Chapter 4

Besides, I’m sure you would take me seriously without dismissing all this as some child’s practical joke, Oukawa. You’re different from others in the family and my parents.

Yeah, I’m sure any decent parents would just let their kid have it for doin’ some suspicious stuff in the garden.

Right. Which is why you’re the first person I’ve ever told about this game—I mean, this experiment.

I’m actually a bit nervous confessing something I’ve been keeping secret.

Ngh~ Well, you can pretty much say whatever you like, considerin’ you’re an important guy, unlike us.

…I’m still a child without any real authority, though. I’m still lacking in many areas to be able to carry out my will.

However, the experiments I’ve conducted in this garden have granted me insight to the way the world works.

Which is that, in order to succeed and prosper, we need the protection of a higher being.

For the sakura ants, that mighty protector is someone like myself.

So what, are you gonna become a monk and rely on the protection of the Buddha?

I have no intention of entering the brotherhood. Rather, I want to remain in the secular world and gain the power to control it.

I don’t want to stay in the position I’m in right now, where no one sees me or listens to me.

……

Let’s get back on track. Why did these sakura ants get such a powerful ally as myself?

That would be because they behaved in an exceptional way; they ate my precious sweets. This is how they caught my attention, and this is how they received my exceptional blessing.

I’d like to do the same thing.

Earning the recognition and favor of a powerful being gives you power, yourself. The power to be seen and loved by my parents, by Tenshouin-onii-sama, and by so many other influential people in society.

So in order to get that power, I have to be a good boy, far above the rest. I need to make myself useful and convenient to them.

I will receive favor in exchange for my service to them. And in being chosen by those powerful beings, I will then gain enough power to rule over this world.

Well, I can see your line of thought at least. If ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em—That’s the real secret of life, ain’t it?

That’s a rather blunt way of putting it.

…But in that case, you might wanna avoid hangin’ out with me, Bou.

We’re the untouchables who take up the thankless jobs. If you keep me around, you might end up losin’ your value too.

We Oukawas’d just be a stain on you Suous’ good name.

If you wanna be picked out and loved by some almighty being, you gotta get rid of the dirt like us.

…… (shakes his head)

…What?

Please don’t say such sad things, Oukawa. You are the first friend I’ve ever had, the first person who understood me.

You’re the only person I can reveal my heart to.

I dunno why you’re so attached to me. It ain’t even been that long since we met.

It doesn’t matter how long we’ve known each other! This is what I feel in my soul! You get it, don’t you Oukawa?!

Uh, no?! What’s the matter with you? Ya talk like you’re an adult, but then ya start cryin’ like a kid—

Ya really are a weirdo.

I’m not weird! Please don’t insult me! I’m a proper, upstanding boy—That’s what I’ve decided I’ll be!

Aw nuts, we ain’t even havin’ the same conversation…

Oh?

Hm? What’s wrong, Oukawa?

Take a look, Bou. Something’s wrong with your little sakura ants.

Huh? Um…?

I thought they were movin’ kinda slow, but they’re just stoppin’ dead an’ now they’re twitchin’ somethin’ fierce.

H–huh? Why is it doing that? Pull yourself together, sakura ant! You’re the ones who are to reign supreme in this garden!

Oh~… It’s ‘cause of the paint, ain’t it?

Some of the ingredients in the paint are toxic to livin’ critters, and then when the paint dries it stops up their joints an’ airways, makes it hard for ‘em to move.

I–I did this? I painted the sakura ants to make them easier to identify, but—Oh, what do I do?!

Well, it’s fine. They’re just bugs, after all. It’s no different from all the other creepy-crawlies in the garden you already smushed to bits.

It ain’t fair to only kick a fuss about the sakura ants.

I don’t know what you’re talking about! Ohhh my god, my sakura ants—!

Hope ya learned your lesson, Bou. You can still kill somethin’ even if you’re just tryin’ to protect it.

That’s what it means to have power.

Stop mumbling! Water—We need some water, to wash off the paint!

Please help me, Oukawa! The sakura ants are still alive!

I’d love to help ya, but I can’t go inside the house.

I can’t go fetch water for ‘em—I ain’t even s’posed to set foot in this here garden, either.

Then I’ll change that nonsensical practice! As the next head of the Suou house, I’ll allow it. So please, help me save the sakura ants, Oukawa!

I dunno~ What if your folks get mad about it later?

Naw, what if your future self, who grew up all proper an’ upstandin’, comes to regret it?