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“It’s been a week since Tengu City...”
I looked out the window at the giant city built atop the crater. Tengu City. I’d stayed there for a while as an exchange student before returning to Korea last week, and now, exactly a week after getting back, I was here again.
“Man. They didn’t believe me when I said it, but the moment I actually go, they believe me...”
I’d told them several times that I was immigrating to Japan, but my friends just laughed it off as a joke and told me not to make things up. But once I actually left, they were all like, “It was real?!” and got seriously shocked.
There was a bit of a commotion at first, but in the end it wrapped up warmly, with everyone seeing me off at the airport and exchanging goodbyes.
“...Well. Since I’ve got dual citizenship, I can always go back to Korea whenever I want.”
Watching the plane land at the airport, I muttered to myself. I was now a dual citizen of both Korea and Japan. I never thought I’d actually become one of those dual citizens I’d only seen online, but now that it had happened, it felt strangely unreal.
Even if I hadn’t had dual citizenship, Korea was right next door, so I could just fly over and see my friends again. And even if I couldn’t take a plane, getting caught as an illegal immigrant would be a pain, sure, but I could always just use teleportation.
Though I had no idea whether I could even teleport all the way to Korea like this. If I got a lot more skilled, I felt like I could probably reach the other side of the planet, but in my current state, it was still pretty shaky...
“Hmm, raining again today.”
Looking at the downpour coming down like a sudden shower, I muttered that to myself. For some reason, I’d been seeing a lot of rain lately. The weather forecast in Japan had said it’d be clear today, too. Huh. It’s spring right now, so it shouldn’t even be rainy season. Weird. Did someone actually punch a hole in the sky?
“...For now, I should rest a bit.”
After muttering to myself, I sat down on a nearby bench and stretched. I took my phone out of my pocket and opened my contacts. I tapped Ratatoskr in my contacts and sent them a message. Before I left Korea by plane, Ratatoskr had said they’d send someone to guide me, so I should message them once I arrived at the airport.
I’d just sent the message, so it would probably take a while before someone came. Since I’d be bored just standing around until then, and I was hungry anyway, maybe I should grab a meal at a restaurant?
“Is there a restaurant that serves snail dishes?”
Ever since I met Yoshino, I’d become weirdly obsessed with snail dishes. I didn’t even know why. I just suddenly wanted to eat them. Up until then, I’d never eaten snail dishes before, but when the thought of eating them suddenly came to me, I couldn’t help thinking, “Have I lost my mind?”
Still, even aside from that, the snail dish I’d eaten at a nearby French restaurant had been pretty good. It tasted like eating butter-grilled sea snails, and it was a pretty unique treat.
“Um, excuse me... are you perhaps Kang Haneul from Korea?”
“...Huh? Yes?”
Startled by the voice coming from behind me, I turned around.
A beautiful woman with long black hair and one eye covered was standing there. I’d seen her before on Fraxinus’s bridge. So this must be the person Ratatoskr sent?
“You’re from Ratatoskr, right?”
As soon as I asked, the beauty nodded and said yes.
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing─────────.
“...Huh?”
And not long after she arrived, the Spacequake alarm was already blaring.
○○○
“It’s still amazing to be back on Fraxinus. Can I work here too, by any chance?”
“Um... well, I wonder?”
Following the woman who introduced herself as Shizaki Hinako, I walked down the corridors of the aerial ship Fraxinus. This was my second time on Fraxinus. Originally, I was supposed to receive a simple briefing at the hotel where I’d be staying for a while, but thanks to the sudden Spacequake alarm, I ended up coming here without really thinking about it.
“Ah, you can go in this way.”
Shizaki-san, who had been guiding me, pointed to a door with an electronic panel and spoke. As I approached, the panel made a sound and the door opened automatically. Passing through the open door, I found myself looking at Fraxinus’s bridge, which I’d visited once before.
“H-hey?! W-wait! Haneul, is that you?!”
