Arifureta Chapter 485

Common Holiday Brief Story   Kaori’s Case

At USA’s west coast in the first week of July.

There was a small hill quite far away from the city that offered an  unobstructed view of the sea. On top of it there was an old church that  was dyed orange beautifully from the setting sun.

It was a small church that had a small history. There wasn’t any  residential area in its neighborhood. Its location made it very  difficult for people to visit it unless they used car or at least bike.

An odd spectacle was unfolding in front of that usually quiet church.

There were multiple medium-sized trucks and black cars parked there,  but there were also men and women of all ages who felt very strange to  the degree that they blew away even those vehicles’ imposingness.

Each and every one of them were cosplaying some kind of anime show.  Furthermore, two of them were doing “Naatu Dance” match like mad. The  scene felt like it was plainly inducing SAN point erosion.

Mohican bastard who looked like a thug that went HYAHHA in an  apocalypse world would conversely got annoyed the most by a composed  expression wearing smart and clean suits.

If someone was passing by this area, they would definitely think 「What’s with these guys-」 and reported to the police.

Those fellows were holding such freaky oddball party (?), but  actually a scene that wasn’t normal by any means was also ongoing inside  the church at the background.

「──There is reason for everything.」

A voice that was quiet but could seep until deep inside the listener’s chest was resounding inside the church.

There was an old priest standing in front of the altar. His pure  white beard and swept back hair suited him very well. He looked like he  was older than eighty years old, but the strength in his eyes and his  straight back coupled with his voice gave off the strength that could  make the person he talked with to straighten their posture.

「There is also a reason for the awakening all of you experienced.」

There were ten-odd people, males and females inn front of the “preaching” priest.

「That power is God’s blessing(Gift). At the same time it’s also a trial. Will you drown in that power and fall as sinner, or will you do good with it.」

The priest was speaking with a serious expression. His audiences were  all looking at him with cold eyes. Some of them were even looking with  hostility or mocking smile. Some of them also had missing body part or  serious injury because of something. Those people from the start were  only staring at empty space with hollow eyes. They weren’t even focused  in what was going on.

The audiences all had various emotions that they were feeling, but  they were all clearly holding the priest in contempt without exception.

There were handcuffs shackling the hands of these people.

Those weren’t normal handcuffs. They were artifacts that completely  blocked the usage of power regardless whether they used magic power or  willpower.

Yes, the people attending the sermon today was the “awakened”.

Furthermore they were people who had or almost dirtied their hands  with crime, people who created group with dangerous ideal, people  scheming terrorist action, etc. They were all dangerous people.

There were several males and females in suit standing near the wall  inside the church. They were standing expressionlessly. They were the  members of the department that was dealing with the supernatural  phenomenon in USA. Their commander was a blond haired man who really  looked like an elite with his hair parted on one side and his glasses.  He had been sending glances at his watch since some time ago with  concern.

「God is always watching. Sending help to the virtuous people, and punishment to the sinner──」

「Heey, father. How long is your interestii~ing preaching gonna last? I’m gonna get hungry soon you know.」

A large man was grinning while interrupting the priest’s speech.  There was no way something like god exist. Something like divine  punishment was stupid. Try giving punishment if it’s true then. The  man’s expression was declaring that.

That was the start of everyone making noises.

Those who didn’t believe in god agreed with the man and jeered, while  others smiled in resignation or coldly saying that something like god’s  salvation couldn’t possibly exist.

Those who believe in god yelled angrily at those people, or screamed  loudly that it was none other than them who were chosen by god as His  representative, or showing their arrogance by telling the priest that he  was trash.

The inside of the church instantly became filled with uproar. Tension ran through the guards and the commander.

It was then.

「God exist. He is watching our action even now at this moment.」

The priest’s solemn voice spread out like ripple.

「Then try showing a miracle! Come on, what’s wrong! Try bringing down divine punishment on me!」

「You infidel-, I have enough of you! I’ll punish you as God’s proxy-」

Although their superpower was sealed thanks to the manacles, they  were still able to move. A scuffle started. Some started plotting  whether they could use this chance to escape, while some looked like  they were going to assault the priest. The guards subdued them down……

The priest ignored the commotion and calmly turned his back on them.

The church’s stained glass was designed so the altar would be bathed  fully by the setting sun. Blazing red light illuminated the priest’s  spot.

