Chapter 10: Digging a Hot Spring

“Haah...” Shingo sighed deeply.

Alice and Aikawa had needed to go home early, so Shingo and I were together in the research complex after school.

I looked up from feeding ice cream to Kon, and asked Shingo, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t think of a gift to give Megumi for her birthday.” He collapsed into a heap on the desk while looking at me and Kon as if to say, “I’m done for!”

All he has to do is give her some brand-name goods that she’ll like... I thought.

But I didn’t want to give Shingo such a lazy reply when he was clearly worried, so I decided I’d also give it some thought.

I don’t even know when her birthday is, I realized. That’s going to affect how much time we have to prepare something.

“When is her birthday?”

“July 20th.”

That gives us three whole weeks. That’s plenty of time to order something, or even to make something. The next most important thing is Aikawa’s interests and tastes. We need to make sure we choose something that’ll make her happy.

I asked Shingo what his girlfriend’s hobbies were and what kind of things she liked.

His response was surprising: “Well, that’s the thing. I’ve never asked her about that stuff, so I don’t know.”

What do you mean you don’t know?! How can you have so little interest in your own girlfriend?! I grabbed Shingo by the shoulders, and gave him a good shaking while I scolded him.

Shingo’s eyes filled with tears, and he began apologizing. “I’m sorry! I was kind of embarrassed, so I couldn’t ask her. Though I did hear her say she likes hot springs.”

Hot springs? I like those, too! All right! That settles it.

I grabbed Shingo by the shoulders again, and declared, “We’ll dig up a hot spring!”

“Buh hee?!” Shingo cried. His eyes seemed to say, “What are you talking about?”

I explained to him that if Aikawa liked hot springs, if Shingo dug up a hot spring especially for her, she was bound to love him all the more.

What’s more, if it was a hot spring we’d dug up ourselves, we could use it whenever we liked without having to pay, and we could bathe in it as much as we liked. And there’d be no one else around to bother us! It was the new perfect frontier for us.

I passionately explained this to Shingo, but he had questions about the particulars.

“But, what about the land? I’m sure we’d need help with the expenses and the labor involved.”

“Naturally, I’ve thought about that. We just have to buy some land!”

Shingo didn’t seem to have checked his account balance recently, but reward funds had been deposited into each of our accounts after we’d discovered a treatment for the European tragedy. The sum had been an incredible $500 million. If Shingo and I combined our reward money, we could even build a palace.

As for the labor, we could probably handle that using our own powered suits. I even had an idea about the specialist advice we’d need to successfully dig into a hot spring.

“Buh hee. I’m starting to think this could work.” Shingo was becoming enthusiastic, too.

“Now we just need to figure out where to start,” I said.

As I was considering what we’d do next, Shingo started to look worried. “Are you sure about this, Kouki?” he asked. “Isn’t there something else you’d rather use your reward money on?”

“Shingo, this is exactly the kind of thing I want to use my money for,” I said with a smile. “Stop worrying about that. Help me make plans.”

“Thank you,” replied Shingo sounding pleased.

I don’t know why he’s worrying about that. Once it’s finished, Alice and I can use it, too!

“Do you think we should look for a hot spring in the Hakone area?” I asked.

“Buh hee. That’s probably the best place to look for hot springs.”

Shingo and I relocated to my house, where we started to form detailed plans.

For the location, we’d buy a plot of land in the middle of a mountain in Hakone. The surrounding views would be one advantage, but the main reason was that there’d be no other people there to get in our way.

Next, we thought about the building that we’d put next to the hot spring. We decided it would be a building from overseas that we’d have dissembled and reassembled at the new location. This led to a problem...

“Let’s make it a Baroque castle!” I exclaimed.

“Buh hee! That’s hardly tasteful. We should make it a Gothic cathedral!”

Shingo and I had completely different standards when it came to the building. Our ideas were completely incompatible, but neither of us wanted to compromise. We decided to talk to my mom to settle the matter.

Mom looked at us as if we were garbage. “Wasn’t this hot spring meant to be a present for a girl?” she said. “Why would you choose some tasteless building that looks like it’s full of ghosts and vampires? It should be obvious that a beautiful Ottoman palace would be the right choice.”

Asking Mom was clearly a mistake...

In the end, Shingo and I decided to ask Clare, the rocket person who’d taken good care of us during the terrorist attack. We sent our three opinions to the email address she’d given us, and after 10 minutes, we received a reply.

