Chapter 31: Leap

Chapter 31: Leap

I was looking at a news site on my phone as I stood at the station platform.

I was killing time as I listened to the announcement persistently saying please stand behind the yellow line repeatedly.

The way to get to the TV station is basically by train.

I only use taxi if I’m given some travel expenses.

After confirming that I can be detected by camera even after using concealment magic, I couldn’t be so reckless as to jump across rooftops anymore.

At least not during daylight. There will be an uproar otherwise.

Uproar.

Sometimes I thought that it’s better if I do just that.

If I showed myself flying around in front of people, people could think that Nakamoto-san had another trick up his sleeve and gain some more interest by the people.

Should I do it?

I was on the verge of such reckless thoughts.

But if I got used to it and kept flying around and getting filmed all the time, the interest is going to get thinner.

I’m afraid that the populace would get tired of it quickly.

I think it’s better if I do it slowly for a long period of time.

Just like a one-liner of a comedian.

If he spits it out recklessly, he’s just going to shorten its lifespan.

I need to stay in the media as long as possible so I could earn some money for as long as possible.

But instead, the screen on my hand is showing me a cruel reality.

The attention of the people are focused on the cloned baseball player.

The most read article is about the cloned Nakamura, and the second most read article is Komai.

I came in third, doing a trick where I break a metal bat with my arse.

To be honest it’s not a trick at all and instead just a simple body strengthening, but it’s publicly shown as a trick.

Seems that the mass is ever so easily bored.

They’re probably not going to be easily surprised by someone flying up high or destroying a solid object.

They’d demand for entertainment to escalate even further.

And to that, the entertainers have to answer to that demand.

It is important to make fine adjustments that gradually reveal the trick that had high impact without showing them all at once.

What next, should I destroy a car with my ass next time?

Or should I lift someone up with my ass next time?

Wait, shouldn’t I stay away from using my ass?

As I was thinking of a new trick to show, I could hear a powerful horn sounding.

The train is coming.

It curved massively and approached like it’s wriggling.

If I’m not mistaken, Ange is bad with trains, I recalled.

D-Dad! A steel snake is coming! It’s letting out a shrill roar though! she said while trembling all over.

I mean, yeah, for a person from another world, it would look like that.

This on itself is cute, but she’d better get used to it soon.

Just like that, I’ve been feeling like a father since early in the morning.

Suddenly, as I looked forward, I saw something strange.

A black shadow passed through from the platform to the rail.

At first I thought someone threw their bag or something.

But when I look closely, that thing also had arms, legs and hair. Crouching down and shivering.

It was a girl wearing a black coat.

“What is she doing?”

My surrounding becomes crowded.

—Perhaps she’s thinking of ending her life by jumping in front of the train, or perhaps she accidentally fell down.

Maybe she slipped?

The train is approaching, and it’s just over there.

She’ll get run over at this rate.

A young girl’s body would turn into a mincemeat in front of me.

I won’t make it. There’s only one second before the collision.

According to the laws of physics, it’s impossible to save her.

But there is someone who can bend the laws of physics here.

There’s a miracle based on a power given by a world other than this one.

In one instant decision, I cast a physical strengthening spell and jumped to the railway.

Because of the strengthening, my footing crumbled the moment I jumped.

“Can’t be helped, huh!”

I shouted as I held the girl’s small body.

I attempted another jump in no time.

Whoosh.

Leaving the sound of the wind behind, I landed at the opposite platform.

Together with the girl, we sat down as if collapsing.

Probably it looked like it happened in point one second.

Though a bit late, we could hear the brake ringing from the train as it passes by.

SKREEEEE, sound the train wheels scraping against the rails.

“Did she die? Did she!?”

“She’s still alive! Look, over there!”

“Uoooohhh! That’s teleportation!”

The people lining up on the platform were agitated.

“I made it……”

I heaved a sigh of relief and looked at the girl in my arms.

Her black hair extended down to her shoulder blades.

She’s a girl that looked like she’s very reserved. Perhaps she’s still a high schooler.

Since they were covered by her bangs, I couldn’t see her eyes clearly.

My gaze lowers down to the bottom of her face.

There were trails of tears on her cheeks.

Was it because of fear, I wonder.

I don’t know if it was an accident or an attempted suicide, but if she was afraid to die, it was correct for him to save her.

“I hope I won’t be asked for any compensation…”

I heard that you’d need to pay a large sum of money if you stop the train, so is this okay?

When I was fighting against the real unrest that I had been late, the salaryman who was standing on my side muttered to me.

“You won’t be charged anything if you did it to save a life.”

Hearing that word, the spectators turned to me.

And then they started giving an applause.

“I just saw something amazing!”

“Is that a human movement?”

“Isn’t that the magician from the television recently?”

“Aah, that guy who can fly and break stuff with his ass?”

“Amazing! His ass is amazing!”

“I don’t think his ass saved the girl though…”

Clap clap clap clap, it goes on for almost three minutes.

After it was over, the people around us started taking pictures.

Perhaps they thought that you don’t need permission to take pictures of someone famous so they took pictures of everything from top to bottom with the camera from their smartphones.

“Wai…stop…!”

There’s a girl who’s about to cry her eyes out, but are you really putting your curiosity forward?

What had become of this country?

Has it been like this since I left?

As I was taken aback, I felt the hem of my clothes being pulled.

I looked down, I noticed the girl’s white hand pulling on it.

“…um…”

Oh, right, I’ve been holding this girl all the time.

Even if I did rescue her, any more physical contact than needed is sexual harassment.

“Ah sorry, it’s better if I get away, right?”

I reflexively raised my hands, and the girl lifted her face.

From beyond her bangs, I could see her snow white skin and her moistened eyes.

Her parched lips were deathly pale, as if it has no life in it.

She looks completely different than when I saw her in the store; she looked very much weakened.

“Ayako-chan?”

I knew it, it’s Nakamoto-san, isn’t it? she whispered while slightly trembling.

Tears flowed from the cheeks of the mascot of the antique bookstore whose figure had completely changed.