They made it to the ski resort and asked for shelter. The story they came up with was that the bus had crashed, the two of them had been thrown outside, and they had barely managed to make it out themselves.
The bus had left this world, and a number of the students who had been on it were now dead, so any sort of search effort would turn up a lot of questions, but for now they just needed to get through the present. Yogiri was sure the Institute would handle the rest. They wasted no time worrying about the law when they acted, so they could smooth things over if the situation became difficult.
Naturally, the school trip was canceled, and the Institute sent a car to bring Yogiri and Tomochika home.
“And how exactly are we getting out of this?!” Tomochika exclaimed.
“The ninjas will probably figure something out,” Yogiri answered.
“These ninjas sound incredible!”
As they sat in the back of the car, Yogiri’s phone rang.
“Hellooooo! You guys doing good?” It was Carol.
Assuming Tomochika would want to listen in, Yogiri switched to speakerphone. “You guys made it back too?”
“Almost everyone who was still alive made it back! We’re at the ski resort!”
It seemed they had only been half an hour or so behind Yogiri and Tomochika. Considering the difference in the passage of time between the two worlds, they had apparently made it back almost simultaneously, but there was a bit more of a delay with the god letting them back into Earth.
“‘Almost’?”
“Hanakawa decided to stay on the other side!”
Their homeroom teacher, the bus driver, and the surviving classmates had all made it back.
“What was Hanakawa thinking?!” Tomochika cried.
“Well...if he wanted to stay, I guess they couldn’t force him to leave.”
“Hi, it’s Ninomiya. I’ve made contact with the Institute. They have already started moving to take care of the situation, so no need to worry.”
“That’s good to hear, as long as they don’t erase my memory!” Carol chimed in.
The cover story the Institute decided on was that the bus had fallen from a rural road. A number of the occupants had died in the crash, and since there were no bodies to show, they would provide dummies to take their place.
“Wait, they can erase people’s memories?” Tomochika asked.
“Sounds likely to me,” said Yogiri.
The Institute had plenty of technology the rest of the world didn’t know about. It wouldn’t be strange if they had some sort of drug that erased your memory.
“Sounds like an evil organization to me.”
“Yeah, Asaka said the same thing.”
“Okay, see you guys at school!”
“Are we seriously going to be able to return to school like normal?”
“Back when I was in elementary school, a full bus of us got kidnapped, but we ended up making things work.”
“What kind of life have you had?” Tomochika muttered.
The car ride lasted through the night, getting them home as the sun rose in the morning.
“All right, see you later. I’ll talk to you again once things have calmed down a bit. Since we’re friends now!” Tomochika left first, getting off at her house.
After a bit more driving, Yogiri made it back to his apartment. Waiting out front was the woman who had stood in as a parent for him—Asaka Takatou—and their dog, Nikori.
“I have to say, I have no idea what’s going on here. What happened?!”
Asaka was one of the few people who knew about Yogiri’s true nature. She had likely been told more of the behind-the-scenes details than anyone else, so it made sense that she was extremely confused.
“It’s, uhh, kind of hard to explain. But it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“Really? I’m glad to hear it.” Asaka was used to these kinds of things happening at this point.
“Anyway, I’m back.” Though it seemed a bit late, Yogiri still felt it was appropriate to say it.
Asaka responded with a bright smile. “Welcome home.”
And finally, it truly felt like he had come home.