Meanwhile.
Another world.
Aichi Symbiosis Academy.
At this moment, the S-14 world was similarly shrouded in the deep colors of night.
However, it was completely different from the nights in Orario, which were boiling with voices and filled with the clamor of adventurers and the smell of alcohol.
The night here was excessively quiet.
There were only the occasional low chirps of summer insects.
And the fleeting glimmer of the patrol guards' flashlights sweeping across the treetops in the distance.
A stifling low pressure permeated the air.
Ever since a few days ago, when that man who called himself a God descended and took away the Supreme Five Swords who ruled this academy, along with the Empress who had always reigned at the pinnacle.
The entire Aichi Symbiosis Academy seemed to have lost its soul.
Even though the Principal of Aichi Symbiosis Academy—Fujibayashi Yukino—had been publicly claiming that the Supreme Five Swords and the Empress simply went overseas for an emergency special training seminar in order to maintain a facade of peace.
But those in the core circles of Aichi Symbiosis Academy all knew—that was a departure with an unknown date of return, and perhaps, it was even a final farewell.
Inside a club room on the third floor of the girls' dormitory.
The air was filled with the classic scent of Japanese seafood cup noodles, which mixed with the unique mugginess of the early summer night, making people feel even more irritable.
"Sigh..."
A long sigh broke the silence, echoing in the spacious room.
The blue-haired girl, Tanukihara Kinue, who had short brown hair and a pencil habitually resting on her ear, was sprawled across the table without any regard for her image.
She poked at the cup of already bloated instant noodles in front of her out of sheer boredom, mashing the already mushy noodles into paste, just like her terrible mood at this moment.
Gazing out the window,
"Do you guys think... Big Sis and the others will really come back?"
Sitting across from her was the brown-haired girl, Touko Tsunemi, holding an iron fan and fanning herself listlessly.
Hearing this, the motion of her fanning also paused for a moment.
With a dim gaze, she looked out the window at the boundless, pitch-black night sky outside.
"Who knows."
"The power that God... displayed was simply like a monster, no, even more terrifying than a monster."
"Tearing through space and directly vanishing with people... such a thing is simply unheard of; that is an authority that only exists in sci-fi movies or myths and legends."
"Moreover..."
Touko Tsunemi frowned, lowering her voice and leaning forward slightly, as if afraid that walls might have ears.
"Didn't people from the military come a couple of days ago?"
"Driving those military armored vehicles without even license plates, and there were even a few Black Hawk helicopters hovering around here for a long time. With that kind of formation, anyone who didn't know better would think a World War was about to start."
"Yeah."
Speaking of this topic, Sawatari Niko, who had been sitting to the side wearing goggles and fiddling with nuts, also raised her head, pushing up the slightly thick goggles on the bridge of her nose.
"I saw that too."
"There seemed to be people bringing a lot of instruments that looked very high-tech, continuously sweeping over there with beep-beep sounds, turning the old gymnasium upside down inside and out."
"They said they were searching for some kind of residual high-energy reaction."
"And the result?"
Tanukihara Kinue asked further. Although she had roughly guessed the result, she still wanted to confirm it.
Sawatari Niko shrugged, spreading her hands with a face full of disdain.
"Of course, they didn't find anything."
"At the time, I was hiding in the ventilation duct and overheard a few guards saying that those military experts' faces turned green, saying things like it was completely normal and there were absolutely no abnormal fluctuations."
"In the end, that leading officer also threw a massive temper tantrum, his face as black as the bottom of a pot, and finally could only retreat dejectedly."
"Anyway, it was basically a wild goose chase. They all left dejectedly, not even daring to let out a fart."
Hearing this, the atmosphere in the club room became even more stifling.
"To think that even this country's most advanced instruments couldn't detect a single trace..."
Touko Tsunemi sighed, closing the iron fan in her hand and gently tapping her palm.
"That can only mean the level of that God who took Big Sis away... has completely exceeded our cognition; he is fundamentally an existence from another dimension."
