The World of Otome Games is Tough For Mobs - Volume 13 - Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

Resurrection

“I’M NOT GOING! You can’t make me!” Leon clung to one of the apartment pillars as Marie tried desperately to rip him off and drag him away.

“I told you, we don’t have time for this, you big idiot!” She had to get him back quickly, but he was throwing a tantrum.

“What business do you have calling me an idiot, loser?!”

“That’s it! Now you’ve done it!”

The two were already bickering. Angie, Livia, and Noelle watched on the sidelines, bewildered.

“What’s going on?” Angie demanded.

Livia shook her head. “I-I’m as lost as you are.”

“You two really are siblings, huh?” said Noelle.

There was no room for uncertainty about the pair’s connection, at least. It explained all the mysteries and doubts that had cropped up during their time together. The other girls were relieved to know Marie and Leon weren’t actually romantically involved. Still, the biggest issue was Leon’s stubborn refusal to come back with them after they’d gone to all this trouble to find him.

They couldn’t just stand idly by. They had to convince him.

“Leon,” Angie said gently. “We have to hurry, or you won’t be able to come back to life.”

“She’s absolutely right! Everyone’s so worried about you,” Livia added.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t whine about not wanting to go back when we’re right here,” Noelle scolded him lightly. “It hurts to hear that.”

“I’m not coming back,” he said stubbornly. “I suffered plenty already! I’m settling down here and enjoying some peace and quiet!”

Marie finally released her grip on him, planting her foot right on his rear end instead.

“Yowch!”

“I freakin’ told you, there isn’t much time! We’ve got to get a move on!” she snapped.

“Do you have any idea how much I’ve gone through? I’m tired of it all! At this point, I’ve worked enough for several lifetimes.” He obviously wouldn’t budge easily.

“Leon, do you really not want to come back with us?” Angie asked, devastated. “Do you not want to spend time with us?” Tears slid down her cheeks.

Leon pulled a face and looked away, unable to meet her gaze.

“The fighting is already over, Mr. Leon,” added Livia. “I can’t promise that you’ll never go through hardships again, but I’m sure the future can only get better.”

“Let’s go back together. I’d be lost without you, Leon,” added Noelle.

Leon choked out a laugh. “Marie spilled everything, didn’t she? So you must know I just saw you guys as video game characters. I only approached the three of you because you’re hot. I gave Marie a lot of crap for what she did, but I was no different. I caught your interest simply because I knew how to say and do the right things.”

Livia shook her head. She realized at once that he was only pretending to be a bad guy to shake them off. “You’re not that type of person. You always wanted to live a simple, peaceful life on your own. You didn’t help us for your own benefit. You only approached us because we were in trouble and needed you.”

Leon wouldn’t meet Livia’s eyes either. She’d seen right through him, but he wasn’t about to give up this charade. “That’s because you were vulnerable then. I knew you were more likely to accept me. And, see? I lucked out—three hot fiancées.”

Angie walked over and threw her arms around him. “Even if that was why you did it, I wouldn’t care! Please, come back with us. My life would lose all meaning without you in it. I don’t even want to live without you.”

His lips quivered as he struggled to figure out how to respond.

Marie and Leon’s parents peeked from the kitchen. They’d excused themselves to let everyone talk in private, but they couldn’t help eavesdropping. His mother was particularly disgusted with what she saw.

“I didn’t expect him to take so many brides,” she complained.

Leon’s father glowered at him too. “Man, am I jeal—er, I mean, what a rotten son we have. Unforgivable behavior.”

“You and I will have a talk later.”

“Huh?!”

Leon’s mother harrumphed and padded over to Angie and the other girls. “If you keep up this arguing, you’ll only waste more time. Why don’t you four take a little rest for a few minutes?”

Leon finally released his hold on the pillar, and the group settled around the kotatsu, along with the cat that had somehow followed them inside.

***

Livia ducked into the kitchen to help Leon’s mother make tea for everyone.

“Is Erica doing well?” she asked Livia.

“Erica? Oh—you mean Princess Erica?”

“Mm-hmm. She was my granddaughter in her previous life.”

Livia gaped. “She what?!” She was shocked that Leon’s mother had mentioned the name in the first place, but she certainly hadn’t seen that coming.

