Bonus Short Stories
At the End of a Long Road
In a world somewhere far away from Earth...
Rio once had his happiness snatched away from him unfairly, leaving him as an orphan in the slums. In his life without salvation, in a world without mercy, there was nothing but despair for him. There was no hope.
Despite this, he struggled through every day, no matter how unsightly it was.
After all… even if he had no hope, he still had a wish.
One distorted wish that he wanted to see through no matter what.
That single wish was why Rio wanted to live. Why he scavenged for leftovers. Why he begged on the streets. Why he endured all the violence from the strong.
Perhaps then, it was some twist of fate that Rio regained his memories as Amakawa Haruto, a former university student from Japan, and started attending the Royal Academy of Beltrum, a place of learning for royalty and nobility.
Rio gained an enormous power in acquiring knowledge and education. He was discriminated against, but it was a much better lifestyle than his days as an orphan.
However, there was no salvation in this world — even when he had turned twelve, he thought this way. Even now, he continued to hold his distorted wish within his heart.
And yet, despite that...
“Rio, Rio.”
Rustle, rustle.
Rio opened his eyes a crack, raising his head. Apparently, he had fallen asleep in the self-study area of the library.
“...Professor.”
There was a girl there, smiling gently. Her name was Celia Claire. She was five years older than Rio, the daughter of a count, and a genius sorcerer-lecturer who left her name in the history of the Royal Academy of Beltrum.
“Fufu, were you asleep?” she asked with a soft laugh.
“Yes, so it seems,” Rio nodded shyly.
“Then how about we have a cup of tea in my laboratory? It’ll wake you up.”
“...I’d like that.”
At Celia’s invitation, the corner of Rio’s mouth twitched upwards.
Rio, who had lost everything in the past, found happiness in moments like this.
In the middle of an unfair, irrational, long, and painful road, Rio found himself thinking that maybe there was salvation in this world after all.
Pet Pet
Several days had passed since Miharu, Aki, and Masato began living in the spirit folk village.
Rio and the others were seated on the sofa in the living room each doing their own thing. For example, starting with Miharu, the Earth group were earnestly playing a game connecting words in the Strahl common tongue to help memorize them. Aishia was leaning on Rio’s right side and sleeping soundly.
“Onii-chan, Onii-chan.”
Latifa, who had been studying by herself, suddenly paused in her studies to snuggle up to Rio on her left.
“Hm? What’s wrong, Latifa?” Rio replied gently, moved his gaze from the book he was reading to Latifa.
“Will you pet my head?” Latifa had a carefree smile on as she sought Rio’s affection. She would sometimes act playful with Rio like this; since it was normal behavior from her, Rio petted her head in a familiar manner.
“Ehe... Ehehe.” Latifa grinned happily, sticking her body close to Rio and rubbing her cheek against him like a needy dog.
Rio smiled and continued to pet Latifa’s head. The others present in the living room glanced over at them repeatedly.
“Latifa, Miharu and Rio’s other guests are here, too, so be a little more considerate of them.” The silver werewolf Sara cleared her throat quietly and warned Latifa with a scornful look.
“Eeh? But my time with Onii-chan is limited. And Aishia’s also clinging to Onii-chan, too.” Latifa pouted her lips and complained.
“L-Lady Aishia is simply taking an afternoon nap.”
“I’m only taking a break, too. Then I guess I’ll take a nap like this too.”
“Kuh...”
Unable to argue when an upper high ranked humanoid spirit like Aishia was brought up as comparison, Sara found herself at a disadvantaged loss for words.
“Mm...” Aishia stretched cutely and opened her eyes.
“Ah, were you awake, Lady Aishia?” Sara said hesitantly.
Aishia rubbed her eyes sleepily and nodded, before snuggling languidly into Rio. The movement was almost like that a graceful cat, natural and charming.
“Wah...” The high elf Orphia widened her eyes as her gaze was captivated by the sight of Aishia. The elder dwarf Alma was also staring at her fixedly.
“Me too, me too!” Latifa clung to Rio from the opposite side.
“Ahaha...” Even Rio was unable to move any further, closing the book in his one hand as a troubled look fell over his face.
“Geez...” Sara sighed sulkily, but the look she sent Rio and the others was somewhat envious.
“Onii-chan, pet me!” Latifa begged for Rio to pet her head. Rio complied.
“Ehehe. Ehehehe.” Latifa grinned as happily as ever. Then, Aishia who had been watching Latifa get petted from the other side. “...Haruto, me too,” she said bluntly.
