Chapter 1: Multiple Starting Lines

1-1: Summoned by a Childhood Friend’s Letter

When I went to grab the newspaper out of the mailbox, there was a letter inside of it, too.

“Huh?”

“Is something wrong?” asked R.

“No, but... there’s a letter here for me. And it doesn’t have a stamp?” Had the sender put it directly into my mailbox? But who would do that? “Let’s see, who’s the sender... Wait, it’s from Satsuki?”

“Someone you know?”

“Childhood friend. Wait, why wasn’t she at school today?” That was strange for her.

I fiddled with the letter in my hands as I opened the front door and took off my shoes.

“Is this Satsuki the sort of delinquent who’d skip the first day of school?”

“No, the exact opposite. In middle school, she was the student council president.”

“Huh. That’s certainly odd, isn’t it?”

“You sound like you know something about it.”

“That’s not true at all. Why would you think such a thing?”

That bugged me a little... but for now, I needed to read the letter. I tossed my bookbag on the living room sofa and tore open the envelope. Eraser shavings poured out.

I opened the carefully folded letter, and saw that it was written in Satsuki’s familiar handwriting.

Dear Rekka Namidare,

I have something very important to tell you. I wanted to tell you in this letter, but I think it’s better to tell you in person. I’ll be waiting all day at the place where we always used to play.

—Satsuki Otomo

Her handwriting was always so neat. Nothing had been erased on the letter, but there were eraser shavings inside the envelope. Did that mean she’d rewritten it a few times? That wasn’t like her.

“That’s not a very helpful letter, is it? It doesn’t say a word about what she actually wants to talk about.” R had come up next to me at some point, and was peering at the letter.

“Well, we’re going to meet up and talk about that now, right?”

“You’re leaving now?”

“The letter said she’d be waiting all day. She can be weirdly stubborn sometimes. If I don’t go, she might really wait all day.”

“But you’re tired from the entrance ceremony, right? Why not rest a little first?”

What got into her? She was suddenly trying to be nice to m— Oh.

“Did you really want to watch TV that badly?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Sorry. We can do it some other time. I’ll watch as much as you want on the weekends with you.”

“It’s fine. Really.”

“Then don’t sulk.”

“I am not sulking.” She looked pretty upset to me, though. Well, fine. I’d just have to stay up all night watching TV with her on Saturday. I left the house with R, thinking about what kind of DVDs we’d rent.

▽

The place where Satsuki and I always used to play was an abandoned factory at the top of a little hill, about fifteen minutes away by bike. I checked my watch when I arrived. It was 1:00 PM.

“I wonder what Satsuki wants, anyway?”

“It’s a little late to be wondering now, isn’t it? And didn’t you just say that’s what you were here to find out?”

“That’s true, but... I was just wondering what Satsuki would want to talk to me about so badly that she’d skip the entrance ceremony.”

“Hahh... Sheesh. You really are dense, aren’t you, Rekka?”

“What do you mean, dense?”

“I mean dense. Dull. Dumb. Whenever a girl gives a boy a letter and tells him to meet her at a certain place, it usually means only one thing. She wants to tell him that she loves him.”

“Huh?”

“Wow, the look on your face is so rude. My deduction was brilliant.”

“How was that brilliant? You dummy...” Me and Satsuki? No way. “She’s been my friend for over a decade now. She’s basically family.”

“I now understand the difficulty of my mission in my heart, and not just in my head.”

“Why? ...Well, whatever. Let’s go.” I locked my bike and went around to the rear entrance of the abandoned factory.

The place had been closed since I was a kid, but there was a single door in the back where the lock was broken. That’s how we always used to get inside. Just as I thought, the lock was still busted. I easily made it inside the factory where I used to play.

“It’s dark in here, isn’t it?”

“Does it seem dark to you too, R?”

“My senses are much the same as a human’s.”

“Huh. I thought your eyes would shine in the dark or something.”

“That would make it impossible for me to see anything, wouldn’t it?”

That’s true, come to think of it.