“Yo, long time no see, Shido!”
The first thing to greet me as I entered the bridge was Shido’s voice, shouting in shock. I waved casually and said hello, and Shido panicked and called for Kotori.
“Kotori! Why is Haneul here?! Haneul is supposed to be in Korea—”
Shido, startled out of his wits, asked loudly, but Kotori’s only reply was to tell him to shut up because he was being noisy.
“First, good work, Shizaki. And you’re Kang Haneul, right? This is the second time we’ve met on Fraxinus, isn’t it?”
Looking up toward the source of the voice, I found Itsuka Kotori wearing the same crimson coat as before.
When I answered that it had been a while, Kotori took a candy out of her coat pocket.
“It’s been a while—though this isn’t exactly a great situation for greetings.”
“Because of the Spacequake?”
When I asked that, remembering the Spacequake alarm I’d heard at the airport, Kotori silently nodded.
“...Ah! Don’t tell me today was the day you were immigrating, Haneul?!”
“You only remembered that now?”
“Bingo! That’s right, you’d just arrived in Japan!”
As if she’d only just remembered, Shido clapped his hands and said that, while Kotori and I each gave him a response with very different vibes.
And at that moment, a sudden siren filled the bridge.
“Strong spirit power reaction confirmed! It’s coming!”
“Wha... what?”
“Oh, a Spacequake.”
At the shout of a male crew member, Shido’s eyes went wide, and I muttered calmly as I folded my arms.
I never thought I’d get involved in the next story the moment I arrived in Japan. I’d at least expected to wait another week before the next plotline started, but I never imagined I’d get dragged into it today.
The Spirit who appears after Tohka is... Yoshino, right? I hadn’t seen her since I met her in Korea, so I guess I’d be seeing her again today.
“Okay. Output the footage from the predicted appearance point to the main monitor.”
At Kotori’s snap of her fingers and command, the main monitor immediately displayed footage of the town. It was the middle of a busy district where lots of people would normally be walking around. But because the Spacequake alarm had gone off, there wasn’t a single person in sight.
Then, in the center of the footage, something like a ripple appeared.
“Uh...?”
“What’s wrong?”
“W-what is that...?”
“Huh? Shido, is this your first time seeing it?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen the start of a Spacequake in such detail.”
In response to Shido’s words, Kotori said that, and I quietly muttered to myself while watching the scene on the monitor. Come to think of it, in the anime, the only time I really saw a Spacequake start in detail was when the Great Disaster of Eurasia happened at the beginning of episode 1.
The moment I thought that, a tiny point of light formed on the screen, and then a thunderous explosion rang out as the image of the district turned pure white.
A few seconds later, once the light had faded somewhat, what remained on the screen was a town in a miserable state, with a hole blown clean through it.
Even a bomb probably wouldn’t do that. Watching it with a straight face, that was what I thought.
“...Haneul, are you okay?”
“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You’ve been sweating a lot, haven’t you?”
“Sweating?”
At Shido’s words, I brought my hand to the back of my neck. A clammy sensation touched my palm. And only then did I notice that goosebumps had broken out all over my body.
“Are you all right? Your hands have been shaking too, ever since earlier.”
“...It’s nothing.”
At Shido’s words, I answered that and looked back at the monitor with my arms folded again.
I thought I understood, more or less, why I was like this. It must be trauma. The Spacequake Tohka caused when I first came to Japan must have left a pretty strong impression on me.
Come to think of it, didn’t Jomsoon say she’d developed trauma after almost dying in a Spacequake when she went abroad back then? She’d get really startled if she heard fireworks and stuff.
“This explosion is pretty small-scale.”
“Seems that way.”
As Kotori muttered while watching the Spacequake on the screen, another crew member agreed. Then Kannazuki spoke up.
“I’d like to say that’s fortunate, but [Hermit] is always like this, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes. Among Spirits, she’s one of the gentlest types.”
“Compared to the Spacequake Tohka caused, this one is definitely a lot smaller.”