“Eh?” Rio asked in return, taken by surprise.
“Pet me?” Aishia asked, looking up at Rio’s face from point blank range. Her clear eyes were very beautiful and held a power that was hard to say no to. Aishia would often cling to him out of the blue, but she had never requested for her head to be peted before. She may have been influenced by Latifa.
“...Umm, like this?” Rio hesitantly petted Aishia’s head.
“Yup, good.” Aishia’s mouth turned upwards gently. She normally didn’t show any emotions, but in this moment, her expression was very warm.
I’m an Elemental Fox, You Know?
Ding dong, dong ding.
At a private elementary school somewhere in the city, the bell rang to signal the end of lessons. The class of 6-1 wrapped up their end of day greetings.
“Stand! Bow! Goodbye!”
“Goodbye!”
Endo Suzune ran out of the classroom, letting her pleated skirt flutter behind her.
“...Hah, hah.”
Panting for breath, she took short and quick steps as she ran towards the school gate. Her goal was the bus stop beside the gate. It was the exact timing just as the bus arrived at the stop —
Ugh, class ended a little later than usual today! Ah, the bus is here!
Suzune increased her running speed.
“Hah... hah... I’m getting on!”
She briefly paused to catch her breath and got on board.
There he is, the Onii-chan!
Suzune immediately cast her gaze throughout the bus and spotted the person she had been looking for.
His name was Amakawa Haruto, a third year in high school. He was an agreeable young man who had helped Suzune out two years ago, when she was still in 4th grade and had fallen asleep, missing her stop.
Suzune headed towards the back of the bus nervously, sitting down two rows behind Haruto. She wanted nothing more than to sit beside him and chat, but they were unfortunately not that that close, only knowing each other’s name and faces from that past incident.
Several months after Suzune had been saved by Haruto, another high school girl had started sitting next to him. She was incredibly beautiful.
She has to be his girlfriend, right? Yeah, she must be his girlfriend.
Suzune sighed quietly at the intimacy between the two. But she was okay with this for now; she was happy just being able to watch the Onii-chan she so admired.
The short ride together was over in no time at all, and Suzune got off at the stop near her house. Her house was only a few minutes walk from here, but today she was in a sentimental mood and wanted to walk more.
She purposefully took a detour and headed to the large park in the neighborhood. There was a walking path in this park, making it a popular spot for all kinds of people during the day, but —
Huh? There’s no one here?
Suzune was all the way inside the park when she noticed there was no one else around. Or so she thought, when —
BOOOM!
A tremendous noise roared.
“Kyaaah! W-What was that?! Are they filming a movie?!”
Suzune shook with a flinch and hunched over, glancing around at her surroundings. But there was no set equipment of the sort, nor any staff members. Then, after a moment, a girl’s voice could be heard from the skies above.
“No way, I thought the barrier was put up?!”
“...Huh?” Suzune raised her head timidly. There was a foreign-looking magical girl with silver hair fluttering about her. She looked to be around middle school-aged.
S-So they really are filming a movie. She’s even flying…
Suzune was completely dumbfounded by how unrealistic the scene before her was.
“Watch out!” the silver-haired girl yelled in a panic.
“Eh?”
BOOOM!
The moment Suzune tilted her head, another tremendous roar could be heard. Squeezing her eyes shut on reflex, she opened them to see the silver-haired magical girl, who had collapsed.
“Fweeeeh?! A-Are you okay?!”
Celia?! She thought she heard a girl’s voice.
“...Celia? T-This person here?” Suzune looked down at the silver-haired magical girl nervously, but she seemed to have lost consciousness.
Y-You... If you can hear my voice, pick up that staff!
“M-Me?! T-This?!”
Yes, quickly! Otherwise you’ll die!
Die?! She didn’t want to die. Pushed into a corner, Suzune picked up the staff as ordered.
W-What is this incredible magic essence?!
“E-Eeh?!”
A bright light flowed out of the staff, covering Suzune’s entire body. It made her feel like she was floating gently in an anti-gravitational space. Before she knew it, light of the staff had formed an outfit.
“A s-shrine maiden?”
Suzune has transformed into a magical girl wearing a fancy shrine maiden outfit. For some reason, she had fox ears and a tail, too, but she hadn’t realized it herself.
The life of Endo Suzune, a regular elementary school student, had definitely changed.
To be... continued...?
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