Chapter I: An Everyday(?) Morning in the Nagumo Household Part 1
Hajime awoke to find that he couldn’t move and that breathing was proving a struggle. His thoughts were sluggish as well, likely due to the lack of oxygen.
This isn’t good...
Worried, Hajime opened his eyes.
“Mgh?!”
However, all he could see was darkness. He tried to breathe, but something was covering his face. Next, he tried to brush it off with his arms, only to discover that both arms were being held in place by something soft.
His confusion lasted only a second, after which his brain immediately switched into combat mode.
“Mrr...”
But then, he heard a familiar little girl mumbling in her sleep, so he snapped back out of it. Using just the power of his abs, he lifted himself into a half-sitting position. The soft, flabby thing covering his face rolled down, enabling him to finally see again.
“Okay, but why?”
Sleeping peacefully on Hajime’s chest was his beloved adopted daughter, Myu. It seemed she’d fallen asleep hugging his face, which was why he’d woken up unable to see or breathe. Her pajamas had come unbuttoned at some point, so her soft stomach had been resting right on top of Hajime’s mouth and nose. Hence why he’d had trouble breathing.
Hajime’s question hadn’t been directed at Myu or her unique sleeping posture, though. Rather, he was confused by the scenery around him. Had anyone else seen it, they would think they’d made it to paradise.
“Mmm? Hajime?”
Clinging to Hajime’s right arm was Yue. Normally, she wore one of his T-shirts to bed, but right now she was stark naked. It was the same way she’d slept with Hajime back when they’d first made it to Oscar’s hidden house deep within the Great Orcus Labyrinth, with Hajime’s hand wedged between her legs.
“Fwaaah! Is it morning already?”
Hanging off of Hajime’s left arm was Shea. She wasn’t completely naked, but seeing as she was wearing an unbuttoned dress shirt of Hajime’s that left all of her important bits exposed, she may as well have been.
“He he, Mashter...my arse can take no more punishment.”
Tio was hugging Hajime’s right leg, with her face buried in his crotch. She wriggled her butt as she muttered in her sleep, her yukata completely open and also covering nothing.
“Even you’re here, Remia...”
Remia was occupying the open space below Hajime’s feet, and she was the only one sleeping in a normal posture. In fact, her pajamas weren’t even messed up, though she was clinging to Hajime’s shorts with one of her hands. But honestly, that was more cute than annoying.
Actually, the whole situation was more cute than annoying. Hajime was surrounded by beautiful girls. Indeed, every man in the world would be jealous of him if they could see this.
“You know, I did give all of you your own rooms...” Hajime said with a small smile as he watched Yue and Shea slowly wake up. He then turned to look around his room. A good seventy percent of it was occupied by bookshelves filled with books and video games. There was one window that faced south, and the bit of sunlight filtering through the navy blue curtains indicated that the weather was clear.
Next to the window was a desk with an expensive gaming PC. There was a gaming chair by the desk as well. Finally, there were posters of Hajime’s favorite anime on the door and lining the walls.
“......”
This was, without a doubt, the same room his parents had kept clean for a full year, believing against all odds that Hajime would one day return to them. After being summoned to a different world, Hajime had gone through quite a bit of hardship, but in the end, he’d succeeded in returning home to his parents.
A little over half a month had passed since the fateful day he’d returned home, and Hajime had gotten into the habit of looking around his room each morning to remind himself that he really was back.
Hajime felt a gentle touch on his cheek and he looked down to see Yue gently caressing it.
“Don’t worry. You’re really here, Hajime. You made it back at last,” Yue said with a heartwarming smile. Her ruby-red eyes always saw right through him, but he didn’t mind that. As he looked deeply into her eyes, she leaned forward and kissed him softly. He could feel the depths of her kindness and her love for him through just that one kiss alone.
She must have noticed that he’d almost slipped into combat mode a few seconds ago and was trying to be extra reassuring.
“...Yeah, you’re right. I’m home. This is reality.”
Hajime lifted his left arm, which looked just like a regular flesh and blood arm. He then traced his right eye, which had no eye patch covering it, with his fingertips.
As he looked back into Yue’s eyes, he saw his old self reflected in them: a normal high schooler with black hair and two functioning, regular eyes. There was no visible proof of the torture he’d suffered in the depths of that labyrinth or of the superhuman body he’d acquired because of it. No white hair, no prosthetic metal arm, no magical eye made of specialized ore.
As he’d been planning his trip back to Earth from Tortus, he’d worked with Yue and the others to change his appearance back to what he’d looked like before, or at least as close to it as they could manage.
“Are you still not used to being your old self?” Yue asked gently as she ran her hand through Hajime’s hair.
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