How a Nuisance Character Survives a Horror Game Chapter 32

“Flamethrower!”

I woke up shouting the name of the weapon I had barely managed to obtain.

Blinking rapidly, I looked around.

What?

Where am I?

“Big sis!”

Holloway, once again in his smaller form, threw himself at me.

This fucking bastard.

What am I supposed to do with him?

Could this be a chance granted to me by God?

A divine revelation that I was allowed to hit him just once?

The instant I saw that obnoxious face, it took everything I had to calm my rising fist.

Whoa.

Calm down.

“Big sis, are you feeling any better?”

Holloway inspected me as though he were genuinely worried.

For a moment, I became confused over whether he really was the same person as the man from before.

The difference was so extreme that it was hard to imagine this was the same vicious man who had been digging into my wounds.

But as always, I couldn’t place ‘adult Holloway = child Holloway’ on the same level.

I still had to pretend ignorance.

He behaved however he wanted regardless of whether I noticed, but openly revealing that I knew his identity would be the equivalent of bungee-jumping directly into the fires of hell.

I hadn’t forgotten the system’s warning.

So I acted like someone who knew absolutely nothing.

“Holloway, why are you…… No, more importantly, how did I get here?”

“I don’t know either. I was looking for you, and then I found you sleeping here.”

Did Holloway bring me?

Talk about causing the illness and then handing me the medicine……

I tried sitting up.

Sharp pain immediately ran through my entire body, and I curled forward.

“Ugh……”

“Big sis, you can’t move! You’re really badly injured!”

Only then did I notice the blood-stained bandages.

Every place the piranhas had bitten was wrapped.

Wait.

Then……

“My ass.”

“What?”

The piranhas bit my ass too.

I cautiously reached behind myself.

Something like a huge adhesive bandage covered it.

“…….”

No way.

Right?

I hurriedly lifted the hem of my dress.

Holloway expertly turned his head away.

He didn’t even look embarrassed.

That reaction horrified me.

He looked far too accustomed to my body.

I twisted around and inspected my backside.

Sure enough, an enormous bandage covered the bite.

……On my smooth ass, someone put……

“A bandage!”

……Lord.

Who treated me this thoroughly?

Was it Holloway?

Was it you?

Did you slap a giant bandage onto my ass?

I had countless questions.

But I couldn’t ask them.

Because I was supposed to know none of this.

My intense anger instantly cooled.

Even my desire to continue living drained away.

Was this how that man felt when he couldn’t call his own father ‘Father’?

Completely deflated, I grabbed Holloway and asked,

“……Holloway. Do you know who treated me?”

“No. You were already treated when I arrived.”

“…….”

I couldn’t scream because monsters might hear me.

Instead, I buried my face into the pillow and silently screamed while pounding the mattress with both arms.

A strange man saw my ass!

“Big sis, are you okay?”

[Holloway is thoroughly enjoying the current situation.]

I know it couldn’t be helped, but still……!

“My ass……. I’ll never be able to get married now.”

[Holloway is desperately suppressing his laughter.]

[Holloway wants to ask, ‘Then does that mean you’ll marry me?’]

So annoying.

That teasing attitude is unbelievably irritating.

Tears and snot streamed down my face like I’d become a complete wreck.

Apparently Holloway didn’t find it disgusting.

He wiped my tears away with his small hands and comforted me.

“Big sis, stop crying. Why are you crying so much?”

“…….”

I was suppressing an overwhelming desire to pinch Holloway’s cheeks when the door suddenly burst open.

The person entering was Moran.

Her eyes widened when she saw me awake.

Then tears immediately filled them.

With an overwhelmed expression, she ran toward me.

“Miss Evelyn! You’re awake!”

Didn’t we part on rather bad terms?

Moran seemed so genuinely delighted that it felt unfamiliar.

I gently pushed her away.

“Do you know how frightened I was? You acted like you were going to solve everything alone, then we found you lying in the middle of the corridor bleeding everywhere!”

