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Volume 2 Epilogue: Wish to the night sky

Where is this place…

Having exhausted my internal energy and becoming trashed, I fell into a pleasant slumber.

“My… My wish is…”

Beside me, the yukata-clad Kyouko from elementary school kept writing her wish on a tanzaku with glittering eyes.

This situation, this scene.

They seem vaguely familiar.

It seems like the continuation of the dream from the other time.

“… Finished!!”

Let’s see.

Now that I think of it, last time I woke up before being able to check Kyouko’s wish.

I’m a bit interested in what could have the Kyouko from childhood wished for.

Peeking at the writing on Kyouko’s tanzaku—

Let me become Chiharu-kun’s bride.

That was written in round and cute letters.

Oi, oi. A sudden marriage without going out first?

These elementary schoolers… Their scariness knows no limits.

“Eh.”

Suddenly receiving a reverse proposal, the me back then was left with his mouth agape but,

“… Marrying you? Whatever the circumstances, isn’t that too rushed? We’re still elementary schoolers.”

After a brief silence, she answered me with a quiet voice.

“I-it’s not rushed at all! Kids these days are precocious, something like this is normal!”

“…”

Kids these days are so precocious, either I’m mistaken or that’s not something a kid would say.

“… That so? But, my bad. As expected, something like marriage… We don’t know what future will bring.”

I gently averted it.

Nevertheless, with her face showing her displeasure,

“Liar.”

“… Yes?”

“Chiharu-kun. Meanie… Marry me… You’ve just promised me…”

“Wait a minute. When have I said that!?”

“… You didn’t say, you wrote! Chiharu-kun wished for us two to be together forever!“

“It’s true that that’s what I wrote on my tanzaku, but… Don’t tell me that being together forever=marriage?”

“It does. Being together forever, even after death… Being together in the same tomb?”

“Eh.”

“In other words, it means marriage!”

“… You see, Kyouko. To begin with, that was only a simile… *COUGH COUGH*”

Kyouko’s glance filled with killing intent overcame me and silenced me.

Pathetic, even if I say so myself…

“So. I want to propose once again officially. Then, I think I’ll be able to endure Chiharu being far away…”

“…”

The me back then blatantly averted his gaze and ignored her. It seems he contrives to keep being silent.

Nevertheless. My intentions being futile, Kyouko, with a shadow cast over her face,

“Breach the engagement… And in compensation, 3 million…”

She said those dangerous words.

Eeerrrm. What the heck is this kid saying?

Are you that? One of those women in their forties desperate for catching a husband?…

If left like this, it will bring problems in the future. The me back then decided to postpone the matter.

“… Understood. I promise.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah. But on the condition of it being once I’m an adult.”

“How much of an adult!? With how many years!?”

“If we say adult, perhaps… When I’m in high school?”

… That was easy.

If I had to make an excuse, I’d say that high school students seemed like very adult existences to the me back then.

The me of right now, having become a high schooler, could naturally be involved in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship… That kind of unsuspicious belief that’s not different from innocence.

Me from elementary school… I’m sorry.

Truth is… that couldn’t be.

“Understood. If that’s the case, in return… I’ll entrust this to you, Haru.”

“Mm. What’s this…”

What she took out next was a pendant shaped like a key attached to a silver chain.

Wha… This design, I remember it from somewhere.

Could this be then… The same pendant I found at home!?

“This is the key to the treasure box I’ve brought. I was thinking on putting our tanzaku inside and then bury it under some tree.”

“And why the heck would we do that?”

When I asked, Kyouko let out a smile as pretty as a midsummer sunflower,

“Because it’s more romantic like that.”

“… Is that so?”

Being a man, I don’t understand that reasoning in the least.

“Yeah. It’s much better like that! After Chiharu-kun, as promised, proposes to me in high school, we’ll come back to retrieve it. And we’ll say ‘aah, that’s right, this was the very beginning of what happened today’ once we meet the tanzaku with our eternally unchanged feelings… What, isn’t it romantic?”

“…”

I unconsciously let out a bitter smile.

Romantic or what not… So much sweetness will make me go bald.

“I too will promise something. By high school… I’ll have become cuter and lovelier than anyone.”

With that dazzling smile from Kyouko, my consciousness was returned to reality.

I see. That pendant I found by chance at home had that kind of meaning.

However. I had doubts.

How could I forget something so important?

It’s true that I have a tendency for forgetfulness higher than others, but I don’t think that something on this can be excused with something like ‘I’m forgetful’.

While filled with doubts, without any time to give them a thought, my consciousness was pulled to reality.

“Haru… Haru…”

*SHAKE SHAKE* My body shook. I was being shaken.

“Kyouko…?”

“That’s good. I… thought you wouldn’t wake up again.”

*SQUEEZE* My body was tightly embraced.

The body of my childhood friend from whom I haven’t felt a hug in a very long time, compared to when she was in elementary school, it had become tender and charming, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to spare enjoying the situation right now.

