The Last Place Hero’s Return - Chapter 80

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 80. The Moon Swallowed by the Sun (2)
“Well then. I’ll leave first, so pack your things tomorrow and come to the Helios Mansion.”
“But tomorrow I have classes….”
“Ha, you skipped class right in front of me today, and now you’re using classes as an excuse?”
“….”
At Mother’s words, I bit my lip firmly.
“…Yes. I understand. I’ll pack tomorrow and head home.”
“I’ll be waiting at the Valhalla City Warp Gate, so come there.”
With those words, as if everything had been said, Mother turned and walked out of the room.
Click.
The door closed, and silence descended.
The ticking of the second hand echoed through the room like thunder.
“….”
I collapsed onto the carpet floor and gazed blankly out the window.
Beyond the transparent glass, shimmering moonlight poured down.
‘The moon doesn’t shine without the sun, they said.’
Recalling what I’d learned from my basic humanities teacher in childhood, I let out a hollow laugh.
Unable to shine on its own without the sun.
Wasn’t that exactly like my current situation?
“…Becoming a man, then.”
In truth, even if I became a man, my life wouldn’t change much.
After all, except for Mother and a few family members, no one knew that I was Yurina.
‘That’s right.’
Nothing would change.
Just as it had been until now.
Unchanging as ever.
I would simply continue living as Yuren, as I always had.
“…Dale.”
Why was it?
Why did his name come to mind first in this moment?
“…Ah.”
Only then could I understand.
Only now could I truly feel it.
“I… I’ve been in love with Dale.”
Why did my heart feel so suffocated and blocked whenever I saw Dale and Iris together, why did I feel an unbearable loneliness and melancholy whenever I didn’t see Dale for a few days.
-You did well.
Why.
Did my heart tremble so at those meaningless words.
Now I know.
I’ve come to understand.
“Ha, haha.”
A dry laugh escaped between my lips.
“How foolish.”
Dale doesn’t even know I’m a woman, and here I am, making a spectacle of myself like this.
‘I decided to live as a man.’
That day, eight years ago.
When Yuren, who had climbed up the cliff saying he’d fetch the flowers for me soon, returned as a cold corpse.
My life as ‘Yurina’ ended.
‘This is the price I must pay.’
Ignorance is a sin.
Innocence is evil.
What could be more shameless than a sinner who killed her brother with a three-inch tongue claiming she too has the right to dream of happiness?
“…I need to wash.”
I staggered to my feet and made my way to the Shower Room.
The moment I removed the pendant, light enveloped my body, and I returned to my true form as Yurina.
Silver hair gleaming as if woven from moonlight, breasts that rose beautifully without being as exceptional as Iris’s, and a body so lean from constant training that not a trace of excess flesh could be found.
Though it felt odd to say it myself, a woman of undeniable beauty gazed back at me from the mirror.
“Yurina.”
I opened my mouth, staring at my reflection in the glass.
“This will be the last time I see you like this.”
My reflection in the mirror offered a sorrowful smile.
“If… if I hadn’t asked my brother to pick flowers that day, could things have worked out with Dale?”
My reflection shook her head.
“Then I wouldn’t have even met Dale? Ah, that’s true. If I’d enrolled at my proper age, I’d barely have crossed paths with a third-year like Dale.”
Thinking about it that way, perhaps I should be grateful that I met Dale even like this.
I could never be his lover, but at least I could remain by his side as a friend.
“Haha, yes. Thinking of it that way does ease my heart a little.”
I lifted my head with a faint smile.
My reflection in the mirror.
Transparent tears streamed down Yurina’s cheeks.
“…What? Why am I crying?”
I said I’d decided.
I said I was prepared.
I said my heart felt easier knowing I could at least stay by his side as a friend.
Then why.
Why, why, why.
Why is my reflection weeping so bitterly?
“Dale….”
I whispered his name through sobs.
-Ding!
A clear chime echoed from the Hero Watch.
[Did you get in safely?]
“Oh.”
I hurriedly activated the Hero Watch and found a message from Dale.
“Hehe. He was worried and reached out.”
Simply seeing his message made a smile bloom across my lips, as if I hadn’t been crying moments before.
The fear that had gnawed at my heart like a poison, the sorrow that had strangled my throat—neither of them lingered anymore.
“I should reply quickly.”
Just as I finished typing “I got in safely” and was about to press send.
“….”
A fierce impulse bubbled up from the depths of my heart.
Suddenly, the memory of skipping class with Dale today and going out to play in Valhalla City flashed through my mind.
An experience of rebellion I had never attempted before, never even considered.
“Tomorrow, I’ll become Yuren, won’t I?”
Which meant.
Today was the last day I could exist as “Yurina” in my life.
“….”
I gazed at the reflection of “Yurina” in the mirror, committing it to memory.
The last day I could be my true self.
The last chance. The last moment.
Then.
“Just for today….”
