at the two’s passionate gazes…

“E-excuse me... Should We leave?”

Nanami, who was a little confused about the situation from the beginning, asked the two people for their opinions with slight annoyance.

Over the next few days—

“Souta-kun, if you have time, would you like to have a cup of tea together?”

“Souta-kun, please let me clean your room.”

“Souta-kun, would you like to talk for a bit?”

Just like this, Akane would always reservedly, politely, and somewhat hesitantly look for Souta.

From the beginning, Akane’s tendency to look after pitiful people made her particularly concerned about Souta; plus, Souta, who wanted to keep his distance from other people, had no expectations from the beginning, displaying an attitude that could not be called good nor bad… These factors seemed to make the love flag more and more stable. Even without seeing the flag, you could see that she was completely in love just by her eyes.

“U-um… if you don’t want to, just say so.”

After saying this, Akane’s cheeks turned red and she smiled shyly.

“It’s not that I don’t want to.”

As for Souta, he cared more about the death flag that would appear and disappear behind the love flag. He wanted to leave, but he couldn’t.

Because he couldn’t break it.

Normally, the words and actions to fold the flag would automatically come to his mind, but now he was at a complete loss.

So he stayed beside her, looking for leads.

“… So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Huh…? O-of course… love?”

“The bar is so high…”

“T-true. For me, this topic might be a little awkward, ahaha…”

Although the conversation didn’t seem very lively, such a conversation itself seemed to be a kind of joy, and Akane looked very happy.

Akane seemed to be aware of this point, and began to often say things like:

“I’m always feeling very happy now.”

However, this statement actually attracts a very unlucky flag.

Souta sensed this acutely…

“What? …What didst thou just say, Souta?”

After deciding that it was too difficult a problem to solve alone, Souta went to Nanami, who would semi-automatically come over whenever they needed to discuss flags. At this time, Nanami whispered this to Souta.

Although Nanami would never say it out loud, she felt very lonely because Souta rarely hung out with her now. Nanami said something like H-hmph! Why bother to come to Us? Thou canst just talk or drink tea with Akane. When she heard that Souta wanted to talk to her about the flag, she immediately reacted happily.

But after hearing the situation, Nanami couldn’t help but frown.

Because the details were somewhat ominous.

“A death flag has been raised above Akane’s head.”

“…What?!”

Although Nanami was looking forward to hearing the words Just kidding!, if Souta knew how to make such clever jokes, he would’ve been a much more popular person.

Thinking of this, Nanami began to think in a constructive direction.

“Since it’s been raised, just break it. Isn’t that thy specialty?”

“If it could be easily broken, I wouldn’t have come to consult you. I feel like Akane’s flag is different from those of ordinary people… But I can’t let this flag continue to stand. Absolutely not…”

Although they had only been together for a short time, Nanami has never seen Souta so serious.

Seeing Souta’s stern face, Nanami looked at him with a bit of surprise.

“…? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. We were just thinking that thou canst actually say such passionate words.”

“……”

When Nanami pointed this out, Souta’s expression became pained and he remained silent.

“When it comes to your lover… even someone like thou, who hast no interest in others, willst go all out?”

“Don’t just randomly put people together... Besides, I don’t have the qualifications…”

“W-what? So ye are not dating yet… Really, really…”

Nanami sounded as if she thought he was useless, and she said this as if angry and annoyed. However, there seemed to be a sense of relief in her tone.

“Anyways, I would rather ask you if you have any leads?”

“Huh? Nah, there isn’t anything.”

Nanami crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the sky, but she just couldn’t think of anything.

“Did she say anything unusual or blurt out anything ominous?”

“I don’t know… at most We only heard a little bit about her past.”

Nanami said it casually and easily, but it rendered Souta speechless.

“No way…! She talked about her past?!”

Talking about the past is a classic mark of a death flag.

If you talk to others about the key events in your past that shaped your personality, a terrible death will befall you.

“Is it that bad…?”

“Talking about your past is scarier than a normal death flag… because the past cannot be changed. And if you accidentally tell the whole story…”

“Then…?”

Souta, heart heavy, fell silent.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door and Akane came in.

“Nanami, have you seen Souta-kun... Ah! Souta-kun, so you were here... O-oh? Am I bothering you two? S-sorry... P-please continue your conversation…”

Looking like she had confirmed some suspicions, a hurt Akane reluctantly began to leave Nanami’s room.

