Next Door - Open World Chapter 4
Dec. 27th, 2020 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivalriesSeason: Summer
Translation by iridesenescence
---
[Stairwell]
Tsumugi: Ah, so that's what this was about?
Natsume: Huh? What do you mean, "so that's what this was about"?
Tsumugi: Umm, lately you've been going around proclaiming yourself as the Five Eccentrics'... successor or something, and trying to take over Yumenosaki Academy, right?
Natsume: Mmhm. Since we have a common goal, I've been working with Knights' Su~kun.
That kid... Everyone seems to underestimate him quite a bit, but his ability is exceptional, and he's got both might and authority on top of that.
All that's left is to win over our student council president Sari-kun, and we'll have completed our campus conquest.
I'm already working on gaining his trust through my connection with Baru-kun, anyway.
As long as things in school are stable, it seems he'll let anything slide—at present, he's no threat to us at all.
Tsumugi: You sure give people some odd nicknames, Natsume-kun.
Natsume: Yeah. By stealing the name used by someone precious to them, I can strike their nerves.
Perhaps this is another one of my bad habits... Though it's purely subconscious on my part.
Tsumugi: Well, putting that aside. So right now, you're trying to take control of Yumenosaki Academy as one of the Five Eccentrics...
Carefully, deftly... So that this time, things won't end in a feud or subjugation.
Natsume: Yeah. Though the "Five Eccentrics" ruling the academy is but a fictional story concocted by a certain group of people...
If I make that come true, the lie you all concocted will traverse spacetime and become reality.
With that in mind, I'll be sure to do my absolute utmost to take control of the academy.
So when the historians of future generations see how Yumenosaki is flourishing, this is what they'll think: that instead of the student council, the Five Eccentrics really were the ones who should have been ruling over the school...
That the student council's actions were foolish, worthless, and ultimately all in vain.
Of course, that wasn't how it was in reality. But for every person who thinks that way, I'll feel that much more satisfied.
As the last of the Five Eccentrics, Natsume Sakasaki—this shall be my petty little vengeance.
Tsumugi: Yes. It's only natural that you'd exact vengeance on us—we know very well what we did, after all.
Honestly, the rest of the Five Eccentrics are far too reasonable. Shu-kun is the only one who continues to hold on to his anger.
Natsume: But even Shu-niisan would never retaliate in a concrete manner, you know. He's proud, wise, beautiful, but most of all, he's a kind person.
To Nii-san, the best form of revenge will be to treat everything that happened as nourishment for him, so that he may present to the world art that can be replicated by no other.
Decent people cannot sustain themselves solely on negative emotions like hatred.
Even Double Face, or whatever their name was that debuted the other day... Both its members can survive only because they have their respective public faces in MaM and Crazy:B.
By keeping in check the negative emotions that could potentially destroy them, they become capable of temporarily transforming, allowing them to accomplish what they need to without ever falling into ruin.
Doing so allows them to remain human, and to go on living.
Of course, I'm no exception; I won't be able to live sustained solely by the negative sentiment of revenge.
We have other motives for staging this conquest of Yumenosaki as well. Though I'm sure that even without hearing my explanation, you've got a rough idea of what those are, Senpai.
Tsumugi: Yes. This is an investment for the future, isn't it? It's quite the signature move of us at NewDi.
Natsume: We haven't achieved the results to say it's a signature move with our heads held high, though... At present, that is. When the time comes, we'll be sure to leave all those who currently look down on us absolutely speechless.
Tsumugi: We sure will. For that day to come, let's do what we can right now, and move forward, one step at a time.
Fufu. Ahh, I'm so relieved to hear that you have no intentions of repeating the tragedy of the past... To be honest, I was kinda worried.
While reading my horoscope this morning, I couldn't help but recall what happened last night, and it suddenly filled me with unease.
Somehow, you just seemed awfully lonely back then, Natsume-kun... I started to wonder if I was doing the exact same thing to you as the other Five Eccentrics did.
I shut you out, shouldered everything by myself, tried to protect you, and—I have no good way to say this, but... focused too much on my own satisfaction.
Even though I knew just how much that had hurt you before.
Natsume: Oh come on, I wouldn't be hurt by something as trivial as that. And unlike you, it's not because I feel no pain when I get hurt—I really haven't sustained a single scratch from this.
After all, we've been active as Switch for a bit longer than a year now. All that has helped us grow, and we've come to understand our comrades at least a little.
We can predict and understand each others' movements, and we know very well how to distance ourselves just enough to avoid hurting each other.
I mean, if we weren't capable of that much, then we'd end up wondering "exactly what was the point of the year we spent together?", wouldn't we?
Right now, I'm able to properly understand you, and I trust you, Senpai.
I don't want you to interpret this weirdly, but I'll say it anyway—I love you, so there isn't a single thing you need to be anxious about.
