Ascendance of a Bookworm

"Talk here? Enter the warehouse?

"Here's good."

I thought I should worry about the people because we're going to be talking about getting in, but Lutz shook his head.

"So, what's the story?

For Rutz's green eyes burning in anger, his attitude seemed calm. Not all of a sudden it was too exasperating, and Rutz shouted first, in a low voice like he was hiding something boiling down to the bottom of his belly.

"... you, who are you?

Suddenly I was asked a difficult question. I don't care who they say.

Although I still believe that I myself am Reino Honsu, I am only Mine from wherever I see it. And having been with this body for about a year, and living in this world, I was not even Honsu Reino anymore.

Reino rarely did anything from herself except read a book. Because college was also a school trip from home, I never left my parents, and basically all the chores were left to the mother of a professional housewife, who could have done it if she wanted to, but never actively did it.

There was absolutely no need to go out to the woods like this every day to collect, try to flavor it to enrich your diet a little, or make paper to read a book. If you read the books around you as you like, that's all I'm glad about. Reino and I are completely different now.

Rutz opens his mouth as he decides he is unwilling to answer his worries about what to answer.

"You said you knew how to make paper like this and you've made it before, right?

"... I made it before, but it was a pretty different way"

"No, not mine."

"... yeah"

It would be nothing to lay a lie on top of being misled and already convinced. I answered honestly.

"Mine can't possibly know. He rarely left the house."

I also know from Mine's memory that Mine rarely left the house. Thanks to you, how hard you struggled with no information at all.

Mine's memory, which I only know in the house, doesn't give me a glimpse of common sense in this world, and it's really hard to rub my common sense together with this one. There are times when I think to myself that you still fail a lot.

"Right. Mine was a kid who really didn't know anything."

"Then who are you!? Where'd the real Mine go? Give me back my real mine!

Lutz yells like a cool one.

But I feel much calmer because my imagination was much worse than the words thrown at me by Lutz, or because I was prepared to come when the paper was ready. It's a big difference from wandering right after the suicide bombing.

"I'd prefer to return the real mine... not here, but when I get home, okay?

You didn't think I would respond, and after Rutz's eyes were watched by surprise, he frowned in surprise.

"Why not?

"'Cause it's not hard to go home with a corpse? Because if I disappear, maybe only the corpse will remain. You'd be in trouble if they thought Rutz killed him, wouldn't you?

It's me and Lutz who are using this warehouse, and even today I know that my family and Benno's shop people are going out with Lutz.

If I lose consciousness in the warehouse and die as I am, it is likely that all blame will go to Lutz. Even if I can't blame you, won't Rutz himself become conscious of sin?

As far as I was concerned, I was going to suggest that Lutz be compassionate and "better when I get home," but for Lutz, it seemed like a word of water in his sleeping ear.

"Oh man, hey, what are you talking about!?

A little rutz in my words began to wander with a strong face. It seemed unexpected to Lutz that Mine would not return even if I disappeared.

"Does that mean Mine isn't here anymore!? So you're not coming back!?

"Yeah, maybe......"

All I can say is maybe.

I can only explore Mine's memories myself. I've never talked to Mine, I've never been sued to give my body back.

"Answer this only!

Lutz stares at me with a kick. It's like a righteous ally who hates evil.

That's what I thought, and I laughed small. I guess that's exactly what it is for Lutz. I must be the righteous ally that Rutz himself is trying to help, with me being the bad guy who took over my childhood sick sister's share.

"You were talking to Otto and Benno's husband about fever then, weren't you? You're the fever, you ate mine!?

I was just a little impressed with Lutz's assumption that I ate mine because of the fever I nest in my body. The part about Mine being eaten by fever is probably not wrong.

"You're half right and half different. I also think the real mine was eaten by fever. The last memory is hot, help, painful, I don't like it anymore. Because it was all that. But I'm not the fever, and I'm going to be eaten by the fever."

"What do you mean?!? It's your fault, isn't it? Mine's gone because of you, isn't it?!? Say so!"

Gassi and Lutz grabbed my shoulder and shook it.