“Errr. Kyouko…Afterwards, what happened with the battle?”

“… Could it be, you don’t remember? That we could win thanks to the clever tactic devised by Haru?”

“I did something… Part of my memories of the battle are fuzzy. Perhaps. My body, didn’t something change?”

“… Change?”

“Like a part of my body becoming red.”

“…!!”

Kyouko seemed to have become speechless for as moment, but, right after, she smiled awkwardly,

“Ahaha. What’s that? Your skin has been always skin-colored! Weren’t you daydreaming?”

“… Aah. Yeah. Is that so?”

Like Kyouko said, maybe it’s because I’m tired.

The darkness of the forest, being mentally cornered… It must have been a hallucination or a dream.

When I looked to my watch, it was already around 8 pm.

It’s been a whole hour since the closing. The Saegusa festival should be in the middle of closing its stalls.

“…Should we return?”

In the end, I couldn’t keep my promise to Zonmi and the others?

But, well, since I’ve been involved in an incident like this one, there’s no way.

I think it’s lucky enough that I’ve kept my life intact.

“Wait!”

As I turned back, I was stopped by a tug on my sleeve.

“What’s the matter?”

“Truth is. Haru, About that pendant you are wearing…”

“Aah, You mean this? Truth is, I’ve just—”

“Have you remembered!?”

Kyouko leant forward too close.

“No, it’s not like that…”

Truth is, I’ve just remembered about it, but I ended up lying on the spur of the moment.

Why is that?

There’s no way Kyouko could be serious about a promise from so long ago, but…

Me remembering about this pendant =me remembering about promising to marry, that’s the same.

I feel bashful about not denying it, how’d I say, after this, I wouldn’t know what face to make before her when we met.

“Do you know something about this?”

“Haru may have forgotten already, but… To tell the truth, it was me who gave you that pendant long ago.”

“… Is that so?”

“What’s more. There’s a box that makes a set with that key, we put inside some keepsakes together, then buried it near here. Wanna go now to dig it up?”

“No. I’ll pass. Today I’m tired.”

“Really!? I’m glad. Then, let’s go to dig it up?”

“Wait a minute! When did I say a word about going… Gueeeeeeh! Understood! I’m going! You are winging my neeeeeeck!”

I was dragged by the scruff of my neck like a kitten.

That’s the giant tribe for you… What’s with this power!?

It seems that the basis of my disposition of being unable to oppose girls, either now or in the past, it hasn’t changed a bit.

“I found it! I found it!”

The box Kyouko said, as it was in a shallower place than it seemed 5 years ago, could be found very fast.

It’s nothing more than a supposition, but could it be that Kyouko, so as to bask in memories, came here sometimes to tend to the box?

If it wasn’t like that, I doubt it would have been so easy to dig up something buried so long ago.

“… Is that so? That’s good.”

I had mixed feelings.

Don’t tell me that Kyouko… Is she serious about a promise from so long ago?

Let’s say Kyouko asks me to marry her, how could I reply to her?

“…”

Kyouko put a dumbfounded expression.

The moment I cast my eyes upon the two sheets of tanzaku in her hands, I could understand why.

I’d say the soil moisture must have changed the quality of the paper. They are in a state where the writing cannot be read.

“What are those? The keepsakes you mentioned…?”

“… Yeah. They can’t be read anymore, but here there were written very precious memories.”

“… Is that so?”

Kyouko got for a moment into an ‘absentminded’ state, but her eyes promptly shining brightly again,

“Yeah, There has been a slight change in plans, but… No problem. This is enough for now.”

“?”

“Haru, could you stretch your right hand?”

“Why so sudden?”

As Kyouko said, I reached my hand to her.

As soon as I felt something cold in my fingertip, the surrounding darkness was drowned by a pale light that just spilled out.

“Wha. How can this…!?”

Of course, I got surprised.

This light is the same I saw back when I made a contract with Iris.

Then, this should be… A Contract Ring.

Why does Kyouko have a Contract Ring?… I have no proof, but there was only one I knew of.

The aftermath of the battle. I think I saw this same light coming from Noelle’s ring.

Could it be… Maybe Noelle’s Enforce Ring somehow changed its nature and became a Contract Ring?

If my theory of the Enforce Ring changing into a Contract Ring is true, then the pain of Noelle when she tried to use the ring is comprehensible.

Of course this is nothing more than a simple guess, but… Is that what happens when you give a command bypassing the free will of the monster partner? As a consequence of asking for a function of the Enforce Ring already turned into a Contract Ring, she suffered that backlash…?

If I think like that, the flow of events can be explained.

“I too don’t understand it very well, but… I’ve heard something like that. For a monster tamer to choose a partner, besides the ring, they say the contract partner has to choose it from its own volition.”

“… I see.”

Turning away her glance, Kyouko said while fidgety entwining her fingers.

