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“Phew… That’s one big worry gone. To think that Shuu ended up coming to find us.”
“You’re right…! Now that we met him, we can also stay in contact via messages.”

The two kids looked like some heavy weight had been lifted from their backs.

“Nevertheless, Shuu had a girl with him, didn’t he?”
“True… Well, I guess it isn’t weird that he found a companion in a world like this.”
“But he said she’s he’s girlfriend, you know?”
“Yep, that did surprise me, after all.”

They thought about Shuu, seeing they hadn’t met him in quite a while. They had told each other about the sequence of events that led to the current situation, but didn’t go into detail. Above all, Shuu didn’t tell them much about Rir.

“Oh, well. Incidentally… what will we do from now on?”
“Good point. We did talk about the future… although it seems like Shuu will look for a way to get into contact with Mr. Loukis on his own, so it should be enough to support him if he asks us to… For now, let’s play something.”

With a newfound sense of safety after meeting up with Shuu, the kids were able to play without their worries holding them back.

They had just started a relationship a day ago, so neither of them knew how their life together would look like. Consequently, they’d simply play games and take walks around the city for the time being, and Sakura would grace Kanata with frequent hugs… that was about what they had in their current repertoire.

And while Sakura had at least some knowledge about adult relationships from the mangas she had borrowed from her older sister, she wasn’t at the point where she wanted to use that.

“There’s something I’ve been wondering for some time, Sakura.”
“Hm?”

They talked while playing Shogi with the board and pieces Sakura had made.

“Since a long time ago, you didn’t do much except play games like now, go out, or study together with me… Are you happy with that? I’ve almost never seen you with anyone other than me…”
“Huh…!? Isn’t it clear that I’m happy? After all… uhm… I-I’m with the person I like!? I’m more worried about you, Kanata. Even though you had lots of male and female friends and were something like our class leader, you still spent every third or fourth day with me, when we were back on Earth, didn’t you?”

While Kanata reacted bashfully at her “I’m with the person I like”, he did answer her question.

“Well… yes. But once we reach high school, we’ll probably have to say goodbye to most of them, don’t we? Though I guess we’d keep in contact via class reunions. But look, we’ll probably get in the same high school… and even if we don’t, that doesn’t mean our connection as childhood friends will just disappear, right? I mean, to start with… I care for you.”
“Uhm… T-That may be true, but… but that’s only because I worked super hard to keep up with you, Kanata…”

In order to go to the same school as Kanata, Sakura had studied frantically back then. As a result, she passed him before she knew it and ended up as the best student of their academic year.

“You did, and now you’re actually better than me, Miss First Placed Student.”
“I… I don’t want to hear that from the second placed student, who managed that by just studying a little… Besides, if you had invested another 30 minutes per day, you’d have easily placed first, wouldn’t you? With everything that happened since we came to this world¹, just what is going on with that brain of yours?”

Sakura threw the question at him, which she had asked herself since forever, but she didn’t get a useful reply.

“Well… I don’t know that myself.”
“Grr… I demand a reward for working so hard until now.”
“Well… alright. What would you like?”
“Yesterday, I was the one to kiss you, so… t-today… I’d like you to…”
“Sure thing… Oh, that’s check.”
“Wha-!? …Mh.”

Right as he won their Shogi match, Kanata placed a kiss on Sakura’s lips. To call it a short kiss… would be a lie, it lasted for quite some time.

“*Gasp*. That felt super embarrassing,” Kanata commented.
“Eh-heh-heh… this is the best… Heh-heh-heh-heh. It’s like a dream come true.”
“Is… is that so?”
“Wha-!? Did I say that out loud just now? Gah…”

Her face turned red, and she cast down her eyes. With a smile, Kanapa patted Sakura’s head. That didn’t embarrass her as much as it used to, so she was simply happy about it and refrained from accusing the boy of sexual harassment.

“Hm… Oh!? It’s already this late… Should we eat some pudding while we still can?”
“Eh-heh-heh… Kanata patted my head… eh-heh-heh… Hm? Oh, right. Let’s eat some pudding!”

After caressing her head a few more times, Kanata took out the pudding from his magic bag and put it on plates.

“This time stop feature is seriously convenient.”
“It sure is… Alright, Kanata, open up.”
“Oh… you want to feed me?”
“Yeah, I do. Say ‘ah~’.”

Sakura scooped up a mouthful of pudding with her spoon, brought it to his mouth while using her other hand to support it from below, and had him eat it.

