Ever since childhood, I’d been incapable of sympathizing with others. I didn’t think of others as fellow humans. I felt like I was alone among aliens. I couldn’t understand them, so I couldn’t sympathize with them.
I didn’t know why. There probably wasn’t a reason at all. I was simply born like that. My soul was shaped that way. Still, that didn’t mean I showed contempt for others. I didn’t understand it myself, but I knew there was merit to that. Still, I just couldn’t categorize myself among them. So, what I’d felt was a sense of alienation. I had a complex about my inability to find any value in anything.
The only exceptions that I found myself obsessed with were the beloved dogs my family had raised. They were honestly dear to me and so very adorable. It might sound strange when I couldn’t think of any humans as dear to me, but from my perspective, people who could were the inexplicable ones. Hence, it went both ways.
Man’s best friend was what had barely connected me to humanity. Despite not being human, they seemed to understand humans and had taught me their value. It was enough for me to want to be reborn as a dog. I wanted to be one of them. That was probably why my superpower had manifested as the Beast of Darkness.
No, I didn’t understand humans. However, by observing them, I could outwardly mimic their behavior. That was how I’d lived to this day. In this one aspect, Nakajima Kojirou and I were similar. He was also an alien, but he wasn’t the same as me. In all likelihood, he couldn’t sympathize with others for an entirely different reason. That lack of sympathy was the only thing we shared. That was why I was capable of noticing it. I was probably the only one in the Colony who knew how alien he was.
Conversely, I wasn’t sure whether he realized the same about me. Even if we were both aliens, it didn’t mean we understood each other’s thoughts. Much like how I didn’t understand humanity, I didn’t understand Nakajima Kojirou. I had no idea why he was so alien. I simply felt like I was staring into a terrifying abyss every time I came across him.
His mere presence elicited a deep dread. And if he knew that I knew...that thought sent a chill down my spine. I shuddered and turned pale. I felt like I couldn’t endure keeping this to myself. Just then, a hand slapped against my shoulder, startling me.
“What’s wrong, Todo?”
“Yu...”
Yu peeked at me with a worried look. Her warm gaze expelled the cold from my heart and body. That was why I was able to reply without hesitation.
“Nope. It’s nothing. It’s nothing at all, Yu.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Yu was special to me. She could be summarized plainly as “a woman of justice.” Everyone probably had the same impression of her. She was always perfectly honest and trying to do the right thing. She was a shining example of how one should be.
However, Yu’s righteousness was a little too much for a human. Because of that, she was a little disconnected from others. To be frank, she wasn’t normal. Perhaps alien was the right word for her too. Don’t misunderstand, though. Unlike me, Yu was properly human. In fact, she was a surprisingly normal girl. She was strong at heart, sensitive, very caring, and secretly a scaredy-cat. That was why it was weird.
Take the fight against the huge army of monsters that’d attacked us upon arriving in this world. During that battle, Yu had stood her ground even as she trembled in her shoes. She hadn’t forgotten her fear like the cocky warriors, nor were her sensibilities dead like mine. She’d swallowed her fear, had steeled herself, and had bravely fought against the surging wave of monsters. I could declare with certainty that no normal girl would be able to act like a veteran of war the way she had.
She was so strong, and radiant—and hence unreliable. Even if she was stronger than most, if the path she ran down was several times harsher than a normal life, she was liable to break. I’d been aware of this facet of her even before teleporting to this world. Rather, it was precisely because I’d been attracted to her unbalanced strength and unreliability that we had become best friends.
So, if I opened up to her about everything, she would probably lend me her strength. However, I never told her about the anxieties in my heart. Even now, I smiled to hide them, then parted ways with her.
After that, I walked to the edge of the Colony. Reaching a spot with nobody else around, I pushed down the anxieties welling up inside me. Upon spotting something, I suddenly scowled. Several boys were standing threateningly over another skinny boy. This was the type of thing Yu hated seeing the most. On edge due to the feelings in my heart, I found it disgusting. So, I questioned them in a gentle voice.
“What are you doing?”