“I’m rejecting all of those ideas. All of those buildings will stand out too much, so I think they’re best avoided. Make it a log house with a warm and gentle feel to it.”

Now that Clare had provided the voice of reason, we decided to have a log house imported. As for the land, that required some legal procedures, so we decided to buy it with my mom acting as the official owner.

We won’t be able to do anything more unless we actually go to a place where we can dig for the hot spring, I realized. I suggested to Shingo that we use our vacation time to do the work.

His response wasn’t what I’d expected. “I’ve finished my end of term tests, so I could just skip school. There’s nothing you particularly need to do at the academy, is there?”

We sent emails to our respective girlfriends, telling them that, “We’re going to be studying insect ecology for the next three weeks.” With that, all of our preparations were complete, and three days later, we were headed for a mountain in Hakone.

**

Setting out from a town at the foot of the mountain, we used my powered suit to fly to the land we’d bought. Naturally, Shingo was also wearing his powered suit, and I carried him with me. We also had as many of the necessary materials as I could carry.

It really is right in the middle of the mountainside, I noticed. There’s nothing to see but the forest surrounding us. I guess that’s a good thing...

“Kouki, we’re about to arrive at the destination,” Shingo told me via a transmission while he checked the map. “Increase your altitude so I can clear some space.”

Following his instruction, I climbed to 200 meters.

“I’m going to drop them now,” Shingo told me before dropping some of the land-clearing dynamite he’d brought with him.

The dynamite had been set to go off five meters above the ground, and it had the effect that we’d expected. All of the trees within a ten meter radius were blown over, creating a place to land.

I landed in the space we’d just created, and we continued our work without rest. We placed another ring of dynamite around the circumference before taking to the air again.

“Buh hee! Buh hee hee hee hee hee.”

We repeatedly planted explosive charges while Shingo repeatedly laughed his weird laugh, and more trees were blown down each time. Before long, we’d cleared a large enough area of land.

Shingo... We actually want to use those trees we’ve blown over. Don’t destroy them completely.

“Should we put the excavator here?” I asked.

“Yeah. Support it so it doesn’t fall over. I’ll operate it from here.”

Once we were done clearing the land, we set up a large excavator, and started digging for an underground water channel that would form our hot spring.

We’d asked a geologist, someone we’d met during our visit to the new metals development department in the Next-Generation Scientific Research Institute, to predict where water channels were most likely to be.

Once the excavator had planted an anchor sufficiently deep into the ground, our work was done for the day. Now we just had to leave it until morning, at which point we expected that a hot spring would be flowing up from the water channel.

I took to the sky again while carrying Shingo, and we flew back toward the town at the foot of the mountain, where we’d reserved rooms for the night.

**

Miki Arakawa’s Point of View

To obtain an area of land for Kouki and Saito, I had to visit the National Administrative Office. I didn’t think there’d be any problem with Kouki owning some land himself, but there were actually a lot of complicated procedures to deal with aside from the land ownership. There’s a lot of diverse and complicated red tape that I had to deal with, such as the permit for using the hot spring water and the building permit for the building.

“I thought there was nothing Kouki didn’t know, but he is just a child, after all,” I murmured.

Kouki was always solving all of his own problems, so I was delighted that he’d asked his mother to help him with a personal project. I suppose that was why I’d suddenly shown up at a government office without remembering to make an appointment.

“My name is Miki Arakawa,” I told them. “I’m hoping to speak with a manager about a plot of land.”

I knew I couldn’t expect them to arrange a meeting when I’d shown up without warning, so I used the name Arakawa to grease the wheels a little. As expected, I was soon granted a meeting with a manager, and guided into a room. For some reason, the manager looked terrified and was sweating profusely.

“A-Are you preparing for a coup d’état?!” he asked. “We don’t want to be involved. Please talk to someone at the Cabinet Office or the Self-Defense Force Headquarters!”

Where would he get that idea? I wondered. I just want to talk about buying some land for Kouki and the associated rights.

“Understood! We’ll grant permission for whatever, so please spare me my life!!” he added, while handing over a stamped settlement document.

Now it’s going to look as though I’ve used threats to force him into giving me what I want! I thought I could use the name Arakawa to force my way into this meeting, but this is getting out of hand. It’s going to make Kouki and Saito look bad, too.

Two hours later, I’d politely explained everything and cleared up the misunderstanding. I left the meeting room with signatures on all of the necessary documents. It was only when I reached the exit to the government office that I realized why the manager had been so afraid.

“Well, this would explain it,” I said to myself.

