Chapter 80 – Full Responsibility
“Bro… Don’t get cocky. Just no. Do you know what will happen if you go against adults? Do you?”
“I’m not going against it. I just follow the rules originally set and won’t change them just to fatten you up. I’ll take the punishment for what my people did. That’s fine, yeh?”
Bro, who stood up without fear of Chitsue’s intimidation, raised his hands as if to show a pose of surrender.
However, his eyes did not seem to have yielded at all.
“Hm, hmpf… you punk…… have you forgotten the kindness that gave you a responsible job even as a ‘half-wit’?”
“I can’t forget your gratitude. I’m grateful to you. That’s why…… I’m going to make sure you don’t get any fatter and make your health worse.”
“Eeh!!”
“I will take Full responsibility. So please withdraw your request.” 1
The fat pig rose with a snort and a flush of anger.
And, took a liquor bottle which was on the table, and slammed it down on Bro’s head with great vigor.
“Nu, B, Bro!”
“Bro!”
“Ky kyaaaaah!!”
“Ah, Bro! Your ‘Cap’!”
A shattering bottle. Splintering debris. And with that momentum, the hat Bro was wearing flew off… eh?
“Hey, what’s this? Is this…?”
“Oh, h-hey!”
“Are you… Mr. Bro… Wha? Eh? What!”
The hoodlums were in a panic, calling out “Oh no!” and the guest nobles were astonished to see the “impossible”.
I’m also… the same…
“Hey, hey, that’s…”
『……』
“Naa, Tre’ainar… Bro’s head…. ears, too…”
I asked Tre’ainar, but he doesn’t seem to be very surprised.
No way…
『I once said this about the fellow, did I not? …… ‘Half-wit’……』
Tre’ainar was aware from the beginning.
This incident.
The deep hat concealed Bro’s true identity.
Blue, swept-back hair, all ruffled up.
A single ‘horn’ slightly extended from the forehead.
And, pointed ‘ears’ which are unlike a human’s.
“Hey, is that Bro? What does that mean, Bro…”
“No way, Bro…”
The customers who were excited by auctions and gambling turned pale all at once.
And the hoodlums…
“Damn, it… Bro!”
“Hey, Bro! We’ll do something about this! You, just leave okay!”
“Rather, why didn’t you avoid it? Why…”
“Hey, calm down, guys! It’s true that Bro is unusual, but…”
This reaction from the delinquents. Yes, the hoodlums ‘knew’.
“Ah~, you got… first blood. Well, this is also one of the punishments…. I’m willing to accept it. I don’t care what happens to me.”
While everyone was surprised by Bro laughing like that, Chitsue’s voice echoed throughout the gambling hall.
“Hmm, that’s right! Ladies and gentlemen… This guy, Bro Glenn… who was deceiving our eyes and slipping into human society…. is a demon, that it is!!”
“Yes, he is… Human and Demon. A mixed race…. that is, half-breed.”
I got speechless and fell behind at Bro’s true nature, which I hadn’t expected at all.
The buzzing nobles, who had been talking to Bro earlier in the day in good spirits, were all surprised and backed away, as if they were afraid.
However, Bro who was hit with a liquor bottle, remained dignified and was wiping his wet head and a little blood.
“I wasn’t deceiving or hiding anything. I just wore this hat all the time because I liked it…. Besides, and I’m not a human, demon or half-demon.”
The identity that you would originally want to hide.
No wonder. Even though the war is over, the current world still doesn’t easily accept variants.
That’s why Mr. Aka was hiding in the mountains because he had such a hard time and was aware of it.
Besides, a half-demon is neither a full demon nor a full human.
That’s why Chitsue and Tre’ainar called him, “Half-wit”.
And yet, Bro does not seem particularly perturbed by the situation.
Instead of hiding his strange figure, he opened it up again, and he’s just….
“A hoodlum. That’s what I am.”
Not a human, a demon, or a half-demon. Bro declared his true identity and stuck to it, he considered himself a hoodlum to the end.
“Bro Glenn! I used you although you were a half-demon, but it was convenient because you were adored by the townspeople and the youngsters. That’s all! That all…… that. A little, no, considerably painful experience watching over you and apparently you’re not grateful, you’re not you’re not you’re nooooooot!! My forefathers have contributed to the development of the Empire for generations…. Let’s engrave the crime against Chitsue Fauhala in your body!”
『Fauhala… ah…… this fellow, that civil servant… he is a descendant of the one who once plagued the Demon King Army by greatly developing the Empire with his intelligence and political power? I see. I wondered why such a simplistic, weak-headed, unsightly pig was a minister… of course, tis a fine lineage, but the man is merely an incompetent pig that has gained status only through the influence of his ancestors.』
Tre’ainar’s said something really harsh, but… that’s not the situation.
Whatever kind of guy Chitsue himself is, his position and those who follow him are real.
“You guys, I want this bastard beaten to a pulp no straighten him up dear me dear me dear me!”
Along with those words, the guys who came along with Chitsue gave a broad grin.
They’re… like bodyguards, yet they’re not warriors…. but they don’t seem to be respectable either.
『…… They all… possess some ability. Most likely not warriors…. Mercenaries.』
Either way, as a Tre’ainar believed, they’re not ordinary guys.
But if all of them were to get involved, Bro would…
“Hehe, it’s a cheeky fucking brat.”
