Chapter III: The Nagumos’ Day Off
Unsurprisingly, Shu and Sumire got extremely excited upon seeing how easily Hajime was able to modify their house with his transmutation—the same magic that had once killed a god. Their praise made Hajime get a little carried away, and since Yue and the others didn’t know what was normal and what wasn’t for the average Japanese house, they didn’t bother to stop him.
By the time he was done, Hajime had five entire stories’ worth of rooms, and the whole structure was more than twice the size of the entire plot of land the Nagumo house sat on. The basement rooms were all accessible via a teleporter, so Hajime had built them over fifty meters deep underground, ensuring they wouldn’t get in the way of municipal pipelines or the sewer system or anything.
All in all, Hajime had made his new bedroom, a workshop for himself, another workshop for his parents, a training room (complete with a shooting range), an arcade, a theater room, a freely modifiable nuclear shelter (made near the end of his building spree when he hadn’t been in his right mind again quite yet), a new display room for everyone’s otaku goods, and a fully stocked library.
None of their neighbors knew that literally overnight, a huge number of rooms had been built under their houses.
The morning after all that illegal construction was completed, Hajime looked over his handiwork and said, “Maybe I went a bit overboard...”
He then sat down on the living room sofa and stared at a display of all the rooms he’d created.
“And in the end, I’m still just using my old room...”
Indeed, after a long discussion, Hajime had ended up sticking to his old room on the second floor. Yue and the others had been insistent that if Hajime was going to move underground, they would all sleep down there with him. And if they went through with that, all of the second-floor rooms would go completely unused, defeating the initial purpose of Hajime’s construction project.
“He he, that shouldn’t be a problem, should it?” Remia asked with a smile, walking into the living room.
“Don’t you want to be in the room next to us, daddy?” Myu asked, walking in behind her mother. She then jumped onto Hajime’s lap and pouted up at him.
Hajime poked her puffy cheeks and shook his head.
“Nah, I was honestly kind of attached to my old room, so I’m happy with this arrangement. Besides, that makes my basement room that much cooler, since I won’t be using it all the time.”
“Glad to hear it. I was worried we were being too pushy when we asked you to stay upstairs.”
“I’m fine with this, but are you guys sure you don’t mind? You, Tio, and Myu all have to share a room now.”
Naturally, the other room was occupied by Yue and Shea. Remia sat down right next to Hajime and shook her head.
“I don’t mind in the slightest. If anything, I’m glad to be sharing a room with Tio-san. We often talk late into the night about all sorts of things and it would be a shame if I could no longer do that... Heh heh heh,” Remia said with an almost childish smile. It was clear she didn’t mind sharing a space with Tio at all.
“It’s fun sleeping with mommy one night and Yue-oneechan and Shea-oneechan the next!” Myu exclaimed.
“I see. Well, as long as everyone’s happy with this, it’s fine, I guess.”
It seemed everyone was more than happy to share rooms.
“Don’t you get lonely sleeping alone, daddy?” Myu asked suddenly, pointing out the fact that only Hajime had a room to himself. It was an innocent enough question, but it still hurt to be asked that.
“Well, you see, Myu, boys have times when they want to be alone,” Remia replied before Hajime could respond.
“Really?” Myu asked as Hajime shot Remia a confused look.
“That’s right. You see, daddy has a lot of hobbies, and sometimes he wants to be alone so he can enjoy them,” Remia explained.
“Why alone? How come Myu can’t be with him?”
Wait, that’s not true!
However, before Hajime could say anything, Remia plowed ahead and said, “You just can’t. You’re not old enough yet. You see, in this world, there are age ratings for some things, and children can’t look at R-18 material.”
“What?!” Hajime exclaimed, jumping in his seat and losing his mind.
How does Remia know the word R-18?! Has she seen my collection?! But how?! When?!
“Mrr! So I can’t see them yet? What about you, mommy? Or everyone else? Can they be there with daddy?”
“Ufu fu, we certainly can. But only if he wants us to, isn’t that right?” Remia stated, shooting Hajime a playful wink. Myu turned to Hajime as well and gasped when she saw him.
“D-Daddy, what’s wrong?!”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“You’re sweating a bunch!”
“Ha ha, you must be imagining things. Don’t worry, I’m just fine.”
“You don’t sound fine!” Myu exclaimed as she pulled out a handkerchief and started dabbing at Hajime’s sweat-streaked forehead.
“My, oh my,” Remia said with a knowing smile. “I’m sorry for snooping, Hajime-san, but while you were busy, your mother showed me all of your ‘doujinshi’ and ‘visual novels.’”
“Mooooooooom! Get your butt up here! How do you even know where I hid all my VNs?! Depending on your answer, I may have to disown you!”
“P-Please don’t blame her, Hajime-san! We’re the ones who kept on begging her to tell us what our husband’s fetishes are!”
“You talked about what while I was gone?! Is that the kind of thing you normally ask your mother-in-law?! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is for me?!”