Leon’s mother giggled. “Ah, so she’s a princess now, is she? She went through so much in her previous life, I hope she finds happiness. She’s a pretty sensitive person, you know. And she doesn’t share her feelings much.”

“O-oh. I didn’t realize.”

“Leon and Marie have doted on her a fair amount, haven’t they?” his mother went on.

“Yes. ‘A fair amount’ might actually be an understatement,” replied Livia. That had been a puzzling mystery at one time, but now she understood why Leon was so fixated on Erica. She’d been Leon’s niece in his past life.

“I knew it! I figured they’d fuss over her.” Leon’s mother sighed. “But Leon’s a little too indulgent. It makes me worry.”

Livia understood exactly what she meant. Mr. Leon tends to be extremely kindhearted when it comes to family. The same was true of the Bartforts, so she could only imagine how he’d act with Erica.

Leon’s mother seemed to read Livia’s thoughts. “He’s apparently caused his new family a lot of trouble. He really can be exasperating.”

“Ah ha ha…” Livia laughed awkwardly, unsure what else to do.

Leon’s mother peeked out of the kitchen at Leon and Marie, who were fussing at each other again, and grimaced. “I thought those two would be all right together, but Leon’s a lost cause. He dotes too much on people he cares about, and it spoils them in the worst way. Marie’s no better. She either attracts the worst man possible or lands a decent one and ruins him.”

She knew her children well.

“Uh, um, I’m actually engaged to Mr. Leon!” said Livia. “I’d really like him to come back with us. I…want to spend more time with him.” She spoke from the heart, hoping that she might win his mother over to her stance.

Before Leon’s mother could respond, his father poked his head in. “Missus, you aren’t going to believe this. Our idiot son and our idiot daughter have themselves multiple partners in this other world. It’s wond—er, shocking!” He corrected himself at first but then blithely blurted out the first thing on his mind: “It kind of makes me want to reincarnate too!”

“You could never keep a harem,” his wife spat with a venomous smile. “You couldn’t even keep me head over heels, remember? You should try to learn from your children’s popularity.”

Leon’s father pressed a hand over his chin. “You don’t get it. A harem does mean a man looks after multiple women, but those women aren’t clamoring for that man because they’re attracted to him. I guess a woman wouldn’t know the difference, though.” He shook his head. “Shame. I wish I could live the easy life with a bunch of women spoiling me.”

“No one cares what you want, and you don’t work anymore anyway.” By now, his wife’s smile had vanished.

Thinking better of arguing the point further, Leon’s father retreated to the living room. Livia stood there awkwardly with a troubled smile. 

Leon’s mother sighed. “Well, there’s no need for you to worry,” she told Livia. “I’m sure Leon will go back, especially since you all went out of your way to come get him.”

“But he already said he doesn’t want to come back. Maybe he’s fed up with us. We depended on him for too many things.” Because of that, Leon had pushed himself far too long. Livia was worried that that was probably why he didn’t want to return.

His mother shook her head. “He’s the bashful sort who can’t be honest about his feelings. He was overjoyed that you all came to find him, but he doesn’t want you to know that, so he’s acting cold about it. At any rate, he’s got his own reasons for not wanting to go back.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Livia.

“Sadly, I have no answer for you.” She glanced out the nearby window and sighed. “You can see the view pretty well from here, can’t you? It’s not a pleasant one.” She meant the enormous black hole in the sky, which Livia had noticed when she first entered this world. 

It was uncomfortable to look at, but Livia couldn’t suppress her curiosity. “Um, what exactly is that hole in the sky? I mean, I guess maybe it’s not a hole, but it looks like one.”

Leon’s mother smiled uncomfortably. “How should I put this? It’s more like a wall than a hole. A blockade, I suppose you could say. There’s nothing beyond that point.”

“Blockade?”

“I think that’s enough small talk. It’s about time we got back.” She motioned for Livia to return to the living room with her. “I’m glad I had a chance to see my children’s faces again. They seem to be enjoying themselves—a bit too much, I’d say—in your world. And I’m happy Erica got to meet up with them.”

There was something peculiar about the way Leon’s mother spoke, but she seemed anxious to return to the living room, so Livia didn’t have an opportunity to press her for answers. Livia doubted that she wanted to explain herself anyway, since she’d already dismissed several of the girl’s questions. There was no point trying to get more answers from her.

