kscans

Chapter 61 -

# No Major Upsets

Throughout history, when it comes to trios, each member naturally develops a distinct personality. That makes sense. A duo can work with similar personalities—doubling their strength through synergy—but three identical people would be overkill.

Look at the Three Kingdoms: Liu Bei was the passionate idealist (according to the novel), Guan Yu was the stoic, and Zhang Fei was the hothead. That's how it works.

We were the same way. I was the dependable leader like the virtuous Liu Bei, while Takahashi was the hot-blooded yankee type.

So where did Suzuki fit in? Was he the pretty boy of our trio with the highest face score? Since he wore glasses, maybe the serious handsome type?

That would be the impression, but reality was... a bit different. Though he had his serious moments, he was actually quite eccentric.

Well, Takahashi was eccentric too. Actually, you'd have to be somewhat unhinged to desire extreme worlds of chaos or order in the first place.

...Let's get back to Suzuki.

This isn't about the crazy story of how Onisaki seduced him into joining the True World faction.

Let me share a funnier episode instead of those depressing stories.

Once, we received an extermination request from the Mutual Aid Society to crush some scum. During our pre-assault reconnaissance, we discovered their base was perfect for burning down.

Takahashi and I were giddy, saying things like "I want to see fire! Show me those scumbags burning gloriously!"

"...How about we stop with the arson?" Suzuki suddenly objected.

"Did you... fall out of love with it?" I asked with manga-heroine-like confusion.

The thug Takahashi unleashed his bad attitude on Suzuki: "Haaaah? What's with this goody-two-shoes act, huh?"

"No, that's not what I mean," Suzuki remained perfectly calm.

"Look, even if something is your favorite food, eating the same thing every day is bad for your body, right?"

"Well... that's true. My old man apparently got sick from eating curry every day when he was young."

"So what the hell are you trying to say, Suzuki?"

Then Suzuki started gesturing like some self-important CEO during his explanation:

"I'm saying we should try something different occasionally to balance our spiritual nutrition. We need a challenge! Now is the time for us to try something new. It's not just about breaking monotony. By stepping away temporarily, we can make our love for arson even stronger."

"I see. By deliberately distancing ourselves, we realize how irreplaceable it was."

I nodded back then, but thinking about it calmly, Suzuki was clearly not right in the head. Me? I'm perfectly sane. I was just a victim fooled by Suzuki's con-artist-like talk. Deceiving an innocent teenage me—you're a bad guy, Suzuki.

"But Suzuki, you wouldn't bring this up without having an alternative plan, right?"

"Exactly what Satou said. I was already in a fire-raid mood. If you're going to change that, you better offer something worthwhile."

Suzuki pushed up his glasses with his index finger and smiled.

"Of course. Let me take the lead this time."

He spread a map of the area around their base on the table and began explaining.

"To get straight to the point, today's menu is a water attack."

"A water attack?"

"Yes. Look carefully at this terrain. If we break this part and this part... guide the flow... and..."

"Oh? Ohhh... OH! I see, this could definitely turn interesting."

Long story short, Suzuki's malicious water attack completely submerged an entire village.

In our defense, no civilians were harmed... or rather, there were "no civilians present." Those bastards had killed all the villagers and taken their places as camouflage.

I later learned that Suzuki got the water attack idea from Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was researching Hideyoshi after watching a historical drama and got inspired.

"Next time, I'd like to try a siege that cuts off their supplies," he said. Completely hopeless.

So now you understand that he wasn't purely the serious type—he was pretty unhinged himself. Sometimes I and Takahashi would be overeager while Suzuki acted as the voice of reason, and other times Suzuki would go overboard and we'd have to rein him in.

Our trio functioned well that way... but it didn't last forever. As I mentioned earlier, Suzuki aligned himself with Onisaki's ideology.

After defeating Takahashi... defeating? I went straight to Suzuki.

"Hey," he greeted me with a smile, as casually as meeting a friend at an arranged spot.

Suzuki tossed me a can of coffee—my favorite brand. The super-sweet kind that both Takahashi and Suzuki hated.

"Nice weather today, isn't it?" he said nonchalantly while sipping his own coffee.

He must have known. That this would be our last meeting.

That only death—one of ours—could put an end to our relationship now.

And yet—no, perhaps precisely because of that.

Our relationship had no future ahead. But what we had in the past was real. And even now, facing each other, he still considered us friends. Maybe that's what he wanted to convey.

That I wouldn't be in his future, but the fact that we were friends remained an unshakable truth.

...To be honest, I didn't have the luxury of wallowing in sentimentality at that time, still shocked by Takahashi's transformation into a woman.

"Well then, shall we begin?"

"...Yeah."

We simultaneously drained our coffee cans, tossed them aside... and the battle began.

I won. After fighting Takahashi, I had grown even stronger.

There was no way Suzuki, who was on par with Takahashi, could defeat me in that state.

It was as inevitable as 1+1=2. There was no major upset where 1+1 suddenly equals infinity. Because I was always the one causing those upsets.

"If it's you, that's fine," he said.

If I was the one to kill him, he had no complaints. Despite ending up with opposing ideologies, Suzuki said the same thing as Takahashi.

"If it were Takahashi, I'd be genuinely frustrated... but I could accept it."

But, Suzuki smiled, "If it's by your hand, I have no objections. It's the perfect conclusion to my life."

He told me to kill him. If I didn't, he would shamefully continue pursuing his dream.

However, I remained calm, contemplating the mysterious phenomenon that had happened to Takahashi during our battle.

Yes, I had already completely mastered the secret technique that would later be called the TS Divine Fist.

"—You can hate me if you want."

What happened after needs no explanation. Suzuki and I never met again.

I thought our paths would never cross again... until I reunited with Takahashi.

After that incident with Takahashi, I honestly had some expectations. That someday I might meet Suzuki again too.

"But... but... this is just too much, goddammiiiiiiit!!!"

"Hey, people are watching! They're looking at us! Stop it, Satou-kun!"

But I can't stop... the tears, the tears...

"Besides, if you hadn't recognized me, why would you accept such a suspicious invitation..."

"Are you stupid?! When a beauty like you makes that kind of invitation, any guy would think it's a dream come true!"

"Beau... dream...!? I-Idiot! What are you saying?! ...Really, you never change."

And to think it would turn out like this... Suzuki, so your wicked nature remains unchanged, huh?!