Hajime jumped to his feet, still holding Myu in his arms. His face was beet-red, which was unusual for him.
Myu stared intently at him, enjoying seeing this rare side of him. At the same time, she realized she had to find whatever it was that her daddy was so desperate to hide from her. It was clear from her expression that she had some wicked thoughts cooking in her brain, but Hajime was too shaken to notice.
“Ha ha ha ha, sorry we looked through your room without permission, Hajime-san,” Shea said, walking into the living room.
“My apologies, but we were dying to learn more about what kind of person you were before you were summoned to Tortus, master. Surely you can forgive us for this one indiscretion?” Tio said, following Shea inside.
“Mmm... Sorry, Hajime. I didn’t want Kaori to be able to keep saying she knew more about the kind of person you were before you came to Tortus, so I had to learn everything I could about you,” Yue said, also walking in.
After hearing the sincerity in Yue’s voice, Hajime deflated and sat back down.
“You guys really are a handful,” he said with a long sigh.
“Oh, also...” Yue said, trailing off.
“Wait, there’s more?!” Hajime asked, suddenly on guard again.
In an apologetic voice, Yue said, “Father showed us your family album.”
“Oh, that’s it? That’s not that big a deal...”
“You were really cute even when you were a baby, Hajime. And seeing you play around in the bath as a toddler was...adorable.”
“Hang on, what are you insinuating here?!”
“You looked totally different from how you do now... You were so cute that I could have just eaten you right up... Well, I suppose I did end up doing that once you were all grown up.”
“Hey, no dirty talk when Myu’s around, you perverted vampire!”
“Father gave me copies of all the best pictures. I’ll treasure them forever.”
“Get rid of them right now!”
It was one thing to want to know everything about him, but it was quite another to be lusting after his toddler body. There were some things even Hajime couldn’t let slide.
To his dismay, it seemed Yue wasn’t the only one who’d found young Hajime delectable. Shea and the others were blushing as well.
“Incidentally, master, I’ll gladly perform any of the acts in your doujinshi for you at any time if you so—”
“Stop right there or I’m bringing white-haired Hajime back,” Hajime cut in with a threatening voice. He was, of course, referring to his true appearance, which he’d come to dub combat mode. The only thing stopping him from balling his hands into fists was the fact that he was using them to cover Myu’s ears right now.
Sensing that they’d gone too far, Remia and the others all bowed their heads and apologized. They all glanced pleadingly up at Hajime, hoping they’d be forgiven.
In truth, Hajime felt a bit guilty for hanging on to his collection even though he had so many wives now, so he was at a loss for what to say.
“Ummm, oh! I know!” Myu shouted suddenly. She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she could tell things had gotten awkward, so she jumped out of Hajime’s arms and spread her arms wide in front of him.
“Daddy, how do my new clothes look? Are they cute?”
She did a little twirl, showing off her frilly white blouse and checkered skirt.
Hajime and the others exchanged looks, then sighed at each other. They’d really messed up if they needed Myu to try to lighten the mood.
“Yeah, they’re super cute,” Hajime replied, smiling at his adopted daughter. “I’m sure you asked your mom to help, but you still picked the ones you liked best, right? You’ve got good taste, Myu.”
Hajime then glanced over at Yue and the others. Yue was wearing a white hoodie, Shea was in a long-sleeved shirt and shorts, and Tio was wearing a light sweater and a long skirt. Remia was wearing a checkered skirt just like Myu’s, which went down to her knees, and a similar white blouse.
They were all outfits Sumire had recommended. She’d taken the season and current fashion trends into account when ordering the outfits online.
“I know you guys have been wearing Earth clothes for a few days now, but...it still gets me every time. You all look so great.”
There were similar types of outfits in Tortus, so it wasn’t as if they were wearing something particularly novel, but Hajime was still moved every single time he saw them in casual wear.
“I can tell you guys dressed yourself up even more than usual today too. You all look sharp.”
Yue and the others all blushed slightly upon hearing that, smiling.
“You look wonderful too, Hajime,” Yue responded.
“You think so? I don’t usually wear a suit jacket, so it still feels off to me.”
Hajime was wearing a pretty simple outfit, a regular button-up shirt with a suit jacket over it, but it seemed Yue and the others found it quite charming.
Hajime looked down at himself, frowning.
“This is going to be our first date on Earth, after all. Well, I’ll just be showing you guys around town, but still, I don’t want to look lame when you guys went to all the effort of dressing up. I’m not sure if I did a good enough job, but if you all like it, then I guess it’s fine.”
Indeed, Hajime had set aside all of today to show Yue and the others around town, which was why everyone was dolled up more than usual.
“Hm? Did someone say you looked lame, Hajime? Give me their names and I’ll crush their balls,” Yue declared.
“Calm down. No one said I look lame. Also, remember what I told you? The law is the ultimate authority in Japan. You can’t just go around maiming people willy-nilly.”
