Chapter 311: Gasai Yuno's Memories
The pink-haired girl, setting aside the fox ears and tail from her Pseudo-Summoning, was a beauty with refined features. With her hair tied in twin tails, she looked quite adorable. If her hair were black, she might truly embody the "Yamato Nadeshiko" aesthetic so prized in Japan. Yet, beneath this calm and gentle exterior lay a heart as burning as molten lava.
"This is wonderful, Shirou! You finally came back for me," Gasai Yuno said happily, hopping up and stepping over the monster corpses to stand before the boy.
"Thank you for believing in me, and for handling the monsters here so they wouldn't reach our side," Shirou said, thanking the girl.
"No! I did this because I wanted to. It's only natural for us to support each other, just like what you did for me back then," the girl said with a smile.
"Eh? If this is because of something I said online, you really don't need to worry about it," Shirou said, looking at her.
"So that's how it is... you don't recognize me. But then again, it's been years, and I've changed a lot since then. Shirou, do you remember saving a girl locked in an iron cage four years ago?" the girl murmured to herself before looking at him and asking.
"Ah... we have met." Shirou recalled something, looking closely at her face. From her silhouette, he found the impression of a fleeting encounter. Back then, the girl was much thinner, haggard and withered, her eyes lifeless...
"Yes! It's because of you, Shirou, that I was saved!" Yuno's eyes shimmered with tears, her voice trembling with emotion.
She was an adopted child. Perhaps due to infertility, her adoptive mother suffered from psychological defects and possessed an abnormal mindset regarding child-rearing. A distorted life creates a distorted psyche, which in turn infects the next generation.
Shirou hadn't known the details back then, but he sensed something was wrong—perhaps domestic violence—and had intervened. At the time, having just started middle school, his long-term training made him much stronger than an average adult even without magecraft. He had easily subdued the perpetrator.
When Shirou entered that seemingly polished home, he saw charts covering the walls of the entrance. Reading the words on them gave him a sense of suffocation.
Yuno-chan's Performance Score. It recorded daily calorie intake, times she was late, and grade charts. Good performance earned a "Red Flower" reward; poor performance meant punishment.
Walking further in, a faint sound came from a sealed tatami room at the back. Sliding open the door, he found a large dog cage in the dim room. Inside the black iron bars, he could vaguely see a fragile figure in pink lying on the floor.
That was the first time Gasai Yuno met the boy. Though her consciousness was blurry from being locked in the cage and starved for a day after failing her mother's tasks, everything she saw and heard was etched clearly into her memory.
"Hey, are you alright?"
The boy's voice, thick with suppressed rage, reached her ears.
"I'll get you out right away!" he said urgently, grabbing the iron bars as if to pry them apart.
Then, the thick iron rods were actually twisted open, creating a large hole. Warm hands lifted her from within. At that moment, the boy was like a prince from a fairy tale, bringing a miracle.
"It's okay now."
Exhausted, she couldn't lift her head, but she heard his gentle voice. For some reason, her heart felt warm, and everything she had endured seemed to no longer matter.
By the time she regained consciousness, she was in bed. Though she didn't know what happened, the boy, the cage, and the "family rules" had vanished. Afterward, it was as if her family had given up on her; her adoptive mother avoided her and no longer made any demands.
"Yuno, I hope you won't speak of this. I promise this won't happen again, and I won't force you to do anything. If you have any requests, name them; if it's within my power, I will fulfill them," her adoptive father had said in a negotiating tone.
"That won't be necessary, Father. I am grateful to Mother for doing that to me," the pink-haired girl had replied with a smile.
"Eh?" The man looked at his adopted daughter in shock. He couldn't see a hint of falsehood in her eyes.
The girl smiled like a ripe peach, cupping her blushing face. "Because... it was because I was locked up that I met the person of my destiny."
"I... I see..." The man felt as if something were stuck in his throat, answering blankly.
Children are always influenced by their parents' every action; words are never as powerful as demonstration. This applies to both the good and the bad. If a child is long subjected to violence to force compliance, they will grow up believing violence is the way to command others. They may treat others this way, or be treated this way by others.
Distorted parents influence their children to become distorted. This is a matter of experience more than blood. This child was already broken; they could no longer live together.
On the condition that she didn't speak of what happened, her adoptive parents moved away. They didn't take her, instead arranging a small apartment for her and providing a monthly allowance. That was it.
