Chapter 27
Epilogue (1)
A night has passed since that spiritual disaster, and the extent of the damage is becoming clear.
Witness testimony has revealed that the monsters that appeared were lycanthropes. These monsters are extremely violent and cruel by nature, and
With 87 dead, 51 injured, and 39 missing, this is the fifth-largest spiritual disaster in Japan in terms of casualties. Experts have
That is exactly why I’m saying there may have been problems with the government’s initial response! How many precious lives were lost between the local police and city hall contacting them and the Self-Defense Forces arriving?
In this spiritual disaster, unusually, the monsters made themselves visible even to non-Gifted people. This is still an occurrence with only a few reported cases worldwide. We should discuss the reason for that.
It seems that even non-Gifted people could see the monsters, but there is no footage, is there? On the contrary, every video is remarkably blurry...
Acting Prime Minister Izumihara offered his condolences at a press conference to those who have died in this and previous spiritual disasters, and discussed future countermeasures...
It’s true! A horned person was cutting down monsters left and right at incredible speed, then went bang with something like a gun!
Based on testimony from people in the evacuation shelter, our investigation has found that a Gifted scythe wielder accompanied by a golem was defending the building.
Even when monsters are visible to non-Gifted people, they do not appear on camera. This is an incredible situation. It is possible that we cannot deal with this threat without Gifted people.
This morning, there was another victim in the series of murders committed by a Gifted person...
Sunday.
Naturally, the television was filled with coverage of that incident. There were occasional mentions of the person presumed to be Ishiyama-san and Kenning, too. And, incidentally, me.
After that, we deactivated our Spirit Armaments and left the city disguised among the residents fleeing to safety. As a result, we were being treated as 'mysterious Gifted people.'
The internet was already rife with impersonators, which showed that the world was still a frightening place.
I truly felt that leaving the scene had been the right decision. Otherwise, I would never have been able to enjoy such a luxurious day off, relaxing at a café like this.
"Here you go! The pancake sets!"
"Ah, thanks."
"Thank you very much."
"Don’t mention it!"
Riko-senpai was dressed as a Japanese-style maid today, proudly thrusting out her impressive bosom.
"You two were caught up in that spiritual disaster yesterday, right? Today’s on the house, so eat as much as you like!"
"...Isn’t Master the one treating us?"
"That’s one way to put it!"
That was the only way to put it.
I nodded to Master, who was brewing coffee behind the counter, and she gave me a shy smile and waved faintly.
"Still, you two were caught up in that whole mess, but I’m glad you’re both looking well."
"Yes, more or less."
"We managed somehow."
"Your parents must have been worried too, right? Are you sure you shouldn’t be staying home with them?"
"They were definitely worried sick, but... they worried a little too much, so..."
My parents were becoming a lovey-dovey couple, but I knew they were showering me with affection.
Still, at my age, being fussed over excessively by my parents was somehow embarrassing.
At first, I thought they were worried that the oni blood in me had run wild, but apparently that was not the case. They were simply concerned about their son’s health.
That made me a little happy, though it was also somehow embarrassing.
"Oh? Going through puberty, Otaku-kun? As long as you can still depend on your parents, you should make the most of it!"
"Even if you say that..."
"What about you, Miyucchi? What did your parents say?"
"Ah."
I could not help crying out at Riko-senpai’s question.
The person being addressed wore her usual expressionless face as she said,
"My parents have already passed away. There is no one left to worry about me."
She said it matter-of-factly, then quietly put her hands together over the pancakes and began to eat, saying 'Let’s eat.'
Riko-senpai turned to look at me with the stiff movements of a wind-up tin doll whose spring had run down.
"...Seriously?"
"...Yes. Apparently so."
An extremely awkward atmosphere descended over everyone except Takanashi-san.
Riko-senpai gently placed the tray she was carrying on a nearby table and spoke to her.
"Um, I’m sorry. I asked something insensitive."
"? No. You had not been told, so it was only natural that you didn’t know."
"I-I see... Still, I’m really sorry."
"No. As I said, I don’t think you need to apologize."
Master patted Riko-senpai gently on the head to comfort her as she trudged away.
