Bonus Short Stories

With My Smartphone

“Local High School Student Killed In Freak Lightning Strike.”

I came across an article with that title. That fifteen-year-old highschooler, Mochizuki Touya, was me.

By all rights, it should’ve been a horribly tragic accident, but the wording of the article just seemed pretty bland.

Old Man God told me that he brought my body up to the God Realm just as I was about to be cremated. The remains in the urn back home were a fake he switched out. Hearing that made me feel sorry for my parents.

I died. I traveled to the world beyond. Still, I was free to live in this world. Even if I was trapped here, I could still browse on my smartphone. I could watch my favorite shows every week, too. Plus, my smartphone appeared to have infinite credit.

It was a service from God, but apparently I was still using a standard data provider. God just had the money transferred regularly. I could use the phone to make calls, but my only available contact was God. That seemed fair, though. I was dead back home, so if I started calling, then my family would be upset.

I could read articles online, and watch any shows I wanted online... However, no calls or e-mails were permitted, and I couldn’t post on forums, either.

Still, it was quite the useful little tool. Information’s the strongest weapon, after all. He who controls the information controls the world.

Also, my Smartphone seemed to automatically update itself. Whenever the developers released a new model back home, my phone slowly morphed into it. I guess you could say it evolves? I noticed it getting thinner recently, though. Wasn’t sure what was up with that.

Still, it was a gift from God, so I didn’t really need to ask any questions. After all, it was thanks to him that I was doing so well in the new world.

“Something wrong, Touya?”

“I’m fine, it’s just a little early. Heading over to the guild?”

“Yup. Hope there’s some good quests.”

“If you finish early, wanna grab something to eat?”

“Alright! Let’s do that!”

I turned off my smartphone as I answered that question, thinking that I was going to do my best once more on this sunny day.

All the while, I felt the comforting feeling of the reliable friend in my breast pocket as I headed off to make my rounds.

The Maid’s Morning

It was early in the morning, but that didn’t deter Francesca’s actions. She was the Terminal Gynoid of the garden, and Babylon Number 23.

She woke up at the same time every day. Gynoids didn’t need to sleep, but she still did. Some of the sisters slept for quite a while, in fact. After that, she worked as a maid, so she often came down from the garden to inspect the various rooms in Brunhild Castle.

On one fine day, Cesca woke up at her usual time in order to begin her work.

“Today I’m gonna try a high-class approach...”

It wasn’t a huge deal. Just some lacy underwear. The boy she referred to as Master was owed a little teasing.

Cesca had a fine selection of panties. But today, she was wearing simple white lingerie with lacy bits. She was confident in her womanly charms.

After Cesca finished changing into her maid uniform, it was time to head down to the castle.

“Oh, Cesca. Mooorning.”

“Good morning.”

At the entrance hall, Cesca was greeted by a girl who wore a pink bow. It was Ripple, the living painting that acted as Brunhild Castle’s security system. She was originally an artifact created by Doctor Babylon herself, which kind of made her a cousin to the gynoids.

“Any problems last night?”

“Nothing at aaaaaall.”

Cesca gave a little nod, then produced her cleaning supplies. Following that, she began to clean up the entry hall with considerable speed.

When she finished, she headed straight into the main audience chamber, where she once again began to sweep at lightning speed, pausing only to rub down the royal throne with a thick cloth.

As she cleaned the seat, she began to rub really hard, pressing her hands lewdly down on to the chair and breathing heavily. It was clear that the idiotic perv was taking a little too much pleasure from her work.

After enjoying herself for a little while, Cesca got up and headed toward her final destination. She walked far deeper into the castle, until she reached his room. He’d put a key in the door to prevent anyone coming in as he slept. However, that was a futile measure. Cesca produced a small, thin tool and inserted it into the keyhole. Then, she pushed out the key on the other side and began wiggling. Eventually, the latch opened.

Without a sound, she tiptoed into the room with the dexterity of an experienced criminal. The morning light breached the window as Cesca scuttled over to her sleeping master, as well as his unprotected face.

“Master... It’s time to get up now...” Cesca spoke very quietly. Intentionally, of course. Naturally, he didn’t respond.

“Oh gosh, Master... You’re not waking up? Maybe I should wake you up with a ■■■■■, or perhaps you’d like me to reach over and give you a □□□□?”

The boy still didn’t stir.

“You want it that bad, huh...? Alright then, I suppose I’ll service you a little...”

Cesca immediately shed her maid uniform in a matter of seconds. She looked like a quick-change magician. She was clad only in her lacy underwear as she made her way toward her slumbering master...

“I’ll just have to wake you up with my body...” Cesca brought her face close to her master’s as she said that, and their lips just barely grazed against each other. Then, the boy’s eyes opened, and Cesca was suddenly hit by the sensation of falling.

“Agh?!” She looked around in surprise, seeing that she was no longer in the same room. Once again, she had been sent away by a [Gate].

“Hehe... I got to touch his pretty little lips... Today’s gonna be a great day!” After putting an excited finger up to her lips and giggling for a bit, she headed toward her closet to grab a new maid uniform.

As always, Cesca would spend the day rushing around for the sake of the man she so dutifully served.

Big Sis’ Stuffed Toy

“What are you up to, Touya?

“Oh, Yumina? I was just thinking about what kind of toys to make for Yamato.”