“I always wanted to try doing that!”
“I’m pretty sure we did that several times in the past.”
“T-That was when we were still childhood friends! This time it’s as girlfriend and boyfriend! Come on, feed me too!”
“Right, you do have a point-”

That moment, there was a knock on the door. It sounded different from the employee who had helped them reunite with Shuu. Rougher.

“Again? Who could it be…? I’ll go get it.”
“I’ll come too, this time.”

Kanata and Sakura went to the door and opened it. On the other side, there stood Shuu with a grin on his face.

“S-Shuu!? Did you forget something?”
“Nah, that ain’t it. Just came to say hi as your new neighbor… though I ain’t got any soba². I moved into the apartment next to yours. Well, not just me… we, I mean.”
“Huh!? Really!?”

That greatly surprised the two kids. The thought of Shuu and Rir moving into the apartment right next to theirs had never crossed their minds. Moreover, on the very day they had reunited.

“Yup. When I told that receptionist lady why I met you guys³, she helped us get the empty apartment next to yours.”
“Oh…! I see.”
“Ha-ha… From now on, it’ll be even easier to stay in touch! If anythin’ happens, just give me a call, will ya? No matter where, I’ll come runnin’. I didn’t hear good things ’bout the king of this country…”
“Well… I can’t deny that… He is as bad as they say.”

Afterwards, they chatted for a bit. It was trifling talk, like one would have on a daily basis.

“Well, I’ll be off. Gotta tour our apartment with my girlfriend.”
“Oh… hang on, please take these with you,” Kanata told him. “We made them…”

He retrieved his magic bag via teleportation, took out another two portions of pudding, and handed them to Shuu.

“Oh, that’s well made, ain’t it…? Come to think of it, you always had a talent for makin’ sweets, didn’t you, Kanata? Thanks a lot.”
“You’re welcome. See you later.”
“Right, let’s meet up again, soon.”

Shuu put the pudding in his own magic bag, gently closed the door, and then left for the neighboring apartment.

“He said, ‘no matter when, I’ll come running’, that’s just like him,” Sakura mused.
“Right. He is like the embodiment of justice… I… I can also talk the talk, you know!”
“Yes, I’m sure you can.”
“Grr~!?”

Kanata gently pushed Sakura against the wall and placed his hand right next to her head. Finally, he brought his face to her ear.

“…W-What?”
“Listen well, will you?”

Kanata pulled his black eyepatch from out of nowhere, put it on, took a deep breath, and then started to speak.

“If anything should happen, I will protect you, Sakura. Even if I have to become the enemy of this world… even if I have to destroy it, I will protect you… I swear it. I’d risk my life for you.”
“Huh… wha-?”
“…How was that? Well, I meant what I said, but I also tried to show off in another way than usual, so-”

As Kanata was telling her this bashfully, Sakura hugged him vigorously with her eyes bright red. Then suddenly, she bonked him on the head strongly… though not as hard as she could have.

“Ouch!? What was that for, Sakura?”
“Don’t say stuff like… ‘I’d risk my life for you’!”
“Huh?”
“If you really want to protect me, stay at my side forever…! To continue living with you gone, I don’t want that.”

When he heard that, Kanata gave Sakura’s head another pat.

“Alright… sorry about that,” he gently told her. “In that case, I’ll protect you while making sure I won’t make you feel lonely, Sakura. I did say I’d risk my life for you, but I’ll try my best so that won’t happen. That’s simply how I feel.”
“Mh… It’s a promise. And even if you protect me, I’m not that weak anymore, thanks to a certain someone. That’s why… from now on, let’s do our best together, alright?”
“Yes… you’re right.”

TL notes:
Some more relationship developments with Kanata and Sakura. It’s a nice touch how Kanata tries to one-up Shuu after the latter’s promise to protect them, only to be shot down by Sakura for going too far.

I think it’s only Kanata who talks to Shuu in this chapter, but I’m not completely sure. It’s relatively hard to differentiate the kids’ lines, unless they use their personal pronoun or Kanata switches to his chuuni-mode.

1. There is no “this” specified here, so it could also be in the meaning “since you were born”.
2. In the Tokyo area, there’s apparently a tradition of giving new neighbors soba, but it’s no longer practiced that often.
3. The original is ソレっぽい理由を話した (“told a that-ish reason”). It might also mean something like “giving her an excuse”, I guess.

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