DCFM – Chapter 021: Crossing Nature and The Truth

“Outside… The outside…” (Hikaru)

I am saved.

I survived and got out of the forest. 

According to the map, there’s still 15km before I reach the closest place with people. 

The name of the location is already not Eastern Demonic Lands. It is now the north plains of the Rafeed Ward in the Ringpill Continent. 

I walked unsteadily just like that, and went up a slightly elevated hill.

When I looked back, the way too vast forest that I was walking in until now…no, mostly ran my way out of, spread before my eyes. 

“I got out… I survived…” (Hikaru)

Tears naturally came out from me. 

It still isn’t over yet. My life in this parallel world is just beginning. That’s all there is to it. 

But I managed to live. 

I can begin.

It starts from here. 

[Pin Pon Pan! It is time to announce the rankings for the total viewers of the Chosen!].

A voice suddenly resonated in my head.

The same voice as the time when I obtained that shining flower and when I learned Create Undead. 

Total Viewers Ranking… There was such a thing?

[Congratulations, Chosen Number 1,000, Kurose Hikaru, you shone as the number 1 in the 1st Total Viewers Ranking! As a prize for winning, you have been awarded 3 Points!].

Even if I am told I am number 1, I could only think ‘figures’.

I did an adventure of life or death for 10 days.

I don’t know what the other Chosen are doing, but I am certain that I was having the roughest of times.

[And! From here on, you can get messages from the viewers on Earth! A mailbox has been added to the Status Board, so please confirm it.]

I thought I would have an astounding amount of messages since there’s a billion viewers, but it looks like God is choosing the ones with ‘strong emotions’, so it seems like it doesn’t end up being that many. 

If used correctly, I could learn about the state of things over on Earth. 

When I opened the Status Board, I certainly did get 3 Points.

If only this had come a bit faster… I did think that, but I am still alive here.

I see a fortress-like thing far off in the horizon.

There was nothing resembling monsters, and the wind felt good.

“Hm…? Mail is…wait, eeeh?” (Hikaru)

There was a ① on the mailbox, but the next instant I thought that…mails began to pour in with a ponponponpon sound, and they increased to several hundreds in an instant. 

God should be filtering, and yet, since the denominator is high, the amount must be high as well. 

Let’s see, what messages am I getting?

—I still have nightmares of this moment. 

—I was feeling a sense of accomplishment. I had survived 370km of despair.

—I was number 1 in the total viewer count. Everyone is cheering for me.

—That’s…what I believed.

—I believed…

I opened the mail.

A peaceful scenery of a light green plain that stretched as far as the eye could see.

A blue sky and gentle sunlight.

A warm and dry wind.

In this relaxed atmosphere of this parallel world, what appeared there was a reality that I didn’t imagine. 

<<He seems to be enjoying his isekai life even after killing his girlfriend. Just die already. What are you surviving for?>>

<<After killing his girlfriend’s family, he is going all OP isekai protagonist? I am ashamed to be japanese like him. HIKARU is currently trending on twitter throughout the whole world. This is a national disgrace. Give me a break.>>

<<Is the air of the isekai tasty after taking away the future of Nanami-chan and obtained power?>>

<<Drop to hell. No, hell would be lukewarm for you.>>

<<You should have been eaten alive.>>

<<Every time I see you desperately trying to live, I end up thinking that Nanami-chan must have wanted to live too. Why are you clinging to life so much, yet for others…moreover, the life of your girlfriend…why couldn’t you think about hers the same way as yours? You are a fiend. I hate you. Die already.>>

—I couldn’t even breathe.

All the mails were spitting out insult after insult of me. 

Everyone was wishing for my death.

I couldn’t understand immediately what was going on here.

<<You apparently stabbed her several times on the stomach. I am impressed you can even do that. You are worse than a beast.>>

<<Even though you killed your childhood friend’s whole family, you really have the guts to enjoy your isekai life without showing any signs of doing such a heinous act. You are the worst monster out there.>>

“Nanami…died…?” (Hikaru)

Nanami was a childhood friend of mine that I grew up together with like a sibling, not my girlfriend, but that’s not what’s important here.

Right now, what I could gather from the opened messages was that…

Nanami is dead.

And for some reason, I am being treated as the one who killed her.

