“Apparently things have cooled off in her decades away, and now she wants to go home,” Kanako said. “She said she needs my power to do it, though, so I’m not sure what to do...”
“I see,” Yuichi said. “Um, I’m not sure if I can help with this... uh, but if it seems like I can, let me know. Though personally, I don’t know a whole lot about isekais.”
“Okay,” Kanako said. “I’m sorry to tell you about something so strange. I’m going to stay here for a while and think, so you can all go home.”
With Kanako’s permission, Yuichi left.
“An isekai, huh? I wonder what it’s like...” Aiko mused, sounding like she was turning over possibilities in her mind.
“I don’t know. Well, I was worried when she brought up her mother, but I’m glad it wasn’t anything too heavy.”
“What if I were to tell you something heavy?” Natsuki asked.
“Where did that come from?” Yuichi asked.
“It’s about what happened to me before I became like this. May I describe for you, in minute, poetic detail, the tale of a girl whose family was murdered, and who fell into the life of a serial killer?”
“Uh, I really wish you wouldn’t...”
“I see.” Natsuki sounded triumphant for some reason.
“Why are you acting so smug, Takeuchi?”
Yuichi reflected for a moment on the fact that they hadn’t had any proper club meetings for a while. But then he reminded himself that their club meetings had never exactly been proper to begin with.
After club...
Natsuki headed for the station, and Yuichi and Aiko were walking home together.
They had to be careful because of what had happened that morning. They wanted to avoid running into that courtesan lady again. So they went home on a different path from usual, until eventually, they reached the residential district.
Aiko’s house wasn’t far away. But just when he was thinking it was safe, another woman appeared before them, different from the one from this morning.
“Hello. You’re Yuichi Sakaki, aren’t you?”
It was a student from his little sister Yoriko’s middle school. He surmised that much from the fact that she was wearing the same sailor uniform.
“Yeah, who are you? A friend of Yori’s?”
“My name is Akane Otori. And yes, though she’s less my friend and more my rival. There’s something I wanted to ask you about.”
“What is it?” Yuichi asked. If she was a friend of Yoriko’s, it would be hard to turn her down. He decided to hear her out, at least.
“Would you please go out with m—”
Just then, Yoriko came running up to them and blindsided Akane with a punch. Her continued momentum sent them both rolling together to the ground. They rolled all the way to a nearby open lot, and Yoriko straddled her, ready to pound on her.
“Stop!” Yuichi grabbed Yoriko’s fist. He knew she was strong enough to kill her if she tried.
“Oh, Big Brother,” she said. “What is it?”
“That’s my line. What’s going on here?”
“I was thinking of making it so you’d never have to look at Akane’s face again.”
“I know you’re friends, but you should still choose your words better.”
“We are not friends!”
Yuichi put his arms around Yoriko’s waist and lifted her off of Akane. “If not, that goes doubly so.”
Yoriko acted very unsatisfied about being lifted, but she was also smiling happily.
“Let’s ask Akane, then,” Yoriko snapped. “What was all that about?”
“Oh, when I asked him to go out with me, I didn’t mean I wanted him to be my boyfriend. I meant that I wanted him to marry me.”
“That’s even worse!” Yoriko flailed her arms and legs in the air.
“I see. Then the Otori clan is after Yuichi Sakaki, as well.” Yuri Konishi appeared.
“What the heck is it now?” Yuichi exclaimed. One girl after another kept showing up. He was starting to feel dizzy.
“That person is the third daughter of the Otori family. The Otoris are chicken anthromorphs. Avians, you might say. Though in my opinion, they act a bit high and mighty for mere chickens...”
“Oh? What was that you said, peasant?” Akane spat. “Are you after Yuichi, too?”
“I beg your pardon,” Yuri shot back. “I am the closest woman in the world to Yuichi Sakaki! That means I am the closest to becoming heir to the Sumeragi family!”
It sounded like this was the heir-to-the-anthromorph-family-that-controls-Japan battle story. Now that he’d determined that, Yuichi moved quickly.
“Okay, let’s leave the anthromorphs to their business and head home!” Yuichi took Aiko and Yoriko and ran off.
Having finally made it home, Yuichi stomped up to his room and threw himself into bed.
“What is with today?!” It had been one strange story after another, and he was starting to feel incredibly drained.
“Yu!” Mutsuko arrived in Yuichi’s room. She must have gotten home a bit earlier than him.
“What?” Yuichi responded sulkily. He was really tired. He wished she would let him rest.
“I thought it was probably about time I let you know!” Mutsuko declared.
“About what?”
“About the catastrophe.”
“The hell is that?”
“There’s gonna be an ultimate catastrophe that’ll turn the world upside-down! All the training I’ve been giving you has been for that!”
“Huh? What did you say?” Yuichi was starting to wish he could pretend he hadn’t heard her.
“Killing that Evil God means you’ve come pretty far, but you’re not there yet! You need more training to get more power to become the man who can save the world. That’s right! I’ve biased you too much towards speed in the past! You need some muscle training, and weapons training, too! Oh, electronic warfare is gonna be important in the future, too. Of course, I can probably handle that part myself, but you should at least learn the basics! And—”
As usual, she was living in a fantasy world. Yuichi let it all go in one ear and out the other.
It seemed that even after losing Soul Reader, Yuichi’s days of normalcy weren’t going to return. If anything, things had actually gotten even worse.
Well, that’s just who my big sister is. Apparently, he’d just have to keep going along with her.
Letting out a sigh, Yuichi steeled himself for what was to come.