Read Novel Full Chapter 463 - The World After Repatriation
Chapter 463 - The World After Repatriation
<Takao Hijiri POV>
Ogito Academy, Class 2-C.
During their school trip, while traveling by bus, it was suddenly caught in a landslide.
The buses of the other classes were unharmed, only Class 2-C’s bus was involved.
From the condition of the scene, it was presumed to have been a very severe landslide.
The following are deductions based on the site conditions:
“A sudden change in weather triggered the landslide.”
“An avalanche-like mass of earth struck directly, sweeping the bus away.”
“Having lost control, the bus plunged off a cliff.”
“Fortunately, the cliff wasn’t that high, but it was carried quite a distance down the slope.”
“The bus’s windows were shattered, and many of the passengers were thrown outside.”
Fortunately, the number of injured was close to zero.
Some had their uniforms dirtied or torn by soil and mud, but most were virtually unharmed.
The bus driver, the teachers……
And the students as well.
“For people to come out of a landslide of this scale with such minor injuries is nothing short of a miracle.”
That was how severe the disaster had been, so much so that everyone thought the same.
However————-
That miracle applied only to those whose safety had been confirmed.
Yes, among the students, there were those who remained missing.
Seven students were unaccounted for (in attendance number order):
Ikusaba Asagi
Oyamada Shougo
Kariya Ikumi
Sakuma Haruhiko
Hirooka Akiyoshi
Mimori Touka
Yasu Tomohiro
They were believed to have been caught in the landslide, and the search was still ongoing.
Additionally, there were several puzzling aspects at the scene.
One was that most of the victims could not remember what happened before or after the landslide.
How it occurred, how they were caught in it……
Only a handful could explain.
“It is likely a temporary confusion of memory due to shock.”
This interpretation gained the most acceptance.
There was also, though not reported in the news, another strange point.
Torn pieces of clothing were scattered near a student named Kirihara Takuto.
The fabric was heavily damaged, no longer retaining its original form.
Kirihara Takuto himself was found wearing the academy uniform.
However, compared to the others, his clothing was in considerable disarray.
“Perhaps they were scraps of clothing that had already been discarded on the mountainside.”
Yet the fabric did not appear particularly old.
Even so, when asked about the clothing, Kirihara Takuto answered:
“They’re not mine.”
In other words, they were not part of the belongings he had brought on the school trip.
This remained an unresolved mystery———- or so the report stated.
The rescued teachers, students, and bus driver were all taken to the hospital.
After examination, every single one of them was judged to have no abnormalities——– no issues.
The students later reunited with their families and returned to their respective homes.
At first, the incident drew some attention in the news, online articles, and on social media.
However, this tragic disaster quickly faded from public attention.
A once wildly popular celebrity was arrested for drug possession.
A well-known video streamer became embroiled in scandal when a non-consensual explicit video was leaked and spread online.
The former was repeatedly reported, dominating headlines.
The latter “blew up” mainly on social media.
Numerous online articles and video platforms rushed to cover it.
Naturally, these two “incidents” captured public attention for quite some time.
Both the media and the internet———– though with varying intensity———– returned to them again and again.
Yes, with timing so perfect it was as if it washed away the landslide story entirely.
For several days, the public was consumed by these two fresh, “powerful” topics.
It spoke volumes about the influence those two figures had.
To the public, they were people who made one think “Don’t tell me!”.
If it were someone expected, the impact would be small.
But when it’s “This person, of all people!?”…… the buzz swells instantly.
Yet what is most frightening of all———-
Is that even such topics begin to fade within a week.
People forget, so easily.
Far too easily.
And so, the landslide that occurred during the school trip over a week ago———-
To the public, it had already become something all but forgotten.
That is the nature of “incidents” in society.
The masses are driven by the spectacle of “interest” and the “emotions” they hurl at it.
Unless they are directly involved, once those fade, their concern vanishes just as quickly.
They seem serious———- yet they are not.
The stirred emotions are like a passing storm, easily gone before long.
Yet such is the nature of gossip-driven psychology, it is, in a sense, “natural”.
And so, when a new target for their “interest” and “emotion” appears, they naturally move on to it.
Like a swarm of locusts.
▽
The landslide that occurred during the school trip of Class 2-C at Ogito Academy.
The bodies of the missing have still not been found.
However, the search will likely be called off eventually.
And for those who know the “truth”, it is a source of quiet anguish.
Because there is no way their bodies will ever be found.
At this moment, they no longer exist in this world.
Yet of course, that cannot be told to anyone.
There is no way it could be conveyed (and even if it were, no one would believe it).
And so———- To those who continue the search.
To the families who pray for their safety.
Day after day, Takao Hijiri feels a certain sense of guilt toward them.
Takao Itsuki flopped backward onto Hijiri’s bed and spoke.
[Honestly…… even now, it still doesn’t quite feel real. If anything, this side still feels like the isekai, you know……? It’s weird, but when we got summoned over there, I feel like I was way calmer than I am now.]
This was Hijiri’s room in the Takao household.
Their parents were not home at the moment.