“On fairy-tales passed around at the Netherworld, two people separated by an unwanted contract can be reunited by the will of the ring… There are tons of endings like that. But for that to actually happen… a strong relationship of mutual trust, how do I put it… it seems deep bonds that anyone would envy are needed…”

“…”

If what Kyouko says is correct, is this ring she put on me without warning something like a living being? If you said to the me from before something as unscientific as ‘the ring is alive’, I would have laughed.

But now, I’m someone who doesn’t find it something that impossible.

… For good or bad, I’m surrounded by girls that are themselves unscientifical existences.

“Chiharu… What are you doing in a place…”

Turning my head in reaction to the familiar voice, Zonmi, breathing heavily, dashed before me.

Am I overthinking things?

Her expression seems a bit relieved.

“Ku… Being outran by a lowly ghoul―”

“Pant… Pant… Onii-chan… I found you… By the way, Iris-chan and the zombie run very fast…”

And, it’s not only Zonmi.

“You guys… Why the heck…!?”

“That’s good… You’re safe and sound. I could feel it through the ring. Chiharu’s magic power grew until strange levels and reached a state of being out of control―. Chiharu, what has happened here?”

“Eeeerm, you see…”

“!?”

When I started talking, Zonmi ‘s glance fell on my hand.

Zonmi, after being left with a face of incredulity, her eyes opened wide, started trembling,

“… You don’t say!? Chiharu and the Nephilim, a contract…!? How could it be if you didn’t have a ring… Tell me your explanation, if you have one!"

She inquired with a bloodcurdling grimace.

“…”

Well. From where should I start explaining?

To explain the reason behind our contract, I first should tell about Kyouko’s capture.

And then the battle against the Black Tamer.

That Kyouko was put under Enforce.

A monster enslaving monsters… that I have personally seen such an irregular situation.

If I start explaining from the start, no matter how much time I get, it won’t be enough.

As, bewildered, I couldn’t look her in the eyes,

“Hey, zombie! That doesn’t matter!”

Manami objected in a loud voice.

“Wha. Isn’t this unrelated to you, little sister!? Be quiet! You tend to act in strange ways… That’s weird! Even when, just in case, so that you, being human, weren’t exposed to danger, I ran here at full speed…”

“…”

I see. So that’s the reason why Zonmi is out of breath?

Still, she seems to have endured it quite well, but how the heck could Manami have kept up Zonmi’s pace running at full speed…

“It’s SO related to me! I too am curious about the ring, but better than that, shouldn’t we confirm right now the state of onii-chan’s chastity!?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Wh-why is everyone wordless!? Could it be being deep in the mountain!? The darkness!? Are you boys and girls in heat!? I’d say that’s the only thing it can be!!”

… As usual, this little sister of mine has to butt in on such an important moment in a catastrophic way.

When, before my sister oddities, I felt the urge of running away.

From nowhere, *WHOO~~~~~~SH*, fireworks burst in the night sky with a loud noise like flowers in full bloom.

“Pretty…”

Seeing the fireworks being launched one after the other, Kyouko let out a word of admiration.

“… Are these those rumored so-called fireworks I’ve heard of? I’ve seen them a couple of times in photos and recordings, but seeing is believing. They are as appealing as they say.”

“Kukkuku. Wouldstn’t thou say it’s a good performance for being humans?… Of course, there’s nothing in this world that holds a candle before our flames.”

I\'d say it’s the first time Zonmi and Iris seeing fireworks.

Enraptured by the beauty of the fireworks… Rather, just startled by the scale and noise of the fireworks.

“Muu~. And now fireworks!? In the end, what was the outcome of onii-chan’s nighttime firework launching!?”

“… Hey? But, isn’t it weird? The time of the show should have been over a while ago… Why are they launching them now?”

Ignoring my sister’s nonsense, I voiced my thoughts.

“Well. I’m not very well informed on the matter, but I’ve heard a student without common sense, while shouting strange words like ‘events for the enjoyment of riajuus like this should be erased from this world’ or something, interfered with the launching… A very disturbing fellow.”

“… Is that so?”

Wasn’t that undoubtedly Youhei!?

Darn… That Youhei… How rash…

Nevertheless. By chance, thanks to that guy delaying the launching, we could have everyone gather like this on the best spot and see the fireworks.

Doesn’t that mean we should be grateful to Youhei?

“Well, then… You’ve ended up eluding the talk. I’ll question you in detail once we come back home.”

“… Aah. If it’s like that, I’ll help.”

“At any rate. This means you’ve become the second partner. Nephilim.”

Said Zonmi strongly remarking the ‘second’ part.

“… But in my case, I won’t let our relationship stop on a partner level.”

After that declaration, Kyouko strongly pressed my arm against her breasts.

“O-oi…”

I’d say that, after the contract, she’s gotten in very high spirits, but her unusually proactive approach makes me unconsciously embarrassed.

“Wha-whawhawha. What exactly does that meaaan!?”

Zonmi’s yell was cruelly drowned by the fireworks’ noise―.

Apart from the fireworks launched to the night sky, a womanly― violent battle’s sparks were scattered between those two.