The World Is Mine For The Taking

Kaori's POV

Since it was already getting pretty late, Leon had suggested that we simply stay the night at the company instead of bothering to travel back to the castle. He also suggested that we should just completely stay here for the rest of our training.

I wasn't entirely sure what to think about that at first, but apparently, this company had so much available space that there were more than enough rooms for us, with barely anyone actually using most of them anyway.

The whole place was much bigger than I had initially imagined.

From the outside, it already looked impressive, but once we actually started walking around inside, I realized just how ridiculous the amount of space was. There were hallways that seemed to keep going forever, several rooms that looked like they hadn't been used in ages, and enough empty space that I started wondering whether the company had been built for millions of people instead of the relatively small number who actually worked here.

Ayaka and I were sharing one of the rooms together.

The room itself was large enough that all five of us could probably have stayed there without much trouble.

Maya, one of Leon's maid who had introduced herself to us earlier, insisted that we should simply take the rooms that had already been prepared for us, so there wasn't really much reason for us to argue with her about it.

Besides, she seemed strangely determined about the whole arrangement.

It was probably because we were going to be staying at the company for a while, especially with the war getting closer and closer to actually beginning.

The company had prepared three rooms for us.

Ayaka and I were staying together in one room, while Morishita-san and Morofuji-san had been assigned to another room. Kashiwagi-kun, meanwhile, would be staying completely by himself in the last room.

"That guy is such a jerk, isn't he?" Ayaka suddenly said.

She didn't mention anyone by name, but I already knew exactly who she was talking about.

It was Leon.

It really wasn't difficult to figure out.

Ever since we had asked him to train us, Leon had been incredibly hard on us.

He didn't hold back during training, either.

Whenever we thought we were finally starting to get used to his methods, he would somehow increase the difficulty again and make us question whether we had actually improved at all.

There were moments when I honestly wondered whether he was training us for war or simply trying to make us regret ever asking him for help in the first place.

Still, I understood why he was doing it.

We were preparing to enter an actual war.

This wasn't some training exercise where everyone would stop fighting once someone got knocked down. There wouldn't be instructors standing around waiting to call an end to the battle, and nobody would magically get back up after being defeated.

People were going to die.

We were going to fight people who genuinely wanted to kill us.

That alone made Leon's harsh training understandable.

None of us had any firsthand experience with an actual battlefield, and most of what we knew about fighting had come from training, stories, even games, or whatever experience we had managed to gather before arriving in this world.

We hadn't experienced the chaos of a real battle.

We hadn't experienced the fear that came with realizing that the person standing in front of you was actually trying to take your life.

Leon had.

At least, judging from everything he had shown us, he clearly understood the difference between training and actual combat.

If he went easy on us now, we might pay for that kindness later.

"I don't think he resembles Ichinose-kun at all now that I'm seeing his true colors," Ayaka added.

The moment I heard her mention his name, my thoughts immediately returned to someone I hadn't been able to forget.

It was Tsubasa.

My childhood friend.

Someone who had already left our world behind.

Not this world, of course.

I meant the world where we had originally come from.

It still felt strange whenever I thought about it.

One moment, we had been living ordinary lives in our own world, and then everything suddenly changed. Tsubasa died, and before we could even properly process everything that had happened, we were transported to this world.

When we arrived here, we were told that we were supposed to become the heroes who would save this world.

It sounded like something straight out of a fantasy story.

Honestly, if someone had told me about something like this before it happened, I probably would have laughed at them.

Being summoned to another world, becoming heroes, fighting monsters, dealing with magic, and eventually being expected to participate in a war sounded completely ridiculous.

Yet somehow, that had become our reality.

When I first met Leon, though, something about him immediately reminded me of Tsubasa.

I couldn't properly explain what it was.

It wasn't simply his appearance, and it wasn't something as obvious as his voice.

There was just something about him.

The way he looked at people.

The way he spoke.

The way he carried himself whenever things became serious.

Even some of the small habits he had reminded me of Tsubasa enough that I couldn't simply dismiss the feeling.

For a while, I honestly wondered whether I was imagining things because I missed my old friend.

Maybe I was simply looking for something familiar in a world where almost everything was unfamiliar.

That would have made sense.

However, there was always this strange feeling in the back of my mind that refused to disappear.

Leon might actually be Tsubasa.

The thought was ridiculous.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself.

Just like Ayaka said, their personalities were different.

Very different, actually.

Tsubasa had been far more approachable, while Leon could be incredibly difficult to deal with.

Tsubasa had always been more straightforward about certain things, whereas Leon seemed to keep several thoughts hidden behind that calm expression of his.

Still, personality could change.

People could change after going through things that others knew nothing about.

If Leon really was Tsubasa, then perhaps everything that had happened to him in this world had changed him.

That possibility was what scared me the most.

Because if I was actually right, then I had no idea how I was supposed to approach him.

Was I really supposed to walk up to him and ask something as ridiculous as, "Are you Tsubasa?"

Just imagining myself saying those words made me feel embarrassed.

But...

What if I was wrong?

What would I even do if Leon looked at me like I had completely lost my mind?

Even worse, what if I was right?

What if I asked him and he actually answered that he was Tsubasa?

What would happen after that?

What would I say to him?

Would I cry?

Would I hug him?

Would I apologize?

Would I pretend that everything was fine?

I didn't even know.

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