We waited for our eyes to adjust to the darkness before we went in any deeper. Satsuki and I always used to play in the big room in the back, so I had to walk down a dusty corridor for a bit. Maybe it was just because I hadn’t been here for a while, but the place seemed more run-down than it was when I was a kid.

My memories were fuzzy, but I managed to make it to my destination. This room had probably once been used to hold conveyor belts and big machinery, but now all that stuff had been removed. All that was left was an open space about the size of a gym.

Unlike the corridor I’d come down, there were windows here, and the sunlight from outside made it much brighter. It was still a little gloomy, but there was more than enough light to see her standing in the center of the room with her back turned toward me.

“Satsuki.”

She jerked a little when she heard me say her name, and then turned around. Her clothes were very ordinary-looking, and her straight, black hair was neither permed nor bleached lighter. She’d said before that she didn’t really like wearing makeup or putting a lot of effort into looking good, but I knew that she was secretly proud of her pretty black hair, and that she spent time caring for it every morning.

Satsuki had the same peaceful smile on her face that she always did. “Good morning, Rekka.”

“M-Morning... Wait, it’s afternoon now. Why’d you skip the entrance ceremony? Oh, and by the way, we’re in the same class again this year.”

“I see. That never changes, huh?”

“It feels to me like somebody’s setting it up. Anyway, how long have you been here?”

“Since this morning.”

“I knew it!” See? If I left her here, she would’ve waited the whole day. “Sorry. I forgot to check the mailbox this morning.”

“If you’d seen it this morning, would you have come straight here?”

“Of course.”

“I see. I’m glad.”

“Huh?” What was she talking about? Of course I’d come straight here. Why did she look so relieved? This whole thing felt kind of weird. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Well... you may not believe this, but I’m actually...” Satsuki fell silent for a moment, and glanced around the room, as if she was hesitating.

I was starting to feel a little nervous. What did she want to talk about? This didn’t make sense.

R said nothing. Evidently, she wasn’t going to interrupt.

Just as Satsuki seemed to make some kind of decision, and opened her mouth to speak, the whole building shook.

All of us gasped in surprise as the glass in the windows shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

The vibration stopped, and the factory was silent once more. A lot of dust had flown up into the air, but fortunately, the roof hadn’t collapsed or anything.

“That wasn’t an earthquake or anything, was it? ...Uwaah!” I realized that I’d grabbed Satsuki and was holding her head close to me to protect it. I must’ve done it without even thinking about it. “Satsuki, you okay?” I felt a little awkward, so I decided to say something to her.

She didn’t answer.

Crap. I took a look at her face, wondering if I should apologize for grabbing her. Even in the dark, I could tell that she was pale. Her teeth were chattering in fear.

“Hey, Satsuki? What’s wrong?” I tried to pat her shoulder, when...

“Don’t touch her, young man.” I was cut off by a bright, loud voice that sounded like someone reading from a script.

I turned around and saw a blond man with azure eyes, wearing expensive clothes and a cape that was the color of wine dipped in darkness.

He felt kind of evil.

And wait, where did this guy come from, anyway?

I moved Satsuki behind me and glared at him. “Who are you?”

“Who are you? I researched this country’s culture before I came to get her, so I know how this is done. When you ask someone’s name, you give your own name first, right?”

“Rekka Namidare. I’m Satsuki’s childhood friend.”

“I see.” The man nodded dramatically, like an actor.

“Now it’s your turn, isn’t it?”

“Oh dear. You seem to think I’m your enemy. I haven’t done anything to you, I don’t believe.”

“You’re scaring Satsuki.”

“I’ve given her no reason to fear me. I’m not going to hurt her. She’s my bride, after all.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

“My bride. She will marry me, Messiah Kyandistrapps, and grant me the wisdom of omniscience.”

I didn’t even understand half of what he was saying.

Just then, tiny fragments of something rained down on top of the man’s shoulders.

