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“…and that’s about it.”

Shuu told us what had happened to Rir in that one hour she spent on Earth.

“I see, that’s good!” I exclaimed. “There shouldn’t be anything to worry about. For Rir, I mean. I never thought she’d be the very girl from that homestay program.”
“True!”
“This way, you’ll be able to make out with her whenever you want!” Mika gloated.

She’d been teasing him an awful lot.

“R-Right. Well, not sure with Mom and Pops around…”
“It’ll be fine. You’ll work something out.”

That’s not exactly helping…

“Well, from what she said,” Shuu continued while scratching his cheek bashfully, “I think Rir will arrive as a transfer student within a month.”
“Alright. A transfer student… she’ll be the first in our academic year,” I said.
“That’s true,” Mika agreed. “Well, I heard the test they make you do is crazy hard, so it’s not exactly a surprise.”

Hm~, from an outside perspective, our school might have mostly bright students. Well, pretty much everyone there. Though I don’t really know how it compares to other schools¹.

“In any case, what happened to that foreign girl who was supposed to come originally?” Sakura wondered.
“I dunno. Maybe she became a victim of Rir comin’ to Earth. If that’s what happened… I’d feel really bad, but… not sure why, but this feels like somethin’ that’s been arranged in advance. The gods must’ve known that she would come to Earth and prepared for it… probably².”

For some reason, I also felt that way. Maybe we all did, since no one tried to delve any further into the topic.

“Then, since we now know Rir’s location, we should decide on when to go back to Earth, and when to return here,” Kanata proposed.

The dates of departure and return. I can’t help feeling bad for Rir who won’t be able to meet Shuu for some time…

“As for when to go back to Earth… let’s leave that until Rir wakes up. As for our return here, I propose spending one day on Earth before going back.”
“Alright, let’s do that.”

Thus, the date for our return was decided. At any rate, it would be after one day there, just like last time.

“Rir will probably sleep for… two to three hours, so what will we do in the meantime?” I asked.

We had nothing planned for those two or more hours. However, Mika immediately came up with an idea.

“Eh-heh-heh, I think I’ll spend time like this.”

She clung to my arm and started rubbing her cheeks against mine.
Yep… that’s certainly a way to pass the time.

“Th-Then we’ll also spend the time as we want.”
“Fair enough, I’ll also go back to my room.”

Kanata, Sakura, and then Shuu returned to their rooms.

“Shall we take a break, then?”
“Yeah… let’s.”

Mika and I returned to our love nest… or rather, the room we always used together.

______
_____
___

“Woof, I’m sorry, everyone. I ended up falling asleep for some time.”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

Still before noon in this world, Rir had woken up and was apologizing.

Mika and I had used those two and a half hours to do the things we couldn’t in front of others. Although it was the middle of the day…

It sounded like Sakura and Kanata went to play board games, while Shuu had refrained from slipping into bed where Rir was sleeping (although they normally shared a bed) and had been doing strength training instead.

“Shall we go to Earth, then?”
“Ah, please wait a moment!” Rir stopped me, as I was about to place my hand on the statue’s head. “Woof, let me tell you my contact details first.”

She then went to give us those. I never expected a native from Anazumu to use words like “Smartphone” and “Phone App”, so I was a bit shocked.
Well, she is at the age of an eleventh grader. It’s only natural that she has some kind of cellphone.

“Once we’re over there, we’ll contact you right away.”
“Yeah.”

I placed my hand on the statue and picked the option to go to Earth. We were back at the same moment we’d been before returning to Anazumu a few hours ago. Mika, wearing her school uniform, was in front of me. On the other side of the windows.

“Alright, let’s immediately try to contact Rir.”
“Yeah.”

Mika and I brought out our smartphones and entered Rir’s ID into the phone app.
Is that Norwegian? From the letters, it looks like English, but it probably sounds different.

The first name “Rir” was written there, so I added her as a friend. Then, I was immediately invited by her to a group chat, which was one of the features of the app.

«It’s me, Rir. I am Norwegian, but I can speak Japanese, so you don’t need to use English or Norwegian with me.

Her Japanese seems awfully good³. Maybe she really is smart, as Shuu hypothesized.

«Rir, it’s me, Shuu.» came the next message.
«Shuu. I’m glad to hear from you!»

Rir had actually written Shuu’s name in kanji, while the man himself used katakana.

«Rir, it’s me, Alim! Though my real name is Ayumu.»
«Hi Rir, this is Mika!»

Mika and I sent our replies in succession.

Oh, looks like Kanata and Sakura also entered the chat.

«Alim, Mika! So, your name in this world is Ayumu, Alim? But I heard that’s a name usually used by men⁴.»

Ah, damn. Come to think of it, she still thinks I’m a girl.

«Well, I’ll tell you once you’re in Japan.»
«? Okay, I guess?»

Afterwards, Kanata and Sakura also wrote something. The way Rir replied to messages was no different from us.

A bit later, it was time to go to school, so Mika and I ended our back and forth with Rir and left our respective houses.

1. From everything I heard about Japanese schools, this makes me wonder if this is “smart” or just “able to bear the pressure of studying like no tomorrow”.
2. I can see so many issues with this. Shuu’s parents remember this application from before time was reset (though it’s not impossible those memories are fabricated). Does this mean EVERYTHING was predetermined? Or did they just litter the Earth with fake identities for possible visitors? What would have happened if Rir had decided not to go to Earth, after all?
3. In the original, he says that she’s very fluent in the language, but that’s a text chat. Maybe he thinks so since she types fast?
4. Ironically, the “Ayumu” reading for his name is a female name. Though she has no way of knowing that, since he wrote it in hiragana in the chat.

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