Leave a comment

I told Rir about Shuu, Mika, and me (changing things as if I had been a girl) in the other world. Then, I also spoke about Kanata and my future sister-in-law. I also truthfully told her that our original age had been 16 years.

“Woof…! So, that’s what happened…!”

It was an incredible story, after all, from the perspective of the natives of this world. A bona-fide miracle, as if we had been tied together by fate¹.

When I looked at her, she inclined her head seemingly doubtful.

“There is one thing that puzzles me; why did your hair-, eye-, and skin-color change?”
“It might be because Mika and I didn’t come to this world like the sages, but… to be honest, I’m not sure myself.”
“That’s true…”

I felt bad about keeping things from her. But in this case, I genuinely had no idea.
I guess that was everything I needed to tell her…

Oh, right. I didn’t tell Shuu and the others how we should address each other…!
I hurriedly sent them a message.

With their approval, we would pronounce their names closer to the language here. Although there wouldn’t be much of a change, except for Shuu².

Then… what would the next topic be? I need to tell them how to return, after all.

I shot Mika a glance. She looked back at me with an expression of resolve, likely having guessed what I was about to say, just from that.

“Alright, that does it for stories about the past! My apologies for talking so much, but there is one more important topic, you see… It’s about the way to return home.”

Everyone, except for me, showed a strong reaction to those words.

There was a high chance Kanata and Sakura were able to return, but they likely worried about Mika and me remaining here. Shuu, just as expected, seemed concerned about Rir, while she anxiously wondered whether he would leave. Finally, Mika felt the need to apologize to Sakura for not coming home, even though she had the option.

For those reasons, they all had their reservations about returning to Earth and had thus dragged things out. Either way, I was unable to go back to Japan.

I took out the Jizou statue from my magic bag and gently placed it on the floor. Most of the others were surprised when I suddenly brought it out.

“…Why’s that thing here?” Shuu asked me, with understandably less enthusiasm in his voice than earlier.
“At the same time as being able to seal evil gods, this thing is a device to link (?) worlds.”
“You put evil gods in there, right? Will it be safe?” Kanata wondered.
“I’m sure it is.”

At least I thought so. No one had used it before, so it was anyone’s guess.

“…If you have somethin’ like that, why didn’t you come back to Earth?” Shuu asked me somewhat sharply, frowning at me.
“Well… about that. For whatever reason, I cannot use it. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that it refuses to let me use it. For that reason, I didn’t come back, even though I wanted to.”

Shuu seemed to accept my reasoning with a “I see”, but Kanata had noticed something about the way I had worded it.

“You cannot use it, Big Sis… that much I get. But you said ‘I’, so what about Mika-nee?”
“Oh…”

The three of them looked at Mika. She bowed down to them quickly, as if she had waited for that moment.

“…I am so sorry!!”

Her apology echoed through the dining hall. Everyone except for me gave her perplexed looks.
Well, they’re probably wondering what she is apologizing for.

“Uhm… Big Sis?”
“I am so sorry, I could have gone back, if I had wanted to. To Earth, to Japan…” she told them without raising her head. “But… but I wanted to stay with Alim. No matter what…!” she continued, not giving them any time to get a word in. “I didn’t want to leave her… I’m so sorry.”
“…Big Sis…”

It was silent for a moment. Would Sakura be angry about Mika wanting to stay with me? I decided to back Mika up. I mean, it was also because of me that she stayed. I silently lowered my head next to her.

“…I didn’t insist on her going back³. Even though I knew how much you care about your sister, Sakura, and how sad it would make your family. But I didn’t… I’m sorry.”
“Could… could both of you raise your heads?” At Sakura’s words, we both looked up. “I… I’m not angry or anything, you know? I know that you love Ayu-… Ali-nee, Big Sis… If it was Kanata and me in your place, I think I’d have done the same.”
“Yeah… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… Sakura…!”

The sisters rushed towards each other and shared a tight embrace.

1. The original is 運命の赤い糸 (“Red String of Fate”). It describes an East Asian belief originating from Chinese legend about the gods tying an invisible red string around the ankles of those that are destined to meet each other.
2. In the original, he tells them to use Katakana for their names, which doesn’t make much sense? It’s still the same syllables no matter if you write the name in Kanji, Hiragana, or Katakana. I can only guess it’s about pronunciation.
3. In the original, he says he stopped her from going, but in chapter 180 he genuinely tried to get her to go, so I modified it slightly.

Support Us

Unlock Early Access ------- Select Project ------- Project Gender Bender Project Necro ∴ Support your favorite series and unlock chapters before the public release.