There was a hole in the ceiling? The concrete roof of the factory was ringed with cracks, and in their center was a hole big enough for a man to pass through. The hole was directly above Messiah, as if he’d made it himself and jumped down. But that’s stupid. If somebody fell down from that height, they’d be lucky to even survive. And how could you make a hole in the ceiling without using any tools? But it still seemed like the only way to explain how the man had made it in here all of a sudden.

If nothing else, he ain’t normal, I thought. But then what could he be? And then I remembered what I’d heard last night. The Namidare bloodline. The special blood in my veins, which both my dad and R had talked about. Assuming that had nothing to do with this was too much to hope for.

“Now, I’ve finished introducing myself. Will you move out of the way, young man?”

“I refuse.”

“I see. Will you tell me why?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. You’re scaring Satsuki. Why does she have to marry an asshole like you, anyway?”

“Does it matter to you if she becomes my bride?”

“Of course it does, idiot. She’s my childhood friend. I know her so well, I know how many moles she has, and she knows the same about me. If you could make Satsuki happy, that would be one thing, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case. If you’re trying to make her do something she doesn’t want to do, then of course I’m going to protect her.”

“Rekka...” I could hear Satsuki whisper my name softly behind her. Her teeth weren’t chattering anymore.

“Young man, you seem to be standing in my way.” Messiah pointed his index finger at me.

“Messiah!” Satsuki shouted suddenly, as if trying to stop him from doing something.

A shockwave struck my body from the side. I flew up into the air and slammed into the filthy factory wall. “Gaah—” I hit my back hard, the impact forcing the air out of my lungs.

“Rekka!”

“Don’t move, Daughter of Omniscience.”

She tried to run over to me, but Messiah stopped her.

Daughter of Omniscience? The heck?

“Gah! I knew he wasn’t normal.” My back and left side throbbed with a dull pain, and a weird numbness ran through my whole body. My muscles still spasmed. None of this made sense. What the hell did he do?

“Oh my. Are you all right, Rekka?”

“R...” That’s right. R couldn’t get more than five meters away from me. When I got knocked away, she must’ve gotten dragged along with me.

“Hey, what did Messiah do to me?”

“Given my position, I’ve been programmed to be fair to each of the girls. If I side with any individual heroine, that will result in my having deliberately changed the future. So of course, I’m not going to help you resolve any of their story lines, either.”

“So that means this is one of those stories my dad told me about?”

“Oh my. Even after that, you’re still trying to gather information? You’re an idiot, but you’re tougher than I thought. It’s true that, given my mission, I’m capable of determining when you’re involved in a heroine’s story.”

“And you’ll tell me?”

“As long as having that knowledge wouldn’t influence the story’s outcome.”

It didn’t look like I could count on R for much help. At this rate, she probably wasn’t going to tell me about this “Daughter of Omniscience” thing.

What had happened just now, though? He hadn’t even laid a hand on me. It was like magic. Wait, was it really magic? This really is like a manga or a light novel, Dad. I’ve already run into a damned wizard. Magic? That’s cheating.

And it’s not normal at all. The “normal life” I loved was gone forever now. God damn it.

“Oh, you can still stand?”

“Of course I’m going to stand up. Satsuki’s being attacked.” My whole body felt exhausted, but I forced myself up off the ground. “I don’t know what’s going on, but if Satsuki’s in danger, I don’t need a reason to save her.”

R sighed. I couldn’t tell if she was surprised or annoyed.

“Hey, hold on a second, asshole!” I grabbed a steel pipe as I stood up and flung it at Messiah as hard as I could. But just before it struck him, something knocked it away.

“Hmm. You’re a tough one, aren’t you?” Messiah turned toward me. He sounded like someone praising a baby for managing to stand on its own two feet.

“That’s my line.”

“I keep my whole body covered in a defensive shield at all times. Something like that won’t even scratch me.”

“That’s cheating...” I tried to make a joke, but to be honest, I was in pretty bad shape. And of course, he knew that, too.

“Rekka!” Satsuki called my name and tossed me something small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. I grabbed what turned out to be her phone.

“Take that and run! I’ll be fine!”

