“You know, Language Comprehension really is an unfair skill,” Noboru said.
“Yeah, I guess that’s the one thing we can thank Ehit for,” Akito replied with a nod. Thanks to that skill, everyone was able to speak English at a native level. They were all better than Sachiko-sensei herself at English—and every other language on Earth too. As a result, she was quite nervous every time she came to teach this class, and she ran out the moment class was over.
“I’m starting to think it might really be our fault that the teachers are so reluctant to teach our classes...” Shizuku said with a sad sigh.
“Yeah, we have no trouble reading ancient Japanese either... I feel bad for our classics teacher...” Kaori replied.
“I can see how our weirdness might put them off...” Yuka muttered.
“They’re probably wondering how we got better at languages despite not going to school for a year,” Nana said, looking over at the door Sachiko-sensei had run through.
“It’s hard to pretend like we don’t know, though,” Taeko said, furrowing her brow. Everyone was still struggling to assimilate back to everyday life in Japan.
Regardless, now that morning classes were over, it was finally time for lunch break. In the past, there had been quite a few students who went to the cafeteria to buy something, but today everyone brought out a lunch box.
There was the sound of someone running down the hall, and a second later, the door slid open and Aiko walked inside.
“I see you’re going to eat lunch with us in the classroom today too, Ai-chan-sensei,” Yuka said.
“Y-Yes, well...I just felt like it, you know...?” Aiko said, not meeting Yuka’s gaze. She’d been coming to the classroom to eat lunch every day since the new semester had started. Yue was used to it by now and she handed her seat over to Aiko and sat down on Hajime’s lap.
Just then Kentarou Nomura said in a slightly panicked voice, “Sh-Shit, I forgot my lunch box...”
He got to his feet, looking like he’d made some fatal blunder that would cost him his life.
“It’s all good, Kentarou, I’ll give you some of my lunch.”
“You’re a lifesaver, Jugo.”
“Oh, you can have some of mine too, Nomura-kun!”
“Thanks, Tsuji... You make your own lunches, don’t you? It looks delicious.”
“He he he, I hope you like it...”
“You can have some of mine too.”
“Wait, you were here, Kousuke?”
“I’ve been here since morning.”
Relieved, Kentarou sat back down in his chair as Jugo, Ayako, and Kousuke all offered to give him some of their lunches.
Meanwhile, Hajime stared at Kousuke in shock.
Even I failed to notice him?!
He turned to Yue and the others, and they all looked similarly shocked. The Abyss Lord’s stealth skills truly were beyond belief. There was a reason not even Ehit’s apostles had been able to spot him, and why even Hajime considered him the class’s ultimate trump card.
Hajime couldn’t believe he’d failed to spot Kousuke until he’d spoken up.
“Come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing you yesterday—”
“I was here. We even talked, Nagumo.”
“What did you do to my memories?” Hajime asked, stunned.
“I can’t believe you forgot. You’re making me cry.”
Kousuke silently started shedding tears. Hajime’s expression froze halfway between surprise and guilt. He considered Kousuke a friend, and the last thing he wanted was to forget that he was talking to him.
“En Doe, you’re wearing the presence-boosting Artifact Hajime gave you, right?” Yue asked.
“It’s Endou, Yue-san. Please don’t make it rhyme with John Doe instead, that’ll just make me feel worse.”
At that, Yue’s expression stiffened as well. She hadn’t meant to mispronounce Endou’s name. In fact, considering how much he’d helped Hajime out in calming things down after their return to Earth, she considered him to be one of her friends as well.
Wait, I can’t even remember his first name now, what’s going on? Yue thought, stunned.
“By the way, every time I try to put the Artifact on it flies off. Sorry, Nagumo.”
“It takes a lot to overcome Hajime-san’s Artifacts. Just what are you doing to them, Abyss Gate?”
“Please use my actual name, Shea-san. I really don’t like that nickname.”
Kousuke’s tone was gentle, but Shea’s expression stiffened up anyway. It seemed he really didn’t like being called Abyss Gate, or Abyss Lord. But really, trying to remember him really was like staring into the Abyss. Neither the god-slaying Demon Lord, the ultimate vampire princess, or the strongest bunny girl had been able to keep track of him.
No wonder even the apostles were scared of him... Hajime thought with a shiver as he looked at his friend. Everyone else had similar expressions on their faces.
“But you know, if you’re going out with Lana-san, Endou-kun, you may as well get used to being called by your nickname. Everyone in her family’s going to be using it for sure.”
“Ngh, you’ve got a point, Shirasaki-san, but...”
Kousuke couldn’t argue against that. Incidentally, Lana Haulia was still able to spot Kousuke easily and had no trouble remembering all of her conversations with him. As she was part of the edge-loving Haulia clan, it was, in fact, a plus that Kousuke had such an edgy nickname, but he still wasn’t able to fully accept it. At the same time, Kaori was correct, so Kousuke just slumped back to his seat with a sigh and immediately became invisible to everyone unless they focused really hard on him.
