R’s Special Mission 2

Once I snuck out from under Rekka’s nose and out of the house again, it was time to continue working on my mission. I hadn’t decided on anyone in particular to visit, but... Let’s see, maybe I’ll drop by the heroines Rekka met more recently. Corona’s investigation was already done, which left five people: Midori, Momone, Mio, Ellicia, and Lyun.

“Hmm...”

The five girls in question were all in different locations. One was even in a different world. But there was no helping that considering Rekka’s adventures... Might as well get down to it.

▽

And so I made my way to the spirit world. How I got there is confidential. A trade secret, if you will. Merely one of the many functions this unit comes equipped with. But setting aside how useful I am... My target, Lyun, was sitting on a soft-looking grass-green rug with her sister, Sophie.

“Go on, Sophie. Give it a go.”

“Hrrrngh...”

Spurred on by Lyun’s encouragement, Sophie was turning bright red as she squeezed a pendant in her hand. It was an adorable sight to behold, trying her best like that... Though I had no idea what they were doing.

“...Pwah! W-Well, Sis?”

“Let’s see... Hmm... Yeah, there’s a little more magic in it than before!”

“Just a little, huh?”

Sophie threw out her limbs and fell over backwards, sprawled out on the rug. Spirits usually wore light skirts, so it was a rather nail-biting scene to witness. It was a shame Rekka wasn’t here. I would’ve liked to have seen his reaction.

At any rate, I deduced what the pendant was from their conversation. It was most likely one of the mana storage units that had been created from Aburaamian technology. The spirit world had suffered quite a bit in the previous story, and it seemed they’d learned something from it. They’d decided to stock up on mana to be prepared for future emergencies. This mana storage unit was probably one of the results of that.

“How much have you been able to store, Sis?”

“Hm? Well, watch this—hnnngh!”

At Sophie’s inquiry, Lyun mustered all her strength. She probably wanted to show off a little as an older sister. Mana flowed into the pendant several times faster than before... Wait, were mana storage and grip strength meant to be proportionate to each other? Eventually, Lyun gasped for air and gave up.

“How’d you do?” asked Sophie.

“Let’s see... Look! This is how much I stored up!” Lyun said, proudly sticking out her chest.

“Wow!”

Sophie clapped her hands, delighted as though she’d done it herself. These sisters sure were close.

Lyun clipped the pendant around Sophie’s neck.

“If you wear the pendant around and charge it with mana regularly, you’ll be fine in case anything ever happens.”

“Right! Those human sorcerers sure can make some amazing stuff.” Suddenly, Sophie gazed up at the sky. “I wonder if Nammy and Rissy are doing okay...”

I didn’t recognize her nicknames for Rekka and Harissa there for a second. Apparently, it wasn’t customary for spirit names to be longer than two syllables.

“Nammy, huh...?”

Lyun mumbled Rekka’s nickname as she looked up at the sky too. Perfect timing. For me to use the Mind-Melding Device, that is. Gotcha!

I didn’t get the chance to see Nammy again in Aburaamu...

Come to think of it, by the time they returned to the castle from Harissa’s village, Lyun had already gone back to the spirit world.

I miss him...

Lyun’s honest feelings bubbled up in her heart, manifesting as a sad sigh on her lips. Ooh, and what a rare sight it was. The side of a heroine that Rekka usually didn’t get to see... Absence must really make the heart grow fonder.

I really want to see him, just to talk about anything... No, really just seeing him would be enough. I want to see Nammy’s face again...

Lyun’s feelings grew stronger as I continued to read her thoughts while the Mind-Melding Device was active, and then...

“Okay, Sophie! We’re going out!”

“Huh? Where to?”

“The Spirit King’s palace! We’re going to ask him to let us use that magic to cross into other worlds!”

This “magic to cross into other worlds” was presumably referring to Harissa’s connection magic. When Rekka and others visited Aburaamu and the spirit world last, she’d informed both worlds about her discovery with the catalyst from Red Thread. She accordingly had also prepared items with strong connections to three locations—that is, Earth (Rekka’s house), Aburaamu (the castle), and the spirit world (the palace). Of course, items connected to Aburaamu and the spirit world were also kept at Rekka’s house, along with one linked to the demon world for Corona’s sake. They also had a large stock of catalysts prepared.

They’d even developed a message spell to inform others of when they were crossing worlds. It was essentially a derivative of the connection magic, but it had an extremely short range.