...What should I do about this atmosphere?
Since sitting around would only make things more awkward, I put my hands together and decided to dig into my pancakes as well.
"...Ah, they’re delicious."
"Right!?"
That was fast!?
Riko-senpai came darting back with such force that she seemed about to make a whoosh! sound.
"I actually made those pancakes myself. They came out super well, right?"
"Huh, you made them, Riko-senpai?"
I took another look at the pancakes on my plate.
They were three thick layers stacked together, fluffy and soft. When I plunged my fork into them, they seemed as though they might sink endlessly.
I cut off the piece where the fork had pierced through the surface, and the yellow cross-section of the pancakes, glazed with glossy honey, whetted my appetite.
They crumbled softly in my mouth, with a sweetness that was not too heavy. Just when I thought that might be a little bland for a young person’s palate, the honey’s sweetness enveloped it.
They were delicious. Not flashy in flavor, but simple pancakes with a faintly nostalgic taste.
"Heh heh. My grandmother taught me the recipe. I even fussed over the ingredients, starting with the ingredients themselves."
As Riko-senpai proudly puffed out her chest with a smug expression, I may have respected her sincerely for the first time.
...What a strange feeling.
Yesterday, I had gone through experiences that I never would have faced in an ordinary life and witnessed a great many deaths.
I thought I would be dreaming about them for a while, and in fact, nightmares tormented me last night. I had woken up with a shout in the middle of the night, accidentally waking my parents, who had unusually been sleeping quietly, and making them worry.
But now I was eating pancakes carefree and finding them 'delicious' as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Was I a heartless person? Or had my heart broken?
That anxiety crossed my mind, but when I focused on the sweetness lingering in my mouth, I still felt happy.
Before I knew it, I had given the smiling Riko-senpai a small bow.
"...They’re delicious, Riko-senpai."
"Yes. This is a splendid creation. This is a splendid creation."
"Thanks! Otaku-kun and Miyucchi! Did you say it twice because it’s important?"
I took another bite while glancing at Riko-senpai making peace signs with both hands. They really were delicious.
This was the kind of flavor that made my fork keep reaching out for more—my chopsticks, so to speak.
However, eating continuously made the sweetness build up too much in my mouth. When I brought some coffee to my lips, its fragrant aroma and bitterness, along with the creamy taste of milk, rewrote my palate.
I welcomed another bite of pancakes into my reset mouth. Was this an infinite loop?
Who would have thought that a country café contained a perpetual-motion machine? It was astonishing, to say the least.
Takanashi-san, sitting across from me, was eating her pancakes with sparkling eyes. Her cheeks had puffed out like a squirrel’s.
When she reached the second layer and the honey on top began to run low, Riko-senpai silently drizzled on some more.
The instant our eyes met, she gave me a 'Bachi-koon!' wink.
Swoon...
This was bad... I might actually fall for this girl...!
But even such a pleasant time had to end. It seemed that a perpetual-motion machine was still too advanced for humanity.
"Thank you for the meal."
"Thank you for the meal. It was delicious."
"I won’t say, 'Sorry it was so meager'... because my cooking is the exact opposite of meager!"
Riko-senpai carried away the empty plates with a loud laugh.
This time, I could not deny her words in the slightest.
In her place, Master brought us more coffee.
"Ah, thank you very much."
"Haha. Sorry about my granddaughter. Was she a little loud?"
"No, not at all... probably."
"Completely deny it, Otaku-kun!? Though, wait... there aren’t any quiet gyaru... are there?"
I believe subdued gyaru exist too, Riko-senpai.
I was wryly smiling at her usual imitation of a gyaru when Master let out a sigh of relief.
"That’s good. She seems to have proper friends at school, but apparently she has trouble pulling off this 'gyaru' thing. She seems happy because she can do it with Yahiro-kun and Takanashi-chan."
...Could she really be said to be 'pulling off being a gyaru' like that?
And is 'doing gyaru' even a proper expression? In a linguistic—or rather, conceptual—sense.
"Ggh...! Everyone in my class is an otaku-chan rather than an Otaku-kun, but they’re all people I’ve known since middle school, so before I know it I’m just having normal otaku conversations with them. I hate myself for it...!"
