Chapter 69: We’re Twenty-Six to Begin With, You Know?
When we entered the city of Izumo, there weren’t many people, but we did see humans walking around.
“This is my first human town, but it doesn’t look very different from before.”
“You’re right.”
“It looks normal.”
The three of them commented as they gazed outside.
“Kumamoto was like this too. Surprisingly normal, though there were some young people carrying weapons.”
“I don’t think we’ll see that here. This area doesn’t have any fighting, right?”
It did feel peaceful.
“There’s a drugstore ahead. I’ll pull in.”
Sis Linda entered its parking lot and stopped the car.
“What are you going to do, Elvis?”
“I’ll stay here. Oh, buy me some cigarettes.”
Still no intention of quitting.
“All right. What about you, Sis Linda?”
“I’ll go. I’m curious about what they sell.”
Hmm… Well, she looked like a sexy human woman, so she should be fine.
“All right.”
We got out and entered the drugstore.
Somehow, we naturally split into groups of men and women as we browsed.
“Riku, human and demon towns stock different things, so buy whatever you can here. Human towns have a better selection.”
“Oh… Hagi and Hamada didn’t sell all that much. But what about money?”
“Elvis gave us some, so we’re fine. Apparently, lots of it was lying around Beppu.”
Not exactly ideal, but…
“I see… Yuu, can you really trust Elvis and Linda-san?”
Of course Riku would wonder.
“Yes. Elvis is blunt, and Sis Linda constantly makes dirty jokes, but I’d trust either of them to watch my back.”
“I see… If you say so, it must be true. I’ll trust them too. And how are things with Ayaka?”
Ayaka…
“Nothing has changed.”
“Really? Fine. What are we buying?”
“Mainly things they don’t sell in demon towns—wheat products, snacks, and cup noodles.”
“Oh… I want some. Yakisoba would be nice.”
Now that he mentioned it, I wanted yakisoba too.
“We have money and spatial magic. Let’s buy whatever we want.”
“All right.”
We filled our baskets with cup noodles and drinks.
“Everything is expensive. It feels like more than twice what it used to cost.”
It really was.
A cup of noodles cost over three hundred yen.
“The world is like this now. And maybe ordinary inflation played a part. We’re basically Urashima Taro.”
“It has been ten years. I never thought we’d come back.”
Neither had I.
“About what you said earlier—don’t you want to see your family?”
“Of course I do. But what matters to me has changed over the last ten years. And after all this time, I don’t know how I’m supposed to face them.”
I understood that feeling.
“Yeah…”
“That town was a good place. More importantly, I had good friends there.”
“You did.”
“Hurry up and confess.”
Shut up.
Once we’d chosen our cup noodles, we went to the snack aisle.
The women were there, piling chocolate snacks into their baskets.
“Buying in bulk, huh?”
“Of course.”
Naturally.
“Oh… I remember these. I loved them as a kid.”
Riku picked up a box of chocolate koalas.
“Snacks will seriously make you want to cry.”
“They’re dangerous.”
Takamiya-san and Kitaura-san said that as they put boxes of chocolate koalas into their baskets.
“I can believe it. Let’s have a snack party.”
“That’s the answer.”
“Riku, you’re a genius.”
We added juice and alcohol as well, then took our enormous haul to the register.
The cashier looked slightly alarmed, but we paid, bought the cigarettes too, and returned to the car.
“You lot bought a ridiculous amount…”
Tiny Elvis sounded exasperated.
“We have to buy it while we can.”
“Here are your cigarettes.”
“Oh, you bought a whole carton. Thoughtful.”
I handed them to Elvis, and we stored everything else with spatial magic.
“Well, it’s eleven… Let’s go to that enormous shrine.”
Sis Linda started the car.
“Oh, right. Riku, this is for you.”
Tiny Elvis took out a smartphone from his perch on Kitaura-san’s shoulder. She accepted it and handed it to Riku.
“A smartphone… Are you sure?”
“I’ve got plenty. It’s no trouble. Getting contracts is difficult for you, so keep it.”
How many phones did Elvis have?
“Thank you.”
We immediately exchanged contact information with Riku.
“Having a phone makes you feel much safer, doesn’t it?”
“It does. I wished for one plenty of times in the other world, but that was nothing compared to how badly I needed one after coming back.”
I’d been fortunate that Ayaka’s phone worked. For Riku, it must have been exactly as he said.
And probably for Minato too.
“Oh, Riku, do you have your student ID?”
Takamiya-san asked.
“My student ID? Let’s see… Is this it?”
Riku took it out.
“Let us see!”
“We want to see your old picture.”
“Sure, but it isn’t interesting.”
Riku handed it to them.
I leaned forward to look with the two of them.
“Oh. I thought you hadn’t changed, but you look like a kid.”
“You’ve grown up too, Riku.”
“You look like a middle schooler.”
He was still baby-faced, but he’d looked even younger then.
“Let me see too.”
At Ayaka’s request, they passed her the ID.
“Oh… You really do change in ten years.”
“Have I changed that much? Show me all of yours.”
Everyone passed Riku their student IDs.
“Kitaura-san has changed the most.”
Without question.
“She really has… Actually, all the girls have changed. Even Takamiya-san, who looked mature back then, seems like a child. Come to think of it, we can’t wear our school uniforms anymore…”
I’d forgotten about those.
“Mine has been packed away for years, but I doubt it would fit.”
“Mine would.”
“So would mine.”
“Obviously.”
Well… I wasn’t going to say it, but wouldn’t that be impossible?