<<I am glad there’s a messaging system. I will be sending the other Chosen your way. I will definitely make sure you get punished. Sleep in fear.>>

<<If that were me, I would give up. How can you continue living on as if nothing?>>

<<I trust God to do a ranking for the most unpopular one too. The kind that properly gives a penalty to the highest ranked one, that is. Being sent straight to hell as the penalty sounds nice.>>

<<DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE. DIE AT ONCE ALREADY.>>

<<How do you feel being the most wanted dead in the whole world? You did something worth that, you know. Understand it. Understand it and kill yourself.>>

All the messages were overflowing with anger at me. 

The hammer of justice towards a heinous killer they can’t get their hands on.

I couldn’t understand anything. 

I thought there would at least be some people cheering for me.

I figured there would be some who would be watching in amusement, but I at least believed that they would be happy about me managing to survive. 

“Nanami…died…? Just like that…? She didn’t come to this world…? Uncle…and auntie…died as well…?” (Hikaru)

I muttered this at no one in my disbelief. 

I thought that just like how I am alive here despite dying, Nanami as well would be living here in this world.

That’s what I thought.

That’s what I wished.

In this parallel world where I know no one, my one sole objective was to reunite with Nanami.

The reason why uncle and auntie didn’t show up that day was because they were killed too?

…But I can tell from the messages.

I ended up understanding…

It should have been transmitted immediately that Nanami didn’t come to this world. 

Something that can be found out as soon as they enter the house or call the police. 

The bodies of Nanami and her parents were there. 

Only my shoes were left at the entrance.

Did the real culprit manage to get away? He must have set it up in a way to pin the murder on me. 

“Kahah…!” (Hikaru)

The contents in my stomach churned out. 

Being exposed by direct animosity, discovering that Nanami and her parents are dead; those two realities were enough to shock me in my entirety. 

I couldn’t even stay standing, and ended up falling in place. 

I couldn’t even breathe properly.

I actually…knew it already.

That Nanami is dead.

I saw the lifeless Nanami after all.

But I wanted to believe it. 

I couldn’t do anything but believe. 

By believing that Nanami had come here, I managed to maintain the will to get out of the forest.

I myself was also too occupied with my current situation.

If I didn’t face forward, I wouldn’t have been able to move my feet.

<<Your parents and your twin sisters couldn’t stay in Japan anymore and moved out. Well, they will soon be found out even overseas. Don’t you think it should be better to die as an apology?>>

<<Your twin sisters are apparently super intelligent. Well, they ain’t got a future anymore though.>>

<<Your house was literally burning.>>

“Why… What’s with that…?! What the hell is going on here?!” (Hikaru)

My tears weren’t stopping. 

I was so desperate to stay alive, I couldn’t even stop to think about what was happening on Earth.

But…what else could I have done?! 

I was suddenly thrown to this world! 

I was killed too! 

Me being here alive is because of good luck, or maybe bad luck.

It is not like I am here because I wished to…! 

There were a mountain of things I wanted to say. 

But those words were not coming out from my mouth.

My emotions were overflowing, and they were being overwritten by a different emotion. 

“Me, killing Nanami…? There’s no way I would do that…! She is my childhood friend…! She has been together with me since the day I was born… Why the hell would I kill her…! Me and Nanami were killed! I had no intention of coming here!” (Hikaru)

By the time I noticed, I was already shouting at who knows where.

“I went there to give my final farewells to Nanami…! When I did…I was stabbed by an unknown student of the same grade! Nanami was already killed by the time I got there…!” (Hikaru)

It was a pointless explanation.

There was a part of me that understood this. 

I have seen flaming on the internet countless times. 

There’s two methods to stop the flaming. Stop the fuel. What I am currently doing is basically like fueling the fire endlessly.

It will most likely just escalate.

“…My family…My family has nothing to do with this…! What did my family do…!?” (Hikaru)

In the end, this isekai transfer that the world was dragged into wasn’t unrelated to me. 

My family, Nanami’s family; it destroyed both households. 

The messages continued increasing. 

Are there also messages from my parents and sisters within these? 

I had no courage to open them.

“Damn it…” (Hikaru)

I wanted to disappear already.

But I can’t die here. 

No matter how much hate I am exposed to, the reality of me surviving those 370km of despair wasn’t allowing me to choose death. 

[Announcement from God. It seems there’s a number of Chosen who haven’t noticed the place where the item you brought to the parallel world is stored at. Please tap the Brought Item in the Status Board and materialize it. The things that haven’t been materialized will be erased, so please keep that in mind.]

An added announcement from God.

Now that they mention it, you can bring an item to the parallel world.

Mine was a sudden transfer, so I didn’t prepare anything. Of course, it must be empty. 

