"!!!"
Something sparkle in her eyes. The mirror had reflected some flash. She stared at it curiously.
At that moment, the lights suddenly went out.
"Wah!"
She gasped, only for the lights to flicker back on and start blinking off and on.
"Is the lightbulb broken?"
Spooked, Iroha patted her chest, hurriedly finished washing her hands, and planned to get out of there quickly. But turning around, she froze.
Hovering in midair in front of her was a small, fist-sized orb of light.
"What is that?"
The light hovered at about head level in the middle of the corridor, flashing as though in sync with the flickering lamps. Iroha stared blankly at it. In a matter of seconds, the orb swelled in size. In the blink of an eye, it grew to an adult's height, forming a multi-colored, translucent vortex.
"Glrp"
Realizing something was wrong, Iroha rubbed her eyes, looked againand it was still there.
"A g-ghost?"
The eerie phenomenon made her think of ghost stories and horror films, especially in a deserted bathroom with flickering lightsclassic horror setup. Her fear soared, convinced it might be a ghost, making her shakily back away.
Bang!
She felt her back collide with something solid. Her hair stood on end.
"Kyaa!"
She gave a terrified shriekonly to have a large hand cover her mouth while another arm wrapped around her waist. Then a familiar voice whispered near her ear:
"Don't be scaredit's me."
"Mmph!" (Rei Ao-kun?!)
Soon, the hand covering her mouth let go. She spun around in a panic and saw that it really was Rei Ao, and exhaled in reliefbut also turned a bit flustered.
"R-Rei Ao-kun, I, I saw a ghost! Let's get out of here!"
"No need."
He shook his head.
"What you saw wasn't a ghost."
As if anticipating all this, he remained perfectly calmthis was precisely the reason he'd come. He'd quietly worked some small tricks to ensure the restroom stayed empty.
"Eh?"
She still didn't know why he was here or what was happening. But hearing him say it wasn't a ghost, plus the warmth of his hand around her waist, eased her fear somewhat. Gathering her courage, she asked:
"Rei Ao-kun, youyou can see that strange thing, too?"
"Yes."
He gazed forward.
"It's a portala space-time passage."
"Huh?"
No sooner had he spoken than the multi-colored vortex surged with a brighter glow. Simultaneously
"Waaahhh!"
A distant shout rapidly grew louder, followed by a heavy thump of someone landing on the solid floor:
"Owwmy butt, that hurts!"
A young girl was "spat out" of the vortex, flailing onto the floor. While she rubbed her backside, the portal vanished. The girl's attire resembled a cleric or nun's outfit, but it seemed a bit tightespecially around her rather ample bust. She picked up her fallen cap, put it on, and supported herself with something resembling a magical circle. Dazed, she looked around.
"Where is this place?"
She soon noticed Rei Ao and Iroha, and tightened her grip on her staff, warily asking:
"Who are you?"
Rei Ao grinned:
"Young lady, you're under arrest."
"Huh?"
Rei Ao led the baffled girl from another world and Iroha out of the ladies' room to an isolated spot outside the theater.
Cutting straight to the point, he said:
"Introduce yourself. I'm Rei Ao, this is Isshiki Iroha."
The girl was tense, mainly because she'd never seen neon lights or cars or big buildings. Nonetheless, she mustered her courage to speak:
"I, I'm Alicia Edelcia, a novice adventurera holy magic caster! Could, could you tell me where I am? I remember just now I was exploring a dungeon with my party, and then"
Calling herself Alicia, she glanced at the elaborate staff in her hand, set with a strange green gem.
Rei Ao said:
"Go on, I'm listening."
"Er"
Shrinking back a bit, Alicia confessed timidly:
"I I got separated from my teammates in the dungeon. By chance, I entered a hidden room and saw this really beautiful staff."
She lifted it for them to see.
"The moment I grabbed it, my head spunand then I arrived here."
Blinking her watery eyes, she pleaded:
"Rei Ao-san, could you please tell mewhere is here?"
~~~
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Chapter 545: Alicia Edelcia!
Alicia Edelciaa rookie adventurer from another world.
Her arrival in this world was purely accidental.
But Rei Ao not only recognized her, he knew exactly which world she came fromindeed, the same world as Sui and Mabel.
At the moment, Alicia was filled with confusion. She hoped to get some information from Rei Ao.
So Rei Ao explained:
"This place isn't your original world. You could call it 'another world.'"
"Another world?"
Given Alicia's own knowledge and experience, such a concept was hard to grasp.
