Juni Taisen: Zodiac War (十二大戦)

The Juni Taisen, held once every twelve years.

The winner of this battle may have any one wish granted.

And the winner of the twelfth competition...

Congratulations, me.

Only one wish,

but...

What should I do?

Juni Taisen

Hey, did you see TV last night?

Morning.

Oh, it's just Nezumi.

Die, all of you.

1. Die, all of you.

Just kidding.

I didn't participate in the Juni Taisen to get any wish in particular.

But having gone through so much to get it,

I'd never use it for something so stupid.

They'll all be dead in a hundred years without my help, anyway.

You look as gloomy as ever.

Do you just come to school to sleep?

Don't you have any hopes or dreams?

Flip her skirt up.

2. Flip her skirt up.

Hey...

What's wrong, Nezumi-kun?

You spaced out all of a sudden.

Well, I guess that's typical.

No reason in particular.

Idiot.

I'd like to ask a question.

If you had only one wish, what would you wish for?

Huh? Only one?

Yeah. If you could wish for one thing, and it would come true for sure.

Let's see... A wish, huh?

Um...

How about "let everyone be happy"?

3. Let everyone be happy.

That would grant a lot of people's wishes all at once, too!

I see... That's a good idea.

Yeah, right!

Then even people I hate would be happy!

For instance, my most terrifying enemy in the Juni Taisen...

If he had his wish granted, it would be a nightmare.

He might eliminate all life in the universe.

But, let's see...

Granting the wish of someone nice sounds pretty good.

Not trying to act cool, but if I can't come up with my own,

it would be pretty unforgivable to those who died.

I couldn't face them again.

You should do what you believe is the right thing for you, young man.

I didn't really act because I thought it was the right thing to do.

It was just the only choice that would let me survive.

The right thing... What is the right thing?

It's full of trash people, numbed by peace.

When I think about risking my life to protect the lifestyle of trash like that,

I feel utterly disgusted.

Don't you ever get sick of it?

No one in the world has saved as many people as you have.

But the law of ratios means you've saved a lot of garbage, too.

That's more her field than mine, isn't it?

I don't make peace with it. I carry it with me.

I choose to stop wars using the power of words.

I've been through many terrible things myself, as well,

but I still want to get along with everyone.

I want to find happiness with everyone.

Don't sell platitudes short, little boy.

To be frank, what you said still feels pretty lame to me.

But nonetheless, I liked your dedication to your platitudes,

Sharyu.

I know...

What if I brought the most righteous person in the world back to life?

4. Bring the most righteous person in the world back to life.

I couldn't have won without her, after all.

Yeah, that's good.

No room for complaint there.

I'll go with that. I've decided.

The wish I want granted more than anything...

Wait a minute.

Should a person come back to life because they're righteous?

Is it righteous for only the most righteous to survive?

Would she even accept that?

Then what about "bring back everyone who died"?

But that would include people who don't want to come back.

To bring back all of them would lead to a rehash of the Taisen.

Should I be making decisions about life and death?

Would they be the same people they were before they died?

Would they be like clones?

If so, would I just be satisfying myself?

But it's my wish... so maybe it's okay to satisfy myself?

Then what's the point of bringing them back?

Do I want them to thank me?

Honestly, I don't want to see them again.

Never again!

Then if I were to use the wish for myself...

Let's see...

What about wishing for good health?

Yeah, that old man said something like that.

Let me see...

Eternal life and youth, I think.

6. I want eternal life and youth!

When you get to my age, you learn that youth is the real treasure.

But wouldn't immortality kind of suck?

Staying young forever seems rough, too.

I ended up

asking the people on the other paths their wishes, too.

I don't know if they were lying, but their answers all came so easily.

What I want?

Yeah.

Well... confidence, I guess.

7. Confidence.

Confidence? Confidence in what?

Well, in myself, I guess.

Aren't you a warrior of the Niwa family?

You must have been through some rough battles, right?

I guess, but...

I don't really have a sense of who I am.

I just sort of fell into this line of work.

I do what I'm told, the way I'm told to.

But I'll have to keep doing this job, right?

So I'd like some... pride, I guess?

A personal sense of right and wrong? Something like that.

Why not wish to stop being a warrior, then?

8. I want to stop being a warrior.

I see...

I guess that's an option.

You seem so strong, yet you still want talent?

9. Talent.

I'm more afraid of losing than of dying.

Afraid? Well, nobody likes to lose.

I guess it's true that a genius like Ox doesn't have much to fear,

but it sounds like you just have an inferiority complex.

You're wrong. It's a disease.

If I had more power or talent, my chances of survival would greatly increase.

But if I did, wouldn't I just get sent to more dangerous battlefields,

to fight more dangerous foes?

A harem, of course!

10. A harem.

A harem, a harem, a harem!

As the heir to a historic household,

I desire a life with 3.5 billion gorgeous men!

To love and be loved by them!

Maybe it's because I'm still a teenager...

I don't want to wish for anything I'd be embarrassed to tell someone else.

Honestly, having infinite options only makes this harder.

Oh, it's just Nezumi.

Disappear, all of you.

11. Disappear, all of you.

Just kidding.

The power to experience the results of one hundred different actions,

Hundred Paths of Nezumi-san.

What about upgrading it to a thousand paths?

Expand my power to one thousand paths.

It's true that this ability allowed me to win the Juni Taisen...

But without it, I wouldn't have had to participate in the Juni Taisen at all.

And I still remember

the fear and pain I experienced, being killed those ninety-nine times.

Hey! Wait up!

I'm really sorry, Nezumi-san.

The others don't remember the other paths, of course.

I regret to inform you that you cannot escape me.

I'm about to rip you into itty-bitty bits.

Occasionally, they did remember me,

but only as a vague sense of déjà vu.

Hey, you...

Be my friend.

Do not worry.

It will take only an instant.

But it's burned into me alone, as though it all really happened.

It's seriously rough.

I was lucky that there was even a single route where I survived.

There are tons of situations where, even with a hundred options,

I still can't avoid something.

For example, there was no choice I could have made to avoid the Juni Taisen.

I doubt anyone could understand the despair of trying

a hundred paths and having none work out.

It happened in middle school.

I fell in love with the school's most popular idol...

Or rather, the plain girl who always walked behind her.

I tried a hundred ways to ask her out.

U-Um...

Please... read this.

Huh?! Oh, so—

Sorry!!

You're going on a date with me.

Ugh...

Uh... U-Um... Waaah...

I'm sorry.

Uh, I got carried away.

I mean it.

I'm really sorry!!

Being shot down a hundred times

at once hurt a hundred times more.

I later learned that she liked another boy,

and she wouldn't look at anyone else.

There are some things that won't work out, no matter what you try.

Ever since, I've written it off as a skill that's only good for winning rock-paper-scissors.

I'll pass on the hellish existence of trying a thousand options and having them all fail.

I work at a preschool.

I said I work at a preschool.

Despite how I look, the guardians all like me.