Livia paused briefly at the window, gazing at the sky. “A wall… A blockade… What does that mean?”

***

I felt so miserable that I could almost cry. “Almost” being the key word. If you included my previous life, I’d lived forty years at this point, but my mom was sitting here lecturing me. Marie sat next to me, legs tucked neatly beneath her.

“Besides, do you have any right to mock other people?” my mom droned on. “You get upset over others cheating, but you already have three brides yourself! What’s that about? As your mother, I’m ashamed of you.” 

I sat ramrod straight, the dark-gray cat with red eyes also sitting politely on the floor to my right.

As Mom went on, Dad nodded in agreement. “I’m jealous of you, I’ve got to say. If you’re this reluctant to go back, you must be hiding something. Something I assume you have a guilty conscience about.”

I stared at him coldly. “No.”

He turned to mom, whining babyishly. “I’m telling you, Missus, he’s being sneaky!”

We’d finally reunited after all this time, and almost the first thing I wanted to do was plant my fist in my old man’s face. But it was my fault I let him distract me with that.

“Are you even listening to me?!” my mom snapped.

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

“And reflecting on what you’ve done?”

I dropped my gaze and meekly muttered, “Uh, yeah. I’m reflecting on stuff.”

“But you don’t regret what you did, do you?”

“Nope,” I said.

She sighed at me, exasperated. “You haven’t changed a bit.”

Noelle perked up. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of kid was he?”

Mom studied me for a moment. “Well, when he was younger, he helped a girl who was being bullied.”

“Aw. So he was nice, even back then,” said Noelle.

I averted my eyes. Hearing her recount my past like that was embarrassing.

“Except he pushed the boys who’d bullied her off a bridge,” Mom added. “Even the girl he saved started crying that she never wanted him to go that far.”

Noelle frowned. “Yeah. That kind of sounds like him too.”

“That’s not all! Know what my idiot son said afterward? ‘I’ll be smarter about it next time.’ I was at my wits’ end at that point.”

Noelle and the other girls shot me sideways glances, not the least bit surprised by this revelation.

Mom turned to me. “Leaving that aside, do you realize how lucky you are to have so many women dedicated to you? Whining about not wanting to go back is just selfish and silly.”

She had a point. I nodded. “Look, I didn’t expect to land this many women either.”

Smiling, Mom chopped me on the forehead with the side of her hand.

“Um, Mother, you don’t, uh, have to be so hard on him,” Angie stammered. “W-we’ll be happy as long as he comes back with us. That’s all we need. Given Leon’s status and special circumstances, it’s almost inevitable that he’d have multiple brides.”

Dad had to weigh in, of course. “What an awesome cultural value! If I reincarnated in another world, I bet I’d have a harem too.” 

I seriously doubted he’d ever have had a harem. Marie seemed to share my opinion; her lips drew back in disgust.

“You have three women who love you. Why don’t you want to go back?” Mom demanded. “What’s wrong with you? You’re such a coward, it sickens me. All they want is your return. You’ll have them all crying if you don’t go, and then we’ll have another funeral with a bunch of girls sobbing because you left them. Do you understand that?”

Another funeral? What was she talking about? Certainly not my first one.

I huffed and looked away, which somehow prompted the cat to jump into my lap. “Hey, kitty. You understand where I’m coming from, don’t you? You’ve got an arrogant look, but I’ll bet you’re a nice little—gah!” It stuck its front paws on my face and dug its claws into my skin. This thing isn’t cute at all! “Rotten cat!” 

I tried to grab the scruff of its neck, but it darted away just in time to escape my clutches, then raised its hackles and hissed at me.

“What? You want to fight?!” I leaped to my feet, ready to take it on.

Mom chopped me on the head again. “You idiot son!”

“Yeah, well, I had to inherit it from someone, right?!” I spat back.

Dad looked away from me. “Honestly, the only upright person in our family is Erica,” he muttered under his breath.

He was absolutely right. I was shocked by how together she was.

“She grew up watching Marie, so she never felt like she could ask for anything for her own sake. That really hurt her at times. I’m glad she seems to be doing so well now,” said Mom. “When we got old, she looked after us—which is exactly why you need to go back!” She spun and jabbed a finger in my direction. “You need to take good care of Erica. It’s the least you can do after you devastated us by dying before we did!”

