Chapter 5... this is going to be a long day. I wonder how some people do it with those huge fanfictions of 100+ chapters, only to start a new one after that. I just finished the 12th Chapter on paper, have to type it over on my computer and I'm already fearing for a writer's block because it hasn't appeared yet! I think those people are incredible! Anyways, have fun reading!
After a short silence, Kawasumi begun to say:"I'll tell you about his life after 14 years of age or we'll never get to that."
Both remaining Heroes nodded and Kawasumi began:"With 15 years of age, Iwatani got depressed and became a shut-in, but everyone else thinks, or rather thought, it was for games. Between the age of 16 and 18, he was injured while helping people, for just defending himself or for defending his younger brother. Those years, he broke many bones and even decided to go to the police. After the police didn't help him, because he was 'only' an 18 year old child, he started to lie and told them he was 19. Since then, he was always told that he was a year younger than he really is. He tried to rectify it in the beginning, but the police begun to arrest him for trying to get 'younger' girls to love him. He stopped trying to correct his lie and decided that being a year older wasn't bad, until he was forced to go to college earlier."
"What the fuck?! What kind of world does he live in? Don't they check I.D. or something about him? His world is so strange. If it was my world, you can have a relationship with someone around 16 if you're 18 years old, but they just decided to arrest him if he did that?! Where were his parents? Why did nobody who knew him or knows his real birthday stand up to him?!",asked Kitamura in disbelieve.
Kawasumi shrugged and said:"I have no idea. It only says what and when Iwatani went through something, not why. But there is more. He's a-"
"More?! Wasn't that enough?!",asked Itsuki in disbelieve.
"Let me speak, it's the last one and it's the current year. The year that we were send here in this other world. He only studied for a year before he went back home to bring his younger brother straight. It wasn't easy from what I've read, because he got a few cracked ribs and a concussion. After that he was send here, where he hurt his back a little bit. When he was told that he was in another world, he was pretty OK, his stats showed a decrease in unhappiness.
And yes, I also think it's creepy that they can know our emotions. Sadly, after he woke up, he started to have a panic attack, which didn't get better when the soldiers showed up. I see here, that he was kicked to his knees and then kicked in the ribs. His happiness went downward from there and when he was 'escorted' to the throne room, he stopped believing, just giving up hope. What that woman and we did to him destroyed him more, not to forget when the news came that there was no way home until the waves are finished.
When he was out of the castle, he got bruises on his body after being hit by stones and sticks from the villagers. He didn't feel anything, just numbness. He decided to go and level up by himself, but felt his will slipping. He... he began to cut himself..."
Itsuki and Kitamura gasped in shock, not thinking that someone who looked so strong and angry had so much sadness that they decided to cut themselves. Kitamura asked himself why he wasn't listening more and looking at Iwatani and not to some random guy. Itsuki felt guilty for saying things when he didn't see anything bad about Iwatani. Kawasumi still couldn't get the picture out of his head when he thought of Iwatani cutting himself to get rid of the monster that only he could see and feel.
Kitamura gulped and said:"I thought he was only disappointed, definitely angry, but it never crossed my mind that he could be depressed or hurting himself!"
"Don't beat yourself up, Kitamura. None of us knew anything about it or we would be helping him with this. I don't know how to say this, but as strong as Iwatani is, he is also very fragile right now. We have to look out for these things too.",said Amaki while walking back and forth.
"Anyways, after all that killing, he decided to sell his loot and go to a tavern, where he was ambushed by three guys who did something, I don't know what because the file was fague on that part, but his happiness went lower somehow and another emotion started to get higher. It was rage. He got shoved on the ground by the three and gave him whiplash, but nothing else. I presume this was the time he got Ralphtalia, because his happiness got higher and his rage went a bit down.
A bit of time later, he had a bite and a few deep scratch marks from a Two-Head Dog, which was later defeated. He lost a lot of blood, but was quickly healed. A week or so passed when he was attacked by a porcupine, who got a lucky hit and scratched Iwatani with his Quills. At the wave, he threw himself into a building to get away from fire, was thrown off his feet by a giant zombie, but luckily got only bruises and scratches.",told Kawasumi while trying to keep everything in the right order.
"Wait, did you just say giant Zombie, Two-Head Dog and a porcupine? I have to say, if the porcupine didn't sound dangerous first, it is now, because he came on the list with the other two. Where was the giant Zombie? I don't remember Iwatani anywhere near us at the wave...",said Kitamura thoughtfully.
Amaki sighed and muttered:"At least the Zombie was quickly dealt with before there were more..."
"But after the zombie attack, he was attacked by soldiers who begun to burn him when they launched an attack on the monsters close to Iwatani, got hit by more zombies, which cracked a few of his ribs. And no, it wasn't an accident from the soldiers, but an attempted murder. And that's only the beginning of his adventure! We've only been here for a few months, almost a year and his file looks as if we have been fighting and hunting monster for years!
After the wave, Motoyasu fought with him, where he didn't get a lot of damage from you, only bruises and cuts. Your words did affect him heavily and made an negative impact on his happiness and rage. But when Malty decided to get into the fight while Iwatani wasn't prepared for the attack, he cracked a few of his ribs from the attack. When he kept himself from losing footing, he twisted his right leg and knee, only for Motoyasu to attack him.",said Kawasumi while telling everyone how grave the situation was.
"Wait, DID YOU JUST SAY THERE WERE MORE ZOMBIES AFTER THE GIANT ZOMBIE?! HOW DID WE MISS THAT?! Not to mention, that we should have a chat with some soldiers that are liking the newest sports, 'Shield Hero Hunting'. ",asked Amaki in bewilderment.
