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After making that promise, we boarded the train and returned to the area where we were living. For now, we passed my home and made our way to our destination.

“This is Ayumu’s house, and over there is Mika’s.”

After getting there, I wasted no time to show Rir those two houses, which stood right next to each other, as if to mirror their younger inhabitant’s relationships.

“They’re really directly next to each other, huh. They told me that they could easily hold conversations across their windows, and seeing it, that makes sense.”

Yep, and here those lovebirds interacted every day until they fell in love. Thinking about it made me feel the flow of time… my old friends from pre-school. After all, they’d have to let me play the best man at their wedding and such.

For Rir and my wedding, on the other hand, I’d rely on Ayumu.

“Now I know where everyone lives. In case something related to Anazumu happens, I can come here… On that note, Shuu, this wasn’t the only place you wanted to visit here, right?”

Of course she’d remember.
I hadn’t gone into detail, but I did say there would be one other destination.

“You got it. The place we’re about to visit… to put it bluntly, it’s someone who helped us out an awful lot. Sayin’ that he was the main reason you and me are now in such a relationship wouldn’t be an exaggeration, and he also played a big role to make Ayumu and Mika like they are now.”

It was true. From what Ayumu told me… he was the main reason they were able to reunite. And he also gave them an explanation about the status screen at the start.

“Woof, are we visiting the shrine of a god governing marriage?”
“No, but you’re probably not far off. For now, let’s go there.”
“Alright.”

We started walking.

The streets at night were dark. In the past, there had been many degenerates in this area (likely due to Ayumu and Mika living here), so I’d have to keep Rir safe. On that note, Pops somehow managed to reduce the high crime rate here to a level where it became safer than other areas around it. Even so, I was worried.

What we were about to reach was rather close to the previous location… or rather, who. Well, that was also somewhat wrong. In any case we’d visit the location¹. Just a few minutes of walking later, we reached our destination.

“It’s here.”
“…Huh, a Jizou statue?”

It was bit dark here, so I used my phone as a flashlight. In front of us was the place where the Jizou statue, which resembled the teleporter back in Anazumu so much, was enshrined.

“Rir, don’t you recognize it?”
“Should I? This is the first time I’m seeing one of these statues for real, but… oh, this one has a different design from how they normally look.”

She was right. It was somehow different from others… in a way you could tell subconsciously at first glance. In addition, there were various rumors circling about this strange statue.

“You really don’t recognize it?”
“Eh… o-oh!?” Rir let out a lout shout of surprise, but immediately held her tongue so she wouldn’t disturb the people around here. “…I-It’s like the transfer device…”
“Exactly. That thing looks just like this statue.”
“C-Could it be a coincidence? Ah… did Alim base it on this statue when he made it?”
“Apparently not. From what he told me-”

Ayumu had told me about it when we had nothing to do and were chatting. I relayed that to Rir:
-How Ayumu and Mika had received an explanation about Anazumu from a “Lord Jizou”.
-How the words from this Lord Jizou were practically identical to those we received from a god of Anazumu when we were sent there.
-How Ayumu neither wanted to create the device, not had any agency during said creation. It ended up being made due to the ability of a subordinate of the Demon God.

Rir gave me a blank look.

“So, in other words… the one who helped them is a god of my world?”
“The possibility seems high².”

It felt like I had forgotten something important, but this alone was amazing. The fact that Ayumu had been sent to Anazumu when he should’ve died, was likely due to Lord Jizou’s consideration.

“S-S-S-S-Seriously!?”
“Most likely…”
“W-W-W-W-W-We have to give a prayer and leave an offering… uhm… Oh, perhaps he also interfered with your arrival, Shuu, and it was thanks to him that we ended up together… I-In any case, we should offer a prayer…!”

Rir crossed her arms and knelt down on the spot.
Is that how you pray in Anazumu? Feels like I’ve lived quite a while in the other world, but this is the first time I’m seein’ it. Perhaps you only pray on special occasions.

“…!”

After she kept her eyes closed for a short time, they snapped open again.
What, is she done prayin’ already? The guy saved my best friend and made it possible to meet my wonderful girlfriend, so I wanna give him a prayer, too.

“Rir, if you’re done, could you wait for a moment? I’ll also leave prayer,” I asked her, but she just stood there unmoving with her eyes wide open. “Rir…?”
“-!”

She suddenly put her arms around the statue’s head and tried to move it.

TL notes:
While this is technically still part of the “date” chapters, we’re finally getting some actual plot again, so I didn’t count it (and the next one) for the 15 chapters I mention before.

Also, this makes me wish I’d settled on a proper name for that specific Jizou (though granted I didn’t really understand the distinction back then). In the LN, he’s written with the furigana “Genten Jizou”, so I use that name there. I could use that here too, but then I’d have to go through 450 chapters to fix all the instances…

1. In the original, Shuu seems to be unsure whether he should use the verb aru (to exist, for nonliving things) or iru (to exist, for living things). English doesn’t really have that kind of differentiation.
2. Or maybe transmigrations/reincarnations are so common, the gods have some standard form where you only have to insert stuff like name and cause of death.

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