RL Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Growing Up in the Slums (Part 2)

Prologue, Part 3

Novel Title: 共鳴劣情 オメガバース (Resonance Lust: Omegaverse)

Author：岩本薫 (Iwamoto Kaoru)

Illustrator: 蓮川愛 (Hasukawa Ai)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 本浄天音 (Honjou Amane) & 苅谷煌騎 (Kariya Kouki) / 首藤煌騎 (Shutou Kouki)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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We steered clear of risky ‘jobs’ like theft, prostitution, and drug dealing. Instead, we collected garbage—empty cans, bottles—and sorted them into categories like iron, aluminium, and glass to sell to scrap dealers. With the money from selling the recyclables, we bought food and shared it equally among everyone.

At first, many complained about the plan I put forward. But once results started to show, they began to follow my instructions.

After about a year, we had formed a group of about twenty people.

In that group, Amane was my right-hand man.

Amane was an orphan from the slums. But he came from a typical Beta household. However, when he was seven, he lost both his parents in a car accident. With no relatives to rely on, he was placed in a children’s home, where he suffered terrible abuse. He barely managed to escape with his life, collapsing in a back alley near a garbage dump in the slums, where I found him.

When I learned that he was the same age as me and had a similar build, we quickly became close friends. Most importantly, Amane could also read and write. Before his parents died in the accident, he had attended school. He also loved books. It was the first time I had found someone I could truly connect with, and I was overjoyed.

Though Amane was intelligent, he was physically frail. So I often protected him. Since he didn’t eat much, I would share my food with him, giving him the things he liked. Even when we slept, we shared the same blanket to keep warm.

We talked about all sorts of things together.

What we wanted to do. What we hoped to do one day.

We didn’t want to sleep on cold floors anymore; we wanted to sleep in a bed. We didn’t want to be wrapped in damp, musty blankets; we wanted to be snuggled in soft, dry futons. We wanted to eat freshly baked bread. We wanted to eat as much meat as we could.

We wanted to leave the slums and get a proper job.

Once life was stable, we wanted to go to school.

We wanted to go to the library, borrow as many books as we liked, and spend entire days reading.

Yes, someday we would rent an apartment and live together.

So, for that reason, we swore to live through today, and tomorrow, together.

But…

Over the two years that we lived in such harsh conditions, without air conditioning, without a bath, Amane’s already frail body slowly deteriorated. His physical strength dwindled, his immune system weakened. And he could no longer fight off infections and viruses.

―――Live…

―――Live… for me too…

With those last words, Amane’s short life of only nine years came to an end.

I clung to the body of the first friend I had ever made, crying, crying, crying all through the night…

The next morning, alone, I cremated his body. I heated a knife in the flames and pressed its red-hot blade into the palm of my left hand.

This searing pain—I swore to myself I would never forget this pain and the pain of losing my friend.

The scar left by the knife was a vivid reminder of the blade’s shape, burned into my palm. Amane had the same scar in the same place. He said it was from the abuse he suffered at the children’s home.

After wrapping my still-throbbing burn in a strip of cloth, I buried Amane’s bones and marked his grave. I stood there for a while, hands clasped in prayer, before raising my head. Tearing myself away from the place where my friend rested, I turned my back to his grave.

By then, the path of collecting and sorting garbage to sell to dealers was firmly established. Even without me, the group would be able to carry on.

When I left the slums, I headed straight for the church in Midtown.

After pressing the intercom at the iron gate, the camera seemed to confirm my presence, and soon an elderly nun wearing a black veil came out of the entrance. She quickly walked to the gate, lifting the hem of her habit, and pushed up her slightly drooping glasses. Through the lenses, I could feel her observing me carefully. Eventually, her eyes rested on my left hand.

“Are you… injured?”

At her comment, I looked down at my left hand. The cloth wrapped around it was stained with something brown. The burn had blistered. And it seemed the blister had burst, leaking bodily fluids.

“What is your name?”

After a brief hesitation, I gave the name of my now-deceased best friend.

“Honjou Amane.”

“Are you alone? Do you have any family?”

To her next question, I shook my head. “No, I don’t.”

“My parents died in a car accident two years ago. Since I had no relatives, I was placed in a children’s home. But I was horribly abused there… I ran away… and have been living in the slums for two years.”

“The slums for two years?”

The nun’s eyes widened, as if she couldn’t believe it.

“It’s true. But the slums are dominated by crime and violence… Every day, friends get hurt and die in fights…”

The nun covered her mouth with her hand, her eyebrows furrowed in sympathy.

“How terrible… Were you injured in a fight as well?”

“Yes. Someone pressed a heated knife against me. —Please, could you take me in here at the church? I don’t want to go back to the slums, and I don’t want to return to that facility either.”

At my plea, the nun nodded sternly. “Of course. Neither place is suitable for a child.”

“And, what is your category?”

“Beta.”

I gave her a false category and recited the number I had memorised from my friend.

“My citizen number is β—”

“I understand. First, let’s go inside and get that wound treated. Then, we can have something warm to drink and discuss what to do next.”

***

There’s no turning back now…

As the nun guided me into the church, I steeled myself.

From this moment on, I will live as Honjou Amane.

For Amane, who truly wanted to live. And for my mother, who died with her wishes unfulfilled—

I will live.

Even if I have to deceive the whole world, I will survive.

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*Translator’s Note: Now I understand how minimalist Honjou-san house is. You see, all he needs is a warm bed, food to eat, and earn his own living. It’s all so simple. -K

Next update: 2025.01.05

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