"Rei Ao-kun, is she really from another world?"
Isshiki Iroha tugged at his sleeve, speaking softly.
After all, aside from wearing what looked like a cosplay outfit, the young girl across from them looked quite human, even speaking their language without trouble. So Iroha couldn't fully grasp the "otherworldly" notiononly the manner in which Alicia appeared suggested she was definitely not ordinary.
Rei Ao raised his hand.
"Eh?"
Alicia gave a startled look as her staff flew out of her hand into Rei Ao's. He cast only a single glance before understanding the gist.
"Alicia-san truly does come from another world.
There was a transfer spell built into this staff, but once some key was triggered, the spell misfired, and you got pulled across worlds to here."
Still, the main reason was that these two worlds had happened to touch each other.
"Thencan I use magic to go home?" Alicia asked anxiously.
"I'm afraid not."
He returned the staff to her.
"This staff's built-in transfer magic can't be controlled for accurate dimensional travel. It certainly can't let you cross worlds at will."
"H-how can that be"
Hearing this, Alicia's face fell in dismay. But my party's still waiting, she thought.
"Don't worry about your companions for the momentworry about yourself."
He patted her shoulder, then spoke bluntly:
"You don't know anything about this world, nor do you have any of its currency. You likely can't even get by."
"I"
Stalwart though she was, Alicia wavered upon seeing the unknown neon cityscape behind him.
Yes. With one glance, she understood that everything here was foreignshe was as lost as a newborn. How could she return home? And how could she survive in the meantime? Alicia felt no confidence.
Seeing the change in her expression, Rei Ao smiled faintly. This was the effect he'd intended.
"Alicia-san, I happen to know someone who might share your language."
"Share my language?" Alicia looked up, puzzled. "Could you clarify?"
Rei Ao said,
"I have a friendshe's also from another world, likely the same one as yours."
"Huh?"
Both Iroha and Alicia showed shock.
"Rei Ao-kun, you're saying you have a friend from another world?"
After everything that had happened, Iroha felt that Rei Ao was now more of a stranger than ever, like she was meeting him for the first time. Her mind filled with questions: Why is Rei Ao so calm about all this?
"I really do have such a friend." Rei Ao shrugged matter-of-factly.
"If you'd like, Alicia-san, I can introduce you. The two of you can exchange information."
"R-really? Th-thank you so much!"
Alicia bowed in gratitude. If such a person truly existed, she could ask them many things.
"Iroha, if you'd rather not come along, I can drop you home first," Rei Ao suggested, turning to her.
"What're you talking about? Of course I want to come!"
This was a genuine otherworldernobody could just turn down seeing that, right?
Iroha was no exception. More importantly, she wanted to learn more about this inscrutable Rei Ao.
"Alright, let's go then."
Rei Ao could have simply teleported them home, but for Iroha's sakeso as not to shock her too muchhe didn't. Instead, he called a taxi. There were a few hiccups along the way, such as Alicia acting like a grandma visiting a grand estate for the first time.
When the taxi arrived:
"Wah! A steel monster!"
"This is a car, something like a horseless carriage."
"Huh?"
Seeing the bright neon cityscapes:
"Wow, is this some kind of light-based magic? So amazing, so luxuriouscould this be a palace?"
Rei Ao: ""
He couldn't be bothered to explain.
The taxi driver glanced in the rearview mirror, looking awkward.
'Poor child's lost it man, I gotta keep my own kid away from anime weirdness'
After half an hour, the three of them got out. Rei Ao led them to Yukinoshita's apartment. The otherworldly person from the same world as Alicia must be Mabel.
"Huh? You're Yukino-senpai?!"
At the door, Iroha was dumbfounded, blurting, "So Yukino-senpai is the otherworlder?! No wonder she's so freakishly cool!" She reflexively assumed Yukino was the one. Hearing this, Yukino gave her a look like she was an idiot, face full of black lines, glancing at Rei Ao as if asking, "What's with this girl?"
Rei Ao laughed.
"Iroha, you're mistaken. Yukino isn't from another world. Yukino, can we come in and talk?"
"Mm."
Yukino, without further questions, obediently let them inside. Through Rei Ao's patient explanation, Yukino understood the situation. She studied Alicia, who was staring curiously at her surroundings.
"So, Alicia-san is from the same world as Mabel?"
Rei Ao: "Yes, please go ask Mabel to come out and talk with her."
"Sure."
Yukino went off to Mabel's room. Not long after, she returned with an exasperated face: "Mabel says she's afraid with you here, so she wants Alicia to go in by herself."
