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CHAPTER 1 – MULTIPLE STARTING LINES
PART 06
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“…Alright. R.”
“Yes?”
R, who had been lounging in midair all this while, raised her hand in greeting.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“OK, as long as it doesn’t interfere with a story’s ‘resolution’.”
“Alright. Let’s say, for example… Am I currently being dragged into someone’s ‘story’?”
“I wonder if you’re asking about Iris-san.”
“And what about Satsuki? Is she alright?”
“I can’t answer that, but if you’re asking if you had been dragged into Satsuki-san’s ‘story’, then the answer is yes.”
Shit, I knew it.
“So I’ve been dragged into both Satsuki and Iris’ ‘stories’ at the same time?”
“Rekka-san, aren’t you popular, worming your way into all these ‘stories’.”
“Don’t make it sound so bad!”
A childhood friend and an alien girl. Expecting me to rescue them both is just asking too much!
“Well, at least I’m feeling slightly more relieved now, after witnessing that Rekka-san can, afterall, blush and get all flustered around ‘heroines’.”
Oops… Now that I think about it, R must have witnessed me lying on Iris’ lap, and her embracing me.
“Honestly, Rekka-san, I think you overreacted slightly to those situations.”
“Well, I’m sure every guy would have done the same if he was in my position!”
But R only smiled knowingly at my argument.
“Seriously… Anyway, what do you think of Iris?”
“I’m not into yuri.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“I was just joking. What I think about her? Well, I think she’s a straightforward girl who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to voice out her likes and dislikes. You may call her selfish or childish, but I think she is quite innocent too.”
Hmm, R’s impression of Iris more or less matched up with my own.
“Either way, she is quite childish. I can’t yet tell if that’s a good thing or not.”
“Though she obviously doesn’t possess the body of a child.”
“Shut up!”
“Doesn’t the sight of those breasts make you want to rescue her?”
“It’s not like that!”
Just as I was raising my voice, the door slid open to reveal Iris.
“What’s not like what?”
“Oh, it’s nothing!” I hurriedly lied, since it was obvious that Iris could not see R.
“Here. Have some juice.”
The orange-colored drink she passed to me tasted like some sports drink. The liquid flowed down my throat and soon sated my thirst.
“Wow, this tastes really good.”
“Really? That’s great.”
Iris smiled at my honest critique.
I felt like I was really going to fall for her soon.
“What’s wrong??”
“Oh, it’s nothing!”
“You said that just now too.”
Up till yesterday, all the interaction with females I’ve had in my life was limited to Satsuki and mum, so all these encounters were just coming too fast! I’m just not used to this!
As I gulped down the drink in an attempt to hide my red face, Iris latched on to me again. Her breasts pressed up against my back, almost causing me to spit out my juice.
“Hey, are you free?”
“Huh? I guess I am. Erm, could you let go…?”
I twisted my body in a nonchalant manner, trying to escape her grasp, but her hands, which were resting on my shoulders, refused to budge. I wonder if Pheneritans were stronger than Earthlings?
“Then I’ll show you around the spaceship. Rekka’s home planet… Earth, right? Since you don’t have the technology to build spaceships there yet, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the tour.”
“Alright. I get it, now let me go…”
Finally, Iris released me, and I returned the favor by letting her bring me around the spaceship.
It appeared that the only unadorned room was the one with the cockpit chairs from which we came. The rest of the rooms were painted in pink, beige, or other similar pastel colors, filled with machinery which I’d never seen before and lots of girlish furnishings. Seems like alien girls share the same taste as those from Earth.
The last room she brought me to was a tiny one at the back of the spaceship.
“This is?”
“Hmm, I guess it’s like a storage room.”
The door slid open with a swoosh, and we entered the place.
It was like a storage room, with lots of things scattered around.
While most of the items looked so unfamiliar that I had no idea what they were used for, there were several items which caught my interest.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a warp watch, a device that can teleport you through hyperspace.”
“Ooh.”
The device resembled an ordinary watch.
“Would you like to try it on?”
“Can I?”
With Iris’ permission, I slipped on the warp watch. It fastened into place just like how a normal watch would.
Hmm? Could I warp back to Earth with this…?
“Hey, how exactly do you use this warp watch?”
“It’s really simple. You switch it on by pressing that side button, and once the screen lights up, you just need to key in the coordinates of your desired destination.”
“Coordinates?”
“Based on an axis which you construct from your current location.”
……………But I’m horrible at math.
“Since the device is small, you can’t warp to distances more than a few hundred kilometers away. The teleportable mass is also limited to one or two people, and small items you are carrying.”
Which means I couldn’t use it to return to Earth.
I let out a small sigh, before picking up another item which looked like a gun.
“What about this?”
“…It’s a laser gun.”
I knew it. It looked just like something I’d once seen in a sci-fi movie. How cool.
As I fawned over the laser gun, I noticed Iris puffing out her cheeks in annoyance next to me. Have I done something wrong?
“Erm… You look grumpy. What’s wrong?”
“…I hate that thing, because it’s manufactured in Satamonia. It’s really powerful, and if it falls into the hands of savage aliens…”
“Oh, I see.”
Seems like Iris really hates that Satamonian king.
I pitied her for being forced into a marriage with such a man.
But… Compared to the danger Satsuki was currently facing, Iris’ situation didn’t seem as hopeless. I imagine that I’d be too busy dealing with Messiah to even think of sticking my nose into Iris’ business.
“……”
I could feel Satsuki’s mobile phone in my pocket.
I don’t want it to become a memento.
Just as I was about to tell Iris that I wanted to go rescue my childhood friend first, a green flame suddenly started burning in the room.
“Wahh!?”
“Huh?! What is this? Hey, Rekka!”
Iris backed away in shock as she screamed my name.
“W-what is this?”
It looked just like fire, but… it wasn’t hot at all?
The mysterious flame(?) slowly grew and engulfed me, lifting myself and R up into the air.
“R!”
“Oh dear. This looks bad.”
Don’t sound so calm! Can’t you panic together with me!?
Just then, the green flame turned into a white light which flooded the entire room as I was swallowed into a white world.
“Rekka!”
Iris’ voice was the last thing I heard.
Then, with a strange floating feeling, I moved across “something” and entered another dimension.