“I came to this world from my world. But apparently, you can’t go to my world with your physical body. So it’s not like no one can go back, since the spirits, who don’t have physical bodies to begin with, can come and go between worlds as they please.”
“Yes, so I’ve been told,” Rutile agreed, having been given details about Ruri to a certain extent as her guard.
“Right, so when I heard about this from Kotaro and Rin, I asked if they could both go to my home world to tell my mom and the others that I was safe. As a result, my family all came here...” Ruri elaborated, but neither Sango nor Rutile seemed to understand what she was getting at. “My point is why don’t you ask the spirits to tell your family that you’re safe? Being able to go back might be a lost cause, but it would help cheer you up a little, wouldn’t it?”
“Oh...” Sango’s eyes widened in an instant. She leaned forward and latched onto Ruri’s offer. “I’d want to, if possible! I want to tell them I’m okay, at least.”
“In that case, I’ll have the spirits help out,” Ruri said, but just as she was about to proceed, Rin cut into the conversation.
“Wait just a minute.”
“Huh? What’s wrong, Rin?”
“You’re forgetting something important. In your case, Beryl and Riccia were capable of telepathic communication, so it was possible for us to deliver your message. But as far as I know, there were no humans other than your family who could see spirits in your world. How do we tell Sango’s family? Would a human who’s never seen a spirit before believe talk of other worlds and whatnot?”
“Oh...” Ruri stopped moving as if she’d just remembered that fact.
“In that case, it’s hopeless!” Sango yelled, clutching her head as her joy instantly turned into despair.
“No, wait... There should be a way,” Ruri interjected, the gears in her head spinning as fast as possible. She stammered in panic, not a single good idea coming to mind. “Erm... Erm...”
Rutile, her hand on her chin, said, “That ‘cellular telephone’ thing that you showed me once before—does everyone in your world have one?”
“Yes. They’re pretty widespread, so I think the majority of people have one, but...” Ruri trailed off, looking over at Sango.
“Yes, both of my parents do,” Sango replied.
“In that case, why don’t you have a spirit on the other side enter a physical body and have them type out a note using that ‘text message’ feature?” Rutile suggested.
Ruri gasped in realization. “That might be a great idea, Rutile-san!”
It was an idea that was only possible because Ruri had described every single feature of the cell phone to Rutile, who had a great interest in items from her world.
“B-But what would they enter? If they don’t choose wisely, they might actually scare them instead...” Sango replied timidly.
She had a point. Depending on what body they were in, it could be a horror show. “Rin and Kotaro are using the corpses of living beings, but I can’t believe they’ll be able to conveniently find something like that...”
“Oh my, it doesn’t have to be a living being. We can enter inorganic things too. Like a stuffed animal or something like that.”
“Really?” Ruri asked. That was news to her.
“For a powerful spirit, upper-level or higher, that is.”
“Upper-level or higher...” Ruri, Sango, and Rutile uttered as their eyes all moved to Chibi.
“Would a stuffed animal be borderline okay? They might not be that afraid if it’s something cute. How about it?” asked Ruri. “I have a stuffed teddy bear in my room. It’s a cute teddy bear, so it might be good enough. Though it might still be scary, regardless...”
Regardless of how cute the stuffed animal was, it would definitely be creepy if one suddenly started moving on its own, but they had no other choice.
“Want to try it?” Ruri asked.
Sango nodded hesitantly and had Chibi stand in her palm.
“Chibi, can I ask you for a favor?”
Chibi fervently nodded their head.
“Thank you, Chibi!”
“Looks like they’ve agreed, so let’s start by teaching them how to type a message,” said Ruri.
“Okay, let’s do it!” said Sango.
At a later date, Chibi returned home after hearing the message from Sango’s parents.
“How did it go?” Sango asked.
Chibi gestured and explained the situation to her. At first, they had frightened Sango’s parents, and her mother had screamed so loudly that the neighbors had probably heard it, while her father had gone weak in the knees. But as Chibi had proceeded to type into the cell phone in the awkward stuffed animal’s body, typos and all, their curiosity started to triumph over their fear and they had drawn closer to the visitor.
Looking at the message from Sango typed out on the screen, her parents had found themselves in disbelief, but after witnessing a feat as unbelievable as a stuffed animal moving on its own, they’d had to believe the utterly far-fetched story of there being another world, whether they liked it or not.
Her parents had never stopped worrying and looking for Sango, so upon hearing that she was safe, they had breathed sighs of relief. However, they couldn’t hide their shock over not being able to see her again. The option for them to come to this world like Ruri’s family was technically on the table, but Sango had told Chibi in advance not to tell them that—a decision she had made out of consideration for her parents, since they didn’t need to go out of their way to place themselves in an unfamiliar world for her sake. The fact that she was acting tough despite her urge to see them was proof that she had matured.
After telling Sango’s parents that she was safe, Chibi had been given a letter to take back to her. The letter must have detailed their concern, because as Sango read it, she started to bawl. Ruri watched over her warmly, hoping that it would at least help to relieve her depression, even slightly.
The next day, Sango’s eyes were puffy, but her face was somewhat chipper. “Thank you so much, Ruri-sama. I think I can do my best in this world without any regrets now,” she said. It looked like her face had grown a little sharper than usual—a face so confident that it would make you believe that Sango might have a heart stronger than Ruri’s.