“You don’t have to worry about looking lame around us. If anything, we’re worried we’re going to make you look lame,” Shea said.
“We did research as much of this world as we could on the internet, but I know from experience that reality rarely matches one’s expectations,” Tio muttered.
“Hajime-san, I’m sorry in advance if we cause any trouble for you while we’re outside,” Remia said.
“I’ll do my best to act normal!” Myu exclaimed. Yue and the others were already beautiful enough to turn heads, but now that they’d put in the effort to look fashionable, they were drop-dead gorgeous. Even Hajime’s pulse was racing just looking at them. Honestly, he was more worried that their beauty would cause problems than their lack of Earth knowledge.
There was no point in saying that, though, so Hajime simply shrugged. “Don’t worry, you guys will do just fine. Besides, Japan has all sorts of people in it. I’m sorry if I said anything to make you guys nervous, but you don’t need to try extra hard or anything. This is your first time exploring a Japanese city, so just have fun,” Hajime said with a reassuring smile, making Yue and the others relax a little.
“By the way, is Kaori-san not going to be able to make it?” Shea asked.
“No, Kaori and Shizuku both have plans with their families today, unfortunately.”
Now that things had calmed down, all of Hajime’s classmates were able to move about more freely. As a result, most of them were going to visit extended family and let them know they were okay before school started up again.
“What about Aiko-oneechan?” Myu asked.
“She’s just busy with work. There’s a bunch she has to prepare for next month.”
“Oh,” Myu said, looking disappointed. Hajime gently patted her head, making sure not to accidentally mess up her hair. Just then, Sumire came up from the basement.
“You’re about to head out, right, Hajime? Before you go, could you make some adjustments to the wall dimensions for—”
Hajime smiled at his mother, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Mom, I heard that you showed the contents of my room to Yue and the others.”
Yue and the others blanched. They’d been the ones who’d begged Sumire, so they didn’t want her to take the blame for their actions. However, before they could say anything, Sumire frowned and replied, “Hmph, I’ll apologize for going through your room without permission. But you know, Hajime, I can’t say I approve of hanging on to your collection now that you have so many beautiful wives you could be spending time with instead.”
“Rgh!”
Hajime hadn’t been expecting that retort, so he was too taken aback to say anything. Yue and the others stared at Sumire in surprise, amazed at how easily she’d cowed her son.
“L-Look, I was thinking about selling everything. I’ve just been so busy that I couldn’t find the time.”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure.”
“Anyway, how did you even know where they were all hidden?!”
“Because I’m your mother.”
“Ngh!”
Before Sumire, even the Demon Lord who’d killed god was a regular boy unable to talk back to his mother. Yue and the others’ respect for Sumire grew immensely.
“If anything, you should be thanking me.”
“What do you mean by that, mom?!”
“Be grateful that I didn’t show them...your D drive.”
“Asdkfgsjdagflkjkagsh?!”
Hajime staggered backward in shock. He’d fought fearlessly against any foe who stood against him, no matter how powerful, but against his mother, he had no choice but to retreat. Sumire covered half of her face with one hand, fingers splayed out in an embarrassingly chuuni pose, and grinned triumphantly at her son. At this point, Yue and the others were overawed.
Cold sweat poured down Hajime’s back as he desperately looked for a way out. No one had ever cornered him this badly before.
“My cute daughters-in-law begged me to show them everything, but I held firm and protected your final line of defense. I did it all for you, my son.”
“M-Mom...”
“But I’m warning you, Yue-chan and the others are quite sharp. Eventually, they’ll discover your most closely guarded secret, so you better make up your mind about whether you’re going to delete it or let them learn all about it.”
“...I see. You’re right, mom.”
Yue and the others didn’t know what Sumire was talking about, but they knew that she’d won her argument with Hajime. This was the first time they’d seen anyone ever get the better of Hajime in a battle of wits.
“U-Umm, Hajime? Mother? What exactly is a D Drive and why—?”
“You wanted me to fix the walls, right, mom? Leave it to me!” Hajime shouted, cutting Yue off.
“Thank you, my dear son! Once that’s done, you can go enjoy your date!”
Hajime and Sumire returned to the basement, completely ignoring Yue’s question.
In this, at least, Sumire was completely on Hajime’s side. After all, she, too, was an otaku. Still, the fact that this D drive was something that not even Hajime’s mother was willing to divulge only made Yue all the more curious.
“One day...I’ll get them to teach me all of the Nagumo family’s secrets!” Yue declared, and Shea and the others nodded solemnly.
Just as Sumire had said, Hajime needed to decide quickly whether or not he was going to delete that drive, since Yue and the others would crack the password soon enough.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
The closest station to Hajime’s house was currently experiencing quite a stir. It was a pretty big station with restaurants, convenience stores, and even a bookstore attached to it, so traffic was pretty heavy most days. And right now, everyone at the station was staring over at the ticket booth.
Yue gulped as she looked up.
“Y-You can do it, Yue-oneechan!”