The shadow of the engraved cross and the crucified originator  overlapped with the priest who fell on one knee and lowered his head. He  drew a cross on his chest and prayed earnestly.

Within the commotion, a lot of people laughed seeing the priest’s  back, or else they stopped looking at him after losing interest thinking  that there was no way anything would happen──

Right after that.

As though the priest’s prayer was answered, pure white light exploded fiercely.

「W-what!?」

「Light from the outside……n-no, this is, the whole church is shining!?」

The awakened were shaken. Even people who were grappling with each  other, people who were plotting their escape, people who kept themselves  out of the scuffle because of their resignation over everything, all of  them looked wide-eyed.

Through the stained glass, a pure white pillar of light illuminated the priest with pinpoint precision.

The wall and the ceiling and also the floor were sparkling. At the same time noticed something because they were awakened.

──Right now, this space was filled with terrific power

They were exposed with overwhelming torrent of power that the likes  of them couldn’t possibly even hope to match. All of them without  exception were trembling like baby who got tossed into the storm at  night.

Amidst that,

「Great messenger of the heaven. Please, grant guidance to these lost people.」

The voice of the priest echoed through. The sonorous prayer contained not even a smidgen of doubt.

The people gasped. They thought, no way.

In that moment, that descended within the pillar of light.

The space rippled. A silhouette formed up within the pillar of light.  The full picture couldn’t be seen clearly because of the light. But, it  was clear that the form was female with pure white wings on her back.

「Holy, angel?」

A one-armed man opened his eyes wide while muttering. He stared intently, as though his listlessness just now never existed.

As though to show that his muttering was the truth, the woman  floating inside the light pillar flapped her wings. Feathers that were  tinged with light raged inside the church. It was an indescribably  beautiful sight.

At the same time, the pure white light spread out like a ripple. Then,

「A, ah, m-my arm……」

『Eh? Ah, my burn scar is also healing-』

The wounded people who were enveloped in light were recovering one after another. Even missing arm was returning back to normal.

That was undoubtedly a “miracle”.

After being told to show a miracle, the priest prayed, and that  prayer was heard followed by a supernatural existence descending.

──Live, for a bright future

A mysterious resonance directly reached inside their heads. It was a female voice that gave them the feeling of kindness.

The feeling of their hearts being filled made one person, followed by other person falling on their knees unconsciously.

──I am watching over you

People with faith were moved to tears, people who were ruled by  resignation regained their vigor, even the large man who was stained by  malice grasped his chest tightly and casted down his eyes in shame.

The angel’s figure vanished into the ripple in space once more. And  so, the radiance and also the torrent of power flooding the inside of  the church vanished like an illusion.

The awakened were in a daze, but it was clear that what happened just  now wasn’t just their hallucination after looking at the injured  people’s wholeness.

「Come, raise your face. Let’s talk.」

The priest stood up and turned around with a soft smile.

The setting sun that had gone down until near the horizon at that  timing shined through the stained glass and illuminated the priest as  though there was a halo behind him.

This person, was a genuine clergyman……a true mouthpiece of the god!

They must be convinced like that.

There wasn’t anyone who made a ruckus or held the priest in contempt  anymore, not a single one. Everyone of them lent their ears to the  priest’s words with a serious expression.

Without noticing that the priest’s gaze became distant just for a brief moment.

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「I feel like a crook.」

Those words resounded on the rooftop of the church where the priest was talking. It went without saying, the speaker was Kaori.

「You’re saying that every time huh.」

Kaori was sitting while hugging her knees. Hajime was sitting crosslegged beside her with a wry smile.

「Because……everything from the father’s speech, timing, even my lines  are all staged. What’s more we even influenced them to trust more easily  using soul magic.」

That was the truth. The light of magic power was different from  Kaori’s actual magic power, and also the building itself shining, all of  them were staged. That priest too was actually a former exorcist, one  of the people charged to deal with the awakened in USA.

Not only they were giving consultation in regard to the awakened and  taking them into custody, giving them aid, they were also persuading  those who looked like they were going to turn to crime and urging them  to reform their conduct with perseverance.

But, naturally there were also people who wouldn’t stop just with that.

Just in case, the demons who were instructed by Hajime were observing  them, so incident that couldn’t be undone like murder was being  prevented, even so there were also people who were already dirtying  their hands with crime like robbery or scam using superpower.

Or perhaps they were people who were deeply religious from the start  and believed completely that they were chosen by god. As expected words  couldn’t reach that kind of people.