Kitamura groaned and said:"I attacked him again while he was injured!"
Kawasumi just sighed and told the last bit of the information that he got:"His rage was so bad that he unlocked the cursed shield, whatever that is, and he begun to crack more. When the curse mark was removed from Ralphtalia, he felt something break inside of him and alone. I read, that he was scared, confused and cautious because he couldn't control the feeling for when his former slave told the truth or not. He was slipping, and at a quicker rate than I've ever heard.
But whatever Ralphtalia said, it helped and when she got her mark back, Iwatani trusted what Ralphtalia said and his happiness went in the positive direction. However, he did cry after they were alone and his sense of taste returned. He got strangled by a BioPlant, which gave him difficulty breathing for a week or so, and thrown to the ground at high speed by a Zombie dragon, which gave him a sprained back, concussion, sprained leg and dislocated shoulder.
After that, Iwatani got shoved and kicked down by soldiers when he said that the king should bow to him before he answers where he gets his powers, which cost him more bruises. Not even a week later, he got cut after saving Melty from an assassination attempt! When he found Ralphtalia's old master, he got hurt by a Tyrant Dragon Rex, which gave him bruised ribs, only to immediatly get thrown into the fight with the Pope, where he had to give up most of his blood, got deep cuts and his stats were reduced by 30%.",explained Kawasumi in one go.
Everyone was quiet, not believing what they had heard. So much had happened in such a small time and Iwatani was most of the time getting hurt because of that. Amaki felt bad when he thought about how often Iwatani got hurt and that he rarely got even near damaging himself, if not pain itself. Kitamura felt guilty at how much he screwed up with all that fighting when Iwatani didn't want to. Kitamura finally saw how much he got pushed to fighting the weakened Hero and was disgusted with himself.
Kitamura wanted to say something, but the words didn't leave his mouth, only for Amaki to say while shooing Kitamura to the bathroom with clothes from both Amaki and Kitamura:"Motoyasu, please get Iwatani ready while we bring the dirty sheets to a maid. Also, some of my clothes would probably fit him, but my shirts could be a little bit on the short side for him."
Kitamura was letting himself shooed away, knowing that he had let Naofumi sleep long enough and started to fill the bath. He added some bath salts in it that should relax sore muscles and heal the soul. Then, he woke Naofumi up, only to get a confused look from him. Kitamura sighed, knowing that Naofumi wouldn't be any help in the state that he was now.
"*Sigh* You really need a lot of help for someone who claimed he could do it all by himself... I'm just happy to know that the bandages and casts are magically repelling any water, or I would've had to worry about that too.",said Kitamura in the silence.
Naofumi, who was only able to keep a towel over his private parts, wasn't really any help at all. Motoyasu brought Naofumi carefully down in the bathtub and begun to clean his legs, back, waist and up. After some minutes, Naofumi begun to comprehend, that he was asked to clean himself up and awkwardly made his arms move and cleaned his lower body. Motoyasu blushed, not knowing why or how he could be embarrassed by this, only for Naofumi look at Motayasu.
"What's up, Iwatani?",asked Motoyasu curiously.
Naofumi looked at him for a little bit longer before he just stopped 'cleaning' himself and muttered sleepily:"Cleen an' sleepy..."
Motoyasu sighed and decided that Naofumi was clean enough to get out and would probably drown if he stayed in the bathtub while Naofumi was nodding off, only for Naofumi to fall asleep after getting out of the bath. Motoyasu sighed, knowing that Naofumi expended all of his energy by helping him clean, even if it wasn't really a lot of help.
"Up you go, Iwatani. Let's get you dry and in some clean clothes. Let me just look if Ren's pants are big enough for you... Well, that's going to become tricky... It seems that Ren's pants are a little on the big side, but don't worry, nobody will find out. Let me just get you into my shirt and... Voila! All done! ... OK, you really have to grow a bit out because my shirt hangs on you like it hangs on a girl, minus being short, you are totally not a short man... And I'm rambling, great...",told Motoyasu to a sleeping Naofumi and himself while finishing up with dressing.
After finally getting Naofumi dressed and combing his hair, he went back to the bedroom with Naofumi. Amaki and Kawasumi were already there with food and drinks. They were talking quietly to each other until they saw Motoyasu and Naofumi. Motoyasu gently laid Naofumi on the bed, tucked him in and decided to eat with Amaki and Kawasumi.
"How did it go?",asked Amaki in concern.
Motoyasu sighed and said:"Good. He's just exhausted from everything that happened. I think it's best to let him rest a little now than when we have to fight and hold an exhausted Iwatani."
"True, he won't be able to help us and the Wave is here in less than three (3) hours.",mused Kawasumi while thinking about a plan that could keep Naofumi safe from harm.
Motoyasu sighed and begun to strategize:"OK, we only have a little bit over two (2) hours left before the next wave starts and we need a plan. Iwatani is no to a little bit of help, but don't count on it. I think we have to take turns carrying him. It will be exhausting and difficult, especially because we can't use our weapons while holding him, but if you feel that it get's too much, let someone else take him for a bit. It's not good to stop running while you can't defend. If Iwatani shows signs, or says he's in pain, give him the potion. We each have one, so if one of us loses theirs, someone else can give them one."
Amaki and Kawasumi nodded and were happy to say, that they had a 'good' strategie, not knowing that it wasn't going to end so easy as they thought it would.
A/N: It isn't big, but I hope it helped you see how much Iwatani had to go through before ending where he is now. Hope you liked it!