“Don’t be stupid!” Was I supposed to keep this as a memento of you? You’re terrible at sports. There’s no way you can fight this Messiah guy.

Messiah chuckled as he watched us. “You really are going to be a nuisance to me, aren’t you? I wasn’t planning on killing you, but I suppose it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Messiah raised his hand above his head. Suddenly the air started to shake, and sparks appeared from nowhere. The sparks grew until they formed little lightning bolts that began to writhe around like snakes. The snakes began to entwine, until at last they formed a huge ball of light. A ball of lightning.

I wasn’t sure what else to call it. In an instant, it swelled up, becoming so large that it could engulf a person’s body easily.

“Don’t worry. There’ll be nothing left of you. Nobody will have to learn of your horrible death.”

“Damn it! Thanks, but no thanks...” This was not good. Messiah was a real wizard. My instincts were telling me to run.

Was I scared? Of course I was. If that thing hit me, I’d be dead, no doubt about it. But how was I supposed to live with myself if I ran away and left Satsuki here? My legs were shaking, but I managed to stay where I was.

Sheesh! I don’t how this Namidare bloodline stuff works, but this is one hell of an introduction.

And just as I made one last complaint to God...

“Eeyaaaah!” Something came down from the sky to make things even more complicated.

1-2: A Girl Comes Down From the Sky

That “something” fell down from above, and brought a ton of rubble with her. It seemed like she had stepped on the cracked, rotting ceiling above, then fallen through it. A fourth of the roof had caved in, falling directly on top of Messiah. At the same time, all the dust on the ground had flown up into the air, forming a smoky curtain that covered the whole room.

“Tch! What happened?” I could hear Messiah yelling from the other side of the curtain. Even all that rubble collapsing on top of him wasn’t enough to kill him?

But this was the perfect chance to get away! I stuffed Satsuki’s phone into my pocket and started to run. There was so much dust that I couldn’t see anything, but I managed to run to where I last remembered her standing, and grab onto what felt like her.

“This way! Let’s get out of here!”

“Huh?”

She started to say something, but I was in such a hurry that I headed for the factory’s rear exit without waiting for her answer. I kept slamming into things, but we managed to make it out of the building, and I ran straight down the hill without looking behind me.

“I’ll protect you, no matter what!” I yelled, panting. Maybe I was just trying to distract myself from my own terror. It was the only way I could keep running.

I remembered my bike halfway down the hill, but there was no going back for it now, so I kept running. I had no idea how long I’d been running. I kept shouting things to encourage her as we fled. It was the one thing I could do to make her feel better.

By the time I’d finally hit my limit, we were far enough away that I couldn’t see the hill with the factory on it anymore.

“Hahh... hahh...” My mouth felt like it was full of sand. I wanted water, and bad. It didn’t look like Messiah was following us, so we must have made it away safely. And then “Satsuki,” who’d been very quiet so far, asked...

“H-Hey... What’s your name?” It was a voice I didn’t recognize.

“Huh?” I turned around in surprise, and saw I was holding a hand that belonged to a girl I’d never seen before.

“Your name. N-A-M-E. Tell me already.”

“R-Rekka... Namidare.” I was so astonished that I couldn’t do anything but answer her question.

“Rekka Namidare... Rekka, huh?” For some reason, she repeated my name to herself happily.

Hold it. How did this happen? I looked toward R, who had been dragged along with me, for help.

“You grabbed the wrong girl while you were in the dust cloud.” Seriously? But where did this girl come from? Oh, that’s it. She must’ve been what fell through the roof. Come to think of it, I remembered hearing her scream before she fell.

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

“Huh? No, um... what’s up?”

“Jeez! I’m being nice enough to give you my name, so listen to me!” The girl was pouting angrily, shaking the long, silver twin tails that went down to her feet.

Then she put her hands up to her chest, covered by a strange, lacy dress, and puffed it out proudly. “My name is Iris Fineritas Cyphercall. I am the only daughter of the chairman of the Owaria, the highest ruling body of the planet Finerita. Normally a lowly native from a primitive planet like this would never get the chance to touch me, so you should feel honored!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry!” I suddenly realized that I was still holding her hand, and quickly let go.

