Epilogue

“Hey, Rekka...”

“...”

“Hey, don’t ignore me.”

“...”

“Hey, hey, hey!”

“...”

This was my room in my house, so what was a freeloader doing here?

Said freeloader, of course, was none other than the angel who had been flapping in circles around my head for a while now—Rachelle. R, who found this whole situation rather amusing, was floating around in circles after her. But for once, she wasn’t the source of my irritation.

“Why are you here again?”

“Erm, my assigned territory may have been waaay further down south, but when I told the archangel in charge that there were lost lambs wandering between the realms of love and passion here, he graciously relocated me. So in short, I have permission to be here!”

“What about my permission, huh?”

After Star Prism’s special ability purged all of the excess love energy from Rachelle’s heart, she was completely back to normal. We’d more than saved her from starving, so her story should have been properly resolved, but she was still following me around for some reason. When I tried to interrogate her about that further, she simply replied...

“It’s true I had too much love energy the other day, but if I stay by your side, I’ll never be wanting for love energy again! Please look after me from now on, my lord and savior.”

And as promised, she’d basically been worshiping me like a god ever since. I’m pretty sure that would be grounds for excommunication in most religions, but I wasn’t really sure how things worked for angels...

Well, Rachelle didn’t need food since she sustained herself with love energy, and she slept in the clouds at night, so though I called her a freeloader, all she really used was the shower. She didn’t put any burden on Harissa, either, so I’d pretty much given up and let her be for now.

But Rachelle aside, I had an extra homework assignment on my hands as punishment for skipping the opening ceremony at school. Satsuki, Iris, and Rosalind had all gotten the same punishment, too. I wonder how they’re holding up. Wait, since we were skipping school together, people are probably going to get the wrong idea... Maybe I should come up with a way to deflect that first.

Procrastinating with thoughts like that, I ended up getting nothing done. And in the middle of my doing nothing, I heard the doorbell downstairs.

“Sir Rekka, you have a visitor!” Harissa called.

I got up and Rachelle followed me. We headed down the stairs and into the living room to find...

“Yo.”

“Zeta! And Kiri!”

“Wassup? It’s been a while.”

“What are you two doing here?” I asked as I brought a chair over and sat down across from them.

Rachelle was idly spinning in circles in the corner.

“It’s about Legend of a Real-Time Hero. Since you were the one who came up with the idea, I decided to give you an update report.”

“Oh, I see.”

She honestly didn’t have to go to all that trouble for my sake, but I got the feeling Zeta was something of a perfectionist and wouldn’t be satisfied otherwise, so I let her proceed as she pleased.

“First of all, we’re adopting the Galactic Starburst as canon since it got used in the first episode. And since girlie here is the only one who can use the attack, we’re keeping her on board as Galactic Beauty from now on.”

“Heehee...”

Kiri laughed bashfully, but I was kind of worried.

“Are you really okay with that, Kiri? You’ll be fighting things like that kaiju from now on, you know?”

“Don’t worry. Talk of a live show where you can watch a real hero fight has spread like wildfire. The audience we got that day smashed viewership records from the last decade, and it’s established now that an integral part of the show is that the heroes get their power from viewer support. And with as much support as we’re getting, there’s nothing to fear.”

For the record, when we measured how much Kiri had powered up with all the support she’d gotten (apparently Zeta’s fancy spaceship had the equipment to do that), she far outclassed even the old man who was originally meant to play Galactic Great.

“Either way, I cannot overlook evil, whether it be on Earth or in space. Which is why I’m now cooperating with Zeta.”

“There’s also the issue of the hero gauge.”

“Whoa! You’re here, too, Starmon?”

He had a point, though. If Kiri didn’t fight evil, her hero gauge would gradually deplete. So her having regular opportunities to defeat bad guys was actually win-win for everyone.

“Well, if Kiri’s fine with it, then I certainly won’t object.”

“However, there’s still one big problem...” Zeta murmured right after I agreed.

“What’s that?”

“The role of Galactic Great.” Zeta said, taking off her headband and ruffling her hair.

“But shouldn’t space gramps be all better by now?”