“You’ve got this, Yue. You managed to get your body back from God, so this is nothing!”
Myu and Shea made it sound like she was about to embark on some deadly challenge, but she was just trying to muster the courage to buy a train ticket.
Yue’s expression stiffened as she tightly clutched the money in her hands. She looked up at the station map, then glanced down at the fare prices, then looked at the money in her hand. With how serious her expression was, you’d think she’d be killed for failing this simple task.
Am I...doing this right? Yue thought, glancing back hesitantly at Hajime.
Holy shit, she’s so cuuuuuute! Hajime thought, nodding to himself. At the same time, he was glad he’d decided to start by teaching everyone how to buy tickets.
“Hmm, take a look at this timetable, Remia. I remember reading about this on the internet, but I’m still amazed by how accurate these train locomotives appear to be,” Tio said in a voice filled with awe.
“Yes, indeed. I’ve heard that the schedule is even more complex for the busy stations in the heart of the city. I can’t believe they’re able to maintain such a strict schedule,” Remia said, nodding in admiration.
The people who were at the station were, of course, staring at Yue and the others. They had been since they’d all arrived and Hajime had started teaching them about how to board the train, both because of how rare it was to see someone confused by the concept of boarding a train and because of how beautiful they all were.
“They’ve gotta be foreigners, right? Holy shit, they’re all so hot...”
“Maybe they’re all models? They don’t seem to know how to board a train... I wonder where they’re from...”
“That blonde girl over there...is a real flesh and blood human, right? She’s not a doll, is she?”
Three girls whispered emphatically to each other, their expressions rapt.
Incidentally, Shea was wearing Artifact ear cuffs and Myu and Remia were wearing Artifact earrings to make their nonhuman ears appear human to onlookers. The Artifacts also made Myu’s and Remia’s hair look emerald blonde instead of emerald green so that they didn’t stand out as much as they otherwise would have.
I know I made their effects somewhat weak, but I can’t believe Yue and the others are still attracting this much attention through the presence-hiding Artifacts I gave everyone. Maybe I should make them a bit stronger.
Hajime took mental notes on how much he’d need to modify his Artifacts before their next outing.
If he made the effects too strong, people wouldn’t notice them, period, which would make going out to eat or shopping or other basic tasks rather difficult. Ideally, he’d be able to find a workable middle ground or a way to dynamically adjust how strong the perception-altering effect was. His craftsman’s soul burned passionately as he went through various options in his mind.
Anyway, I guess this means having them all use perception-hiding magic whenever they went outside while I was gone was the right call.
Reporters had been swarming their neighborhood, but thankfully, no one had gotten a good picture of Yue and the others. He’d mostly wanted to keep them hidden so people wouldn’t ask too many questions about their identities, but in retrospect, it had also been a good idea to keep their faces off of the internet to avoid everyone swarming them whenever they went out.
“O-Okay, I can do this!” Yue said, taking a tentative step forward. Shea and Myu folded their arms and watched on with bated breath.
For some reason, all of the onlookers held their breath as they watched as well. A few of them even yelled “Good luck!”
Normally, Yue acted quite mature and therefore seemed like an adult despite her small stature, but right now she looked barely older than Myu. Most of the spectators probably thought she was a kid.
With trembling fingers, Yue put the coins into the small slot at the side of the machine. Then, with utmost concentration, she pressed a button on the screen’s display. After a few seconds, a ticket came out of the slot at the bottom.
Yue carefully slid it into her hands, holding it like it was a fragile glass goblet. Then, she turned to Hajime, her hair fluttering in the wind, and said, “I did it!”
She held the ticket up for him to see, a proud smile on her face.
“That was perfect, Yue-oneechan!” Myu said, clapping.
“Heh, I always had faith in you, Yue-san,” Shea said with an almost parental smile.
Swept up by the atmosphere, the station attendant and all the other onlookers started clapping as well.
Noticing that everyone was staring at her, Yue blushed a little and glanced away. But then, she looked back up at the crowd, lifted the hem of her hoodie, and gave them a small curtsy. After that, she turned back to Hajime with a beaming smile and gave him a peace sign.
That gesture was so cute that all of the men watching clutched their hearts and made a HNNNNNNGH noise. Surprisingly, many of the women also got nosebleeds, and the station attendant started crying tears of joy. Of course, these were the reactions of people who’d had their senses dulled by the perception-altering Artifacts. Hajime, who was witnessing this in its full glory, was completely overcome by emotion.
“Oh, Tio-san! Hajime-san’s soul is leaving his body. We have to hurry up and put it back!” Remia shouted.
“Yue-oneechan’s smile sent daddy to heaven!”
“Oh no! Come back to us, master!”
Tio rushed over to Hajime, her hand glowing as she cast spirit magic on him. She also grabbed at a spot slightly over his head and pushed something back into his mouth.
“Huh?! Whoa, that was close. Thanks for the save, Tio.”
“Anytime, master. I have to say, though, Yue really isn’t showing you any mercy today.”
