The Raven Dark Hero 82.1

Idle Talk : A Complicated Reunion

TL:SummerPeanut

Author’s Note:

※This idle talk centered on Rumi who was the first place in idle talk recruitment.

That day, Kuroyume headquarters was abuzz with talk of Bright-kun.

At any rate, the boss had announced his departure from the numbers and the new number one was the someone that wouldn’t be weird to be called a newcomer, Bright.

This motion was rejected by some of the older members and those who supported the number two Jiren-san. But Jiren-san himself accepted it without any hesitation.

“Number one is the title for the strongest. That's why Bright deserves it, not me.”

Jiren's strength is known by all members of Kuroyume. No matter how many of them line up together, they will not be able to match him. Since that’s what Jiren said, then no one will be able to go against the decision anymore.

Besides, all the members of Kuroyume had seen the video of the fight between Bright-kun and NDF’s Gonda. That's why they couldn’t say anything.

There is that much of the difference in his strength compared to ours. Everyone was reminded that Bright-kun is in on a height that no matter how hard we tried, we would never be able to reach.

......It seems that Skull and some other members of the team weren't convinced, but still, they didn’t have the guts to challenge Bright-kun. Only a fool would.

And so…… it had already been a week since the day of Operation Shiroyume. During that time, I sent several emails to Bright-kun, but he didn't reply to them, probably because he was busy.

Then, out of the blue, Bright-kun texted me that he wanted to talk to me…….

The meeting place was Bright's room in the Kuroyume headquarters.

As expected, I was a little nervous because I was suddenly summoned to a man's room, but more than that, I wanted to meet and talk to Bright-kun as soon as possible.

I knocked and opened the door to the room. There...... I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was not Bright-kun who was there, but the supposedly dead Kouki.

“Rumi...... No, Teaser. ......Are you surprised?”

Kouki is alive? That’s something to be happy about. But why is he here? Where is Bright-kun? And did he call me Teaser? It's not good. I can't get my head around this.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Actually…… I'm Bright.”

……Well, you’re here, so I guess you are. I’m so surprised that my head is working rationally. But I'm not quite sure what to think.

I'm glad that Kouki is still alive. Plus 30 points.

He didn't tell me who he was = he was deceiving me? Minus 20 points.

I like Bright-kun. Plus 10 points.

Plus, he's like a little brother to me. Plus 10 points.

What about Fuuka? What about my feelings? Minus 30 points.

According to my own scoring in my head, it's a zero.

“I'm sorry! I didn't mean to deceive you, but for a number of reasons……”

“So……. Kouki is actually Bright-kun……”

I thought back to the day I met Kouki. I see, so that's why he was so kind to me. In Kouki's mind, I'm both Rumi and Teaser, and Kouki is both Kouki and Bright-kun.......

“I see. Welcome back, Kouki.”

After much thinking, I decided to be honestly happy that Kouki was still alive.

“Eh? You’re not mad?”

“It doesn't feel good, but the plus-minus is a zero after all.”

“Plus-minus? What’s that?”

“It’s fine, enough with this talk. But what about Fuuka? Did you tell her about you being alive?"

As soon as I brought up the subject of Fuuka, Kouki suddenly became mysterious and turned his head down.

“……Fuuka…”

And the words spoken by Kouki made my head spin once again.

Fuuka was a member of NDF? Minus 30 points.

But Fuuka is like a sister to me. Plus 20 points.

She was also a very nice girl. Plus 20 points.

And...... Fuuka was really sad when she lost Kouki. On top of that, Kouki was still alive and his true identity was her enemy. Minus 50 points......for Kouki.

“You son of a bitch!!”

“EEHH!? Why are you suddenly angry!!”

“Putting Fuuka aside, did you knew from the start that one day you will break away from and that’s why you have been taking that pretending attitude!? Do you have any idea how sad Fuuka was because of you…… Have you ever thought about how much pain she's in right now because of you!?”

When I accused him, Kouki stared down in silence.

Well, Kouki is not stupid. He must have known that they were destined to break up sooner or later. What he didn't expect was that Fuka was a member of the NDF but I think the shock of the breakup was simply greater than he expected.

“……I know it's too much to ask, but you should properly apologize to Fuuka once you get the chance. ……Anyway, let's celebrate today, shall we?”

“ ……Eh? What?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s to celebrate you(Kouki)’re still alive.”

After that, I was doubly surprised to learn that Bright's partner, Evil, was really Takahiko, but thanks to that, the three of us began to work together more often. Sometimes even my partner teamed with us.

The environment changes people. I guess this is true.

By working together with Bright-kun and Evil (without honorific), one of the strongest groups, Numbers, I have been able to grow stronger a lot.

Just like that, when the summer was over...... Kouki received a letter.

To be precise, it was delivered to Kouki's parents' house. Although he’s supposed to be dead, I noticed that he had been periodically checking on his parents. Even so, the fact that someone dared to send a letter to Kouki’s parents' home meant that we can pretty much guess who the other person is.

The sender was Sanada Hiro. He was a childhood friend of Kouki's and a promising young man who had recently been growing rapidly in the NDF.

I didn't hear the details of what happened between the two(Kouki and Hiro), but I managed to know about the contents of the letter from Kouki.

“This…… This is definitely about Fuuka, isn’t it?”

“Seems like it……. But, I won’t be going.”

“Why? Fuuka wants to meet you, you know?”

There was a possibility that this was a trap set by the NDF but based on Kouki's reaction, he didn't seem to be concerned about that. I guess he trusts his childhood friend.

“Are you sure you are alright with things as it is? You two became separated from each other while your identities remained in the dark and maybe even now Fuuka still can't forget about you."

“……It can’t be helped. I am already moving along my own path. Considering the next time we meet, we will kill each other... meeting her now would be ridiculous.”

Kouki said so, coldly.

It's only been two months, but I feel that Kouki has changed a lot. He no longer hesitates when it comes to his goals and he seems to have become more mature in his words and actions.

The environment changes people……. Did the awareness as Kuroyume Numbers‘ number one change Kouki?

But, I still felt that it was wrong.

“You say you don’t have a choice but can you really tell when the time comes? If you really want to take on Fuuka as an enemy in the future, make sure you do so in a clean slate.  If not, You're going to regret it when you actually confront her, okay?”

Fuuka is also an important friend to me. I'm not sure I could really fight her as an enemy if I actually faced her. Probably, Kouki too…….

Then, you should go meet her one more time and come to terms with what you’re feeling. That's what I thought.

As long as Kouki and Fuuka belong to Kuroyume and NDF, they will never be together again. Remembering the strategy meeting I had with Fuuka on that day to seduce Kouki, makes me feel sad too.

But lately, I've also been feeling attracted to Kouki, who is suddenly maturing up. Not Bright-kun, but Kouki himself.

It doesn't matter what form it takes. I want him to settle the matter and take a new step forward. I want both Kouki and Fuuka to take a new step. If the two of them get back together though, I guess I’ll cut them some slack and congratulate them. ……Even though it’ll be hard.

Otherwise, I won't be able to take a step forward either…….

Author’s Note:

Rumi's reaction was surprisingly bland and lacked excitement but she's not a character who is overly flashy and all, so I thought this was fine for Rumi.

Rumi may become a threat to Fuka's position as the main heroine from here on. Well, in most stories, she loses to the main heroine in the end though.

But I've always had a preference for the second best…(^ー^)

With that being said, I'll be posting another idle talk on New Year's Day, so if you'd like, please check it out as the new year begins!

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