Chapter 2 – The Caring Hero and the Clumsy Witch

When we returned to the classroom, all eyes were on us.

Well, this was to be expected. After all, the new student somehow skipped the first class on the very first day she attended.

The witch looked really uncomfortable with all the attention, but she managed to quietly return to her seat.

“Oi, oi, Godou, you sure moved quickly, huh?”

Said Shinji with crossed arms. There was a disgusting grin on his face.

“Shiina-san said that she wasn’t feeling well, so I escorted her to the infirmary. There’s nothing more to it. Right?”

I raised my voice so the witch at the end of the classroom could hear me.

“Y-Yes… M-Maybe it’s because I was nervous, b-but I’ve been feeling unwell…”

Said the witch in a small voice.

Was this really that haughty witch? It felt so weird seeing her like this.

“I understand why she skipped, but why did you skip then? If you had to escort her, then just do that and come back quickly.”

Hina approached me as she asked that question.

“I was sleepy. Since I was already there, might as well.”

I shrugged in response. It was a lie, but there was no way that I’d tell her the truth about what happened.

“Hmm… Still, how did you become so close to her this quickly? There’s something fishy going on here…”

Hina looked at me with suspicion.

“That’s why I told you that you can’t let your guard down, Hina. This guy is a natural at this.”

Said Shinji as he slapped me on the shoulder. Seriously, stop that, it hurts.

Hina glared at Shinji before turning around and walked toward the witch’s seat.

“Are you alright now, Shiina-san?”

“Y-Yes! I-I feel better already…”

“It’s your first day, so there’s a lot to take in. If you have any troubles, feel free to ask me for help, okay?”

Hina puffed her chest as she said so.

Thanks to that, her massive weapon became more pronounced and the witch had to witness it in its full glory.

There was a hint of envy on the witch’s gaze as she stared at Hina in silence. Seeing that, I let out a chuckle.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing the puzzled Hina, the witch shook her head.

“N-Nothing! U-Um, I-I’ll ask you if I need some help, um…”

Girl, your tone is way too stiff. Relax, she is your classmate.

“Hahaha, Shiina-san, we’re classmates! Don’t be so stiff, okay? Just talk to me casually!”

“E-Eh?! U-Um… I-I understand!”

“That’s still too stiff.”

“E-Eh?! U-Um… T-Then… G-Got it… I-Is that how you do it?”

“Hahaha, you’re doing it again. Well, if that’s more comfortable for you, Shiina-san, it’s all right. Have I introduced myself to you? My name is Kirishima Hina. You can call me whatever you want.”

“Ki-Kirishima-san, is it? M-My name is Shiina Mai, n-nice to meet you!”

“Hahaha, I know your name already, Shiina-san. You’re an interesting one, don’t you know that?~”

Hina laughed loudly at the witch’s response.

Seriously, that girl was too far gone.

I knew that she was bad at talking with people, but I never knew that she was this bad.

I saw her talking with the crowds earlier today, but I was only observing her from afar, so I didn’t know the details about their conversation. If it went on like this, then it was no wonder that the other girls were laughing around her back then.

By the way, I just realized that I’ve never seen her talk properly with another person back in the other world.

Now I’m starting to feel uneasy for her.

Could she really adapt to this world? I mean, yeah, she had been living here for sixteen years already, but still…

After Hina left her side, I quickly went to her side and whispered to her,

“Oi…”

“What?”

“Get yourself together.”

“…Easy for you to say! You know I’m bad at this! Witches aren’t supposed to be friendly with other people to begin with!”

“Why are you so smug about it? Don’t you realize that you sounded pitiful just now?”

“P-Pitiful?! I-I’m not! I just love to live in solitude, that’s it!”

“You don’t need to sugarcoat it, loner.”

“Leave me alone!”

She was getting teary eyed by my teasing. Suddenly, Shinji cut into our conversation and called out to her.

“Oi, oi, don’t leave me behind like that. Heya, Shiina-san~”

Seeing Shinji approaching her casually like that, the witch’s body stiffened. Oi, why were you like this? Say something quickly!

She sent an SOS signal with her gaze to me. Well, it can’t be helped then.

“Shinji, you’re troubling her.”

“What do you mean? I was just calling her name!”

“Dumbass, did you look at yourself? You look like a philanderer, you’re scaring her, go away.”

“Do I really?…”

He then took out his phone and took a look at his own reflection there.

“Heya, what are you guys talking about?~”

Another person interrupted our conversation. Shindou Yuuka was her name.

Her black hair was tied in a sidetail. There was a gentle smile on her face, it suited her calm demeanor.

She was well-liked by everyone in class and because of that, she was one of the centers of the class.

“Yo, Yuuka, hear me out–”

Shinji talked about how I told him that he frightened the witch. In response, Yuuka nodded happily.

“He is right, so get away from her quickly.”

Instead of Yuuka, Hina answered him instead. She brought a group of girls with her and kicked Shinji out of the witch’s vicinity.

And once again, people gathered around the witch.

They talked with the witch and occasionally asked her a question or two, in which she only nodded lightly as a response

…I guess I was the only one who could tell how troubled she looked currently.

She sent me another SOS using her gaze.

It seemed like the positive vibes that Yuuka and the others brought intimidated her.

“Haha, really, Yuuka-chan? That’s crazy!~”

She seemed to be especially intimidated by Hina.

Hina looked like a gyaru, but she actually never dated anyone. I knew about that because she was my childhood friend. She received a lot of confessions, but she never accepted any of them.

Maybe she already had someone she liked, who knows.

“I know right? What do you think, Shiina-san?”

Perhaps noticing that the witch was left out of the conversation, Yuuka tried to drag her into it. As expected, the witch kept stuttering when talking, though she managed to convey what she had in mind. It didn’t show in her face, but it seemed like Yuuka also had some difficulties trying to make her fit in.

There was nothing wrong with Yuuka. What she did was appropriate in that situation. The problem lies in the witch’s lack of communication skill.

I could see tears already forming in her eyes.

…Seriously, wasn’t she supposed to be the Witch of Calamity? Shouldn’t she have more backbone than this?

This part of her really hadn’t changed, huh?

“Oi, the next class is about to start.”

When I shooed the girls away, the witch’s face immediately brightened.

You shouldn’t be that happy over something like this…

Then, I went back to my seat and was greeted by a question from Shinji.

“I knew it, there’s something going on between you two.”

I knew it was impossible to fool him. He was one of my closest friends after all.

Besides, this guy was surprisingly observant and he could read the air really well.

“…I know her from way back. I’m not that close to her though.”

“I see. Why did you hide it from me then?”

I wasn’t lying. It was true that I knew her from the way back.

“Too much of a hassle. Besides, I’m not obligated to tell you everything about my interpersonal relationship.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I said that, meanwhile Shinji chuckled in response.

“Fine, I’ll leave it at that.”

* * *

Lunch break.

“Godou-kun, can I have a word with you?”

When I was eating with Shinji, Yuuka approached us.

Yuuka was Shinji’s classmate back in middle school. Since she had a large circle of friends, they didn’t hang out often, but thanks to that relationship they had, me and her got along quite well. Her coming over to talk to me like this wasn’t a rare occurrence.

Both Yuuka and Shinji stood out because of their appearance and because I got along with both of them, the rest of the class treated me the same way as they treated them. Though, I felt that I didn’t deserve that treatment because I didn’t look as good as them.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing much, it’s just… Have you done your assignment for the fifth period?”

“…What? What assignment?”

The fifth period would be math. The teacher in charge was known to be a strict person and they wouldn’t hesitate to lower your grades if you missed out an assignment from them. But, I didn’t remember anything about us having any assignments today.

When I tilted my head in confusion, Yuuka giggled.

“I knew it, you haven’t done it. Sensei gave it to us near the end of the period. You probably didn’t hear it because you were sleeping back then, also because I forgot to tell you.”

“W-Wait a minute… Are you for real?!”

Hina suddenly cut into our conversation.

Her face looked pale.

“Yeah. Sorry, I forgot to tell you too.”

“N-No, it isn’t your fault, Yuuka-chan, it was my fault that I dozed off the other day! Ugh, what should I do? Can I make it in time if I start doing it now?…”

The witch, who was invited to lunch by Hina, was listening to our conversation with a blank stare.

“Sorry, Shiina-san! I have to do my assignment first, so go ahead and eat without me!”

She apologized to the witch and hurriedly took out her math textbook and notebook.

“Hina is an earnest student, isn’t she?”

Yuuka giggled after seeing that scene, meanwhile Shinji and I just shrugged our shoulders.

“That girl doesn’t know how to give up. It’s at times like this that we should just accept our fates.”

