Love You Eighth Night: 03 [Lightblade] ☆◇ (79) (Patreon)

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He had always wanted to die.

Ever since he was a child, he could never feel "passion" for anything. Not sports, not academics, not play, not even the thing called love... It wasn't a matter of whether he was good or bad at them; he simply didn't understand what it meant to be absorbed in something, to enjoy it.

That was why he had lived his life always gazing with envy at his friends who found hobbies, goals, and a reason for living.

The boy's world... no, only the world reflected in the boy's gray heart. It was as if it had been cut off from everyone else, left behind, cold and frozen.

[Lightblade]... Kitamura Romeo. The reason he hated his real name wasn't because it was a flamboyant name.

It was because the boy was ashamed of himself for being unable to live with the passion of the protagonist of that play. He cursed his own spirit for having lost to his name.

Perhaps he was lacking something important as a human being. His body was that of a human, but his heart was a failure, he thought. He continued to think so, disappointed in himself for not having what everyone else naturally possessed.

Eventually, that feeling led to strong self-denial and became chains that bound his heart. That was why a person like him should never be able to accomplish anything, it was only natural that he could become nothing.

Ah, I am a failure as a human being.

Ah, my life has no meaning.

That belief, close to a faith, had made him continue to wish not for "life" but for "death."

Then why had he not taken his own life?

The answer was simple. The reason was "because there was no reason."

For him, who believed that his own "life" had no meaning... it was unbearable for his own "death" to also have no reason.

...It was in his second year of junior high. A friend from his childhood who had been suffering from pediatric cancer passed away.

But at that time, what dominated his heart was not sadness or anger towards the disease, but simply the feeling of "envy."

(I'm envious. I'm envious of you, who has a reason to die.)

And at the same time, the boy loathed himself for having such a thought. His self-denial grew even stronger.

That was why he had so readily accepted the words of the person from the future.

『You are not connected to the future. You will accomplish nothing, and you will become nothing. You are a human being with no value or meaning to your existence.』

It was nothing more than an affirmation of the boy's dark and damp philosophy.

And at the same time, he was also overjoyed to have obtained a legitimate reason to die.

In other words, [Lightblade] had no intention of surviving from the beginning. The boy had gone along with their plan with an agreement that was one hundred and eighty degrees different from the future person's intentions. It was only natural that, unlike [Heartbreak] or [Hound Master], he had stubbornly refused to have his ability altered.

But ironically. The exchange of life that had been forced upon him, the battle he had challenged with pride... gave him the first "fulfillment" he had ever felt in his life. It gave him "passion." It gave him "hope."

(I've lived until now to fight them like this.)

Perhaps it was the figure of a sword slave captivated by a serious duel.

But whatever the case, for him, the confrontation was sacred and inviolable, and all "legitimate" contenders were opponents to whom he should pay respect.

That was why, when Militza told him that [Scar] was a person who had been defeating contenders with [No Ability], he trembled with emotion.

With what kind of resolve had she fought her way this far?

What kind of feelings had driven that person?

What had become [Scar]'s strength?

I want to fight.

I want to feel the passion of such a warrior.

I want to meet her and convey my respect.

And maybe, just maybe.

([Scar] might be the one to give me the answer.)

It was with a feeling of longing that he faced this battle.

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Zuuuun.

He finished dropping one of the staircases in the four-story school building from the bottom up and took a breath.

As a result of the steady, repetitive work... the school building had only one staircase left, and all the others, including the emergency stairs, had been destroyed. Now, to move up and down the school building, one would have to use the only remaining route.

"The preparation took a lot of time."

The reason [Lightblade] had destroyed most of the staircases was because he disliked the idea of a stalemate caused by a chase. If there were multiple places to go up and down in the school building, the risk of the opponent escaping to another floor and losing sight of them would be high.

(My opponent is a fierce warrior who has been winning against contenders with no ability. The physical abilities of the person called [Scar] must be extremely high.)

[Lightblade] had no confidence in his own stamina or physique. Therefore, he predicted that he wouldn't be able to catch up to his opponent even if he ran after them. That was why he had nipped the risk of running around endlessly in the school building in the bud.

The reason he left one staircase was out of concern that if he had overlooked [Scar] hiding on an upper floor, he wouldn't be able to engage in battle.

A futile endurance contest to see which of them would starve to death first was not what [Lightblade] wanted.

"Well, now that I've finished preparing the battlefield, I guess I'll go look for [Scar] again."

Since he had dropped this staircase from the bottom while climbing up, he was now on the top floor of the regular classroom building. The fourth-floor corridor. This meant that from the window, he could see the blue metal roof of the three-story building on the other side.

Was it a so-called gabled roof? The center of the roof was the highest in a straight line, and it sloped down towards the edges of the building. If seen in cross-section, it would look like a triangle. Such a roof continued not only on the building across from him but also over the connecting corridor.

Suddenly, [Lightblade] looked at the row of windows. It was probably due to the structure, but a part of the corridor where the boy was standing now was designed so that if he opened the connection to the connecting corridor, he could jump onto the roof.

"Mischievous kids would probably climb on something like this for fun and cause a commotion... In an elementary school, they should probably take proper measures against it."

No, even a child wouldn't climb on such an obviously dangerous place. With a small laugh, [Lightblade] was about to turn his gaze back to the corridor... when he found it, the figure standing on the roof across from him.

It was none other than the [Scar] he had been seeking.

2025.11.19

The manga version is finally entering the Lightblade arc! So Kiyo-sensei drew an illustration for the Lightblade arc!

Lightblade-kun imagining the yet-unseen figure of Scar. Now, I wonder what kind of figure he's imagining?

In the comicalized version, Lightblade-kun's past and character depiction have been expanded and delved into deeper with Kiyo-sensei's direction!

I guarantee that even those who have read the novel version will enjoy it.

Please give it a read~