Just the priest’s power also wouldn’t be enough to convince those who  already did evil as an awakened and received painful retaliation from  that and became completely despairing from the after-effect.

The final method for those of such case was what happened just now.

The strategy was named “I’m a healer who returned from other world  but earth is also in big trouble so I start doing angel thing”. It went  without saying that when Kaori heard the strategy’s name, she made a  tsukkomi The strategy’s name is like a light novel title isn’t it with a reproachful glare at Hajime.

「Fundamentally it’s only those who rush ahead after getting an idea  in their head who need this kind of treatment. Rather than letting them  do crime or terrorism, reforming them even if it’s somewhat deceitful is  a far better way right?」

Those who lost their body part because of the retaliation they  received also got fixed. Even their trauma got lightened with soul  magic.

This treatment for those who did stupid thing after awakening to power was really thoughtful instead.

Their powers wouldn’t be awakened if only the King Tree wasn’t  revived, although it was necessary. And so Hajime adopted a policy that  he would give a help for these people to get another chance at least  once.

「Well, it’s certainly a good thing that there isn’t anyone who get harmed by them.」

Kaori was also accepting that despite her grumbling. She had also  done this multiple times, so it was already too late for her to complain  at this point.

But putting it another way, she was a nice person as always, after  all she was still feeling guilty even after doing this that many times.

「Well, in the future you shouldn’t need to do this too many times. I  also managed to prepare a demon to act as angel after all. The priest  and the others will manage to do well on their own after we tuned the  staged play a bit more.」

「You’re talking about the golem for demon right? The one for dispatch to US.」

「Yeah.」

「I still can’t forget the priest’s expression when hearing that plan……」

The staffs of USA churches who accepted the responsibility from  Vatican of dealing with the awakened had gotten gathered once in order  to receive the explanation of the countermeasure for the future.

There Hajime brazenly presented his ideas of “releasing demons that  can’t be differentiated from normal human at all to the whole country to  build a system of monitoring and a system of cooperation with the  authority to deal with the supernatural”, “making demon disguise itself  as angel to forcefully reform human”, and “Nice idea isn’t it! Surely  the exorcists will get more members now!”. If Director Dime and the pope  weren’t in attendance, there was no doubt they would swoop down on  Hajime.

This guy is none other than a pawn of the demons! No, he’s  definitely a demon wearing human skin! Director Dime! Your holiness!  Please open your eyes! You two are being deceived! They all said.

Of course, it was the director and the pope who made the decision to  take the bad with the good, so they weren’t thinking that they were  being deceived by Hajime.

They weren’t but……

The director and the pope reflexively looked at each other when the  priests and sisters pointed that out. Then they both averted their gazes  awkwardly.

I get you guys. I understand your feeling……but, this is the best  way……this young man is like a demon but, he’s suggesting these ideas  with consideration for us too, more or less. Really, the ideas are  sounding fiendish but, he isn’t tricking us……they looked like they wanted to say that.

「What has to be truly prioritized isn’t the lives of the awakened who  succumbed to their greed, but the lives and fortunes of the people who  might get harmed by them right? What’s more, there’s also a big  possibility that the number of pious believers will increase. Even  though it’s just guidance to human heart with a bit of acting and  staging, just what are they so dissatisfied with?」

「They were trembling with fear to Hajime-kun’s thinking that isn’t holding any doubt at all like that you know?」

Probably so. Also, yes. It must be because of “those” that got unveiled during the presentation.

「The dispatched demons are like that. They were acting too free, so I  can understand why the church people felt distrustful that the demons  might be scheming to invade this world. Because, they’re like that.」

It was important so Kaori said it two times. Kaori looked down with an expression of someone holding back a headache.

The number of oddballs doing Naatu Dance had increased from two to  five there. Dust cloud whirled up and the air vibrated thanks to their  inhuman dance step.

「Just what are you guys doing there?」 Three demons dubiously asked  that question. In respond the two demons that had been in the dance  battle said 「Don’t tell me……you three don’t know Naatu?」 with smug  faces. After that the three demons didn’t take the insult lying down and  the number of participant increased, and now it seemed both sides had  finally got serious. Wind that looked like red blood even started to  whirl.

Yes, they were none other than the demons who Hajime granted his special golems for demon usage and be dispatched to USA.

Their appearances were completely human. The golem had metal skeleton  that was coated with liquid metal. With that the demons could freely  transform their own appearance and outfit.

