I arrived at the building early the next morning. The passing gods greeted me as cheerfully as always. I only ever really spoke with Sewatari, Nattyan, and Un-sama; everyone else I was just on casual terms with. I occasionally nodded at the woman who gave me tea in the meeting room, and sometimes I’d have a quick chat with Gen, the corrupted god. Some of the gods obviously held me in contempt, but most of them behaved perfectly nicely. So much so that if I hadn’t known better, I would have no idea they were anything more than human.
I usually detoured to the staff room to change into my coveralls, but today I headed straight for the meeting room in my normal clothes. I said good morning to everyone as I passed; their voices were just a little bit different today. Kinder and warmer. Some of them said nothing but gave me a light pat on the shoulder.
I felt like I’d seen people behaving like this in movies before. I was on the verge of remembering the context as I stepped into the meeting room. Sewatari, Nattyan, and the tea lady were already inside.
“I see you made it, young hero.” Sewatari spun around dramatically to greet us, a curtain wrapped around her shoulders like a cloak. The two beside her gave a somewhat forced round of applause.
Why do I suddenly feel like I’m in a cult?
“Hey, at least try to look impressed! You’re gonna hurt my feelings!”
“S-sorry. I just wasn’t expecting this.”
“Sending those two back to the other world is, like, a ceremony of grave importance. We wanted to make sure to get that across.”
I’d seen better performances at my high school culture festivals, but I didn’t tell them that.
“Ahem! Let’s not bother with any further formalities.” Sewatari tossed aside her curtain-cloak and coughed, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “We’ll be sending Carol-chan and Destiny-chan back to the other world now. As long as you’re ready?”
Carol thrust her hand in the air. “I’m ready!” she declared enthusiastically. Destiny, who was sitting on the table, raised a foreleg and tail in response.
“Glad to hear it! Come on, then! We’re going up to the fourth floor.”
“The fourth floor?” I echoed. I thought that floor was restricted.
“That’s right. That’s where the portal is.”
“The portal you all came through?”
“That’s the one.”
So that’s why no one’s allowed up there—there’s a portal connecting Japan to another world!
“Let’s get going. It’ll be quicker to show you than to explain everything down here.”
As we left the meeting room, I felt the gods in the office staring at us, eyes heavy with emotion.
Nattyan put her hands on her hips. “Guys, quit starin’. You’re gonna make us nervous.”
It was only now that I realized what those stares meant.
“Are they worried about us?” I leaned forward to ask Sewatari, who was at the head of the group.
“Uh, well…wait, let me switch into Japanese,” she whispered back into my ear. She must not want Carol to overhear. “It’s normal for stuff to get sent from the other world to Japan through the portal, but this is the first time we’re sending something back.”
They were staring because this was unknown territory. Their gazes were the same as those in movies bidding goodbye to soldiers heading to the battlefield.
“Is there a chance this won’t work?”
“Yes, but I’m confident that it’s minuscule. We tried sending an object across the portal already, and that worked out fine.”
“Have you sent any people across?”
“Well, no. This’ll be the first time!” She winked at me cheekily, but she wasn’t fooling me.
I’d already prepared myself to say goodbye, but that certainty was giving way to anxiety. Wouldn’t it be best to hold off on sending them back if there was any chance of failure? I couldn’t face my villagers again if anything happened to Carol. Although I guess there really was no safe way to experiment on humans. Maybe someone else could go through before Carol?
I didn’t know what to do, and I was running out of time. Before I knew it, we were in the elevator hall on the fourth floor.
It looked exactly like all the other floors, except where they had a glass door leading to an office, this floor had a huge steel gate, so dark it was almost black. It was at least three meters tall and three meters wide, with doorknobs molded to look like the hilts of swords. A pattern resembling a twisted vortex was carved into the doors. The whole effect was incredibly sinister.
“We’re going in.”