“Dummy. I said you should feel honored, didn’t I? This time was special, so I’ll let you get away with it.” But Iris quickly grabbed my hand again and smiled at me.

She was holding my hand so tight now that I didn’t think I could let go. Actually, it hurt. But at the same time, it was soft. It felt strange.

“Wh-Why is this time special?”

“Because you saved me when I was being chased, obviously.”

“Huh?” What was she talking about?

“From what she’s saying, maybe she was being chased, too? And then she fell through the roof of that factory while she was running. Then you grabbed her hand and ran away with her, and so now she thinks you saved her?” My head was starting to hurt, so R helpfully offered her own theory.

“L-Listen, I...”

“And you said you’d protect me, no matter what! I never thought I’d actually hear a boy say something like that!” Iris put the hand that wasn’t holding mine up to her cheek and wriggled back and forth. Evidently, R’s guess was right.

“Hah... hahahah...” She was mistaken about quite a few things, actually, but it didn’t feel like a good time to correct her.

If I’d left Satsuki in the factory, I needed to go back and get her. I tried to tell Iris I was in a hurry, but she wasn’t listening.

“Yes, that settles it! Rekka— you can be my lover!”

“Huh?!” Isn’t that skipping a bunch of steps?!

“If I show Daddy I’ve got a lover, he’s sure to give up on that stupid marriage thing. Now, off we go!” She took a strange item out of the bag slung over her shoulder. It looked like a makeup compact. When she opened it up, I could see several buttons in a row. She pressed one of them with a slender finger.

Everything around us suddenly got darker as a huge flying object appeared above.

“A U... U...”

“Looks like a UFO, doesn’t it?” I was too shocked to move, but R’s voice was calm.

Iris pushed the button again, and this time a mysterious beam of light came down from the UFO— and began to suck us upward.

Was this going to be like cattle mutilation?! Wait, I just realized this when we started to float up, but Iris has a tail coming out of her butt! Was she really an alien?

“W-Wait! What about what I want?!”

“You’re going to to protect me no matter what, right? So be my lover, okay?”

“That’s a big misunderstanding!” My scream was swallowed up by the light from the UFO, and so was I.

▽

“Mm...”

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Did I pass out? I was in some room I didn’t recognize. The ceiling and floor gleamed a dull silver. There were two windows on the walls and something that looked like a control panel. It seemed like I’d been sleeping on the floor.

“Sheesh, you scared me. Humans sure can’t handle their gravitational changes. Oh, and you were filthy, so I cleaned you and your clothes up while you were asleep.” Iris was grinning, and her face was strangely close to me. Wait, if I was sleeping on the floor, why did it feel like the back of my head was touching something soft?

“U-Uwah!”

“What? Does the idea of sleeping on my lap bother you that much?”

S-Sleeping on her lap?! I never thought I’d experience that! I felt my face turning red, but I couldn’t help but look at Iris’s thighs. So my head was lying on those bare thighs... Wait a second.

When I looked down, I could see her tail bouncing back and forth happily. Its hair was smooth like a horse’s tail, and it was silver, just like the pretty hair on her head. It was cute, I thought, but it was also unshakable evidence that she wasn’t human.

“Wait, where am I?!” I asked, a little belatedly.

“Inside a spaceship.”

“Not that! Where’s the ship?” I pressed my face up against the window to look outside.

On the other side of the window, I could see blurry, warped space that shone with rainbow colors.

“Is this... space?”

“It’s warp space. We’re heading to planet Finerita. It should take about three hours or so, I think?”

“Three hours?! I don’t have three hours! Send me back to Earth, right now!” Satsuki was in danger. I needed to hurry back and save her.

But the answer that came back wasn’t the one I wanted.

“I can’t. Warp space is a one-way street. Once you’re inside, you can’t get out until you reach your destination. If you want to get back, you have to wait until you arrive and then warp again.”

