Chapter 161: Laughing at Fate

Kouro with a pensive expression listened to Higokumaru's words until the end, his purple eyes seemed to narrow slightly before shining brightly.

"I see..." he muttered.

A bold guess appeared in his mind, but before that...

Kouro turned his head to look at Higokumaru whose eyes looked unfocused.

"... Higokumaru, can you tell me the names of all the living MANTIS?"

"Hmm?" Higokumaru who heard his question turned her head to look at him, her eyes seemed to tremble slightly when she saw his bright purple eyes.

"...From what I know, there are nine people, Kevin-Nii, Su-Nii, Kosma-Nii, Griseo-chan, Aponia-Nee, Mobius-Nee, Vill V-Nee, Fu Hua-Nee, and SAKURA-Nee..."

Kouro had found out how many MANTIS were still alive from Fu Hua, it was just that she didn't tell the names on the grounds of forgetting.

But now, Higokumaru had told him all the names of the surviving MANTIS.

Naturally, he found some names that were familiar to him, it's just that... Kouro glanced at Sakura who was leaning against the wall not far from them.

Higokumaru said SAKURA is also alive. It's good that her sister is still alive... But why is she not with her?

Seeing Higokumaru's sad expression, he gave up his intention to ask, after all, it was already included in personal matters, as long as Higokumaru herself did not tell him, he would not ask either.

Now, combined with the information he got from the game, he already knew about 11 names.

Kevin, Elysia, Aponia, SAKURA, Eden, Su, Mobius, Kosma, Vill-V, Griseo, and Fu Hua.

If he remembered correctly, there were 13 MANTIS or Flame-Chasers left in the original plot, but since the future had changed, he did not know if the number of Flame-Chasers had decreased or increased.

Well... Let's not dwell too much on that for now.

With all the information he had gathered at the moment, he had found a few things that could be confirmed.

First, the core of the 'Herrscher of Shadow' was in the hands of the World Serpent, and that meant there was a certain possibility that the 'Herrscher of Shadow' could still be resurrected.

That is because for a Herrscher, the core is their soul, so as long as their core is not destroyed, there is still a possibility of resurrection as long as there is a suitable vessel and of course, as long as the Herrscher wants to live again.

An example is Kiana (K-423), she was a clone created by Otto as a vessel for the core of the second Herrscher, Sirin.

'...The suitable vessel for the Herrscher of Shadow is... Me.' Kouro thought as his eyes narrowed.

He then remembered 'Project Shadow', a project that didn't exist in the original plot, this project probably had the purpose of finding a suitable container for the core of the Herrscher of Shadow.

And from many people, the chosen one turned out to be 'Hanagami Kouro'.

But what was the chronology until he was chosen as the vessel of Herrscher of Shadow?

'Hanagami Kouro' originally had an incurable chronic illness, so it was impossible for him to be directly selected as a suitable vessel.

'Wait, chronic illness?' Kouro's eyes widened slightly as if realizing something.

Perhaps... The only way to cure that disease is...

Becoming a Herrscher?

Does that mean he was a Herrscher from the start and not a human?!

If this conclusion is correct... Then it's also possible that his father was a Herrscher!?

Furthermore, the chronic HB disease that 'Hanagami Kouro' was suffering from was stronger than the usual HB disease, and it was also impossible for it to appear out of thin air, so the chronic disease may be hereditary!

That means his father also suffered from the very same chronic illness, but even so, he was still healthy!

That means there are 3 possibilities, either because he has a strong body that is not attacked by chronic diseases, either because the disease is specialized only for 'Hanagami Kouro', or...

His father had recovered from the disease...

Kouro felt the third possibility to be was more likely, but if that was the case... His father, Hanagami Sagaki.

What Herrscher did he turn into?

'Don't tell me, that my father was also a Herrscher of Shadow?'

This thought was immediately rejected by Kouro, after all, it was impossible to mass produce Herrschers.

But it's a different story if it's inherited...

Kouro recalled one of the scenes in the game when Welt the first Herrscher passed on his power to Bronya...

Does that mean his father was the one who first received the Herrscher of Shadow core to endure his chronic illness before eventually passing it on to 'Hanagami Kouro' to cure his illness?

But if it was really like this, then it was strange that his grandfather was still alive...

Thinking about this, Kouro then narrowed his shining purple eyes, either his grandfather was also a Herrscher, or... his Grandfather wasn't really his grandfather...

