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A certain man opened his eyes. Then he looked left and right.

“Guardrails…”

The man, someone who’d come from another world, showed an expression of relief as he saw the guardrails painted white along the road.

“Did I finally return?”

Traveling a different world for what amounted to hundreds of years had been harsh on him. His only wish had been to “return to his hometown”, but he ended up turning the whole of humanity against himself and was almost annihilated, almost destroying himself… but with the help of a girl from his own world, he nevertheless somehow managed to return.

“In any case, where am I?”

He didn’t have a map on hand. However, there were a few things in his suit – likely the clothing he’d been wearing before he was sent¹ to another world.

“There it is… my smartphone.”

He hadn’t touched the shining flat device in centuries. However, possibly since it was so ingrained in him, he still somewhat remembered how to use it. Though he wasn’t fast at it by any means.

He opened an app that happened to be installed, which could display his current location on a map.

“Over there, such a device would absolutely be legend grade…” While he pondered that, a map of his surroundings appeared. “Hm…? It looks like I’m not that far away.”

From his ancient memories, he compared the place where he used to live, before being spirited away, with his current location. Ancient memories… or they should have been. The man didn’t notice that said memories were rapidly restored due to his return to Earth.

“In any case, it’s dark… looks like it’s… around 9 pm. What about the date!?”

Even assuming he had returned, there was the crucial question if several decades had passed since his departure, like with Urashima Taro. Realizing this only now, the man immediately checked the device’s calendar.

“The day after… Looks like today is the day after it happened.”

He once more looked deeply relieved.

“My wallet is also where it should be, and my money too… I should head home for now.”

He first walked towards a metro station, from which he could reach his destination a few stops away. As he walked, he thought about various things.

-Once I’m home, let’s eat something, maybe Katsudon. But before that, I should have a nice drink.
-The next circus performance should still be in its preparatory stage, so let’s take tomorrow off.
-I need to give my thanks to this “Joujou Ayumu” before long. The family name sounds unusual, so I should find her soon if I use a detective agency.
-I wonder what a good way to thank her would be. The best I could give her as circus manager, would be a lifetime VIP pass.
-It also sounded like she has friends she cares about a great deal, so let’s make that three to five passes.

Deep in thought, his eyes suddenly fell on two houses. It was quite dark, so he couldn’t read the name plates. But for some strange reason, the houses caught his interest.

“Well, today was lotsa fun! See ya!”

A rather healthy and fit looking boy exited one of the houses while waving his hand.

“Woof, thank you for today! Let’s have another girls’ meeting at some point.”

And from the other house, a girl with ashen, nearly white hair emerged. She was surprisingly good-looking. Though it didn’t reach the level of Alim Nariwei.

More than that, what surprised the man was that she had something that screamed “Anazumu” about her. She looked as if she had come from there to this world. The man pinched his own cheek. The hypothesis that this was yet another world, different from both Earth and Anazumu, came to his mind. Still, when he checked his phone, it clearly showed the area where he’d grown up.

Pondering this felt like a chore, so he decided not to let it bother him, instead assuming the girl was an exchange student somewhat fluent in Japanese.

“Sh-Shuu!”
“Rir…”

The two people who had exited the houses seemed acquainted and called out their names, as they saw each other. But when he immediately saw them walk away harmoniously, though somewhat distantly, with linked arms, he changed his assumption to them being more than friends.

“Oops, this isn’t the time for that.”

He started walking again, feeling young and vigorous himself. But then he stopped in his tracks once more. His eyes fell on someone… or rather, a statue.

“Is this…?”

It felt as if he had seen this statue before. It looked rather unusual. He used the light on his smartphone to see it better.

“…!?”

It was as he’d thought. He remembered seeing it. It looked like the transfer device Alim Nariwei had brought out just a short time ago (from the man’s perspective). And memories from much longer ago also arose.

It made him wonder, once more, whether this was Earth, after all. As these thoughts echoed in his mind, a stranger’s whisper joined them.

⟦Offer a prayer, Jester and Guide.⟧

“Wha-…!”

Before he knew it, the man took the characteristic pose to pray to the gods in Anazumu. The next moment, his consciousness fled.

TL notes:
Well, that’s not ominous at all…

You may have noticed a big incongruity here. Namely the date of Mehpistophales’ departure and return. To make sure, I went back to chapter 177 to check if I made a mistake there, but no, it 100% says that he was spirited away one month before Alim died. And this chapter’s events clearly happen after chapter 564, so this point should be 1.5 to 2 months after Alim’s original time of death.

Either something messed with his memories on return, or the Author made a big retcon. Only time will tell.

1. The original is 転載 (“reprinting”). It doesn’t seem to have a homophone with something meaning “sending/transferring”, but I can only assume it’s an error.

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