“What shall we do with you, scum?”
“Well, let’s see how far your brave act goes, shall we?”
That said, dozens of men with bottles, chairs, blunt instruments and so on in their hands were in front of Bro.
And Bro is consistently immobile and willing to accept everything.
No, that’s….
“””No….. Don’t――― “””
“You, absolutely do not get involved in this!!”
When I… and the hoodlums were about to jump out, Bro stopped it.
“This is just a distinction. It’s not about hoodlums, half-demon, or an insult to the minister… it was ‘we’ who first broke the rules. I’m not going to waver.”
For a moment, Bro himself retold the story that was almost forgotten.
No, Chitsue isn’t angry about that. He’s angry because the exchange condition he brought forward was refused.
And yet Bro… said “we”, you didn’t particularly do anything!
“No…it, it’s enough already, Bro! It’s me. It’s all my fault! I’ll make amends! I’m going to die! So, please, Minister Chitsue! I’ll get fired, so please let Bro off! I’m begging you!”
Yes, it all started when baguette head violated the rules.
Baguette head sat on the ground crying and begged for forgiveness.
But Bro smiled…
“Kakkakka, idiot. Fellow friends should be on an impartial and equal standing… But yet, why is there a leader? It is because they sometimes take the lead in a fight and sometimes take the responsibility on their behalf. This is my job. So, I won’t budge!”
“B, Bro…”
“Besides, it would be sad if you died. So you watch what I’m doing, you hurt in your heart, and you regret breaking the rules. And I swear you’ll never break them again. That’s your distinction. Rather than feeling like you’ve cleared up your sins just by being beat up, it’s much harder, and you’ll never think of doing it again, yeh?”
The moment he told the tearful baguette head that, the man in front of him slammed the chair on Bro’s head.
“Don’t keep playing lame friendship game, brat!”
“Gah…”
“Oraa! You said you’ll take responsibility, so let’s do it!”
“Te…”
“You’re just a piece of trash!”
Bro didn’t avoid them at all. The men mercilessly hit, kick, and beat such a defenseless Bro to their heart’s content.
“No, stop, stop!”
“Damn it, damn it!!”
“No, please, B, Bro!”
The hoodlums and the women turned pale. On the other hand, the nobles…
“No, but Bro… no, he’s a half-demon, isn’t he?”
“That’s right! You were fooling us! This is a fraud!”
“If I knew he was half-demon, I wouldn’t have been involved!”
“That’s right!”
They were trying to justify this scene, something that would otherwise turn eyes away, on the grounds that Bro is a half-demon.
“Yes, after all, you’re a damn monster! You can only hang with delinquent trash, no matter what you do!”
“You think you’ll be allowed to act so cool and fight against adults?”
“Now, cry, kneel down and apologize!”
Beating up as they pleased, saying as they pleased.
However, Bro did not refute it at all, and was just standing there accepting the attacks no matter what.
He never fell, never broke, continued to be hit, his face and the body were painfully carved with blood splatter and injuries.
Nevertheless…
“B…ro…”
I felt a shudder. I didn’t know how to express this feeling.
However, no matter how much was done, the light in his eyes does not yield to the other party at all.
Bro should be much stronger than his opponents, but he was trying to stick it out in order to draw a distinction based on my belief.
“This, guy…”
I’ve seen, with my own eyes, Bro’s open-minded personality, his fighting skills, and how he’s adored by youth and people in the town.
Certainly, I had the impression that he was “out of the ordinary”, “strong”, “popular” and so on, but that was it.
For sure there are others with more unusual personalities, who are much stronger, and more popular than Bro.
But this way of life… how things should be… the figure that sticks to his principles to the bitter end, and never shows weakness……
“This guy’s… so… Awesome!”
A hooligan that can’t be respected. No, whether delinquents, humans, demons, half-demons, and so on… as an individual, it didn’t matter.
But I was unconsciously swayed by that same “man”.
Is that why it’s enough to just stand there and show this?
Do I really want to be excluded?
Even though I was an outsider, I didn’t want to be unable to do anything.
『Oi, child… do not be tactless. Tis stupid and incomprehensible, but… even so, he is fighting in his own way…. do you intend to get involved?』
I found myself stepping out.
Tre’ainar gave a bitter smile at me, but I still…
“I don’t care. I’m not one of them, I’m not a delinquent. I’m simply…… going to mess with it because they keep doing unpleasant things as they please right in front of me.”
『Fuhahahaha, you disapprove hence you will interfere. The world would call you a hoodlum.』
I threw away the goggles I was wearing.
My feet didn’t stop any more.
[S1]The word he uses, which is also the chapter title, ケジメ (kejime), translates directly as Distinction (e.g. between right and wrong). But I can’t help but feel as if this isn’t the authors actually intention but rather is using it as a shorthand for けじめを付ける (kejimeotsukeru), which could mean to make a clear distinction, but also means to take clear responsibility for (mistakes, etc.). Which is basically what Bro intends to do, take full responsibility for his underlings’ wrongdoings.
A little Self Promotion. A few years back I took a 30 day Anime Challenge I found on Tumblr during my Birth-month (which is this month…). Made a video playlist out of the answer and it became a look into the status of my Shit Tastes. Do have a look and leave a comment with your answers as well.