chapter 41

Exposed… no, he’s pretending not to know. I can’t let Shigenobu’s kindness pierce my heart.

Shigenobu: I’m waiting in hopes that you’ll tell me about it someday.” Declaring that, Shigenobu waves at Meguru-san.

…I have to talk to him about this later. But for now, I have to deal with Meguru-san.

Yukinari: “Meguru-san! If you’re mad, I’ll apologize, so calm down a bit!”

She scolds Shigenobu, but without her heart in it. Also, she seems to be glaring at me with eyes full of anger.

Yukinari: “Shigenobu… I’ll be borrowing that room again for a bit.”

Shigenobu: “Sure, keep it down though.”

I go back into the other room of Shigenobu’s workshop and beckon to Meguru-san inside.

Yukinari: “Meguru-san, around when did you start noticing something unusual or strange today?”

Meguru: “Today, I was looking for you, Yukinari-kun, but I couldn’t find you anywhere so I asked everyone else. They all said, ‘Who’s that?’ I didn’t believe what they were saying, so I kept searching.”

I can vividly imagine that scene, Meguru-san going around questioning everyone.

Meguru: “…Huh? When I think back, there were times when you weren’t there… why did the me of that time think you were there? I kept thinking that as I searched!”

Yukinari: “What about Taniizumi and the others?”

Meguru: “Sakaeda-kun and Hagisawa-kun were the only ones I check with multiple times! Just in case, I asked other people as well, but… it felt like I had gotten lost in a similar yet different world.”

Isn’t this really dangerous? Looking at it optimistically, it’ll probably be corrected to where Meguru-san was just looking for me… but I should be careful just in case.

Meguru: “That was today?”

Yukinari: “Yeah.”

Until now, Meguru-san wasn’t aware of the forced corrections that occur when I return to Japan. But, for some reason… well, it’s probably because of the expansion ability she learned early in the morning. The other world transfer might have given her a resistance to the forced corrections. Transferring to other worlds without any resistances will result in memory loss of that world. Although this is my first time thinking about it, but my own ability probably includes that resistance. That’s probably why Meguru-san noticed that I wasn’t there.

Meguru: “Explain what this is about.”

This is… yeah. Probably better to confess honestly. Even if she ends up hating me.

Yukinari: “Well, showing you will be better than explain. I’ll go do a certain something and come back in five minutes, so Meguru-san should try asking Shigenobu about me.”

Meguru: “Understood.”

I activate my ability to transfer to my room.

Yukinari: “First I’ll transfer myself. You haven’t heard I can do this before, right?”

Meguru: “Eh? Yeah…”

Yukinari: “Apparently, I can only transfer myself with this, after five minutes pass… wait a bit.”

Meguru: “…”

The hourglass finishes, and I’m transferred to Japan. Then, I confirm Meguru-san’s movements with visual transfer. She goes to ask Shigenobu just as I requested. She speaks with him a little before returning to the room. During this time, I invoke my ability in preparation and transfer in front of Meguru-san.

Meguru: “Just like before, Shigenobu-kun said he doesn’t know Yukinari-kun. Is this a prank?”

Yukinari: “It isn’t.”

Meguru: “And Yukinari-kun, didn’t you say that you couldn’t transfer living things?”

Yukinari: “Yeah. I’m still unable to transfer living things other than myself.”

Meguru-san tilts her head in confusion.

Meguru: “…I see. If we talk here, others might hear us, and Yukinari-kun also wants to talk properly right?”

Yukinari: “Yeah.”

Meguru: “Well… I’ll transfer us to the spring, so come with me.”

I follow Meguru-san’s instructions and move into the light to transfer.

The spring exudes the color of the night, and from it drifts firefly-like lights. I gaze intently at Meguru-san who stands that illusionary spectacle behind her.

Honest speaking, it’s selfish, but I’m kind of happy that someone can tell when I’m gone. There are times when I think about it. Both in Japan and the other world… I’m basically like a mirage, an unnatural existence.

Meguru: “So? To where did Yukinari-kun transfer to?”

Yukinari: “…Japan.”

Meguru: “Japan… eh?”

Meguru-san’s eyes open wide.

