CH 92

Events after the summoning

***---***

Anyway, the information is overwhelmingly lacking.

With so many fakes of me appearing, even if I go to the police station, the moment I give my name, I feel like I'll be turned away.

Well, if I use magic, they'll have to trust me, but it's better to get rid of the situation whre I don't have any information.

I pass by the group arguing in front of the Junior High School, pass by the side of Akanegumo Park, and turn right at the end, opposite the police station.

At the end of this road, just after entering the park, there is a library.

Of course, it's not open at this time, but I used shadow movement to enter.

It's not good to be caught on security cameras, so I decided to move through the shadows in the hall and browse from the shadows.

[ Kent-sama, there is an amazing amount of books. Is this a royal library or something? ]

[ This is a normal library that residents can freely browse. ]

[ What ... ]

There were books in Volzard, but they didn't seem to be printed in large numbers like in Japan, so they were still valuable.

[ Kent-sama, what can we investigate here? ]

[ Newpsapers and weekly magazines since we were summoned. ]

First of all, when we were summoned, I investigated what kind of situation the Junior High School fell into, but the damage was greater than I had imagined.

48 dead, 152 seriously injured, 207 missing.

Those 207 people were the summoned classmates and teachers.

At first, it was thought that the building had collapsed due to defective construction, but it was discovered that there were a large number of missing people, and it seems that the possibility of large-scale terrorism or abductions by a certain country began to be whispered.

As the investigation continued, it turned out that the entire third floor of the school building had completely disappeared, and when scientific reasoning became difficult, it seemed that occult stories began to accelerate at once around the world.

The impact of the accident that occured in the teleportation experiment began to be claimed as a modern version of 'Spirited Away', and naturally, those who claim to have been summoned to another world also began to appear.

In the midst of this, an accident occured.

It seems that my Mother cut my Father with a kitchen knife when he came home for the first time in a long time after receiving the news of the incident.

Fortunately, my father's injuries were not life-threatening, but he had more than 20 cuts and stab wounds.

The incident was featured in a weekly magazine.

Their child disappeared for unknown reasons, and it was reported that the cause of the knife injuries was because of an affair.

I didn't know about it, and I didn't even think to find out about it, but I heard that my Father lives in a high-rise condominium in the Wangan District with his mistress and their child.

And while following the progress of the incident, I found a shocking article.

[ Lies ... that ... ]

[ Kent-sama, what happened? ]

[ My Mother ... ]

My Mother apparently committed suicide in prison.

This seems to have increased the criticism of my father, as a victim of an accident, his identity would have already been revealed, and perhaps he was also harassed.

It seems that it was around this time that my father disposed of the apartment.

[ Normally, when my Father came back home, Mother was kind ... ]

My Father stopped coming to my house when I was in the third or fourth grade of Elementary School.

Thinking about it now, maybe it wasn't a good thing for me to rely on my Grandmother because I was afraid to approach my Mother who was in a bad mood.

[ Are you okay, Kent-sama? ]

[ Yeah, how can I say it, I don't really understand it at all, maybe because I decided to be independent, I'm fine now. ]

After his personal information was exposed on the internet, he moved out of the tower apartment and they seem to have lost his whereabouts.

After that, it seems that his address was not specified, and just when it seemed that the commotion would subside, the first impostor of me appeared.

My impostor showed up at the police station in a muddy uniform.

It is said that he was suddenly sent to an unknown world together with the school building, and when he and his classmates were searching for a human settlement there, he fell off a cliff and before he knew it, he was back in Hikarigaoka Park.

After hearing that a Junior High School student who had mysteriously disappeared suddenly appeared, the mass media made a big fuss again.

My impersonator seemed to have a similar face to me, so the police believed that it was the real person, and they interviewed him many times, and even conducted a psychiatric evaluation.

No matter how much we looked alike, if my Father met him, he would have known that it was a fake, but he apparently didn't want to the media to know his whereabouts, so he entrusted the correspondence to a lawyer.

As a result, it took more than a week before it turned out to be a fake.

Of course, the boy who acted as my imperonator was criticized, but the police, who had been deceived for over a week, and the Father who didn't come to see his missing child, were also criticized.

Then, in order to make fun of my Father, who had an affair and neglected his family, and the investigation situation that didn't make any progress, it seems that it became popular to play as a fake me, with the feeling of 'I tried to play Kento Kokubu'.