And yet, I still opened that option…most likely because I had a feeling…

When I tapped Brought Item in the Status Board, a single album materialized and dropped coldly to the ground.

“……Eh…?” (Hikaru)

A pastel colored photo album.

What Nanami was holding in her chest till the very end…

And what I touched last…

I grabbed that with my trembling fingers…and opened the front cover.

“Nanami…you idiot… What were you planning on doing by bringing something like this to a parallel world…..?” (Hikaru)

A photo of the time when she and I were lined up together with our parents when we were in elementary school.

A photo of when I fell down a pond at Distiny Land.

A photo of when my sisters and Nanami fell asleep after playing themselves tired in a gaming competition.

A photo we took of when we lined up with our puffy uniforms at our entrance ceremony in middle school.

A photo we took jokingly while we were talking through the window. 

A photo of the borrowing race where the borrowed thing that was asked of her was ‘childhood friend’.

A photo of when my parents went to check on her after hearing she had passed the entrance exam for high school.

The photos had Nanami smiling. 

The photos had me smiling as well. 

“Guh… Damn it…” (Hikaru)

Gone.

By seeing these photos, that reality became ever more real. 

Maybe everything that happened on Earth was a lie?

By being in a parallel world, a completely different world, I couldn’t help but think that way.

But the fact that the album that was originally in the hands of Nanami is here means that…Nanami is dead…and she didn’t come here.

—Ahaha.

—Kusukusu.

Someone was laughing at me who was drowning in tears.

Gazes of curiosity.

Laughing at me, telling me to stop the fake crying, to stop pretending to be sad.

Laughing, telling me that I am the one who killed them.

Laughing at me, a mediocre high schooler that doesn’t have a single special trait. 

The Nanami in the photos was smiling.

The me in the photos was smiling too. 

—Ahaha.

—Kyakkyakkya.

Laughs directed at me were coming from somewhere far. 

Laughs directed at me were echoing right by my ear. 

—I must have broken at this time.

I began feeling gazes in bright places.

Gazes filled with animosity…hatred…and curiosity. 

“[Darkness…Fog…].” (Hikaru)

1 billion real time viewers. 

1 billion people were directing animosity towards me on Earth.

They were waiting with anticipation, waiting for the moment I mess up.

The moment I fall to the ground pathetically and die a dog’s death…

I cut off those gazes with the darkness.

In this deep deep darkness, those gazes won’t reach.

I closed the Status Board and began walking. 

I didn’t feel like heading to the fortress.

I wanted to sink…sink deeply into the very bottom of the darkness.

Let’s live in a place where no eyes will reach. 

So that no one will be hurt anymore.

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96 thoughts on “DCFM – Chapter 021: Crossing Nature and The Truth”

  1. Dang, being directed to cyber bullying with 1 billion people’s? If it we’re me…well losing your precious childhood friend must be more painful, and to get accused of killing her also? Damn.

  5. Very dramatized, but still more “realistic” reaction wise than all those lazy isekais where mcs are just happy to be sent to another world without any worry about their lost family, friends, and comfort.

  9. Damn a 15 year old kid experiencing the internet bullying. It’s sad af. Blame the media and the rules/gover why blame the boy when you don’t even have proof if he’s the one that killed her

    1. I don’t think it was that dark I was completely expecting nanami dead and blame is coming on him I was kinda impressed how he can believe she was alive even tho he knows the truth
      The thing about his family was dark for sure
      And also things are getting more fun mc falling in darkness
      It might be fun

      1. I’d say it’d be escapism. Seeing your friend stabbed, you dying and getting transported… the best way to survive is to fool yourself. Especially since he didn’t get any prep time (since he woke up in a daze after being stabbed) and then being sent to a dangerous area.

  15. “I went there to give my final farewells to Nanami…! When I did…I was stabbed by an unknown student of the same grade! Nanami was already killed by the time I got there…!” (Hikaru)”

    Bruh I thought he knew the other guy…….That is definitely suspicious.

    Well God definitely is a trash that enjoy to watch people suffering, I’m thinking that God was probably the one that killed Nanami and her family.

    1. Well he said he is from other grade.
      And it’s not like you go memorizing the names of every student in your school

    3. Bueno… El que sean compañeros de la misma clase no significa que sepa como se llama, además el men está traumado eso también pudo haber echo que simplemente no recordará su rostro, algo como un bloqueo de defensa mental para su cordura aunque ya está más haya del límite aún no se roto del todo mentalmente.