In front of me was the strengthened security team that I’d put together after the terrorist attack. Although they were all displaying United Nations emblems, arriving here with 200 fully armed soldiers, 15 tanks and armored vehicles, and an attack helicopter was bound to cause a misunderstanding.

Maybe this is overdoing it, I thought as I sent Kouki an email to tell him, “Everything went smoothly.”

**

Kouki Arakawa’s Point of View

“We did it!” I exclaimed.

“Buh hee hee, we finally did it!”

A little more than two weeks after we’d started work on the hot spring, we were finally satisfied with our work.

No hot spring had appeared in the place where we’d first tried digging. The whole thing had taken longer than we’d expected because we’d ended up having to try a further three different places.

Once the hot spring was flowing up, we’d used the trees that had been blown down to build some walls. We’d gotten the water just right by running a pipe underground and having it join with another pipe extending from another underground water channel.

After that, we created a bathing pool lined with rock, and then started assembling the imported log house somewhere where it wouldn’t be in the way. Assembling the log house had been so much trouble that I didn’t even want to recall the details. To put it briefly, it hadn’t been a job that could be comfortably handled by two people.

“That just leaves beds and other everyday necessities,” Shingo said. “Are you going to make a trip home and back to bring them here?”

“No, Clare asked some of her workmates to help. They’re going to bring everything here by helicopter. We can head back to the academy to see Alice and Aikawa.”

I decided not to tell Shingo that Clare had emailed me the other day to say, “It’ll turn into some sort of hedonist’s den if I leave you and Saito to furnish it, so let me handle that.”

What does she mean by hedonism?! She’s got us all wrong. I was really looking forward to buying canopy beds...

“Kouki, I’m done preparing,” said Shingo as I was muttering complaints to myself.

I stopped my grumbling, and we flew off toward the academy.

**

“What?! A hot spring?” Aikawa exclaimed.

We’d already contacted both of the girls to tell them to prepare for an overnight stay and wait for us in the research complex. All that had remained was to tell them our plans.

I watched with a grin as Shingo began bashfully explaining that this was a present for Aikawa.

“So, I remembered you saying you liked hot springs, and I made one with Kouki. We said we were studying insects, but the truth is, we were digging a hot spring the entire time. For your birthday present... could you... accept that?”

Shingo was so tense he couldn’t speak properly, but the meaning was clear: “I’ve dug up a hot spring for you, and now I’m taking you there.”

Aikawa hugged Shingo with delight. Shingo looked thrilled, and I felt as though our hard work had paid off.

I was losing myself in my thoughts when Alice said to me with a smile, “I wonder what I’ll get for my birthday.”

Truth be told, I hadn’t even thought about it, so I just told her, “It’s a secret.”

Alice climbed into my powered suit, and Aikawa somehow squeezed into Shingo’s powered suit, and we unsteadily flew back to the hot spring. Everything we’d need day-to-day had already been transported to the log house. There was also a letter that had been left on a table, and I read it to myself.

“I’ve brought some items that my older sister Elise and some of my female colleagues helped me choose. I’ve paid for everything from Kouki’s account, so there’s no need to worry.”

After reading the letter, I took a look around. The tables and kitchenware that filled the room certainly did have a certain feminine touch to them. Isn’t this all a little too fancy? I worried.

“Megumin! Look how cute this is!” Alice squealed.

“I know! The boys have such great taste!”

The girls seemed to approve, so I tore the letter up into small pieces, and decided we’d take the credit. I looked over at Shingo and he nodded when he saw the look in my eyes. We just have to hope they don’t find out!

Next, we need to show them the bathing area, I decided. It’ll be best if they see it by actually bathing in it.

“Okay. Alice and I will go take a bath. No peeping,” Aikawa told me, looking a little embarrassed.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I replied, but my thoughts were less pure: Shingo and I already have it all planned out! I keep telling myself this, but we really have to hope they don’t find out!

Alice looked me in the eye and softly said, “That’s right. Peeping on me wouldn’t be so bad, but if I caught Kouki peeping on Aikawa, I’d have to crush him.”

What? Crush which part of me?! I was so afraid, it made my stomach hurt.

Aikawa seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Right. if Shin peeps on Alice and not me, I’ll crush him, too.”

“Buh hee?!” cried Shingo in terror.

The girls left us to think over what they’d just said as they headed to the outdoor bath. We couldn’t move.

Has Alice always been this terrifying?

I tried hard to remember, but no answer came to me. Though I did realize one thing... Alice had said, “peeping on me wouldn’t be so bad.”

