As soon as I woke up, I was surrounded by jiggly purple things.
These were the Yalda Series—strange creatures that live inside dungeons and love helping adventurers.
These odd, little mascot characters, each about sixteen inches tall, cheered as they gathered around the bed. It was a noisy way to wake up.
They seemed to be having a lot of fun, and before I knew it, I found myself asking them, “What are you all so excited about?” And the jiggly little creatures answered, “Ms. Jupiter has awakened, and we are so, so happy!”
“Right.”
My answer was curt, but not because my heart was calm. In fact, I was feeling so many emotions at once that I wasn’t sure how to respond.
I figured Kyouichirou had asked these weird, little things to take care of me. He probably didn’t want me to feel alone when I woke up.
Kyouichirou is so nice. Haruka is, too. Everyone’s just so nice. They treat me so well even though I only recently joined their party. They practically treat me like family…
“I remind you of your m■■■er? How rude. I’m not that old, I’ll have you know. Considering our age difference, calling me your s■■■er would make more sense. You understand? Your s■■■er. Call me your s■■■er.”
This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this. I’ve got a warm and fuzzy feeling in my chest that I’ve never ever felt before.
Even though he knows I can’t control Keraunos, Kyouichirou didn’t want to get rid of me. Even though a bunch of bad stuff happened, he told me that he wanted me to fight by their side.
Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for being so nice to me. Even though I’m like this.
I really want to see both of them.
I slowly got up, careful not to step on any of the Jigglies, and walked to the door of the room.
My hand was covered in sweat as I reached for the doorknob. What if I open the door and their feelings have changed? What if they think I’m just a useless kid? Then what…?
They wouldn’t. No way.
I felt my chest seize up. Anxiety overtook me. But thanks to the courage the two of them—and the many jiggly creatures they’d sent—had given me, I could turn the knob.
The light was already on in the hallway as I stepped into the living room. The morning sun streamed in through the far window. I could hear the sound of bacon cooking in the kitchen as the smell of butter tickled my nose. And best of all, I found the two of them happily chatting in the kitchen.
No more negativity. I told myself, You’re going to be fine, then I turned to the others and said, “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” they replied in unison.