"Since that's the case... then after Big Sis was taken away by the God, the probability of her being able to return is..."
Touko Tsunemi did not continue.
But everyone present clearly knew the answer in their hearts.
That probability was probably lower than winning the jackpot in a lottery.
"Ah—!"
"So annoying!"
Thinking of this, Tanukihara Kinue also became thoroughly irritable, violently scratching her hair and messing up her blue hair into a bird's nest.
"With Big Sis gone, I feel like doing nothing is fun!"
"Those underclassmen have started getting restless lately!"
"I really want to hear Big Sis shout 'minions' again..."
After saying that.
The three of them slumped back against their chairs, like three salted fish that had lost their dreams, staring blankly up at the dim incandescent light bulb on the ceiling.
However.
Just as these three girls who had lost their backbone were sighing heavily here, and the atmosphere had reached its most depressing point.
Suddenly.
Outside the window, the originally pitch-black central courtyard suddenly lit up without any warning!
A soft yet incomparably dazzling milky-white light instantly tore through the veil of night!
That light shone through the window directly into the club room, causing the slumping Tanukihara Kinue and the others to instantly squint their eyes, subconsciously raising their hands to shield them.
"W-What's the situation?!"
"A s-searchlight?! So bright?!"
"Are the military people back again?! Could it be that they're unwilling to give up after not finding anything and came back to arrest people?"
Tanukihara Kinue and the others were startled, hurriedly jumping up from their chairs with flustered expressions.
However.
When they rushed to the window, clinging to the window frame to clearly see the scene outside.
Three people, six eyes, instantly widened to perfect circles!
Their mouths gaped wide enough to stuff an egg in, even forgetting to breathe.
They only saw.
On that neatly trimmed lawn in the central courtyard.
On the grass that should have been empty, there was currently an oval-shaped portal of light, hovering half a foot above the ground and emitting a faint white glow out of thin air!
Bizarre halos circulated around the edges of that portal of light. Its interior did not show the scenery on this side, but rather connected to another unknown space!
Moreover.
Right under their shocked gazes.
Several figures that were so familiar they couldn't be any more familiar—ones they could even say they dreamed of—were currently emerging from that oval portal of light.
Stepping out one after another, setting foot on this familiar land once again.
The person leading the way had bright yellow hair that looked exceptionally dazzling under the light, wearing that familiar modified uniform, with a signature energetic smile on her face that looked somewhat punchable yet incomparably affectionate.
Hanasaka Warabi!
"Minions!!!"
"I, Hanasaka Warabi, have returned!!"
"Hurry up and come out to welcome me!!"
They saw.
The moment Hanasaka Warabi landed, before her heels had even steadied, she immediately put her hands on her hips, drew a deep breath into her diaphragm, and shouted toward the direction of the girls' dormitory.
This roar was full of vigor and extremely penetrating.
Under the silent night sky, it was simply like a sudden clap of thunder.
The dead-silent girls' dormitory instantly exploded in an uproar.
In the club room.
B-Big Sis?!
Tanukihara Kinue leaned over the windowsill, utterly dumbfounded. She forcefully rubbed her eyes and even pinched her own thigh hard, suspecting whether she was hallucinating because she missed Big Sis too much.
"It really is Big Sis!!"
"And... it's..."
Touko Tsunemi pointed at the shadows behind Hanasaka Warabi, her voice trembling, and her finger pointing at the portal of light was quivering.
Behind Hanasaka Warabi, a massive black shadow slowly squeezed out of the portal of light.
That was a giant black bear!
With a sturdy build like a small mountain, it carried a little bear that similarly looked somewhat dazed on its back.
"That's Kyoubou! And the little bear!"
"Big Sis and the others really came back!"
Upon seeing this scene, the three were filled with extreme excitement.
"What are you standing there for! Hurry up and go down!"