I know my thoughts are overshadowed and I'm excited, but the words "I'm bad" and "Mine disappeared because of me" have been repeated over and over again, and I'm getting cocky.

"I don't like mine here either! He was supposed to be dead, but he'd be such a child if he realized it. If I were in a position to choose, I chose a world full of books, and a noble class in this world where books could be read, and a healthier body rather than such a frail and sick body. I didn't choose a body with a fever that was suddenly going to swallow me."

It wasn't like I wanted to be Mine. The moment I punched him, Lutz got a void look on his face, and the hand he was grabbing his shoulder loose.

"You, you didn't want to be mine?

"If you're Lutz, do you want to be? I can't believe I just ran out of breath to get out of the house at first, and then sleep the next day, okay? I can finally go to the woods, but it's growing slowly, and even now, if I'm a little alarmed, I'm going to have a fever..."

Lutz shook his head loosely thinking about it for a while. The momentum that has seized me disappears, and my gaze begins to wane like trouble.

"... you, too, are swallowed by fever just like Mine?

"Yeah, I think I will. When I loosen my power to contain it, the heat spreads all at once, and I feel like I could eat it. It's hard to explain if you're going to be swallowed up by heat or if it feels like it's melting and disappearing..."

I guess it's hard to imagine in my explanation, Lutz frowning and thinking.

"So you're using Mine's body. If you don't like me and you want Lutz to disappear, tell me. Because you can disappear right away."

Lutz, who was supposed to tell me to give back my real mine, stares at me with a stunned look for some reason. I was more confused by Lutz's face, who might say what he was talking about.

"... you should disappear, right?

He confirmed it to me. Lutz raised his willow brow with a grudge and shouted as if it had been cut backwards.

"Don't ask me! Why are you asking me that!? If I told you to disappear, it would be weird to disappear!

"It might be weird, but if it weren't for Lutz... because I would have disappeared long ago"

"Huh!?

To Lutz, whose face I do not understand, I tell the story of a time when I was about to disappear before, remembering the beginning of the matter.

"Don't you remember Lutz? When your mother burned Jane, she fell, didn't she?

"Ah......"

Speaking of which, that happened, Lutz mutters. That for Lutz was a pretty big branch for me.

"At that time, I thought I could be swallowed by heat. That, I was really going to disappear. There was nothing untrained about a world without books, and no matter how hard I tried, it wasn't complete, and I thought I'd done enough."

I heard Gokuri and Lutz swallow their spit.

My gaze alone prompted me to continue, and I close my eyes gently, remembering. About when Rutz's face suddenly appeared in the face of a family that was blurry, swallowed by something hot.

"On the way to being swallowed up by heat, I suddenly saw Lutz's face in my family's face and wondered why. When I tried to take a closer look at Rutz, I felt fever pulling back into my body. I'm a little surprised there was really Lutz, huh?

"You know... I was just surprised because it was a face that wasn't my family, and you weren't unconscious because I was there, were you?

I shook my head gently at Lutz, who frowned and sighed.

"The first time I came back to consciousness, I was surprised by Lutz, but you said you'd get me some bamboo so Lutz wouldn't get burned then, right? I thought I'd try harder to resist the fever."

"Bamboo burned by your aunt, too, right?

I nod at Lutz's words. Through anger and remorse, that sense of disillusionment was still clearly remembered. Just remembering is enough to still make you feel like the heat in you is gaining strength.

"I really don't like everything, and I don't care anymore. If you think about it, the fever is coming all the way over me. I didn't even want to resist anymore, so I could have died like that... I remember my promise to Lutz."

"Promise?"

"I don't remember making any promises," Rutz muttered. I really don't seem to remember, I try to look up a little bit and explore my memory.

I knew it, and I laughed small. I know it was a word to the extent that for Lutz, he could get better quickly. Still, it was an important word to connect me here.

"I promise to introduce you to Mr. Otto. I told you bamboo has to get better because it's prepaid, right?

When he heard my words, Lutz himself remembered even what he did not want to remember, as if he had also pointed out in black history, with a shy groan, holding his head.