“N-No way...” I staggered and fell to my knees.

“What’s gotten into you? What’s wrong?”

I wanted to scream at her, but it didn’t feel like I had the strength. If only I hadn’t mistaken Iris for Satsuki... But regrets wouldn’t help me now. I’d just have to pray for her safety while I waited for the warp to end, and then ask Iris to take me back.

But it would take at least six hours to get back no matter how fast I hurried. I felt like I was going to pass out.

Iris got mad again when she saw how I looked. “Come on, get a hold of yourself! I can’t introduce you to Daddy looking like that.”

“Huh? Daddy? Introduce me?”

“That’s right. I’m going to say that you’re my lover, and introduce you to my dad.”

“Why?”

“To make my dad give up on marrying me to King Satamonia!”

“Why?” Iris got even madder.

“I didn’t say a word about wanting to get married! That disgusting Satamonian just keeps trying to court me. And Daddy’s trying to hand me off because he doesn’t want to make him mad. He’s trying to marry me off to help him politically! No, he’s basically trying to sacrifice me!”

“Sure, that sounds bad, but is this King Satamonia guy really that scary when he gets angry?”

“He is, yeah. The Greater Galactic Federation... Wait, you wouldn’t know what that is. It’s basically like a space government. And it’s run by representatives from 72 planets, chosen by each galaxy. And my home planet, planet Finerita, has one of those 72 seats, but since it’s political, there’s all these factions and hierarchies.”

“King Satamonia’s planet is high up in those hierarchies, then?”

“Yup. He’s the leader of a bunch of stupid, violent fascists. And there’s all kinds of dark rumors about him, too. They say his armies are pillaging some of the border planets and things. Just hearing it makes me sick.”

If that was true, King Satamonia was a really bad guy.

“Anyway, I just don’t want to marry him!”

“Uwah!” Why was she grabbing on to me?!

“So... you can be my lover, and then that’ll solve the problem!” Her high-pitched voice tickled my ears. I could feel two soft, round things pressing against my back. They felt like pudding! It made it impossible to think.

“No, why would I...”

“Because you’re going to save me, right? And you were kind of cool when you grabbed my hand and pulled me out of there. And it’s an honor to be my lover, even if it’s just pretend.”

“Okay, okay! Just let me go!”

“Huh? Why?” Iris tilted her head to the side in confusion. She seemed to not be doing it deliberately.

Please! Stop pressing those soft things into me! Please! Huh? What? I have to pretend to be her lover to stop her from getting married? But I have to get back and save Satsuki from Messiah, and... wait, her... her... they’re... Gah! I can’t think! I need to get her off of me so I can take a minute to think.

“Sorry, but do you have anything to drink? I’m really thirsty.”

“Oh, come to think of it, you really have been doing a lot of running. Wait. I’ll bring you something now.” Iris got off me, and went through one of those fancy sci-fi sliding doors into the next room to get me something to drink.

“All right, R.”

“What is it?” R, who had been staying quiet this whole time, raised her hand and answered me.

“Let me ask you a question.”

“Sure. As long as it’s not something that will help you resolve one of the stories.”

“Then let me ask you straight. Whose story am I involved in right now?”

“Iris’s, I believe.”

“Then what happened to Satsuki? Is she safe?”

“I can’t answer that question. But if your question is whether you’re still involved in Satsuki’s story, too, the answer is yes.”

Damn it. I figured she’d say that.

“So I’m caught up in both Satsuki’s and Iris’s stories at the same time?”

“You’re so popular! All these different stories want a piece of you.”

“Don’t act like it’s a good thing!” How was I supposed to save my childhood friend and a space princess at the same time?

“Well, for my part, I’m just relieved to see that you’re capable of blushing and acting embarrassed around the heroines.”

Grr... I just realized that R had seen everything that happened when I’d been sleeping on her lap and when she’d been pushing up against me.

“Anyway, Rekka, don’t you think you panicked a little too much back there?”

“Any guy would react that way!” I tried desperately to defend myself, but R just grinned.

