Chapter 25 — But Wait, What Was All Our Hard Work for, Then?
Mitsuki collapsed, his erasure bolt winking out before it reached Yogiri. His friend Alexia was still frozen.
“So, uh...is it over?” Tomochika asked tentatively, looking around.
“Looks like it. The world didn’t end, so I guess this is good.”
“What was with this guy, anyway?” she asked, looking down at the Great Sage. He had said the world was a dream he was seeing, but she didn’t understand what that meant.
This world has been full of nothing but people like him, Mokomoko commented.
That was true. Tomochika could list off all kinds of arrogant people who had popped up out of nowhere and died immediately.
“So...beating him is cool and all, but what do we do now?”
They had completed their immediate objective of returning to the surface, but she had no idea how to go about finding a way home from there. A number of people they knew might be willing to help, like the goddess Luu, the Sage Sion, or the fallen god Kouryu, but she had no idea how to find any of them.
“I’d appreciate it if you went home as soon as possible, actually.” As Tomochika went down the list, one of those very people called out to them. The boy named Kouryu was now standing beside them.
“Yeah, how are we going to do that, though?” Yogiri replied. “We’ve been trying to find a way to go home from the start.”
“I’ll do it. I can guarantee you a safe return, one hundred percent. And I’d like to ask that you never come back here either.”
“Not like we came here the first time because we wanted to!” Tomochika retorted.
“You aren’t starting to get a little attached to this place, are you?” Kouryu asked.
“Not at all,” Yogiri replied.
“Of course not!” Tomochika shouted at the same time, a bit of anger starting to tinge her voice. She didn’t want to spend a single second more here than she had to.
“Okay, then let’s get the finishing touches squared away.” Kouryu stepped over to Alexia and touched her. As he did, she started moving again.
“You...” She immediately glared at him.
“Hey, please don’t attack me or anything. I’m not all that strong.”
However, she realized immediately she had no time to waste on Kouryu, instead running to the fallen Sage’s side. “Lord Mitsuki!”
“Yeah, it’s exactly what it looks like. The Great Sage Mitsuki is asleep. He’ll stay asleep forever, existing only to keep dreaming of this world,” Kouryu explained.
“Huh? He’s not dead?” Tomochika asked, surprised. She had assumed that Yogiri had killed him, but now that she looked closer, he did seem to be breathing.
“But that’s good for you, right?” Kouryu said. “Now he’ll never look at another woman. From now on, he’ll be all yours, for the rest of time.”
Though she panicked at first, it seemed Kouryu’s words were slowly making their way through to Alexia, as she began regaining her composure.
“So there’s no problem here at all, right? I may be the god of this world, but I can run it without messing with the Sages. If you went off to find some place no one would ever bother you, you should be able to enjoy your happy life alone with him.”
“Very well. I shall accept your suggestion. Then we agree not to interfere with each other in any capacity, yes?”
“Yeah. It’s a win for both of us.”
Alexia gently lifted Mitsuki off the ground before vanishing.
“That’s one big problem out of the way, though with Luu being erased, Alexia was the only big problem left.”
“Luu was erased?!” Tomochika cried.
“She lost a fight to the Demon Lord Gorbagion. But, well, she’s still a god. The concept of ‘death’ doesn’t really apply to her, so you don’t need to worry. She’ll pop up again somewhere sooner or later.”
“I don’t know. That sounds too easy...” But trying to understand how gods worked from a human perspective was a losing battle from the outset, Tomochika told herself, so maybe all she could do was accept what Kouryu told her.
“So, was the Great Sage the one who turned her into Philosopher’s Stones?” Yogiri asked.
“Yeah. Basically, the whole situation in this world was caused by three goddesses fighting over him. After the painfully long battle, it ended with Alexia winning and the other two being sealed away.”
It sounded to Tomochika like an event happening on an unbelievable scale, yet Kouryu made it sound like an everyday occurrence.
“If the Sages aren’t going to interfere with the world anymore, what’ll happen with the Aggressors?” she asked. It may have not mattered much to her personally if they were going to make it back home, but she couldn’t help but be curious. The Sages had been responsible for fighting off the Aggressors, so she was worried what would happen without them around.
