Chapter 343: Changing for You
"Well then, I'll be taking this child back with me first."
Ten or so minutes later.
Looking at the two who had finished processing everything, the Inari God walked up to Totsuka Saika with a beaming smile, rested an arm on her shoulder, and spoke to Hikigaya Hachiman.
"Eh?"
Feeling the weight on her head, Totsuka Saika blinked in confusion. Then, in the next second, she and the Inari God vanished simultaneously before Hachiman's eyes.
"There shouldn't be any problems, right?"
Watching Totsuka being taken away like that, Hachiman thought to himself with a bit of a guilty conscience. If the Inari God hadn't exposed that "yuri" side of her, he wouldn't have had any worries about Totsuka being taken away. After all, being handpicked by a deity is a stroke of incredible luck—especially when that deity is Hachiman's ally.
But after the Inari God showed that hidden side of hers, for some reason, Hachiman couldn't shake the feeling that he was being played.
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By the time Komachi woke up, the sky outside was already dark.
"Am I... at home? Was everything that happened before just a hallucination?"
Opening her eyes and seeing the familiar ceiling of her bedroom, Komachi blinked in bewilderment. But the next second, Hachiman's exasperated voice nearby snapped her back to reality.
"I wish what happened today was a hallucination."
Giving the clearly dazed Komachi a flat look, Hachiman stood up and placed his hand on her forehead, channeling spiritual energy to re-examine her physical condition.
"Hehe, Onii-chan~"
Realizing that today's events were real, Komachi reached out from under the covers and tightly grasped the hand Hachiman had placed on her forehead, a silly grin spreading across her face.
"What is it? Did you get hit in the head too hard during the fight?"
Seeing Komachi acting differently than usual, Hachiman put on the persona of the cold, aloof brother.
"That's a horrible thing to say! Komachi was just moved by how much Onii-chan cares about her..."
Hearing Hachiman's words, Komachi pouted deeply, her feet kicking the mattress repeatedly to express her dissatisfaction.
"Oh, is that so?"
After a gentle flick to Komachi's forehead, Hachiman successfully retrieved his hand. Sitting back down in his chair, Hachiman looked at the energetic Komachi on the bed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Komachi cut him off instantly.
"Ahhh, Onii-chan, you're about to blame all the mistakes on yourself again!"
Crossing her arms in front of her, Komachi beat Hachiman to the punch by stating his intentions.
"I—"
"If only you'd hurried back faster, Komachi wouldn't have been hurt and knocked out, right?"
"That's only natural, isn't it?"
Hearing his own thoughts coming out of Komachi's mouth, Hachiman lowered his head in dejection. The distance from Tokyo to Chiba wasn't that far. As someone whose strength had reached the peak of the Ghost Emperor level, if he had been willing to rush back at all costs, perhaps things at home would look different right now.
"Listen, Onii-chan, what you've done for Komachi is already good enough."
Crawling out of the covers, Komachi leaned toward Hachiman and continued.
"But I clearly could have done better, couldn't I?" Hachiman countered.
He knew exactly how much Komachi meant to him, yet despite all this time, he hadn't taken any other protective measures besides placing a single barrier on her...
"It's because you're always overthinking and being stubborn that things turn into a mess."
Hachiman's argument made Komachi let out an involuntary sigh. Even though Hachiman had changed so much since obtaining the System, the most crucial part of him had never changed. His current state was just like when she ran away from home back in elementary school. Even though Hachiman wasn't the one in the wrong, this thick-skulled brother of hers insisted on taking all the responsibility himself...
"Although Onii-chan looks cool to Komachi when you're like that, Komachi doesn't want you to keep acting this way."
Taking all the world's sins upon oneself is a noble thing that Komachi had always found impressive. But if the person doing the carrying was Hachiman, she would rather he be a bit more selfish.
"Sorry..."
Feeling Komachi leaning against his shoulder, Hachiman kept his head down, unsure of what to say.
"Apologizing again!"
Seeing Hachiman build a cage for himself and then jump right into it, Komachi was so frustrated she wanted to jump up and bite him twice.
"It's exactly because of this personality of yours that starting a harem is going so poorly!"
Komachi didn't know what to do with this brother who she both loved and hated. If Hachiman acted like a normal brother, she wouldn't be this clingy. But precisely because she now worries about everything for him, she finds his personality annoying. If it weren't for that personality, Hachiman might already be enjoying the harem life of a rom-com anime protagonist.
"Is it because of my personality?"
Hearing Komachi's angry words, Hachiman's expression shifted slightly. Suddenly, a red light flashed through his eyes, but Komachi, who was busy wagging her finger and lecturing him, didn't notice.
"Exactly! It's because you're such a 'nice guy' and have this habit of taking all responsibility on yourself that you've ended up like this!"
To be fair, while Hachiman's dead-fish eyes were innate, he actually had things like "friends" before that incident in middle school. Plus, back then, his eyes weren't powerful enough to make people completely ignore his relatively handsome face; plenty of girls had crushes on him. Komachi referred to that period as the peak of Hachiman's social life.
But later, Hachiman's personality caused him to suffer a major loss. Because he couldn't bear to tell the truth and make two close friends break up, he chose to take the blame himself. Such a kind act did allow those two "bad things" to maintain their friendship, but it also gave everyone else in class a reason to treat Hachiman as the target for collective bullying and mockery...
After that, from Komachi's perspective, Hachiman became more and more isolated, more and more despondent...
"So, Onii-chan, can you please make a change?"
Taking a deep breath, Komachi risked a fight with Hachiman to say what was in her heart. Just as she thought Hachiman would dodge the topic as usual, or use his self-justifying theories to refute her, Hachiman's answer stunned her.
"Okay."
Looking at the pleading Komachi, Hachiman—feeling as though something new had entered his mind—nodded and spoke with total sincerity.
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