Sena, Another Sky: On the Road You Didn't Take - Laugh at the Full Moon! — Grand Finale, Monsters, and Melon Bread
The air felt like it was about to shatter.
The grounds of Minatozaka Shrine, bathed in the light of the full moon, were eerily bright. Each and every leaf of the three-hundred-year-old camphor tree was outlined in pale blue.
"W-what is that...?!"
Sena's voice trembled.
Beyond the torii gate, space itself was warping, twisting grotesquely. Like paint submerged in water, colors and shapes swirled and bled together—and from within, countless pitch-black tentacles oozed forth, thick and viscous.
A fragment of the aberrant, leaking through a rift in the boundary domain.
"...Stay back, both of you."
Ren stepped forward. The night breeze stirred his jet-black hair, its tips gleaming silver. His deep indigo eyes locked sharply onto the aberration.
His hands settled into a karate stance.
"Who's staying back?! I'm here to protect Haruto too—!"
Akira moved up beside Ren. Her usual smirk of composure was gone. In its place, eyes burning with fierce resolve glared down the mass of tentacles.
"Stop it, you two...! This is no time to be fighting!"
Tears welled up in Sena's large, sky-blue eyes.
But the three of them were completely out of sync.
"I'll protect Haruto!"
"No. I will. You two stay back."
"Excuse me? Why do I have to follow your orders?"
Their three voices clashed, echoing through the nighttime shrine.
The tentacles lunged at them all at once.
"Eeek!"
Sena ducked on reflex. Ren struck a tentacle away with a knife-hand blow. Akira stumbled, bumping into someone's back.
"Hey, don't push me!"
"You're the one who pushed me!"
"Ugh, why does this always happen...!"
Their coordination was completely nonexistent.
Each of the three was so full of their own feelings for Haruto that they kept tripping each other up. Even in a life-or-death situation, they were so utterly disjointed—it was almost a laughable sight.
And then.
BOOM!!
With a thunderous sound, someone leaped down in front of the three of them.
"I'll protect all three of you, no matter what!!"
It was Haruto.
He stood with both arms spread wide, as if shielding the three of them behind his back.
His messy brown hair had a cowlick sticking straight up. His large, bright brown eyes glared straight at the aberration. With a slightly goofy, yet more passionate than anyone's, sun-like smile—he was trying to become a shield with his very life.
"Haruto...!"
Sena's voice trembled.
But.
"Wait just a minute!"
Sena smacked Haruto on the back with a light thump.
"Why am I being lumped in with Ren-kun and Akira-senpai?! I'm Haruto's girlfriend, you know!? Shouldn't I be the first one you protect!?"
"What?! Don't screw with me, Sena! Then protect me first! I'm the one who's decided to protect you. There's no way you're the one being protected!"
Ren grabbed Haruto's shoulder and tried to yank him around to face him.
"...Oh, for goodness' sake."
Akira folded her arms, a vein twitching at her temple.
"Haruto. You really are indecisive, aren't you. Can't you decide who to protect first? That wishy-washy attitude is exactly why everyone gets hurt. I mean, I'm supposed to be the villain here, and yet I'm risking my life in a place like this—"
"W-wait, hold on, you guys!! Why are you getting mad about that right now?! The aberration is right in front of us!? This is a life-threatening situation!?"
Haruto, who was trying to protect them, was instead taking concentrated fire from all three.
This was beyond a rom-com battlefield.
Even the aberrant tentacles might have been dumbfounded.
They twitched, stopping their movement for just a moment.
"Hey, Kapimaru~. Are they... maybe a little put off by this?"
Haruto glanced at Kapimaru on his shoulder.
"Ahaha! I can't tell if you guys get along or not! But it's true that the aberration stopped for a second. The power of rom-com is not to be underestimated!"
Kapimaru puffed up his fluffy white body, happily flashing the golden patterns inside his ears.
"Alright—while we have the chance, let me talk!"
Haruto turned back to face the three of them.
The panicked expression from moments ago shifted into something dead serious.
Deep in his chest, something pulsed with heat.
In the boundary domain, he had met two other versions of himself and regained all his memories. All the days spent with Sena, with Ren, with Akira, across two worlds. The happy times, the painful times—everything.
"I'm not choosing anyone."
"Huh...?"
Sena's eyes went wide.
"What do you mean?"
Ren's voice dropped low.
"You're going to explain, right?"
Akira stared intently into Haruto's eyes.
Haruto looked at each of their faces in turn.
"I'm choosing a future where I live with all of you. Kapimaru told me about it. There's a method called 'Parallel Fixation.' A way to fix both the prime world and the what-if world side by side, without destroying either. No one has the right to tell me to pick one. I want to live with all of you."
"...That's not fair."
A single tear spilled from Sena's large eyes.
"That's not fair, Haruto... All three of us? That's just... not fair. The truth is, I don't want to share you with anyone. I want Haruto to be my boyfriend, and only mine. I want you to only look at me. I don't want you to smile at anyone else... I've always felt that way."
Her voice trembled.
It was a voice tangled up in possessiveness and relief, all jumbled together.
"You bastard..."
Ren clenched his fist tightly.
His hand trembled faintly.
"Making that kind of earnest face... There's no way I can refuse, is there. I've decided I'll protect you even if it kills me. If you're insisting this much, then fine. I'll protect it. That stupidly straightforward dream of yours—all of it!"
To hide his embarrassment, Ren gave Haruto a light shove on the shoulder.
"Hah..."
Akira let out a deep sigh and ran her fingers through her hair.
