▽
Ten minutes after we commenced our plan...
Knock, knock, knock!
Something suddenly started rapping on the window, attracting all of our attention.
“So that’s how she got here?”
This was the second floor. She’d probably used some spell to fly over. Or up, as it were. Lea, the closest to the window, got up to open it. A gust of wind blew in, bringing something rather large with it...
“Wah!”
I was tackled by said something, which knocked me backward onto the bed. It had jumped on me. Or, rather, hugged me overenthusiastically. That seemed to be happening a lot today...
Just as I was thinking that, it became apparent who the “something” that had tackled me really was. Indeed, when she dispelled her invisibility magic, I saw Harissa—future Harissa, that is. She was wearing the white robes of a royal sorcerer and looked like a mature version of the Harissa I knew. I had always thought of her as a little sister while we were living together, so seeing her grown-up like this was oddly flustering. I mean, her chest was... Yeah, let’s just say she’d definitely grown.
“Sir Rekka...”
“H-Heya...”
Harissa wrapped her arms around me with tears in her eyes, refusing to let go. Our plan to lure her over had been a simple one: we used Satsuki’s magic to let her know that I was here. We figured she’d come running if she heard the name Rekka Namidare, so it was going to be hard explaining that I wasn’t really her Rekka Namidare. I felt bad. Really, we’d tricked her into coming...
“Um, would you be willing to listen to what we have to say?”
“Of course.”
“Then could you maybe let go of me?”
“...Give me a little longer first.”
About half an hour later...
There weren’t enough chairs to go around, so we all sat in a circle on the floor and explained what had happened to Harissa.
“I see... You’ve been through so much, Sir Rekka of the past.” After hearing our story, Harissa nodded with a doleful expression as she clutched her well-loved staff tightly with both hands. “I understand the position you’re in, and I would happily lend you my power.”
“Really?! Thank you, Harissa!” I nearly shouted, gratefully lowering my head.
“That being the case, allow me to go and receive leave from the king forthwith.”
Harissa immediately stood up to make good on her word. I stood up too to see her off, and it was right about then that something occurred to me.
“Er...”
“Hm? Is something the matter, Sir Rekka?”
“I hope not. It’s just that minister... I don’t even know his name, but he was pretty opposed to us taking you with us. Are you really just free to go as you please?”
When I voiced my worries, Harissa giggled.
“That man is selling our kingdom’s magic technologies to other nations, so he’s actually leaning towards the militant hawks in terms of taking a side on the war.”
“Huh? Doesn’t that make things even worse?”
“It’s fine. The king, in comparison, is a dove. I’m certain he’ll consent if I say I wish to go. And if the king and I are in agreement, then no minister will be able to oppose us,” Harissa answered.
Man, did she ever sound confident and reliable right now. Seeing the little girl I once knew suddenly so grown in the blink of an eye was a rather strange thing.
“...”
Harissa stared at me silently for a moment before sidling over to me.
“You’re the Sir Rekka from when we only just met, right?”
“Hm? Yeah, I am. Well, technically speaking, I’m the Rekka from about half a year after that. What of it?”
“Nothing,” Harissa said, moving her hand held level from the top of her head to me and back. “What do you think? Our height difference has shrunk quite a bit since we first met, hasn’t it?”
“Ah, yeah...”
I’d noticed that the moment she first hugged me. But acknowledging it made Harissa’s lips curl up into a wicked grin for some reason.
“I may have been a little pipsqueak in the past, but look at how mature I’ve become!” she said, twirling on the spot. “So if you’re going to choose a heroine, you should choose one that gets better with age, don’t you think?”
“W-W-Wait! Stop! Hold it right there!” the doctor shouted, interrupting her in a panic. “Don’t go saying things to tempt or sway Rekka!”
“Hmph. I don’t see the problem. It’d be unfair if my past self wasn’t chosen just because I used to be childish.”
“If that’s allowed, then I—”
“No! It’s not allowed! That’s completely off-limits, you hear?!”
“Ngh... I’m at a disadvantage since I haven’t changed much at all.”
“I said off-limits!”
Both Satsuki and Lea were ready to jump into things too, but the doctor wouldn’t hear it. Meanwhile, Harissa was impishly giggling at the chaos.
“Does something seem a little different about Harissa’s personality to you?” I muttered.
“I can tell you exactly what it is—she’s matured into a little devil,” L snarked, crossing her arms.
The ruckus in the room continued for a while before eventually dying down.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Now, I shall head straight to the king. The necessary procedures and formalities may take a day or so to complete, so please wait here for me until I return.”
“All right,” I said with a nod.
After that, Harissa left out the window exactly the way she’d come—invisible and flying.
✦ ✦ ✦
▽
We spent that night in the guest house, and Harissa came by the next day as promised to let us know her negotiations with the king and minister had been mostly successful.
“Unfortunately, however, they will not grant me leave indefinitely. I’ve been given a furlough of three weeks and must return afterward...”
“That’s more than enough time.”
From there we boarded our spacecraft, and Harissa’s colleagues saw us off as we made our exit through the gate back to our world.
“Now that we’ve recruited Lea and Harissa, what’s next?” the doctor asked.
“Hmm... Come to think of it, how strong are the extremists really?”
The abducted heroines were probably being held at their headquarters. My ultimate goal was to rescue them, but I still didn’t know exactly what we were up against. That made it hard to gauge how strong—and how well defended—we needed to be. Based on the group of giant robots that had attacked my hometown, I was guessing the extremists were a pretty serious force to be reckoned with.
“I wonder. You did destroy several of the independent armaments they sent to the past, and their resources should be somewhat depleted after their attack on the agency. I suspect they’re in a somewhat weakened state right now...”
As the doctor began hypothesizing, one of the panels on the ship’s command console started bleeping and flashing.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A message. It’s from... the agency.”
“Bleh.”
“We’ve been charging ahead rather recklessly so far, so I guess we’re finally getting fussed at.”
The doctor’s tone was light and joking enough, but we really had caused some serious commotion back at the agency. Things were still in disarray at HQ, so they’d probably been delayed in getting around to dealing with us, but if the agency decided to take a strict stance with the doctor... Things could get ugly.
“If it’s that bad, you can always tell them I forced you all to act under my orders.”
I was a Namidare and they were heroines. If I said that I’d forced them to listen to me, it should sound convincing enough.
“I was the one who asked you to come to the future in the first place, so I wouldn’t do that to you. Now, let’s see...”
The doctor opened up the message with a laugh, but the smile on her face froze over when she began reading.
“What? What does it say?” I asked in a panic.
But the answer that came back was far more dire than I could’ve imagined...
“The Greater Galactic Federation has declared war on the agency.”