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I was contacted by Ayumu.

Looks like we all made it here. Did everything really work this well? So, we can come and go as we please? Ha-ha-ha!

…For the time bein’, I gotta apologize to Pops and Mom for makin’ ’em worry. Or rather, judgin’ by the calendar display of the clock hangin’ in my room, time seems to have gone back to the day of Ayumu’s death. Will my parents even remember I went missin’?

With that thought, I left my room. On the way out, I bumped into Mom.

“Mornin’, Mom.”

She didn’t say anything in reply to my usual greeting. She just stared at me with a dumbfounded look. Then, she dropped the laundry, she likely had been about to put into the machine.

“Sh-… Sh-… Shuu!? Shuu, you…!?” she finally managed to say.

Does she remember me goin’ missin’ even though time has been rewound…!?

“Oi, what happened!?”

…Pops forcefully emerged from his study-slash-bedroom.
Every now and then, he wouldn’t sleep in the same room as Mom and instead lock himself away in his study. Now that I thought about it, this was a day when he had slept there.

As he saw my face, he fell silent for a few seconds.

“…You… you idiot son…!! Just where were you!?” he shouted, lunging at me.

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“I’m sorry for jumping you without giving you a chance to explain,” Pops apologized, after Mom stopped him and made him calm down.

It wasn’t as if Pops, who worked as a police chief superintendent and usually had a calm approach to things, never got this furious, but it only happened rarely.

“…Shuu, just where have you been?” Mom asked. “We’ve been extremely worried.”
“I’m really sorry… you probably won’t believe what I’m ’bout to tell you, but… just listen to me.”
“…Hm.”

Pops took out a notebook.
Is that a habit of bein’ a policeman?

“What’s with the notebook…?”
“It wasn’t just you; Kanata and of the Joujous, and Sakura of the Magarigis have also gone missing. This is treated as a kidnapping, so I’ll need to take your testimony.”
“Hang on… it wasn’t like that¹.”
“Huh?”

I see, so the police see it that way. Come to think of it, that’s only natural. If two middle schoolers and one high schooler went missin’ during a funeral, that would be the normal thing to assume.

“Pops, Mom, have you seen today’s date?”
“…What does that have to do with it?”
“Listen, just check the date either on TV or on your phone.”
“…Well, fine.”

Pops turned on the television. My personal favorite show, “Good Morninja” appeared on the screen. In the corner, today’s date was written. It was the – of–. The day Ayumu died.

When my parents saw that, they opened their eyes in surprise. After looking at each other, they turned off the TV and looked back at me.

“This… what is going on?”
“I don’t get it myself, but… for now, think of it as goin’ to the past… Ayumu, Mika, Kanata, and Sakura have all returned to their families.”
“Eh… not just the two younger siblings but even Ayumu and Mika!?”

I nodded at Mom’s question.

“What the? What in the world is going on?”
“This definitely ain’t an issue the police can deal with. Uhm, how do I put it, guess it’s somethin’ close to bein’ spirited away²…”
“Being… spirited away?”
“Yep.”

I told them a short version of what happened on that day, and how I had reunited with Ayumu and Mika. Although it was a story that normally no one would have believed, they listened to me without interrupting.

“-and that’s about it. Might be best to say we traveled to another world. We ran into Ayumu and Mika there by complete coincidence. They’ve been… guess them bein’ reincarnated might be the best way to put it. That’s how it sounded.”
“Then, how did you come back here?”
“Right, that was Ayumu’s doin’. He built somethin’ that sent us back.”

Pops’ eyes, which had been closed for a while, likely since he was focusing on my story, snapped open.

“As a policeman… I usually would see such a tale as nothing but a fabrication.”
“H-Hang on, dear…!”

Even while Mom was trying to object to his words, Pops continued.

“…However, as a parent, I believe you… For the time being, I will call the Joujous and Magarigis.”

He stood up and picked up the phone.

Mom shuffled closer to me, still sitting on the floor.

“That’s great… wonderful!”
“I’m sorry, Mom, really.”
“It’s fine. I don’t understand how you did it… but you all came back, didn’t you? I need to give my thanks to Lord Jizou. It must’ve been his doing.

I see. Surely… that transfer device does look like him, so it might be all thanks to him.

“…What’s this?”

Suddenly, I noticed some papers lying on the table.

TL notes:
I might have mentioned this before, but Shuu usually (but not always) calls his father 親父. I’m not sure if this is more or less familiar than the standard お父さん/父さん, which I usually translate as “Dad”. Just know that this is the reason I have him use “Pops” instead of “Dad”.

1. Well, it might have been to another world, but they were kidnapped.
2. The original is 神隠し(lit. “hidden by gods”). It describes the mysterious disappearance of a person that happens when an angered god takes a person away in Japanese folklore.

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