“Yeah, he recovered ages ago. But he has no interest in the role if Galactic Beauty isn’t his wife.”

“Ah...”

Come to think of it, she had mentioned they were a lovey-dovey couple.

“I guess not having a main character is a pretty big problem...”

“You’re telling me. It’s a live show so it’s set to run on an irregular schedule, but even then, if there’s too much dead time between episodes, people will start to lose interest. And if that happens, we’re right back on the road to bankruptcy again.”

Hmm... Saving Zeta’s story was meaningless if she just ended up right back in the same spot. What to do?

“For the time being, my options are to either hold auditions or get gramps to introduce me to a younger member of his species, but...”

“Then why not just do that?”

“Yeah, if only it were that easy. It’s precisely because I can’t do either of those that this is a big problem.”

Just as I was wondering what she was talking about, Kiri suddenly leaned forward eagerly.

“Become a hero with me, Rekka!”

Kiri took my hand in both of hers, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at me.

“...Excuse me?”

I was at such a loss for a reaction that that was the only dumbfounded reply I could manage. Zeta then put her hand on her head and sighed.

“This one here refuses to work with anyone but you.”

“Huh? Wh-Why?”

“Because you have that amazing bloodline that’s helped you save all kinds of girls, right?!”

Kiri leaned in even closer as she asked, and I nodded uncertainly. I’d explained the Namidare bloodline to her after everything that happened, but...

“K-Kiri, you’re too close! Please back away from Sir Rekka!” Harissa interjected from the side.

But Kiri paid no attention to her at all.

“This is the first time I’ve met a boy with the same sense of justice as me! If I’m with you, I’m sure we can save that many more people! So let’s become heroes together!”

“...And there you have it. Now own up and accept the role of Galactic Great,” added Zeta.

Of course, I panicked.

“No! W-Wait a minute, please!”

“Relax. It’s an irregular broadcast, so we can adjust things to fit your schedule. I’ll come pick you up in my spaceship on broadcast days, then we’ll zap to the location with my high-speed warp, zap the monster and film, then zap our way back, no probs. It won’t even take a whole day.”

“No, that’s not, um...”

“You gonna turn it down? Hmph, and here I thought you were the kind of man who took responsibility for his actions.”

“Ugh...”

This was ultimately my fault for throwing out gramps’s back in the first place, so held my tongue, but... I had just said that I didn’t want a story I’d saved to come to a bad end.

“I’d at least appreciate a gear upgrade so I might actually stand a chance against something like that kaiju.”

“Of course. We somehow managed to pull through then, but we can’t have Galactic Beauty stealing the spotlight every time. It would ruin Galactic Great’s name. I’ve already ordered a new custom suit with your abilities in mind.”

That was a bit of a relief to hear.

“All right, then I accept.”

Actually... even though she said we could work things to fit my schedule, there was no telling when the next kaiju or some bad guy would appear. That part wasn’t on a schedule, either, so it was a foregone conclusion at this point that I’d end up missing more school eventually.

“Good answer,” Zeta said with a smirk.

She then stood up, walked over to me, and pressed her lips against my forehead.

“Wha—?! Wh-What are you doing?”

“Getting that kind of reaction from a kid like you kind of hurts... But get over it. It’s just a sign of my affection. I guess you could say you’ve caught my eye.”

“Ooh, she’s the nice and composed adult type, isn’t she?” R commented as she applauded Zeta.

I touched my hand to where her lips had kissed my forehead and could feel my body temperature rising by the second. I hardly knew what to say.

“Sir Rekka, cheating again...” Harissa watched all this with a disgusted look.

The girls should have all lost their memories of the time they were under Rachelle’s influence, but for some reason... Harissa looked a hundred times scarier right now than she had back then.

“Aaah, being by Rekka’s side is just the best!” Rachelle sighed as she languidly lounged midair.

“That’s right. I also wanted to ask you to make a guest appearance on the show. Would you be willing?” Zeta asked the bored-looking angel.

“Hmm... I’ll think about it.”

“Please, anything but that!” I yelled, hoping God in heaven would hear me.

There was no way this would lead to anything but trouble.

—Fin—