A/N: I literally spent 4 hours on this chapter, it's probably the new best chapter that I have ever written in my life (You can tell because there's so much depressed energy in it). Another super long chap, 1900+ words not including the stuff at the bottom (You'll understand once you get there), you're welcome.
"Akimitsu?"
I woke up to the sound of my name that I hadn't heard in ten years being called.
Opening my eyes, I found the image of a shocked Marabelle, her hands covering her mouth as she stared at me blankly.
But, soon after, she got over her shock and sat down right next to me, suddenly, for some reason, learning her head on my shoulder.
"...?"
My face said it all, but she acted like this was normal, and we just stayed like that, enthralled in the silence, as we found a sort of... transmigrator kinsmanship between us.
Oddly, her weight on my shoulder felt oddly familiar. It was like we had done this many times before...
"Sigh..."
Hearing her break the silence, I twisted my head again and found that she was now resting her chin on my shoulder, our noses accidentally touching the slightest bit as we stared into each other's eyes, our faces much closer that what was considered "comfortable" to most people, even if they were of the same sex, but, once again, due to my sense of familiarity with her, it just felt normal, natural even, to be this close to her.
"Ruiki."
I froze, a look of horror flashing across my face.
"That's your name, isn't it?" Asked Marabelle.
"H-how?" I stuttered, not understanding how she knew.
After all, in this world, I had never told my real, true name to anyone before, so this could only mean...
Looking at her face again, I realized why she looked so familiar, why she was always so... intimate in my mind's eye.
It was that look in her eyes, a look that I had seen and loved forever and ever ago.
And finally, it all clicked into place.
"Are we in... your novel?" I asked her, a nod being the only response to my question.
This confirmed it.
"Namida... it's been a while..." (A/N: Cause it's Japanese, it's pronounced Na-Mi-Da, with a slight pause in-between each syllable.)
"No shit! You know how hard it was to live on after you died?" She yelled out.
"But, didn't you arrive only a few days after me?" I wondered out loud, as it was obvious that she was implying at least one or two years of pain and suffering.
"I died two years after you, which somehow got translated to two days here. But still, I spent two years alone..."
"..."
The silence was my only reply.
I knew she needed to vent, so I let her.
"Do you know how hard that was?" She asked, but the only comfort I could give her was none, as I shook my head.
"I was so scared..." She said, softly, before resting her forehead against my own.
Then, we both closed our eyes.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."
"No, it's not your fault. I can only blame myself for trying to live two more years in something that slightly resembled a wretched existence."
These words already had a profound meaning to them, but, knowing her so well, I could fully comprehend the darker undercurrents below the surface level ones.
"You committed suicide in the end?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
"Yes."
Hearing this, I could only sigh, as, although I wanted to berate her, I would have probably done the same thing in that situation if the roles had been reversed.
After all, was there anyone who wanted to be abandoned?
Of course, we had all died, but it was, in essence, the exact same thing.
*sniff*
*sniff*
*sob*
Quickly noticing that the dam holding back her fragile mental state was about to break, I enveloped her in a hug, allowing her to lay the entirety of her weight on me.
Thankfully, she had an extremely slim figure from being a student at the L all this time, so it wasn't that hard for me to support her.
*sob*
*sniff*
*sob*
The dam finally broke, and her quiet sobbing filled the entirety of the safe space that we had created, as a melancholic dominion descended on the peak of the mountain.
I let her have full run of my body, completely entrusting it to her, as she cried on my shoulder, touching, clinging, feeling me, as she vented out all her sorrows.
Now that I knew who she was, I was at ease, knowing that somebody I could trust with my life, somebody that would sacrifice their own life for mine, and I for them, was right next to me.
So, I let my own anguish out, all from the recently, yet to heal, rupture in my heart.
I softly cried, sniffing every once in a while, as my eyes turned red, my face buried in Namida's soft shoulder, her hot skin warm and soothing to the touch.
We stayed like that for a while, taking comfort in the vast sea of each other's tears.
...
Three Days Later:
Three days had passed, and we had been connected with each other for the entirety of the time, using simple magic to turn the couch that we had started on into whatever furniture was convenient for the both of us at the time.
During these three days, we had vented to each other, had normal conversations with each other, or had just basked in the comfort of the other, as I, myself, rekindled many of the emotions that I had lost in The General Games.
As for Marabelle, no, Namida, she was visibly a happier person, and I was too, as we often just started giggling after staring into each other's eyes for a period of time.
Also, after the first day, we had removed most of our clothes, leaving only our undergarments, as we embraced each other, trying to remember what "home" felt like, what we had left behind to come to this world.
But now, we both knew that our "homes" had somehow come with us to this world, in the form of our other half, the one that we could do anything for.
And, thereafter losing all of my faith in humanity after experiencing The General Games for ten years, before coming home to Esgardia only to see my ass getting NTR'd, I had somehow, after just spending three days with Namida, begun to regain a little bit of my brightness.
