Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - V6 Chapter 02

Chapter 02: “Isn’t This Just Me Coming Home?” ②

Natsuki and Koume locked eyes.

They started talking without saying a word.

—Koume-chan, you go talk to her.
—No way! You do it!

From Ginko, slumped over the round table, some kind of dark aura seemed to be leaking out.

At the same time… it also felt like she wanted someone to talk to her.

But neither of them had the courage to be the one to start a conversation with a Ginko in such a gloomy mood.

“Aaaahh… this seriously sucks…”

—See, see, she totally wants someone to say something to her!
—Nope, not me. This is 100% going to turn into something annoying!

They kept silently pushing the responsibility onto each other, glaring so hard it looked like sparks might fly—

“WHY WON’T ANYONE TALK TO ME WHEN I’M THIS DEAD INSIDE!?”

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” 

“SHE STARTED TALKING HERSELF!!”

Ginko, who had clearly been waiting for someone to speak, finally snapped and spoke up on her own.

Her hair—normally tied in a ponytail—was now loose and completely messy, covering her face as it swayed wildly.

The whole scene made her look exactly like one of those vengeful spirits that used to terrorize the world.

“W-Wait, go call Doman-san and Seimei-san! Evil spirit begone, evil spirit begone!”
“Natsuki-kun, that’s harsh!”
“Fine then—Senju! He’s in the spiritual business too, so he should be able to exorcise evil spirits!”
“Koume-san, that’s just as bad!”

As Ginko started sniffling and crying, Natsuki and Koume—already getting a bit fed up—decided to at least hear her out since dinner wasn’t ready yet.

“Finish your story before dinner, okay?”
“Hurry it up!”
“You guys are so cold! …At least show a little kindness to Ginko-san, who just fought the leftover Dopnnyanya Pirates in space!”

“Ginko-san went to space!?”
“I didn’t want to, but I got dragged there…”

Natsuki glanced at Koume.

“Isn’t that kind of crazy? Koume-chan, shouldn’t you go to space too?”
“I don’t need to! What’s with that look like I’m being left out!? Riding Jack’s spaceship once was more than enough for me!”

“…If you’re fine with that, then okay. Anyway—Ginko-san, you fought them in space? Wait, those guys weren’t wiped out yet?”

Natsuki looked toward Jack and Nancy.

Both of them nodded apologetically.

“There are quite a few merchants out there connected to space pirates.”
“And for people like them, supporting the Dopnnyanya Pirates as they try to make a comeback… it’s only natural. If they don’t, who knows what might happen to them later.”

“But this time, you took them down properly, right?”
“Oh, totally! Jack-san and Nancy-san, of course—and me, Seishiro-san, Yoshimasa-kun, Susanoo-sama, Mammon-san—everyone went wild out there!”

“—Wait, even Yoshimasa-kun went wild in space!?”

“It was insane! Dual-wielding pistols like some Hollywood action star. Honestly, it felt like there was someone else inside him.”
“Yeah… I can believe that.”

The mystery of Yoshimasa only kept getting deeper.

Still, Natsuki couldn’t help but let out a quiet, amused sigh.

Even Susanoo-no-Mikoto, who had been left in charge of Mukaijima City, going wild in space was one thing… but Mammon too? That was unexpected.

(I did buy a souvenir for Susa-Susa… but how am I supposed to give one to Mammon? Maybe if I message him on social media, he’ll come pick it up?)

“And that would’ve been fine—but after that, we got swallowed by some space distortion and got summoned to another world!”
“—WHY!?”
“No, seriously, that’s not how things are supposed to go!”

“Well, in the end, God stepped in and saved us, so it worked out… but we almost destroyed that other world! Oh, and just so you know, most of that was Susanoo-sama, Mammon-san, Jack-san, and Yoshimasa-san’s fault!”

“I’ve been wondering for a while now… why are you calling Yoshimasa-kun ‘Yoshimasa-san’?”
“Yoshimasa-san is Yoshimasa-san. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“That sounds way too suspicious!”

The mystery around Yoshimasa deepened even further.

Going to another world was one thing—but what exactly had happened over there?

Just as Natsuki was about to ask—

Satan, still wearing his apron, started placing hamburger steaks and omurice onto the round table.

“Alright, alright—Haruko-san’s footsteps are getting close, so dinner’s ready. Come on, everyone, let’s welcome the lady of the house!”
“You can tell it’s Mama Haruko just from her footsteps? That’s kinda creepy…”

Koume made a genuinely disgusted face at Satan—who had even gone as far as sticking little flags into the omurice.

〜〜Afterword〜〜

Uh, just to clarify—

Yoshimasa-kun is just a totally normal boy you’d find anywhere!