“Hajime-san, you should steel yourself. Yue-san has been looking forward to today ever since we got to Earth. You’ll be running into many more moments like this one...” Remia said.
“So that’s why Yue’s even cuter than usual... Heh, looks like I’ll need to mentally prepare myself.”
“U-Umm, Hajime? Aren’t you exaggerating a bit too much?” Yue asked, blushing profusely. She started fiddling with the ends of her hair, giving Hajime another cuteness overload.
“Stop it, Yue-oneechan! Daddy’s life points are already at zero!” Myu shouted. As the one who’d spent the most time on the internet, Myu had already started absorbing a lot of popular memes. Her usage of old memes was so cute that Hajime was once again hit with a cuteness bomb. It was incredibly heartwarming to see his daughter becoming an otaku already.
Tio once again used spirit magic on Hajime to keep him tethered to this mortal plane, and this time her hand glowed so brightly that even some of the onlookers noticed.
“Tio, you’re the only one I can rely on now. Please keep my soul safe.”
“O-Of course. I’m not sure you need to be making such a serious expression for a regular date, but understood, master.”
Hajime wiped some sweat off his brow, then urged Shea and the others to purchase their tickets as well.
Upon seeing how casually Hajime was interacting with the girls, the men, and some of the women, started to glare at him with extreme envy evident in their eyes.
Not wanting to start a scene, Hajime hurriedly ushered everyone into the station once they’d bought their tickets. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Yue and the others being surprised by the automatic gates, though.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
Everyone enjoyed the scenery as it rolled by while they rode the train into the heart of the city.
When Tio looked at the map of the underground rails and how they connected to the aboveground trains, as well as the directory that showed the layout of the massive underground station, she exclaimed, “This place is even more labyrinthine than the labyrinths!”
Meanwhile, Yue looked on as people used Suica cards or smartphone apps to pass through the ticket barriers, then looked down at her own ticket and muttered, “Tch, so it’s too soon to think I’ve mastered the train station, huh?” with a pained look on her face.
Shea’s eyes sparkled as she spotted the vending machines on every corner, and she said, “I can’t believe you can get water, or any drink you might want, anywhere you go. There’s no place like this in the forest, or even in all of Tortus!”
To Yue and the others, Earth was just as strange and fascinating as Tortus had been for Hajime and his classmates. But while Myu was also looking around excitedly, Remia seemed a bit overwhelmed by just how sprawling the whole place was. Unlike Yue and the others, she hadn’t set foot in any of the labyrinths, so she was completely unprepared for anything of this scale. She tightly clutched the hem of Hajime’s suit jacket but then changed her mind and instead entwined her hand around Hajime’s, blushing slightly.
Everyone’s reactions were unbelievably cute, and tons of people turned to stare at them, not paying attention to where they were walking, resulting in many onlookers smacking right into pillars or walls.
“Man, I can at least respect the people who try to hit on Yue and the others, but I’m gonna have to do something to stop all those people sneaking pictures of everyone. Maybe I’ll design an anticamera Artifact...” Hajime muttered as they walked into a nearby clothes store.
After getting off at the station, they’d gone to the city’s biggest shopping mall. Everywhere they’d walked, they’d attracted a ton of attention, so Hajime found himself having to constantly glare at people to deter them from sneaking pictures of the girls.
“Hajime. Hajime. How does this look?” Yue asked as she threw open the curtains of the changing room she was in and showed Hajime the sleeveless sweater and long skirt she’d just tried on. The combination was quite powerful, but then she did a little twirl and looked expectantly up at Hajime, which slayed him on the spot.
“Too cute...” one of the female store clerks muttered, overcome by Yue’s godlike cuteness.
“You look great, Yue. Long skirts really do suit you. You already bought some pants at the last shop we visited, so you should definitely get a skirt here,” Hajime replied.
“Really? Do you prefer skirts, Hajime?”
“Yeah, I like them. But frankly, I like anything you wear, Yue.”
“Oh, Hajime...”
“So moe...” the same store clerk muttered, her voice fading as she struggled to remain conscious. Surprisingly, she was able to maintain her business smile even though she was blushing profusely and barely able to stay standing. But then, she suddenly got hit by another cuteness bomb.
“Hajime-saaan! How do I look? I went for a less revealing outfit this time!” Shea said, also pulling her curtains back.
“Hmm, I simply can’t get used to Western attire. I feel like I look like a fool in this,” Tio said with a frown.
Yue and the others were hogging all the changing rooms, but neither the store clerks nor the other customers seemed to mind. In fact, they seemed to be enjoying the impromptu fashion show they were getting. They stared with rapt attention as the girls tried on different outfits.
Shea was now wearing tight jeans that did indeed cover up more of her skin than her usual outfits, but at the same time, they accentuated her slender legs and extremely tight ass perfectly.
Meanwhile, Tio had put on some loose, flowing pants combined with a shirt that revealed a bit of cleavage and a cardigan that went on top of that.