Tsumugi: I love you too, Natsume-chan~♪
Natsume: I've told you not to add a "chan" to my name, shaggy glasses. I'll kill you.
Tsumugi: We've been talking for so long, but that's the first spell you say?!
Natsume: That just means those are the feelings I wanted to convey the most.
Don't take things for granted just because you're loved; it doesn't mean I'll affirm or forgive everything you say or do, so you'd best keep that in mind.
I'm not a child anymore, so I know the tough times until now were necessary for us to live with our heads held high, but...
If you push yourself to the point where you're collapsing randomly, we're obviously going to worry about you dying...
It's true that sometimes you need to be a little reckless to achieve success and attain happiness. But—if you're constantly acting that way, you'd be acting just like the gamble-crazy Crazy:B.
We are not gamblers, but magicians, you know.
Tsumugi: Yes... Creating these personas for yourself is important; that fact is surprisingly true even out in the adult world.
For better or worse, everyone seems to be unable to see past the labels we attach to ourselves.
Though, I'm an average person who's a magician only in name, so all I can do is work my hardest and plod along steadily.
Natsume: Yeah. Do your best. Sora and I will lend you a hand—No, we'll be there to work our hardest beside you, so rely on us a little.
Wait, that's right... We ended up getting comfortable chatting on and on here, but I was actually looking for Sora.
Tsumugi: Sora-kun?
Actually, is he not with you today?
It's a weekday after all—I was under the impression that you're always together at school.
Natsume: Not always~... Honestly, I didn't want him to get involved with all these bloody schemes, so...
For whatever reason, I saw it as a good thing that he was avoiding me at school, and just let it be.
It sounds awful when I put it this way, but I haven't had the luxury of time to address it either.
Tsumugi: Natsume-kun, aren't you always telling me off for doing the exact same thing? I'm sure Sora-kun is feeling lonely~, he's surprisingly clingy, you know?
Natsume: I mean, you've been neglecting Sora too, Senpai. I won't let you pin all the blame on me...
Of course, I do deserve part of the blame. Both of us are responsible for this situation.
The two of us have spent a long time together, constantly butting heads... That's how we've come to understand each other fairly well.
We've got a good grasp on what a healthy distance between us should look like, I think.
But when it comes to Sora—just how well do we understand him?
Especially when we have no clue as to where he might be, or what he might be doing right now?
Tsumugi: ......
---
< Open World Chapter 3 || Masterlist || Open World Chapter 5 >
Translation by iridesenescence
---
[Stairwell]
Tsumugi: Ah, so that's what this was about?
Natsume: Huh? What do you mean, "so that's what this was about"?
Tsumugi: Umm, lately you've been going around proclaiming yourself as the Five Eccentrics'... successor or something, and trying to take over Yumenosaki Academy, right?
Natsume: Mmhm. Since we have a common goal, I've been working with Knights' Su~kun.
That kid... Everyone seems to underestimate him quite a bit, but his ability is exceptional, and he's got both might and authority on top of that.
All that's left is to win over our student council president Sari-kun, and we'll have completed our campus conquest.
I'm already working on gaining his trust through my connection with Baru-kun, anyway.
As long as things in school are stable, it seems he'll let anything slide—at present, he's no threat to us at all.
Tsumugi: You sure give people some odd nicknames, Natsume-kun.
Natsume: Yeah. By stealing the name used by someone precious to them, I can strike their nerves.
Perhaps this is another one of my bad habits... Though it's purely subconscious on my part.
Tsumugi: Well, putting that aside. So right now, you're trying to take control of Yumenosaki Academy as one of the Five Eccentrics...
Carefully, deftly... So that this time, things won't end in a feud or subjugation.
Natsume: Yeah. Though the "Five Eccentrics" ruling the academy is but a fictional story concocted by a certain group of people...
If I make that come true, the lie you all concocted will traverse spacetime and become reality.
With that in mind, I'll be sure to do my absolute utmost to take control of the academy.
So when the historians of future generations see how Yumenosaki is flourishing, this is what they'll think: that instead of the student council, the Five Eccentrics really were the ones who should have been ruling over the school...
That the student council's actions were foolish, worthless, and ultimately all in vain.
Of course, that wasn't how it was in reality. But for every person who thinks that way, I'll feel that much more satisfied.
As the last of the Five Eccentrics, Natsume Sakasaki—this shall be my petty little vengeance.
Tsumugi: Yes. It's only natural that you'd exact vengeance on us—we know very well what we did, after all.
Honestly, the rest of the Five Eccentrics are far too reasonable. Shu-kun is the only one who continues to hold on to his anger.
Natsume: But even Shu-niisan would never retaliate in a concrete manner, you know. He's proud, wise, beautiful, but most of all, he's a kind person.
