Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is purely a fanfic for enjoyment.
Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.
The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.
"Speech"
Arc 7: The Journey - Chapter 2
First, note that this world is not a complete replica of Kino's Journey, other than being a hentai version. After a thorough dive into this world's history, a process that took me a solid hour without moving a single muscle, I finally pulled myself back to awareness. Blake and Kino stand nearby, keeping watch as I work, though honestly, I don't really need their protection. If anything were to happen, I could simply stop using the River of Time instantly, without consequence. Still, having them guard me spares me the hassle of being interrupted by unwanted visitors while I peel apart the threads of this reality.
And what I found… is annoyance.
This world is a hybrid, stitched together from Kino's Journey and countless hentai works, forming something stranger and heavier than any existing version back in my own world. Unlike the hentai variant of RWBY, which warped its canon while still leaving recognizable traces of its original identity, this place feels more extreme; the hentai influence permeates the entire planet, reshaping its cultural, social, and even biological structures. The framework is familiar, but the soul is… different. Twisted.
I can't decide if Yui was being strategic or sadistic when she chose this world for me to devour. A part of me understands why, though, she knows me too well. She knows I've long stopped being an ordinary human. I know it too. Maybe this gnawing restlessness inside me, this constant pull toward indulgence, isn't even entirely mine anymore. Perhaps it's the Lucky Pervert's influence, a continuous, subtle distortion nudging my thoughts, amplifying desire, making temptation impossible to ignore.
And I'd be lying if I said I minded it. There's a part of me that likes it. The heightened hunger. The way beauty drags my gaze like gravity. The way opportunities feel impossible to pass up. Without my cheats, without all the unnatural edges keeping me alive, I'd have been long dead by now. If not ripped apart by some jealous, unstable girl, then drained by an insatiable group driven by lust and obsession. Either way, the outcome would've been the same: Death, delivered by desire.
And somewhere deep down… I know this world is designed to test that very flaw in me, or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.
I open my eyes, finally pulling myself free from the River of Time, letting its endless currents recede into silence. The weight of countless branching pasts lingers faintly in the back of my mind like an afterimage burned into my senses. My body feels stiff, as though I've been carved into stone, and I take a moment to stretch out my muscles, joints cracking softly in the cool countryside air.
Blake stands nearby, relaxed but alert. My gaze drifts past her, settling primarily on Kino. She looks much the same as when we left the facility… yet somehow, standing beneath this open sky, she feels different. More grounded. Sharper. We're out in the middle of nowhere, some quiet stretch of countryside, where the earth rolls lazily beneath the weight of clouds, having just left that place behind.
That place…
Less a hospital and more a carefully disguised training ground, where both men and women were broken down and rebuilt into something unrecognizable, conditioned to become little more than tools, sex slaves, trained through repetition, trials, and brutal indoctrination.
I certainly didn't anticipate that.
It makes me realize I made a mistake: I shouldn't have only skimmed the surface of this world's past, just a single day's worth of history through the River of Time. No, this world's roots run deeper… and far darker. If I want to truly understand what I'm walking into, I'll need to dig further back, to see what shaped this place into what it is now.
"Alright." I mutter, exhaling softly as I straighten my coat and turn to Kino, keeping my expression carefully neutral. "So… where should we go first?"
I give her a blank look, deliberately suppressing the small, instinctive curve of my lips. Smiling right now, at her, of all people, would be a mistake. Kino strikes me as the kind of person who'd bolt if she sensed even the slightest wrongness in me. And right now, with the way this world already presses against my senses, I can't afford to give her another reason to keep her guard up.
Kino pauses, her hand resting lightly on the handle of her sheathed knife. Her expression is neutral, almost casual, but there's something subtle in the way her gaze sharpens, quiet vigilance beneath an otherwise unbothered facade.
"Before I answer that." Kino says evenly, her voice calm but edged with caution. "I should know…" Her fingers flex faintly, just once. "…Who exactly are you people?"
There's no hostility in her tone, but there's weight. She's measuring us, her eyes shifting between me, Blake, and the horizon beyond. It's the same kind of cautious distrust I've come to expect from wanderers like her, people who survive by assuming danger first and asking questions later.
Well, at least… that's how things usually go. A quiet conversation, a measured exchange, and a fragile trust slowly built, before something inevitably happens to shatter it. The air here carries that kind of weight, the kind that warns me that sooner or later, events will spiral, and Kino will be forced to follow the trend, just enough to escape with her life.
I can already sense it, faintly, like the trembling of a spider's web beneath an unseen hand.
"Name's Jin Sho." I say evenly, introducing myself without hesitation. "Jin is my first name, Sho is my last." My tone is calm, clipped, and intentional. Too many words would only invite more questions, and right now, less is safer.
I lift a hand and gesture casually toward Blake, who now stands a little closer at my side, the afternoon light brushing faint highlights across her dark hair. "She's Blake Belladonna. My maid."
Blake offers Kino a polite, measured, but distant look and dips her head slightly. "Greeting." Her voice is smooth and even.
