Transmigrated into a World of Reversed Roles
Fhap 38

"Yona?"

The wind kept blowing against my shirt. The small branches of the trees swayed, showing how strong the gusts were. But why was I breaking out in a cold sweat now?

Yona was standing at the edge of the cliff. Right at the edge, so close that I thought she would fall with just a single touch.

Maybe because she heard me call her, the fingers of her right hand twitched slightly.

"Ren? Kinda rare to see you here. Out for a walk? You should head home, I heard it’s going to rain later this afternoon."

Yona spoke to me, but she didn’t turn around. Her head didn’t even try to look back. She kept her eyes forward.

"... I’ll go home once the clouds come. What about you? Doing stair-running training like in those movies or something?"

"I lost. What’s the point in training anymore?"

Okay, I’m officially being an idiot now.

"Th-Then why are you here?"

"Just relaxing. Feels refreshing up here with the wind, doesn’t it? So refreshing, it’s like if you jumped from here, you’d grow wings and fly."

A loud alarm went off in my head, warning me of a terrible feeling about what Yona might do.

My shirt started clinging to my skin, drenched from the sweat.

"I-It is refreshing... But could you maybe step back a bit? It’s dangerous standing there..."

"Yeah, it’s dangerous here. So you should stop walking, Ren. It wouldn’t be funny if you fell too."

She noticed my movement right away!? Does she have eyes on the back of her head or something? My body froze again.

Still, luckily, I had already gotten close enough. If she did something reckless... I hoped I could stop her.

"... It wouldn’t be funny if you were the one who fell."

"Don’t worry. I’ve got strong legs. I’m not going to slip and fall... not by accident, anyway."

What was she implying by emphasizing “not by accident”?

"Please, Yona. Is there something bothering you?"

"Something bothering me, huh? Maybe a little."

"Can you talk to me about it? I might be a good listener..."

"A good listener? I think you’re more than that, Ren. Rather than just listen and give advice, you’d probably go out of your way to solve my problems."

...Why is she handing me the good guy card again? Sure, maybe I would do what she said, but isn’t that normal for someone close to you?

"Then that’s a good thing, right? Let’s solve your problem together."

"Boo, nope."

Even though I couldn’t see her face, I could still picture her sticking her tongue out from the tone of her voice.

Too bad I didn’t find it funny at all right now.

"Are you really mad because I rejected your family’s donation? I get it. If that’s what you want, I’ll accept it."

"Really? I’m glad if you do. Though, you’ll have to tell my mom yourself. I can’t bring myself to do that anymore."

"Why not?"

"Because I’m not going home. Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever again."

So she’s seriously thinking of jumping?

The hand holding the plastic bag filled with snacks from the convenience store clenched tightly before I dropped it. The large soda bottle rolled out, hitting my foot.

Cold.

"You’ve changed, Yona. Back when we went on our date last week, you looked so happy. What happened after that?"

"... Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to tell you. Leaving you with so many unanswered questions feels unfair."

Saying that, Yona sat down and took off both her shoes, placing them beside her.

Then, she started explaining everything. About how she met the doctor treating me after our date. About how she found out I could still be cured. And why she ended up like this.

"You still remember the night I forced you to kiss me, right, Ren?"

"It wasn’t forced. I—"

Yona cut me off.

"That’s a lie. If it wasn’t forced, then what was it? I remember clearly how you resisted me that night."

What? When did I do that? Didn’t I accept it happily!? Damn, I still regret that her mom came home so soon that night.

Picking up a random rock beside her, Yona threw it into the ravine.

"But I’m glad you did resist. Because if you hadn’t stopped me... your chance to ever have children might have been gone. Forever."

"What do you mean?"

"Looks like no one told you, huh? You can be cured. But before the surgery, you’re not allowed to have sex."

My heart pounded. Blood rushed through my whole body. For a moment, I panicked. But after realizing it was only temporary, I calmed down again.

Yona continued.

"You understand now, don’t you? While you’re still in that condition, I nearly stole your future again."

"... It’s not your fault. It’s not like you knew that at the time—"

"This is the second time!"

Yona suddenly shouted. Her voice was so loud that it startled me.

"This is the second time I’ve done something stupid. First, I injured you, which caused all this. Second, instead of protecting you carefully, I got consumed by my own desire."

Her ponytail shook, as did her shoulders.

"Whether intentional or not, what I did is still unforgivable."

"I forgive you for that. What matters most is that I’m okay now. There’s no need to—"

"You don’t understand anything at all!"

What don’t I understand? I’m the victim of all her actions. I forgave her, so why won’t she listen to me?

What does she even want? I feel like I’m talking to a wall now.

Yona stood up again and finally, slowly, turned to face me. Her face was pale, her eyes dry, with a trail of tears running down her cheek.

... Honestly, I felt a little disgusted seeing her.

"Ren, do you still remember when I took you to play on this mountain when we were kids?"

Yona’s memories of me in this world? I didn’t have any recollection of them, but I nodded anyway.

"Then you should remember how I nearly got us both killed. Did you know that after we survived thanks to you, I made a vow to protect you? And what happened to that vow? Not only did I break it, I made everything worse."

I took a breath. Climbing all those stairs had really worn me out. On top of that, my knees were starting to ache again from saving Alice yesterday.

"... If disaster could take human form, I’d be the perfect example. I’ve brought nothing but misfortune into your life."

"..."

There were no words left for me to say, but not because I understood her rambling. It was the opposite.

She was just trapped in her own head, blaming herself, thinking I was suffering.

But I didn’t care about any of that.

Getting hit and going sterile? Who cares, when I had just arrived in this world and never even felt the pain?

Almost had sex? I freaking wanted that!

She avoided me for a whole week because of this? Even tried to kill herself? Does she not realize how stressed I’ve been, worrying about her? All of this could’ve been resolved by just sitting down and talking once.

Maybe because she saw I wasn’t saying anything, Yona gave a strange smile and spread her arms wide.

"So, Ren. To make sure I don’t bring any more harm to you, I’ll disappear from your life. Please don’t blame yourself. After all, this is my decision."

As if letting the wind carry her away, Yona leaned back and threw herself off the cliff.

That’s enough, damn it!

I ran with all my strength. My breath burned, the wound on my knee reopened, but I didn’t care about any of that.

All I did was reach out my hand... and barely grabbed the tip of her left foot, leaving Yona hanging upside down off the side of the cliff.

Air filled my lungs, and for the first time, I shouted.

"DO YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW CRINGE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW!? I’M DISGUSTED BY YOUR DRAMATIC NONSENSE, YONA!"