Even if it’s only a fleeting transgression.
Even if it’s just a dream of one night.
Just for today.
Would it be so wrong to exist as “Yurina”?
“….”
I moved my finger that had frozen before the send button and deleted the message I had prepared.
With trembling fingertips, I typed a new message and sent it to him.
[Dale, can you meet me for a moment right now?]
* * *
The School Courtyard late at night.
Moonlight gently illuminated the courtyard, so quiet it felt eerie.
“This guy… what on earth happened?”
I arrived at the meeting place first and sat down on a nearby bench with a quiet sigh.
“Ugh.”
Belated regret washed over me—wondering if I had carelessly dragged Yuren out today.
‘Clearly he must have gotten an earful from that woman.’
Otherwise, there was no way he would suddenly ask to meet in the middle of the night.
Especially not from a friend he’d spent the entire day with, skipping class and having fun.
“I’m going crazy over this.”
As I waited for Yuren while exhaling a sigh mixed with regret and self-reproach, I sensed a presence from afar.
“Is that Yuren?”
“…No.”
A voice trembling delicately reached my ears.
The figure that emerged from the distance was a silver-haired woman.
Beneath the moonlight pouring down, her face was so breathtakingly beautiful that I forgot to breathe for a moment.
“Hello, Dale. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
The silver-haired woman who approached me bowed respectfully.
“I’m Yurina Helios.”
“…Yurina Helios?”
Yurina Helios—wasn’t that the name of Yuren’s younger sister who supposedly died in a fall eight years ago?
“The world believes I died in an accident, but the truth is different. My family deliberately spread that rumor for other reasons.”
“Other reasons?”
“That is…”
Yurina trailed off.
She continued speaking with a sorrowful smile on her lips.
“I am a direct descendant of the Helios Family, yet I bear the ‘Mark of the Moon God.'”
“Ah.”
Now that she mentioned it, I recalled hearing about this.
In the case of high nobility, when a child is born with a different mark than their parents, the family sometimes expels them from the household or treats them as a ‘dead person’ for the sake of the family’s honor.
“I came to observe the class today with Mother… I never imagined that while I was briefly in the restroom, you would take my brother out and skip the lesson.”
“That is…”
“Oh, don’t worry about my brother. Mother was quite angry, but she talked things through with him and resolved it.”
Yurina shrugged as she spoke.
“That stubborn woman?”
“Hehe. Even though Mother seems that way, she cares for my brother very much.”
“I didn’t see it that way at all.”
“Haha. It’s true. Our Mother… has lived her entire life for my brother Yuren alone.”
As she said this, Yurina wore a bitter smile.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from my brother.”
“About me?”
“Yes. I was so curious hearing how joyfully my brother talks about his friend every time that I pestered him to bring you here.”
“….”
I regarded Yurina with a complicated expression.
“Oh, do you not believe me? Look here. My mark is different from my brother’s, isn’t it?”
Yurina gently opened her shirt collar and showed me her left chest.
Just as she said, inscribed on her chest was not the ‘Mark of the Sun God’ but the ‘Mark of the Moon God.'”
“…So where is Yuren right now?”
“Oh, my brother is in his room because he still has things to discuss with Mother.”
I remain in the courtyard, I suppose.
“So what did you want to talk about with me?”
“I didn’t really call you here because I had something specific to discuss.”
Yurina shook her head with a faint smile.
“I just… wanted to see what kind of person Dale is for myself.”
“And that’s why you called me out at this hour?”
“I’m sorry. Tomorrow, I’ll have to return to the Helios Mansion with Mother. Today was my only chance to see you.”
With those words, Yurina carefully sat down beside me.
“If not today… I don’t think I’ll ever get another chance to meet you.”
“…Why?”
As I asked with a furrowed brow, Yurina smiled softly.
“I’ve had health problems for a long time. According to the doctor, I won’t live much longer.”
“….”
“So, before it’s too late, I really wanted to tell you this one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Dale.”
Yurina turned to face me and smiled brightly.
“Please continue to take good care of my brother.”
Moonlight poured down upon her.
“As a cherished friend… as a reliable comrade… please stay by his side.”
Yurina slowly rose to her feet.
“Well then, I should be going. If I stay out too long, my brother will scold me.”
With those words, Yurina bowed respectfully.
“…It was so wonderful to meet you, Dale.”
With that final word, Yurina turned and walked away into the distance.
“….”
Alone in the School Courtyard.
I recalled the ‘Yurina Helios’ I had just met.
“Yurina Helios….”
Yuren’s younger sister.
The world believed she had died in a fall eight years ago, but in truth, she hadn’t died at all—she had been alive and well all this time.
After hearing about me from Yuren, she had become so curious that she pestered her brother into calling me out on this late night, or so the story goes.
“Sigh.”
I let out a deep breath and pressed my palm to my forehead.
“That bastard Yuren.”
He really can’t lie worth a damn.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————