Chapter 312: Promises

After being pulled out of the collapsing underground space by Stardus I was looking around with a cold expression on my face.

…What the hell is going on?’

My head, still reeling from my initial wakefulness, regained its composure after some time.

With my sanity restored, I flew through the air, wind in my hair, lost in thought.

First, I seem to have lost my memory.

The words I hear in my earphones now may be fabricated lies, but when I heard that tone, it was unmistakably me. That’s not something you can mimic.

And, from what I can piece together so far.

“…Stardus, what was I doing here?”

“Ugh, huh? You’re here to catch the Wish Granter, don’t you remember?”

Her voice trembled as she answered my question.

I shrugged it off as nothing to such a Stardus, and flew off in her grasp, passing judgment.

Apparently, this is the world of the manga I once read, Stardus!

…I don’t know why that manga has become a reality, but the name Stardus and the familiarity of the villain’s name make it almost certain. I mean, there’s a woman flying in the sky right now, so of course it’s her, and this prison is Carqueas?

With that thought, I burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

…Shit. I woke up and fell into a cartoon. I thought things were going well for me lately, but life is crazy.

And by the looks of it, it’s been a while since I fell into this world. Judging by the way she was talking about me killing the Wish Granter, and the very thorough recording, I’m guessing I traded my memories.

With that, I calmly assessed the situation.

I’ve always been a cool head in a crisis. Before I panic, I must live.

I glanced back at Stardus, flying in the sky with me, and came to the conclusion…

‘…I guess.’

I was a hero in this world.

That was it.

Otherwise, Stardus wouldn’t be so desperate to save me, and her expression shows that she is very concerned for me. At least I’m a sidekick. Hero Egostic, which doesn’t sound very heroic.

I feign calm at the suddenness of the situation, when in reality I’m almost half out of my mind.

Stardus and I finally made it out of the crumbling prison.

We finally emerged into the blue sky, floating next to the clouds and looking down on the great prison below.

…Or, more accurately, a prison castle that was about to collapse, wrapped in strange, thick black tentacles.

No, is that okay?

Just as I was thinking that my voice came out of my earpiece.

[Okay, you’re out of there, hopefully everything’s okay, but I’m sure something happened, like the tentacle guy went on a rampage.]

[In that case, the answer is Stardus. She’d be here in a heartbeat if there was an incident of this magnitude, so tell her she can take him down, if she attacks with the power of the star that glows in her body.]

The voice suggested a solution calmly and without a moment’s hesitation, I obeyed.

“Stardus, I want you to listen to me carefully. You see that monster down there? I need you to catch him before it gets any bigger.”

“…Okay, but what about you?”

She asked me in a shaky voice, and I calmly replied.

[Tell her to drop you off at the top of the castle with the red flag.]

“Drop me off on the roof of the castle with the red flag over there.”

“…Okay.”

At my words, Stardus nodded with trembling eyes and headed that way.

We arrived there, and I finally got off Stardus and stepped onto the ground again.

On top of a dilapidated skyscraper-like castle, with the cold sea breeze blowing in, I fluttered my cloak, and Stardus looked down at me, her eyes still full of concern.

Her blond hair fluttering, her blue eyes observing me as she opened her mouth to say something.

-Kwaaaaaahhh.

With a loud crash, I heard another building collapse.

Seeing that sight, she turned her head as if she couldn’t delay any longer. However, she hesitated as she kept looking at me.

I put on my best natural smile and told her.

“I’ll be fine, Stardus. Go ahead.”

“…But.”

She was still looking at me with uneasy eyes so I took a deep breath and smiled reassuringly.

“…Stardus, I’ll remember who you were and what you meant to me… soon enough. Don’t worry about it too much, go on. The next time we meet, everything will be the same.”

“…Ah.”

When I said that, she looked puzzled for a moment. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she nodded and said to me,

“…Okay. Is that a promise…?”

She looks at me, almost crying a little, as she asks so I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

“Yes. Of course. I promise.”

I made a promise, a promise I probably couldn’t keep.

***

And with that, I let Stardus go.

“Whew…”

I sighed in anticipation, slumping back once she was out of sight.

“…Ha.”

To Stardus, I tell her I’ll see her next time.

[If you go that way, the group will pick you up soon, so wait there until then.]

…because that’s what my voice in the earpiece said.

‘They’re coming to pick me up. Who are you talking about? No, weren’t my people Stardus in the first place? Did he mean the Association staff?’

As I thought about it, it dawned on me that maybe I wasn’t a hero after all. Maybe I’m a mercenary, a specialist working for the PMC….though I’m not sure if I’m capable.

Anyway, that wasn’t the point.

-Thud. Thud. Thump. Thump. Thud.

“…No, really.”

I muttered to myself, my face bright red, my hand on my chest, listening to my heartbeat.

From the moment I first saw Stardus, until now, my heart has been beating like crazy.

To be honest, when I first saw Stardus, I was surprised at how much prettier she was in real life than in the comics, especially since she was my favorite.

…But that’s as far as it went.

For me, the guy who went to bed and woke up one day with no memory of his life in a superhero comic, it didn’t matter. My life sucks right now.

Except my body didn’t.

…From the moment I first saw Stardus, my heart had been pounding like crazy.

More accurately, it was as if the memories had been erased from my mind, but the emotions remained. It was as if my body remembered her reflexively.

…How much did I like Stardus in this world, in this world, and I’ve been living this down to a tee?

And Stardus’ reaction was strange.

…I think she realized I’d lost my memory from the start, but the concern and worry in her eyes…It was almost overwhelming.

“…”

I’ve never seen Stardus care that much, even in the original.

No matter how much I think about it, there must have been something special between me and her…

I looked down from the top of the tower as I thought about it.

-Kaaaaaaaah.

A cold wind was whipping around, and below me, giant black tentacles were rising from the ground, making a mess of the prison above.

And in the middle of it all, I see a flash of yellow light.

That’s probably Stardus.

…But am I some kind of pseudo-hero or something? Am I supposed to just watch and not help?

I sighed deeply as I gazed down at the sci-fi scene.

Just then, a voice came out of my earpiece.

[Oh, and I didn’t tell you this.]

[You are a villain.]

“…?”

And the moment I heard that I was dazed for a moment.

…What, Villain? Me?

Is this some kind of April Fool’s joke?

For a moment, a dozen things popped into my head to retort to that statement, and then it subsided again.

…No, don’t fuck with me. Stardus wouldn’t react like that, that’s the kind of reaction you’d expect from a teammate in the line of fire.

With that thought, I looked back at my body.

“…..”

It was then that I realized I was dressed in a black hat, all black, cloak, and a white mask over my eyes.

A villainous all-black look.

And now that I think about it, the name Egostic is an anagram of Egoistic, which means selfish…

What the hell.

That’s when I realized I was confused.

[So, all my friends are villains, too. Don’t freak out.]

With that said.

“Da-in!!!”

“Hey, Egostic!”

A girl’s voice came from the sky.

…and I looked up.

“….?”

I was speechless as I saw the familiar faces from the original, stepping off the giant flying ship.

…No, the real villains?

‘…Wait. Then what’s Stardus’ reaction?’

And just like that, I was plunged into a great confusion.

…My Stardus wouldn’t do that to a villain.