"Isn’t that a good thing...? If you have friends you can enjoy talking with at school."
She bragged so effortlessly. Who did this fake gyaru think she was?
...A normie extrovert, huh? Heh, what was I supposed to do? I had zero chance. Should I lick her shoes?
"O-Otaku-kun? Have you fallen into darkness or something? Are you okay? Want to talk about it? The highlights in your eyes have gone missing!"
"No. There’s nothing to talk about, so I’m fine."
Because I had no topic of conversation. None whatsoever.
Master broke into a nervous sweat at my distant look.
"Well, anyway. Please keep getting along with Riko."
"Yes..."
"Understood."
"Oh, come on. Rather than getting along, I’m the one doing you the favor of being nice to you☆"
"Ahahaha."
"Wait, Otaku-kun. What is the meaning of that laugh?"
"Ahahaha."
"Damn it! Your eyes are saying, 'You fake gyaru. You have zero tolerance for doujinshi, so it will take another hundred years before you can call yourself a gyaru!'"
"No, I don’t think that much."
"Being sexy isn’t all there is to being a gyaru! You don’t understand that!"
"That’s not what I think."
"Even so... there are dreams I want to protect!"
Riko-senpai tried to dash toward the back of the shop, but Master caught her by the collar.
"Gweh!"
"Riko. You still have dishes to wash."
"Nooo. This burning passion can only be worked off by playing games in my room..."
"An advance on your allowance. What were the conditions again?"
"Ggh...! Can I not escape this fate!?"
"Yes, yes. We’ll pay you properly too, so do your best."
I wryly smiled again as grandmother and granddaughter headed behind the counter together.
Figuring that even an elf could not hear me over the washing, I spoke to Takanashi-san.
"Takanashi-san. About yesterday..."
"Yes."
Her brow furrowed for an instant, but she continued speaking in her usual calm manner.
'Rosso Vendetta' is not the woman I know... or perhaps, she is still in the state before becoming that woman.
"That’s what I thought."
At the time, judging from the circumstances, the person presumed to be Ishiyama-san had been doing everything in her power to protect the people in the evacuation shelter. Moreover, even while crying from pain and fear, she had possessed the courage to tell the other Gifted people to stay somewhere safe.
She was a weirdo, but I could never have called her evil. At most, she was dangerous enough to warrant a warning on a neighborhood circular.
What could have happened to her in the future Takanashi-san knew?
"Should we try contacting her... to ascertain what lies in her heart?"
"I think so... but what reason would we have for going to see her?"
Going to her because we had defended the same evacuation shelter... would be strange. We were not close enough to casually call each other comrades-in-arms.
To be honest, I was still hesitant to talk about the future. Though if it were someone like Master, I felt I might be able to consult her...
Actually, maybe I really should consult that person.
Fortunately, this time the mysterious property that 'monsters do not properly appear on camera even when visible' had worked in our favor, and Kenning’s existence had not become widely known.
However, Kenning had once again been reduced to a moderately damaged state. I felt like I wanted to discuss that with someone too.
"Oh, that’s right, you two."
Not that we had summoned her by talking about her, but Master spoke to us while wiping her hands.
"Ah, yes?"
We hurriedly straightened our backs and turned toward her, and she smiled happily.
"Actually, there’s a chance a new member may be joining us. When she does, be nice to her, okay?"
"Huh? A new adventurer?"
A third newcomer after us. No, since Riko-senpai had joined only a few days apart from us, that would mean four people joining this month alone.
That was an awful lot, considering the number of Gifted people.
"Yes. Um, I think her name was..."
Master tilted her head slightly, as though trying to remember, then said,
"Ishiyama Iwako-chan, was it? Something like Rosso... whatever was written alongside it too, so maybe she’s from overseas."
She had just announced the name of that person.
I slowly turned toward Takanashi-san. She, too, had opened her amethyst-colored eyes as wide as they could go and was looking at me.
'Rosso Vendetta.' Her real name was Ishiyama Iwako.
The woman who had earned infamy as a mass murderer in the future of a parallel world—was already right on our doorstep.
The needle of history may have begun moving differently long ago.