"Huh?" Rei Ao's eyes flickered.
She's afraidafraid I'll "paint" her? If he didn't have an appointment with Yumiko, he would have loved to go in and thoroughly paint Mabel as punishment. But
"Fine, thenAlicia-san, you go talk with her by yourself."
"Okay!" Alicia nodded eagerly.
"As for you, Iroha, I'm guessing you've got a lot of questions?"
"Mm!" Iroha nodded emphatically. "About you, Rei Ao-kunand Yukino-senpaiI've got a million things to ask!"
"Then ask Yukino. I've got something to deal with, so I'll be leaving."
Yumiko was urging him privately, so he decided to leave the trouble to Yukino.
"It's all in your hands, Yukino."
With that, he abruptly vanished from the couch.
"Eek!!!"
Iroha jumped.
""
Yukino gave a resigned look, as though thinking she had her work cut out for her.
~~~
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Chapter 546: Yuria Niguredou
Miura Yumiko: "You still haven't arrivedit's already been a while!"
Miura Yumiko: "Hurry up and get here. I've got a surprise for you!"
"Surprise?"
Rei Ao was quite curious what that could be.
Rei Ao: "I'm on my way. I hope your surprise is at least on the level of sexy lingerie."
He teleported straight to the luxury room Yumiko had specifically booked. Then he froze in place.
"Hmm? Yui?"
What he saw first wasn't Yumikobut Yuigahama, wrapped in a bath towel, sitting nervously at the bedside!
"Uuh R-Rei Ao-kun"
Yui was like a frightened little bird, shyly lowering her head, her cheeks disappearing into her "dumpling" hair.
"Yui, why are you here?"
Even Rei Ao didn't quite get it at first. He'd only asked Yumiko to open a hotel room. Presumably, she was going to send Yui home or find some excuse. Right?
Click!
The bathroom door suddenly opened.
"Hmph."
With a snort, long hair pinned up and also in a bath towel, Miura Yumiko stepped out of the bathroom, glaring at him irritably.
Rei Ao got it right away.
"Oh, so this is that surprise you mentioned, huh."
"I wanted to secretly get a hotel room, but Yui found out, so it turned into this."
"Uuh!"
Hearing that made Yui even more embarrassed, and even Yumiko's own cheeks had gone pink.
She walked gracefully up to Rei Ao, her skin still faintly steaming with a fresh, soapy scent. Her half-lidded eyes had a slight tremble in her lashes.
"And solucky you."
"Hahaha, Yumiko, this surprise is way beyond the level of sexy lingerie. I absolutelylove it!"
He burst out laughing and scooped her up around the waist.
"My dears, let's get some early rest."
Rei Ao turned into a ravenous wolf, determined to thoroughly devour both "lambs," Yui and Yumiko!
Miko's World
At School.
A petite twin-tailed girl blinked her wide eyes, looking around the area. After a while, she rubbed her tired eyes.
"Mmph. How could it be? Have my eyes lost their power?"
That girl was Niguredou Yuria, who possessed something akin to "spirit sight." However, her "spirit sight" was different from Miko's. She could only see harmless spirits, not the dangerous ones. She herself didn't realize thatshe simply believed she was special. As a child, upon seeing spirits and telling her classmates about it, she was doubted, considered a fraud, and isolated without friends.
Recently, she had tried apprenticing under someone she thought was an amazing "godmother." But the "godmother" had told her she'd retired, apparently because she'd been disheartened by a student named Miko Yotsuya.
That Yotsuya was in the same school as Yuria. So initially, Yuria wanted to challenge Miko, to unmask the fact that Miko actually could see spirits. Yet now, something unexpected had happened: she hadn't seen a single spirit all day.
That made Niguredou Yuria suspect her ability had vanished. As she stood there, perplexed, two figures approached:
"Heydo you happen to have spirit sight?"
"Eh?" Yuria looked up. The ones speaking were Miko Yotsuya and Hana Yurikawa.
Yuria immediately recognized Miko.
"It's you!"
"Huh? You know me?"
Miko was a bit surprised. She and Hana had come precisely because they noticed Yuria seemed to have some spiritual awareness. They hadn't realized Yuria actually already knew about Miko.
"You're Miko Yotsuya. You can see them!"
"Huh?" Miko and Hana's eyes widened.
Hana gasped. "Miko, she actually knows?"
"How did you know I can see them?" Miko asked curiously.
"Hmph, the 'godmother' told me!"
Niguredou Yuria stuck out her chest in a show of superiority.