It resulted in the demons running wild. They picked up appearances as  they pleased, wore outfit that they liked, and enjoyed the modern earth  culture with their all.

Written in the reports during the beginning was,

──Cheese burger is delicious. I want to run a cheese burger resto in the future

──I saw a CEO of a big company who looked like an easy mark. Can I seduce him? I want to be rich

──Ootan*-san! Is he really a human? I became his fan so please give me day off! I want to go watch his match!

──Isn’t Japan’s pizza too small? What’s more they’re expensive……I’m  glad I’m in the team that got dispatched to US! Thank you lord!

Those. Contents that made the reader couldn’t hold back from making tsukkomi This ain’t even a report at all were more than 70%. It went without saying that after that all of them  got called to “Miniature Garden” once for a beati──educational  instruction.

Even so, well, they were demons to the core so they were loyal to  their own desire. They would have fun as long as there was a chance.

「At least they’re doing their job properly now but……」

Today too they were tasked with escorting the awakened. After all  just the US staffs wouldn’t be able to manage in case the worst  happened.

But, the stress the staffs were feeling was unmeasurable just from  having these oddballs nearby. There wasn’t enough sympathy in this world  for them.

And so, Hajime let out a sigh. He put up a barrier so that his voice wouldn’t reach inside the church and,

「Oi, you guys! Don’t get too loud! Do you guys wanna me drag your inside out from there huh-」

「「「「「!!?」」」」」

All the demons jerked and trembled. After a second, their figures  seemed to be melting and in the next moment, all of them were wearing  black suits and sunglasses while standing in attention & giving a  sharp salute.

「Don’t make any trouble for the priest and guards! There’re tons of others who can replace you guys! Keep that in mind!」

「「「「「YES-, MY LORD!!」」」」」

Kaori thought……this exchange looked completely like a movie scene of mafia boss and gang members.

Of course, what Hajime meant by dragging out their inside meant the  demon’s true body instead of their entrails. And by replacement he  didn’t mean that he would kill them, but that there were countless other  demons who wanted to become dispatched agent but failed the audition  and were currently studying hard even now in order to pass the next  audition.

「I’m going to assess your work record one of these days. I told you  guys that I’ll give “day-off to do whatever you want” to those who get  good rating right? If you haven’t forgotten that work hard.」

「「「「「Thank you very much, my lord-!!」」」」」

Kaori thought……This is completely black work environment if  applied to human employee. Ah no, this has gone past being black and  into darkness instead.

After all, the selected demons were literal corporate slaves who  practiced “We’re going to work 24 hours a day! We don’t want any salary  or day-off! We only want the lord’s recognition!” for real. (Though the  response department of USA at least paid them some wages)

Even so there were still a long line of demons applying for the job happily. That was just how hellish hell was. I don’t wanna to stay in a hellish place like this anymore! I’m going to do aaanything if it allows me to go to earth! They thought.

「As I thought, asking a demon to play the role of angel is too much……」

「No, it’s just the mid-ranked demons who get easily carried away. The  named greater demons are big deal y’know. After all they’re demonically  superior when it comes to deceiving human.」

「That’s even more worrying you know!?」

「I’ll need to see how things play out for now but, I think it’ll be  fine. If they do anything unnecessary I’ll bind them totally and torture  them by making them watch non-stop the mid-ranked demons partying hard  on earth. They got really cooperative when I told them that.」

「You demon!」

「Strange. The named demons also called me that.」

For the residents of the world where the hell called boredom took  real form, that was the worst and overwhelmingly effective threat one  could make.

The named greater demons all shuddered in fear thinking 「This human,  that’s a damn nasty idea he got!」, while some demons who were secretly  opposing Hajime in their heart even started to recognize him 「……It’s  frustrating but, I guess this human is worthy to be called lord」.

「Well, anyway Kaori, you can consider that there’s almost no need for  you to be part-time angel anymore. Thanks for the hard work.」

「Part-time angel? You make it sounds like I’m a part-time warrior……but, right, I’ve done a good job haven’t I.」

To tell the truth. For the manpower dispatchment……demonpower  dispatchment (?) to USA, Hajime had mercilessly took advantage of the  country’s dire need and received monetary compensation in return.

Dealing with the awakened was also something that Hajime wished for,  but although Japanese government inserted themselves in between, this  was still a talk of work between a country and an individual. It was  absurd for him to cooperate without compensation. That would lead to  being made light of and produced needless conflict. That would be even  more so when the other party was a foreign country, a superpower one at  that.

