h.e.l.lo Everyone, Fraiziar here.
Sorry for being inactive for so long, I"ve been overworking myself with a ton of different things, and unfortunately things like college midterms and personal promises come before translating a web novel for strangers on the internet. This was a short chapter, so I was able to do this whole thing in one night. I"ll try to release the next chapter in less time it took for this one. I should probably sleep.....
Also, I"m going to start using Skinhead as a proper name, so it"s no longer "a skinhead" or "the skinhead", it"s just "Skinhead".
Chapter 16: Repatriation
(Author"s Note: I had thought that I would continue this story the next day. Occasionally I might try to make two postings at the same time. This third piece is the Epilogue of the Trilogy. I"ve updated the activity report, I wrote a future schedule among other things, so please take a look.)
----Arakawa Miki"s Perspective----
It"s been two days since the accident that resulted in Kouki"s disappearance.
I"ve come to the still-closed research block in the『Spatial Particle Research Facility』.
「Kouki, where did you go?」(Miki)
Who knows how many times I"ve repeated that question.....
When I contacted Shuuichi-san, he replied with the encouraging words
『He"s an intelligent and resilient kid, he"ll definitely come back』,
but he still shared the same dark expression that I had.
Just like everyone else, Kouki"s friends have all become extremely depressed.
Especially that girl named Alice, who seemed even more shocked than even me, Kouki"s mother.
Apparently she fainted upon hearing the news.
「Everyone is worried you know? Hurry up and come home.」(Miki)
I say that while facing the s.p.a.ce that was scooped away in the tragedy.
This is no good, if I stay here I"ll just feel depressed.
Just when I was about to leave, The converter began to whirr up just like the reaction from before.
The s.p.a.ce distorted with the pale lights.
And, just as the lights were at their peak,
Kouki stood right before my eyes.
Moreover, he was wearing some western-style armor that I had never seen before,
and in his hands he held some sort of silver shining cloth and a specimen of b.u.t.terfly that I had never seen before.
And after confirming who I was, and after thinking about the current state of affairs before him, he tilted his head and spoke.
「Ah, Mom. I"m home」(Kouki)
He greeted me as if he had just come home from school.
I wrapped my arms around Kouki while crying.......
My son that I thought I might never see again came home.
Am I holding him with too much strength I wonder?
「Ow! Mom let go it hurts!」(Kouki)
He said while showing a displeased expression.
I asked him about where he had been for the last two days, and he started saying some outrageous things.
In summary:
『The point at which I happened to appeared at was the castle of the Demon King of another world, which was destroyed upon my arrival. 』
『I was invited as a state guest to meet the king of the country that was fighting the demon king.』
『When the sent me back using their magic, I brought along some souvenirs.』
He explained to me with a smile.
Geez, I"m amazed by the creativity of this kid.
It"s like he was the 『Savior from a fairytale』or something, I laughed.
「Yeah, for some reason they were calling me their savior or something. They had it completely wrong so I was rather embarra.s.sed」(Kouki)
As he said this he smiled again.
And he explained to us about the items he brought with him along with the pictures he took in the other world......
Even then I was still in disbelief.
He brought back the Armor of the Imperial Order of the Akroid Empire, dragon scales, a specimen of the otherworldly b.u.t.terfly,
information on the existence of『Demons』, and the Silver Wolf"s Lap robe.
I asked if I could use them for research, but,
「Impossible, They are souvenirs after all. Mom can only have the scales.」(Kouki)
Kouki handed only the scales over to me, and the rest were handed over to the skinheads who stood nearby.
I sorta.....No, I really wanted the other items, but for now I"ll just quickly contact Shuichi-san about the wonderful news of Kouki"s safe return.
That reminds me, There"s no way Kouki would know, but I forgot about the approximately 6 million troops currently searching around the world for Kouki.
Thinking about how I will deal with the major countries, I sigh.
----Arakawa Kouki"s Perspective----
「Today I"ll be meeting everyone again after all this time huh?」(Kouki)
Because of that, I was in a great mood.
I brought a lot of souvenirs from the other world, and I took a ton of pictures so there"s plenty for us to talk about.
Yesterday evening I sent them a mail so they ought to be be coming here soon, but I wonder if I should prepare something to eat?
As I thought that, Skinhead came inside with a knock.
Did something else happen!?
And though I readied myself, it seems it"s different.