There seems to be a variety of patterns, such as those who act like the real thing, and those who act as fakes like the group just before, but what they all have in common is that they call themselves Kento Kokubu.

There are computers in the library, but I think it's awkward to turn them on, I haven't seen any info on the internet, I only know what was written in the weekly magazine, they uploaded quite a few videos, didn't they?

And it seems that the area near the Junior High School has become like a poor quality pilgrimage.

With this, if I just stepped forward, people would definitely think I was a fake.

[ So what are you going to do? ]

[ Hmm ... I guess I have no choice but to infiltrate the investigation headquarters. If I take out the shield of darkness and show it to the public, they'll understand it's real. ]

[ I see, magic doesn't exist in this world. ]

[ Yeah, but it looks like there won't be anyone left at the investigation headquarters at this hour, so I'll come back. ]

[ Then, should we go back? ]

I returned to Volzard from the library, but it seems that the investigation took longer than I expected, and the lights in the dining room were turned off.

When I looked into the dormitory, all my classmates were writing letters in their rooms.

Katou-sensei came to Oda-sensei's room and they were having a meeting.

"Sensei, do you have a minute?"

"Kokubu, what happened?"

"Yes, actually ..."

I reported what happened after I entered the world of shadows and returned to Japan.

When they heard that there were 48 deaths, they both looked up at the ceiling.

When they heard that my impersonation was rampant, their expression turned suspicious, and when I asked them why, their expression changed to a sorrowful expression.

"Kokubu, are you okay?"

"Yes, I just read the article, and I don't feel the realization that my Mother passed away at all, so I'm okay."

It's strange that I can answer Oda-sensei's question normally.

Katou-sensei also patted me on the shoulder.

"If it gets tough, just tell us without overdoing it."

"Yes, thank you. For the time being, I'm thinking of going directly to the investigation headquarters tomorrow. Oda-sensei, I'll stop by here first, so could you collect the letters everyone wrote?"

"Okay, you should go back and rest too."

"Yes, I'll do that."

Before returning to the boarding house, there is something I should try.

For the first time in a long time, I went to the special training ground in the Devil's Forest and asked all my genus to gather.

"Well, I'll try it with Reinhardt, Basten, and Fred first, so everyone should bring some magic stones."

I asked each of them to bring five high-ranking goblin magic stones that were collected during the outbreak, and strengthened them again for the first time in a while.

However, this time it's not about strengthening their physical ability, it's about strengthening language ability.

Since there is a possibility of activities in Japan in the future, I thought that I would like them to be able to understand Japanese.

Through the link with me, I tried to strengthen their knowledge of Japanese with the intention of transcribing it.

"Umm ... can you read this?"

I used a stick on the ground and wrote Kento Kokubu in kanji.

[ I can read it, it's Kent-sama's name. ]

"So this one ... Fred."

[ Saint-sama's name ... it's strange, even these symbols have meaning ... ]

"Then this one ... Basten."

[ That's the name of the Feudal Lord-dono, I see, that's how his name is written. ]

Apparently both kanji and katakana are okay.

Also, I'll have to go to Japan to see how much they can understand it spoken.

After that, Zae-tachi and Art-tachi were also strengthened in order.

As expected, the number of genus increased, so I was quite tired.

When I returned to my boarding room after strengthening everyone, Meisa-chan was sleeping on the bed with the boxes lined up.

I don't think I know whose room it is anymore.

But at times like tonight when I feel like I'm alone, I don't want to be alone, so I really appreciate it.

I also told Mart and the others not to wake Meisa-chan, and I entered the bed where the boxes were lined up.

I thought she was in a deep sleep, but as soon as I entered the futon, Meisa-chan hugged me.

Do you have some kind of special sensor?

Well, it's arm in this season, so there's nothing to complain about, as long as she's not drooling or wetting the bed.

I'm tired mentally and physically, but I can't sleep.

After all, the article about my Mother committing suicide weighs heavily on my heart.

It's not a mistake because it was in the newspapers and magazines, but I didn't see the corpse or attend the funeral, so I don't really feel it as if it was someone else's problem.

What shokced me more than that was that even though I tried to remember my Mother's face recently, I couldn't visualize her expression in my head.