Everyone’s gazes were naturally drawn to her breasts.
“Wooooooooow!” the store clerks and customers exclaimed.
“Great gods above and below, thank you for granting me this blessing today,” someone muttered.
Some people had even gathered outside and were staring through the windows. At this point, the store clerks had stopped trying to act professional and were openly ogling Yue and the others.
“I don’t really want other people seeing you in revealing outfits anyway, Shea, so I think this is pretty good. Though, I have no intention of trying to control what you wear. Still, if you like it, you should definitely buy it. You look great!”
“R-Really? Hee hee hee, if you like it, then I guess I better buy it, Hajime-san. He he he he...”
“Tio...you really would be the perfect woman if you could just keep your mouth shut. A stylish outfit like that really accentuates your looks. It’s great.”
“Must you put a barb in every compliment you give? But still, the perfect woman, you say? Fu fu fu... And this accentuates my looks? I see. In that case, I suppose I’ll buy these clothes.”
Naturally, the onlookers were shocked to see that these three jaw-dropping beauties seemed to be all over this young man who didn’t even appear to be in his twenties yet. The love in Yue’s and the others’ eyes was clear for all to see.
“D-Does that guy seriously have a harem of smoking hot babes?” one of the onlookers muttered. As unbelievable as it was, that was the only explanation that made any sense.
What exactly is that guy’s relationship with those three women?!
“Daddy, we’re back!” Myu said, running through the crowd and hugging Hajime.
“Daddy?!” the onlookers screamed in unison, their eyes nearly popping out of their skulls.
Considering the young man’s apparent age, it made no sense for him to have a kid already.
“Welcome back, Myu, Remia. Well, I was keeping an eye on you the whole time, so it’s not like you were gone from my perspective.”
“Thank you for that, dear,” Remia replied with a smile.
“She’s part of his harem too?!” the onlookers exclaimed. The crowd was big enough now that people were coming just to see what everyone was getting so excited about, making the group even larger.
Also, while Remia and Myu had gone over to the kids section to pick out clothes for Myu, Hajime had sent one of his Arachne golems with them so that he could see what they were doing and communicate telepathically with them. So honestly, it was like he’d been with them as well.
“Good job paying for everything without my help.”
“I’ve been studying how to use this nation’s currency,” Remia said with a proud smile.
“You panicked pretty hard when someone asked if you and Myu wanted to be models for the store, though,” Hajime said with a playful grin.
Remia blushed and replied, “Y-You don’t have to bring that up! It was so mean of you not to help!”
She lightly punched him on the shoulder.
“Hajime, stop flirting with Remia and ignoring us,” Yue said, pouting.
“Hang on, is it just me or is there a huge crowd now?” Shea asked, glancing over at the onlookers.
“This is...our fault, isn’t it?” Tio muttered. The three of them had changed back into their normal clothes and left the changing rooms. Hajime took all of the clothes from them that they wanted to buy and shrugged as he looked around.
“It’s because you’re all so pretty. Plus, you were basically doing a fashion show by trying on all those different outfits, so of course we attracted attention.”
Hajime scared away people trying to sneak pictures of Yue and the others, or those who tried to hit on them, but he had no desire to intimidate innocent onlookers who just wanted to watch. After all, he needed to return to being a regular Japanese citizen and not the evil Demon Lord he was back in Tortus.
“I’d like to buy all of these, please,” Hajime said, walking up to one of the registers.
“O-Of course... Incidentally, our store is looking for models to—”
“Just ring me up, please,” Hajime said with a business smile.
“Oh, my apologies.”
Seeing how easily he cowed the clerk, the onlookers started to realize Hajime wasn’t just some ordinary guy.
“H-He’s so cool... Just who is he?”
“There are a bunch of people who tried to scout those girls and he sent them all away. Is he the son of some rich CEO or something? He seems so used to this.”
“Nah, just look at how he carries himself. He’s probably the son of a yakuza boss or something. I thought I was gonna die when he glared at me earlier.”
“You really think he’s yakuza?”
“Shit, man, if he is, there’s no way I’m gonna risk hitting on a yakuza member’s girlfriend.”
In truth, Hajime was far more dangerous than a regular old yakuza boss. It seemed that his aura helped keep people at bay. He might have reverted to his old appearance, but he still couldn’t change how he carried himself so easily.
Hajime himself was disappointed that he couldn’t become perfectly normal yet, but a good number of the women watching found his deadly aura quite alluring. It helped that his expression became unbelievably gentle whenever he was hugging his daughter or looking at Yue and the others. He had both an intimidating presence and a fountain of boundless love. As a result, the men found him dangerous, and the women found him charming.
“Mrr, I can tell some women are batting their eyelids at you, Hajime-san,” Shea said, frowning.
“He he, it appears we need to be on the lookout for vultures just as much as master is,” Tio said with a chuckle.
“Hmph, it’s only natural that my husband charms everyone he meets,” Yue said, puffing her chest out proudly.