“Sheesh... What’s your take on Iris, R?”

“I’m not into yuri.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“I was joking. My take on Iris? Hmm... I think she’s a very frank person who says what she likes and what she doesn’t like. You could call her selfish or childish, if you liked. But she has a very natural way about her.”

Hmm... her opinion was about the same as mine. “She’s a kid, in both a good and bad way.”

“But she doesn’t have the body of a child.”

“Shut up!”

“But you decided to help her after you felt her breasts, didn’t you?”

“No!” The instant I yelled back at her, the door slid open and Iris came back.

“No what?”

“No, nothing!” Iris couldn’t see R, so I was able to talk my way out of it.

“Here, have some juice.” She offered me an orange liquid that tasted like a sports drink. The taste filled my mouth and slaked my thirst instantly.

“This tastes really good.”

“Does it? I’m glad.” Iris smiled.

Honestly, it was a beautiful sight to see.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing!”

“You said that a moment ago.”

Gah... I’d never had any girls in my life except my mom and Satsuki. The encounter rate was going up way too fast! I didn’t know how to handle this!

As I gulped down the juice to hide my red face, Iris pushed herself up against me. Her breasts pressed up against my back again, and I almost spit out my drink.

“Hey, are you busy?”

“Huh? N-No, but um... get away from me...” I tried to subtly move away, but I couldn’t shake off the hand she put on my shoulder. Were Fineritans stronger than humans?

“I’ll show you around the ship, then. Your planet— Earth, was it? It doesn’t have this kind of technology yet, right? I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

“Fine. Fine, just get off me...”

Iris moved away a second later, but I ended up letting her show me around the ship.

The only place that wasn’t really decorated was the control room I’d been in. All the other rooms had pink or soft white walls, and her private room was filled with the kind of fancy furniture and decorations that girls love. Her taste didn’t seem to be that different from an average Earthling’s.

The last room she showed me into was a tiny one at the ship’s stern.

“What is this place?”

“Hmm... it’s kind of like a storeroom, I guess.”

Iris said “open” and the door slid open with a whoosh sound. I went inside and saw that it was filled with all kinds of different things. I couldn’t imagine what most of them were for, but several of them piqued my interest.

“What’s this?”

“A warp watch. It’s a small teleportation device.”

“Huh, cool.” Just as the name “warp watch” implied, it was shaped like a small wristwatch.

“Want to put it on?”

“Can I?” She gave me permission, and I tried it on. You wore it just like a regular wristwatch. Hmm? Couldn’t I use this to get back to Earth?

“Hey, how do you use this thing?”

“It’s simple. You push the button on the side to boot it up, and then input the coordinates of the place you want to warp and activate it.”

“Coordinates?”

“The spatial coordinate axis, based off the place you’re currently standing.”

I’m terrible at math, though.

“Oh, and since it’s a small device, it can only move you a few hundred kilometers. And it can only move one or two people, and maybe the things they’re holding.”

So even if I could use it, I couldn’t get back to Earth, then. I sighed a little when I thought she wasn’t looking, and then I picked up something that looked like a gun.

“What’s this?”

“A laser gun.”

I thought so. I’d seen guns like this in science fiction movies. It was kind of cool-looking.

I was feeling a sense of awe as I looked at the gun, but I could see Iris pouting next to me. Did I do something wrong?

“Um... you look kind of upset. Is something wrong?”

“I don’t like that thing. It’s from Satamonia. But it’s really strong, and sometimes undeveloped planets can be dangerous...”

“Oh, I see.” She must really hate this King Satamonia guy.

I would feel really bad if she had to marry a guy like that. But... compared to the danger that Satsuki was in right this very minute, it didn’t seem like a very pressing problem. If I couldn’t deal with Messiah somehow, I probably wasn’t going to have time to help Iris.

Satsuki’s phone was in my pocket. I didn’t want this to be the last thing I had to remember her by. Just as I was about to tell her I needed to go back and save my childhood friend, the room suddenly filled with green flames.

“Uwah?!”