Kino's eyes flick between us, sharp and calculating, though she hides it well behind her neutral facade. Her gaze lingers on Blake for a moment longer than expected, narrowing slightly, as if measuring more than just the surface. It's subtle, but I can tell Kino doesn't fully trust us yet—something I can understand.
The wind shifts, carrying with it faint scents the others likely can't perceive, the bitter tang of cold iron from Kino's knife, the faint musk of old leather from her coat, and beneath it all, something deeper, more primal: the weight of an instinct honed by surviving countless unseen dangers. Kino is already preparing herself for the possibility that this meeting could turn hostile.
And she's not wrong to.
Because in this world, danger rarely announces itself. It waits. It coils. It bleeds through the cracks in reality until you're already too close to step away.
"I'm Kino."
Her voice was soft, almost weightless, but carried a quiet steadiness beneath it. As her gaze lingered on me, I could feel the weight of her attention, calm, deliberate, and intent. She wasn't judging; she was measuring, the way she always does, weighing whether I'm a threat, an ally, or something that doesn't fit cleanly into either box.
"As for where to go…" Kino's tone didn't shift, though her eyes remained fixed on me, sharp and unwavering. "Do you want me to come along with you two?"
Her words carried no pressure, no persuasion, just an open offer. But beneath that openness, there was something subtler at play. Kino was testing me without testing me, gauging how I would react, what choices I'd make, what kind of person I truly was beneath the surface.
For a moment, silence stretched between us, broken only by the faint hum of the wind passing through the tall grass around us. Blake remained quiet, standing slightly behind me.
I let out a quiet breath and replied evenly, "Sure, I wouldn't mind having a beautiful lady like you with me."
The words slipped out naturally, but the moment they left my lips, something strange stirred beneath my skin. My chest tightened slightly, and I became painfully aware of something I didn't know I could sense at all.
The Heart of Eldritch… beating at a rapid pace.
Its rhythm was faint, almost imperceptible, yet each pulse rippled through me like a soft tremor, distorting the edges of my perception. The world seemed to sharpen and blur at once, colors bleeding into vibrations, sounds folding into warmth. And all the while, the Heart of Eldritch's beat grew heavier, louder, syncing faintly with the lingering urge I'd been suppressing.
I forced myself to maintain a blank expression, though I could feel the corners of my lips threatening to curve. Smiling here, at her, would be… dangerous. Kino wasn't someone you could afford to unsettle too soon.
Still, despite my restraint, I could tell she noticed something shift. Kino's gaze sharpened almost imperceptibly, not with alarm, but with attention. Like she'd sensed a change she couldn't name but refused to ignore.
The silence between us deepened, not uncomfortable, but weighted. And somewhere beneath it, I couldn't shake the feeling that the Heart of Eldritch was reacting to Kino or something that had changed about it slightly without my notice.
I seriously hope this isn't just the sign of me being horny for Kino. Because while she is a beauty, she isn't exactly my type of woman. Sure, she is currently at a similar appearance level as Elizabeth, but not to the point where I actually want to bend her over and fuck her. Besides, I have Blake for that.
A random idea surfaced in my mind, sharp and impulsive, almost as if it didn't entirely belong to me. Maybe it was mine. Maybe it was the Heart of Eldritch whispering through me.
I acted on it before I could second-guess myself, hoping, foolishly, that this would settle the Heart of Eldritch down.
I reactivated the River of Time, threads of shimmering probability unspooling around me like liquid glass. I seized the silence that had stretched between us so far, tracing it backward, and carefully reached into my own past.
Just a slight adjustment. Nothing dramatic. Just… a few extra words.
"I also want to fuck you."
The River rippled. My past self spoke the added words aloud to Kino.
The response was immediate. Kino didn't attack me, didn't even touch her knife, but her reaction was sharp and controlled, like the subtle tightening of a coiled spring. Her expression barely shifted, yet I caught the faintest flicker in her eyes: caution layered over calculation. She didn't speak, didn't scold, didn't ask why — she just gave a slight nod, the kind one gives when deciding to keep their options open… and slowly stepped back. One step. Two. Three.
Even without words, I could read her intent perfectly. She'd filed that moment away, catalogued, assessed, stored, and now stood just slightly further out of reach.
My past self rolled his eyes, muttering something inaudible under his breath before letting the silence reclaim us.
I sighed and unraveled the entire adjustment, pulling on the River of Time's threads until they dissolved like smoke between my fingers. I undid the past, rewinding events seamlessly so that those words were never spoken, Kino never stepped back, and her guarded caution never solidified into quiet distance.
The timeline stitched itself back together without resistance—no contradictions, no lingering consequences, at least, not on the surface of the present.
But I kept the memory.
The River of Time allowed me that much, the knowledge of what would have been, what almost happened. Kino would never remember, but I would always know. And for some reason, that single thread of possibility still tugged faintly at the Heart of Eldritch, which beat a little slower now… though not entirely calm.
It wasn't desire that stirred it. Not anymore.
It was something else. Something deeper.