Meanwhile, however, the visitors from the other world and Hatsumi had been stunned into silence. They were all gawking at Suimei with befuddled looks on their faces.
“Hmm? What’s up?”
Unsure why everyone was suddenly staring at him, Suimei quizzically cocked his head to the side. A bewildered Felmenia spoke up on behalf of the group.
“Um, Suimei-dono, the seven-year-old you mentioned just now...”
Looking at all the confused girls in turn, it suddenly dawned on Suimei.
“Oh, come to think of it, we never told you, huh?”
“Hey, Suimei... Have you been keeping quiet about something extremely important again?”
“Er, well... It’s just that it’s only been seven years since Mary was created.”
Suimei plainly confessed the truth, feeling a little bad about forgetting to mention it sooner. What he said, however, left Lefille reeling in shock. She looked at him in simple disbelief.
“That can’t be. I mean, she’s far too tall and smart for that to be the case.”
“As I’ve been saying... that’s ’cause she’s a homunculus. They grow differently from normal humans.”
“I-Is that so...?”
Lefille’s head was still spinning, but Liliana’s lone eye shot wide open.
“Hydemary... is that... true?”
“Mhm. I’m seven.”
When Hydemary answered with an affirmative nod, Liliana froze. She stared up at the girl that she’d believed to be older than her in absolute silence. It seemed her brain was struggling to get a handle on the situation, but that was perfectly understandable. Hydemary had turned out to be half her age, after all. In absolute bafflement, she began mumbling to herself as she counted on her fingers.
But she wasn’t alone in this predicament.
“N-Now that is quite...”
“I-Isn’t this a rather serious development?”
Both Lefille and Felmenia were still equally bewildered. Hatsumi, however, looked to Hydemary with a blank expression.
“I thought we were about the same age...”
“You can just keep thinking of her that way,” Suimei replied on Hydemary’s behalf. “She’s seven years old, but that’s seven homunculus years. They don’t play by human rules. Kinda like how we think of dogs and cats, you know?”
“Stop right there, Suimei-kun,” Hydemary finally interjected. “Is that really what you think of me?”
“I mean, it was the only comparison I could think of.”
Nevertheless, it wasn’t a good analogy. Hydemary was rightfully glaring at him.
“Okay, well, uh... Let’s get going.”
“Hey! Suimei-kun, that’s inexcusable! Hey!”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. So let’s go already. Everyone, get in! We’re leaving.”
“Jeez, you... We’re going to settle this properly later, you hear?”
Hydemary stomped into the magicka circle with enough force that it was almost comical.
And so, shortly after that, Suimei clapped his hands together. As the pleasant sound lingered in the air, the magicka circle began overflowing with manalight.
“Dimensional connect.”
Suimei recited the keywords to activate the spell, and they were whisked away to another world... all without realizing that someone was watching from the shadows.
“Heeheee! I knew I hadn’t seen him for a while, and here he’s stuck his neck into something that looks so very fun! Way! To! Go! Me! You sure know how to have fuuuuuuuun, Suimei-kun! As your number one fan, it’s only right for me to take chase, right?! RIGHT?!”
An insane voice resounded through the Yakagi estate garden.