“Ah. Most of the Aggressors were here looking for Luu and the UEG, so with them gone, there probably won’t be any more. I guess there’s still the possibility of invasions from other worlds, but that’s a different issue.”
“So basically...everything was the Great Sage’s fault! Got it!” Tomochika concluded.
“Anyway, strike while the iron’s hot, as they say.”
As Kouryu spoke, the world around them changed. The ground beneath them turned into a bluish-black material, with a wall of the same stuff standing in front of them. Looking up, the wall seemed to stretch on forever. There were lights stuck to it here and there, but no sign of a ceiling. Looking to the right and left, the wall seemed to be curved. Looking backwards, they found the ground they were standing quickly came to an abrupt end, nothing but empty blackness beyond it. It was like they were standing on the inside of a huge cylinder, the ground only lining its interior wall.
“I guess I’m kind of used to being teleported all over the place by now, but where exactly are we?” Tomochika asked with a sigh. After all she had been through, the only thing that came to mind was “oh, this again.”
“This is the Celestial Axis. It connects Celestial Foundations to each other. By going through here, you can visit all sorts of worlds. There are other worlds not connected by this Axis, but we should be able to reach yours, no problem.”
“It was this easy the whole time?!”
“Not everyone can use this place,” Kouryu explained. “It’s managed by the gods, so I couldn’t use it until I had my authority back.”
“Huh? So you’re saying any time after we beat Malnarilna, you could have sent us back?!” Tomochika cried.
“Yes, but with the Great Sage around, he could have brought you back any time the mood struck him, so beating him was necessary too.”
“I feel like we’ve been pretty thoroughly used...” Tomochika said, giving Kouryu a suspicious look.
“You see that sphere there, right? That’s how you move around the Axis. I already put in the instructions for it to take you home, so please get going.”
“Jeez, how rude do you need to be?!”
Kouryu pointed to a spherical object that had appeared on the edge of the platform. It was about ten meters across, made of what looked like metal, and had a door on the outside.
“This will really take us home?” Yogiri asked, doubtful.
“Of course. I am well aware of how dangerous you are. I’m not plotting anything at this point. I honestly want to get you back home and keep you from ever coming back here.”
“Maybe it’s not our place to say this,” Tomochika replied, “but this world seems to be in pretty rough shape. Are things going to be okay?”
“There are still some survivors out there, so we’ll find a way. I’m not planning on holding you responsible or anything. Now come on, get going!”
“You really are just shooing us away, aren’t you?! But wait, what was all our hard work for, then?”
“Your hard work ended up bringing you here, didn’t it?”
“Really? I find it hard to accept that...”
But in the end, it seemed they had indeed needed to deal with the Great Sage, and it had taken quite a bit of growth for them to get that done. In some ways, it felt they had just been drifting along with the current, and there had probably been an easier way for them to get home, but there was no point worrying about it now.
“If we can get back home, I don’t think we need to worry about the details,” Yogiri decided.
“Ah! But are we going back in these clothes?! Or does that count as a detail we don’t need to worry about?”
The two of them were still decked out in their villainous attire. Who knew what kind of comments they’d get back home?
“Okay, okay. There! Happy?”
With a word from Kouryu, Tomochika’s outfit transformed. She was once again wearing the same school uniform she’d been wearing upon arriving in this world. Naturally, Yogiri had undergone a similar transformation.
“And here’s your stuff too. Everything you had on the bus.”
Their bags suddenly thudded to the floor in front of them: Tomochika’s travel bag and what appeared to be a large backpack belonging to Yogiri.
“Okay, now I’m really starting to feel like he’s pushing us out!” Tomochika said.
“Anything else?” Kouryu asked. “If you want to take anything back with you, I’ll get whatever you want.”
“Bringing back stuff from another world would probably just cause problems, so I guess not,” Tomochika said.
“All right, shall we get going?” Yogiri asked.
“Sure. I think he’s made it quite clear we’ve worn out our welcome.”
Tomochika stepped over to the sphere. Opening the door, she saw a flat floor inside. The interior was furnished with chairs and a table, so it seemed they could relax within. Yogiri followed her as she boarded the strange craft.