"Oh, that one! It's not what I said trying to thank you for... ahhh, shit"

"So, what did you mean to say?

"Don't ask! Flush! Forget it!

I wanted to stick around and mess with Lutz's unexpected reaction, but now I'm in a position to get pickpocketed. I endured as Lutz requested and pretended not to see it.

"Er, that's how I remembered my promise, and I worked hard to contain the fever, thinking that Lutz had me do a lot of things, but he couldn't just disappear without giving back one..."

……

"I met Mr. Otto and Mr. Benno, and I made my promises, and I could make paper, and if I could, I'd like to make a book, but if you want Lutz to disappear, you can disappear, okay?

Lutz looks at me with a face like he chewed up a bitter worm. After my eyes looked at me from the top to the bottom so that I could not miss a single little lie, I fell down.

"Since when..."

"Yeah, what?

I could not hear the spilled word as I leaned down, and I leaned my neck and listened back.

Lutz looks up and looks at me still.

"Since when have you been mine?

"... since when do you think? Since when do you think that wasn't the mine Lutz knew?

Although he returned the question with a question, Lutz did not get angry, but contemplated the void with a serious face. Look at me, whine something small, look down and kick the dirt at my feet.

Lutz, who had been thinking about it for a while, looked up like a hack.

"... this"

Lutz pointed to my hammer.

"Enough to start putting this on?

Though I didn't think it would be perfect, surely, there is no one else for me to be inserted. Even I would normally have tied them with strings if they weren't more straightforward, like untied, no matter how tight.

"... Correct"

"It's barely a year!

Lutz, with his eyes open, yelled at him with a spurting momentum.

Speaking of which, it was the end of the fall that made me mine. Now that we're in the middle of autumn, it's time for the season to take a tour.

"Right. I just remember falling out of heat, but it's about to be a year."

More than half of my memory of life here is with me falling down and feverish, but this is still a lot more active than Mine, who spent the majority of his time sleeping.

"... your family hasn't noticed?

"I don't know. I realize this is weird, but you don't even want to think it's not Mine, do you?

Especially since I don't think Touri and my mother have noticed anything at all about taking care of Mine, who was caged in the house. But they won't say anything, so I won't even tell them from here. That's what life is all about, so I think it's okay.

"Besides, Dad said he was just glad he was feeling better"

"... well"

Ha, and turned his back on me, as Lutz, who sighed, said that the conversation was over. Touch the paper sticking to the plate with your fingertips and start checking for dryness.

If you're ready to disappear, but the conversation ends inconclusively, you have trouble shaking yourself.

"Hey, Lutz..."

"... I think it's up to Mine's family to decide, not mine"

Lutz blocked me before I heard everything.

It is my family that decides whether I should disappear or not. But that makes no difference to me.

"So, stay like this for a while?

"It will."

I don't see Lutz's sincerity in not looking at me.

Not Mine. Doesn't Lutz mind if I live like this?

"Is that okay?

"So it's not up to me..."

I grabbed Lutz's arm, not to look at me.

What I want to hear is what Lutz thinks of me, not Mine. Is there any dissatisfaction with Lutz for maintaining the status quo as a result of all that anger and bringing up the story?

"Rutz, don't I have to disappear? It's not the real Mine, is it?

Pickle and Lutz's arms moved. I thought the arm of Lutz I was grabbing was shaking small, but it was my hand that was really shaking.

"... good"

"Why?"

When I asked him overlapping, Lutz finally looked at me.

With a troubled, frightened face, he plays my forehead with his fingertips.

"Mine's not coming back when you disappear, is he? Besides, if it's been you for a year, you're pretty much the Mine I know."

With that said, Lutz scratched his blonde hair gassy. And he gazed firmly at me.

The thin green eyes that look at me are smug, and the first anger and the sword screen are misty. It was the usual Lutz eye I knew.

Because I wasn't thinking about working out my body before, and I was more frail.

I also face-to-face with Rutz and Ralph, because I actually only had enough times with both hands.

"... so you can have mine"

Something in the depths of my heart fell into Rutz's words.

What was fluffy settled down with Ston.

It was a small, invisible change, but an important one for me.