On one side was a young esper wielding an ice spear. On the other side was an aged martial artist brandishing his bare fists. Even though the two of them were different in every aspect, they understood each other without the need for too many words. Standing back-to-back, the two of them lowered their stances at the same instant, with their breathing in perfect sync. Even though this was a sight that I had expected, a sight that was of my own design, it still made my chest swell with emotion.
Isn’t this kind of scene just the best?
“One.”
“Two.”
““Three!””
World Shadows and humans leapt at each other. At the exact same time, Detective Kumano’s fist and Shouta-kun’s supernatural ice spear pulverized the core of their respective opponents. The World Shadows splattered all over, having been reverted to mere water and tiny stone fragments. Detective Kumano and Shouta-kun kept their guard up, vigilantly confirming that there was no more regenerating or a third new enemy before finally relaxing.
“So these monsters were made of water. Are these World Shadows related to the Super Water Spheres in any way?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and getting back to the previous topic, give me back my chocolate cigarettes and lighter. I’ll say this again, but they’re just snacks. Take a close look at the ingredient list.”
“......Well, I’ll be. What a misleading package this is. Here you go. Sorry about that.”
After the shared experience of supporting each other and fighting together, a sense of camaraderie had indeed blossomed between the two of them, exactly according to plan. The two of them talked it out and, based on Shouta-kun’s suggestion, started heading for Ama-no-Iwato instead of the police station.
Thankfully, the worst case scenario had been averted. However, what with all the different developments, the whole scene had lasted longer than 20 minutes. Although Detective Yasui never did barge in, I was curious what had become of him. So I sent my telekinesis over his way, just in time to see Baba stop her pretend crying, look into the distance and cry “It’s Mommy!!!” and happily dash off. Detective Yasui let her go, looking at her receding figure with an exhausted sigh escaping his lips.
Clearly, everything had gone according to plan on this side. Baba had very sharp hearing, so she must have read the situation by listening for the sounds of battle and footsteps and voices.
Kaburagi-san said that she would cut short her marriage interview and return to Ama-no-Iwato to take on the role of explaining everything to Detective Kumano, but I turned her down. This time, I had already interrupted the marriage interview to ask for her help in preventing Shouta-kun from getting arrested. Even though she reassured me that it was fine because she had no intention of saying “yes” to this marriage partner from the very start, I did not want to be overly reliant on her good will. Of course, if she ever felt like publicly announcing her availability, there would surely be a whole tsunami of suitors rushing to her doorstep. As such, it would be easy to feel like letting one or two interviews go wouldn’t be such a big deal. However, was that truly the case? What if the partner from that first or second interview was supposed to be her fated one? What if she put marriage on the back burner, thinking that she could get to it whenever she wanted, and end up exceeding her marriageable age while being occupied with the secret organization?
The Fifth Precept of Amaterasu, “Members are to live both an ordinary and an extraordinary life!” must not be forgotten. What value is there in an extraordinary life gained by abandoning one’s ordinary life? When one becomes too steeped in the extraordinary and gets overly familiar with it, then that extraordinary would eventually become the new ordinary. For that reason, it was codified as one of our sacred precepts. It was undeniable that playing at the secret organization was unimaginably fun. However, sacrificing the ordinary for its sake would be a terrible mistake. Having made Kaburagi-san get up from her interview was already bad enough. Letting her completely blow it off would be the worst possible thing to do.
When I explained everything that I was thinking, Kaburagi-san expressed her understanding. She then promised me that she would apologize to her interview partner for the interruption and turn down this offer through the proper channels so as to not cause her parents—who had arranged for this interview—or this partner to lose face.
Mhmm. That’s good then. And I might as well take this opportunity to deepen my own relationship with the wonderfully stoic and refined Kuma-san. Honestly, I was feeling a bit lonely due to my reticent character preventing me from getting particularly close with our current members.
After a short wait, Shouta-kun eventually reached Ama-no-Iwato with Detective Kumano in tow. Upon Shouta-kun’s request, I had Ig use her healing superpower to heal Detective Kumano’s frostbite and bruises. Then Shouta-kun frankly shared everything he knew about the World Shadows and Amaterasu with Detective Kumano, after which he exchanged contact info with him and then headed home to make it in time for dinner. Ig looked like she wanted to play with him more, so she went with him to spend the night at his place.
Left alone by himself, Detective Kumano grabbed one of the counter seats in a pensive mood. He shot a quick look at our wall clock, then quietly said, “Bowmore, on the rocks.”
It was already nighttime. In other words, the time for adults.
I nodded wordlessly, then rotated the display behind me with all the empty bottles. The other side indeed looked the same, but all the bottles here were filled. Again, I had bought the metal fixtures and wood panels from the hardware store and built this myself in another proud display of my weekend carpenter skills. As Detective Kumano looked on with an eyebrow raised in half-amusement, I proceeded to make the cup of whisky on the rocks that he had ordered.
First, I took out a chunk of ice made in our ice machine. Then I took out our dedicated ice ball press (a mold made of metal that presses ice into a sphere) and used it in front of Detective Kumano. He grunted in surprise at the sight of the chunk of ice rapidly being pressed into a sphere by the metal parts. Smirk.