“I know, right? Then again, I know about the assignment, but why the hell would I do math, ew.”

“Wait, what was that, Shinji? If you knew about it, then why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“Why would I do that, my dear best friend? If I’m going to get scolded, then obviously I’ll drag you with me.”

“I’m not a delinquent like you! Stop treating me like one! I’m an honor student!”

“Honor students wouldn’t skip classes like you.”

Said Shinji as he let out a sigh.

I couldn’t even retort to that because he was right.

“Yuuka-chan is teaching me, you guys should join in too.”

“Sensei didn’t give us a lot of problems to solve. We should be able to finish it during the lunch break if we do our best!~”

When I looked around the class, there were many classmates that had put their lunches away and were working on the math’s assignment. Yuuka must have been telling them about the assignments. This was why everyone adored her, she was so kind.

“Are you an idiot, Hina? To do the assignments, I have to solve the problems and to do that I have to understand the question first. I have been sleeping in class for the past few weeks, so I know literally nothing.”

“That’s not something to brag about!”

“Instead of worrying about me, you should worry about yourself. You haven’t done anything yourself, have you?”

“You don’t need to tell me that!…”

Said Hina as she scribbled through her notebook with her pen.

“I’ll show you mine, so you should work on yours too, Godou-kun.”

Yuuka pulled out her assignment and gave it to me.

“Oh, my goddess…”

Goddess really existed in this world.

Back in the other world, they only exist as a false image that was created by the church.

“You’re overreacting… Next time, do it on your own, okay? Promise me.”

I made a gesture as if I was praying to her and she giggled when she saw it.

“Ah, that’s not fair! Yuuka-chan, you’re spoiling him too much!”

“That’s just how deep the bond between me and Yuuka is. You just don’t have enough affection points with her, that’s why she didn’t show her assignment to you.”

“What affection points?! This isn’t a game!”

“N-No, I just thought that Hina is able to solve the problems normally, so she doesn’t need to look at mine…”

Yuuka hurriedly defended herself. Seeing this, Shinji crossed his arms and spoke,

“Well, no choice then. If the answer is right in front of me like this, then I’ll have to do it even if I don’t want to.”

“What’s with that haughty tone of yours?”

“Hmph, unlike you and your stupid bond or whatever, I’ll be paying her for her kindness. So, how much?”

“Hm… Just buy me some juice later.”

“Got it.”

After that exchange happened, we quickly put our lunches away and pulled out our notebooks.

The witch looked at us and asked,

“I-Is it okay if I don’t do the assignment?”

“Of course. Sensei wouldn’t be that heartless to scold a new student about an old assignment.”

“I-I see. S-Sorry, I asked something strange…”

“No, don’t be! Also, relax, don’t be so nervous!”

Yuuka tried to be as gentle as possible when talking to her, but the witch was still tense when talking to her.

When our eyes involuntarily met, she glared at me though.

Was it so hard to just act like how she acted around me instead of acting meekly like this?

After things had quietened down, the witch pulled out a book and started to read it. She looked relaxed when she did it.

Reading a book on the first day you transferred in? …I mean, it wasn’t a bad thing, but doing that would just make it harder for you to make friends.

“Alright! Somehow, I finished everything…”

I finished the assignment quickly. It was all thanks to Yuuka.

“I finished it faster than you.”

Said Shinji with a smirk as he crossed his arms. So what?

While taking back her notebook, Yuuka whispered something to us.

“I wonder if she prefers to be alone? Did I do something unnecessary?”

She moved her gaze toward the witch, who was absorbed in her book.

“Hmm… I don’t know… I think we were too pushy, after all…”

Said Hina with a complicated look on her face.

Both her and Yuuka had been trying their best so that the new student could get used to the new environment quickly, but they started to think that their plan backfired and blamed themselves because said new student looked so uncomfortable around them.

In truth, that wasn’t the case.

The witch was just too used to being alone. She had been living alone for half of her life and she knew how to deal with that kind of solitude. That was why she looked relaxed when she was reading a book on her own like that.

But still, just because she was used to being alone, that didn’t mean that she liked being alone.

In truth, that girl, Cerys Flores, hated to be alone.

She longed for the warmth of family, friends or any kind of human interaction.

However, her lack of communication skill as well as the trauma of being detested as a witch made it hard for her to interact with other people. She was afraid that someone might come to hate her. That was the reason behind her nervousness and anxiety whenever there were other people around her.

I was a special case because we were originally enemies. She could act haughtily because she didn’t care if I were to hate her. Or rather, we were supposed to hate each other to begin with.

Anyway, I wanted everyone to talk to her more so that she could overcome her trauma, but it would be really unnatural if I were to ask them to do it openly like that.

“Anyway, Godou, don’t you know Shiina-san? So, what’s with that?”

Then Shinji said that to me.

I explained to Yuuka and Hina that I knew the witch for a bit.

I should talk to the witch later so that we could elaborate a proper backstory to tell everyone.

“Huh, I see. So that’s why you two got along quickly.”

“Mhm. I didn’t notice that it was her at first, but when we talked earlier I managed to confirm that it was really her.”

I went on and explained to everyone. They were all the centers of the class, so if they understood the witch’s personality, everyone else would also understand and they wouldn’t isolate nor avoid her because of it.

“That girl isn’t very talkative, but she does like to be around other people, so don’t hesitate to talk to her.”

While I was busy trying to explain her circumstances, the witch was reading without care. Since her attitude pissed me off, I gave her a rough poke in the shoulder.

“Oi.”

“W-What?!”

“I’m trying so hard to make some friends for you and here you are lost in your own world.”

“I didn’t tell you to do something like that, though?!”

Everyone saw how she was yelling at me.

“Huh, I see. So that’s how it is, huh, Shiina-san?~”

Hina stared at her in surprise.

“Somehow, you two look like you’re about to enter your own world… Should we give you two some space?”

Said Yuuka while giggling.

“Well, anyway, that’s the kind of girl she is. Just think of her as a really shy girl.”

“Wait a minute, what are you saying about me…”

The witch tried to argue, but her voice gradually became quieter as she noticed everyone’s stare. In the end, she fell into silence mid-sentence. Of course, I laughed at her in response.

Right after that, the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break.

* * *

I managed to get through the fifth period with no problem and proceeded to sleep through the sixth period. Time passed and it was currently after school.

I placed my pencil case in my backpack and threw the rest of my things, textbooks and notebooks, into my locker.

Of course, I would be in trouble if a teacher discovered me doing this, but it was too troublesome to bring them home. Besides, I didn’t study at home anyway, so this was more convenient for me¹The raw used the term 置き勉 (Okiben) here. It’s the term for leaving all your books at school so you don’t need to bring any of them home. In Japanese it’s frowned upon to do it and only ‘delinquents’ would do it. Anyway, I left the term out in the translation because I found no English equivalent of it..

After I finished packing up, I looked at the witch, who was fiddling with her phone in her seat.

“Alright, see you later, Godou-kun. I have to go to my club.”

“I’m going ahead, Godou. I wanna stop by the arcade today. See ya.”

I raised my hand in response to Yuuka and Shinji’s goodbyes. Then, I went to the witch’s side.

“…So, what are you up to?”

She yelped in surprise when I called out to her. What the hell? Was she that absorbed in her phone?

“I asked, what are you up to?”

I saw her phone screen, she was looking at her ‘RINE²It’s LINE, a messaging app that’s popular in Japan.’.

At first, I thought she was texting someone, but after taking a closer look, she was actually staring at the app’s home screen. The top of the screen showed ‘Friends (4)’ with two of the contacts listed as ‘New Friends’. From the familiar profile picture of the two contacts, I could safely assume that they were Hina and Yuuka.

The witch quickly hid her phone.

“…What?”

She glared at me. I could see a slight tint of pink in her cheeks.

“…You.”

“W-What? Don’t give me that pitying look!”

I could see tears forming in her eyes.

Well, I thought she was up to something, but she was just giddy because the number of her RINE friends increased. I guess I could safely assume that the other two contacts she had in her friend list were her parents’. Well, it was good that she got along well with her parents, I guess.

“If you have anything to say, say it to my face!”

“Ah, no… I mean… I guess… Good for you? Um, do your best out there, okay?”

“Don’t say that! You’re just making me look pitiful!”

“What do you want me to say then?! You’re such a troublesome woman…”

“How about not peeking into other people’s phones without their permission?!”

Oh, that was a good argument.

“My bad… But still, I didn’t expect to see that…”

“Even the way you apologize pisses me off…”

The witch gritted her teeth as she glared at me.

Well, friends were about quality and not quantity, so the number of friends you had shouldn’t matter, but… Her having only four friends in her RINE meant that she didn’t have any friends from her previous school, right? …No, I should stop thinking about it.

