VOLUME 1
Chapter 1-7
Relying on the bustling of the crowd, the two of them left the desolated alley and reached the main street about ten minutes later.
With his gaze restlessly wandering around, Subaru was hesitating on whether he ought to call out to someone. Standing beside him, Satella suddenly pulled the sleeve of his s.h.i.+rt.
“Hey, Subaru.”
Subaru looked at her as he was being called, and Satella diverted her gaze towards the street ahead. Then, following her gaze, Subaru realised what the girl saw.
—He had a bad feeling about it.
Satella then spoke with a serious look on her face, confirming his feeling.
“—That girl, don’t you think she got lost?”
Out of all the problems brought to light, the last one suddenly surfaced.
“……Ah—”
Though it was something he understod from his journey with Satella up till now, the young silver haired beauty standing beside Subaru was so gullible. It was to the point that nothing could be done about it.
Though, as if it was some kind of curse, the very person stubbornly refuses to admit it.
Subaru let out a huge sigh.
“Calm down.”
“What do we do if that kid ran off to somewhere else while you’re saying that? We have to hurry and call out to her or else……”
“Well, your kindness is an extreme virtue. Though I, who have been saved by it, have said too much and no longer want to say it any more, do you understand the situation you are in?”
Ahead of them, beside the buildings that sandwiched the street, stood a little girl. She was about ten, give or take, and had lovely brown hair that hung just above the shoulders.
She had a charming face that would spread happiness to all those around her if she smiled. However, the uneasiness in her eyes and expression, which looked like she was about to cry, ruined it.
Satella’s judgment had a nine out of ten chance to be correct.Even so,
“Though I have a part in this, the gap between you and the person who stole from you has done nothing but increase. If we were to waste more time here, it might be because of this that the stolen item gets sold off in which case you might not be able to ever get it back.”
“That’s…….true…….but.”
“Like I said.”
Though it was true that the kid was pitiable, if there’s this many people, it is highly likely that someone else would extend a hand to her. At the same time, they are in the midst of searching for something due to a pressing issue.
No matter how you think about it, the issue that they have is of higher priority than the girl. Even so,
“But that kid, she’s crying now. Isn’t she, Subaru?”
“—“
“It’s fine if you say you can’t stay with me till the end. Thank you for all you have done up till now Subaru. I’ll try to work something out by myself later…… After I do something for that kid.”
Looking at Subaru who kept his mouth shut, Satella seemed to have strengthened her resolve to part ways with Subaru.
From how she spoke, it wasn’t so much that she ran out of patience with the dense Subaru but more of a consideration for him in that she couldn’t afford to drag Subaru along with her selfishness.
With her silver hair swaying, Satella quickened her pace and cut across the street towards the little girl. The girl, who was looking down with a face that looked like she was about to cry, raised her head as she noticed someone suddenly standing in front of her. The color of hope in the little girl’s eyes was probably because she thought the person she was looking for had found her.
“Sorry I’m not the person you are looking for,” said Satella to the little girl as she bent her waist. The little girl opened her eyes in shock. In her eyes was not the feeling of relief, but rather, fear.
Even an onlooker could tell that the little girl’s heart shriveled when she was being called out to by a total stranger.
“I may be too much of a busybody, but where are your parents? Weren’t you together with them?”
It seemed that Satella noticed the fear of the little girl, so she spoke with a voice gentler than before. However, even Satella’s concern did not reach the little girl, who was shaken by the hopelessness of losing sight of her guardian.
“Uhhh, Um, Please don’t cry? This Onee-chan here won’t do anything to you.”
Although she tried to unravel the little girl’s closed heart, it did not yield anything and the little girl just shook her head. Subsequently, large tears starting welling up in her eyes and it looked like it was about to pour—
“What I’ve taken out here is a ‘giza ten’.”
“Eh?”
Exclaimed Satella in a voice that was taken aback by the sudden interruption. Looking up, beside her stood a youngster in a gray jersey.
Subaru smiled wryly at Satella’s reaction, and then he directed it not towards her but to the little girl. The little girl, just like Satella, was shocked by the sudden interruption. Subaru suddenly extended his right hand towards the little girl.
“Well then, I wonder if you can see that there’s a coin on my right hand. You can see it right? Okay, now then, I will squeeze it tightly. With a hard clench of course.”
“Subaru wai…… What are”
“And then, ah how mysterious!”
Completely disregarding Satella’s call, Subaru opened his fist, that was holding onto the giza ten, widely for the two of them to see. The coin that was supposed to be held there had vanished.
“Oh wow, the coin I held had somehow vanished. I wonder where it could be—”
The little girl blinked her eyes and carefully scrutinized Subaru’s right hand. However, no matter how she looked, whether it was his palm or the back of his hand, what she was looking for did not appear.
Looking pleased at the reaction of the little girl, Subaru nodded and this time, he carefully put out his left hand and gently stroked the girl’s brown hair.
“Yes, the hidden coin has been here all along.”
Upon seeing the coin between the fingertips of the left hand he used to stroke her hair, the little girl was filled with awe. Even Satella, who did not understand the trick, had a bewildered look on her face. After bowing elegantly in front of the two of them, Subaru dropped the giza ten he was holding onto the palms of the girl.
“I’ll give this to you as a present. It’s precious so take good care of it.”
Subaru looked over the little girl pleasantly as she held onto the coin pa.s.sed to her as if it was important, nodding her head earnestly. Then, Subaru was poked in the chest from the side.
“Hold on, Subaru……”
“Oh no no, don’t stare at me with those serious eyes of yours. Oh and I kinda admit that the way I spoke just now wasn’t quite right.”
“How did you do that?”
“Oh that? Not the intentions behind my actions, but the method of my sleight of hand?”
Promising to reveal the trick later to Satella, who was extremely fascinated, Subaru once again looked at the little girl. The little girl was gazing upon the ten yen coin curiously. Somehow, the super magic trick seemed to have calmed her uneasiness. She then clearly answered the questions from Subaru, who was bending his waist.
“I see, so you really did stray from your mother. Why, it’s alright, it’s alright. Leave this to the big bro and big sis here. We’ll find your mom in a flash.”
Once again, Subaru reached his hand out to pat the little girl’s head. This time, the little girl timidly held onto his hand. Seeing that, Satella’s eyes widened.
“You seem sooo accustomed to it. Subaru, is your job winning over little kids?”
“If you were to say it without context it’ll hurt my reputation you know! Besides, I’m unemployed.” More correctly, his ident.i.ty would be the more convenient “student”. Reasonably, if one were to think from the fact that he recently hadn’t been going to school, it would also be rather strange. Being summoned to another world like this, he thought it would be expected that his right to be called a student had been taken away from him.
It’s just that, above all things,
“Why don’t you take the hand of the lonely looking little girl, Onee-san?” said Subaru smugly as he winked.
The little girl took her hand that was opposite the one that was joined to Subaru’s and stuck it out to Satella. For a moment, Satella had a surprised look on her face and became breathless, but she immediately held onto the small palm with a small sigh.
“Yes, leave it to Onee- chan We’ll surely find your mother for you.”
Smiling, the two of them led the little girl, who was silently nodding, by her hands and began to walk. The three of them were walking with the little girl in the middle. Like that, they slipped into the crowd of the main street and pressed forward.
“Doing this, don’t you feel that from an outsider’s point of view, we look like a young couple with a child? Don’t be embarra.s.sed!”
“……? No matter how you see it, I think that Subaru and the little girl will only look like siblings……”
“I can’t tell whether that is a dry opinion or an honest one.”
In the midst of the conversation, the little girl, whose both hands are joined with them, cracked a small smile.