Still, I accomplished my part.

“Did you bring me here, Moran?”

Moran had an infuriating way of speaking, but she was also incapable of ignoring someone who was dying.

She seemed inclined to dislike and blame me, but fundamentally, she couldn’t abandon an injured person.

“Lord Cletta moved you. I only treated your injuries. B-But……”

Moran’s cheeks turned slightly pink.

She quietly asked,

“What in the world were you fighting for something to bite your butt that hard?”

“Something I’d happily bite to pieces myself……. Wait.”

I practically grabbed Moran’s arm and hung from it.

Moran apparently found my gaze uncomfortable and avoided my eyes.

“Did you put the bandage on my butt?”

Moran looked at me like I had asked something bizarre.

“Of course. Who else would……?”

“Thank you, Moran!”

It wasn’t Holloway!

Moran suddenly looked like my savior.

No matter how shameless I was, I wasn’t shameless enough to expose my butt to an unrelated man and then walk around normally afterward.

“I forgive you for all the irritating things you did before.”

I’m not mad anymore either.

“When was I irritating? I only said those things because I was worried……”

Fine.

Then keep being irritating.

Moran always said technically correct things.

Still, she had treated me.

So I decided to forget our previous conflict.

When I kept moving restlessly and even tried leaving the bed, Moran grabbed my shoulders.

“Miss Evelyn, you lost a lot of blood. You need to rest.”

“She’s right, big sis. Uncle Cletta is bringing food.”

At least he calls me ‘big sis’ instead of ‘auntie.’

I was spacing out over that useless thought when Holloway’s mischievous face suddenly filled my vision.

“What? Back up.”

I lightly pushed him away.

Then my body stiffened.

……Wait.

If Moran put the bandage on my butt—

then Holloway didn’t.

So why……

I looked at Holloway with unfocused eyes.

His lips twitched as though asking whether I had only just figured it out.

“Pfft!”

Unable to endure it anymore, Holloway lowered his head and burst into laughter.

Moran knew nothing and laughed along with him.

“Holloway must be happy that you woke up, Miss Evelyn.”

Gritting my teeth, I pretended to stroke Holloway’s hair while actually grabbing it.

“Our Holloway. Didn’t you say you didn’t know?”

“You sounded like you already knew who put it on!”

Ah.

So innocent.

I want to destroy that innocence……

[Holloway can no longer suppress his amusement!]

[Affection increased by 5%.]

[Attachment increased by 4%.]

[Possessiveness increased by 7%.]

……What exactly are this bastard’s standards?

They’re all over the place.

Way too inconsistent.

You’re not even supposed to design games like this.

There should be clear rules.

Then again, if this was reality, neither demons nor humans had fixed standards for their feelings.

Human emotions weren’t governed by clearly defined rules either.

“Evelyn, you’re awake!”

“Ah.”

Cletta’s cheerful voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

He placed the food he had brought onto the table and rushed toward me like he was going to hug me.

Holloway was faster.

He climbed onto my lap and pressed himself against me.

“Big sis, I don’t like that man.”

“Neither do I.”

“Evelyn, you’re always good at jokes.”

Does that sound like a joke?

Aside from the final boss, you are the person I least want to become entangled with.

I tried avoiding Cletta’s arms as he reached toward me.

Instead, he grabbed my hand.

Holloway stopped him with a threatening growl.

“Let go of her hand.”

Perhaps finding the child’s jealousy cute, Cletta deliberately teased him.

“What if I don’t?”

Listen carefully, Cletta.

That isn’t merely a child.

That is an insane child.

I tried pulling my hand free before Cletta’s head could go flying.

Instead, he tightened his grip.

“This hand……”

Holloway grabbed Cletta’s wrist and frowned.

“Big sis doesn’t like it. Can’t you see that?”

“Evelyn doesn’t hate me. You’re the one misunderstanding, little guy.”

“Big sis, really? Am I misunderstanding?”