Because of that, Hajime was receiving a colossal amount of reward and  he was also properly paying Kaori’s part-time wage with that.

Though Kaori whose monetary sense was still that of a normal  household almost fainted when she saw the payment amount. 「This isn’t  the amount of part-time salary! This is the amount that you can get from  doing bad things like in movie!」 She said.

「It looks like the situation has also settled down greatly, and the  various countermeasures that have been planned from the start also have  been mostly established now isn’t it? Then it looks like I won’t have to  help out much from now, so perhaps I’ll try doing some kind of  part-time when summer holiday start?」

「Hm? You don’t have enough money?」

「……Hajime-kun, do you think I’m an outrageously money spender?」

Kaori reflexively replied with a reproachful glare. Also, perhaps  because the pay from this angel part-time was too much that she somehow  felt scared and hadn’t touched the money.

「I’ve never done part-time work before, so from the start I already  wanted to try doing one after going to university and I have free time.」

「I see. So you’re doing it for life experience.」

「Right right. You see, I’m talking about it with my friends and we’re considering various jobs.」

「Hee, it’s a good idea I guess. By the way, what fields are you interested in trying out?」

Uu~nn, Kaori-san looked thoughtful for a bit before she recalled something. She turned toward Hajime with a bright smile.

「Perhaps I’ll try working in maid café? Hajime-kun like that aren’t you?」

「……Did Shizuku tell you something?」

「I’m just asking if you like maid or not you know? I haven’t heard  anything from Shizuku-chan. But, fuuhn, as I thought. So you made  Shizuku-chan be a maid in the date before. You acted as goshujin-sama  for maid Shizuku-chan. Fuuhn」

「Kuh, a leading question huh……not bad.」

It was just him self-destructing. By the way, Kaori suspected  something because she caught a glimpse of maid uniform inside Shizuku’s  bag when they were together in the university.

She must have just picked it up from laundry. The uniform was folded neatly.

Kaori guessed from that……I see, it got so dirtied that it needed to be put into laundry. While staring at Shizuku with a lukewarm gaze.

Shizuku noticed that gaze and turned bright red while starting to  make excuse 「T-this isn’t mine! Someone asked me to keep hold of it for a  bit, so I’m going to return it after the lecture today! That’s all!」  even though Kaori didn’t even ask her about it, so she became even surer  about it.

「Don’t do maid café even if you’re going to do part-time.」

「Why? I think their uniform is cute though……」

「You must call the customers there Goshujin-sama you know? I don’t like it.」

「Ah…………fufu, then it can’t be helped, yep.」

Kaori felt somewhat tickled seeing Hajime’s face from the side that  was fixed toward the setting sun. She stared lovingly at him because of  that.

Hajime stubbornly kept his gaze fixed toward the setting sun. Perhaps  he was embarrassed. Kaori quietly shifted her butt’s position. She  shifted posture to sit closer and her body pressed on Hajime. And then  she rested her head on Hajime’s shoulder.

「It’s pretty……」

「Yeah, it’s a nice scenery.」

「For some reason it reminds me of Tortus’s sea. You remember, when we searched for the undersea ruin──」

「That setting sun we saw from the submarine’s deck huh. We were reminded of Japan instead at that time.」

「We were able to watch it with just the two of us only for a short  time though. Because someone somewhere just wriggled in uninvited……」

The two recalled that time and chuckled together.

The sun that was blazing red, and the sea that reflected it and  created a shining streak of light. The figures of the two who were  staring at that sight while leaning on each other above the old church’s  rooftop truly looked intimate and happy. They really made a lovely  picture.

One side was wearing pure white dress and wings on her back, while  the other one was wearing an outfit with black base color. Perhaps that  was why the sight might ought to be called as a tryst of angel and  demon.

It felt like there was a romantic music playing. It even sounded like  a love song sang by a pointlessly beautiful soprano voice……no, there  was actually such music playing.

La~lala~♪

「……What’re you guys doing?」

「A-ahaha……I forgot for a bit that they’re here.」

When they realized, the five demons had taken out various musical  instruments like violin or flute and played them while one was singing.  It was a pointlessly and unworldly masterful musical performance and  singing.

