The closest station to Hajime’s house was currently experiencing quite a stir. It was a pretty big station with restaurants, convenience stores, and even a bookstore attached to it, so traffic was pretty heavy most days. And right now, everyone at the station was staring over at the ticket booth.
Yue gulped as she looked up.
“Y-You can do it, Yue-oneechan!”
“You’ve got this, Yue. You managed to get your body back from God, so this is nothing!”
Myu and Shea made it sound like she was about to embark on some deadly challenge, but she was just trying to muster the courage to buy a train ticket.
Yue’s expression stiffened as she tightly clutched the money in her hands. She looked up at the station map, then glanced down at the fare prices, then looked at the money in her hand. With how serious her expression was, you’d think she’d be killed for failing this simple task.
Am I...doing this right? Yue thought, glancing back hesitantly at Hajime.
Holy shit, she’s so cuuuuuute! Hajime thought, nodding to himself. At the same time, he was glad he’d decided to start by teaching everyone how to buy tickets.
“Hmm, take a look at this timetable, Remia. I remember reading about this on the internet, but I’m still amazed by how accurate these train locomotives appear to be,” Tio said in a voice filled with awe.
“Yes, indeed. I’ve heard that the schedule is even more complex for the busy stations in the heart of the city. I can’t believe they’re able to maintain such a strict schedule,” Remia said, nodding in admiration.
The people who were at the station were, of course, staring at Yue and the others. They had been since they’d all arrived and Hajime had started teaching them about how to board the train, both because of how rare it was to see someone confused by the concept of boarding a train and because of how beautiful they all were.
“They’ve gotta be foreigners, right? Holy shit, they’re all so hot...”
“Maybe they’re all models? They don’t seem to know how to board a train... I wonder where they’re from...”
“That blonde girl over there...is a real flesh and blood human, right? She’s not a doll, is she?”
Three girls whispered emphatically to each other, their expressions rapt.
Incidentally, Shea was wearing Artifact ear cuffs and Myu and Remia were wearing Artifact earrings to make their nonhuman ears appear human to onlookers. The Artifacts also made Myu’s and Remia’s hair look emerald blonde instead of emerald green so that they didn’t stand out as much as they otherwise would have.
I know I made their effects somewhat weak, but I can’t believe Yue and the others are still attracting this much attention through the presence-hiding Artifacts I gave everyone. Maybe I should make them a bit stronger.
Hajime took mental notes on how much he’d need to modify his Artifacts before their next outing.
If he made the effects too strong, people wouldn’t notice them, period, which would make going out to eat or shopping or other basic tasks rather difficult. Ideally, he’d be able to find a workable middle ground or a way to dynamically adjust how strong the perception-altering effect was. His craftsman’s soul burned passionately as he went through various options in his mind.
Anyway, I guess this means having them all use perception-hiding magic whenever they went outside while I was gone was the right call.
Reporters had been swarming their neighborhood, but thankfully, no one had gotten a good picture of Yue and the others. He’d mostly wanted to keep them hidden so people wouldn’t ask too many questions about their identities, but in retrospect, it had also been a good idea to keep their faces off of the internet to avoid everyone swarming them whenever they went out.
“O-Okay, I can do this!” Yue said, taking a tentative step forward. Shea and Myu folded their arms and watched on with bated breath.
For some reason, all of the onlookers held their breath as they watched as well. A few of them even yelled “Good luck!”
Normally, Yue acted quite mature and therefore seemed like an adult despite her small stature, but right now she looked barely older than Myu. Most of the spectators probably thought she was a kid.
With trembling fingers, Yue put the coins into the small slot at the side of the machine. Then, with utmost concentration, she pressed a button on the screen’s display. After a few seconds, a ticket came out of the slot at the bottom.
Yue carefully slid it into her hands, holding it like it was a fragile glass goblet. Then, she turned to Hajime, her hair fluttering in the wind, and said, “I did it!”
She held the ticket up for him to see, a proud smile on her face.
“That was perfect, Yue-oneechan!” Myu said, clapping.
“Heh, I always had faith in you, Yue-san,” Shea said with an almost parental smile.
Swept up by the atmosphere, the station attendant and all the other onlookers started clapping as well.
Noticing that everyone was staring at her, Yue blushed a little and glanced away. But then, she looked back up at the crowd, lifted the hem of her hoodie, and gave them a small curtsy. After that, she turned back to Hajime with a beaming smile and gave him a peace sign.
That gesture was so cute that all of the men watching clutched their hearts and made a HNNNNNNGH noise. Surprisingly, many of the women also got nosebleeds, and the station attendant started crying tears of joy. Of course, these were the reactions of people who’d had their senses dulled by the perception-altering Artifacts. Hajime, who was witnessing this in its full glory, was completely overcome by emotion.
“Oh, Tio-san! Hajime-san’s soul is leaving his body. We have to hurry up and put it back!” Remia shouted.
“Yue-oneechan’s smile sent daddy to heaven!”
“Oh no! Come back to us, master!”
Tio rushed over to Hajime, her hand glowing as she cast spirit magic on him. She also grabbed at a spot slightly over his head and pushed something back into his mouth.
“Huh?! Whoa, that was close. Thanks for the save, Tio.”
“Anytime, master. I have to say, though, Yue really isn’t showing you any mercy today.”
“Hajime-san, you should steel yourself. Yue-san has been looking forward to today ever since we got to Earth. You’ll be running into many more moments like this one...” Remia said.
“So that’s why Yue’s even cuter than usual... Heh, looks like I’ll need to mentally prepare myself.”
“U-Umm, Hajime? Aren’t you exaggerating a bit too much?” Yue asked, blushing profusely. She started fiddling with the ends of her hair, giving Hajime another cuteness overload.
“Stop it, Yue-oneechan! Daddy’s life points are already at zero!” Myu shouted. As the one who’d spent the most time on the internet, Myu had already started absorbing a lot of popular memes. Her usage of old memes was so cute that Hajime was once again hit with a cuteness bomb. It was incredibly heartwarming to see his daughter becoming an otaku already.
Tio once again used spirit magic on Hajime to keep him tethered to this mortal plane, and this time her hand glowed so brightly that even some of the onlookers noticed.
“Tio, you’re the only one I can rely on now. Please keep my soul safe.”
“O-Of course. I’m not sure you need to be making such a serious expression for a regular date, but understood, master.”
Hajime wiped some sweat off his brow, then urged Shea and the others to purchase their tickets as well.
Upon seeing how casually Hajime was interacting with the girls, the men, and some of the women, started to glare at him with extreme envy evident in their eyes.
Not wanting to start a scene, Hajime hurriedly ushered everyone into the station once they’d bought their tickets. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Yue and the others being surprised by the automatic gates, though.