“So, this is Shibuya, isn’t it?” I sighed.
“Shibuya… What kind of place might that be?” Nahan asked.
“Well, it’s on Earth… I mean, more specifically, we’re right in front of the Tokyu Department Store, about a five-minute walk from Shibuya Station.”
The first question that crossed my mind was whether this was a fake space. Could this be a world created with some mysterious advanced technology, kind of like the scene inside that strange dome we saw last night? But there were no humans in that world. The only living thing there, besides us, was a gigantic floating jellyfish.
Here, there were thousands of people. Surrounding me and Nahan was everyone from office workers in suits to casually dressed teens. And above it all was the familiar yet strangely distant urban environment, filling the air with the sound of car horns and the smell of exhaust fumes. It was all too real, assaulting my eyes, ears, and nose.
“Is this really Japan, for real this time?”
I tried to think through what had happened. The Ghost King, Diasnexus, had touched the keystone beneath the mountain at our school, and right after that, Rushia had tried to regain control of it—but I remembered her screaming that she couldn’t. Apparently, the Demon King had set off for Earth from the point where the school’s mountain had appeared.
“So, were the previous coordinates left behind? Or did Diasnexus do something? Either way, Rushia ended up activating it…” Did the keystone function as a teleportation device, in the end?
“Have I really come back?” I should have been overjoyed to be back in Japan, but instead I was overwhelmed by the question of what to do next.
From behind Nahan came a groaning sound. I turned to see Shiki, stirring awake from where she lay on the ground.
Ah, that makes sense. After all, during that explosion, Nahan was desperately protecting Shiki-san…
“Um, Kazu-kun,” Shiki said as she stood up. She looked around for a moment with her hand on her waist, then sighed much like I had a few moments before. “Can you explain what’s going on here?”
“Well, it’s pretty much like you see,” I replied.
“I see… This is bad.” She grimaced, quickly realizing the problem but completely ignoring the crowd, shaking her head in frustration. “I wonder if Nahan can use his magic to scan our surroundings. If my hunch is correct…”
Just as she said that, an explosion sounded from a short distance away. We exchanged glances.
“Let’s go check it out. Shiki-san, you stay here and wait…”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I won’t let you leave me behind in a place like this,” she said as she quickly climbed on top of Nahan’s shell.
Fair enough; I wouldn’t have wanted to be left in the curious stares of passersby either. I wondered if Arisu and the others were all right.
“Nahan. Cast Fly on everyone,” I instructed.
“Yes, Master,” he responded. Flying would be more efficient than using Wind Walk, which was only as fast as running. With Nahan’s Fly spell, derived from a Deflection Spell, we ascended into the sky, ignoring the exclamations of “They’re flying!” and “It’s magic!” from below.
Now, the explosion had occurred beyond the station, in the direction of Meiji Street—near the famously tall Hikarie skyscraper, from which smoke was rising. Shibuya Hikarie, that’s nearly two hundred meters tall, right?
“Don’t fly too high. We might be spotted by enemies,” I cautioned my familiars.
I glanced at Shiki, who was still atop Nahan’s shell. Good, I thought. That’s probably the safest place right now. Just then, another explosion sounded from beyond Mark City, and another from behind the Tokyu Department Store—where we had just been.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have moved so fast,” Shiki muttered, then shook her head in resignation.
As we flew over the Yamanote Line tracks, we could see several skeletons wreaking havoc on Meiji Street, effortlessly slashing through cars and trucks with their swords.
“So, the opponents you guys were fighting are that strong,” Shiki mused, almost as if speaking to herself. So, Arisu and Tamaki had been clashing with foes like that, huh… Thinking back, the Elite Orcs on the first day felt overwhelmingly strong. The people screaming now were just like us before we’d defeated our first orcs.
“We can’t just leave them here… Let’s take them down,” I decided and gave the order to my familiars. Ideally, I’d want to hit them from a distance with magic, but with the chaotic situation and pedestrians running scared, that seemed ill advised.
“Strass, Penusa, target the undead only,” I instructed. The armored knight and the winged angel descended rapidly toward the rampaging skeletons.
“Shiki, join the party.”
“Ah, yes… We need to discuss our strategy,” she agreed.
Strass and Penusa attacked the monsters like birds of prey from above. For her part, Penusa summoned a whip of flame in her hand. While she was primarily a magic-type familiar, she was also capable of close combat. It was a balance somewhat shifted toward magic, similar to how Sha-Lau was a frontline fighter but could also wield magic.
Just as our familiars were about to crush the skeletons, a white beam shot from the side, piercing through the bodies of the skeletons. They collapsed one after another. That was… Huh? No way.
“White Cannon… right?” A Rank 9 wind spell. One of Mia’s favorites.
I squinted to see a small figure hovering near Bic Camera. She was a girl with azure hair, maybe ten years old, dressed in a spotless white robe. Did that magic just now come from her?
My familiars, witnessing the skeletons being defeated right before their eyes, hovered uncertainly in the air. Ha ha, a bit of a silly situation… wait, no, what’s happening here?
Ah, the girl seemed to have noticed my familiars and appeared a bit flustered.
“Kazu-kun, we should go talk to her,” Shiki suggested.
“Yeah, she doesn’t seem like an enemy,” I agreed.
As we flew down toward her, the girl noticed us and looked up, her green eyes widening.
Then, she broke into a wide smile and waved so vigorously that I worried her hand might come off.
“She seems normal enough, but…” I began.
“Blue hair and green eyes—she’s definitely not from this Earth,” Shiki remarked coolly.
“You’re so calm about this, Shiki-san.”
“After seeing skeletons rampage through the streets of Shibuya, I wouldn’t be surprised if sharks started falling from the sky.”
I kind of wish she would be surprised.
“Papa!” the girl exclaimed, looking at me.
“Uh… what? Wait, hold on.”
“Papa! I finally found you! I’ve been looking for you!”
“Kazu-kun, she’s…” Shiki began.
“Well, I do have one guess… but still.”
We landed near her, and the girl ran up to us, pulling out a browned piece of paper torn from a college notebook.
“Look, Papa! Mama said if I go to Earth, I absolutely must bring this back!”
When I looked at the notebook fragment, I saw it was written in Japanese, in neat characters, probably with a mechanical pencil.
“Hey Papa, tell me! Kayla needs to go to Akihabara to buy an eroge, right?”