Then, I heard a light-hearted voice coming from behind.

Hina came into the classroom while slinging her bag over her shoulders. She noticed the teary-eyed witch and furrowed her brows at the sight.

“What’s wrong? Was Godou bullying you?”

“Ah, n-no… T-There was dust… In my eyes…”

While the witch was making a random excuse, someone else entered the class.

I looked over and saw a girl carrying a huge pile of handouts.

“Everyone! Sensei forgot to hand these over!”

Her gait was unsteady when she said that sentence.

It seemed like she wanted to place the handouts on the teacher’s desk, but because of her posture, what she did looked dangerous.

Through my trained eyes, I managed to predict what would happen to her in the next few seconds.

If this continued, she would fall over and the handouts would scatter all over the floor. There was also a possibility that her head would hit a nearby desk .

“O-Oi, watch out!”

I called out to her and dashed toward her. Right at that moment…

“Huh?”

As expected, she tried to correct her posture, but her action was counterproductive and made her completely lose her balance instead. In the end, she fell over while letting out a scream.

If I were to go over there normally, I wouldn’t make it in time to save her.

And so, I decided to push my body to the limit.

I still had the body of a normal high school student, but I could temporarily remove the limiter from my brain to enhance the physical capabilities of my body.

“There…”

I grabbed the pile of handouts with my right arm and caught the girl’s waist with my other hand.

After that, I corrected my body’s posture so that I could hold the handouts properly with my right hand and pulled the girl closer to me with my other hand so she wouldn’t fall over.

“Eh? Huh?…”

The girl stared at me with a puzzled expression.

At that moment, I felt a sharp pain in my ankle. I guess I sprained it, huh? Well, that was a given for doing something like that without any warmups.

I tried to ignore the pain and called out to the girl,

“Are you okay? Can you stand?”

“Y-Yes! U-Um… S-Sorry for troubling you! A-And, t-thank you!”

This girl was Sasayama Miki. She was one of my classmates, but I haven’t talked to her much. She was close with Hina, though.

“If you’re okay, then that’s good. Be careful next time, okay?”

I let Sasayama go and patted her shoulders.

“Y-Yes! T-Thank you, Shiraishi-kun! I saw my life flashing before me for a second there…”

Hina then rushed to Sasayama’s side and asked her about her condition. In response, Sasayama smiled at her.

“Not bad, Godou.”

“A man’s gotta look cool once in a while.”

I shrugged my shoulders in response to Hina’s praise before placing the handouts on the teacher’s desk.

In exchange for that ‘cool act’ I sprained my ankle though.

Unlike my previous life, I had a much harder time helping people because of this body.

After all, even though I retained all my combat experiences and reflexes, my current body was still that of a high school boy. I could raise my physical capabilities like what I did just now, but my whole body would hurt all over if I did it for a long period of time.

“What?”

When I went back to the witch’s side, she was giving me a blank stare.

“…That habit of yours still hasn’t changed, huh? Is your leg okay?”

“Ah, you noticed, as expected.”

I shook my legs a little.

“It’s not a big deal. I’ll just need to smear it with some poultice and it’ll heal in a few days.”

“Can you walk home with that leg?”

“My house is nearby, so yeah, of course. Don’t worry about me.”

This level of pain wouldn’t bother me.

Thanks to my previous life, I was subjected to a lot of things more painful than this.

“I’m not worried about you or anything.”

She turned her head away with a ‘hmph’.

“Godou, we’re going to our club! See you later!”

“U-Um, thank you again, Shiraishi-kun! I’ll repay you properly next time!”

Both Hina and Sasayama ran out of the room. They seemed to be in a hurry.

They were both in the track club and they were probably running out late for their club activities.

Most of our classmates had either gone home or went to their clubs. Some of them were still talking in the hallways, but there were only me and the witch inside the classroom.

“So, are you planning to enter a club?”

I asked the witch. She turned her face away in response.

“…If there’s a literature club, maybe… I don’t want to join any clubs related to sports…”

“Figures. You’re hopeless in that regard.”

“Shut up. Don’t compare me with a muscle-brain like you!”

“Who do you call a muscle-brain?! Anyway, the literature club was shut down a while back. They didn’t manage to get enough active members.”

“Is that so? Then, I won’t be joining any clubs.”

“You sure? Joining one is the easiest way to get more friends, you know?”

“Shut up, that isn’t any of your business! You’re preaching to me about clubs and whatnot, what about you? Why are you still here? Don’t tell me you didn’t actually join any clubs after all that preaching?”

“Of course I did. The going-home club. Let me welcome you to the club, newbie.”

“I don’t need your welcome. Also, why are you still here? Go home already!”

“Oi, oi, I’m here because of you. Didn’t you ask me to dispel your curse?”

“Ah, right.”

Hearing my words, the witch nodded.

Wasn’t the purpose of her transferring in to dispel her curse? How could she just casually forget about it like this? Was her head okay?

“Well, firstly, let’s move elsewhere.”

“Where to?”

“My room.”

“…What?”

I knew that she was the witch, but it still felt embarrassing that she thoughtlessly invited me to her room like that.

“What? Do you have a problem with it?”

“…Aren’t your parents home?”

“No, they are not. I planted a suggestion in their mind to send me here by myself using magic.”

“Oi, what the hell?”

“Look, I had no other choice, okay?”

She snorted before continuing,

“So, what are you going to do? I don’t want to invite you either, so if you have a good place for us to do it, I’ll be okay going there with you.”

Look at this girl… Acting haughtily when asking someone for a favor.

“…Well, since you’re living by yourself, might as well. It isn’t like I can use my power anywhere else.”

Though, I wasn’t sure if I could use my exorcism or not. But, if the witch’s theory was correct, I should be able to do it no problem.

In any case, I still couldn’t use it anywhere I wanted. In order to dispel the curse out of her body, I still needed to make physical contact with her so I could interact with her mana and make a pathway for me to inject my power. Holding her hand should suffice, but there was no way I’d do it in public. Aside from that, I had to concentrate when using my power, so a quiet place was more preferable.

“Let’s get going.”

Let’s finish this troublesome business as soon as possible.

I turned my back to the witch and walked away. She followed behind me quietly.

“…Anyway, um, why aren’t you in a club?”

“What? Why do you ask?”

“I mean, it’s fitting for a muscle-brain like you.”

“What do you mean a muscle-brain like me? Just because you’re bad at physical activities doesn’t mean–”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

For some reason, the witch stopped walking. When I turned around, she was crouching while holding his forehead.

There was a pillar right in front of her. I guess she bumped into it somehow, huh?

“…What the hell are you doing?”

When I called out to her, she stared at me with teary eyes.

“I was just walking normally! Don’t mind me!”

She could still act like this, amazing.

She always acted haughtily like this in the other world as a self-defense mechanism but it seemed like that habit carried away even in a peaceful world like this. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but well…

“D-Don’t touch me!’

I moved her hair out of the way with my hand and took a look at her forehead.

“Ah, you got a bump.”

“Y-You’re too close! Don’t you know there is something called sexual harrassment in this world?!”

“That doesn’t apply to you, specifically.”

I obviously wouldn’t touch another girl’s forehead. The witch was an exception. Wait, actually, I wouldn’t mind doing it to Hina because she was my childhood friend.

“That aside, where’s your house? Is it close to school?”

“Yeah. It’s within a walking distance.”

“That’s awfully close…”

“My parents made me live near the school because they were worried about me.”

“I see. They really love you, don’t they?”

When I said that, the witch furrowed her brows.

“They love me?”

“Of course. They are worried about you because they love you.”

“They’re just worried out of obligation because I’m their daughter.”

Said the witch in a hurry, as if to cut me out.

The way she said that sentence bothered me. I stopped walking.

“You… What are you?…”

It was as if she was implying that if she wasn’t their daughter, they wouldn’t care about her.

“You won’t understand how I feel. Everyone looks up to you. They need you.”

There was a faint smile as she said that. Just like back then.

“I guess… You’re right…”

I was chosen as a hero to lead the people around me.

Since I’ve killed countless demons and saved countless people, everyone put their hopes in my back.

And so, I didn’t understand the witch’s feelings. After all, unlike me, she was hated by everyone.

Even so, I still had a complaint about my situation.

“But, they only sought after me because of my power. They depended on me because I was capable. No one cared about me because of who I was. That was the kind of existence I was… And that’s the reason why they killed me in the end…”

“Even if that was the case…”

The witch trailed off her sentence and broke into a mysterious smile.

I didn’t know what kind of feelings were hidden behind that smile.

