The midday sunlight should have been warm, yet it made Strangulation feel waves of chilling cold from the depths of his heart.
...For some reason, every time he was with Ya, painful memories of the past would resurface.
He remembered his mother's laugh as she hugged him, how he boasted in her arms about yet another new thing he had learned, and the worry hiding behind his mother's smiling face...
He remembered the strawberry cake that fell to the ground that day, and her cries before she passed away.
——And so, he remembered his own name. A name he hated, loathed... and feared to be separated from.
The Great Hero.
Do I deserve it?
I don't deserve a damn thing.
Even the worst of heroes wouldn't fail to save a single person.
He dared not even mention his own name to others... because if he did, surely they would ask him out of curiosity, "If you're called 'The Great Hero,' who have you saved?"
He feared that question.
The answer was zero.