Everyone, including Hajime, began to wonder if he really was human.
“Ahem, anyway, Nomura, you should still go to the cafeteria. Even if you get a bit of food from everyone, it won’t be enough,” Hajime said in an attempt to change the topic. Besides, he felt bad for Kentarou, who was sadly nibbling on what little food his friends had been able to spare. Also, he was getting tired of his classmates’ refusal to leave the classroom during lunchtime. At first, he’d thought they just didn’t want to be stared at by all the other students, but seeing how deep their reluctance ran, Hajime was beginning to suspect there was more to it.
Hajime stared at Kentarou, who awkwardly looked away and muttered, “I don’t wanna leave your side, Nagumo.”
“D-Don’t say creepy shit like that!”
“W-Wait, it’s not what you think!” Kentarou added hurriedly, shaking his hands in denial.
“It’s just, if we get summoned somewhere again, it’ll be a problem if we’re not all together! I don’t want to be left behind, and I don’t want to be the only one summoned away either! The only safe place during lunchtime is near you, Nagumo!”
Hajime shot Kentarou an exasperated look, but as he gazed around the classroom he noticed that everyone else had the same idea.
“S-Seriously? Wait, is that why you’re always coming here for lunch, Aiko?”
“Ha ha ha...”
Upon closer inspection, Hajime realized everyone had hidden combat Artifacts in their clothes and bags just in case something happened and they needed to fight.
“I can’t believe lunch break has turned into a traumatic event for you guys,” Hajime said, and his classmates all smiled awkwardly. None of them wanted to be away from the Demon Lord during the dreaded witching hour—aka lunchtime.
Hajime shook his head in exasperation and let out a long sigh.
“Don’t worry, guys,” he said finally, and everyone turned to look at him.
To their surprise, Hajime was smiling. It was a reassuring smile too, not a sardonic grin or anything.
“If any of you vanish, I’ll be sure to bring you back.”
Kousuke’s and Atsushi’s eyes widened in surprise, Ryutarou grinned and said, “I’ll be counting on ya!” and the other guys all smiled back at Hajime.
“It’s because you’re always like that that I...” Yuka muttered softly, blushing.
“Nya ha ha ha, even my heart skipped a beat at that!” Nana said with a smile.
“You okay, Yuka? Your face is all red.”
Yuka wasn’t the only one, a few of the other girls in the class were blushing too. Some of them were even so surprised that they’d dropped their chopsticks. One of them even muttered, “Haaah... Haaah... I really want to become his pet now...” and started hyperventilating.
Yue and the other others smiled gently at Hajime. Kaoru and Shizuku were especially happy, since his smile right now was just like the old Hajime’s.
“Well, if you get summoned, Amanogawa, you’re on your own,” Hajime suddenly said, folding his arms and looking away awkwardly.
“Can you stop constantly taking your embarrassment out on me?” Kouki asked, glaring at him. He had a surprisingly good understanding of Hajime at this point. Everyone else chuckled as they watched their exchange.
“Hey, Nagumocchi, do you have any plans for Christmas?” Nana suddenly asked. Christmas was only a week away, and it was the perfect chance for her to set her good friend Yuka up with Hajime. Yuka glared at Nana, knowing exactly what she was planning.
“If you don’t, how about we throw a Christmas party?”
“Sorry, but I’ve got plans.”
Oh, figures. You’ve got Yue-san and the others, after all. But hey, maybe I can still squeeze Yuka into those plans.
Nana turned to Yuka with a grin, and Yuka hurriedly rushed forward and covered Nana’s mouth with her hands.
“Ish a good shansh,” Nana protested hotly, and Taeko started laughing.
Seeing the three of them fool around, Hajime suddenly remembered something and said,
“Oh, also, I’ve finally managed to store up a good amount of mana, so I was thinking of calling Lily over to Japan before Christmas.”
Oh, Princess Liliana’s finally coming?!
Hajime’s classmates’ eyes started glowing with anticipation.
“I’ll probably ask her to stay until after the New Year’s at least, and after that, I’ll be opening up a portal back to Tortus for a bit, so is there anyone who wants to go back to visit?” Hajime asked, turning to his classmates with a smile. They exchanged knowing glances, and Ryutarou decided to give voice to everyone’s answer.
“Sorry, but no one wants to go.”
It wasn’t that they’d come to hate Tortus, but it had only been two months since everyone had come back home. Even if they hadn’t gone through hell back there, no one would want to visit again so soon.
Hajime nodded and said, “Thought so. We finally made it back, so you may as well all enjoy the New Year with your families.”
At the same time, though, Hajime could tell everyone was feeling a little sad that they wouldn’t be able to see him or Yue and the others over winter break. And so, he decided to ease their worries.
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of time until we graduate, and we’ll all be together in the same class until then,” he said in a reassuring voice. “We can take things slow, you know?”
That did, in fact, help assuage everyone’s fears, so they all nodded happily back at him.