Anyway, it seemed like Lyun and Sophie were heading to Earth to see Rekka. But there was quite some distance between Windsong Valley and the capital where the palace was, so they probably wouldn’t arrive until the end of summer vacation.

▽

Next, I returned to Earth and headed towards Ellicia’s location. She appeared to be in the organization’s headquarters. There were several psychic barriers surrounding the place, but I slipped right through them. Don’t mind me; I’m just letting myself in!

Wow, this place was unexpectedly nice. The furniture all looked good and sturdy, reflective of their leader, Yang’s, personality. I floated down the hallway towards Ellicia’s room. Ah, yes, here we are. It seemed not only Ellicia, but Yang and Lucy the teleporter were inside her room.

“So the negotiations with the Margaret clan are over?” Ellicia was asking Yang.

“Yes, we’ve finished discussing most of the aftermath countermeasures regarding this case,” Yang answered with a small sigh.

That discussion must have been tiring.

“We were the ones who stole the Margaret clan’s treasure. I feared we’d suffer greater consequences for it, but the head of the family, Nartessia, was surprisingly cooperative... No, if anything, it was like she was no longer interested in us.”

“Thanks to the other-world information that Rekka brought her, perhaps?”

“Probably.” Yang nodded grimly. “We owe him one for that. We’ll have to pay him back someday.”

Ellicia smiled at that.

“To think our Yang would say that about an ordinary human...”

“I don’t think it’s right to call that boy with that kind of destiny ordinary... But I get what you’re trying to say.”

“Your brow isn’t quite as wrinkled as it used to be, either,” Lucy added from the side.

The air in the room relaxed a little.

“Well, I just hope all of us are as grateful to Rekka as I am. Who knows where we would be without him...” sighed Ellicia.

“Of course,” replied Yang. “There’s that debt I mentioned before... but he also has valuable connections. Especially that space scientist who’s knowledgeable about psychic powers. If the organization continues to rescue and host psychics, we’ll need their help.”

“When you put it that way, it sounds like you’re using Rekka.”

“That’s because we’re the ones relying on him one-sidedly right now. But we’ll have to bear that shame. It would be foolish not to borrow his help... though it pains me to admit it.” Yang closed his eyes and chewed at his lip. “His destiny will cause him to be constantly involved in some kind of commotion or another. As long as we keep up our relationship, we’ll be able to repay our debt to him one day.”

“And that’s what the Japanese division is for.”

Oh? Japanese division? I leaned my ear towards their conversation.

As a result, I discovered that the organization was opening several branches within Japan. The organization was going to proceed forward in their mission to help psychics all over the world, so they had to branch out in order to be able to find and help as many newly-born psychics as possible.

“I’m leaving the management of the Japanese division to you, Ellicia. Are you prepared?”

“I still have lots left to do. I’ll be traveling back and forth from Japan for a while. Next time I go, I’ll be doing some preliminary inspections.”

“Oh? But that isn’t your real goal, is it?” Lucy gave her a knowing smile. “It’s been quite a while now... Aren’t you going to Japan to see Rekka?”

“Wha...?!”

Caught off guard, Ellicia blushed. And it was there that I turned on my Mind-Melding Device.

“What are you saying, Lucy?!”

It’s true that I was going to see him, but...

“Who’d have thought Ellicia liked younger guys...”

“That’s not true!”

It isn’t because he’s younger...

“But he’s on your mind, isn’t he?”

“That’s...”

That doesn’t mean you have to bring it up here and now!

Even as she argued against everything Lucy pointed out, she agreed to it in her heart. It was surprisingly cute.

“Yang! Stop Lucy!”

Ellicia then turned to Yang for help, who had been silently observing all this.

“Hmm... He was 16 years old, right?”

“Huh? What about it?” a puzzled Ellicia asked.

“I hear the marriageable age in Japan is 16.”

“Not you too!”

Ellicia’s wails echoed throughout the room. I was hoping for more drama than that, but that was enough fun... Ahem, I mean, that was enough investigating for me. Time to move on.

▽

After visiting other worlds and foreign countries today, I was finally back in Japan. But not the town where Rekka lived. I was in a large room at a luxury apartment in Tokyo.

“...”

The owner of the room, Mio, was hugging a teddy bear as she vacantly stared into space. There was no telling when she would do something, so I used the Mind-Melding Device on her.

Click.

Today’s dance lesson was awful...

Hmm... Her worries were fitting for an idol, it seemed.

“...Oops.”

I need to drink some water.