“Daddy’s popular?” Myu asked, looking up at Remia.
“Ufu fu, he certainly is. It’s because he looks so cool. You think he looks cool too, right, Myu?”
“Yeah!” Myu said happily.
Some of the girls who overheard their conversation blushed a little.
“Well, it’s past noon now, so we should get some lunch and then get back to shopping. Let’s get out of here before—”
Yue grabbed Hajime’s sleeve and tugged on it, interrupting him.
“There’s somewhere important we need to go first.”
“Hm? Is there something you want to check out? If you’d told me, I would have taken you there first,” Hajime responded, cocking his head.
Shea wagged a finger at Hajime and said, “He he he, that would ruin the surprise. You see, this is our present to you, Hajime-san.”
“Hm, what are you talking about?”
“Underwear, of course,” Tio said.
“Didn’t you guys buy some earlier?”
“We did, but you didn’t pick those out for us. In fact, you refused to set foot in the store.”
“I mean, the other women in there would feel uncomfortable if a dude like me went in. Besides, that let you guys practice paying for stuff.”
“Yes, and we appreciate the lesson. However, dear...” Not caring if others overheard, Remia boldly said, “We haven’t bought any sexy underwear yet.”
“Excuse me?” one of the spectators said, and everyone turned to stare at Hajime.
“Mother did say that every good wife should have a few pairs of sexy underwear to please her husband!” Yue said.
“I really did not want to know mom said that.”
“We already have plenty of pairs from Tort—Ahem, I mean from our overseas vacation, but when we told mother that, she said that wasn’t good enough, and honestly, we agreed.”
“I’m not even sure how to respond to that.”
His mother told them to buy sexy underwear?! What the hell is wrong with that boy’s family?! the onlookers thought, aghast.
“Would you rather we didn’t get any, Hajime?” Yue asked, looking pleadingly up at him.
Hajime immediately replied, “No, I’d love it if you got some,” with a straight face.
The other guys watching muttered, “Yeah, I’d say the same,” but the women gave him cold looks.
Of course, Yue and the others were more than happy to oblige.
“Good...because I’ve already looked up which store has the best reviews. Let’s go.”
“Hold up. Myu’s still too young to go into a store like that. I’ll wait outside with her, so—”
“Oh, come on. There’s no point if you don’t choose, Hajime-san!” Shea said.
“It’ll be good for Myu’s education to learn these things now,” Tio said.
“Tio, shut up! Stop trying to corrup—”
“I wanna learn!” Myu shouted.
“Myu?!”
“When I get older, you’ll need to buy underwear for me too, right?”
“Hey, do something before they corrupt your daughter,” Hajime said, glaring at Remia. However, Yue and Shea grabbed onto both of his arms and steered him away.
“Come on, Hajime, let’s go.”
“Make sure you pick out some good ones for us!”
Both of them were smiling brightly at him. They had zero intention of letting him escape this time. This was, in fact, the main reason they’d come shopping today. Hajime looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh.
“Haaah, fine, fine. Honestly, I’m kind of happy that you want me to pick them out so badly.”
“It’s important to be true to your desires!” Tio said happily.
“Yeah! Be true to your desires!” Myu repeated.
“My, my... Ufu fu.”
Shea and Yue marched Hajime out of the store with Tio, Remia, and Myu following behind them.
The crowd parted before them like the Red Sea. No one wanted to say anything to them because of how determined the girls looked. They watched, dumbfounded, as the girls took Hajime to an adult underwear shop.
“Thank you very much! Please come back again! Also, we still have those fall outfits the girls bought in stock, so if anyone else is interested, please check them out!” the store clerk said, returning the crowd to their senses. It was honestly impressive how she managed to stay professional despite what everyone had just seen. For days afterward, rumors spread about the group of mysterious beauties who’d come to visit this clothing store.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
The sun had long since set by the time Hajime and the others got off the train station closest to home.
Myu had exhausted herself completely and fallen asleep in Hajime’s arms the moment they got on the train. Yue and the others looked quite tired as well. While they’d done far harsher traveling during their time in Tortus, everything they’d seen today had been completely new to them, which had been mentally taxing.
“Hajime, thanks for showing us around today,” Yue said, turning to look up at Hajime.
“You’re welcome. Did you all have fun?”
“Of course!” Shea exclaimed. “I hope Kaori-san can come with us next time.”
“I’m sure Lily is also looking forward to the day she can finally visit Earth. I would love to take her to that giant building shaped like a tree. Seeing skyscrapers spread out in every direction for as far as the eye can see from up on the observation deck up there was truly mesmerizing,” Tio said.
“This world really is full of surprises. Ufu fu, I was excited about every new thing we saw,” Remia said with a smile.
After buying clothes, Hajime had taken everyone to the food court so that they could sample the various cuisine options of Japan, after which they’d spent some more time touring the shopping mall.
During lunch, he’d modified everyone’s Artifacts to increase their perception-altering powers, but even then when Yue and the others had started trying on makeup at the beauty store, they’d once again started attracting attention.
