Chapter 10: Proof of Another World
Ding-dong.
“Yes?”
“My name is Ichirou Suzuki.”
“…! Yes, I’ll be right there!”
It was the same woman who had answered the door when I’d visited before—Yuuka’s mother.
After I gave the same false name as last time, I heard hurried footsteps, and a moment later both Yuuka’s mother and father opened the front door.
…It didn’t look like anyone else was here.
I hadn’t really expected it, but there had been a possibility they’d called the police and arranged for officers to be waiting to detain me.
Apparently, after I’d cured Haruka, they no longer regarded me as some suspicious stranger.
“U-Um… thank you very much for treating Haruka.”
“A-And… what exactly happened to… Yuuka…?”
Her father was a slender man wearing glasses.
If anything, both daughters seemed to resemble their mother more than him.
Both parents clearly wanted answers immediately, but seeing my appearance, they questioned me with obvious unease.
I removed my mask and cap, revealing my face.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Kakeru. I’m sorry for showing up so suddenly the other day. First of all… how is Haruka doing?”
“Y-Yes! Thanks to you, she can move her arms and legs again. She’ll still need rehabilitation, but the doctors say she’ll be able to walk normally again. Even they called it a miracle.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”
Hearing her father’s words, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The elixir Yuuka had struggled so desperately to obtain in the other world had really worked.
“As for Yuuka… I’d like you to look at this first.”
“Th-That’s…! Yuuka!”
“D-Dear…”
The moment I showed them the photo of Yuuka on my smartphone, both of her parents broke down in tears.
I waited for them to calm down before moving upstairs to Haruka’s room so I could explain everything in detail.
“Oh! Mister!”
“Looks like you’re feeling better?”
“Yeah! They said I’ll be able to walk again!”
“That’s wonderful… I’m really happy.”
Haruka still couldn’t stand on her own, but she was at least able to sit upright now.
Once everyone had settled down in her room, I began explaining things again.
“Did you read the letter Yuuka left for you?”
“Y-Yes… But… this whole ‘other world’ story is just so hard to believe…”
When I’d visited previously, I’d left behind a letter.
In it, Yuuka had explained that she’d been transported to another world and had written about the elixir she’d obtained there.
But even if it came from their own daughter…
Anyone would have a hard time believing something so unbelievable.
“I understand. It’s not something you can accept immediately. In that case… may I borrow this for a moment? Please watch carefully.”
“Wh-What!?”
“Huh!?”
“M-Mister!?”
Activating my Unique Skill, Return to Japan, I instantly crossed over into the other world.
The scenery changed in the blink of an eye, and I found myself back inside the mansion.
“Kakeru!”
Yuuka stood before me, looking worried.
“Everything went according to plan. I showed your parents and your sister my skill. Haruka’s doing well too. They said that with rehabilitation, she’ll be able to walk just like before.”
“That’s wonderful! Thank you so much!”
“Yeah. All right, I’m going back to explain everything properly.”
As I spoke, I handed Yuuka the stuffed animal I’d borrowed from Haruka’s room.
Then I took a photo of her holding it with my smartphone.
Using my Unique Skill once more, I returned to Japan.
“Whoa!”
“H-He suddenly appeared again…”
The three of them stared at me in shock.
Magic that ignored the laws of physics existed in the other world.
But in Japan, if someone suddenly vanished and reappeared…
Of course they’d be astonished.
Inside Haruka’s bedroom, there was no way they could dismiss it as some kind of magic trick.
“Just like that, I’m able to travel back and forth between Japan and another world. I don’t know why, but everyone who goes there seems to receive a special ability. Here… this is the photo I just took.”
“Yuuka!”
“Big Sis!”
The three of them looked at the freshly taken photo of Yuuka holding Haruka’s stuffed animal, their voices trembling with emotion.
I operated the smartphone and showed them the photo I’d just taken.
It was a picture of Yuuka, dressed in fantasy-style clothing and holding the stuffed animal from this very room.
That alone served as proof that I’d really gone to another world.
Next, I opened the video we’d recorded yesterday.
Blushing with embarrassment, Yuuka sent her family a message for the first time in years.
She even talked about memories that only she and her family could possibly know.
Combined with the photo I’d just shown them, this had to be enough to convince them.
“Dear… Yuuka…”
“Yeah… She’s… she’s really alive…”
“Big Sis…”
As they watched the video, her parents and younger sister all burst into tears.
…Damn.
Watching the three of them, I could feel tears welling up in my own eyes.
They’d endured nothing but misfortune for so long.
It must have been unimaginably painful.
“Yuuka asked me to give you these. She said that if you’re ever in an emergency, you shouldn’t hesitate to use them. Just like the elixir, she worked incredibly hard for all of your sakes in that world. Please accept them.”
“I-Is this… gold?”
“Yes. Gold is used as currency over there. I don’t know whether it’s pure gold, though.”
I took several gold coins out of the Magic Bag Yuuka had entrusted to me.
They were astonished by the Magic Bag itself, which also served as proof that magic existed in the other world.
Haruka’s medical expenses were probably covered by insurance.
Still, Yuuka’s family had likely spent a considerable amount of money searching for her over the years.
That said, after doing some research, I’d learned that selling large amounts of gold would leave an official record and could attract the attention of the tax authorities.
So I told them to sell these coins only if they were ever faced with a genuine emergency.
…Incidentally, according to what I’d found online, if these roughly four-centimeter-wide gold coins happened to be made of pure gold, each one would be worth nearly 500,000 yen.
I’d heard that gold prices had risen dramatically in recent years…
But I never imagined they’d be worth that much.
“Now then… let’s talk about what comes next.”
Besides discussing Yuuka’s situation, there were also several favors I needed to ask of her family.
They were things that would be necessary if I wanted to move around Japan with at least some degree of freedom from now on.