For Yuno, this was actually a blessing. Her goal was no longer to satisfy her mother, but to pursue the true love that brought her warmth. Having lost her family, she received love from the boy for the first time—a love her adoptive parents could never give.
She quickly investigated the boy who saved her. Although he hadn't given his name, she only had to check the nearby middle schools to find him.
However, she chose not to disturb his life. He hadn't wanted to give his name, and since he possessed mysterious power, he surely didn't want people to know. Then I will protect him. I will keep his secret; it's a secret between the two of us.
Protecting her beloved from the shadows until marriage without disturbing him—this was Gasai Yuno's "Aesthetics of Love." She tracked him in reality, then found Shirou's account online. Because the low-key boy only allowed friends to add him, she couldn't add him as a friend.
Nonetheless, the girl did everything possible to follow everything related to him online. She saved every photo of Shirou found on the internet to her hard drive and phone memory cards.
She didn't enroll in the International High School, but instead went to the school closest to it, with the most convenient transportation and the loosest rules. As long as her grades remained at the top, the teachers didn't care if she skipped class.
Thus, she had ample time to track him—school activities, Archery Club matches—she wouldn't miss any chance to be near him. In her room, the walls and ceiling were covered in photos of the boy from seventh grade to his current second year of high school, including photos of Shirou during his Pseudo-Summoning.
Monsters and beasts didn't matter to her, but if Shirou was in danger, she had to protect him.
To be like Shirou, Gasai Yuno started playing FGO. One day, she met the friendly "JK Tamamo." Claiming to be a master of romance, Tamamo gave her all sorts of advice. Being taught by a female fox spirit with vast experience in being hunted and driven away, her ability to hide herself was excellent, which was why she was never discovered.
Suddenly one day, the account became active, seeking female friends. Though she didn't know who was using his account, Yuno took the opportunity to join. She was happy simply to shorten the distance between herself and Shirou.
"I don't need a reward. But I have one request. If you're willing to leave this world after your wish is fulfilled, it would be a huge help," Shirou said to the girl sincerely.
"Eh? How can you say that? How can I decide the itinerary? Don't chase me away, I just want to do something for you, Shirou!" Yuno waved her hands frantically.
"No, that's not it. I want you to feel joy, I'm not trying to make you leave. Even in the outside world, we can continue to be friends! I promise! Rather, let's go do something fun together
right now. Um... Yuno, what do you want to do? I promise I'll accompany you," Shirou guaranteed, raising his hands.
"Really?" the pink-haired girl asked uncertainty.
"Mhm. I will never abandon you," Shirou nodded, promising repeatedly.
"Then... I want to walk side-by-side with you," the girl said, her face flushing.
"Eh? Is that all?" Shirou asked.
"Mhm. This is enough for now," the girl nodded.
Yuno, who always followed from behind, watching his back from the shadows, had a longing: to be acknowledged. Always misunderstood, always unaccepted—even when she tried her hardest to bless the one she loved, it only led to bad results. The fox spirit within her had a similar experience; she longed for love, and when she fell for a human, she gave her whole heart.
The boy and girl began walking through the forest. Merlin activated an illusion, turning the path into a beautiful cherry blossom walkway. Cherry blossoms drifted in the wind, and one could even smell the fragrance of spring.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the live broadcast:
"Just as expected of Shirou. I said from the start, these are his responsibilities," Merlin said, leaning back in a lounge chair in a small inset window at the bottom right of the screen.
"No, no matter how you look at it, you're just shunning responsibility! If it weren't for your mistake, Merlin, we wouldn't be here. And Shirou! He shouldn't have to—" Yuigahama frowned at Merlin on the screen, her expression full of disbelief.
"I think fate is a curious thing. Perhaps I am merely the bridge built for him. After all, I am just a shadow from another world without a physical form. The one who should build deeper connections with them is the Pseudo-Summoned Shirou," Merlin said, sitting up with a smile.
"Ultimately, he's not the type to follow our suggestions anyway," Yukinoshita Yukino said.
"Ah! That girl stopped. It looks like she's saying something to Shirou. This is a farewell."
On the screen, Gasai Yuno bowed to the boy, a satisfied smile on her face.
"Wait, is she just leaving like that?"
"But this is a choice made of her own will."
"Well, given Shirou's personality, this isn't surprising. There are probably many more like this," Asuna said, resting a hand against her cheek.