All I remember is the smiling face of when my Father was at home and the sad face of when he stopped coming home.

Come to think of it, we haven't seen each other face to face for months, and I can't even remember the last words we exchanged.

[ Kent-sama, can't you sleep? ]

[ Hey, Reinhardt, am I a heartless person? ]

I tried telling Reinhardt that since I couldn't remember my Mother's face, but he immediately denied it.

[ That's not just Kent-sama's responsibility. Kent-sama lived a normal life, right? Even so, if you can't meet face to face, it's only natural that you can't remember. ]

[ Yeah, maybe that's true, but ... I feel like I could have done more. ]

[ If you think so, it should be used as a lesson left by your Mother in your future life. ]

[ Yes ... yes, I will. ]

Talking to Reinhardt made my heart feel a little lighter.

[ Kent-sama, do you think you don't have to write a letter? ]

[ Eh, because I can always go home ... ]

[ You haven't seen your Father much, have you? ]

[ Ah ... yeah, that's right, it might be better to write it down. ]

It might seem to a bit self-serving, but it's difficult to meet my Father when he's caught up in the turmoil, a touching reunion ... I don't want it to be directed like such, it might be better if we don't see each other for a while.

However, when I prepared paper and a pen, I was at a loss as to what to write.

I don't remember much talking to my Father when he was still at home.

The first word that comes to mind is study ...

I have had a habit of falling asleep since I was in elementary school.

No matter how hard I tried to stay awake, I often fell asleep in the middle of class and couldn't remember even half of what was being taught.

Of course, my grades weren't good, and every time I fell asleep it was written on my report card.

My Father went to work before I woke up, and he came back after I went to bed.

Even when we met occasionally, the first thing he always asked is, are you studying properly? In one statement, I was atrophied and couldn't speak well because of my bad grades.

At that time ... yes, I feel like I wanted to talk about games that were popular at school, anime, and manga.

That's why I decided to write a letter about what kind of people I've met, what kind of work I'm doing, what kind of life I'm living, and how I'm going to live in the future.

Don't forget to write about Manon, the chairman, and Beatrice.

Finally, I thanked him for raising me up until now, and wrote down my determination to live as an adult from now on.

[ Did you write it? Kent-sama. ]

[ Yeah, it's my first time writing a letter to my Father, so it feels strange. ]

[ Did you write down all your thoughts? ]

[ I don't know ... I wrote it all of a sudden, so I might remember things I forgot later ... but I wonder if that's the way it is. ]

[ Maybe so ... Well, Kent-sama, there's still time before dawn. Please rest for a while. ]

[ I agree. Tomorrow too ... No, it's already today, it's going to be busy. ]

After I finished writing the letter to my Father, I was able to fall asleep immediately, probably because I felt calmer.

After waking up several times on the way and having a light sleep, the morning I was met with was more normal than I had expected.

"Hey, Kent, Meisa, get up! If you keep sleeping, I'll skip breakfast!"

"Hmm ... Ah, good morning, Amanda-san."

"Good morning, it's rare that Kent isn't awake. Was it a late night?"

"Yes ... It feels like I'm going to be busy for a while."

"Is that so ... don't push yourself too hard. No matter how great of magic you can use, if you overdo it, you'll break your body."

"Yes, I'll be careful ..."

Amanda-san stroked my head and gave me a sad smile.

Well, it was only for a short time, and she immediately returned to the usual Amanda-san.

"Hey, Meisa! Get up! How long are you going to sleep? If you can't get up properly, I won't let you sleep in Kent's room!"

"Hmm ... Hmm, I woke up, hmm ... Mofumofu ..."

Amanda-san's voice made Meisa-chan get up once, but when she fell down on Mart, she began to sleep again.

Mart looks at Amanda-san's face and mine alternately, silently asking for help.

"Haa ... Meisa! Cut it out!"

"Hii ... eeh, eeh ... Okaa-san? Eeh, I'm awake ... yeah, I'm already awake ..."

I'm sure she's still half asleep, but Meisa-chan raised her upper body as a conditional reflex and started looking around restlessly.

"Good morning, Meisa-chan."

"Eh ... yeah, good morning ... eh, Kent?"

"Hey, if you don't wake up quickly, you won't get breakfast."

"Eh, I don't want to miss breakfast ..."

"Then get up and wash your face."