  17. Is this one of those dark despair,despair!, DESPAIR!!! novels? Because those are trash and the people that enjoy them probably have some sort of mental illness.

  18. And here the prolog ends. The story proper starts next chapter. I don’t want to spoil things, but things will start to get interesting in a few chapters. I think I might go back over the raws again.

  21. I am guessing there would be an anti god group that would be form or already did but just hidden, It is on thing if the existance of god is proven , it is another if that god is an ass even worst than atheist interpret(one of atheist common claim is if god is real they are malevolant )

  22. Thank you for the chapter, your translations are awesome as always. Seriously, reading this great story with broken English would be good enough, but your quality makes this so much better.

    As for the story, my take is that we might see some heartfelt positive messages in the future, possibly as a response to all the hate, both from his family and other (foreign) supporters, though still likely dwarfed by the hate messages. At least I hope so.

  23. Thanks for the chapter! ^^
    I really hope that his family’s messages will find a way to get through, or that later he will find the mental fortitude to read through the messages while ignoring the hateful messages and find thoses from his family.
    A really interesting story full of emotions so far.

  25. And then the stream cuts to black. That would be very bizarre to see as a regular viewer. Messages open, he cries, sits down, and then black. I hope his family is safe.

    Thanks for the chapter!

  28. so the journalists used hikaru as the killer even thou they knew he wasn’t to flame it and get the cash on his corpse no one even thought about getting the real killer what a pieces of shit and the mc didn’t even ask for his name the killer’s name the killer would have thought he won and would be transferred and his name would go with hikaru to the grave yet hikaru got transferred instead of his dead childhood friend and her family what a shitty god he didn’t even do them justice he left the flames to burn he just searched for his amusement what a piece of shit

  29. I was waiting, much like the rest, for this moment. Although I feel the author should of done day 7 as the ranking, 10 days feels very off putting from normal standards. Now for the biggest suspension of disbelief, most murders done with knifes and or sharp objects tend to injure the attacker as well as the victim let alone the fact our murder managed to kill 3 people 1 (poor Nanami-chan) of which was stabbed multiple times which indicates passion or strong emotion and could definately result in the weilder self injuring themselves. Even assuming police were slightly lazy an autopsy which was clearly done since it was a homicide would give a different time table for the deaths vs Hikaru arrival which all summates to 7 or 10 days would of been more than adequate to clear his name. The killer would be a bit harder to find assuming he’s good and the fact both finger prints and blood for children aren’t normally in criminal databases but the author is writing like they’ve already confirmed Hikaru’s guilt for the sake of the story which I frown upon a bit. I would love to assume trolls who’ve formed fan clubs of other chosen are simply annoyed or jelous but the message system works off extreme emotion which most trolls won’t hold for multiple messages to flow in so rapidly.
    No curious questions for today I supose since no new powers, a rather depessing chapter following the loss of Berserks’ Miura news fits my mood. 🐢😞🐢 sad turtle away~

  30. Thanks for the chapter…

    And here I was thinking that Hikaru would find out about all this later… Let’s wait and see what happens next…

  33. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the internet in a nutshell.

    Well we know that the overwhelming majority of viewers watching Hikaru outside of Japan aren’t idiots and don’t believe that he killed Nanami. The Japanese are the ones being shown following the “Guilty until proven innocent.” mindset and since the god is filtering messages based on strong emotions of course Hikaru is going to mostly get hate mail. Well the so-called god himself is pretty shitty so I’m hoping that Hikaru will eventually be able to kill him. I mean if it weren’t for him randomly selecting people to get isekai’d for people’s entertainment then Nanami and her family wouldn’t have been killed. Plus a bunch of other Chosen have already died because they don’t have experience in this type of situation and the whole system that has been set up with skill points and crystals isn’t intuitive. In fact it almost seems like it’s designed to make the people waste their hard earned skill points and crystals on dumb things.

  35. Thanks for the chapter. I have a feeling the author might have some died with the law enforcement system of Japan or something similar to this. L Because in the previous bulletin chapter, it was stated mostly japanese viewed him as a criminal.

      1. court of public opinion is what the author is trying to write as a plot device but police, even lazy, should of cleared his name by now. if you want an in-depth armchair detectives resoning my full opinion is posted below.

  39. Ugh… This is depressing. But you know, it really enough for Hikaru to get 1st viewer ranking by just being Nanami’s ‘killer’? Will you watch the 24-hour stream of someone that you hated? I don’t think I would do that, to be honest.