“Ah……”

“Obviously.”

Why are you answering when he asked me?

“Let go. Big sis’s hand is turning red.”

“I loosened my grip. It’s fine.”

“Guys, don’t fight.”

I tossed out the words casually and lowered Holloway from my lap.

Moran looked dumbfounded by how little interest I showed, but I ignored her.

I assumed they’d stop such a pointless argument on their own.

Instead, Holloway somehow climbed onto the bed and began deliberately provoking Cletta.

“A grown adult getting protected by big sis.”

“You’re the same.”

“I’m a child.”

“Exactly. She protected you like a younger brother. I protect her as a man.”

What a pathetic argument.

“Where’s my flamethrower?”

Should I shoot both of them?

While I searched for it, the atmosphere between them became increasingly hostile.

They moved so close together that even lovers wouldn’t stand that close.

Before they could actually develop into lovers, I shoved my head between them.

My arms were still weak from being bitten by the piranhas.

“Enough, both of you. Stop fighting over something so meaningless.”

“Big sis, move for a second.”

“Evelyn, go over there and eat your porridge.”

I tried withdrawing my face from between them.

Instead, somehow I became trapped between their stomachs.

I wildly waved my hands, telling them to move away.

Only then did both take a step back.

A sharp pain suddenly struck my scalp.

It spread rapidly across my head.

“W-Wait! Don’t move! It hurts!”

Holloway and Cletta, who had started separating, immediately moved closer again.

“Miss Evelyn, I think your hair got caught on a button.”

Not ‘I think.’

It is completely trapped, Moran.

“Stay still, Evelyn. I’ll free it.”

Despite saying that, Cletta pulled on my hair.

“Agh!”

“Ah, sorry.”

“This is your idea of freeing it? Are you trying to force my skull into your clothes through sheer pain?”

“C-Calm down, Miss Evelyn!”

My neck was twisted.

My scalp hurt.

Tears were gathering too.

This is entirely because of those two.

Fuming, I began lecturing Holloway and Cletta.

“This is exactly why you two are a problem. I told you not to fight. Why are you both so rotten? Neither of you listens to a single thing anyone says. I seriously can’t live like this.”

The three of them quietly focused on my trapped hair while my lecture poured out without interruption.

Because my head was stuck, I couldn’t see Holloway’s or Cletta’s faces.

At the very least they could pretend they were listening.

When neither responded, I eventually snapped.

“Are you listening?! I said I can’t live like this!”

“Big sis, stay still. Your hair will get ripped out.”

“What? You’re going to rip it out?”

“No. I said it will get ripped out. Want me to rip it out?”

I obediently shut my mouth.

“Hah……”

I ignored Cletta’s incredulous sigh from above.

“Evelyn, strangely enough, you really seem to listen to this little guy.”

“Because he sounds at least slightly more sincere than you.”

“Why do you keep attacking me?”

“If I had actually hit you, at least then you’d have something worth complaining about.”

“Didn’t you hit me a lot when we were kids?”

Do I look sentimental enough to sit around reminiscing with you?

Childhood friend or whatever, I was about to kick Cletta’s shin for disappearing into nostalgia.

Then Holloway abruptly plucked out one of my hairs.

“Ow!”

“I pulled out your hair.”

“……Why?”

“…….”

He didn’t answer.

Instead—

a selection window appeared for the first time in quite a while.

[Holloway’s mood has become vicious. You must calm him.]

[➤What should you say?]

Seeing those options after so long, I sternly shook my head.

This isn’t your turn.

Go away quietly.

Instead, the window shook even more cheerfully than usual.

[1. Kiss the back of Holloway’s hand.

Smooch. ((˘ ˘)) ❥

1. Lick Cletta’s hand.

Slurp. (( ´ ♡ ౪` )) ♡

1. Perform a courtship dance. One-two, one-two.

(٩(ó｡ò۶ ♡))) )] ♬]

……ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!!!