“I still envied you…”

She was the enemy of the world, the root of all calamities.

The witch who received the hatred of everyone in the world, let out a bewitching smile.

“Just kidding.”

The shadow of her past self overlapped with the girl standing in front of me.

“I don’t really care about all that stuff. Let’s get going, we’ve wasted enough time already.”

The witch flipped her hair and walked toward the school building’s entrance.

Then, she suddenly turned back with a blank face.

When she passed by in front of me, she let out a cough.

I pressed my forehead with my hand involuntarily.

“You forgot to change your shoes, didn’t you?”

“L-Look, everyone did that once in a while! …Right?’

At least be firm when making your argument, jeez.

“Not me for sure…”

The fact that this happened after a serious talk like that made me feel embarrassed… Wait, why was I the one getting embarrassed from her antics? Give me a break…

“I don’t know… Just… Hang in there, Witch…”

“…I’m only like this because I’ve been nervous for the whole day, okay? …I think…”

I left the witch who was trying hard to defend herself and went outside.

When I took a step outside, a wave of heat enveloped my whole body.

It felt like the sun was trying to burn my body.

Summer has arrived, huh? There was no better explanation other than this. Even though it wasn’t long since I left the school building, sweat already started coming out from my body.

Yet, the energetic voices of the baseball and soccer club members could be heard from the direction of the field. How could they run around in this kind of weather? I’d rather stay inside my house while eating some ice cream instead of torturing myself like that.

“It’s so hot…”

The witch brushed her hair off her face and fanned her chest lightly with her hand.

“Are you okay?’

“…What? Do you think I’ll collapse from the heat?”

“That isn’t impossible. Back in the other world, the heat never got this bad. Summer in Japan is nuts…”

“Well, isn’t that because we lived in the north? Maybe it was like this too in the south.”

“Maybe…”

I only traveled around the land of the Holy Augusria³アウグスリア (Augusria) Empire, the de facto ruler of the northern region. Aside from that, I went to its vassal states too, mainly the Mariano⁴マリヤノ (Mariano) Federation. The furthest region to the south I went into would be when I was raiding a dungeon in the Istria⁵イストレ (Istria) Kingdom, but that kingdom was located on the border between the north and the center of the continent.

While reminiscing about my previous life, I went to the bicycle parking lot. The witch’s house was within a walking distance, meanwhile mine was a bit far. It took me twenty minutes to get there with a bike.

At the parking lot, I saw some of my fellow going-home club members hanging around.

“See ya.”

I pushed my bike out the gate after that. I said my goodbye early so they wouldn’t go out of their way to invite me to go home together.

Meanwhile, the witch was walking a few meters behind me so people wouldn’t notice that we were going home together. While I didn’t mind her doing that, I didn’t know where her house was.

I asked her for directions with my gaze and she confirmed it with hers, so I boldly walked toward said direction.

Eventually, we reached the crossroad. It seemed like the witch decided that she didn’t need to watch out for other people’s gazes anymore, so she came forward and walked by my side.

* * *

After that, we walked together in complete silence.

While I didn’t feel like saying anything to my former nemesis, at the same time, I also wanted to talk about a lot of things with her. While I was contemplating that silly thing, the witch suddenly stopped.

“Here.”

She said nonchalantly.

The thing was, the place she pointed to was a really luxurious apartment. The idea that a single student would be living there was just so outlandish because of how expensive it looked.

“…Eh, are you serious?”

“What’s wrong? Why are you making that dumb face?”

Looking at me, the witch tilted her head in confusion.

“Your parents… Are they like, filthy rich or something?”

“Huh? I don’t know… They’re just, normal?”

The witch said, looking puzzled. She then proceeded to take out a card and swiped it in front of the front door. The door then opened soon afterwards and we were greeted by a really spacious lobby.

I, a mere commoner, could do nothing but tremble and let out a weak voice at this sight.

The witch, not noticing the state I was in, quickly got into the lift. I hurriedly followed her behind. I didn’t want to be left behind by her and get caught by the guards.

“This is amazing…”

Inside the elevator was a wall made of tempered glass. We could see the whole city from here.

“You’ve been overreacting about the silliest things since a while ago.”

Said the witch, shrugging her shoulders.

“Of course! I was born into a normal family, okay?”

Rather than making fun of me, she just didn’t understand what was amazing about her situation.

Because she had no friends, she wasn’t aware that the environment she lived in wasn’t a normal one at all. Years of failure in socializing resulted in her lack of common sense.

“Your lack of common sense hasn’t changed at all, huh? This is why you should try and socialize with more people so you could learn about the world you’re living in properly.”

“…Is that so?”

The witch had an uneasy look on her face. Maybe my words were finally getting through her.

“In other words, stop reading books everywhere you go.”

“I-I’m not doing that! B-Besides, I’m learning about this world through those books!”

She turned her face away with a ‘hmph’.

Eventually, the lift stopped. I didn’t even know how many floors we had passed.

The witch got off the lift and unlocked the door to a room at the end of the hallway and entered it.

“I don’t want you to be here, but go in.”

“S-Sorry for intruding…”

As I followed the witch fearfully and entered the room, the smell of books entered my nose.

There were several bookshelves lining up on the walls of the spacious room. All of them were completely filled with books. Hell, there were even some books that couldn’t fit in the shelves because there wasn’t enough space. Those books were stacked neatly on the floor.

In the center of the room, there was a table, surrounded by two sofas.

The witch sat down on one of them and I sat down on the sofa opposite of her.

“This room is so big…”

The room was spacious, but it felt suffocating to me. Maybe that was because of my commoner soul freaking out.

Even in my previous life, I didn’t live in this much luxury. Yes, they provided me with a private room that was as big as this room because I was a hero, but I didn’t use it much since I had to travel around a lot. I used to sleep in cheap inns instead.

“By the way, don’t you think there’s too many books here?”

“…It can’t be helped, okay? There’s so many interesting books in this world.”

Said the witch as she averted her gaze from me.

“Unlike back in the previous world, the books here are cheap and my family would buy me as many books as I want…”

Come to think of it, she was also a bookworm back in the previous world. But since paper was scarce over there, books were absurdly expensive.

“Hmm…”

When I took a closer look, there were a lot of manga and light novels on the bookshelves. There were other things too, such as historical documentaries.

I noticed that there were more shounen manga and light novels than anything there.

“I-It can’t be helped, okay?! T-The storybooks in this world are interesting!”

I didn’t say anything, but she started to defend herself all of a sudden.

“You’ve always liked stories like this, right? I remember your eyes would shine brightly whenever you were listening to the bards’ stories. I know you love heroic tales like knights slaying evil dragons and such…”

It felt nostalgic. Imagine the bards’ reaction if they found out that the young woman who had been frolicking like a child around them was the Witch of Calamity herself.

“…Ahem. I’m going to make some tea.”

Perhaps remembering that dark history of hers, the witch blushed and cleared out her throat. Then, she got up from her seat and returned not too long after with two cups in her hands.

“I thought I was not welcome here.”

“You’re still a guest, this is just basic manners. If you don’t want it, just throw it away then.”

“No no, thank you for the hospitality.”

The witch said in a dismissive tone and sat on the sofa.

Her manners and gestures were elegant and beautiful.

Well, since she was a rich young lady, she must’ve been properly educated from a young age.

I wish she would show this much elegance when talking to people other than me, though.

As I were admiring her beauty, suddenly the witch exclaimed,

“Hot!”

The witch who had just sipped her tea was currently sticking out her tongue. Tears started to form in her eyes.

“…Ahem.”

No, no, my impression of you was ruined already, clearing your throat wouldn’t fix that.

Come to think of it, she couldn’t take hot food too back in the day⁶猫舌 (neko-jita) was used here, meaning cat-tongued. There’s no proper equivalent of it in English, but it’s a metaphor for a person who can’t take hot food..

“I-I’ll let it cool down first…”

The witch turned her gaze to the window, trying to hide her embarrassment.

I silently sipped my tea.

“Mm, yes, it’s a good tea.”

I didn’t know my tea, but it must have been an expensive one. The fact that it was expensive meant that it was a good tea. So, I should act like I knew a lot about tea here and gave it the praise it deserved.

“It’s just instant tea I bought from the convenience store, though.”

“Oi, what the hell? Why are you bringing out a commoner’s product all of a sudden?”

“You don’t know anything about tea, do you?”

The witch shrugged her shoulders and placed her cup down.

“Alright, I think it’s time for us to start.”

“Why are you acting haughtily when you’re the one asking me a favor?”

Seriously, be more humble about it at least.

“Whose fault do you think it is?”

“Even so… Well, whatever, it feels disgusting if you treat me politely anyway. Besides, this is something that I gotta do.”

