VOLUME 1

Chapter 1: Part 3

A short time after the crayfish’s attack, I began walking home, trying to avoid being seen. If you ask why, it’s because after I dispelled that cosplay, I became naked, right? And whether I went home in these clothes or completely naked, both would be equally terrible.

And what’s more, next to me walked Haruna, who was only wearing a T-s.h.i.+rt and a pair of panties. And I was holding a chainsaw. There was absolutely a hundred percent chance people would think we were wackjobs. The minute we got spotted, we’d probably get reported.

We finally chose and began walking through a dark, quiet, narrow road. The road was too thin for even cars to pa.s.s through. If we could slip through this road, my house would be just ahead. Ugh, just now, through my embarra.s.sment, my annoyance was reaching its peak.

Why did I have to end up wearing this costume? That question repeated itself a countless number of times in my head.

I spoke up to the girl next to me who was looking the other way, and who was also the source of all my problems.

“You, go back to the magic world.”

“Huh? My world has a cool name, and it’s Virie! Don’t use any other words to describe it!”

“Fine. Fine, whatever, just stop it!”

Haruna had placed her thumb under my nose and rubbed it back and forth as if she had a pocket tissue she was trying to open. That burns! The area under my nose is burning!

“Anyways, go back to this Virie or whatever.”

“Huh? There’s no way I can go back!”

She looked at me as if I had just asked something stupid, and her facial expression soured.

“Why?”

“You stole my magical power so I can’t go back! Don’t you understand that much?!”

No, I didn’t. Could it be that she intended to stay at my house forever?

… Give me a break.

“Isn’t there a way you can go back? I’ll help you.”

“Alright, give me back my magical power.”

“How?”

“As if I know! Just do it somehow!”

With that, Haruna turned the other way, leaving me rubbing my head.

Alright, well that’s my house right there… it’s around 50 or 60 tsubo (1) , I think. Well, something like that. It was just a normal two-story residence. Right now, there were only two people living in this house… whoops, I forgot about Haruna. Only three people, then.

Under the pretext of going on a honeymoon, my parents had been gone for around five years.

I could easily imagine how many laps they had already made around the world. My little brother had happily gone with them, but I was left here in Tokyo. After all, if I went with them I would have to be on a schedule that would be tougher than being on a tuna fis.h.i.+ng boat.

Now, there was not even a shadow left of the peaceful lonely existence I had enjoyed before. Well, even now, I should be able to take back some private time. I’ll just believe that… so, with that, shall we enter?

I mean, Haruna had already gone in. Usually, you should wait for the master of the house to go in first, right?

Well, whatever. She definitely seemed to be embarra.s.sed by her outfit, and we had walked the entire way here looking at the ground.

When I asked her why she showed up like that, her response was “Well, a Megalo showed up, so what else could I do?! Don’t look at me!”

When I went inside, I dispelled the costume. Stark naked, I ascended the stairs. My room was on the second floor. And in case you’re wondering, I had left the chainsaw in the entranceway.

The inside of my room was exceedingly simple. A bed, a dresser, a bookcase, a study desk, and a television. Even though I was a zombie, there was nothing worth pointing out in here. It was an uninteresting, exceedingly normal room.

I took a s.h.i.+rt, some trunks, and some jeans from a drawer in the dresser. Changing into normal clothes, I exited the room. So, where should I go? Of course, the living room. It was the gathering place of the family, after all.

There was a large square table in the living room along with a biggish plasma television. Today as well, I could hear the laughing voices from some variety program coming from the television.

In front of the television sat a single girl kneeling with a teacup in her hands. You probably could figure this out, but this was not Haruna.

Even though she was indoors, she was wearing a dress that would look appropriate on n.o.bility, along with a Western-looking set of plate armor. Both her hands were equipped with gauntlets, and I had yet to see her with them off. It was an unbelievable outfit considering the heat.

… Her clothes may have been strange, but they really suited her.

“Was everything alright today?”

I spoke up to the girl in the living room. She didn’t even move her neck, but, with only her eyes, confirmed my ident.i.ty and gave me a single nod. Even in making that nod, she barely moved her chin.