That must mean.... Shingo must have remembered that Aikawa had said the same thing to him, because when we looked at each other, we were both grinning broadly. This year’s summer vacation is going to be a lot of fun.

**

Megumi Aikawa’s Point of View

I opened the door leading to the outdoor bath, and the bath in front of me was bigger than any I’d ever seen. I’d once visited Noboribetsu Hot Spring while staying in a hotel in Hokkaido, but this bath was at least twice as big as that.

“Wow, it’s so big! Megumin!” Alice squealed.

Alice was full of innocent joy, but this bath wasn’t just big.

I can’t imagine how much work it must have been to create this... I thought. Shin asked me, “Could you accept it?” but now that I’ve seen it, there’s no way I could refuse.

“Let’s get in,” said Alice. She washed her body and then climbed into the bath.

I followed her example, and joined her in the hot water. The water temperature was so perfect that I couldn’t help letting out a satisfied, “Fuwaah.”

“Ahaha. Megumin, you sound like a cat!”

Alice was making fun of the noise I’d made, but I took no notice, and continued moving further into the bath.

“Megumin, wait.” I heard her voice as she followed behind me, but I didn’t stop.

With no other visitors around, a lifelong dream of mine had finally come true: I can swim in the bath! I moved to the center and took a deep breath before completely immersing myself in water. When I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, I lifted my head above the water, and was surprised to see Alice swimming toward me at full speed butterfly style.

“You’re so mean. I can’t believe you’d leave me behind and swim off like that.”

“I’m sorry. I got a little excited,” I said. “But why would you swim after me butterfly style? You should just swim normally.”

“Butterfly is the only swimming style I know,” Alice replied, sounding a little annoyed.

If she can only swim butterfly, does that mean that when she goes to places like the beach with Arakawa, she swims after him at top speed butterfly style? That might look... No, that absolutely must look terrifying. Maybe I should teach her another swimming style?

I considered for a while before asking Alice if she wanted me to.

“Really?” she said. “I want to learn the crawl.”

I wasn’t thinking of that, Alice, I thought with a sigh. What I want to teach you is something more like... how you should swim when you want to have fun with your boyfriend at the beach.

**

After spending some time teaching Alice to swim a new stroke, we sat at the edge of the bath to cool ourselves down. We sat there absentmindedly gazing at the sky.

“We should have brought Kon with us,” said Alice, as though she’d forgotten about Kon until now. “Hm... Maybe he’d be a little shocked if we put him in the hot water?”

I wonder. I’ve never heard of a dragon bathing in a hot spring, even in legends, but I can just imagine Kon surprising everyone by happily floating in the water.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a small rocket taking to the air with a swoosh! I looked around and saw rockets flying up from near the entrance area.

I wonder what they’re doing.

Before I could ask Alice, she’d already begun shouting. “Kouki, what are you doing?”

“We’re firing rockets to ward off dangerous animals,” he shouted back from some distance away. “Next we’re going to launch a firework made by Shingo himself. Make sure you don’t miss it.”

I had a hard time understanding his answer. Why don’t they just use firecrackers? I don’t see why they have to use anything as big as a rocket. Though if I said that to Shin, I can just imagine him replying with some nonsense like, “Buh hee! But those lack passion.”

Shwoosh... Bang.

My head was full of thoughts of Shin as the sky was suddenly illuminated by fireworks. The fireworks might have been a little smaller than those you’d see at a firework show, but they were well-made fireworks that filled the night sky with big beautiful flowers.

“They are so pretty...” said Alice.

I nodded my head in agreement.

As we watched the fireworks, Alice asked me a serious sounding question: “Megumin... what made you fall for Saito?”

I pondered. I don’t know what it was about him... I just started liking him before I’d realized it myself. I remember that at first, my only thoughts about him were, “He’s a creepy person with a weird laugh.” How could that turn into love?

I searched through my memories, and found something I remembered very clearly.

My initial impression had begun to change when I’d been searching for something after school. I’d lost a disc containing research data, and Shin had just happened to pass by. He’d helped me look for it for three hours.

When we’d found the disc, I’d expected Shin would ask me for something in return, but all he’d said was, “You must be relieved! Well, I’m going home now.” He’d left before I could even thank him. That must have been when I’d started to think of him as a “weird but kind person.”

Sometime later, I’d gotten into some trouble with some delinquents in town. They’d grabbed me by the arm and tried to make me go with them, but then I’d heard Shin’s voice.

