Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - V6 Chapter 09

Chapter 09: “Okay, but ‘Paoooon’ Is a Bit Much, Right?” ①

“Thanks for the meal!”

After putting his hands together, he carried his bowl over to the sink.

Satan handled the washing, so Natsuki thanked him and left it in his care.

“Alright… breakfast’s done, so time for a second nap! —Just kidding, Nacchan’s a good boy, so I won’t!”

Pierced by his mother’s sharp glare, Natsuki straightened his back, gave a quick salute, and grabbed his school bag.

(…Yeah, it’s been nonstop events lately, so taking a chill day sounds nice. Ah—but not being able to reach Yusuke-kun is still bothering me. And God showing up in my dream saying weird stuff doesn’t help either.)

He didn’t have any contact info for Yusuke’s family, so all he could do was wait for them to reach out.

He wanted to believe things wouldn’t go the way Ginko joked about—like Yusuke suddenly getting summoned to another world.

More importantly, even if something involving another world was happening, it would be strange if only Yusuke got sent ahead first.

“I’m heading out!”

Since it was still early, he decided to stop by Yusuke’s house first.

Showing up this early would normally be rude, but he figured just checking for Yusuke’s mana presence from outside would be enough.

After all, since Natsuki had once accidentally revealed himself by leaking magic, he had told Yusuke to set up a barrier.

Because of that, he couldn’t accurately sense Yusuke’s magic all the way from the Yura house.

“Ooh, have a safe trip!”

“Don’t get dragged into any events, alright!?”

“My friend, have a good day!”

“Make sure you apologize to your teacher for skipping!”

With his family calling out to him, Natsuki opened the front door—

Then immediately froze.

“…Ele-what-now?”

He stood there, stunned, letting out a strange noise at the sight before him.

“Paoooon.”

—There was an elephant outside his front door.

Natsuki quietly shut the door.

“Nope nope! No way no way no way NO WAY!”

There was absolutely no way that made sense.

Clutching his pounding chest, he slowly opened the door again.

“…Right? It’s gone, right? No elephant, right? That’s way past fantasy—it’s just straight-up dangerous. Someone would record it, it’d go viral, and the police would show up!”

He stuck only his head out and checked left and right.

No elephant.

“…Am I just tired? Maybe I don’t need to skip school—I just need actual rest?”

Natsuki stepped outside and started heading toward school—

Then stopped.

“…I feel something behind me… no, more like a shadow looming over me. Something huge is definitely standing back there, right!?”

He spun around in a hurry—

And yep.

The elephant was still there.

“Paoooon!”

“No no no NO, this is not happening!”

“PAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!”

“WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! A super flashy, fully decorated elephant is charging straight at meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!?”

Natsuki bolted at full speed, sprinting for his life—while behind him, the elephant came thundering after him, thump, thump, shaking the ground with every step.

On a perfectly normal weekday morning, a completely nonsensical chase had begun.

〜〜Afterword〜〜

An elephant… what even is that thing!?