Nattyan and the tea lady grabbed a door handle each and slowly opened the gates. I could feel the weight through the vibrations in the floor, the sound of scraping, rusted metal filling the air. Behind the doors was pitch-black darkness. No light penetrated from the hall, like there was some kind of barrier keeping it out. I squinted, but I still couldn’t see anything in there. Just more darkness.
“Spooky, right?” Sewatari scratched the back of her head awkwardly before raising a hand and snapping her fingers. “Let’s make it a little more welcoming.” The area beyond the doors lit up.
Flames appeared, flanking a path past the gate. The space was much larger than I imagined, almost freakishly so. It was easily twice the size of the third-floor office. There was no ceiling—only more darkness. Inside were tall candlesticks, and it was their flames that lit the path, far brighter than regular candle flames should have been able to. That light revealed a floor paved with white marble.
Romanesque pillars stood spaced out at regular intervals, bigger than any I’d ever seen before, and far thicker than I was tall. They melted away into the darkness above our heads.
Sewatari and the others didn’t hesitate. Carol and I exchanged a glance, nodded, and each took a deep breath. Then, we held hands and followed them. Destiny clung to my back, staring ahead solemnly.
“We’re counting on you,” I whispered to Destiny. Its tongue flicked out of its mouth. It winked at me encouragingly and twitched its tail.
At least someone was confident.
We walked along the flame-lit path, and it wasn’t long until the three gods in front of us stopped.
“This is the portal.”
The three of them turned, stepping aside to reveal a large metal pedestal in the center of the path. It looked like a pyramid with the top cut off, pipes of various lengths snaking away from it across the floor. Atop the pedestal was a large circle of…something. A spherical, crystalline vortex. I couldn’t tell what color it was, but it wasn’t transparent either. Maybe a reddish, blueish black with rainbow hues. My brain refused to identify it, even though I was looking right at it. Squinting didn’t help.
I couldn’t stop staring into that abyss. It filled me with terror, yet I couldn’t help but be pulled towards it. I wanted to avert my gaze but also stare at it forever. Conflicting emotions battled in my mind.
A loud clap snapped me out of my trance. I looked up to see Sewatari with her hands together.
“It’s probably a little unhealthy to stare at it for too long,” she said cheerily. “It’s not native to this world.”
I suddenly realized that my nose was inches away from the portal. When did that happen? I took several hurried steps back, trying to swallow through my dry throat.
“All the preparations are complete. If you jump through here, you’ll be back where the village was. Be warned; I can’t tell you how the village is faring right now. That would be against the rules—it would give you an unfair advantage.”
I was aware of that; I’d asked her about it before. That left me in a predicament, however. Suppose they were all dead, the village destroyed. I would be sending Carol back to die alone. I pictured Carol and Destiny standing there in shock, surrounded by the ruins of the village. That image made my chest ache.
Holding Destiny tightly in her arms, Carol took a step toward the portal. Then another. One last step—a big one—and she would be on top of it. I couldn’t help but stretch out a hand toward her tiny, fragile back. I opened my mouth to say something, but all that came out was a ragged breath.
I was pathetic. She was about to undertake a journey into the unknown, and I couldn’t even come up with words of comfort.
Carol stopped just in front of the portal, turned around, and beamed at me like she always did. “Thanks, Yoshio! It was super fun!” Carol waved, and Destiny stared at me from her arms. I clenched my outstretched hand into a fist and turned to look at Sewatari next to me.
“The portal is safe, right? I mean, for humans?”
“I’m confident in the work we’ve done. Still, I can’t give you a guarantee. We’ve never sent a human through it. Gods can’t use it, and it’s not like we could just pick someone up off the street to send them through as a test.”
Right. I figured.
“Can people from this world go through?” I asked.
“No reason why not. Actually, it’d probably be easier for them, since the humans in this world aren’t affected by divine aura, so—Hey!”
I ran forward before she’d even finished her explanation. As I raced past Carol, our eyes met. Hers were round with surprise. I shot her a thumbs-up.
“Me first.”
Smiling wildly, I dove through the portal.