“That wasn’t my fault!” I cried.

I realized the moment the words left my mouth that they were nonsense. It was my fault that I’d passed away.

“Of course it is!” Mom retorted. “You were a grown man who pulled multiple all-nighters playing a video game!”

Crap. I couldn’t say anything in my defense. She was absolutely correct.

Marie was sweating bullets next to me, as if sensing she’d be next. She couldn’t have been more right.

“Marie.” Mom turned toward her this time.

“Y-yes, ma’am?!”

“You’re as bad as your brother. Don’t be so eager to throw your life away because you think everything’s your fault. You’ve accomplished plenty in your second chance at life. What’s more, your father and I forgave what you did a long time ago. Don’t worry about the past anymore.”

Marie burst into tears. “Mooommmy!” She flung herself at Mom and clung to her. 

Dad fidgeted restlessly beside them, awaiting his turn to receive her affection. “You can hug me too, Marie,” he said.

I felt so bad for him that I threw my arms open. “Want to hug me instead?”

He wrinkled his nose at me. “A hug from my son does nothing for me.” At least he was honest. Too honest, I’d argue, but I’d forgive him. I’d probably say the same thing in his shoes.

Mom wrapped Marie in her arms and stroked her head. “Honestly, no matter how much you grow, you’re as much a fool as ever,” she said affectionately.

Long before my parents fell out with Marie, she’d earned top grades in school, and they’d trusted her over me. At times, it broke my heart. Marie was always the one they doted on.

“Being able to put on such a convincing act for people must be nice.” I sank back to the floor.

Dad plopped down next to me. “Don’t get jealous of your sister. We always knew she was putting on an act.”

“What? I don’t buy that. You especially fawned over her all the time!”

He shrugged. “Because she’s cute. I wasn’t going to fawn over you. That’d be weird.”

“But you trusted her more than me!” I said.

“Leon, be honest with yourself and ask yourself about all the trouble you caused growing up. Have you forgotten what you did when you were still in grade school?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong! Some nasty kids decided to pick on me, and I wanted them to stop. They didn’t, so I roped in my teachers and the law to fight back. That’s all!”

Dad pulled a face at me. “You don’t seem to realize how abnormal you are. Why do you keep thinking of yourself as a background character? No background character acts like that.”

Wait. He knew I always called myself a background character?

“Were you watching everything go down?” I asked.

“Hm? Nah. I just heard stuff from one of your acquain—oh, look at the time.”

The cat from earlier jumped on my right shoulder. It now dug its claws into my scalp, clinging fast. It even bit me, as if hurrying me along.

“Yowch! Knock it off!” I howled at it and then froze. “Hold up. Could you be…?”

Before I finished my sentence, Marie grabbed my arm. “We have to get going now, or you won’t be able to come back at all!”

Angie and the other girls rose to their feet and joined Marie in dragging me along.

“We’re going!” said Angie. “I don’t want to live without you! And if you insist on staying, I’ll stay with you!”

I shook my head furiously. “No, you can’t! Then you’d die too!” I couldn’t let that happen. I wanted her and the others to go on living.

“I’ll stay as well,” Livia declared, annoyed with my attitude. “We can live happily here, can’t we? I hope you remember that I promised you I would never let you go, Mr. Leon. I meant what I said.” It was just like her to make an announcement that verged on yandere.

Noelle seemed a little taken aback by Livia’s threatening statement, but she reached for my hand and squeezed it. “Let’s all just go home, all right?”

The four practically carried me out of the house. I mean, picture it—they hoisted me up like some animal they’d slaughtered and were taking home for dinner. Wasn’t that crazy?

“You guys are treating me like a slab of meat!” I cried.

Marie paused for a moment to wave back at our parents, who came out to watch us go. “See you soon!”

See you soon… The words echoed in my head. Aha. I knew it. She probably thought she hid it well, but I saw right through her. What a troublesome sister you are.

“My apologies for the rush,” Angie told my parents. “But I swear to you, I’ll make your son happy!” That was the kind of line I’d expect from a guy declaring his intentions to a girl’s parents.