The witch stood up and sat down next to me.

I thought she had an ulterior motive for a second there, then I realized that she did it so we could start dispelling her curse.

“O-Okay, you can start whenever you feel like it.”

For some reason, her voice cracked a little and her face was red.

…Seeing her like this made me feel conscious over the fact that I was currently inside the room of a girl classmate and I was sitting really close to her. Calm down, it was just the witch, don’t get any strange ideas…

“A-Alright, let’s do this.”

“Y-Yes…”

The witch leaned even closer to me.

A soft, sweet scent tickled my nostrils.

Her scent made me feel nervous. Even though I was a hero in my first life, I was still currently a high school boy. Even though I knew that she was the witch, I still felt nervous.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Everything about her drew me in from her long eyelashes, her clear and beautiful eyes, her pure white skin…

She was an immensely beautiful girl. She was a beauty in her previous life, but she was blessed with such a pretty face in this life too. Though, unlike her previous life, her current appearance could be classified as ‘cute’ rather than ‘pretty’. Her petite body only raised that impression further.

“W-What is it? C-Could you stop staring at me?”

The witch stared at me with a shy face.

“…A-Ahem.”

Seeing her expression, I came to my senses and let out a cough, trying to brush everything off. We were doing this because of the curse, nothing more. I needed to stop thinking about weird things!

“I-I’m going to hold your hand.”

Her voice trembled as she said that, probably out of nervousness. Then, she proceeded to touch my hand before immediately pulling away while letting out a small shriek. She attempted to do it again, slower, and managed to grasp my hand properly. I could feel the warmth of her hand.

Her hand was thin and small. It felt like it would break if I were to squeeze it tightly.

At first, I was worried about the possibility of my hand being sweaty and making her uncomfortable but then, I realized that she was the witch and I didn’t need to show her that much consideration. I let out a sigh and that made my shoulder move a little. Thanks to that, it grazed the witch’s shoulder and she yelped in surprise because of it. What the hell was that reaction?

“I-Is this really necessary?

“L-Look, I don’t want to do this either, but it’s the necessary procedure.”

Thanks to her being all embarrassed, the embarrassment spread to me and made my voice tremble as I talked.

My heart was pounding so hard to the point that I suspected that the witch could hear it.

I felt sweat start to form in the hand that the witch was holding.

…I should calm myself and focus on dispelling her curse. I closed my eyes and tried to use my power.

“O, evil that lies deep inside…”

Chant⁷詠唱 (Eisho) was used here. It could also mean ‘aria’, but ‘chant’ felt less mouthful.. A ritual using words as its medium.

It was used to activate the power of exorcism, the power to interfere with the cursed mana that was sleeping within the witch’s soul.

The pre-requirements of exorcism was the absence of mana within oneself. To be precise, only people with a unique constitution that rejected magic could use it. That was the reason why the witch couldn’t use it.

But, exorcism still required mana as its power source. To be exact, it used the mana of the exorcism subject as its power source. In this case, I was using the witch’s mana.

“Show your form before me.”

After the chant was finished, the exorcism spell was perfectly formed without any issues using the mana that the witch had in her body.

I let out a sigh of relief. There was no problem so far.

It seemed like as long as there was a curse to be dispelled, exorcism could be used in this world. The witch was confident that it would be the case, but I wasn’t since I was born in a different body compared to my previous life.

“…Alright, let’s do this.”

Anyway, that was just the opening act. This was where the real thing began.

I managed to secure a connection with the witch’s soul, so I only needed to remove her curse now.

If I wasn’t careful, the curse might afflict me as well, so this was the part where I needed to concentrate the most.

As I was thinking about that, something murky and dark entered my consciousness.

“What the hell is this?!”

After taking a closer look at it, I realized that it was the curse itself.

But its form was abnormally huge and dense. It was hard to believe that this kind of curse even existed. The curse was bound tightly to the pure white soul of the witch’s. Even now, it was slowly eroding her soul.

…It was worse than I thought.

I was aware of its existence back in the other world but, back then, the curse’s erosion hadn’t reached this far. The light of her soul was barely hanging in there as almost every inch of it was contaminated by the curse.

“Oi, oi, what the hell happened to you?”

I dragged my consciousness back to reality, only to find that she was shutting both her eyes and her mouth, probably out of consideration for me. Acknowledging her intention, I decided to finish my business first.

“My miracle shall purify every impurity…”

It would be impossible to purify everything at once.

I could only do it little by little.

* * *

After the exorcism was done, I returned my consciousness back to reality.

The witch was breathing roughly and it was clear that she was in pain. Maybe it was the side effect of me touching her soul directly. She noticed that I had finished my job for now and thanked me, albeit with difficulty, as she still hadn’t managed to catch her breath yet.

She looked really out of it. Her body was limp as she leaned against me. I decided to get up and laid her down on the sofa.

“Calm down. First, try to catch your breath.”

“Y-Yes…”

Replied the witch before she took a deep breath.

…That was strange. I’ve done this a lot of times back in the other world, but she never ended up in this state. Was it because the curse’s erosion was worse than back then?

It was the curse that would bind its victim’s soul, damage it and eventually kill it.

In the past, thanks to her curse resistance, the erosion didn’t get too far. No matter how potent the curse was, the witch was able to resist it to the point that it wasn’t affecting her life at all.

That was the reason why she could afford to worry about what happened after her death. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to stand such a heinous curse. They would die instantly the moment it made contact with their souls.

…So, what was going on with her?

Could it be that her reincarnation made her curse resistance weaker?

No, wait, I guess this was just how things should be, huh? It had been sixteen years since she was reborn to this world, after all.

Besides, I didn’t know what happened to her during those sixteen years.

“Are you really okay?”

When I asked, the witch furrowed her eyebrows and stared at me with suspicion.

“What are you talking about? I’m clearly not okay, that’s why I’m asking for your help to begin with.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about…”

“Are you talking about the erosion? …Well, everything will be fine. My lifespan will be shortened a bit, but that’s all there is to it. If you dispel the curse properly, I should be alright… Maybe…”

“‘Maybe’? What do you mean?! Stop talking about your own life lightly!”

“Like I said, you don’t need to worry about anything. Besides, we aren’t in the kind of relationship where we could afford to worry about each other.”

When I tried to scold her, she immediately cut me off.

I opened my mouth to try and refute her words, but I couldn’t say anything to her. After all, her words were true.

“Witch, are you?…”

“I have no reason to tell you anything. Remember that we are just in a cooperative relationship because our goal is the same, there’s nothing more to it. Just like in the other world. Got it?”

The witch seemed to know what I wanted to say and cut me off mid-sentence.

“I don’t care about what kind of relationship we are in! I’m just worried about you!”

“Why? You’re not a hero anymore, are you?”

The moment I heard those words.

I unconsciously held my breath.

She was right. I was no longer a hero.

The heroic Grey Handlet was no more.

My current identity was Shiraishi Godou, an ordinary high school boy who lived in Japan.

There was no reason for me to worry about my old nemesis.

Silence enveloped the room.

As I remained silent, the witch whispered something to me.

“From today onwards, you have to do this once every three days. I know this is a hassle, but this is the price you have to pay for not killing me on that day… That’s why, I won’t thank you for this no matter what…”

“…Got it…”

I didn’t mention the fact that she thanked me earlier. Maybe she did it unconsciously.

“Alright, I’m going home then.”

I have finished my business here and it wasn’t like she’d answer my questions even if I asked her anyway.

Besides, I had a part time job at seven, so I should get back home quickly.

There was only one problem, though.

I stared at the witch blankly.

She let out a ‘hmph’ when she noticed my gaze.

“What?”

“Nothing… Just… When will you let go of my hand?”

Even when I tried to pull it away, she held it so tightly that it couldn’t even budge.

“What are you?…”

The witch stared at our intertwined hands. She finally realized what she had been doing.

Immediately afterwards, she yanked her hand away and quickly backed away from me.

“W-W-Wha…”

“You don’t need to overreact like that…”

I smiled wryly at her.

She was still the same old witch. This clumsy side of her just never changed.

“Alright, see you at school.”

I drank the rest of the tea, which had gotten cold at this point, and left the witch’s room.

* * *

I went back home on my bike.

It was almost time for my part-time job to start, but I still had to go back home to change my clothes first.

Because of my sprained ankle, it took me longer than usual to get home.

“I’m home.”

I said as I unlocked the door to my house.

Saying that was just out of habit more than anything since no one was currently at home.

Both my parents were working. My dad worked in another city and my mom wouldn’t be back until late at night. I have an older sister, but she was living on her own since she was a college student already. That was why whenever I went back from school, there would be no one to welcome me home.