But if it was true that his grandfather was not his real 'grandfather', Kouro would not do anything, because his grandfather had taken care of him and taught him about various things whether good or bad since childhood.

In a way, Kouro grew up with his grandfather rather than his uncles and aunts, or his parents.

So he only felt disappointed that his grandfather had hidden things from him.

While it was good that he had discovered the cause of his 'Reincarnation', this still didn't answer another very important question.

Who was he really?

There was no way he was 'Hanagami Kouro' as he had met him back then in his consciousness, then for 'KOURO' although there were some possibilities, he was still unsure.

He had the memories of both of them although they were fragmented, he also took the body of 'Hanagami Kouro' and also took the power of 'KOURO' the Herrscher of Shadow.

"This is not the time for KOURO Nii-san to wake up." was what 'Hanagami Kouro' told him during the Honkai Eruption in Singapore.

Does that mean at that time KOURO's consciousness should have woken up, but for whatever reason, KOURO's consciousness did not wake up and finally... fell asleep again?

Thinking about this, Kouro opened the Quest interface and looked at [Job Change Quest] with a thinking expression.

He felt that this system of his had a certain relationship with KOURO the Herrscher of Shadow.

Maybe that was also the reason why the system was only activated when he was 15 years old, maybe all the things the system had were not aimed at him but at KOURO's consciousness to accelerate his growth.

If it was really like that... if he completed this Quest would KOURO's consciousness wake up again and take over this body?

Thinking of this, Kouro suddenly chuckled with his head bowed until his body trembled, no, he was laughing loudly.

Higokumaru and Sakura had strange expressions when they saw him suddenly laugh without cause.

Especially for Higokumaru, she felt the chaotic emotions from inside Kouro's heart, the same emotions she felt at that time from KOURO.

"HAHAHAHAH!!!"

"Kouro-Nii? Are you okay!? ..." asked Higokumaru anxiously, she did not want to repeat the same incident with KOURO at that time.

"HAHAHAHA!!!" Kouro holding his stomach laughed so hard that tears came out of his shining purple eyes.

"Kouro-Nii!" shouted Higokumaru with a serious expression mixed with worry.

"I'm fine, Higokumaru, I've NEVER FELT THIS GOOD!" said Kouro with a strange smile.

Either he was cracking up or he had suddenly gone crazy.

"...What are you laughing at Kouro?" asked Sakura with a wary expression, as her hand reached for the handle of her katana.

Kouro who was laughing loudly like a certain Crazy clown for a few seconds then stopped before finally turning to look at her with a calm expression, "I'm just laughing at my fate."

(E/D: Hmm... Crazy Clowns... Let me make a list. Pennywise aka It, Joker, Hisoka, Kefka Palazzo, Sweet tooth, Violator, Shang Tsung(Clown fatality), Harlequin(Assassin's Creed), Adam MacIntyre... Did I miss anyone?)

Kouro thought he somewhat understood how KOURO felt in the previous era.

He sighed before turning to look at the two of them and assuring them that he was not crazy, he told them that he just remembered something funny.

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Hearing Kouro's reasoning, of course, Higokumaru and Sakura didn't believe it, but seeing that Kouro didn't want to discuss it, they eventually stopped making an issue of it.

"Then I'll go to the bathroom first, see you later." Kouro said and went out leaving the two of them.

Sakura and Higokumaru looked at each other.

"He's really not crazy, is he, Higokumaru?" asked Sakura.

"From what I feel it should be..." said Higokumaru unconvincingly.

They both then looked at the door of the room with serious expressions mixed with worry.

__

In the hallway of the evacuation room, Kouro was walking alone, because the time had reached midnight, and the hallway of this place became very quiet.

"Huh... I hope those two don't think I have gone insane." he muttered.

Well... That seemed unlikely.

Sakura and Higokumaru alone were currently in the room discussing whether or not to tie Kouro up.

Kouro sighed, he quickly walked towards the bathroom.

A few minutes later, after answering the 'call of nature', Kouro who was walking back to his room, suddenly stopped.

He hid behind a wall before lowering his head slightly and staring in a certain direction.

The place he was looking at was the same place where Mei had confessed to him.

Naturally, if it was Mei, he would not be hiding like this, he was currently staring at another person whose back was facing him.

That person was Ana.

'This girl... At this current time, why is she not asleep?' Kouro thought.

"Huh... What should I choose against that bet?..." said Ana in a worried and agitated tone.

