Chapter 13: Starting line.

Translated and Edited by: ynlucca.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you’re close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it’s cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one’s older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

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IMPORTANT

I have mistakenly used quotation marks “” for the MC’s speech (with the goddesses) up until now, and that didn’t happen in the raws. It didn’t cross my mind that the author would make a character’s speech have no indication whatsoever and that it’d be plot relevant, so I’m sorry for that.

However, I’m not sure if removing it would be a pleasant experience for the readers who have no idea on what is happening, so I’ll just leave this reveal here and not retroactively remove the quotations from previous words. Instead, I’ll make it clear in this chapter that what you saw as the reader was wrong.

I hope it’s understandable. Have a nice read!

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My post-healing confusion subsided with time, but my body’s overwhelmed five senses had not. They were so stimulated by this ‘new’ world around me I didn’t feel like I was even in my body. It would still take some time before I got used to it.

“Yoshitsune Mikuni… What a wonderful name you have… I have never been interested in human names before, but yours is different. My heart has been touched.”

“Yoshitsune… Yocchan. Yo-kun. Yoshi-kun. Yoshi. Yoshi-chan. Tsune-kun. Da? Darling… As your wife, I’m worried about what to call you.”

“I choose Tsune-kun. I made up my mind the moment I heard it.”

“Eh~? Tsune-kun was your first choice? I mean, wouldn’t calling him dear fit your character the best? I think so, at least.”

“Don’t be silly! I want to call him something nice! It’s a name we’re talking about, something we’ll use for the rest of our lives! I won’t give this chance up!”

“And?”

The two were having a heated debate over what to call me. Thinking about it, I guess they were buying me time while talking about random things until I fully recovered from the exorcism.

Truthfully, their kindness warms my heart.

“Then I’ll call him Tsune-chan and you’ll call him Tsune-kun, right Shu-chan?”

“H, hold up! Isn’t Tsune-chan just too cute?”

“Yeah, that’s why I chose it.”

“…I prefer Tsune-chan after all.”

“Huh? Then I’ll go with Tsune-kun.”

“Urgh, I want that one too…”

“I’ll let you choose then, Shu-chan, I’m fine either way.”

“…I want both.”

“Hey, stop being selfish!”

“But you told me to choose!”

“You know how I am, I won’t lose! We’ll use these names for a long time, so split them with me!”

What the hell… It’s developing into some sort of argument now, I thought to myself, opening and closing my hands while trying to figure out my own body. I was getting gradually used to it.

To stop them from fighting, though, I shook my head, slapped my cheeks to wake up, and talked, “Sorry for the wait. I’m all right now, thank you for your patience, erm…”

I was about to continue with their names until I realized I didn’t know what they were. Up until this point, I only called them by their physical features, and it was incredibly rude on my part. In hindsight, why didn’t I think of asking them for their names? I wonder…

“Oh, looks like you’re getting used to your body! You can just call me Tama,” said the short, cat-like goddess.

“Tsune-kun… Tsune-chan… Ehehe, you know what, I’m fine with Shu. Just call me ‘Shu-chan~♡’ Just thinking about you calling me that is making me wet ♡.”

Tama and Shu, huh… I don’t want her to get wet, so I’ll just call her Shu.

“Are they both your real names?” I asked.

From what I recall, most of the gods I know from books have ostentatious names, like ‘Something Something no Inochi’ or ‘Amaterasu something something’ (T/N: Just traditional Japanese god naming schemes.)

They were quite willing to answer, but upon hearing them, I couldn’t possibly remember their names in just one listening.

Each had its own set of incredibly difficult words in them. It would be too hard for everyday life, so I’ll just leave the cute nicknames as-is. Actually, I was glad we had such a close relationship that I could call them by these cute names.

“Sorry, this took a bit, but thank you for lifting the curse. I really, really appreciate it,” I had nothing but gratitude to express to the two.

Hearing my words, Tama muttered, “I see… I understand what you mean, Shu-chan… Tsune-chan hasn’t spoken once up until now.”

“No, before that, Tsune-chan is my nickname. Fix that,” Shu interjected.

“I told you to stop being selfish! You took too long so I’ll just call him Tsune-chan! I mean, he’s been communicating with mere thoughts up until now, hasn’t he?! Make some noise!”

“…Tch,” Shu answered with an extremely unchaste expression.

They both showed an extraordinary obsession with nicknames, almost as if they couldn’t use them lightly. I’d love to hear what Shu has to say, but I still had things I needed an answer to. That is, we’ve been talking with thoughts?

“What do you mean I didn’t speak once? I thought I was having a normal conversation up until now.”

“I meant exactly what I said. You didn’t speak out loud up until now, Tsune-chan, but rather used your thoughts to convey. You were even moving your mouth to your thoughts, so you were completely fooled.”

I… I wasn’t aware of that at all. How could that have happened?

“Normally, we would have noticed such a thing right away, but we didn’t until we used the oracle.”

“Was it the curse?”

That was my only guess, yet, seeing Shu nodding her head, it was proven right.

“Basically, yes. There’s just too much about this curse I don’t understand…”

“Too much you don’t understand?” I asked and she continued.

“The first thing is that, as I told you earlier, this thing isn’t a curse to be exact. It’s most likely some sort of divine punishment.”

“Our understanding was that curses are made by human hands to be inflicted on human hearts. In other words, as long as the oracle calls it a curse, it was definitely made by a human. However, yours was so powerful no human could’ve possibly concocted such a thing. It just doesn’t make sense,” Tama added to Shu’s explanation.

“Does that mean I was mistakenly punished by a god?”

