Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories 

Nightmare Holiday 

“Come to think of it, Heiligh’s capital is probably holding a festival right now,” Shizuku muttered quietly. Hajime and his friends were sitting in Fernir’s dining room and eating lunch as they sped toward the Schnee Snow Fields. Fernir was in cruise mode at the moment, so Hajime didn’t have to worry about steering the ship. 
“Celebrating what? Oh, today’s the day Ehit was born, huh?” 
“Yes. Lily told me the capital would still be celebrating it before we left.” 
Kaori gave Shizuku a confused look and asked, “But wasn’t the church wiped out?” 
“That’s precisely why she wants to hold the festival. Since Lily said it was happening, she’ll definitely make it happen one way or another. Assuming the capital doesn’t get invaded again, at least.” 
While the capital was still in the middle of being rebuilt, the citizens likely wouldn’t begrudge the royal family for holding a single festival during the year. In fact, they would probably welcome a break from the reconstruction efforts. 
Suzu blew on her cup of hot milk, her favorite drink, and said nostalgically, “A celebration for the birth of Ehit? I guess that’s just like how we have Christmas to celebrate the birth of Jesus back on Earth. It hasn’t even been a full year since we were summoned, but I’m already starting to miss Christmas.” 
Kouki and the other kids from Earth looked out the window with wistful gazes, remembering the holidays they’d had back on earth. Suzu, on the other hand, simply took a sip of her milk, creating a white mustache around her lips, and added, “You know... I’ve never been on a Christmas date before.” 
“Suzu?” Shizuku turned toward Suzu, her gaze questioning. But Suzu was too far down memory lane to hear Shizuku. 
“The only time I ever talked to boys was when the whole class got together. I didn’t have people lining up to confess to me like Shizushizu and Kaorin.” 
“S-Suzu-chan?” 
“I got so jealous that one Christmas I forced Kaorin to wear one of those erotic Santa outfits and made her attempt to seduce Nagumo-kun.” 
“Suzu-chan!?” Kaori had never imagined that had been the motive behind Suzu’s actions. However, Suzu was still lost in reminiscing and didn’t notice how betrayed Kaori looked. Realizing there was something strange going on with Suzu, even Hajime and the others started giving her worried looks. 
“Most of the time, though, I just spent Christmases with Eri. We’d always grumble about how we got stuck with each other for Christmas and could never get boyfriends. We even baked our own Christmas cakes to eat. Oh, but I guess Eri would have preferred spending Christmas with Kouki-kun. She’d much rather hang out with you than with me,” Suzu said before turning to Kouki, who jerked slightly and averted his gaze, and stating, “Man, what am I even saying? We weren’t even really friends and here I am reminiscing like these are good memories. Hahaha.” 
“S-Suzu-san! Would you like some more hot milk with honey!?” Shea interrupted Suzu with another mug of milk, her expression stiff. Everyone else gave her a thumbs-up. Ever since they’d been stuck in an idealized dream world back in Haltina’s labyrinth, Suzu had often fallen into these bouts of self-loathing. Suzu looked down at her new mug dejectedly and slowly took a few sips from it. Though she was clearly still feeling blue, at least her downward spiral had been stopped. 
Sensing an opportunity to change the subject, Kaori turned to the Tortus crew and asked, “Oh yeah, Yue, how do you guys celebrate here? I haven’t heard too much about Tortus’ holidays, so I was curious about what you do on them. And have they changed from centuries ago to now?” 
Tio thoughtfully put a hand on her chin for a few seconds, then said, “Our village did have a harvest festival of sorts. When we were still a nation instead of a race in exile, we also had holidays celebrating the founding of our nation and the birthdays of our rulers.” 
Everyone, even Hajime, turned to Tio with renewed interest. They were all curious about what the lives of the reclusive dragonmen were like. Tio looked off in the distance and said wistfully, “In those days, even Ehit’s birthday was a grand affair. Everyone, regardless of race or country affiliation or even their status, was welcomed into the capital. It made for quite a spectacular festival.” 
Hajime and the others imagined Tio running around her kingdom’s streets as a child. As one, they all smiled. 
“Though, Ehit’s birthday was also the anniversary of my country’s downfall.” 
Suddenly, Tio’s eyes glazed over the same way Suzu’s had. To make matters worse, Yue also said flatly, “Ehit’s birthday... was the day... I was betrayed... Ugh, my head hurts...” 
Her eyes had glazed over as well. 
“H-How about you, Shea!? What kind of holidays do the rabbitmen have!?” 

Kaori gave Shea a pleading look. Please save us, Shea! You’re always the cheerful one! It was her fault the mood had grown darker, so she was trying her best to steer the topic back to something light. 
“No clue. Normal rabbitmen might have a few holidays but... until I met Hajime-san, I was forced to remain hidden inside my village, so I don’t know what kinds of celebrations there are...” 
Like the others, Shea’s eyes glazed over. Kaori hugged Shea tightly and shouted, “I’m so sorry, goddammit!” 
Sensing that Kaori was nearing the end of her rope, Shizuku turned to Hajime in the hopes that he could save them. He could always be counted on to save them from any crisis, so Shizuku was sure he’d be able to fix this dark mood too. 
“N-Nagumo-kun, what did you do for the holidays!?” 
“I’d either spend them at home or if Kaori invited me out anywhere, spend them running away from hordes of jealous—” 
“Forget it, just stay quiet!” 
You’re the one who asked... Hajime thought with a frown. 
“Now that it’s come to this, I’ll have to ask Kaori... No, wait, I can’t. She spent all of her Christmases asking Nagumo-kun out only to have him run from her...” 
“Shizuku-chan... you didn’t have to mention that last part.” 
Now even Kaori’s eyes had glazed over. 
“Kouki... Actually, forget it. His Christmases were all hell. Whenever we were with him, girls from other schools would...” 
“Sh-Shizuku? I-I’m not sure what you’re talking about, but did something happen when—” 
Only Kouki was unaware of how much hardship Christmas caused the people around him every year. He was about to ask Shizuku what had gone on, but when he saw that her eyes had also glazed over, he cut himself off. Unlike the others, however, Shizuku recovered quite quickly. She stamped down on the dark memories of being chased around by girls who either wanted Kouki, or herself, and turned to Ryutarou. 
“Ryutarou! You’re our only hope! Please tell us all about your wonderful holiday exploits!” 
“You’re asking for way too much of me here!” Ryutarou flinched as everyone turned to face him, their eyes still resembling those of dead fish. However, he gathered his resolve, cleared his throat, and said, “There, uh, actually was this one time I successfully invited a girl out for Christmas.” 
Finally, the despondent atmosphere cleared a little. Her interest piqued, Kaori asked, “I never knew that! What happened next, Ryutarou-kun!?” 
“She was actually just trying to use me to get close to Kouki-kun, so when she found out it’d be just the two of us, she canceled on me.” 
“Why’d you pick a story like that!?” 
The mood fell once more, and Ryutarou’s eyes glazed over as he joined the group of Christmas rejects. Meanwhile, Kouki looked down at the floor, pointedly not meeting anyone’s gaze. 
“I see, so you’re the only one who has fond memories of Christmas, Amanogawa. Die, you filthy normie.” 
Hearing Hajime’s barbed words, Kouki glared at him and said, “You’re the last person who has any right to say that considering the harem you’ve got going.” 
In the end, the dark mood continued all the way through afternoon tea. Afterward, all mentions of holy holidays were banned among the party.