Translator: Shizukuku

Editor: Lilia

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 096 – Are Dreams Really Just Dreams…?

“You heard what I said, right? I have a skill that people in this world don’t have. For me, the [ Good Luck ] skill isn’t lucky at all. My mother had the [ Good Luck ] skill and it was passed down to me. My [ Good Luck ] is fairly weak compared to my mother’s. But, as long as it was attached to me, people were constantly being pushed around by it.”

Good things happen to you when you are around a person with [ Good Luck ]. If you make them angry, [ Good Luck ] will make bad things happen to you.

It’s normal to be treated as if you’ve got an illness.

I was honestly tired of that closed-minded way of thinking, and Vidello-san let out a sad laugh.

“Moreover, because of that skill, it was believed that my mother wasn’t from this world at all. They never spoke of it in front of me because it might make me unhappy and trigger my skill, but I knew there were rumors saying that my mother was a witch and that she might have come from the Demon Continent. I didn’t know if the rumors were true or not, but I knew they had been accumulating and getting more and more absurd. Even if people didn’t say anything to me, I could feel the weight of their stares. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I spilled the beans to my mother. I told her that I didn’t think she and I should exist in this world. I realized later that wasn’t what I should have said to my mother, who was shunned by everyone, but still raised me with love and affection. But by the time I realized that, my mother had disappeared from this world.”

“Disappeared…? Your mother?”

My throat hitched.

I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around Vidello-san’s back as I realized that the situation was much more serious than just the foreigners that Monto-san had mentioned. 

“It was just before the foreigners started showing up here. My mother held her breath at my words and seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she disappeared without saying anything.” 

“That’s… that’s worrisome.”

“Ah, but, it’d be a lie if I said I wasn’t a little relieved. Doesn’t that make me a terrible son? But, after she disappeared, I lost the one person who didn’t treat me like everyone else did.”

Vidello-san, with his eyes downcast, continued to speak, with a look on his face that made it hard to believe that he still felt that way.

“But, I couldn’t get rid of [ Good Luck ], and people around me kept getting caught up in it. Then, on the other hand, the foreigners were calling us ‘NPCs’ or something and acting in incomprehensible ways. And in the midst of all that, Mac, who looked straight at me, looked so dazzling. The comfort of being seen as just me was like sampling a sweetness I had never tasted before, and I was so happy just having a crush on Mac.”

“That’s because Vidello-san taught me that it doesn’t matter if I’m a foreigner.”

“Only because I wanted to be treated that way myself.”

“But still. That made me really happy.”

We looked at each other and laughed at the fact that we were thinking the same way.

Vidello-san’s smile, which seemed a little happier than before, made me happy as well.

“But about Vidello-san’s mother, I’m still worried about her.”

Vidello-san’s eyes narrowed slightly as he nodded in agreement with my comment.

“I know… but sometimes I have dreams.”

“Dreams?”

I tilted my head back to listen to Vidello-san’s words, and he looked a little further away and paused.

“I sometimes dream of my mother, and she’s dressed strangely, moving about lively in a strange building I’ve never seen before. And I’m there, for some reason, helping my mother and constantly saying, ‘I just want to do what I love,’ and other things that I could never imagine saying. It’s a funny dream, and I still have it now and then.”

Instinctively, I clenched my hands.

That.

Could it be that?

Vidello-san’s mother, is she truly from our world?

I felt like my heart was pulsing wildly. I was having a hard time breathing.

“I like my current colleagues who treat me like normal, and I like my job. So I can’t see myself quitting or anything like that. Besides, I have Mac by my side.”

The sound of my heart was so loud that it was hard to hear Vidello-san’s words.

“…Vidello-san.”

This was only a story about Vidello-san’s dream. Just a dream. And yet, it didn’t seem like just a dream to me. Maybe I didn’t want to think it was.

The face of Vil-san, wearing a tight-fitting, expensive-looking suit, flashed through my mind.

I wondered how my face looked.　

In the midst of my racing heart, I suddenly had such a thought.

What if I was making a face that was hurting Vidello-san right now?

I knew that Vidello-san might be hurt by my expression. 

But I just couldn’t seem to fix my face.

I didn’t understand.

What if Vidello-san was Vil-san’s avatar, and that Vil-san knew everything, and was here as an NPC?

Or, if somehow Vidello-san was logged in here with no memory of Vil-san.

It was all speculation, though.

But no matter how I looked at it, Vidello-san’s icon above him was the color that marked NPCs, and when he saved me, and that life was about to disappear, there was no indication that he was going to turn into light like players do when they die.

That is to say, maybe it was just Vidello-san’s dream and had nothing to do with Vil-san at all.

Strange thoughts kept going round and round in my head.

But it wasn’t Vil-san, and it wasn’t [ Good Luck ] Vidello-san, it was this Vidello-san right in front of me that I fell in love with.

I involuntarily buried my face in Vidello-san’s hard, armored chest. The unusual coldness of the metal, and the fact that I could tell it was Vidello-san, calmed my confused head a bit.

“Mac? I’m sorry, this is such a weird story. I know I’m saying some crazy things.”

“Nah… it’s ok. It’s just a little confusing, that’s all. I just wondered why Vidello-san was acting properly in the dream world.”

“I wonder… yes, indeed, it’s strange.”

As I felt Vidello-san’s firm hand comfortably combing my hair, I understood that, as it was, the two of us had no future together after all.

After all, even if Vil-san had some connection to Vidello-san, and even if they were the same person, Vil-san was Vil-san, and Vidello-san was Vidello-san. I couldn’t believe that the Vil-san I had a meal with at that time was the same person, even if he had a similar face, and I wouldn’t like anyone but the Vidello-san that was standing here, in front of me.

It was impossible for us to be together unless I became a resident of this world or Vidello-san logged out of this one, and that’s just a pipe dream.

Masuda’s term ‘fruitless love’ crossed my mind, but I…

“Vidello-san… I love you.”

Ah, I’m kind of confused and my nose is tingling.

“I love you too, Mac… I’m so glad that you’re safe and sound after what happened today. Though I couldn’t help in any way. Crash beat me to it.”

“Uhn… I was so happy that Vidello-san came. There was a lot of fuss about Crash’s outburst.” 

Now that I thought about it, I wondered if the Taruar Grass could be divided again. 

As I was finally able to think of something else, Vidello-san, as if he had just had an idea, lightly asked me, “Come to think of it, does Mac have a skill?” 

“Yeah, I have a lot of them.”

People in this world have no concept of skills. That’s why I was hoping that Vidello-san might have a skill that connected him with our world. 

“I see,” Vidello-san murmured as he ran his fingers through my hair. “Then maybe that dream world is the world of Mac and the other foreigners… If you see me in my dream, make sure to say hello.”

Vidello-san’s last words, “Just kidding,” fell on deaf ears.

No, you can’t. If Vidello-san says that, I’ll…

“I don’t want to… My only Vidello-san is the Vidello-san here. I can’t say hello…”

This time, all I could do was bite my lip and struggle to hold back the tears that threatened to drip from my eyes.

Vidello-san seemed to sense that I was acting strangely, and called my name in a questioning voice, “Mac…?”

The next moment, Crash suddenly burst into the room.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I interrupt you? But this isn’t Mac’s workshop, so don’t bother the landlord. Anyway, Mac.”

The room suddenly became noisy, and the tears in my eyes stopped in their tracks from surprise. Thank God.

I looked up from Vidello-san’s armored chest, and Crash’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw me.

“What, did he really make you cry? Mac isn’t an adult yet. Vidello, you shouldn’t be so careless.”

“It’s not like that!”

Crash laughed out loud at my serious, immediate denial.