Their father was away on a solo work assignment and only came back occasionally.
Their mother lived with them, but she was currently out shopping.
So right now, only the two sisters were in the house.
When they talked about things like this, they made sure to do so only when they were alone.
Seated at her desk with her back to it, Hijiri smiled faintly.
[You’ll get used to this world again soon enough.]
It was dusk.
A soft orange light filtered into the room through thin lace curtains.
Itsuki sat up.
[Kirihara seems fine, at least.]
[Before that…… have some decorum, Itsuki.]
[Like I care if you’re the one seeing me like this, Big Sis!]
Saying that, she raised one knee and casually lifted the hem of her skirt.
[That’s not what I meant…… but yes, about Kirihara-kun, he does seem alright. Compared to before the summoning, he looks slightly unstable mentally, but it doesn’t seem like he retains any memories of that world. That much is clear.]
Then again, it wasn’t just Kirihara Takuto.
The other students also appeared to be under mental strain.
That was only natural.
After all, seven of their classmates were still missing.
But with time, their memories and emotions would fade and heal.
It was true that people tended to forget easily———- but sometimes, that could be a strength.
As for memories, the four of them had retained theirs properly.
There didn’t seem to be any other students who still remembered.
In this world, only a single day has passed.
In other words, they were rescued the day after they had been summoned.
More precisely, not even a full 24 hours had passed.
Most of them had remained unconscious until just before the rescue.
The first to regain consciousness had been Takao Hijiri.
And roughly two hours after she woke up, rescue arrived.
[Hey, Big Sis…… about Kirihara’s clothes from the other world, can we assume some kind of reality correction happened to make things line up?]
[Most likely.]
When they returned, there had probably been some kind of “world alteration” to reconcile inconsistencies.
[By the way…… I never really thought about it before, but we didn’t just spend one day over there, right? Does that mean our bodies actually aged by however long we were in that world?]
[In accordance with the parallel world theory, one could say we were sent to a different parallel world from the one before we were summoned——— but as for that, it’s hard to say. It does feel somewhat similar in structure to that famous story of the tamatebako, but measuring discrepancies or differences in physical age would be difficult.]
Itsuki absentmindedly played with the end of her side ponytail.
[Like, guys who hadn’t cut their hair for a while over there…… their hair went back to the length it was before the summoning, right? So doesn’t that mean our physical age probably only advanced by about a day too?]
[As I said, it may be difficult to analyze. But regardless———– judging from the matter with Kirihara-kun’s clothes, I do think some kind of rewriting of world information took place.]
Their Skills had, as expected, been lost.
The same went for their status revisions.
Of course, they could no longer bring up any sort of Status Window.
Aside from their memories, it was fair to say everything had returned to “normal”.
The sense of discomfort from losing their status revisions had only lasted at the beginning.
For example, the feeling of gravity when returning to Earth from space.
It was perhaps similar to that kind of sensation.
Of course, none of them had ever actually experienced that.
Additionally, images and videos on their smartphones had also disappeared.
Hijiri had saved data from that other world before returning, in order to test this.
Touka and Loqierra had approved of it.
They believed that if it was Takao Hijiri, there would be no problem.
(I was trusted, wasn’t I?)
Itsuki sat cross-legged on the bed.
[The reason stuff about our class suddenly died down in the news was because of those scandals and controversies popping up, right? But that doesn’t have anything to do with that world alteration thing, does it?]
[I don’t think so.]
[The main family…… do they have that kind of power too?]
[No———– this time, I don’t believe it was the Aoshimas’ power.]
The surname Takao comes from Hijiri’s father’s side.
Aoshima, meanwhile, was her mother’s maiden name.
In addition, within the Aoshima family, those who left the household and changed their surname were treated as part of a “branch family”.
However, this differed somewhat from the usual concept of main and branch families.
[Besides, when it comes to the media, that’s basically part of the surface world. Especially mass media. So even if we asked other families for help…… since our base is the underworld side, that area would be too much for Aoshima to handle.]
[Then I guess it really was just a coincidence……]
[……I actually think it might’ve been Sogou-san’s side.]
[Eh? Ayaka’s?]
Incidentally, since returning, Itsuki had started calling Sogou Ayaka by her first name.
[More precisely, someone from Sogou-san’s family, perhaps.]
[Oh, right…… Ayaka’s family is the founding clan of some huge corporate group, isn’t it? Now that I think about it, she really is a proper young lady. I guess I still can’t shake the image of her as that ancient martial arts hero……]
Itsuki let out a small, bashful laugh.
[It’s possible that someone in her family, perhaps her parents, or even her grandparents, didn’t want the media making too much noise about their daughter…… or granddaughter. The timing of those topics being introduced was simply too perfect to be a coincidence———- I suspect intent.]
It had been executed with remarkable finesse.
The timing was natural, yet precise.
It was exactly when public interest had begun to smolder at just the right level.
And then, right at that moment, came that massive scandal, along with the exposé-driven outrage.
The moment when something is most easily forgotten by the public……
Those two topics were released with that exact timing in mind———– or so Hijiri believed.