Furthermore, they had properly changed clothes to tuxedo and dress.  They looked up at Hajime and Kaori and simultaneously winked. It seemed  they wanted to say 「Leave it to us to create the mood!」. No, it also  looked like they were slightly grinning so perhaps they were simply  teasing.

Hajime got annoyed. So he took out Donner to shoot them with bullet for the time being──but before he could,

「Ah, Hajime-kun! Looks like they’re finished! Come on, put away that dangerous thing!」

「Tch, you guys can keep your life for now.」

As expected he was like a mafia boss from how he pulled out a gun  just because he was displeased by his subordinate’s attitude……Kaori  thought like that while standing up to do the finishing touch for today.

They were sensing the people inside the church moving to outside.

She hurriedly urged Hajime to go up to the air. The five demons also  changed into wearing suits for the time being. They lined up orderly  with the atmosphere like Termina*or.

「Ah……this is, the holy angel’s feathers?」

Countless beautiful feathers fluttered down like snow from the sky.  Everyone reflexively held out their palm. Some of the feathers landed on  those palms as though they were drawn to there.

「L-look! The sky-」

One person noticed. Everyone simultaneously turned their gazes toward the sky that was dyed red by the evening sky.

A large sphere of light was floating in the air. It was a spherical  barrier that Kaori deployed. She brightened it up until the inside  couldn’t be seen.

Hajime who was together with her inside remotely controlled  feather-shaped artifacts to be distributed to the awakened to replace  the feathers that would vanish with the passing of time.

The awakened who weren’t aware of that became reminded about the  words “watching over you” that were said before this even more keenly.

That these feathers in their hands that didn’t vanish like the other feathers were present from the angel.

Actually the feathers were artifacts with GPS function. They also had  binding function that could be activated remotely in an emergency. In  the worst case, it could also bring down lightning strike to the owner  as divine punishment and forcefully teleported them to a special prison  located under Vatican. Furthermore, the artifact that held the control  authority of those artifacts was being held by the priest who was  currently smiling at their side……

They would surely treasure the feathers and kept them close to their person for their whole life after this.

After all, everything had been completely staged to make them felt like that.

There were things in this world that didn’t need to be known……the  staffs were thinking like that while looking with conflicted eyes at the  awakened who were trembling emotionally.

「Yosh, let’s return to Japan right away. At this time it should be still morning there. We can spend the day leisurely.」

「Eh? Didn’t the bureau director here say “I have something to talk  about so please make some time after the escorting”? I completely  thought that we were waiting here for that……」

The final touch could also be done when Kaori descended inside the church rather than waiting until now.

Certainly the show’s effect would be more pronounced if the awakened  were bestowed with the mystical present when they got out of the  isolated space that was the church and they were resolving themselves  like Now this is the beginning! I’ll be reborn and live a new life from here on!……

「No? This is just because we never watched the setting sun at US’s  west coast. Today is also the day for my date with Kaori, so I just  wanted to see it together with you.」

「I-is that so……」

If they were going to watch the sunset together anyway then it would  be fine to postpone the finishing touch at the end. That seemed to be  Hajime’s thinking.

Kaori was happy to hear that, but she looked troubled thinking  whether it would be fine to blow off the authority over here like that.

「In the first place, the big shots over here basically never talked  directly with me. As a rule Hattori-san and others are acting as  intermediary. It’ll be something like them wanting to secretly negotiate  for their own advantage anyway. Just ignore it. My date with Kaori is  more important.」

「G-geez. But……fufu, I get it. Theen, we’re going to teleport right away okay?」

「Ou, please.」

The awakened were kneeling on the ground and looking up to the sky with a praying posture.

Kaori confirmed that and strengthened the light even more. Right  after that, she rose to the sky in a straight line. It was like, yes,  just like an angel going back to heaven. She did that while creating a  localized aurora.

Like that, the healer who returned from other world but now was  working as angel because the earth was also in big trouble finished her  last work safely.

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The location changed to deep inside a mountain at the far east of “Miniature Garden”.

There was a precipitous cliff in a part of the mountains that were  covered with greenery. The cliff’s elevation must be over a kilometer.  River water was falling down from a spot of it and became waterfall, but  the water didn’t reach the bottom and dispersed into mist midway.

There was a deep forest as far as the eyes could see below the cliff.  It was covered with white mist like the sea of trees Haltina.

Hajime and Kaori were on top of such cliff.