But... what is with this development of the boy being gentle and the girl being virtuous and considerate? It's a bit irritating!
The three girls didn't say it aloud, but they couldn't help thinking it.
Just then, the girl's fox ears twitched, and the Heroic Spirit within her spoke:
"Oh my? The Pseudo-Summoning is becoming unstable. It seems you've started becoming a 'good woman,' Yuno-chan. As a 'bad woman,' I must take my leave."
"No! Miss Fox! I know that in any era, you are the best woman! Those who think you were wrong—it's the fault of the men of those times, or the fault of the era itself!" Yuno said to the spirit within.
It was precisely because they both possessed a fierce desire to protect their beloved that they had met.
Shirou realized the identity of the Heroic Spirit within the girl. She had a deep connection with the Tamamo Cat he knew; they were different individuals split from the same existence. Although their relationship wasn't great because they were destined competitors who must consume each other to grow...
Her true form was an existence beyond a Heroic Spirit, possessing many names: the Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox, the Sun Goddess, the incarnation of Amaterasu, the Wisdom Bodhisattva White Fox King, Su Daji, Tamamo-no-Mae. Tracing back over a thousand years, she traveled the world with many identities: god, bodhisattva, monster...
Sometimes a blessing to a land, sometimes a disaster that destroys everything, she was as unstable as the ocean. There were eras when people viewed her as an auspicious omen and a divine beast to be worshiped, but in more recent history, she was viewed as a "femme fatale" disaster that brought down dynasties and was driven from nations.
Daji, Baosi, Xi Shi, Diao Chan, Yang Yuhuan—there are always incompetent rulers who want to pin everything on a woman, as if the world would remain forever prosperous without them.
The Shang fell because they sent their army to conquer barbarians, leaving the capital undefended when King Wu of Zhou attacked. The weak Zhou dynasty created heavy etiquette to stabilize the lords and solidify the Son of Heaven's position.
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang won a dynasty that Wu Zetian had put on the right track, reaping the fruits accumulated over a century since Emperor Taizong, but in his later years, he indulged in pleasure and ignored the government, leading to the An Lushan Rebellion. Even after killing Yang Yuhuan at Mawei Slope, the Tang dynasty fell and never prospered again.
"I don't think Miss Tamamo is a 'bad woman' who needs to be driven away at all. Rather, wanting to pin the blame on her is just a matter of rulers shirking responsibility," Shirou said directly, voicing his inner thoughts.
"Shirou-sama..." JK Tamamo opened her golden eyes wide. Her fox ears suddenly stood straight up, and her tail began wagging back and forth; she seemed very happy.
If a dynasty could fall because of one woman or one monster, it was clearly incompetent and better off falling quickly. Truly capable nations either establish rules to manage ghosts, gods, bat-men, spider-men, iron-men, and hulks, or simply forbid animals from becoming spirits.
Well, though that was something happening in a distant, unrelated universe.
Shirou continued, "So I don't think Miss Tamamo needs to care so much about those evaluations. The root cause is never found in just one person."
"Ahhh, even a righteous handsome soul shouldn't praise other women when there are other girls around. Even if we're currently in a state of 'two hearts, one body,' the same applies!" JK Tamamo wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, laughing as she covered her mouth and glanced at the boy.
"No, that's not what I meant," Shirou said, waving his hands in embarrassment.
"My, what a cute reaction. I'm liking you more and more. Maybe I should join in too," JK Tamamo's eyes flashed with mischief. She giggled, her fluffy tail standing up as she prepared to jump and hug him.
"Wait..." Shirou backed up several steps.
"Hehe, just kidding! It was a joke. If possible, I still hope to find the first person I ever met," JK Tamamo stopped and said with a mischievous grin.
She then looked at the girl who had summoned her. "Thank you, Yuno-chan! Next time we meet, let it be the 'good woman' me being summoned by the 'good woman' Yuno-chan!"
Having said that, the Heroic Spirit shattered like a mirror, the Pseudo-Summoning turning into spots of fluorescent light that rose into the air and eventually vanished.
This world was based on the theme of "yandere" and "blackening." If the obsession in one's heart was satisfied and changed, they were no longer bound by this sub-world, and a loophole appeared in the witch's seal. Now, Yuno could also be released to the outside world.
The pink-haired girl's gaze remained as soft as before, her eyes like spring water seemingly filled with countless things to say.
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