“D-do not misunderstand! No, it is not what thou thinkest!!”

“But… if it’s Nanami and Souta-kun… I-I’m willing to support you! Because both of you are very important friends to me!”

“Forget about the support! It is Us who wants ye two to have a smooth relationship… enough! We could not care less about that kind of thing! Thou came here for something, right? What is it?!”

Before things devolved into an inextricable mess, Nanami ended the discussion and changed the subject. Although Nanami believed that she was not conceding the point but rather prevailing over it, she was the only one who thought so. Everyone except her could see that it was the other way around.

After hearing what Nanami said, Akane nodded several times, admitted that she had something to discuss with Souta, and came back into Nanami’s room.

“Actually, I wanted to invite everyone who helped rebuild the dorm to come and hold a housewarming party.”

“Oh. That’s a good idea, but some people are still working, right?”

Nanami casually looked out the window, where she could see the silhouettes of the craftsman and the others laying the foundation to build something new in the empty space next to the dorm.

“... Those people have already diverged from the goal of renovation and reconstruction.”

Souta followed Nanami’s line of sight through the window to see a group of people digging holes and driving piles and broke into a cold sweat.

Incidentally, they seemed to have gotten bored halfway through the renovation of the second floor of the dormitory, so they just stopped and put it aside. One could say they were so busy with the construction that they forgot their original purpose. If this cannot be said, then it is too late and hopefully there will be other ways to convey this later.

“So anyways, it’s pretty much wrapped up for now... And there were many people helping out other than Miss Craftsman, like our classmates…”

“Yeah, no reason to object.”

“If there were a reason to object, Nanami, would you then intend to object to the very end?”

“No, not to that extent…”

As usual, Akane said something strange. Nanami was a little confused, but just answered her for the time being.

“... Let’s not talk about that for now. Listen, Akane. I have something serious to discuss with you…”

“Eh!? Can I wash up first and come back later?!”

“…I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s not what you think. Just stay like this.”

“So you prefer it like this! I understand, I will stay like this!”

Although they weren’t on the same page, the purpose was achieved, so Souta didn’t offer any further complaints.

Souta, planning to resolve the issue of the death flag, looked at Nanami and nodded. In response, Nanami gave him a dubious look of Don’t do any indecent things and nodded back.

Surely there’s a limit to not being on the same page.

“I also want to hear about the past you told Nanami about.”

“Eh!? ...Nanami, did you tell him?”

“We did not mention the specifics. Souta has actively expressed his desire to know everything about you, Akane, so how about you tell him yourself?”

At Nanami’s suggestive phrasing, Souta stared at her and protested silently. That wasn’t what I meant though?! But Nanami just whistled as if nothing happened.

“I-I understand. Then…”

Akane took Nanami’s words seriously and, blushing, told the story in vivid detail.

Souta listened to Akane’s story attentively.

He thought that there might be clues to breaking the flag.

However, even after meticulously listening to the whole story, he didn’t find any clues.

Maybe since the death flag has already been confirmed, all he could do was wait until the flag took effect… Just as Souta was getting increasingly depressed—

“This is the hairpin from back then… ah!”

Akane exclaimed.

“My hairpin! I left it in that room.”

“That room? Is it the room where we talked earlier?”

“Yes. I probably left it there when I took it out to show Nanami. Please wait a moment, Souta-kun, I’ll go get it right now.”

Akane smiled bashfully, waved, and walked out of the room.

Souta subconsciously glanced at her just as he was about to fall into deep thought again— Souta suddenly saw Akane’s departing figure in slow motion against a white backdrop.

“…………Not good!!”

Seeing that extremely ominous scene, Souta ran after Akane.

However, when Souta came out into the hallway, Akane was no longer visible.

“…Akane!”

Meanwhile—

Akane jogged up to the second floor and walked quickly into the room where the hairpin was left.

Then she looked around, found the hairpin on the table, and picked it up joyfully.

“Found it!”

Akane clasped it tightly to her chest.

At this time, loud footsteps came from the hallway.

The footsteps stopped in front of the d— oh wait, the door had been removed.

“Akane…!”

“Souta-kun? What’s wrong? Did you want to see the hairpin that badly?”

“…Something like that.”

Souta, feeling somewhat relieved, nodded wryly.

“What am I gonna do about you, huh—”

Akane smiled bashfully and took a step forward excitedly...

CRRRRAAAAAACK! The old, rotten floorboards gave way.