「”Yuru C*mp” that Hajime-kun recommended is really a godly anime. It  conveyed the charm of camping, and now I’m completely Rin-chan’s fan.  Ah, the Rin-chan I meant just now is “Shimarin” okay? I don’t mean  “Hinorin” okay?」

「I understand even without you telling me. Well, it’s great if you  enjoy it. It’s also a cause of how the wholly indoor faction Nagumo  family got out frequently for a period of time after all.」

Nagumo family was also easily affected by subculture’s influence.  Furthermore they were the type who started at the wrong end by focusing  on the superficial on top of getting completely absorbed in it. Even the  camp equipment used today were all full-blown proper things that  weren’t “yuru” at the slightest, shoved at back of the storage space in  the attic.

「Tell me if there’s a place that you want to go to. You don’t need to hold back at all okay?」

「I’m not holding back. Rather, I’m feeling really happy.」

「I see.」

Kaori grinded her forehead on Hajime’s nape and pressed herself even  more on his body. Her expression was peaceful and looked very satisfied  just as she said.

Hajime looked fondly at such Kaori and caressed her head with a gentle hand movement.

In fact she was genuinely satisfied by the camping of just the two of  them. Today the spot she picked was an undeveloped area of “Miniature  Garden” by chance, but usually she was always having fun looking for the  spot where they would go next. It looked like she had really gotten  quite addicted to this activity.

It seemed she had also gotten her new friends in the campus who he  had met in the get-together addicted to this activity. They were even  imitating the certain relaxed and laidback camping anime and apparently  they were also planning to create a new “outdoor activity circle  (limited to woman)” in their campus.

It seemed certain that Kaori had entered the realm of hobby with this  activity. But, Hajime guessed that Kaori’s real intention wasn’t just  her own self-satisfaction.

Hajime guessed that most likely she was being considerate of him by  wanting him to spend relaxed time in the middle of nature where there  was nothing so he could forget about the world situation even if only  temporarily. He also got the feeling that she had had talk with Yue and  others. So that each of them wouldn’t do the same thing in their  respective date with Hajime.

It would be boorish of him if he questioned them to confirm it so he  didn’t say anything, but he was convinced that it was surely the case.  And so Hajime hugged her tighter with feeling of gratitude.

Kaori too happily responded by hugging him even tighter.

The two enjoyed the quiet time. After a while, Kaori brought up a topic casually.

「The other world trip will finally happen next month. I’m looking forward to it.」

「Yeah.」

「Are you able to enjoy yourself without any worry?」

It felt like there was a further implication in her words. Hajime slightly tilted his head.

「Yeah, I’m fine.」

Just like he said on the church’s rooftop, he had managed to do  almost all the things that were planned at the beginning. There were  still the minute problems and various things between the countries, but  at the very least the situation had stopped being one where Hajime  couldn’t leave earth.

Everything went as planned. There wasn’t any problem at all.

「Lie」

Kaori’s words caught him off guard and stabbed him. Her slender index finger poked on Hajime’s cheek.

「What is──」

「You notice right? Even though the situation has certainly calmed  down, Hajime-kun’s busyness hasn’t changed. You’re still continuing to  run in the same pace like before. A very high pace at that.」

「That’s……」

Because what he “wanted” to do was increasing? Certainly, there was  also that. But, Hajime’s current busyness wasn’t only because of that by  all means. To Kaori, no, to Kaori and others, it looked like Hajime  himself was looking for “something he had to do” to an excessive degree.  He was imposing such thing on himself.

「I thought that you surely would settle down after you’re able to  prepare countermeasures to various problems to your satisfaction. But,  that wasn’t it.」

Kaori shifted her posture. She straddled Hajime’s lap and held  Hajime’s face between her hands from the front. She stared straight into  his eyes with a serious expression.

「What are you so anxious about?」

A deep gaze was poured into Hajime to expose what lied at the bottom  of him. Hajime was at a loss for words and froze for a short while.

A second passed and he let out a sigh Haa~h in resignation. And then, he confessed.

「I wonder. I myself don’t understand it. Is it something like  runner’s high, a working high? No matter how much I’ve done, this  feeling that “it’s still not enough” won’t go away.」

Very unusually, Hajime himself was bewildered about what he was feeling.

「It’s a fact that I’ve settled various things on earth. There won’t  be any problem even if I leave. But, this worry doesn’t go away.  No……when I realized, even a talk of just something trivial with small  chance of happening is bothering me and increasing my worry.」

The revival of “World Tree’s branches” in each world wasn’t unrelated  with other worlds. After all they revived the great trees in other  worlds was to stop the destruction of the fairy world in the first  place.