“Come to think of it, you were there on the scene back then, weren’t you?”
At Kotori’s words, I nodded and briefly looked over at Shido. He was still staring blankly at the monitor, looking completely dazed.
But only for a moment. The instant Shido saw the girl appearing in the center of the crater, he was struck with shock.
At the same time, I also couldn’t hide the complicated feeling I had while looking at the figure on the screen.
“I— I’ve met... that girl before...”
“What? When?”
“Yesterday... On the way home from school, it suddenly started raining—”
“Yoshino...”
While Shido was summarizing what had happened yesterday for Kotori, I muttered that name without thinking, unable to hide my complicated expression. Then all the crew members on the bridge turned their heads and looked at me.
“...What did you say?”
“..............”
Oh no. I messed up. Feeling cold sweat pour down under all those gazes, I hurriedly opened my mouth to somehow salvage the situation.
“That girl. I met her when I was in Korea. She was looking for a doll, so I helped her.”
“When did you meet her?”
“Three days ago.”
After I said that, Kotori quickly began issuing orders to the crew while checking something.
Looking at the terminal on the captain’s seat screen, Kotori scratched her head with an irritated expression.
“...There’s no change in the numbers. Looks like it’s the same case as Tohka.”
“Ah.”
“What’s wrong, Haneul?”
When I suddenly made that sound while staring at the screen, Shido turned his head and asked what was wrong. In response to Shido’s question, I said only one thing.
“AST.”
“What?”
At the same time, a loud noise poured out from the speakers installed on Fraxinus’s bridge.
Shido flinched in surprise, and seeing that, Kotori spoke in a calm voice.
Every time the screen showed AST attacking Yoshino, Shido clenched his fists and shouted that it was dangerous. He bit his lip while exchanging a few words with Kotori, and soon he was speaking again in a low voice, continuing the conversation with her.
After a brief silence, I quietly watched the scene with my arms folded. Before long, Shido grabbed at his own hair and slapped both cheeks with his palms.
“Help me, Kotori. ...I— I want to save that girl...!”
“—Fufu.”
At Shido’s determined voice, Kotori burst out laughing.
“That’s more like my big brother.”
Then Kotori turned around and spoke to the crew members below the bridge.
“Everyone, prepare for First Rank Strategy!”
『Yes!』
The crew members all began operating their consoles at once. Watching that, Kotori lightly licked her lips with the tip of her tongue, then turned her chair around and looked at me this time.
...Huh? Wait. Why is she looking at me all of a sudden?
“You said you met that Spirit three days ago and helped her, didn’t you?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah, I did.”
“Did you talk with her a lot?”
“We did talk quite a bit, but why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
Ah, maybe because I know a lot about Yoshino, she’s going to tell me to support Shido’s date along with the Fraxinus crew? Oh! So I can do that thing they do in the anime, where they pop up three choices and you pick one like a dating sim?!
Was I actually going to get to do something I’d always wanted to try? While I was getting excited at the thought, Kotori rolled the candy around in her mouth and fell into thought for a moment.
But only for a moment. Straightening the stick of the candy she was holding, Kotori opened her mouth again.
“This is sudden, but as the commander of Fraxinus, this is the first mission I’m assigning to our new Ratatoskr member. I want you to go down with Shido and ‘assist’ his date.”
“Cough! Cough-cough! Khh! Ghk, cough! ...W-wait, what did you just say?!”
At the sudden words, I choked in surprise. Coughing hard, I looked back at her with a “Did I hear that wrong?” expression, and Kotori made a face like something had gone wrong before letting out an “Ah.”
“Right. Come to think of it, I never told you how to seal a Spirit, did I? In a situation like this, of course you’d be surprised to hear that you’re suddenly supposed to assist a date.”
“No, not that, you little—! Why am I being sent down there with Shido’s date?!!”
Since I couldn’t possibly say it out loud, I screamed it in my head instead.
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