“Hey, let her go.”

He’d been shaking a little, but I clearly remembered feeling as though I could depend on him as he’d dropped his heavy bags to the ground to come save me.

As you’d expect, the delinquents had been about to beat up Shin, but then he’d opened one of the bags he’d dropped, and activated Chabane.

Chabane hadn’t been able to talk back then, and watching Shin use Chabane to rescue me had caused me to think of Shin as a “weird but cool person with a lot of courage.”

I told Alice this, and she said, “So in the end, you still think of him as a weird person.”

“That’s just because he is weird... though I like that part of him, too. But what made you fall for Kouki?”

“It’s a secret.”

I scowled angrily at Alice. Refusing to answer my question after I’d answered hers was hardly fair.

“The fireworks are finished. Shall we get out? We can make plans for this summer vacation over dinner!”

Alice seemed to have noticed that I was glaring at her, and she ran off to the changing room. I looked up into the sky. The fireworks had all disappeared. I decided that next time I’d definitely get an answer to the question that Alice had completely avoided.

This year’s summer vacation is going to be a lot of fun.

**

Baldy’s Point of View

I sat with my subordinates eating the portable meal I’d brought for dinner as we sat, hiding near the building where Kouki was staying. The food was cold and far from delicious, but I was hungry, and it was good enough. I ate in silence while resting my back against a well-positioned rock.

“Why’d we have to wind up with a mission like this?” one of my subordinates complained. “Right now, Kouki must be messing around with those cute girls and bathing in the hot spring. Meanwhile, we’re out here eating cold food and being bitten by insects... It’s so unfair, I can’t stand it.”

“You’re getting paid to be here, aren’t you?” I responded. “Stop whining and eat your food. We still don’t know everything about the previous attack. This isn’t the time to let your guard down.”

It was the obvious response, but he continued to grumble as if he didn’t accept it. Judging from the looks on the faces of the other members of our group, everyone seemed to share his opinion.

Seems I’ve no choice... I hadn’t been ordered to keep quiet about it, so I decided I’d share certain pieces of information with them.

“This is something that only commanding officers and their superiors know about, but Arakawa didn’t just buy the land around that building.”

As soon as I began to talk, everyone stopped complaining to listen to what I was saying.

There’s nothing to it. They’re professionals, so they’ll be able to continue the mission if I can lessen their dissatisfaction for a little while.

I continued, “Naturally, Kouki knows nothing about this. Only the money for the building and the land around it was taken from his account. However, Arakawa bought up all of the land in the surrounding region. She did that because she’s going to create something for us while we’re hiding out here.”

“What’s she going to create?” a curious sounding subordinate asked me.

Before finishing what I’d been saying, I told everyone, “Let’s see tonight’s mission through to the end without complaining.” Once they had all agreed, I went back to what I’d been saying.

I explained, “She wants to create a ‘perimeter base.’ This whole area is going to become a fortress owned by Arakawa. Although it’ll look like an ordinary mountain at a glance, there’ll be an underground fortress here. I don’t know the details myself, but I’ve heard that it’s expected to house 1,800 soldiers and their equipment.

“Arakawa pressured the United Nations into giving her the necessary permissions because she’s had great fears for her son’s safety ever since the previous attack. Essentially... Arakawa is going to command an armed division in Japan secondary only to the self-defense forces. In terms of quality, it might actually be considered the biggest armed division in Japan. There’s no doubt that the legendary Shuuichi and his people will also be stationed here.”

I could see that there was great excitement amongst my subordinates. In short, we were going to be included in the staff housed in that underground fortress. I considered it a great honor.

With Kouki’s brains, Arakawa’s financial resources, and Shuuichi’s military might, the three of them acting together will be able to bend even the United Nations to their will.

I folded my arms, feeling as though what I was imagining was something to be feared. Just then, there was the sound of a rocket being launched from the direction of the building.

An attack?! Impossible! I was close to panic as we received a wireless communication.

“At present, shots are being fired to drive away dangerous animals as a defense measure.”

I see. In that case, there is no cause for concern. I sat down again, and listened to the conversation my subordinates were having.

“If they build an underground fortress in this area, the bath will definitely be a hot spring! I can’t wait.”

“Right! The female soldiers are going to be pleased, too. If all goes well, maybe we can peep.”

“Speaking of peeping, that reminds me. That Alice girl was cute. Do you think we’d be able to see their bath from here using a scope?”

