Please to Kitsune-sama!

Chapter 230 : Kitsune-sama Poses a Question

What happened afterward? In short, Echigo Trading Company was disbanded. The deaths of Echigo Jiro and Echigo Ryoichi, the suspicions that came with them, and—above all—the fact that the Superhuman League had deeply infiltrated the organization, with even a godlike being involved. At that point, the matter had long since passed beyond the question of whether Echigo Trading Company could continue to exist.

Along with the quiet round-up of members of Sunlight and Red Dragon, dissolution and punishment proceeded at a rapid pace. As for Echigo Trading Company’s operations, after scrutinizing their partners, they were to be transferred to various awakener companies. When it came to their cash assets, a swarm of so-called relatives—awakeners and non-awakeners alike—sprang out of the woodwork, but the Awakener Association excluded them and arranged for the money to be handed to “a certain person.”

“…I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do with this kind of money.”

“Do as thou wilt. I do as I please, myself.”

“…Right.”

At Inari’s house, Eru swallowed the retort on the tip of her tongue—”easy for someone who doesn’t even use money to say…”—while watching Inari sip tea at ease. In Inari’s case, it wasn’t about using money or not; she simply didn’t care about it.

For the past few days they had lived together, and Eru had seen no sign of Inari fussing over ingredients. She reached for whatever “looked tasty,” scarcely glancing at the price tag. In a sense, that was a rich person’s life.

And the amount Eru had received was enough to live that way for the rest of her life.

“But money like this…”

Clutching the passbook tight to her chest, Eru thought: money like this. Over money that did no more than ensure one would not want for anything, her relatives had become more strained than she thought possible. Even now, some were storming the Awakener Association to get a line to her; astonishingly, some had even shown up at the Takemoto Samurai Corps. She had heard of shady types, claiming to have investigated her circumstances, buzzing around with talk of “donations.”

There had even been intruders at the Takemoto Samurai Corps dorms; they were having a rough time… but in a little while, that too would all be dealt with.

But such things didn’t matter. The godlike being. That Which Cannot Be Proven nor Known. That was what had killed Eru’s parents. And its aim had been to make Eru some kind of plaything.

Perhaps she had been saved from that fate thanks to Takemoto. But then, in response, they had dreamed up other methods to toy with her. Put simply, all of it—her parents’ deaths, everything—

“Eru.”

“Y-yes!?”

Called to suddenly by Inari, Eru jumped. She had caused Inari great trouble this time… and hadn’t even properly apologized for it. Thinking of that, Eru—

“In truth, I have received from the system a thing called a right to ask a question.”

“A right to ask… That’s… that’s incredible, isn’t it?”

“So I reckon. The system will answer my question… It likely could even reach the secrets of the world. A marvelous thing indeed.”

Eru was struck speechless. It might even be something that granted absolute advantage in this world.

If one were to ask, say, “Tell me the concrete means to attain the world’s strongest job,” the system might give that answer. Follow it, and—whatever that job might be—one could become the strongest in the world.

If one wanted money, one could ask how to get it; the same for weapons, armor, items. Or more—much more. As Inari said, if one could put questions to the very system that knew the world’s secrets… there was no greater right.

“What will you use it to ask?”

“Umu. Let us set that aside a moment.”

“Eh? O-okay.”

“Eru, this affair was in no way thy fault. I proclaim it so.”

Of course she had been seen through. Hanging her head like a child being scolded, Eru thought: she had truly, truly troubled Inari. And her parents… it was because she existed. Without thinking, she said it aloud.

“It is my fault. Because I caught that thing’s eye, my parents died, and all my relatives went mad, and—”

“No. That is not so. To begin with, Echigo Trading Company’s case is separate.”

“…Huh?”

“Well, such quibbles matter not. Eru, thy parents’ deaths are not thy doing.”

“But if I hadn’t awakened… no, if I hadn’t been born—”

“Thy parents would never have thought such a thing.”

“Y-yes… yes, you’re right,” Eru nodded faintly.

Outwardly, yes; inwardly, clearly not. It couldn’t be helped. Eru had borne the guilt of being the only survivor from the start. No doubt many things had happened around that—darkness she carried, a core that shaped her very character. Such things could not be easily fixed. Words from others might convince the surface, but not the soul. And so… it would go on tormenting Eru, again and again.

Inari had no intention of leaving it be. When she was granted the right to a question, she had already decided how to use it.

“O system, I shall exercise the right to ask.”

Some things cannot be answered. With that understood, please input your question

“Eru’s parents’ desire. What did they wish for Eru to become? Show it in a way she can understand.”

“Lady Kogami! That! Don’t use it on something like—!”

Answering. Kotoriya Eru’s parents “wished for her to be happy.”

They wished their own deaths would not become a burden. If possible, they wished she could forget everything and be happy. They wished she would meet someone who could heal her wounds.

The system guarantees this is the true answer recorded in the World Memory, containing no concealment, error, or misinterpretation of any kind.

Before she knew it, tears were streaming from Eru’s eyes. To the very end, from the bottom of their hearts, her parents had wished for her happiness.

The system pays respect to the noble use of the question right.

One use of [Right to Ask] has been consumed.

“I… I’ve been showing them a self they would never have wished to see.”

“Come now, do not chastise thyself so. Thy parents would not wish that either. Is it not so?”

“Yes… Yes! Lady Kogami! I—I…!”

“It is well. When thou wouldst weep, do not hold back. Weep as thou must.”

Eru flung her arms around Inari, who hugged her close, gently patting her back—ton, ton—as if to soothe a child. And Eru sobbed like a little girl.

It was, perhaps, proof that she had slipped free of the chains that bound her.