I climbed the stairs and walked to my room in the corner of the second floor.

Compared to the witch’s room, it was just a normal boy’s room.

There was a bed, a study desk, a chair, a drawer and a small bookshelf inside. There were only five or six manga and novels lined up in the bookshelf, a stark difference between the witch’s numerous book collections.

Oops, I needed to stop thinking about such things.

I picked up a uniform for my part-time job and rushed out of the house.

My current destination was a family restaurant in front of the station. I had several part-time jobs, but I had the most shifts there because it paid better than my other jobs.

“Heya, Shiraishi-senpai~”

While I was on my way, I suddenly heard someone calling my name.

I turned around to see a girl in glasses waving at me. Her chestnut colored hair was tied neatly in a ponytail.

“Kawasaki? You have a shift today?”

The girl was Kawasaki Saya, a senpai at my part-time job and a kouhai at my school.

“Yes? Didn’t I tell you about this yesterday?”

She pouted, placed her hands on her hips and proceeded to reprimand me. Her gesture seemed like she was trying to seduce me or something and I was aware that she was the kind of girl who’d actually do it.

“You think I’d remember everything that you told me?”

Yesterday, she talked to me all the time during work.

I was too sleepy to listen to her properly, so it was a given that I didn’t remember everything.

“Y-You’re so mean, senpai! You’re going to make me cry! Boohoo, I’m crying! You’re making your kouhai cry, senpai! Now, you have to comfort me!”

“If you’re really crying, sure, I’ll do it.”

“I’m crying! See? There are tears in my eyes!”

“Wow, you could actually cry on demand like that? You should try to be an actress, you’ll make it big.”

“Actually, it’s just my hay fever.”

“Okay, I’ll take my praises back. Come to think of it, it’s already summer, huh?”

“Right. By the way, senpai, do you know that if you have a severe hay fever, no matter what the season is, you’ll still burst into tears?”

“Uwah, that sounds horrible…”

“I made it up just now though, I don’t actually have hay fever.”

“So, this conversation is a waste of time.”

“Hahaha, this is why I like you, senpai. You always go along with my jokes~”

Kawasaki laughed as she teased me.

Being teased by someone younger like her put a dent to my pride, but seeing her smile made me just want to let her off.

Curse that pretty face, it was so unfair. It was the same with the witch too.

“By the way senpai, don’t you think you have too many shifts these days?”

“How so?”

“Don’t you need more time to study? Final exam is just around the corner, you know?”

Ah, right, I forgot that was a thing. It will start next week too. If I didn’t want to get red marks, I needed to study properly this week. Ugh, what a pain.

“What about you?”

“This is my last day. I’ll be taking a break until the end of the exam!”

“You got it good, huh?”

“What do you mean, senpai? Can’t you just do the same?”

“Can’t. The manager asked me to. I mean, there are a lot of students like us working there, right? We’d be short-staffed around this time, so I had no choice.”

The truth was, I just forgot that we’d be having our final exam soon.

I shrugged my shoulders as Kawasaki looked at me, clearly unconvinced.

“You can just refuse him like I did, though?”

“Unlike you, I don’t really care about my grades. So I don’t mind doing it.”

I literally just remembered about the exam.

“…Jeez, fine, do whatever you like, senpai.”

While we were having our conversation, we entered the family restaurant building.

Suddenly, Kawasaki stopped as something came to her mind.

“…By the way, senpai, is your leg okay?”

“Huh, you noticed? It’s nothing big, I just bumped into something. Laugh at me if you want to.”

…She was surprisingly sharp, huh? So far, only the witch noticed it, but that was a given since she was THE witch.

Kawasaki then fell into silence for a while before eventually sighing in frustration.

“…Please don’t overdo it, senpai.”

“Stop overreacting. ‘Tis but a scratch, I can handle this, no problem.”

I was happy that she was concerned about me, but I had never pushed myself ever since I reincarnated to this world.

Unlike back then, I only did whatever I could do.

* * *

The work at my part-time job was divided into two, the kitchen and the front side. Since I could do both, my role was to fill in whichever of the two that was short-staffed. Today, it would be the front side, meaning I would be the waiter.

As expected, the number of people started increasing as soon as dinner time started. Since the restaurant was located right in front of the station, we got more customers than normal restaurants did. It was hard dealing with so many people at once, especially since we were always short-staffed, but since the pay was so good, the job wasn’t so bad. One thousand yen per hour wage was rare in this prefecture.

“Welcome. Table for how many people?”

Because of my previous life experience, I could actually guess from their footsteps how many people would come into the restaurant. In this case, there were four people. By the way, I could still do this even when this place was crowded.

On the battlefield, there were countless times when I had to fight while being deprived of sight, so I had to understand the situation around me using my other senses, mainly hearing. The reason why I was so strong back then wasn’t because of my strength, swordsmanship nor exorcism, but because of my unnaturally sharp five senses.

Even though I was reincarnated, my five senses still retained that sharpness, which was quite a curious thing to happen. You’d thought that you wouldn’t retain your senses if you moved to a different body, but here we are.

I continued to serve the customers while thinking about such things. There were more people than usual today and sadly, we weren’t able to serve them all because of the lack of manpower. Gradually, the number of customers who were waiting in the waiting area had increased.

“Thank you for waiting, here’s your order.”

Both Kawasaki and I did our job well, but there was a newcomer who did a rather poor job in comparison. Though, she did quite well for a newcomer. I believe her name was… Takase-san?

“…Senpai, things are looking quite bad here.”

In the middle of the chaos, Kawasaki approached me and talked to me.

“There are so many customers waiting… And some of them seem dangerous…”

Right, there were some nasty-looking people waiting in the waiting area looking annoyed. I understood their feelings though, I hated waiting too. Imagine waiting for dozens of minutes just to eat at a family restaurant, couldn’t be me. Well, if it was a delicious ramen shop instead, I would wait for it even if it took hours.

“Well, we can’t help it. The kitchen is having a hard time too.”

No matter how good we were at serving the customers, it wouldn’t make the situation in the kitchen any better. They were currently overwhelmed with the huge number of orders. I could go there to help them but, if I were to do that, the front side would be overwhelmed instead. Like I said many times, we were short-staffed.

When I was thinking about that,

A crisp, high-pitched sound echoed through the room. When I turned around, I saw the newcomer fall to the floor. It seemed like she was in the middle of carrying an order as the floor around her was filled with scattered food and broken plate’s shards.

“You fuck…”

Not only that, some of the food was splattered on the pants of someone who was waiting in the waiting area. Unluckily for her, he was one of the nasty-looking guys Kawasaki mentioned earlier.

“I-I’m truly sorry!—”

“Do you think an apology is enough?! You’ve made me wait for so long and now this!—”

Takase-san was apologizing desperately, but the customer was having none of it.

“T-This is bad, senpai.”

Said Kawasaki with a pale face.

I ran over to Takase-san’s side to help her apologize to that customer only to see him kicking one of the intact plates on the ground toward her direction.

I managed to catch the flying plate right before it hit her. Thankfully, I was able to read his action before he actually did it. Takase-san stared at the scene in front of her in a daze.

“My bad, my foot slipped, just like that woman over there.”

The man looked surprised over the fact that I managed to grab the plate, but he casually acted like he didn’t do it on purpose.

…Was this guy for real? Did he realize that if it actually hit her, we could charge him for assault?

If this was the other world, this kind of behavior would be acceptable, but pulling something like this in this world? I could only see people who did this as idiots. Having this behavior in a world with established laws was foolish, the risk was too high.

“…I’m sorry, but this area is dangerous because of the broken plate shards. For some reason they can fly around on their own too, so can you sirs move to another place for a moment?”

Still, I couldn’t treat him roughly since I managed to stop him and he also claimed it as an accident. Besides, the first mistake was from our side, not theirs.

That was why I gave him some concessions by saying that… But it seemed like this guy was dumber than I thought.

“Fucker, don’t get carried away!”

Either he was pissed because of my dismissive attitude or was just blinded by his rage. Whatever the reason was, he grabbed my collar and pulled me close to him. In that instance, the surroundings started to buzz loudly.

“O-Oi, Masato… I-I think you’re going too far…”

His friends stepped forward, trying to stop him. They looked like a dangerous bunch, but at least they knew that they were really pushing it by doing this. The only idiot in their group was this Masato guy, apparently.

Then, Takase-san, who had been in a daze, stood up and bowed her head again.

“U-Um, I-I’m really sorry, everything is my fault, s-so if you want to blame someone–”

What a good girl. If I was in her shoes, I wouldn’t even bother apologizing to him. But I guess she was trying to make him release me.