Mio put the stuffed bear down on the floor and got up to go to the kitchen. She took out a bottle of mineral water from the fridge and poured some into a small cup. I guess she wasn’t the type to drink tap water. But still, water was water. And Mio didn’t look too satisfied.

I want to have juice... but my next outfit shows my tummy. If I eat like I did at the pool, I’ll...

Mio placed a hand over her stomach, but from what I could see, she had nothing to worry about. My sensors were capable of scanning down to the milliunit, so there was no mistaking it.

But I had so much fun at the pool... It’s been so long since I played with others like that.

She didn’t get to do that often, huh? She must really be busy with her idol work. It seemed like she lived alone in this apartment, too. She must have moved away from her parents to pursue her career.

But the water slide I went down with Rekka... made my heart race a little.

Oh? Rekka’s name finally came up.

I’ve never been so close to a boy like that...

Idols sure had it tough in that regard. They showed it in those Monday night dramas.

Was my swimsuit weird? Rekka said it was nice, though. But I look so childish...

Mio looked down at her body. At her chest, to be precise.

...There are so many girls with big boobs around Rekka.

Mio sadly groped at her own flat bust.

Hmm, I still hadn’t identified whether Rekka leaned towards the flat or the busty types. Every time I asked, he’d stubbornly declare, “Neither!” I wondered which it really was... The most well-endowed heroine for her height was Lyun. But even then, hers weren’t particularly big. They were just a little smaller than Shirley’s. And it wasn’t like Rekka’s reaction to her had been any different than the other heroines, so I honestly didn’t know what to make of his preferences. Perhaps this was the real cause of the War of All.

Maybe I’ll get someone from my company to teach me chest exercises...

With that tearful conclusion, Mio returned the mineral water to the fridge and went back to her stuffed bear. I wasn’t meant to show any favoritism in regards to the heroines, but I hoped her efforts would bear fruit.

When will I see Rekka again...?

Mio was busy being an idol, so it wasn’t easy for her to find time to see him.

“...That’s right!”

Mio suddenly brightened up like she’d had some kind of epiphany.

I’ll send a ticket to my next concert.

Ah, so that was her plan. Rekka had gone with Tsumiki to see her in concert last time, and he was pretty dependable about things like that. So if she sent him a ticket, he’d definitely come. It was a good idea.

Last time, he even came backstage... Maybe he will again.

Mio opened the calendar on her phone excitedly as she checked her concert dates.

Now then, it was time for me to reluctantly make my way back to Rekka’s town.

▽

I was back in town, but I still had to visit Momone and Midori. Fortunately, they were both at Midori’s house. I could kill two birds with one stone.

And so, I intruded into Midori’s bedroom... Wow, that’s a lot of books. The curtains were closed, so the room was shrouded in darkness, but the walls were lined with bookshelves that were filled to the brim. Their owner, Midori, sat curled up in a ball in the middle of the room. In front of her was a low coffee table with a laptop on it. Perhaps she had turned the air conditioning down too low; she was sitting there in a plush robe despite it being the middle of summer. Maybe that was just her preferred way to get into the writing mood, but there was someone who wasn’t too happy about it...

“It’s freezing in here!” Momone, who was apparently called to the room, exclaimed upon first opening the door.

She frowned and immediately went to turn off the air conditioner, then threw open the curtains and windows.

“...”

“No complaints! Stale air creates bad ki. You’re already weak to begin with, so you need to pay more attention to your environment.”

Momone responded when Midori opened her mouth, but what she said certainly wouldn’t be audible to normal human ears. Perhaps Momone knew what she was saying because they were childhood friends? Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to temporarily enhance my hearing.

“Ugh... Momo, you tyrant.”

All right. Now I could hear her properly.

“Don’t call me by that cutesy nickname.”

“But Momo is your name, Momo.”

“Jeez, you’re hopeless...” Momone sighed. “So? What did you call me here for today?”

“Oh... um...”

Midori fidgeted with the sleeves of her coat, covering her mouth with one hand and blinking up at Momone innocently.

“I... want to hold a study camp...”

“A study camp?”

Momone made a dubious face at her request. She meant for her light literature club, right?

“You mean you want to use the school’s camp area? Why do you need to do it at school when you can just type from your computer here? There are only fans over there, you know?”

“Yeah.”

If I recalled correctly, Rekka was part of the light literature club. This was getting interesting. I had to investigate this further. Three, two, one... Click!

“I-I’m writing about school life right now.”