Yukinari: “How surprising… I never thought that I’d be found out by Meguru-san…”

Really… getting caught so suddenly. What’s more, by Meguru-san… thinking about it, isn’t it fitting? Her ability has always been described as a better version of mine. The potential she would manifesting a similar ability to mine has always been high.

Yukinari: “Right… the leeway I’ve been showing, my sharing food with everyone, it was all because I was the only one with the ability to return to Japan.”

If it were me, I’d scorn myself for it. If Meguru-san reveals this to everyone, there’s nothing I can do about it. I was able to share food such as sweets with the others at first because of the leeway I had. If I hadn’t been able to go home and were treated coldly, I’m sure I would have become sulky and irresponsible. I might have taken Meguru-san’s kindness as sarcasm. Still, I think Meguru-san has the right to condemn me.

Yukinari: “Thus, I know about what is happening in Japan. I believe that is your next question, right?”

Meguru: “What… is happening?”

I ask Meguru-san if she’ll believe what I say. If she says something like, ‘What kind of joke is this?’ my reply will change.

…Meguru-san is a good person after all.

Yukinari: “Going back to when Meguru-san was searching for me… I think you can come up with a rough idea?”

Meguru: “No way… so everyone in this class doesn’t exist.”

Meguru-san’s face pales. I nod silently.

Yukinari: “Just like how everyone acted like I never existed, over there it’s as if this class… never existed at all. I don’t really know what this phenomenon is.”

Meguru: “Something like that… so you’re saying there wasn’t any uproar?”

Yukinari: “…Yeah. Of course, I tried explaining to my parents and the school. But no one believed what I said.”

A class with just me. As if to force what that meant upon me, when I told the truth to the teachers, they were convinced that I was in a class by myself and didn’t take me seriously. If I can’t rely on my parents or the school, who can I rely on? The internet? That’s even more unbelievable, and experts wouldn’t have any idea about it. Above all, there’s the possibility that they would react the same way as my parents and the school did.

Of course, I checked the passbooks, so there’s no doubt about it. The bank accounts of Hagisawa and Shigenobu, along with Meguru-san and Minori-san, were replaced with their parents. However, they didn’t remember making those accounts at all. I didn’t have the courage to try using those cards to withdraw the contents.

Yukinari: “What if I take a class picture or something? If I transfer to Japan, I think I’d disappear from the photo.”

Meguru-san covers her ears and shakes her head.

Meguru: “Please… I understand so stop.”

Yukinari: “Sorry…”

I soothe Meguru-san until she calms down.

…I am the reason she’s like this, so I think it’s a bit shameless of me.

Yukinari: “I can travel between Japan and the other world. Maybe this is the essence of my ability. I wanted to do something with that power, but from how I got hit on the first day, I wondered what would happen if I told everyone that I’m the only one able to return to Japan… it was scary so I chose to remain silent.”

Once Meguru-san calmed down, I continued talking to her.

Yukinari: “Afterwards, as you know, I gave sweets that could secretly be eaten in a single bite to those kids who were discriminated against for not having combat-oriented abilities.”

Really, even though I told everyone it’s a secret, how did Meguru-san find out? I don’t think they would expose something that benefits them… I didn’t tell anyone who would expose me, and it was always in cases where I was giving them my food. If it was anything other than sweets, it’d be unnatural. I also used Shigenobu to circulate food.

Cheat sheet

Yukinari Hanebashi:

1) Teleport objects /Self to Earth

2) Point/yen conversion. (Tells others it’s a shopping catalogue)

3) Remote viewing

4) Bestowal transfer

boxing gloves, strawberry wallaby medal, kangaroo knight medal

Kangaroo Punching Glove +10 | Effect : Dynamic Vision Up | Wind Punch | Wild Sense | Instant Expansion Ability : Kangaroo Step | Boxer

Meguru Hiyama:

1) Teleportation

2) Clairvoyance

3) Material transfer (uses pillars of light)

4) Transfer to the other world

Metal turtle sword

Minori Himeno: Has a polite/formal way of speaking

1) Healing/recover mana

2) Charge with mana

3) Repair (doesn’t fix missing pieces/chips)

4) Item box

Crowbar??

Kitchen knife (item box?)

Shigenbou Sakaede

1) Black Smith

2) Mining Correction

3) Equipment Strengthening

Hammer??

Dai Hagisawa

1) Craft things

2) Identify

3) Trade

Hammer??