Since it seems there was something he wanted to say, I urged him to continue.
「Kouki-kun, I sincerely apologize for the incident that occurred」(Skinhead)
And he suddenly performed a Dogeza.
As I listen to Skinhead, I learned that at the time of the incident he was off on another a.s.signment.
Well in that case it can"t be helped........
is not something I can say, he"s making it way to hard for me to say it now.
Laughing, I reply
「There"s no need for you to worry about it, but please be sure to help me next time I"m in a pinch.」(Kouki)
Saying that, I tried my best to avoid hurting the skinhead as I expressed my intention to forgive him,
but he proceeded to repeatedly say 『I"m sorry』as he left the room.
To be frank, since he"s the person who drives me to school there"s no need for him to worry.
Even though there"s no need for him to worry so much about it, he sure is a loyal person.
As I thought that, it seems that everyone had arrived to my house.
「FUHII!! Arakawa-kun, We were worried you know!」(Saitou-kun)
Saitou-kun, entering my room, gave me a big hug.
Stop it!
Instead of some guy, I"d much rather be hugged by Alice-chan.
While thinking that I looked and saw Alice-chan looking towards me and crying.....
c.r.a.p, If the fact I made a girl cry leaks out to mom, I won"t be sent to another world this time, I"ll be sent into stellar orbit.
Reacting to my terrible fear, I decided to show them the souvenirs as soon as possible.
For Saitou-kun the suit of armor, For Alice-chan the b.u.t.terfly, and for Aikawa-san the Lap Robe.
Saitou-kun immediately tried on the armor and was crushed by its weight,
Aikawa-san seemed interested in the material that seemed to emit light, but Alice-chan stood stock-still while looking at the b.u.t.terfly.
Feeling anxious, I ask her
「Do you not like it very much?」(Kouki)
「Eh!? Wait that"s not it, It"s different.」(Alice-chan)
Even though she quickly replied, It seems there"s something she wants to say.
Suddenly, she turned towards me and spoke with determination.
「A-Arakawa-kun」(Alice-chan)
「Eh, what?」(Kouki)
「I love you Arakawa-kun」(Alice-chan) (Fraiziar: *fistpump* woot woot)
Eh?
Aahh!?
It"s here! It actually came!!
I"m not quite sure when the flag was triggered, but I was just confessed to by Alice-chan!
Her expression becoming that of desperation, I frantically held myself back as I looked towards Alice-chan.
「When Arakawa-kun disappeared for the first time, I finally realized how important you are to me. That"s why, please go out with me!」(Alice-chan)
Shyaaaaaa!
With this my happy school life finally begins.
As I worried over my reply, Aikawa-san glared at me with an expression that could kill as if saying
『You"ll go out with her of course, right? In this situation, there"s no way you"d turn her down, right? OI?』
Eventually, I carefully reply.
「If" I"m good enough..」(Kouki)
I felt like I was unable to give an unfavorable reply.
Surrounding me, they were getting excited saying things like 『Isn"t that great, Alice-chan』.
Ah, I guess it"s because they had all known before hand about the confession.....
I mean, Even Saitou-kun didn"t go 『Fuhi!?』 in surprise, It follows the pattern perfectly in which only the person involved doesn"t know.
But that"s fine!
I don"t mind at all, I think Alice-chan is super cute after all.
While I was floating around in my head on cloud nine, Alice-chan pulled on my clothes.
「By the way Kouki-kun, who is that person on the terminal?」(Alice)
I tell her that she was the princess of the country in the other world that I was in.
「Fu~n, I see. She sure is cute huh, Fu~n」(Alice)
She said, looking at me with her eyes held still.....
Could it be that she"s having a huge misunderstanding?
May 22nd, 2102. The previously vanished 『Arakawa Kouki』managed to survive on his own.
Furthermore, although it"s categorized as confidential information by each and every country,
『Arakawa Kouki』seems to have traveled to a 『Different world』based on the theory that he had constructed himself previously, and returned.
(Author"s Note: Other than this, I couldn"t think of any other way to ship Alice-chan and the protagonist together.
[製作中の1コマ]
Friend: Why did you choose to call it a Lap Robe? Isn"t it that fluffy thing that women put on their neck that feels good?
Me: I didn"t know the name of the fluffy thing, and I couldn"t figure it out even after investigating.
Apparently it seems to be something called a "fur collar"
Thank you for the comments).