Tanukihara Kinue was the first to react, directly turning and sprinting toward the door, almost losing her shoes in the process.
"Big Sis!!!"
Touko Tsunemi and Sawatari Niko similarly rushed out of the club room like crazy, sprinting down the stairs. The commotion was so loud it felt as if they were going to trample the stairs down; one could even hear their rapid footsteps echoing in the corridor.
Meanwhile.
At the girls' dormitory building.
Following Hanasaka Warabi's earth-shattering roar, the dormitory building that was originally quietly stifling instantly erupted. Countless windows were pushed open with a 'clatter', and heads wearing pajamas and messy hair poked out one by one.
When they saw that miraculous portal of light in the central courtyard that had yet to dissipate, as well as those figures standing in front of that oval portal of light.
Screams, cheers, and gasps of disbelief rose one after another, instantly shattering the tranquility of the night.
"Hanasaka Warabi!"
"That's Rin-nee!"
"And Mary-sama!"
"Oh my god! They're all back!"
...
On the central courtyard lawn.
Before Hanasaka Warabi even had time to strike a second cool pose, she saw three familiar figures rushing out of the dormitory building's entrance, kicking up a trail of dust.
"Big Sis—!!!"
Tanukihara Kinue was charging at the very front, her messy blue hair flying in the wind, tears and snot streaming down her face. She was simply like a puppy abandoned for three days finally seeing its master again, directly leaping toward Hanasaka Warabi.
Completely disregarding her image.
"Uwa! You guys!"
Hanasaka Warabi was startled and subconsciously wanted to dodge, but seeing that familiar crying face, her face was full of smiles.
She opened her arms and steadily caught the charging Tanukihara, and was incidentally engulfed in a full embrace by the closely following Touko Tsunemi and Sawatari Niko.
The four of them instantly rolled into a ball.
"Big Sis! You really came back!"
"Wuwuwu... We thought that after you were taken away by the God, you would never come back!"
"After you left, that bunch of military people suddenly coming over was so scary... Pointing guns everywhere, it scared us to death!"
As soon as Hanasaka Warabi appeared.
These three girls, who were considered prominent high school third-years in the academy, instantly cried like hundred-pound children, their tears rubbing wet onto Hanasaka Warabi's clothes.
"Aiya aiya, what are you crying for! How embarrassing!"
Although Hanasaka Warabi acted disgusted verbally, her hands still forcefully rubbed their heads, messing up their hairstyles even further, feeling a surge of warmth in her heart.
This is the bond, ah.
"How could I possibly be in trouble! I am a member of the Familia chosen by Kami-sama!"
"Kami-sama is so good to us! Not only did he give us delicious food, but he also gave us weapons to fight monsters, and even leveled me up!"
While pacifying these crybabies, Hanasaka Warabi showed off with a smug face, her nose practically turned up to the sky.
"See that! Moreover, Kyoubou has also become stronger!"
As Hanasaka Warabi spoke, she incidentally pointed at the giant bear that was currently sprawling lazily on the grass and yawning.
The three's crying then abruptly stopped, sobbing as they looked over.
Although Kyoubou's outer appearance didn't seem to have changed, still looking silly and goofy.
The fur on its body had clearly become glossier and deeper black.
Moreover, the aura faintly exuding from it was deeper and heavier than before, making one palpitate.
It was the aura belonging to a wild beast that had undergone the baptism of slaughter.
"So amazing..."
Seeing this scene, the three instantly revealed looks of admiration, stars popping up in their eyes.
"Big Sis, is that world fun?"
"Did you encounter any powerful monsters?"
"What does the other world look like? Is there really a Dungeon?"
Tanukihara Kinue, Touko Tsunemi, and Sawatari Niko immediately turned into curious babies, chattering non-stop around Hanasaka Warabi, deeply afraid of missing a single detail.
.
On the other side.
The other few were similarly experiencing their own reunions.
"Rin... nee?"
A somewhat timid voice carrying a trace of disbelief rang out.
