Chapter 48
As he heard the incomprehensible words, Yuichiro frowned. What does it mean that he won’t let the mother he killed die a dog’s death?
“I don’t understand it at all,” he sighed. Yuichiro leaned back on the cushion and gazed up at the sky. “When I first met him, he was a pretty talkative guy,” he muttered to himself as he gazed up at the silvery white sky.
To Yuichiro, Edward was not a quiet person, but rather a very talkative one. However, it was true that what he was saying was nonsensical. When Yuichiro was recalling this, he could hear voices saying, ‘What?’ ‘Eh?’
“Wait a second. Have you met Edward-sama?” Temeraire inquired, his voice stiff.
[Come to think of it, I didn’t talk to them about my encounter with Edwards.”.
“Ah, I did.”
“When and where?”
“In the woods, when Am Yisu was burning.”
Temeraire’s eyes widened in surprise as he answered the man’s question. Looking around, he noticed Noah had a similar expression. In the midst of it all, only Goat was holding both ears with both hands for some reason.
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”—“Why didn’t you say that earlier?”
Their cries synchronized and echoed piercingly through the sky. Nonetheless, Yuichiro, who was cupping both of his ears, was too late. Screams echoed inside his skull as Temeraire and Noah yelled at him from opposite directions. He could see Goat’s cheeks puffing out in a wide smile through his dizzying vision.
[I suppose this is what it means to be interrogated thoroughly[1].]
From both sides of the room, they questioned him in a blunt, sometimes stern tone of voice. He was asked to recount, word for word, his encounter with Edward, what the man had done to him, and their conversation, as best he could remember.
“Ahhh?! He told you to come to join him!?!?” As Yuichiro told the story of being headhunted by Edward, Noah yelled in a deranged voice.
Temeraire then asked angrily, “And how did you respond?”
Yuichiro turned away and replied in an unhappy tone, annoyed by their hungry stares. “Since I’m here right now, you already know how I responded.”
“Please tell me exactly what you did.”
Yuichiro raised an eyebrow in response to Temeraire’s persistent questioning. “Shut up, you’re trying to be my girlfriend now that you’re acting like a mother.”
Yuichiro’s crude remarks made Temeraire’s face contort. Temeraire’s angry expression became even more terrifying with his beautiful face. Fearful of the deep wrinkles between Temeraire’s brows, Yuichiro said half-heartedly, “I said no! I said didn’t want to go with him!” and then glared at Temeraire as if to say, “I hope this is all right.”
Temeraire still had an angry expression on his face, but there was a hint of anxiety in his expression. Whilst Temeraire kept his mouth shut, it was Noah who spoke up first.
“Why didn’t you go?”
Yuichiro was momentarily flustered by the faltering words he was asked.
Noah continued, “Of course, I didn’t mean that I wanted Yuichiro to go over there. But, didn’t Edward-niisama say he’d give Yuichiro a lot of money and guarantee you a position? And yet… Why did Yuichiro stay?”
He was being asked why he stayed behind in an inferior army. Even if he had asked himself, there was no way the current Yuichiro could answer. In fact, he failed to understand why he had made such a choice. In fact, he had no idea why he had made such a decision. Yuichiro frowned at Noah, his lips pursed in a grimace. While Noah returned his gaze with a clinging expression.
“…If I don’t let you win, I won’t be able to go back to the world I came from,” he muttered an excuse, turning his head away from Noah.
Actually, he wasn’t sure if that was his true intention. Goat, who had been silent until then, spoke up while munching on a piece of Passo, “To begin with, Captain Ogami, do you still want to go back to your original world?”
The unexpected question jarred Yuichiro. He looked at Goat, his lips partially drawn open.
“I understand that in order for Captain Ogami to return to his original world, he must win the war and have children. But, what is the point of returning to the original world if you can live a comfortable life afterward if you win the war?”
Yuichiro couldn’t make a sound when confronted with a valid argument. Noah and Temeraire both looked at him as if they were about to devour him. Still, he was unable to look in their general direction.
“I don’t want a life without inconvenience,” His voice strained as he spoke.
“Then what do you want?” Goat inquired further.
In the past, he would have said without hesitation, ‘It’s money,’ but now his lips were frozen.
[What do I want? There is nothing that I want. Only the desire to return home stuck in my heart, which cannot be removed. I want to go back to my dead wife and daughter. For years, I’ve wished to return to a place I can no longer visit. I’m obsessed with a silly wish that will never come true.]
Then, all of a sudden, he heard a knock on the door. He shifted his gaze from the balcony to the inner door.
“Come in.”
When Goat granted permission, the door opened, and a former accountant turned soldier entered. “I have brought you what you ordered, sir.” The soldier then walked across the balcony to Goat and offered him something wrapped in a white cloth.
With one hand, Goat accepted it, while the other pointed to a plate still full of Passo. “You’ve worked hard. Sorry about the leftovers, but you can have it if you like.”
The former accountant’s brow furrowed at these words. “Are you certain?”
“I’m sure the sugar cubes you stole won’t suffice.” When Goat said this jokingly, the former accountant-soldier bowed slightly and lifted his plate of Passo. He politely thanked him again and exited.
That guy, he has an extreme sweet tooth and has a habit of licking sugar cubes from the kitchen right before battle,” Goat said quietly when the former accountant was finally out of sight. “Apparently, if he could, he’d rather die from the pleasure of tasting his favorite flavor. He’s quite a funny guy,” Goat said, chuckling.
Yuichiro also gave a faint smile as he heard this.
“That guy’s got a good eye, too.”
“Yes, he does. And he can count money too, which comes in handy,” saying this sarcastically, Goat lightly held up the white package with one hand.
Footnotes
[1] 根掘り葉掘り (ne hori hahori) = Digging through roots and leaves. Basically, being questioned persistently by another person.