"If I refused now, I'd really be the villain, wouldn't I. Fine. I'll help you out. But, Haruto. I was the first one who took an interest in you. Just don't forget that."
Akira gave a haughty little laugh.
All three of them reached out their hands toward Haruto at the same time.
The night breeze rustled everyone's hair.
"Alright, it's settled—wait, hold on, hold on!! Haruto, everyone, the aberration went that way!! This is no time to be getting emotional!!"
Kapimaru's shriek yanked Haruto and the others back to reality.
Looking over, the mass of tentacles was surging toward them again, writhing. There were even more than before.
"Eeeek! Run!"
"Our destination is the center of the distortion at the torii gate! That's the entrance to the boundary domain!"
The four of them broke into a sprint all at once.
A rustling sound closed in from behind. No time to look back.
"Haruto, get down!"
The moment Ren shouted, there was a sharp sound of air being torn apart.
Haruto ducked his head on reflex. A black tentacle swept right over him.
"Th-thanks, Ren!"
"Don't talk, run!"
The four of them dashed across the shrine grounds as if it were an obstacle course.
The distortion at the torii gate loomed before them.
Space was torn open, white light spilling from within.
"We hold hands here!"
Haruto stopped, offering his right hand to Sena and his left to Ren. Akira grabbed Ren's other hand.
"Alright, everyone, don't let go, no matter what. Here we go!"
The four of them leaped into the light.
————.
Sound vanished from the world.
A pure white space.
This was the entrance to the boundary domain.
"You made it! Alright, let's begin the ritual! With Singularity Haruto at the center, we'll connect the three of your feelings with lines of light! We'll fix the two worlds with the choice of not choosing!"
Kapimaru floated fluffily, rattling off the explanation at high speed.
"W-wait. Something... an incredible light is—"
Haruto's body began to glow from within.
It was a warm light.
And then—with a roaring rush, something came flooding in.
A torrent of emotions.
"The truth is, I don't want to give you to anyone!"
"I'll protect you even if it kills me. I'll never let you go."
"I was the first one who noticed you... It's not fair, you guys."
The true feelings the three of them had kept locked deep in their hearts.
Jealousy. Possessiveness. Attachment. Frustration.
Messy, sticky, yet sparkling feelings surged into Haruto's chest as a torrent of light.
Under that weight, Haruto—
"You guys are just a bundle of desires, aren't you! But that... makes me incredibly happy!!"
Haruto laughed.
Tears were streaming down his face, but even so, it was the brightest smile.
Lines of dazzling light burst from his body.
The lines pierced through the chests of Sena, Ren, and Akira, one by one, and then stretched further—straight toward the prime world and the what-if world.
The two worlds were on the verge of collapse.
Cracks ran through them, the sky fractured, the earth trembled.
But the lines of light held them together.
As if mending a broken plate with kintsugi.
The light traced the cracks, stitching the worlds together.
A miracle was about to happen.
"Incredible...! The Parallel Fixation is succeeding!! With this, the two worlds will stabilize! Haruto, as an Awakened Singularity, you'll live with the memories and sensations of both worlds simultaneously!!"
Kapimaru bounced up and down happily.
—At that moment.
Slither.
The main body of the aberration was right behind them.
Drawn by the light of the ritual, it had crawled out from the depths of the boundary domain.
"Oh no! This thing was aiming for the moment of success—!!"
The aberration opened its massive maw and tried to attack Haruto.
In that instant.
"Ah, I forgot my melon bread."
Kapimaru murmured quietly.
The next moment.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A gigantic object materialized above the aberration's head.
It was—
A colossal melon bread, gleaming golden with a perfectly baked crust.
Easily three meters in diameter.
The beautiful lattice pattern, like a work of art, crushed the aberration beneath it.
GYAAAAAAAH—.
The aberration's death cry echoed through the boundary domain.
Black fluid splattered, tentacles twitched and convulsed, then went still.
"The Timekeeper's secret technique. 'Melon Bread Transfer'! When in doubt, count on melon bread!"
Kapimaru floated fluffily, striking a smug pose.
The four of them stared up at the scene, mouths agape.
"...Huh?"
"...What was that?"
"...I don't understand."
"Kapimaru, you can actually do stuff like that?!"
Haruto's retort echoed through the white space.
The taut thread of tension snapped.
"Pfft... ahahaha!! What was that?! Melon bread?! You beat it with melon bread?!"
"...Heh, heheh... What were we even fighting?"
"This is so stupid...! We were risking our lives, and the finale is melon bread...!!"
The four of them clutched their stomachs, laughing uncontrollably.
They weren't scared anymore.
—The ritual of Parallel Fixation was complete.
The light slowly faded.
The cracks in the world had already vanished.
"Well then, everyone. See you later."
Sena smiled, her face still marked with traces of tears. The beauty mark under her left eye was a little red.
"Yeah. See you. Haruto, next time, you'd better protect me first."
Ren lightly tapped Haruto's chest with his fist.
"So this means my misdeeds have been exposed twice over now... The worst. Still, I'll cooperate. As a special favor."
Akira laughed haughtily and turned her back.
The three of them were enveloped in the light of the worlds they each belonged to.
Haruto waved his hand high.
"It'll be fine! We'll definitely meet again!!"
The light wrapped around the three of them, and they vanished.
——.
The prime world. Kaisei High School, the rooftop set.
"Alright, let's resume filming! For this confession scene, I'm absolutely going to give you the best performance ever!"
Sena laughed, her softly waving flaxen hair swaying.
The sunlight gently illuminated the two of them.
The climactic scene of the drama "Aoharu Refrain."
"R-right. I'm counting on you, my heroine."
Ha
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.