Onigawara Rin, who was standing at the edge of the lawn straightening her somewhat messy collar, abruptly jolted upon hearing this voice and quickly turned her head around.
She saw.
Under a cherry blossom tree not far away.
A girl with a petite figure and short pink hair, dressed in a middle school uniform, was standing there.
Both hands tightly gripping her skirt hem.
Those large eyes were brimming with tears, full of disbelief.
It was precisely Onigawara Rin's number one supporter!
And the one hailed as the strongest vice-seat, who had always viewed Onigawara Rin as her idol—Mozunono Nono!
"Nono!"
Onigawara Rin's eyes lit up, her voice carrying pleasant surprise.
"It really is Rin-nee..."
"Rin-nee!"
After Mozunono Nono confirmed that the person before her was not a hallucination, nor a dream.
The composure she had originally forced upon herself instantly collapsed.
Her eye sockets turned red, and she directly charged over, crashing into Onigawara Rin who had just stepped out of the portal of light.
"Waah!"
If it were in the past.
This impact would probably have knocked the equally petite Onigawara Rin staggering, perhaps even sending both of them rolling into a ball.
But now.
Having undergone the baptism of the Dungeon, she was already fundamentally different from before.
Onigawara Rin's lower body didn't budge an inch, exceptionally sturdy, firmly catching the bawling Mozunono Nono without even swaying slightly.
"Wuwuwu... Nee."
Mozunono Nono hugged Onigawara Rin's waist in a death grip, burying her face in her chest, crying with tears and snot everywhere, her voice muffled and unclear.
"I thought... I thought I would never see you again!"
"You clearly promised to teach me the profound secrets of the Jikishinkage-ryu..."
"How could you go back on your word, wuwuwu..."
"What are you crying for."
Listening to Mozunono Nono's incoherent tearful complaints, feeling the trembling body in her arms.
The softest part at the bottom of Onigawara Rin's heart was touched.
She patted Mozunono Nono's back somewhat flusteredly, and although her own nose was a little sour, she tried her best to maintain the dignity of a senior.
"Didn't I come back to see you?"
"Moreover... I've become even stronger than before now, you know!"
...
Meanwhile.
On the second-floor balcony.
"Oooooh! Mary-sama!"
A loud shout full of passion rang out subsequently.
Everyone looked sideways.
They saw.
On the second-floor balcony of the dormitory, a girl wearing a blonde curly wig, wearing heterochromatic color contacts, and dressed in an intricate lace dress was standing there.
Striking an extremely exaggerated pose.
"Choka..."
Kikakujou Mary, who had just walked out of the oval portal of light, couldn't help but facepalm when she saw this scene, feeling a wave of embarrassment.
It was exactly Kikakujou Mary's die-hard supporter.
And also one of the next generation's Five Swords.
A middle schooler who was passionate about dressing herself up as a Western noble lady.
—Ubaragasaki Choka.
"Mary-sama! Have you finally returned in triumph?!"
"Does this mean you won't leave ever again?!"
As soon as she saw Kikakujou Mary, Ubaragasaki Choka trembled all over with excitement, her eyes fanatical.
She immediately got so excited she disregarded everything, directly vaulting over the second-floor balcony!
"Uwaah!"
As a result.
Because she was sliding down the drainage pipe on the side.
Ubaragasaki Choka's movements were very clumsy; her dress hem got caught several times, leaving absolutely no elegance to speak of, and she finally landed with a 'thud'.
"Choka, mind your manners."
Seeing her little fangirl so excited, Kikakujou Mary also had to cough lightly twice, straightening her back, attempting to recall her image as one of the Five Swords.
"Although I indeed returned from another world, this isn't any triumph, just a reward Kami-sama gave us."
"However..."
Facing Ubaragasaki Choka who was looking at her with eyes full of admiration.
Kikakujou Mary's gaze also softened, a doting smile curling at the corner of her lips.
"Being able to see you again, I'm also very happy."