To Nii-san, the best form of revenge will be to treat everything that happened as nourishment for him, so that he may present to the world art that can be replicated by no other.
Decent people cannot sustain themselves solely on negative emotions like hatred.
Even Double Face, or whatever their name was that debuted the other day... Both its members can survive only because they have their respective public faces in MaM and Crazy:B.
By keeping in check the negative emotions that could potentially destroy them, they become capable of temporarily transforming, allowing them to accomplish what they need to without ever falling into ruin.
Doing so allows them to remain human, and to go on living.
Of course, I'm no exception; I won't be able to live sustained solely by the negative sentiment of revenge.
We have other motives for staging this conquest of Yumenosaki as well. Though I'm sure that even without hearing my explanation, you've got a rough idea of what those are, Senpai.
Tsumugi: Yes. This is an investment for the future, isn't it? It's quite the signature move of us at NewDi.
Natsume: We haven't achieved the results to say it's a signature move with our heads held high, though... At present, that is. When the time comes, we'll be sure to leave all those who currently look down on us absolutely speechless.
Tsumugi: We sure will. For that day to come, let's do what we can right now, and move forward, one step at a time.
Fufu. Ahh, I'm so relieved to hear that you have no intentions of repeating the tragedy of the past... To be honest, I was kinda worried.
While reading my horoscope this morning, I couldn't help but recall what happened last night, and it suddenly filled me with unease.
Somehow, you just seemed awfully lonely back then, Natsume-kun... I started to wonder if I was doing the exact same thing to you as the other Five Eccentrics did.
I shut you out, shouldered everything by myself, tried to protect you, and—I have no good way to say this, but... focused too much on my own satisfaction.
Even though I knew just how much that had hurt you before.
Natsume: Oh come on, I wouldn't be hurt by something as trivial as that. And unlike you, it's not because I feel no pain when I get hurt—I really haven't sustained a single scratch from this.
After all, we've been active as Switch for a bit longer than a year now. All that has helped us grow, and we've come to understand our comrades at least a little.
We can predict and understand each others' movements, and we know very well how to distance ourselves just enough to avoid hurting each other.
I mean, if we weren't capable of that much, then we'd end up wondering "exactly what was the point of the year we spent together?", wouldn't we?
Right now, I'm able to properly understand you, and I trust you, Senpai.
I don't want you to interpret this weirdly, but I'll say it anyway—I love you, so there isn't a single thing you need to be anxious about.
Tsumugi: I love you too, Natsume-chan~♪
Natsume: I've told you not to add a "chan" to my name, shaggy glasses. I'll kill you.
Tsumugi: We've been talking for so long, but that's the first spell you say?!
Natsume: That just means those are the feelings I wanted to convey the most.
Don't take things for granted just because you're loved; it doesn't mean I'll affirm or forgive everything you say or do, so you'd best keep that in mind.
I'm not a child anymore, so I know the tough times until now were necessary for us to live with our heads held high, but...
If you push yourself to the point where you're collapsing randomly, we're obviously going to worry about you dying...
It's true that sometimes you need to be a little reckless to achieve success and attain happiness. But—if you're constantly acting that way, you'd be acting just like the gamble-crazy Crazy:B.
We are not gamblers, but magicians, you know.
Tsumugi: Yes... Creating these personas for yourself is important; that fact is surprisingly true even out in the adult world.
For better or worse, everyone seems to be unable to see past the labels we attach to ourselves.
Though, I'm an average person who's a magician only in name, so all I can do is work my hardest and plod along steadily.
Natsume: Yeah. Do your best. Sora and I will lend you a hand—No, we'll be there to work our hardest beside you, so rely on us a little.
Wait, that's right... We ended up getting comfortable chatting on and on here, but I was actually looking for Sora.
Tsumugi: Sora-kun?
Actually, is he not with you today?
It's a weekday after all—I was under the impression that you're always together at school.
Natsume: Not always~... Honestly, I didn't want him to get involved with all these bloody schemes, so...
For whatever reason, I saw it as a good thing that he was avoiding me at school, and just let it be.
It sounds awful when I put it this way, but I haven't had the luxury of time to address it either.
Tsumugi: Natsume-kun, aren't you always telling me off for doing the exact same thing? I'm sure Sora-kun is feeling lonely~, he's surprisingly clingy, you know?
Natsume: I mean, you've been neglecting Sora too, Senpai. I won't let you pin all the blame on me...
Of course, I do deserve part of the blame. Both of us are responsible for this situation.
The two of us have spent a long time together, constantly butting heads... That's how we've come to understand each other fairly well.
We've got a good grasp on what a healthy distance between us should look like, I think.
But when it comes to Sora—just how well do we understand him?
Especially when we have no clue as to where he might be, or what he might be doing right now?
Tsumugi: ......
---
< Open World Chapter 3 || Masterlist || Open World Chapter 5 >