“I know he said it’ll take us home, but it doesn’t quite feel real, does it?” Yogiri commented.
“Yeah, claiming a ball like this takes you between worlds feels like a bit of a stretch.”
The Celestial Axis was something like an enormous pipe. Apparently, it wasn’t a physical place, but a conceptual corridor that connected different worlds, although the explanation had gone entirely over Tomochika’s head.
“But if this is actually going to take us home, it’s kind of a moving experience, isn’t it?”
“How about instead of wallowing in your emotions, you just get going?” Kouryu suggested, interrupting them before they could start reminiscing.
The door of the sphere shut of its own accord. It wasn’t like they couldn’t open it again, but the message from Kouryu was quite clear.
“Man, what a jerk! Surely we can talk a little bit, can’t we?!”
“A little, sure.” Kouryu’s voice came through a speaker somewhere in the sphere, allowing them to converse with him while he was outside. “I’ll give you five minutes. When you want to leave, hit the start button on the middle console.”
“That anxious, are you?” Tomochika replied. It seemed the god wasn’t willing to forcibly send them away, likely for fear of making them angry. As such, he had left the timing of their departure to them.
“Oh, what about our surviving classmates?”
“I’ll go talk to them later. I can send anyone who wants to go back after you.”
“Why don’t we all go back together?” Yogiri asked. It seemed he felt it was better to return as a group, to which Tomochika agreed.
“Don’t worry about it! You two need to go now!”
“Man, this guy is desperate!” Tomochika exclaimed.
“Anything else?”
“Hmm. There are quite a few people we know in this world. I feel bad leaving without saying goodbye to any of them.” Tomochika was thinking of all the people who helped them throughout their journey.
“If you have a message for them, tell me. I’ll send it along for you.”
“Couldn’t you use your powers to take us right to them?”
“And what if that ended up causing more trouble? If you really want to go home, you shouldn’t be risking your chance here.”
“I guess that’s kind of true.” After talking it over for a short time, the two of them came up with a number of messages for the people they’d be leaving behind.
“Is that all then? No regrets?”
As Kouryu continued trying to hurry them along, Tomochika found her initial irritation towards him turning into sympathy.
“Not really. I think I’m good to go,” Yogiri said.
“Me too, but going back being so easy feels...too easy.”
“Oh, actually, there was one thing I was thinking of asking you once we finally found a way back,” said Yogiri.
Tomochika looked at him, curious. He sounded strangely serious compared to his usual self.
“We were never friends before we came here. We really only stuck together because we didn’t have any other choice.”
“Ah, I guess so. We’d never really interacted before all this. All I knew about you was that you slept a lot.”
“So, I was wondering if we’ll go back to being strangers when we make it home.”
“Come on, I don’t see that happening.” Tomochika wasn’t nearly so heartless as to say, “We finally made it home; thanks for all your hard work. Okay, goodbye.” After all they had been through together, they had definitely formed some kind of bond.
“So...umm...when we get back...” Yogiri seemed to be having difficulty getting it out.
“Huh? Wha?”
Hold on, what is this? Is this a confession? Tomochika’s internal monologue started racing. Wait, is that how you feel about me, Takatou?! I mean, I can’t say the thought didn’t occur to me, and it’s not like I haven’t thought the same thing, but here? Now? I guess it’ll feel less genuine if it’s after we get back...
“Can we be friends?” Yogiri asked.
“That’s it?!” Tomochika reflexively shouted back.
“Oh... Is that a no?”
“Not at all! We became friends a long time ago, didn’t we?!”
“Really?”
“Jeez, how low can your confidence go?!”
“Then...”
“Yes, yes, we can be friends! Okay?” Feeling like her concerns had been ignored, Tomochika gave a blunt reply.
“Then, thanks. I look forward to our friendship.” With that, he stuck out his hand, leaving Tomochika confused for a moment. “Uh, it’s a handshake,” he explained.
“Do friends need to be that formal?!” Still, it wasn’t like she was going to ignore him or brush him off at this point. “Me too,” she finally replied, and though a little bit timidly, she took his hand in hers.
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