And then her gaze returned right back to the television. Even as she watched the comedians in the variety program laughing ceaselessly, she didn’t even let out a chuckle.

Her peculiar features lay in her flowing, straight, long silver hair and her transparent blue eyes. They were deep eyes that almost sucked you in, almost as if there was a whole other universe within.

This girl’s name was Eucliwood h.e.l.lscythe, or Yuu for short.

Glancing at me one more time out of her peripheral vision, Yuu didn’t turn her body at all as she put her teacup on the square table. Using her right hand adorned with that flawless gauntlet, she picked up the black ball-point pen lying on the table, and using her left hand equipped with a similar work-of-art gauntlet, she tore out a sheet from the memo pad on the table.

She put her pen to the memo sheet. And then, she tapped twice with her pen. I believe that was a sign for me to look at the memo she was writing.

In round Gothic lettering, she wrote the following on the memo sheet:

Prepare dinner.

I didn’t even see her pen move. I was watching her straight on, but it always happened that during the span of a single blink, she would have finished writing what she needed to. No matter how long the sentence was.

”Oo, Yuu is hungry. Hey, onii-chan. Won’t you make something? Pretty please?”

That was what was going through my head. Just reading what she wrote was just too lonely, right? I always imagined a cute Yuu talking to me when we interacted like this. Even though I’ve never heard her real voice.

“What do you want to eat?”

At my question, she tore off another memo sheet from the pad. Two taps with her pen.

Steven Segal. (2)

That’s not going to happen. I couldn’t even translate that into cute-Yuu speaking in my head.

”You know, Yuu really wants to eat Steven-“ ugh no, that’s no good. Absolutely impossible. I tried for a bit, but I really couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to make the Yuu in my head say something like that.

Shaking my head back and forth, I shook the inner-Yuu out of my mind.

Right then, Haruna appeared. She was wearing a similar outfit as before, but she had on a pair of jeans for which the legs had been rolled up many times. When exactly did she steal my jeans?

Haruna pa.s.sed by my side, and settled into a cross-legged position to the right of Yuu, directly across from me, putting her elbow on the table and looking in Yuu’s direction. Her gaze almost made it seem like she was admiring a rare animal.

Yuu seemed completely unaware of Haruna’s existence, and didn’t move at all even when being examined from top to bottom by Haruna. She quietly sipped her tea.

The situation was similar yesterday when I had brought Haruna home. Even when I introduced Haruna, her eyes didn’t move to Haruna at all. Haruna also didn’t try to speak with her, instead acting like she was at the zoo watching an unmoving koala bear.

Even when I asked her “Haruna, is something about Yuu bothering you?” she just responded curtly with “not really.”

Even when I asked “Yuu, do you have any connections with masou shoujo?” she just completely ignored me.

As I thought, this just confirmed my philosophy that the best life is a lonely one.

“Ayumu, dinner’s still not ready? I’m hungry.”

I want meat.

Yeah yeah. Please allow me to make you dinner. Also, those two were complete polar opposites. That applied even to the way they sat; one was kneeling with her back straight and extended, while the other sat there slovenly and hunched over, cross-legged.

“Pork kimchi fine?”

“Yeah. That’s fine.”

Haruna showed me a smile. Her smile brightened up her countenance and was very cute, even if she didn’t intend it to be. It would be nice if she could always look like this…

Wonderful.

”Really?! Yaaay!! I love you oniichan!” is how I translated that. Heh, she really is quite cute, isn’t she?

Well, you’re probably wondering about this girl, so let’s talk a bit about Eucliwood-sama. Some of you have probably already guessed most of the situation, but just humor me and listen to my story anyways.

Why exactly was this strangely clothed girl in my house, when I was the one who said that I prefer being lonely?

Let’s talk while I prepare dinner for these two.

About that day.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) 1 tsubo is equal to around 3.3 square meters.

(2) I don’t know if Steven Segal should be honored here or terrified. Maybe a mixture of both?