Other world trip──he was genuinely looking forward to it.

But, if the worlds were mutually influencing each other, seeing that  he would go to a trip anyway, he wanted to do all the things that he  could do like forming cooperation with the locals or giving and  receiving countermeasures with them in case some kind of problem  occurred. He couldn’t deny that he had such feeling inside him.

He was also devoting himself completely to researching and developing  things for that. The more reports came from Kouki, the more the  unpleasant imagination swelled up inside him and he ended up pouring his  heart and soul to work out countermeasures.

「The dragon incident, the goddess’s story……there’re too many lethal  secrets in the world. I wonder if my heart has completely gone into  defensive mode after my mind became aware of the future concretely? That  was my own analysis of myself.」

It was like he was feeling groundless apprehension toward things that  might not even occur for real and shaking with fear from it. That was  uncool so it was hard for him to talk about it, Hajime confessed with a  troubled face.

Seeing Hajime like that, Kaori hugged and pressed his head on her chest. Hajime was enveloped in a soft sensation.

「Hajime-kun wished to return home so strongly like that, more than  any of us. It was to a degree that you even managed to change it into a  concept. Perhaps the dragon incident was even more devastating for you  than you yourself thought.」

「That……might be so.」

Hajime replied with a slightly stifled voice as his face was buried  on Kaori’s chest. Kaori lovingly, or perhaps protectively caressed the  head of Hajime who was like that with gentleness.

Their position became reversed from just now. Kaori’s soft atmosphere  that was even overflowing with motherhood made more tension left  Hajime’s body.

「Hajime-kun, You’re looking forward to the trip right?」

「Eh? Ah, yeah……」

「Let’s look around the world leisurely. Let’s expose lots and lots of  the unknown, the world’s secrets. Let’s do that until Hajime-kun is  satisfied, no matter what anyone say about it.」

「Kaori……」

「I’ll disintegrate anyone who complain.」

「Kaori!?」

「Hajime-kun is absolute. Believing in you is duty. Fulfilling that  duty will bring happiness. Everything is for Hajime-kun’s sake!」

「Kaori-saaan!? This is getting a bit scary so can I ask you to stop!?」

It’s just a joke, Kaori-san said while letting him go and chuckling. Was it really just a joke? Hajime felt a chill for a moment……

「You see, our trip this time has a theme. The main objective that was decided from all of us talking it out.」

「Objective?」

With an expression that was exuding love and affection once more,

「The star is you.」

She said that. Kaori enveloped Hajime’s face between her hands once more.

「Hajime-kun must have planned the trip for Myuu-chan’s sake but,  surely you’re thinking it up with us having fun in it as your first  priority.」

Hajime had worked that hard in this half year, and yet he was still  going to work even harder. It should be fine for him to also get his own  reward.

「Let’s make it a trip that’ll blow away all the worry inside  Hajime-kun. No, it’ll be that kind of trip. Everyone has decided that.」

「……I see.」

He had been completely seen through and such plan was formed behind his back.

Various emotions, like embarrassment and relieve became all mixed in  that it felt like pointless voice like 「Uu~」 or 「Aa~」 was going to leak  out from him.

「Everyone will be with you. So let yourself get spoiled a lot okay?」

Such words were whispered into his ear. Kaori’s warmth enveloped his whole body once more.

The closer the trip got, the more anxiety was piling up inside him. But that anxiety was unravelling.

Hajime put his arms around Kaori’s waist and caught her so she couldn’t get away.

「I’m looking forward to the trip now.」

He simply replied with a relaxed voice like that.

.

AN: Thank you very much for reading this every time.

Thank you very much too for the thoughts, opinions, and reports about misspelling and omitted words.

※Material introduction

– Naatu Dance

From the video [RRR]. I wrote it perhaps because I watched it for  the second time just the other day. I like India movie’s energy.

– Ootani-san!

It’s presumptuous for me to introduce him. The hero of baseball  world who everybody know. I’m looking forward to this year too! Also,  the demons are suspicious if perhaps he’s the Hercules reborn.

– Yuru Camp

Somehow I cried with a good feeling seeing Shimarin and others as  working adults in the movie. I cried happily again when learning that  I’ll be able to watch their student life again in the third season. I’m  really looking forward to it-.

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