Follow the Script

Chapter 11

Y/N: Alright, fine, we'll go together and get them.

Koishi: Yea! Thank you mister Y/N!

Y/N: ...

She gave the man a large hug with a bright smile and ran back to the entrance, yelling at him to hurry up. He smiled in her direction until she vanished and fell down into a familiar sadness. Looking down at his hands, he was clutching a book on his stomach, hiding it from her.

'The book of Reimu Hakurei, now the last Hakurei maiden that will ever live.'

Y/N: ...

Normally, he wouldn't feel guilty about doing something like this. After all, they came here to take his life and steal the forbidden knowledge residing here with him but after the many tears shed by the witch, he could only see a reflection of himself in her.

...All he could do was cry about the facts and loath his own cowardice. Just like her, he was stabbed by many spears of guilt and sorrow but his remained invisible to others. Seeing the many bright faces full of life vanishing one by one broke his morales and sanity, leaving him with a shell of what he used to be.

"I can't do anything, why should I be able to if I couldn't even help them?"

"I'm worthless, I have to force the corpses of my friends to do what I should be doing."

"I can't sleep, not when others should deserve it more than me."

"I don't want to sleep... I don't want to see them judge me and yell at my pathetic self."

Y/N: ...

Unlike him, she denied the death of her friends and only realized after being forced to witness it a second time. Meanwhile, he broke down into tears the first 10 times he called them for assistance and he was forced to see them trying to comfort him right before they vanished.

Y/N: Maybe... just maybe...

He closed his eyes and the book of the shrine maiden began to glow. It surpassed the light of the lamp on the desk and grew in power until it vanished. Opening his eyes, he knew that his idea succeeded and stood up to join the girl waiting for him.

...He truly was weak, weak to the point of feeling remorse for eliminating his opponents that would have ended his existence with no guilt.

Koishi: Heeey, what took you so long?!

Y/N: Sorry, just spacing out.

He responded with a low chuckle and joined her at the exit. Standing side by side, the man and the girl exchanged a look and the small one pointed at the man's head with a slight surprise.

Koishi: Where did you get that?

Y/N: Oh that... it's a memory.

Indeed it was. Right behind his head, a large, red ribbon with white frills ornated his otherwise dark outfit. It seemed completely out of place for the girl but the man silently gave her a smile and lightly touched it, feeling a certain warmth attached to it.

Koishi: You remind me of that grumpy shrine maiden in red with that.

Y/N: ...

He bitterly smiled back and felt a crack in his heart, knowing that she was talking about the one now gone. However, he endured the comment and nodded along with her words, not wanting to rise suspicions. Not investigating further, she opened the door and their second quest began.