"Yeah ... got it, huh? Yeah ..."

Still half asleep, Meisa-chan went to wash her face.

Well then, I'll get up and after breakfast, I'll show my face to the teachers, and then I'll invade the investigation headquarters.

After I finished eating breakfast, I told them that I had returned to my original world and what had happened to my family.

When I told her that my Mother had taken her own life, Amanda-san stood up, hugged me, and burst into tears.

In the seat next to me, Meisa-chan is also crying.

But for some reason I can't shed tears, and it feels weird.

"That's fine. You just can't cry because you haven't accepted it yet. It's not strange at all, it's not that you're heartless, it's fine for now."

"Thank you."

"Well, you can stay forever, but the girls won't allow it, so until you have your own house, think of this as your own."

Meisa-chan nodded over and over while wiping her tears.

I no longer have a home to return to in Japan, but I've found a place for me in Volzard.

A little while ago, I was a little unhappy, but now I'm very happy.

So this time, let's do our best to make everyone happy.

When I went to the garrison dormitory, Oda-sensei entrusted me with letters from everyone and a report compiled by the teachers.

The report seems to be a summary of the stories the teachers heard from my classmates after coming to Volzard.

Naturally, the report describes the process leading up to Funayama's death, and Ayako-sensei played a central role in putting it all together.

"Even though I was near Funayama-kun, I couldn't save him. As an apology, I have written the situation as it is, in as much detail as possible. Please be sure to deliver it."

"Understood. I will find a way for everyone to return to Japan, but for now I will deliver this report and these letters."

While being sent off by my teachers and classmates, I dove into the shadows and headed for the police station.

At the time we were summoned, the media seemed to be flocking every day, but the situation continued with no progress, and most of the media went to the scene of another incident, it is appropriate to describe the situation in front of the police station as normal.

Even so, if I enter from the front, I may be kicked out, so I will have to directly infiltrate the investigation headquarters.

I move through the police station while hiding in the shadows to find the investigation headquarters.

Hikarigaoka Junior High School Collapse and Disappearance Case Special Investigation Headquarters

It looked like a large conference room with a large signboard written in ink.

There are many desks and chairs in the room, but there aren't many people there, probably because they are out on an investigation.

The place where the landline phone is stationed near the whiteboard seems to be the seat of a high-ranking person.

With a difficult look on his face, the man giving instructions is a man in his late forties with a good physique.

If it was me from before, I wouldn't have been able to call out.

For now, let's just call out from the shadows.

"Um ... is it okay for a moment ..."

The change was dramatic.

Everyone nearby raised their heads and started looking for me who called out to them.

"Who is it! Where are you, come out."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you ..."

"Who are you, show yourself."

"Yes, I am one of the second-year students from Hikarigaoka Junior High School, who is supposed to have disappeared.

What can I say, but it's really full of surprises.

Otherwise, it is unlikely that people will believe that I am Kento Kokubu.

I unfolded a shield of darkness in front of the man who seemed the most pompous, raised my hands to show that I am not hostile, and stepped out.

"What ... what's going on?"

"Nice to meet you, I'm the real Kento Kokubu. What you saw was magic for movement."

"Secure him!"

"Eeeeeh ... Wait, it hurts, it hurts ... what are you doing ..."

"Be obedient!"

"No, no, I'm already being obedient."

"Where did this guy get in from?"

I was held down in no time by the strong investigators who were around the desk.

"Wait, don't be too rough."

"No, no, I think they're already being rough enough."

As a disclaimer, even though I showed myself with my hands held up, there is no reason to have pushed me down and held me on the floor.

"Are you truly the real Kento Kokubu?"

"That's why I said so from the beginning, I thought you wouldn't believe me, so I used magic on purpose to show you, but you didn't have to do this, did you?"

"Can you really use magic?"

"I'm the only one who can use magic related to movement like this. That's why I came to deliver the letter and report as the representative."

The man who seemed to be the most important fell silent and collected his thoughts.

"Katayama, let go ..."

"Is it okay? Hey, don't be violent."

"That's why I told you I wasn't violent from the beginning ... Aren't you being too cruel?"

I had assumed it would be this kind of situation, so I'm glad I told Reinhardt to wait.

No, maybe it would have been better if I had shown an actual skeleton instead?

I feel like I have a hard time ahead...