“In that case, it could be either divine punishment, damnation, or heaven’s punishment. Wait, but if that’s the case, it would never appear as a curse in the oracle, so it was actually made by human hands…?”

She choked on her words, seemingly unconvinced by what she was saying. According to the two, I was cursed by an unbelievable sorcerer. The fact they barely understood what was happening was bad enough in the first place.

“Second, I don’t understand the motive for placing such a curse on you. Why was it even cast in the first place?”

“Maybe it’s because they hated me…?”

What else could it be? Well, despite saying so myself, it hurt to think I had possibly done something so bad I was despised to this extent. However, what sort of thing could it be seeing as I don’t even remember it?

“If that was the case, why not just curse you to death the usual way? If they wanted to just see you suffer, they didn’t have to go through all the hassle to gather hatred from the world itself and putting it on you. They could’ve just made it incredibly unpleasant for you without the trouble.”

She’s right, so could there be any other reason?

“Maybe it was easier that way, or it made it hard to break the curse?”

Tama shook her head, “No, it’s the other way around. If you don’t wish for a curse to be broken, there are many other ways to lock it. Well, they could still be broken by what we did, but still.”

Is she saying that the means are more exaggerated than the motives need to be?

“The third thing is that, while I said you lost your ability to speak out loud due to the curse, that wasn’t exactly true. As a result of sublimating the hatred from all across the world as an agent of sin, after you were granted redemption, and you were no longer able to speak.”

What the hell is up with that?

“S, sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I didn’t either. Talk a bit slower so we can understand.”

After seeing that both Tama and I were confused, Shu put a hand on her chin as if troubled.

“It’s difficult to put it in words… Well, in short, as a reward for shouldering the sins of others, you were no longer able to speak, yet could communicate with thoughts! —That’s what I meant. Because of that, women could notice his existence even when he was far away.”

So that’s how they knew I had boarded the train even though I hid my face. If they could easily spot me at a distance, it meant they could find me right away, and the moment they saw me, they’d get uncomfortable due to the curse and end up attacking me…

That’s no reward. It’s just harassment.

“What’s up with that… It’s no reward!” Tama, thinking the same thing, spoke up.

“Yes. It isn’t a real reward, but the oracle saw it that way. Despite it being something horrible for him, it was seen by my powers as ‘salvation.’ This is the first time something like this has ever happened, and I… I don’t understand it at all.”

“Just to be sure, Shu-chan, there are no misunderstandings, yeah? Sometimes even you leave some things out.”

“I’m sorry, this is what I saw.”

Does the curse also play a part in why I couldn’t just ask them for their names? A lot of things didn’t make sense… Well, do I even have to think about it anymore? The curse has been already lifted, so it doesn’t matter.

“Well, no use mulling over it now! The curse has been lifted, so worrying about it is a waste of time! Instead, let’s talk future!”

“Eh… After all that explanation, this is your reaction?”

“Your optimism is off the charts, isn’t it, Tsune-chan? Shouldn’t you worry about it more?’

No. What matters is not what happened, but what will happen. The cliffhanger is still the same.

“Well, our immediate problem now is the cost of living. Let’s go to the treasury and pull out some treasures.”

“Wait a minute, can’t we make selling your stuff a last resort while I hunt for a job? I mean, since the curse is lifted, I may have a couple of chances open up to me now.”

“Huh? Are you going to work, Tsune-chan?”

Tama asked that, yet they both looked at me in shock. Was it too outlandish of me to do so?

I answered, “That’s right! They say people who don’t work shouldn’t eat. Wouldn’t you hate it if the man you’re possessing is some sort of a bum?”

“I don’t mind that.”

“I don’t mind it either, ‘kay?”

They are both tolerant goddesses, yet if I do as they tell me, I’ll just become a useless man.

“Ah… B, but you never know what the future holds, so it’s better to make money while I can!”

“Well, if that’s what you want, I’ll leave it up to you… However, the curse has just been broken, so I’m not sure if your discomfort has been completely dispelled. There’s still a possibility some women out there might want to hurt you, so please be careful.”

“Oh… Yeah, I’ll be careful.”

Seriously, my future doesn’t look so bright.

As I was feeling down in the dumps, Tama spoke out as if she had just remembered something.

“Oh, weren’t you fired? Why don’t you get your unemployment insurance?”

“I don’t know the procedure…”

I don’t have a computer to look it up, and there’s no one I can ask for such help.

“Let’s go to Hello Work and ask it, as well as look for a job!” (T/N: Hello Work is Japan’s employment service center and it’s managed by the government.)

Oh, nice idea! It kills two birds with one stone! …But I’m also concerned with my still woozy body. I don’t want to go there and end up getting beat up.

“Shall we go first thing in the morning? There will be fewer people that way. Oh, the center opens in about four hours.”

Is it already that late? Oh, speaking of which, I’m not tired at all. After being healed, I noticed by previous drowsiness had disappeared.

“Does your convalescence also get rid of sleepiness?”

“That’s right,” she answered. “My most powerful chant, which I used on you, can keep someone’s best condition even if they don’t eat, drink, or even rest for two days. It also keeps their body clean!”

What a force to be reckoned with… I mean, if you keep getting healed, you may not need food, water, or sleep.

“Oh, but it doesn’t remove the smell.”

“That’s the only drawback.”

That’s not a drawback! Only you two think so!

After that, we had to wait until Hello Work opened, so we passed time by talking nonsense with each other.

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We couldn’t have possibly known at the time… But neither Tama, Shu, nor I understood what it meant to break that scourge.

At best, we thought it would ease my pain…

However, in a world where men are scarce, I had yet to realize the impact my shouldering those sins had on the world…

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T/N: From the next chapter onwards, you will see payback.

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