“For him?” Yumina looked at the table and found a lot of little toys, mostly made out of wood. Her younger brother, Prince Yamato of Belfast, was still under a year old, so she wondered if those toys were really appropriate.

“Well, it should be fine as long as it’s something simple... What’s this?” Yumina pointed toward a strange item. It was a circular shape on a stick with two balls on a string hanging on each side. When you turned the handle, the balls would hit against the paper skin and produce a drumming sound.

“It’s a rattle drum. Heard they’re popular in Eashen. Or well, something similar, at least.”

“That’s cute... Yamato should like that. Oh, what’s this?” Yumina pointed toward what appeared to be a small ladder with angled steps.

“Oh, this...” Touya put a small square-shaped toy on top of it, and it slid down each segment before finally clattering at the bottom.

“This is lovely... But Yamato would probably eat that piece...”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. When I made it, I enchanted it so it tastes really bad. Kids should spit it out right away.

Touya explained a lot of his other toys, showing various building blocks, animal-themed sets, bells on sticks, whistles, rattles, and so on.

“This is the best one!”

“Really? That?”

Yumina was referring to a stuffed toy that Touya had pulled out from his [Storage]. Stuffed toys existed in this world, but only members of upper class families could hope to have a cuddly toy stuffed with cotton. Lots of different types existed, but they wildly varied in quality.

“Could I... give him this?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

Yumina happily took the stuffed animal. It had been enchanted with [Protection] which prevented gradual wear and tear, while also keeping dust from collecting on it.

“He’s so cuuute! Thankyouuu!”

Yumina cuddled the toy with a huge smile on her face as she sang Touya’s praises. He blushed a tad as he heard that.

“Try squeezing him with both hands, then.

“Huh? Alright...” Yumina squeezed the toy a little, and a voice suddenly rang out.

“Yamatooo! It’s me, Yumina, your sister!”

“...Was that your voice just now, Touya?”

“Ah, well... It was a test, you know? I was gonna have you record it properly later.”

Yamato would probably have been terrified if he heard a weird man’s voice coming from a present his sister gave him.

“Figured if he could hear your voice whenever he wanted, he wouldn’t ever feel lonely.”

“...Thanks, Touya. I’m happy you thought of that...” Yumina giggled happily.

“Well, only the best for my future brother-in-law, right?”

They spent the afternoon recording various phrases, and then delivered the “Chatty Yumina” to the little prince. Prince Yamato ended up cherishing that toy for a long time to come.

Summers and Ghost Sightings

Summer is drawing near. What does that really mean, though? The sea? Fireworks? Watermelons? No, summer is all about ghost sightings. If you unravel my family lineage, you’ll find that we’re a lineage of Shinto priests. Well, at least, it was like that until my great-grandfather’s generation. Now, I don’t know if that has anything to do with what I’m about to say, but I do have a few ghost stories, and this time, I would like to introduce them to you...

#1:

It happened on a warm summer night. A friend and I were walking out of a convenience store, and there was a lone woman walking ahead of us.

Seems like a pretty generic situation, doesn’t it? You can almost imagine her getting scared by our presence and running away. I didn’t want that to happen, so I purposely slowed down, but my friend kept walking at the same pace as before, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he caught up to the woman.

Read the situation, I thought as I looked forward... and realized that the woman wasn’t there anymore. It was a path without any corners or turns. There were only walls without any openings that fenced off houses.

I asked the friend where the woman went, and his reply stunned at me...

“Huh? What’re you talking about? There was no one there.”

Really, it made a massive chill run down my spine.

#2:

This also happened on a warm summer night. I was out for a drive with a friend of mine back then. We stopped at a red light, and when I glanced outside, I saw a cat minding its own business in some dark bushes.

It wasn’t a normal cat, mind you... It was transparent. Not completely, of course. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have seen it. It was transparent in the sense that it looked like it was made of glass. I could only really make out its outline and eyes. After noticing my gaze, the cat slowly vanished into the bushes. I remember the traffic signal turning green and the car starting to move while I was still petrified. Just what in the world was that?

#3:

This is the scariest one... Yet again, it was a warm summer night, but this time I was having trouble sleeping. Before I knew it, my body became immobile. It was sleep paralysis. My consciousness was clear, but I couldn’t move even a single finger.

My vision was strange, as well. I was actually looking down at myself as I lied down in a six tatami size room. My hazy mind figured that it might’ve been an out-of-body experience.

This is bad. Very bad, I thought, but my consciousness suddenly returned to my body. Still, even then, I was immobile. At best, I could only slightly open my eyes. And that’s... when it happened.

While I was in bed, unable to move, I started hearing footsteps next to my ears. It sounded like the uniform march of an infantry unit.

The apartment I lived at the time was right next to a road, and there was an old military burial site not too far away.

Remembering that made a cold sweat run down my brow, but all I heard was the footsteps of many army boots. They seemed to be unaware of me, and they just passed me by while moving at the same pace.

After a period of time that felt both short and long, the footsteps grew distant and eventually faded. Eventually, I got up and realized that I was soaked in sweat. That was the first and only time I experienced sleep paralysis.

All three of those events happened when I was between 18 and 22 years old. Since then, as I grew older, such experiences became far less frequent.

Now that I’ve shared something like this with you, I’ll have you know that I am quite a coward. I absolutely hate ghost stories, and watching horror films is impossible for me. However, even though I’m certainly relieved about the decrease in sightings, a part of me is somewhat sad.

Well, let’s see what this summer brings...