"Wuwuwu! Mary-sama!"
Upon hearing this, Ubaragasaki Choka instantly broke character, that noble demeanor from a moment ago vanishing into thin air, and she immediately rushed over to hug Kikakujou Mary's thigh, rubbing against it.
"I thought you would never come back wuwuwu..."
"How could that be."
Kikakujou Mary sighed helplessly, reaching out to stroke Ubaragasaki Choka's head.
Outside the commotion.
In the shadow of a large tree beside the dormitory building.
Nomura Satori stood there, keeping a distance from the lively crowd, quietly waiting for someone.
Shortly after.
A girl wearing a hockey mask appeared before her.
Nomura Satori looked at the newcomer and opened her arms, signaling the other party to come over.
Misogi's body instantly jolted.
Tears rushed from her eyes, and she immediately dashed over, tightly hugging Nomura Satori.
A moment later.
"This mask..."
Nomura Satori toyed with the hockey mask taken from Misogi's face in her hand, her fingertips gently tracing the rough textures on it.
"Still so ugly."
Misogi lowered her head, a trace of an awkward blush appearing on that face that was always filled with timidity.
"S-Sorry..."
"I... I just..."
"Fool."
Nomura Satori gave a light chuckle, placing the mask back onto Misogi's face.
"Although it's ugly."
"But..."
"It's very reassuring."
"As long as I see this mask, I know that big sister is always here."
Hearing this 'big sister' again.
Beneath the mask, Misogi's tears burst their banks.
"Satori..."
"Alright, don't cry."
Nomura Satori reached out and, through the mask, gently wiped away the non-existent tears.
"I brought something to give you this time I came back."
Saying so.
Nomura Satori pulled a small bag from her bosom.
"This is..."
Misogi took the bag with some confusion.
Opening it to look.
She saw a pair of exquisite hair clips lying quietly inside.
They were not precious gems, nor were they made of rare materials.
It was just a very ordinary style, adorned with two tiny green beads, looking like two cat eyes.
"Saw them at the market in that world."
"Suddenly felt they suited you quite well at the time."
"Although you always wear that ugly mask and your hair can't be seen..."
"But..."
"Even if you wear a mask all the time, you should still dress up occasionally."
Holding that bag, Misogi's hands were trembling.
This was... a gift Satori gave her?
This was the first time Satori had ever given her a gift.
"Thank you... Thank you, Satori..."
Misogi gripped that bag tightly, as if grasping the most precious treasure in the entire world.
"It's really beautiful..."
"I like it very much..."
"Glad you like it."
Hearing this, a shallow arc curled at the corner of Nomura Satori's mouth.
At this moment.
These sisters who had always lived under the shadows of their childhood.
Finally, under that faint moonlight.
Their hearts connected.
In the dorm supervisor's room.
Inaba Tsukuyo was sitting on the familiar old sofa, holding the freshly baked cookies from Maria-sensei in her hands, eating them in small bites.
That familiar taste instantly awakened her taste buds, as if returning to every past afternoon when she was taken care of by Maria-sensei.
"How is it? The taste hasn't changed, right?"
Maria sat to the side, looking at her with a face full of affection.
"Mhm."
Inaba Tsukuyo nodded, a bit of cookie crumb stuck to the corner of her mouth.
"It's still very delicious."
"Eat more if it's delicious."
Maria smiled and poured her another cup of hot milk.
"If it's not enough, Sensei will bake more for you."
"Right, Tsukuyo."
Maria seemed to have thought of something, her expression becoming somewhat serious.
"Did that God... really not force you to do anything dangerous?"
"For example... making you go fight those terrifying monsters?"
As an adult, and also as the elder who had always been responsible for taking care of Tsukuyo.
Maria had always held a kind of worry regarding her going to another world.
Especially after hearing Hanasaka Warabi loudly broadcasting the terrifying nature of those monsters outside just now, the worry in her heart intensified.
____
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