But, if things proceeded to what she wanted, his anger would shift back to her again and I didn’t want that to happen. It was fine if he were to attack me, but if he were to attack Takase-san instead, it would be troubling. Who knows what kind of things this idiot would do, so I didn’t dare to take any risks here. I snorted at him to agitate him.

“You–”

That action managed to make him lose all his patience. He punched me as hard as he could.

I could dodge it easily, but that would be counterproductive. So, I decided to take the hit, deflected the impact and threw myself on the floor to turn this into a bigger scene. As soon as that happened, the female customers around us started screaming.

“S-Senpai?!”

Kawasaki was about to come over, but I stopped her with a gesture and told her that I was fine.

The man who punched me realized what happened and his expression turned really ugly, as if he chewed a bitter pill.

“Tch, you…”

Then, he immediately stormed out of the restaurant.

His friends followed suit not long after.

Well, that was that. Problem solved, I guess…

I let out a sigh of relief and called out to Takase-san.

“Are you okay?’

“Y-Yes!”

She nodded her head, tears welling up in her eyes.

Immediately after that, she said,

“R-Rather than me, are you okay, Shiraishi-san?!”

I smiled to reassure her that she didn’t need to worry about me.

“I’m fine. I’m quite strong, you know?”

That punch didn’t even hurt me in the first place. I just made it seem like a big deal to make them leave the place quickly.

“What do you mean you’re fine? Look at this.”

While I was thinking about such things, Kawasaki grabbed my hand in frustration.

When I looked at my hand closely, I could see blood dripping from it. A cut? Did I hit a shard when I did that act? Great, I made a fool out of myself then.

“‘Tis just a scratch. Don’t worry.”

However, I still had to treat it quickly or else it’ll be a hindrance for my job.

“W-What do you mean?! Y-You’re bleeding a lot!”

Takase-san shouted with a face that looked like she was about to cry soon.

It really wasn’t a big of a deal though. I wouldn’t die from this much. I knew exactly how much blood you’d need to drain to kill someone, thanks to my previous world experience.

“Senpai… Doesn’t it hurt?”

Asked Kawasaki in a worried voice.

“This much pain is nothing, I can barely even feel it. I’m fine, I’ll fix this up real quick.”

I smiled to reassure her and went toward the office.

My words were true. I received a much more grievous wound than this back in my previous life.

Compared to those, this kind of wound was nothing.

Anyway, it was great that everyone was okay after all that.

Finally, my experience from my previous life could come in handy this time.

If I could use it to help other people in this world too, I couldn’t be happier.

* * *

After that, the police visited my workplace and interrogated me.

Because it turned into a bigger deal than I thought, I had to go home later than usual.

“Is the bandage really necessary?”

“Of course it is! You bled a lot!”

I stared helplessly at my bandaged arm as Kawasaki said those words firmly.

“Just putting some spit on it should cure it in a jiffy.”

“It’s because you’re saying such stupid things that is why I’m doing this for you.”

“Sigh…”

It seemed like my standard became too twisted for this world.

Ever since I remembered about my previous life, I started thinking with the mindset of someone who lived in the other world more. Back then, bar fights were common occurrences and no one made a big deal out of them, but here, it was the total opposite.

I didn’t mind about anything that happened, but Takase-san was crying while apologizing to me.

“Senpai, are you used to fighting?”

“What made you think so?”

I answered her question with a question of my own.

“How do I say this… Back then, even in that kind of situation, you didn’t seem to panic at all…”

Well, there was no reason for me to be wary of those kinds of small fries. No matter how weak my current body was, I could beat them all on my own if I wanted to.

But, if I actually tried to fight back and win, I would be in the wrong, thanks to the law of this country. That was why I decided to just let him hit me.

Also, if I was actually panicking in that kind of situation, I’d be disqualified as a hero.

“Do you think I’m a delinquent?”

I asked while picking up an empty can that was sitting by the side of the road and threw it into a nearby trash can.

It made a loud noise as it hit the bottom of the trash can.

“You don’t seem like one… Are you a rehabilitated delinquent by any chance?”

“Of course not. Besides, I’ve never got into a fight in my whole life.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I said that. It was true, I had never got into a fight in this world.

“Hmm…”

Kawasaki didn’t seem to be convinced.

“You’re keeping a lot of secrets, huh, senpai?”

Actually, I wasn’t trying to keep everything a secret, but if I were to tell any sane person in this world about me being a hero of another world and that I was reincarnated here for some reason, nobody would believe me.

So, I brushed her off with a mysterious smile.

Kawasaki furrowed her brows. This was getting a little hard to handle… I should try to change the topic… It was at that time, I noticed an old woman carrying a lot of things in the corner of my eyes.

“Huh? Is that Maruyama-san?”

“Who?”

“An old lady who lives nearby. She seems to be in trouble… I should help her.”

I ignored Kawasaki, who was about to say something and called out to Maruyama-san.

“Hello, I’ll help you out, Maruyama-san.”

“Oh my, aren’t you Shiraishi-san’s son? Thank you for offering. Then, can you help me bring these back home? It’s around the corner, but carrying these really puts a burden on my old back…”

“Of course. You can depend on me.”

Maruyama-san smiled as she handed over her shopping bags that she was holding.

“You’re such a good child. You took care of my grandchildren the other day too, didn’t you?”

“Well, it was fun with them around, you don’t need to mind that, Maruyama-san.”

As a part of volunteer work, I’ve been helping the elderly around the neighborhood.

Maruyama-san was one of the people I helped out.

The other day, I played with her grandchildren while their parents were away.

“…Senpai, did you forget that you’re injured? Give me one of those.”

Kawasaki forcefully took a bag from my arm.

I guess she had a point. My arm was actually hurting a little.

“You don’t really need to help me.”

“I’m not that heartless. I won’t let you do anything on your own.”

Said Kawasaki with a ‘hmph’.

“Oh my, you’re walking with a girl at this hour? Is she your girlfriend?”

I answered her question with a chuckle. I knew that she was joking.

“Haha, you’re such a joker, Maruyama-san! Don’t you think so, Kawasaki? …Huh? Kawasaki?”

She was blushing for some reason.

Normally, she’d just proceed to go along with the joke and tease me, but not this time, I guess. Maybe, she wasn’t used to this kind of joke.

“I-I’m not his girlfriend.”

Kawasaki replied with difficulties.

Before we knew it, we had arrived at Maruyama-san’s place.

“Thank you, you two. I appreciate it.”

Maruyama-san thanked us several times and gave us some tea cakes as a thanks.

I didn’t expect something in return, but it didn’t feel bad to receive thanks like this sometimes.

That meant my efforts in helping weren’t in vain.

“…Do you do this kind of thing often, senpai?”

“I do it whenever I feel like it. So, are you still thinking that I’m a delinquent?”

I shrugged my shoulders as I said that. Kawasaki sighed in response.

“…Fine, you convinced me. But, you shouldn’t do something like this until your injuries are cured, senpai. Seriously, you need to take care of yourself more.”

“Yes, mommy, I get it.”

“I’m your kouhai, not your mommy, you pervert.”

“That’s my way of telling you that you’re a caring person.”

“Even so, I don’t want you to call me that!”

Seeing her disgusted face made me feel hurt.

While we were having this exchange, we arrived at my house.

“Alright, senpai, see you at school.”

Whenever Kawasaki and I worked on the same day, we would walk home together like this. Her house was ten minutes away from mine.

“…No, wait, I’ll walk you home.”

I thought about it for a while, but I really should do that. Hearing my words, Kawasaki frowned at me.

“What? What are you saying, suddenly?”

“I mean, because of that shitshow, we came back later than usual, right? I don’t think it’s safe for girls like you to walk by yourself at this hour… Well, it isn’t actually that late, but still…”

When I thought about it, 9pm and 10pm weren’t much different.

But still, after that shitshow, I couldn’t help but worry about her mental state.

“Don’t worry, I won’t go through the dark alleys like an idiot. I’ll be fine, senpai. I know you’re worried about me, but I’m mentally stronger than you think… It’s a tempting offer, though~”

Said Kawasaki teasingly with a seductive smile on her face.

Seeing that, my heart jumped a little. She was younger than me, but that smile was too much.

Not realizing my state of mind, she waved lightly at me and left.

“…”

For a while after that, I continued watching her back.

She was a good kouhai who always understood my intentions.

The darkness of the night continued following her back as she slowly disappeared from my sight.

Even though it was night, the breeze didn’t feel cold.

Instead, it felt warm.

As I stood up in silence for a bit, various noises started to enter my ears. The voice of the crickets, the neighbor’s TV and the sound of Kawasaki’s footsteps that slowly fading in the distance. A stray cat approached me and meowed at me.

