“The Chiyodaku Kingdom is a nation about the size of Japan’s Kanto region. Chiyodaku is also the name of the capital, and that’s where we are right now. It’s all part of the larger continent of this fantasy world!”
“Long ago, we came to possess a type of magic that allowed us to bring back things from Japan. That’s why our world is simply overflowing with Japanese things!”
“Thanks to items from a far more advanced society, our medieval-level world quickly began to prosper! And that’s why we all love Japan so much!”
While in the car, Tsukasa and I listened to the princess’s speech as she read off cue cards.
“Everything is so…Japanese.” I looked out the car window. The roads, the buildings, the transportation… The world was full of Japanese things.
“So you’re admitting to countrywide larceny and fraudulent appropriation of lost articles?” Tsukasa asked.
“The things we bring over stay in their original places in Japan. So there’s zero inconvenience to your homeland! All these things are copies. That’s why we call it the Copy-Paste Spell. Only the royal family is allowed to use it—and that means me in Chiyodaku. We make sure to keep it under control!”
“A spell, huh? So you don’t use swords and stuff often?” I said.
Usually, these kinds of places came with both sword and sorcery elements.
“We use them, but only very rarely! After all, that goes against Japan’s Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law. Yay, compliance!”
I didn’t even know where to start with that one, but I didn’t have a chance to respond anyway. The car was coming to a stop.
“We’re heeere!” the princess announced as we pulled up in front of the huge castle.
“It honestly feels kind of weird that your castle is in this spot,” I remarked.
“The Copy-Paste Spell can only be used in a clear, empty space. According to our scholars of magic, topographical similarity between the two parallel universes allows for the intercession of objects between worlds…or something like that! As long as there is a clear space, we can copy-paste the object through a geographical link. This castle has been here since long ago, taking up space… If we could only clear the land, we’d be able to copy-paste something in its place.”
“I think it looks nice.”
“If you say so, Mr. Akuto, then I’ll appreciate my house as is!”
We followed the princess and her head maid into the palace. Inside was a bizarre space with irregularly placed staircases extending here and there. Almost as though the building had been added to and remodeled countless times.
“This place is full of building code violations,” my sister grumbled.
“Tsukasa, why don’t you lay off the legal talk for a while?” I replied.
It’s slowing down the exposition.
As we walked down the carpeted hallway, I noticed a row of portraits hanging on the wall titled Present and Previous Monarchs covering hundreds of years. The picture labeled Preceding King was the first to be a color photo. The one titled Reigning ☆ Queen was a huge photo-booth-style picture in which the princess was making a heart mark with her fingers.
“Looks like technology advanced pretty suddenly after the last king,” I said.
“My father was an extremely gifted mage! Before him, the Copy-Paste Spell was really only for begging Japan for the things we wanted. Once my father implemented the magic spell circle, we became able to copy-paste entire large-scale areas!”
“And where is your father now?”
“He died from exhaustion.”
“Oh…I’m sorry. It must have been very hard work for him.”
“No, that’s not it. He became addicted things called eroge. I told him, ‘You can only play video games one hour a day!’ but he spent every night with them until he pleasured himself to death!”
“…” I had no comment.
“It’s been one year since I took the throne. I’m actually the queen, but I like to go by princess since I’m still just getting used to the job! Come on, let’s go to my room!”
A magical elevator floated down, and the four of us got in.
We rose until we reached the princess’s room, a comparatively small chamber at the very top of a tower.
It was all pink and fancy. The sort of thing that might belong to a Di*ney princess.
By contrast, a skyline of Japanese buildings was visible outside the window.
“I wanted to wake up every morning and look out at the sun shining over the beautiful Japanese scenery, so I copy-pasted some stuff like Tokyo Station and the Kasumigaseki area!”
The view from her room was an uncanny match for Tokyo’s Chiyoda-ku. Actually, the Supreme Court building where’d been summoned and the surrounding area looked almost indistinguishable.
However, there were also some fantasy elements mixed into the view.
Namely, there were bird people carrying postal delivery bags—and a few dragons flying across the sky.
Between the buildings to the east, I spotted a great field.
“Please, help yourself! It’s made with real copy-paste.”
I hadn’t realized that Shiro, the head maid, had been preparing a meal for us until she brought it.
She set the tray of food on a low table in the middle of the room.
Tsukasa and I sat on cushions on the floor and started eating the rice balls and miso soup on the tray.
“Thank you…,” Tsukasa said. “Mm… This tastes just like homemade.”
“I guess I’ll have some, too…” I tried a bit, slightly cautious. “Oh, it’s delicious.” The copy-pasted food was really no different than the real thing.
“Hey, um. Do you think we might be copies, too?” Tsukasa asked.
Now that she mentions it, that is a possibility.
It was a little scary thinking that I might be a duplicate, like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Seeing my sister’s uneasiness with the idea, I took the initiative to confirm it myself.
“Um, princess… I don’t want to rush things, but could you tell us a little more about the summoning spell you used?”
“Sure thing! The Summoning Spell is a different kind of magic from the Copy-Paste Spell. It brings living things across dimensions from other worlds and can only transport the actual beings themselves!”
“Oh, good.” That was a tremendous relief. However, it gave rise to a second question. “Then why did Tsukasa’s body get younger?”
“As a show of thanks for coming all the way to the Chiyodaku Kingdom, we added a world transfer bonus to the spell! It gives you whatever traits you wish for!”
Oh yeah, Tsukasa did say “I wanna be fifteen again” right before we were summoned. I guess that’s why.
“Tsukasa, it’s great that your wish was granted. Maybe now you can start over as a normal girl.”
“Oh, Akky… You know I’ll always be happy as long as I have you and my trials,” she said with a sniffle.
“Glad to hear that hasn’t changed.”
“Mr. Akuto, what trait were you given?” the princess inquired.
“Hmm… I haven’t noticed anything different.”
Maybe it was that thing that happened right before I got in the car.
I didn’t have any proof yet, so I kept that to myself for now.
“By the way…,” I said. “Will we be able to go back to our world?”
“We haven’t had a successful summoning in some hundred years, so we don’t have any data on that. We drew that spell circle over and over until it finally succeeded, and we’re not really sure why one worked over the others, so…this is all new to us, too. Basically, I have no idea if there is a way back to your world!”
That spell circle on the judge’s bench did look pretty…messy. Okay, so we don’t know if we’ll be able to get back to Japan…