The story about the girl who wields a drill.

“You mean you just feel like writing your school life story in a school setting?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll say it once more, but there’s no air conditioner.”

“That’s fine. As long as there’s a refrigerator.”

That way, I can have ice cream.

“Too much ice cream is bad for your stomach.”

“I’ll use an ice pack, then.”

And take baths or something.

“Well, I suppose you could wash off the sweat with a bath...”

Hmm, I was hoping they’d talk about Rekka more, but it didn’t seem like that was the direction this conversation was headed in. It also seemed Momone had completely mastered reading between the lines with Midori. It was almost like telepathy. Momone crossed her arms and pondered her friend’s request for a while, but she eventually shook her head.

“I can’t say I’d recommend it. What if you collapsed or—” Suddenly, Momone seemed to realize something. “Wait a second. Come to think of it, that problem child’s in the club, too.”

“...!”

Rekka...

Aha!

“There would be fewer problems if you weren’t alone, but... that would come with problems of its own.”

“Like what?”

“You’re a girl, and he’s a boy.”

Midori tried to feign ignorance, but Momone pointed it out quite bluntly.

“I’d support you if it were true love, but what do you really think about Rekka Namidare? Would you mind if something like that happened?”

Ooh! Nice, Momone! Very nice! Who would’ve expected such a fast ball to come flying right at them like that? This was extremely useful for me. Now, as for Midori’s reaction...

Hmm, how I feel about Rekka? He’s funny...

Go on, go on...

His popularity is funny...

I guess she wasn’t the type to get jealous about that.

His reactions are funny...

Well, you couldn’t really call him cool and composed.

The people around him are funny...

...

He’s just funny...

Was that all he was to her? Well, Midori and Momone weren’t exactly traditional heroines. They hadn’t had particularly dramatic first meetings with Rekka or gone through thick and thin with him, so maybe their romantic feelings would take a little longer to develop? It hadn’t been long since they met Rekka anyway, so perhaps they just weren’t aware of their affections yet. Too bad... Midori was the big-breasted, quiet, defenseless type, so this was a little disappointing.

Well, I guess I wouldn’t mind if Rekka did anything to me.

“Say what?!”

Oops, I accidentally responded out loud. Good thing no one could hear me. But wow... Even someone from the future would be surprised at that. Though you could say it was typical of Midori, in a way.

“It’ll be fine if it’s Rekka.”

“If that’s okay with you, then fine.”

Momone slumped her shoulders in defeat. Childhood friends couldn’t really read each other’s hearts. What Midori had said could mean one of two things. Either: “It’ll be fine if it’s Rekka (since he won’t do anything).” Or: “It’ll be fine if it’s Rekka (no matter what he does).” It could be interpreted both ways. Hmm... I wonder how Momone had taken it. Time to use the Mind-Melding Device on her.

Jeez, Midori’s ideas always lead to trouble.

She meant both the study camp idea and the idea to write a school life novel, I suppose. It did seem like she acted based on her own whims.

“Just so you know, you’re supposed to put in a study camp application before summer vacation starts. Make sure you follow the rules next year.”

“Sure.”

“And I’ve already accepted other club applications for the space, so the only days that are available are the three days of the Obon festival. You don’t mind if the light literature has to do its camp then?”

“I’m fine with that.”

“What about the problem child?”

“I’ll ask him later.”

“You’re assuming he’s fine with it, huh?”

Momone sighed again.

I’m already used to it, but that problem child must have it tough being dragged around by Midori.

I’m pretty sure he’s very used to being dragged around by heroines in general now.

Well, it makes sense that Midori would be interested in him. That problem child was the second person to react so calmly to seeing my right eye. But he’s a pretty funny guy, even putting that aside, Momone mumbled in her heart.

She was probably talking about that ghost and afro incident from before.

Hmm. I know what I said to Midori before, but really thinking about it, I’m also rather interested in Rekka Namidare. Love has never crossed my mind before, but even I’ve reached the age for that kind of thing. It might be worth expressing my interest in that kind of way once.

Oh, my... What’s this? It wasn’t quite clear enough to call love yet, but she definitely was fulfilling the “interest” part. Well, I had no experience to go off myself, but I supposed it was normal for love to start from that small spark. This was just as good a start as any.

I’ll get in on this study camp, too. I’d be too worried if I left Midori and that problem child alone, anyway.

My, my, my... What started as a whimsical idea of Midori’s is turning out to be quite a terrific event, Rekka. Just you wait.