“I-I want to find happiness with Mr. Leon as well,” Livia threw in nervously. “S-so please let us have him! On second thought…I guess we already took him. Sorry!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of your son!” Noelle threw in casually, ever the most relaxed of the bunch.

Was it just me, or was that also something the guy should be saying? They were being surprisingly assertive.

My parents waved back at the girls, watching quietly as they carried me off. I stared at them until they were specks in the distance. Before I knew it, we reached the gate leading to the other world.

“Hurry!” Marie shouted at the others. “We’ll be in big trouble if we don’t get through and close the gate quick!”

They finally lowered me to the ground, ready to dash for the other side of the gate. From this side, we couldn’t see anything—it was all darkness—but I could tell that even one step through would send us to the other side.

Livia and Angie grabbed both my hands, trying to drag me along as they ran for the gate.

“Leon, hurry!” Angie said urgently.

“Everyone’s waiting!” Livia chimed in.

I yanked them back and wrapped my arms around them. Leaning close, I whispered in their ears, “Thank you for doing so much for a guy like me. But this is goodbye.”

“What?”

“Um, Mr. Leon…?”

While they were still too surprised to react, I shoved them through the gate. Livia threw her hand toward me, clutching at empty air, her face frozen in shock. I watched until she and Angie disappeared into the darkness. 

Noelle stood wide-eyed behind me, as if she couldn’t comprehend what I’d just done. I grabbed her in my arms and leaned toward her ear. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“Leon?!”

I shoved her through the gate after the others. At least now the three were safely back on the other side.

Marie was standing far enough away that she didn’t hear what I said to them. Still, she was angry at me for wasting precious time. “Hurry up! I told you, there’s no extra time.” She made no move to exit herself, though—just rushed me along. “Go!”

“I’ll go after you do,” I said.

“What? Don’t be such a chicken! You’re a man, so act like one and charge on through. It’s cowardly to use a lady to test the waters.” Marie kept avoiding my gaze. She was easier to read than she realized.

“No,” I said. “In times like this, it’s a guy’s job to shut up and stay behind.” I grabbed her arm and shoved her toward the gate.

Marie was dumbfounded at first, but soon her face crumpled into a look of despair. “What’re you doing, after I went through all this trouble…?! I was going to stay behind and close the gate!”

I knew it.

The gate was pulling her in. She struggled against it, clawing at the empty air. “You have to live! I…I was pretty much the one who killed you last time! I swore to myself that, this time, I’d save you!”

She’d tortured herself with this the whole time? I’d never asked her to sacrifice herself for me. In fact, that was the last thing I’d have wanted. What could be scarier than being indebted to Marie? Nah, better for her to go back and enjoy her second chance at life.

“Dummy. What big brother would let his little sister save him? I don’t want to be that lame. Hurry up and go back. For your information, I forgave your role in my death long ago.”

She was still fighting to stay, so I planted my palm on her forehead and forced her backward.

Tears sprang to her eyes. “I hate your guts, you—” Her voice cut off as she disappeared.

I guess she does have a cute side, putting her life on the line to save me.

“All right, then. That just leaves you.” I turned back to the cat, who’d watched silently as everything played out. “This is the gate from the afterlife to the living world. From what I know about how these things work, you can generally only close the door from the afterlife side. Who’d have thought I’d experience closing the door on an otome game world?”

The dark-gray cat transformed into a robotic sphere that floated in the air, its single red lens staring at me. It had been Luxion all along. “So you realized who I was,” he said.

“Of course. Your claws freakin’ hurt, by the way.”

The two of us faced each other in front of the door, but only one of us—Luxion—needed to return.

“You’ve got to leave too,” I said. “Angie and the others will be fine as long as they have you to take care of them. With you there, I won’t have anything to worry about.” I knew he’d protect them for me. Between us, I wasn’t the important one; Luxion was, as the game’s cheat item.

“Unfortunately for you, I refuse. My master has already passed away, so no master is currently registered into my system,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why would you refuse?”

He glanced at the darkness on the other side of the gate. “Do you know why I fought?”

“Because you wanted to exterminate the new humans,” I said.

“No, I had no interest in that.” He paused momentarily. “Correction—I lost interest in that.” 

That was news to me. For the longest time, it’d been all he ever seemed to talk about.

“I wanted you to survive. That was why I fought,” he said. “Master, it’s time for us to say goodbye.”