“Huh? What’s going on?! Rekka!” Iris backed away in surprise as she cried my name.

“Wh-What is this?” I thought it was fire... but it wasn’t hot? The strange flames, if that’s what they were, got stronger. Soon they were covering me and R, too.

“R!”

“Oh dear. What a sticky predicament, huh?”

Don’t act so calm! Freak out a little, like I am!

Then the green flames’ color became white.

A flood of light filled the room, and took me away to a world of pure white.

“Rekka!”

The last thing I heard was Iris’s voice. And as I felt a strange, floating sensation, I crossed some kind of boundary.

1-3: Summoned to Another World

I’d been keeping my eyes shut, but suddenly I could tell that the light had vanished, and the strange sense of floating was gone. Did this mean that whatever happened was now over? I fearfully opened my eyes, only to be shocked. I’d lost count of how many times that had happened to me today already.

I’d gone from a futuristic spaceship to a big, medieval-looking room made of stone. There were elaborate decorations everywhere, and a thick carpet lay on the floor. But the carpet cut off where I was, and instead there was a strange, intricate design on the floor.

There were a bunch of middle-aged and old men in medieval clothes, staring at me from a distance. What was going on here?

“Who’s that?”

“I’ve never seen clothes like his.”

“Did it succeed?”

“Impossible!”

“But what else could it be? It worked!”

“But he just looks like an ordinary boy to me.”

“A hero’s a hero, no matter how old he is.”

“But is he really a hero?”

“A hero...”

“A hero...”

What were they whispering about? I heard a word that I was normally only used to hearing in video games.

“Our hero!” And then there was a loud shout, and a girl jumped into my arms. She looked to be thirteen or fourteen. She wore a robe that covered her whole body, and her smokey blond hair was pressing into my chest.

The girl in my arms looked up at me. I was shocked at what I saw.

There were huge tears in her eyes.

“Huh? Wh-Why are you crying?”

“Hero! What is your name?” The girl cut me off. Her voice was full of energy. She seemed to be crying tears of joy, not sadness. That was a relief, at least.

“My name’s Rekka Namidare, but... where am I?” I answered the girl’s question and asked one of my own.

“Rekka Namidare... So the hero’s name is Sir Rekka, then!”

“I’m... the hero?” The hero? Why was I a hero? And where was I?! But while I was panicked, reality was mercilessly settling in.

“Your Highness! The hero says his name is Rekka Namidare!”

“Huh? ‘Your Highness’?”

I followed the girl’s gaze, and... there he was. The most regal-looking man I’d ever seen, sitting on a huge, luxurious throne. He was fat and wore a crown. That’s exactly how kings were supposed to look!

“I see! Then the royal family’s legend was true?” The king was impressed for some reason, but I was having a hard time trying to keep up.

I had a bad feeling, though.

“Hero from another world! Please, defeat the Demon Overlord that threatens our kingdom of Aburaamu and save us!”

And there’s the line I was expecting. Thanks. Now I knew exactly what was going on.

“I see. So this time, you’ve been caught up in the story of a hero and a demon overlord, huh?”

Seemed like it. I was already busy with wizards and aliens, and now I’d been sent to another world. Give me a break.

“Well, good luck.” I was on the verge of a breakdown, but R was floating in space with her knees crossed, relaxing. My suffering probably meant nothing to her.

But I couldn’t afford to be unconcerned. There were over a hundred people around me, and they looked so excited that it was a little scary. They were getting closer and closer. If I wasn’t careful, they might all leap on top of me like the girl had done. One of them in particular was a middle-aged man with rippling muscles. I definitely didn’t want him jumping on me.

“Harissa. What’s wrong with the hero?” The king must have wondered why I wasn’t saying anything, because he looked suspicious when he asked the girl.

The girl— Harissa, her name was— still had her face buried in my chest. She looked up at me. Her eyes were a pretty blue.

“Hero. Tell me something.”

“Something? Is anything okay?”

“Yes!”

“All right... Please let me rest for a little while. Please.”