Yuri Hero and Loli Demon King - Chapter 11

Tonight is a brisk evening. Though it’s late spring and early summer, it feels as if autumn is upon us.

The sky is cloudless, and the Moon in Waiting, just past full, is still nearly circular. The stars around it retain their brilliance.

A girl leans against the railing of the balcony in Kroaishivia City, reaching her right hand toward the sky as if trying to grasp something.

“Wasn’t that night also a starry night like this?”

Though no one else is on the balcony, she speaks as if in conversation with someone: “Inari, do you remember? Seven hundred years ago, under the same starry sky, you made a promise.”

She stretches her hand toward the bright moon, tracing its shape gently with her fingertips.

“You said it, didn’t you? Even if the moon sets in the west, it rises again with time; even if we part ways, we will meet again one day…”

Her hand, tracing the moon’s edge, suddenly clenches forcefully at the impossible-to-capture moon.

“I can only see you in my memories, reaching out only to find you utterly out of reach! Inari! How many times have the moon risen and set, how many phases has it gone through? Yet why… why…”

Finally, the girl lets go of the imaginary moon she grips tightly and rests her hand on her chest to contain the emotions surging within.

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Seven hundred years ago, under a similarly starry night, two girls embraced. It was the final hug before their farewell.

How long would it be until they met again? No one knew—perhaps a few years, a few decades, even centuries.

How long is that, really?

Neither wanted to ponder this, only wanting, in this moment, to hold onto each other tightly for just a little longer.

One was the Demon King’s daughter, the other one of the “Nine Kings of the Cardinal Directions.”What a strong and noble bloodline, the daughter of the Blood Fox King! Yet, it is fragile enough that it cannot change the fate of separation and timid enough to avoid thinking about a future without the other.

No, don’t talk about fate or the future. These two children don’t even have the courage to part in the present moment; they can’t even manage to say “goodbye.”

Tears glisten at the corners of their eyes, falling silently but lacking the romance of a meteor shower.

What farewell words can be spoken to a dear friend before you? Perhaps there are thousands of words to say, yet both remain silent.

Ah, only low, choking sobs can be heard.

Tonight seems exceptionally long! Time has stopped, all is still, and the only thing that stirs is each other’s heartbeat, as if they could embrace forever.

Tonight also seems exceptionally short! All the points in eternal time seem to converge at this moment, making the future disappear in an instant.

“Inari, Yui has something very important to tell you.”

The silver-haired girl takes a deep breath, trying to hold back her sobs.

The golden-haired girl simply nods, silently gazing into her eyes.

“I like you, Inari.”

“Mm, I like you too, Yui.”

What kind of like is this? Even the two girls themselves aren’t very sure, but one thing was beyond doubt: “The other is the most precious person to them.”

The blurred vision can’t see anything clearly—the starry sky, the golden-haired girl before her, or the future…

It doesn’t matter if she can’t see clearly. The silver-haired girl rises on her tiptoes, finding her way to the other’s lips by following her breathing.

“No.” The golden-haired girl—Inari—stops her with a fingertip against her approaching lips.

“Why?””Doesn’t Inari like Yui?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I like you, I like you the most, which is why I can’t kiss you.”

If she kisses her now, she can’t take responsibility for Yui’s future. Better not to kiss at all.

Inari knew very well that this separation was not just for a year or two, but for a time she couldn’t even imagine.

“I want to kiss you too, and step into eternity together, but…”

Her words were choked by sobs—not just words, but their hopes were being blocked too. How much they wanted to be together, yet fate did not allow it.

How unsatisfactory is life? It cannot even fulfill the small hope of these two girls, cruelly tearing everything apart.

“Make a promise with me?”

Finally, Inari held back the flowing tears and spoke in a sobbing and almost pleading tone, “One day, one day we will surely meet here again.”

She wasn’t pleading with Yui but with the world and fate.

Even if it takes decades or centuries, it doesn’t matter. As long as fate has mercy and lets them meet again, she will wait here, waiting for Yui to return.

“When we meet again, I will hug you, kiss you, and make an eternal vow with you.”

“One day…”

Yui understood her feelings but also knew this wait would be very long.

Choking sobs interrupted Yui’s words, and after much effort, she finally uttered her short sentence: “How long do you plan to wait, you fool?”

“Forever.”

Saying this, Inari extended her pinky finger: “I will wait forever here for you, Yui.”

Their fingers intertwined, sealing this promise, witnessed by the stars above.

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“Forever…?”

Yui gazed at the skies of Kroaishivia. Seven hundred years had passed, yet those stars remained the same!

However, over seven hundred years, so much had changed.

The Blood Fox clan was destroyed, and the trail connecting to Inari was lost. Perhaps, she and the Blood Fox family perished in that great war?

No! What am I thinking? If I give up, who else can uphold our promise?

I believe in Inari, believe that she too is searching for me somewhere else. One day, we will meet again, one day…

“…and I will love you even more than before.”

A shooting star streaked across the sky.One, two, three… countless streaks of starlight swept across the sky.

This wasn’t some kind of romantic scene worth wishing upon; for Yui, it was the starlight of their vow falling.

“No…”

Her voice couldn’t reach the heavens, and the starlight continued to sweep mercilessly away.

“No…”

Yui begged with a tearful plea, but reality does not grant reprieves for anyone’s requests.

It was as if meteors were striking down the last remnants of hope within her, multiplying in number as the sky transformed into a runway for countless streaks of starlight.

No one stayed behind—not the starlight, nor the vow, nor Inari—all of it became a thing of the past.

“No——!!”

——I will wait here forever for you, Yui.——

Is there anything more despairing than these words?

How unrealistic a word is “forever”?

It hurts so much…

Yui hurt so much that she could no longer stand, collapsing in grief.

It was then that her adoptive father, Barry Lob, rushed onto the balcony, speaking words that should have plunged Yui deeper into despair, yet left her numb instead.

“Reporting in: according to reports from the front line, the three main human factions have jointly invaded and are currently at the southeastern border of the territory. Please give your orders!”

“Inari, if it were you, what would you do? Didn’t you once say you wanted to create a world where the Demon Clan and humans coexist?”

Lob looked at Yui in bewilderment, confused by her sudden remarks.

“Your Majesty?” he sought confirmation again. “The three main human factions have entered the southeastern border of the territory. Please give your orders!”

“Yui still doesn’t understand… Father, why do people want to attack our city?”

The current Yui wasn’t just in the present; she was still Inari’s dear friend—Yui.

The current Yui wasn’t just in the present; she was the successor to the former Demon King—the Demon King.

Carrying the memories shared with Inari, bearing the teachings of her royal father, the girl and the Demon King were fundamentally irreconcilable contradictions.

She questioned the Inari in her memories, sought guidance from her father in her memories: “What should Yui do now?”

Everything Yui believed in was teetering on the brink of collapse—what was truly the right path?How can I return to the days Yui longed for?

It doesn’t matter anymore.

“Go to battle,” she said, her voice tinged with unwillingness, the unwillingness of being unable to defy fate. “Eliminate everything and everyone that tries to take away everything from Yui…”