RP Chapter 54

 Chapter 54 - Goals in Life

Volume 4, Resonance 7, Part 4

Novel Title: 共鳴熱情 オメガバース (Resonance Passion: Omegaverse)

Author：岩本薫 (Iwamoto Kaoru)

Illustrator：蓮川愛 (Hasukawa Ai)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: MC- 遠峰一紗 (Toomine Kazusa), Lemur & ML- ゼロ (Zero)

*Moved from knoxt.space, the original site of translation.*

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"Lycaon... if you’d like, you can join us too..."

Before he could even finish, Lycaon slammed his laced-up boot against the wall with a loud bang. Everyone immediately reacted with gasps of surprise.

Covered in a dark, menacing aura, Lycaon turned around, glaring at Kazusa with a predatory intensity.

(Here it comes!) 

It had been a while since Kazusa had been stared down like this.

"......"

In the past, Kazusa would have been too scared to meet his gaze and would have looked away. But for some reason, today he didn’t feel as frightened as before.

That was because he had noticed something different—a flicker in Lycaon's eyes.

The fear of being left behind, as the companions he had always lived with gradually drifted away, leaving him alone.

Unlike Jackal and Fossa, who had managed to somewhat integrate into the community, Lycaon remained isolated. He didn’t know how to fit in with the group.

All he knew was how to control others with intimidation and violence. 

He had no idea how to build relationships in any other way.

He was converting the dilemmas and anxieties he felt about himself into anger toward others and releasing it.

This was his defence mechanism.

As Kazusa reflected on this, he held Lycaon’s intimidating gaze. Before long, it was Lycaon who broke eye contact, abruptly turning his head to the side. Then, as if venting his frustration, he slapped the leaves of a nearby potted plant, causing them to scatter.

Immediately after, he snorted and stormed out of the community floor. Seeing their leader leave, Fossa and Jackal hurriedly stood up.

"Oh, I guess we’ll head out too..."

"Lycaon, wait! Hey, wait!"

As the two of them ran after their leader and disappeared from the floor, the tense atmosphere in the room quickly dissipated.

"What was that? How rude," Zebra muttered, frowning and pursing her lips.

"Well, he’s a wild animal. Maybe he’s scared of getting too soft and tame," Serval remarked. Kazusa thought Serval’s interpretation had some truth to it, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of his silent standoff with Lycaon.

A bad premonition.

Maybe he had awoken a sleeping giant...

***

After the ‘Slum Gang’ left, the mood in the room felt a bit deflated. Eventually, everyone decided to break up and go their separate ways. The participants worked together to clean up, saying things like, "See you later" or "Catch you in the lounge" as they headed back to their rooms.

Kazusa was about to return to his own room when Serval invited him.

"Want to come to my room for a bit?"

"Your room?"

"Yeah, we’ve still got time before the lounge opens. And I want to thank you, too."

"You don’t have to thank me."

"No, I insist," Serval said as he tugged on Kazusa’s arm and led him to the elevator. They went up to the fifth floor. Serval’s room was room 501, directly below Kazusa’s. They had spent time together in his room a few times before, whenever their days off coincided.

"Come on in!"

"Pardon my intrusion."

The layout was the same as Kazusa’s room, but with its stylish interior and unique fabrics, it felt entirely different. The decorations and small items scattered around the room had a playful, witty charm, and Kazusa thought it must take a certain innate sense of style to incorporate such things so effortlessly.

"Over here, over here."

Still holding his arm, Serval led Kazusa to a white vanity, its circular LED lights surrounding the mirror. Kazusa thought it was unusual for a guy to have a vanity in his room when Serval suddenly confessed, "I want to become a hair and makeup artist."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, that’s why I’m working hard at the lounge. I also want to attend beauty school, and someday I want to go independent. The more money I have saved up for that, the better."

It was just like how Zebra was working hard to become a pâtissier.

"I’ve been practising cutting and colouring with the other cast members."

"That’s why everyone always has such stylish hair."

"Yeah, it’s win-win. They get free haircuts and colouring, and I get to improve my skills. I’ve even been posting videos of hair styling and makeup on SNS, using everyone here as models... Look, here."

Serval operated his smartphone and showed Kazusa his account.

"Wait, 150,000 followers? That’s amazing. Oh, I see Giraffe... and Lynx, and Leopard, too. Wow, your hair styling videos get a lot of comments and likes."

"It’s not bad, but I need to keep working hard. My ultimate goal is to do hair and makeup for high-end fashion collections."

He said it coolly.

"Really? You’ve got a concrete goal. Zebra wants to be a pâtissier, and Giraffe’s aiming to be a model, right?"

"Lynx wants to be an actor, Newt aims to be a scriptwriter, and Leopard wants to become a gym trainer."

"...That's impressive."

Kazusa widened his eyes in admiration.

They're all still young, so it's only natural for them to think about their futures.

For them, ‘RARE’ is merely a stepping stone.

A temporary perch to rest their wings, wounded from life in brothels or the slums, as they gather strength and wait for the day they can take flight again.

Most of the residents are trying to respond to Zero's hopes of seeing them spread their wings.

(What about me?)

At their age, Kazusa had been working tirelessly toward becoming a doctor.

But that dream had been cut short.

So, what should he aim for next?

As he pondered absentmindedly, Serval, standing behind him, placed his hands on Kazusa's shoulders and urged, "Look at yourself in the mirror." It took a lot of courage to face himself under the bright lights, but when Serval prompted, "Come on, Sensei," Kazusa reluctantly looked into the mirror.

"What do you think?"

"...What do I think? I see a dull thirty-year-old man..."

"If that's how you feel, then you need to pay more attention to your appearance. You're in a customer-facing job, so looks are important."

The roles from the previous lesson had been reversed, and now Serval was lecturing Kazusa in a teacher-like tone.

"But, you know, you have good features. Your almond-shaped eyes are sultry, your fair skin is smooth, and your hair is a deep, glossy black with a slight bluish tint. You’ve never bleached or coloured it, so it's soft and shiny. It was like a baby's hair."

Kazusa was taken aback by the stream of compliments flowing from Serval's mouth. No one had ever said such things to him before.

"But as you are now, it's all going to waste. You have such great raw material; it'd be a shame not to bring it out. Let me make a few tweaks—start by taking off your glasses."

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*Translator’s Note: I’m currently hospitalised if I count the date this chapter is released. I only managed to schedule up until chapter 55. Bear with me. I’ll try to finish as soon as I can. -K

*GLOSSARY: In Japanese contexts especially, ‘SNS’ is commonly used instead of saying ‘social media’. So if you see someone say “彼はSNSで有名です” (kare wa SNS de yuumei desu), it means “He is famous on social media.”

Next update: 2025.08.09

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