I became the Strongest Minus's mother!

Chapter 30:When your President dies often

Kumagawa has to fight this manager girl and beat her to complete his next quest. Not only that, he has to do so by using the Hero's Sword he had newly aquired.

He knew there was no time limit, but he'd like to finish it as soon as possible. He doesn't want to worry his mother by staying out too much.

That's why he wanted to do something akin to preparations. Really, he just wanted to see how sharp the Hero's Sword was, but something unforseen happened.

Najimi:Heya, Kumagawa-kun, didja die again?

He refused to dignify her with an answer. Really, this must be his most embarassing death yet.

Najimi:Although I would prefer it if you could stop dying in ways unrelated to the game and unintended by me. It's like you're a player in a soccer game, trying to see how many goals, or rather how many suicide goals, you can make within the time limit. By the way, it seems like nowadays, the media is avoiding the use of the term suicide goal. They consolidated it with the term own goal, it seems. Because using the word suicide isn't exactly ethical, or however they put it. And they've replaced the term sudden death with V goal for similar reasons. Hahaha, the number of words we're allowed to use in this world are slowly dwindling away, aren't they. No, it's not just words. It's the way of the world to make dangerous actions and sociopathic expressions disappear from center stage. Wholesomeness has no limits.

Kumagawa:Well, people are rather sensible about those kind of things nowadays.

Najimi:Being born in a world that's like a glass house is in itself pretty interesting, isn't it? Although, from my point of view, this and that are just equivalent things.

Anyway, even though I compared you to suicide points, it's not like you particularly committed suicide this time. But even though you had no intention of dying, good grief, you're just like Mario with infinite lives. In the first place, even if you got infinite lives as Mario or as Luigi, you're someone that still wouldn't be able to defeat Bowser. But still, since you ended up dying anyway, I'd better think of something to ramble on about. Let's see, what should I talk about?

He'd prefer if they cut to the chase and he revives in peace. But he knows she wouldn't do that so easy for him.

Najimi:Let's see, what should I talk about? If you keep dying on me like this, if you get used to dying like this, then it feels like I'll end up running out of topics to talk about. It feels like I'll become a barren wasteland. But I know, since swords are the main topic this time, I'll amuse myself with an episode about one. The Sword of Damocles. Do you know about it? Of course there's no way you'd know, Kumagawa-kun. But it's a story about the throne of an old tyrant named Dionysius.

Kumagawa:I feel like this has nothing to do with a sword.

Najimi:Eh? This has nothing to do with a sword? Ah, well, the story is about a throne, but it's also about a sword. There was a man named Damocles that envied the tyrant named Dionysius that sat on that throne, so Dionysius said to him, "In that case, why don't you try sitting in my seat?". Being told that, Damocles looked above the throne. And there, from a thin string, a sword dangled above. He had no way of knowing when that sword would fall onto his head. That was what it meant to sit in the seat of a ruler, was what Dionysius was pointing out to Damocles. A fisherman on a boat might say something like "Hell is just one plank away", but in this case, it's more like "a sword is just six feet above you". Well, sitting on a throne means to sit above other people, so the moral of the story here is that sitting above others has its own dangers. Now, Kumagawa-kun, what do you think of this story?

Kumagawa:It has a stupid title.

Najimi:Hm? Eh? Is that so? Ahaha. Well, of course, that's true, if you're asking why the story is called the sword of Damocles and not the Sword of Dionysius, then that's a pretty good point. And if you want to go even further and ask why it's not called the Seat of Dionysius, then that's even more of a good point. It's such a good point that I have no words to respond with. Well, however, retorting like that is a bit unsophisticated. At least make a comment about the story itself. Although, what I think is that the tyrant Dionysius didn't do anything particularly exceptional, extraordinary, or even strange.

Kumagawa:I don't think it's something a normal person would do.

Najimi:No, no, that is, of course it's not a particularly sane act to put a dangle a sword over the seat that you're sitting in, but what I think is that you can't even begin to rule if you aren't already in that mindset. And he's equal to me. The idea that people can stand above others is a bit contradictory, but from a more human standpoint, the idea that "Heaven does not create one man above or below another" is mostly incorrect.Or is it correct? Because the only thing that makes humans stand above or below another human...Is humans, after all. Ahaha, I wonder if that ended up being a bit too satirical for you But really, my intention was never to talk about something so extreme. I simply wanted to give you a word of advice. Right now, you're working as the Student Council President of Suisou Academy. That's the position you hold. Perhaps you yourself would modestly spin that as being no more than the representative of a single academy, but still, it's true that you're standing above others. You could say that the seat of the Student Council President is a throne. A throne. A king's seat. I told you before, right? That what I fear is Suisou Academy becoming a comfortable place for you to stay. I said that the thought of it makes me shiver. But rather than a comfortable place to stay. I was worried that the seat of Suisou Academy's Student Council President would become a comfortable place to sit in. Huhu, if that ended up being the case, then I'd be happy for you, but at the same time, it would make me quite sad. Because in that seat, eventually, a sword will fall onto you from right above you. Or wait, it's possible that it won't come from right above you.

Kumagawa said nothing to that. Of course, he knew she was refeering to Saki.

Najimi:It could be from right behind you. Or even from right next to you. That would certainly be a rather Kumagawa-kun-like way to die, or perhaps a way to wither. For someone like you who enjoys betraying others, you'll someday be betrayed yourself and tumble from that throne. Perhaps I shouldn't say betrayed, but backstabbed? As long as it's a sword being used. And if you're thinking that, because you have All Fiction, it doesn't matter if you get betrayed and killed, then of course that's not too much of a problem, but even so, I want to warn you that you're making a big mistake. Even an infinite lives Mario will run out someday. And that's it. You understand after hearing me speak, right? The reason I gave the Hero's Sword the name, Misogimaru. It kind of sounds more like the name of a ship than the name of a sword, but this is supposed to remind you of the Sword of Damocles.

She spread her arms large. It's like she was opening a chapter to a new beggining.

Najimi:The Hero's Sword. Misogimaru. Who will be the one to be cut down by this sword, to have their self diminished? Will it be my terminal, Yakeishi Kushi? Or will it be you yourself? Or perhaps, actually...

After making the appointment Saki returned to the Student Council Office to give Kumagawa the news. However, as she opened the door, there were only a few words suited to be said fir tge sight before her.

Saki:He died again!

Kumagawa-kun was lying face-up on the floor. The Hero's Sword had pierced through his chest and even into the floor, making him look like some insect mounted on a needle in some insect collection.

He was like a corpse you'd see in a police drama. It almost made ger want to get some chalk from a classroom somewhere and trace along the edges of his corpse.

Saki closed the door behind her and walked to Kumagawa's corpse. Them she grabbed the sword's hilt and pulled, resulting in her being showered in blood.

It seemed that the sword had quite perfectly been impaled into his heart somewhere around the aorta. Of course, that had to mean that pulling out the sword was not the right thing to do.

Saki:It's like in police dramas where the knife was stopping the bleeding...I'd doubted the authenticity of that idea in the past, but after getting to experience it in reality, it seemed that such things really did occur.

Kumagawa:[Don't just say "such things really did occur". You make it sound like it's somebody else's problem, Saki-chan.]