Just as these idiots were sharing their reckless ideas, there was a great thud as the rock my back was resting against was directly hit by a rocket. For a moment we were all quiet... but then the mastermind behind that reckless idea fell to his knees and looked as though he was about to cry.

I reassured him that it was just coincidence, but in a trembling voice he told me, “But, that rocket didn’t explode.”

I felt a shiver run up my spine when I realized what he was saying. What are the odds of one of their rockets flying straight toward us by chance, and then not exploding by chance? It’s impossible. It couldn’t happen.

I was certain they had deliberately fired at us. This first shot had merely been a warning shot.

I need to thank the principal for teaching him ethics. When I get back, I’ll have to write a report on “The effects of ethics training.”

I ordered my subordinates to keep their reckless ideas to themselves from now on.

I don’t know if those rockets really do ward off dangerous animals, but that rocket was certainly effective against the dangerous animals who wanted to peep on the girls.

**

Academy Principal Kaori Yamamoto’s Point of View

I was sorting papers in my office when I was disturbed by the sound of scratching coming from the door.

Could it be that creature again? I went over to open the door, and found a small dragon standing at my feet.

“Kon!”

It looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, “Hello.” I picked up Kon and took some tomatoes from the fridge. I’d been keeping tomatoes in there ever since the day I’d first met Kon.

As I watched him happily chewing on the tomatoes, I thought back to the first time I’d encountered this small dragon. It must have been the night after the attack on the academy....

There’d been reports stating that the academy was being destroyed and one student had been abducted, and I’d been busy taking calls from various interested parties. The calls had eventually died down, and I’d begun praying for the safe return of the student. That was when I saw Arakawa’s pet enter through the open door.

Arakawa had told me it was a new species of lizard. I wanted to chase it away because I was a little scared of reptiles. Unfortunately, this was Arakawa’s pet, so I couldn’t allow myself to panic in case I injured it. All I could do was watch.

The lizard was looking at me as it made its way toward me. Eventually, it jumped up under the desk, touched some nearby ink, and put its hand to a blank sheet of paper.

“Food, please.” The text was barely legible, but the lizard had undeniably written the text on the paper before my eyes.

In surprise, I asked it, “What are you? What kind of lizard can understand Japanese?”

In response, it wrote more on the paper: “I’m a dragon. We’re different from lizards. Food, please.”

A dragon... This lizard is calling itself a dragon. I’d normally laugh at the idea, but there was something irritatingly fitting about the idea of Kouki owning a dragon as a pet. It says it wants food, but what can I feed it at a time like this? If anything will do, then I might be able to find something.

I tried asking the dragon what kind of food it wanted.

“I like vegetables,” it wrote. “But anything will do.”

If vegetables are good enough, then I should have some leftover salad from lunch... I handed over the salad, and it began to eat happily. The poor thing must have been quite hungry. It’s so focused on eating.

Once it had finished eating, it once again wrote on the paper. “Thank you. My name is Kon.”

“I see. Nice to meet you, Kon.”

As I petted Kon, I realized that I was smiling. So many terrible things have happened today... I deserve at least something to soothe me now that it’s over.

Kon then touched a paperweight on the desk before writing more text on the paper: “Is this iron?”

“Yes, that’s an iron paperweight,” I responded.

Kon’s wings began to shine, and then there was a flash of purple light. The iron paperweight had become a sparkling solid gold paperweight.

“A gift in return. I’m leaving now,” Kon wrote.

He ambled out of the room the same way he came in.

“Kon? Konnn?”

I realized Kon was calling out to me, and I suddenly came to my senses. He’d finished eating the tomatoes I’d given him. He picked up my fountain pen and on a sheet of paper he wrote, “Thank you for the food. It was delicious.”

“Your writing is really getting better,” I praised him. He proudly puffed out his chest. It looked so cute that I couldn’t help but pet him.

Kon began writing again: “I’d like to show my appreciation. Giving you gold every time feels unsophisticated. Shall we try something else? Please name another precious metal or stone.”

That was the first time I could remember feeling lightheaded around Kon. Does he understand how much this skill of his is worth? I suppose I’ll explain it to him some other time...

For now, I decided I’d have him make a large blue diamond.

Sometime later, Kaori attended the United Nations conference where she was once again praised for overseeing Arakawa Kouki’s ethics training. High-ranking officials had decided to give her a monetary reward for her achievements.

Soon after, her love for cars led her to buy a high-class foreign car. However, the car was more expensive than anything the reward money could have paid for.

Despite many attempts to determine how she’d been able to pay for the car, it remained a mystery.