[Well, we won’t know for sure unless we confirm it through Sogou-san.]
Since returning to their normal lives, she had spoken with Ayaka a few times.
However, they hadn’t yet had any deeply probing conversations.
Certainly not about things like this.
The most they had discussed were the bus driver and the bus company.
One fortunate aspect of the incident was that it had been rewritten as:
“Caught in a landslide.”
If it was a natural disaster, the driver wouldn’t be held at fault.
All the more so if it was something sudden and unavoidable.
As for the driver and the bus company that suffered damages, Sogou Ayaka had said:
“I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t turn into something bad.”
Coming from the granddaughter of the chairman of the Sogou Group, those words felt entirely credible.
(In that sense, perhaps it was a good thing that Sogou-san retained her memories upon returning.)
[Then maybe next time we meet, I’ll just ask Ayaka about it directly.]
At times like this, Hijiri found herself envying Itsuki’s straightforwardness.
As for herself, she hesitated, finding it difficult to bring up such topics.
She felt like she had started overthinking things more than before.
(Maybe…… I’ve changed too, in my own way. Now then……)
She picked up the smartphone on her desk.
Using the call function of a messaging app, she made a call.
[Arehh? Big Sis, who’re you calling?]
[A relative who works as a detective…… or perhaps more accurately, an information broker.]
[……Mitsuru-san?]
[Yes.]
Aoshima Mitsuru.
She was Hijiri’s cousin, a member of the Aoshima main family.
The call connected.
[It’s been a while, Mitsuru-san.]
▽
The call ended after about 25 minutes.
She had intended to wrap it up in 10.
Yet in the end, it took more than twice that time.
Itsuki, who had been quietly waiting for the call to finish, let out a sigh.
[Man, she really does go on once she starts talking…… But from the sound of it, she’s gonna take the job?]
[In exchange for a date.]
[Eh? Did that even come up……? Ah…… was it when you reluctantly agreed to something earlier, Big Sis?]
Hugging her knees, Itsuki curled up and began rolling around on the bed like a daruma doll.
[Geez! That’s my big sister we’re talking about here!?]
[She should try getting herself a boyfriend or two instead of bothering with someone like me.]
[……………………]
[What?]
[Ah, no…… I was just thinking, you’re probably the only one around me who says “boyfriend” like that. It’s not a bad thing! It just sounds very much like Big Sis. Kind of old-fashioned, in a nice way.]
[I suppose “partner” might be more common these days.]
[Eh…… r- really? I mean, people just say “boyfriend” or “bf”……]
[B- Bf?]
(T/N: Hijiri said boyfriend and partner in english. Japanese, as Itsuki said, often refers to them more as boyfriend/kareshi or bf/karepi)
For Hijiri, that was an unfamiliar and rather absurd term.
She couldn’t help but feel slightly bewildered.
[Oh, that’s a rare reaction from you, Big Sis……]
(……Is “boyfriend” an outdated term now? No……)
Is even the word “outdated” itself outdated?
For some reason, the thought amused her.
[Well, Mitsuru-san’s always liked you, Big Sis.]
[She did say it’s fun talking to me since I’m somewhat removed from the world.]
[“Somewhat removed”…… That sounds kinda contradictory, doesn’t it? She’s still as hard to read as ever, seriously. What a strange person.]
That was what Itsuki said, but……
The fact that Mitsuru’s one and only weakness was Takao Itsuki was amusing in its own way.
———-Speaking of amusing, there was something else.
Hijiri felt that she had become easier to talk to Mitsuru than before.
Or perhaps it was Mitsuru who had changed.
But more than that, she suspected the change was within herself.
Vysis…… Ikusaba Asagi———— Mimori Touka.
Was it because she had been involved with those monsters?
Compared to them, Mitsuru no longer felt quite as monstrous as before.
Lowering her gaze, Hijiri gave a faint smile.
(Indeed…… compared to them, she hardly seems like a monster at all……)
For now, she steered the conversation back.
[Mimori-kun’s parents, who are currently missing———- we’ve arranged for them to be searched for using Aoshima’s connections and information network.]
Uncurling from her daruma-like pose, Itsuki sat up.
[If they’ve already died, then at least we’d have some closure.]
[So it’s about finding out the truth, no matter what.]
(And……)
Hijiri looked at her smartphone screen.
Displayed there was a contact she had only just registered recently.
The contact information of Mimori Touka’s uncle.
An appointment had already been arranged.
At first, she had considered handling it over the phone.
However, his uncle had said:
“If you don’t mind, Hijiri-san, I’d like you to come to our house.”
And so, she decided to meet him in person the next day.
▽
The following day, Takao Hijiri stood in front of the Mimori residence.
She raised her wrist and checked the time on her watch.
Right on schedule.
After a brief pause, she pressed the doorbell.
(……How curious.)
Letting out a quiet breath, Hijiri exhaled softly.
(Even when I launched a surprise attack on Vysis in that royal castle, I didn’t feel like this…… It seems I’m a little nervous.)