…Yet, I felt strangely uneasy.

“…Witch, is that you?”

Behind me, there was a crow perched on a branch of a tree.

When I stared at it, it stared back at me without showing any reaction.

There was a faint sign of mana from its body.

Until a few minutes ago, it masked its presence by blending with Kawasaki’s, but now that she had gone, I noticed its presence easily.

“I don’t know since when you’ve been watching me, but can you please not stalk me with your familiars? That’s a crime, you know?”

The crow then spread its wings and flew away.

…What the hell was that all about?

Why was she stalking me, anyway?

Well, I could ask her about it tomorrow.

* * *

“…Huh? Did I fall asleep?”

My consciousness slowly rose. I took a look at the clock on my table. It was midnight already.

I tried to stand up with my sluggish body and tried to figure out what happened to me before I fell asleep.

It should be around ten when I got back home from my part-time job.

I laid down in my bed to take a rest for a bit, but I fell asleep instead.

…I planned to study when I got home, though.

Sleeping around that hour felt bad to me. I don’t know why, it just felt that way.

Well, in any case, I didn’t feel sleepy anymore, I could start studying right now if I wanted to.

“…I should take a bath first, though.”

I didn’t turn on the AC, so my body was all sweaty.

My body still felt sluggish, but I could still move around. I walked toward the door to my room and opened it.

It felt dizzy when I walked. Did I catch the summer cold? No way, right? Anyway, I disregarded that feeling and walked down the stairs.

Mom had come back home already. I could hear her peaceful snore coming from her room.

I let out a yawn and opened the door to the shower room.

And then…

“…Huh?”

The first thing that came to my sight was a pair of big breasts.

Then, my gaze moved down to a pair of slender wet legs. I noticed that there wasn’t a single piece of clothing that covered the body parts of the person in front of me.

To put it simply, this girl in front of me, Kirishima Hina, was naked.

“G-Godou?!”

In an instant all my sleepiness went away.

Hina immediately took a towel and hid her chest with it. Her face instantly turned red like a tomato.

Then, she muttered in a small voice,

“…Close it…”

“H-Huh?”

“T-The door! Close it!”

“A-Ah, r-right, s-sorry.”

And so, I closed the door behind me.

“…”

“…”

And now I was trapped inside this room with her.

I was panicking, okay? But, I don’t think that was a good enough excuse.

The silence between us was suffocating.

I knew that I fuccked up.

I could feel cold sweat running through my back.

As I was standing there, paralyzed, Hina shouted at me.

“W-W-What the hell are you doing, idiot?! G-Go outside first before closing the door!”

“S-Sorry, t-that was my bad! B-But, why are you here?”

“Can’t you wait until later to ask that question?!”

“N-No, of course not! I need to know now!”

I sharpened my concentration to burn this scene into my eyes.

Thanks to that, my concentration was at its peak. If I were to give a comparison, it was at the same level as when I fought the witch in earnest.

“Wait! For! Later!”

Hina pushed me with her right hand while her left hand was pressing the towel against her chest tightly.

“F-Fine, I get it! Stop pushing me!”

I opened the door and went outside.

Maybe because she was also panicking at that time…

She used her left hand to hold on the handle, trying to close the door from her side.

Thanks to that, the towel that covered her body gently fell onto the floor.

Once again, her body was exposed to my eyes in its full glory.

* * *

“…I can’t get married anymore.”

Hina was lying on my bed. Hugging my pillow tightly, she was clearly sulking.

“…Really, that was my bad. Please, forgive me.”

“W-Why were you staring at me like that, anyway?! Y-You shoulda looked elsewhere! …I should just report you to the police.”

“Please don’t, I beg you!”

I knew that I was in the wrong here, so I discarded my pride and bowed down to her.

She was pouting while hugging my pillows. Her eyes were red, probably from tears.

Currently, she was wearing her middle school’s gym uniform. She probably used it as her nightwear nowadays. Once again, I found myself staring at her. She looked sexier than usual in that outfit. Probably because she had just come out of the bath?

Anyway, what could I do to fix her mood?

For the time being, I should change the topic first.

“Why are you here, anyway? It’s been a while since you visited at all, so I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“…Our bath’s heater broke down, so I was going to go to the public bath. I met your mom on the way there and things happened…”

“…Ah, sorry about that.”

If I could describe her in a single word, my mom was ‘pushy’.

After finding out that Hina was about to go to the public bath, she most likely forcefully dragged her here.

“It’s all okay! Don’t be sorry! When I explained my situation to her, she just told me to borrow your bath instead. It’s to save some money, she said. Anyway, your mom hasn’t changed, huh?”

Her eyes livened up as she tried to imitate my mom. Her expression clearly brightened after that. I managed to subside her wrath, thankfully.

Even so, no matter how well they got along with each other, it was still inappropriate of her to leave Hina on her own. Like seriously, how could she fall asleep after dragging someone into the house?

“By the way, it really has been a while since I last came here.”

“…Yeah.”

Back when we were younger, she used to come here all the time. We were inseparable back then, like family. As we grew older though, she came here less and we slowly grew apart.

“You stopped coming here after everyone teased you about it back in middle school.”

“I-I can’t help it! I-It was embarrassing, okay?!”

By the way, her house was right next to ours. In fact, her room was right next to mine. I could easily go there if I were to use a ladder as a bridge. Sadly, my parents forbid me from doing it because it was dangerous.

“Aside from your new manga, your room hasn’t changed at all, huh?”

She picked up a manga from the bookshelf then started reading it while laying down in my bed.

Using someone else’s bed as if it was her own… Seriously, this girl…

The moment I was about to complain, a wave of dizziness struck me.

“Godou?”

“D-Don’t mind me… It’s nothing…”

I shook my head and my consciousness immediately cleared up. Then, I glanced at the clock on my table.

“By the way, why did you take a bath this late at night?”

“I had dinner with your mom and we talked for a while.”

“Mom was the cause, huh?…”

I slumped my shoulders when I heard it. Seeing my reaction, Hina pouted.

“It’s still your fault that you saw me naked just now, okay? Also, I decided to go in late because I was afraid that you’d wake up and use it. How tired were you anyway? Your mom said that as soon as you got home, you immediately fell asleep.”

“I got a shift tonight, of course I was tired.”

“Don’t try to evade the question.”

She came closer to me.

The sweet scent of her shampoo entered my nose.

Once again, I realized that my childhood friend, who I had always thought of as a family, had turned into a fine woman.

“I know you’ve been doing volunteer work lately. You also helped out both the student council and the sports clubs because they are short-staffed. The final exam is around the corner too… Seriously, are you okay?”

When I heard those words, my eyes widened in surprise.

I see. She knew about everything. I’ve never told anyone about it, but she knew about it anyway. She’s been watching over me, huh?

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Don’t force yourself too hard, okay?”

“I’m not forcing myself.”

“Don’t lie to me. How long do you think I’ve known you? You’re feeling unwell, aren’t you? I know you’re trying to hide it from me.”

She stared right into my eyes.

…As expected, she found out.

“You don’t seem to have a fever.”

She muttered as she placed her hand on my forehead.

“You might catch it when morning comes. If that happens, take a break from school and your part-time job, okay?”

“Yes, mom.”

Both Kawasaki and her… I was surrounded by worrywarts.

“You’re such a handful, you know that?”

“My mom said otherwise though.”

“It’s because you’re always trying to do everything by yourself.”

Hina sighed, grabbed me and pushed me onto the bed.

“Go to sleep. Here’s your blanket.”

She wrapped the blanket around my body, grabbed my shoulders and forced me to lie down.

Then, she lied down next to me.

“You’ll catch a cold like that.”

“…Don’t get me wrong. I’m just doing this because I can’t trust you if I were to leave you alone. There’s nothing more to it.”

“Stop that outdated tsundere act.”

Hearing my retort, she smiled mischievously and continued,

“I-I’m just doing this because I’m too lazy to go home!”

“Understandable.”

“Well anyway, I should go home now.”

“You’re going home? I mean, of course, you are… Yes, you should go home quickly.”

“Yes. I mean, if I were to sleep with someone who saw my naked body, who knows what would happen to me, right? Well, just kidding.”

We used to sleep together when we were little, but we were high school students now, so of course we wouldn’t be doing that. She was right, if we were to do that, who knows what would happen…

“Alright, I’m going home.”

She got up from the bed while yawning.

Just before she left the room, she turned around and looked at me.

“Rest properly, okay?”

She said it in a serious tone.

Well, even if she didn’t tell me that, I was planning to do it anyway.

After she left my room, my consciousness slowly faded away.

ED: Dodo