'The bet? Does she mean the bet she made with Tianwu?' Kouro thought as he raised his eyebrows.

If he remembered correctly, Tianwu had bet that if he was still alive after fighting the Templar that Kouro had eliminated back then, Ana would be his date.

Thinking about this, Kouro thought he knew what Ana was worried about.

After all, when someone you don't know very well suddenly asks you out on a date, don't you also feel uncomfortable?

Ana didn't know anything about Tianwu, she only knew him briefly in a life-and-death situation.

But she knew that Tianwu was a good person.

It's just that even so...

Kouro who saw Ana's changing expression then put on a thinking expression before finally approaching her.

Ana who sensed the presence of someone from behind her immediately turned around with a wary expression, but when she saw that it was Kouro, the expression immediately changed to normal.

"Captain! What are you doing in the middle of the night like this?"

"Isn't that what I should be asking? Why are you alone in a quiet place like this?" Kouro said while looking at her.

"That's..." Ana seemed to avoid his gaze.

"Well, let's just say my question didn't exist." Kouro said before leaning against the wall and looking up at the brightly shining moon.

Seeing Kouro who did not immediately leave, Ana seemed to play with her two index fingers before finally asking.

"... Captain, in your opinion... What is love?"

After saying this, Ana bowed her head with her ears reddened.

"Hm? Why are you asking me?" asked Kouro with a strange expression.

"That...That's because I saw that Captain is familiar with many women... So I thought Captain had a lot of experience in love." she said in an embarrassed tone.

Ana thought of, Mei, Kiana, and the others who looked very familiar with Kouro.

'Ana! You're really asking the wrong person!' Kouro who was wearing a calm expression shouted inwardly.

It was true that he was familiar with all the women, but that didn't mean he had much experience in love! His experience in love was completely blank like a plain white paper!

(E/D: Is it just me or are you guys also imaginig the Waifu force to appear and murder him while we drink wine and watch the show elegantly like we were watching the Hunger games.)

Even right now if he got along with a woman, his life would be threatened!

Kouro really wanted to pour out all his frustrations on Ana, but fortunately, he actually managed to hold back.

But in the end, it didn't matter as he had to answer Ana's questions as a Captain.

Kouro sighed before putting on a 'wise' expression, "For many people 'love' has many meanings, but in the end, the meaning remains the same, you feel happy next to the person you love. Let me model that for you."

"Mhn?" Ana wore a confused expression.

Kouro turned to look into her eyes with a serious expression, he approached her slowly but at the same time, Ana also retreated slowly with an embarrassed and confused expression until she finally touched the wall.

"Wh-what do you want to do?!"

Kouro then slapped the wall next to her and looked at her very closely.

Ana's eyes seemed to widen unblinkingly with a flushed face staring at Kouro's approaching face, her heart was really beating fast.

Ana closed her eyes tightly, not daring to look at Kouro's face.

Kouro then whispered into Ana's ear, "If I know what love is, it's all because of you."

*Badum!*

After saying that, Kouro jumped backward before asking with a happy face, "What about my acting? Have you felt what love is?"

"What?" Ana opened her eyes to stare at Kouro with a blank and surprised expression, as if not understanding what was going on.

"Umu! Umu! As expected by my really great acting!" Kouro was seen nodding while praising himself without noticing Ana whose head was bowed with her body trembling.

"Kouro-kun..."

"Mhn, what? I can't hear you?" Kouro raised his ears.

"KOURO-KUN, BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!" Ana shouted with her face reddened with tears before turning to run away from Kouro.

Kouro seemed to cover one ear as Ana yelled at him before staring in the direction she was going.

"Ouch-ouch... Looks like I was too much for Ana, I should apologize to her immediately."

"What were you doing, Kouro?" came someone's cold voice from behind him.

Kouro suddenly became stiff, his body full of cold sweat.

Like a robot that had never been oiled, Kouro stiffly looked back, he saw Kiana with her arms folded looking at him with very cold shining golden eyes.

Kouro didn't know why Kiana was behind him, nor did he want to know.

Seeing Kiana's extremely cold expression, Kouro stiffly ended up doing a Seiza  in front of Kiana with his head bowed.

"Do you have any last words?"

"Slow down, okay?  Kouro said with a smile like someone who was about to be executed.

*BAM!*

Kiana took an uppercut so hard that Kouro was thrown off the roof and into the sky.

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