After all, unlike those cheating bastards that had completely split my heart in two, Namida was a balm that had started the healing process, albeit, only a slight percentage of it, but still, it showed that she was the most important person in the entire universe to me.
Ah, I forgot, I should mention this in case any of you guys were thinking that I had been overreacting for the past few days.
You see, the first thing that I had seen after being released was not only the face of Elvira, no, it was the face of Elvira in a deep french kiss with Primrose.
Now do you understand?
There were no misunderstandings here, they had both clearly betrayed me.
So, now, to recap, there were only 5 people I could "trust" in this world currently.
First was Arwyn, who was probably back on the other continent right now, or on a raft in the middle of the two continents, with our relationship being one of repaying favors, with each person repaying the previous favor ten times over.
Second was Ms. Krenshaw, who was taking care of everything for me right now in the L, doing tasks such as handing in my resignation letter to the Empress. As for our relationship, I could definitely trust her with my life, but I wouldn't be sacrificing my life for her anytime soon.
Third was Bella, who was inside the AI chip, but I would talk about her later.
Fourth was Xion, but that was just because he could never lie in the first place. The author of this world, Namida, had wrote it that way.
And finally, fifth was Namida, who was right here with me, her hot skin pressed atop of me as she used my body, instead of the bed that we had conjured, as her bed, sighing contently every now and then as she mindlessly played with my body, tracing her fingers across my burning skin.
I mean, you guys, knowing the author (A/N: Hi!), could probably guess what Namida's relation to me was, right?
You see, Marabelle was a transmigrator who happened to be the author of this novel that we had been transmigrated into, who happened to be called Namida back on Earth, who happened to be a close person to me.
After all, Namida's full name was Chisuke Namida.
And, wow! What a coincidence, my family name was also Chisuke, Chisuke Ruiki.
And Chisuke Namida was my dearest, beloved sister.
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A/N: I got an announcement! WRDIN has finally surpassed the 100k word mark, WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Fina-Fucking-Ly!
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Cough, cough, uhem...
Anyways, there's gotta be some form of celebration, and that'll be in the form of a,
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I'm really afraid to say this...
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10 chapter mass release on Sunday... (I'm fucking screwed for making this promise, but it's the end of the quarter, so, after I'm done with the 10 tests I have to take yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I'll be free, I hope...)
Anyways, again, wanted to say thank y'all for being with me on every step of this journey. Your support means the world to me, and I couldn't have done it without y'all.
You see, when I first started, I was a depressed kid, no joke, as I had just gotten covid, and, well, you see, like a week before that, I had been exposed to the world of webnovels and light novels through a friend (thank you so much, Drew, you changed my life), and, like all y'all (probably), I got addicted.
So, during the duration of my quarantine, I just read a bunch of stuff on Novel Updates instead of doing the schoolwork that I was missing.
You can see where this is going...
Yep, I had now completely screwed myself over, and once I got back to school, all my grades started dropping as, instead of making up all the stuff that I had missed and surpassing my struggles, becoming a better person, I just fell deeper into the rabbit hole that was webnovels, and accumulated even more missing work.
But finally, in March, something changed, as I felt like I had read all the "good" webnovels that were out there (I've come to find that there are a lot more, but I was just not as good at searching for online novels back then compared to as I am now).
So, I decided to write my own novel.
And that completely changed my life.
Somehow, after I started writing, my grades went back up again, and I somehow got all of my missing work done.
Later, meaning now, I figured out that this was because I had been releasing my depression into reading, but now that I was writing, well, writing my own novels was a much better absorber of depression than reading other people's novels.
Anyways, after some ups and downs like any other author, I finally had my first mild success, something that blew my mind, as, after all, I hadn't started writing for the attention, I had just started writing to try and get rid of my depression.
As the OGs know (if they're still reading my novels), that novel that had suddenly blown up for no apparent reason, was "Solo Tower Ranker".
Seeing the collections and views rising every day, I got addicted, solidifying the idea that my decision to start writing was one of the best in my life.
It made me happy after all.
And it was also how I became a clout simp, but, the exact story about that is gonna be left for a later time.
Back to the story, basically, after Solo Tower Ranker became a relative hit, gaining 600 collections in a span of two weeks, I created a new goal for myself.
Taking inspiration from what Jian Wushuang once said (albeit, I'm "slightly" changing the saying), "With a pen in my hand, I stand unparalleled under the heavens!"
So, my new goal, the goal that I have been pursuing since I stared WRDIN 5 months ago as "A Requiem for the Ruined", is to get in the top 100 rankings without signing any contracts.
I know, you're probably scoffing at me, thinking I'm too arrogant, but what can I say? If you have lofty aspirations, you're more likely to achieve them.
I hope that y'all can continue on this journey with me, trumping all obstacles that pass us on our way as we make it to the top of Webnovel.
So, once again, for the third time, I thank all y'all from the bottom of my heart for helping me get this far.
Thanks for reading!