    I just hope that the one sent messages are just the trolls… Actual supporting messages will be sent later. Like his family or something. I wonder that we never see this to be resolved? Thanks for the chapter!

    1. Would troll emotions be strong enough to be first in the message box?

      Sadly it means these messages were from those with too much emotion and no brains.
      Most of the internet is like that, but I have a feeling in the novel, they are mostly Japanese.

    2. I have a similar opinion. People always tend to find the easiest way out and blame for any mishap on another person so they themselves dont get blamed. And when these so called ‘Keepers of Justice’ come into play acting according to their own skewed sense of ‘Justice’ even normal people having no clue of what actually is happening get rolled up in the mess that is generated out of the ignorant and arrogant actions of these ‘Keepers of Justice’

  42. I got a feeling that one of them is the murderer bastard…
    Especially the “enjoying Isekai life”
    And “telling the other chosen” is kinda full of malice

    1. It’s hard to imagine haters would feel such hate they would get past god’s filter. It sounds like they are your typical 12 years old troll. I know the filter was so he wasn’t flooded with millions of messages but i think a better excuse could be made.
      Gotta love the keyboard warriors tho

    1. Well it said that the messages with strongest feelings would get through. Few things are stronger than hate. Perhaps only positive messages would be from his family.

  46. Since we know in japan police has a number of ways to tell that there would be another beingnon the house of of nanami aside from MC. Its weird that no police or no one notice it. Would it be god planned all of this? Since the presense of that murderer vanish, i could theorized he was isekai’d together with mc. Maybe another crime has been act by him. I could theorized the biggest enemy would be that murderer and this would be likely a revenge story without the audience knowing why the animosity from MC is the highest facing that murderer

    1. Yeah, to think the police would know the rumor and figure it out that she is at risk. Even discounting that , they or even their equivalent of homeland security or whatever would monitor all candidates even if it is just monitoring the house,

  48. Damn this chapter did hit different and we finally got to know why the title is “darkness was comfortable for me”. It’s sad but it will thanks to it be more interesting story then he just wandering around world, gathering harem members with viewers cheering on him

  51. So they simply decided that it was him without looking for any other possibility? Well, they now created something that will be both scary and something I absolutely want to see! I wonder if he can manage to return eventually and enact retribution!

  53. The guilty until proven innocent happens all over the world you know.
    In Mexico where I leave at for about 20 years from the 80’s to the 00’s
    It actually was “guilty even if proven innocent unless you have money”

  55. The killer made the blame turns to him.

    Sad, crappy police investigation, they did not investigate the crime thoroughly and ruin a family because of injustices of the ignorant mob.

    Its the same in my country so it infuriates me a lot.

    Those ignorant viewers makes him a walking clown

    Thanks for the update

  56. It’s odd that normally such a mindlessly malicious entity would normally be lazy and hard to believe in fiction, but the hate comments spamming the mc feel normal as a collective of people hating and bullying someone.

    Interesting idea. I like how that was executed here.

    Thanks for the chapter!

    1. And so, our MC has fallen into DESPAIR. Damn, I expected that the viewer accuses and blaming him for killing Nanami but still hurt to watch this. Well, this is basically just like netizens in this world. That being said just wtf is going on with the police? they can’t even properly deduct who is the true culprit? shame on them. Also looks like the god of this world is a kind of shitty being just like Arifureta. I want Hikaru to kill them in the end.

      1. What makes it even worse is that “god” likely filtered it to only have the strongly negative responses, so anybody that was reasonable wouldn’t be able to give him encouragement. God likely wanted to see how the mc would react in their callousness, and they succeeded.

      2. There is a reason why the killer has not been convicted yet. The problem is that is is revealed much later on, almost a 100 chapters later the reason, when we get an arc which focuses on his sisters and their actions after he left to the other world.

    1. Wow, that chapter is really depressing. He must be really broken now. The album at the end was just so sad.
      Is it me or these people are so fixated on the “guilty until proven innocent” thing ?
      Seriously, does he even have a reason to live now ? He might even try to kill himself.

      3. Japan’s legal system likely didn’t get it’s almost 100% conviction rate by playing fair.

        Sad thing is that it seems overseas bros like the guy, but since messages are being weighted by emotion…

      4. It’s a persona 5 thing where he needs to just take their hearts. Or something. This has been rather interesting this far. I wish the chapters were longer though. The wait is painful.

      5. Well it’s nothing new for JP fans to mob riot or lynch. And this time the whole world is the audience. My guess is he’ll welcome the darkness Great Spirit.

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