“…Eh?”

This time it was Akane’s turn to see her surroundings move in slow motion.

Her body slowly, slowly, slowly floated in the air, as if a devil’s hand grabbed her feet and dragged her.

Like that, she was sucked downstairs.

Cue the scene of Souta rushing over frame by frame.

Souta came to the edge of the hole and held out his hand.

Hey, that’s dangerous.

——Although she wanted to say that, the feeling of continuously falling made her heart contract, so Akane was unable to turn the thought into speech.

Akane reached up, intending to grab Souta’s desperately outstretched hand.

Just a little bit off.

Just a hair’s breadth away.

However, their fingertips missed each other by a tiny bit, and they grasped the empty air.

In Souta’s eyes, there was Akane, looking like she didn’t know what was going on, and…

…the death flag standing ominously above her head.

It fell as if someone had torn it off, and a feeling like despair came with it.

Despondency.

Resentment at life.

A heavy, quiet sound was carried into the room downstairs.

Souta shuddered, which jolted him back to his senses. He turned and rushed to the stairs.

He stumbled to the room under the one he was just in and stepped into it, praying for the best.

“…Akane!”

Akane was lying on the floor in exactly the same position as he remembered seeing her from upstairs.

“Akane… Akane, stay awake!!”

Akane’s eyes, which had almost closed, opened weakly from Souta’s call.

“I clearly… lost weight though… rude floorboard…”

Her voice had barely any presence and was mixed with rapid breaths.

“I’ll call an ambulance right now!”

“…The hairpin.”

“Huh…?”

“The hairpin… that girl… gave me…”

Souta, compelled by her soft, silky voice, picked up the hairpin fallen nearby and let Akane hold it in her hand.

“Is this it?”

Akane nodded weakly and smiled a little sadly.

“Yeah... She hates me, doesn’t she? So much so that she wants me to lose it?”

“Dummy… it definitely isn’t like that.”

Souta lowered his eyes and Akane stared at him.

“That girl surely wants to make up with you, Akane. She will always protect you… until the day you meet again.”

In a gentle voice.

“So, you can’t die yet… you have to meet her again and make up.”

“…………”

“It fell off... because I didn’t wear it properly.”

“…………”

That comforting voice always touched her heart, so she couldn’t help but be enthralled by it.

“Akane?”

Akane wasn’t moving, so Souta called out her name, worried.

“Mmm… Souta-kun actually doesn’t like to be alone.”

A gentle voice.

“Just like this, just like you were to me… someone who can bring hope to others with their words.”

A comforting voice.

“I hope you have more people around you, I hope you can show the same care to more people.”

However, the vitality of that voice began to pour outward, fast enough to be fatal.

At this time, Souta suddenly discovered——

The death flag had begun to activate in full force.

“I understand… I’ll do that once you recover, Akane.”

Wait.

That’s not the kind of thing he wanted to say.

These are words that make a death flag plant more firmly.

However, Akane’s death flag was so powerful it made Souta say something he shouldn’t have said.

“…………”

Akane smiled.

And then, she was about to die.

No, this death flag is too strong…!!

This was the second time Souta despaired over a death flag.

I can't break it…

Teeth gritted and clenched fists trembling, Souta sank into the abyss of frustration and hung his head.

“…………”

……But—

"That’s it…!"

Just as he was about to give up on breaking the flag, he saw a light.

“Since the death flag is so strong that even I can’t break it…”

This kind of inversion of thinking can only be seen in the depths of despair.

I just have to plant another flag… I need to plant a flag stronger than the death flag… a survival flag!

He hugged Akane tightly, as her life’s flame was about to go out.

Akane was already unresponsive.

…Don’t hate me, Akane!

He aimed at Akane’s lips as her breath was about to expire…

…and kissed her.

“…………”

“…………”

Their lips overlapped.

At this moment, the death flag above Akane’s head… was covered by the survival flag that appeared with brilliant light.

“……Mm.”

Akane’s pallid face gradually regained its rosy color.

And then—

“……Mmm-mmm?!”

She realized what was happening to her, her eyes gradually opened wide, and her voice rose.

“W-w-w-w-w-w-w…?!”

Her legs and her hands wrapped behind her back swished around like an insect, and she retreated very quickly.

Akane’s face was ablaze, her lips were pouted, her eyes were filled with tears, her whole body was shaking…

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

… and she let out a piercing scream that resounded through the entire dorm.

Translator notes and references

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