They’d all been impressed by the various home appliances they saw in the hardware stores, as well as the elevators and escalators.
Hajime had also taken them to an accessory shop with the intention of buying one bauble for each of them to commemorate their first date, but they’d all turned to him and given him a confused look. It seemed they’d all assumed that since Hajime could just make trinkets like that for them, there was no need to buy any, which had immensely disappointed the store clerks.
Once they’d finished shopping, Hajime had taken them around to a few famous tourist spots, and then they’d eaten dinner at a proper restaurant.
“Mmm...we had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed exploring your world with you.”
“Glad to hear it.”
To Yue, the most important thing was that she’d been able to explore this place together with Hajime. Of course, the same held true for Shea and the others. They all nodded in agreement, huge smiles spreading across their faces.
“You really splurged for our sake, didn’t you, master?” Tio asked suddenly, prompting Hajime to turn to her in surprise.
She grinned at him, knowing she was right based on his reaction.
“It’s rude to point that out, Tio,” Hajime said sullenly.
“Forgive me, master, but before you were summoned to Tortus, you were a student, correct? Seeing as you didn’t borrow any money from mother or father, I assumed you must have spent a great deal of your savings on us today.”
Normally, Tio acted like a raging pervert, so it was easy to forget just how perceptive she was. She was, of course, completely right. Hajime had grown up spending time helping out at both his mother’s and father’s workplaces, so he’d earned a decent amount of money doing odd jobs. He also didn’t spend much outside of buying video games and books, so he had more savings than most kids his age. Still, just in case, Hajime had also polished some of the jewels he’d picked up in Tortus that also existed on Earth and sold them off to earn some extra cash. And it was a good thing he had, since he’d burned through almost his entire savings on today’s date.
“If you noticed, then how come you kept on asking for more stuff?” Hajime asked.
“Mmm...because you told us we could buy whatever we wanted, Hajime,” Yue said in a matter-of-fact tone. She then rested her head on Hajime’s shoulder. It seemed everyone had realized Hajime was pushing his finances, not just Tio. No wonder they all seemed extra grateful.
“Besides, you wouldn’t want us to hold back on your account, right?” Yue asked.
“Yeah, it just kind of sucks that you saw through me.”
Naturally, Shu and Sumire had offered to give Hajime a bit of extra allowance, but he’d refused. His pride hadn’t allowed it. As a man, he’d wanted to ensure all of his gifts came from his own hard-earned money.
“Not at all! We’re really happy!” Shea said.
“Truly, thank you very much, Hajime-san,” Remia said. The two of them also leaned against Hajime, making it rather difficult for him to keep walking. But he didn’t mind, so he simply smiled happily.
“Then why’d you have to point out that you noticed?” Hajime asked, turning to Tio. Knowing her, she probably had a good reason for it.
“Oh, there was just something I wanted to confirm.”
“What, that my bank account’s been sucked dry?” Hajime said in a teasing voice.
However, Tio turned to Hajime with a serious expression on her face and said, “Didn’t you say before that you’d sell all sorts of trinkets when you made it back to Earth and make a killing? You even mentioned how it would be a waste not to use your transmutation powers after returning home.”
“I’m impressed that you remembered that.”
Indeed, Hajime had made that joke once before when he’d been telling Tio and the others what he’d do when he got back to Earth.
“Knowing you, master, I’m sure you must have considered that option, especially now that you’re out of money.”
Tio gave Hajime a knowing smile, and he shook his head in amazement.
“You really can see right through me.”
Hajime did indeed want enough money to be independent just in case, and to ensure Yue and the others could live comfortably. He had, in fact, spent some time thinking about how he’d improve his finances while preparing the portal to take everyone back to Japan. He’d actually already consulted with his dad about how to go about starting a business and was laying the groundwork.
“So?” Hajime asked, prompting Tio to keep going.
“Yes, well, I was thinking that once you begin your new business, I would like to help out.” Yue, Shea, and Remia listened quietly as Tio looked up at the starry night sky and added, “You, Yue, and Shea will all be starting school again soon, won’t you? I have been wondering what I should do to fill the time while you’re gone.”
Hajime had, of course, told everyone they were free to do whatever they wanted. Tio and Remia could use metamorphosis magic to alter their appearance and go to school with everyone if they so desired, or they could go look for work, if that was what they wanted to do instead. Shu and Sumire had even offered to let them work at their workplaces or to help find them different jobs if that was what they were looking for.
Tio had considered her options over the past week, and this was what she’d decided she wanted to do.
“I wish to make an honest living in this world. I want to contribute to this society so that I can feel like I’m truly a part of it.”
After thinking about it, Tio had realized that this was what she truly wanted.
“I have yet to fully understand the way this world works, so I realize it may be premature for me to want to jump into working life. There’s much I’m sure I’ll need to learn, but we have the time. Besides, I want to use the knowledge I’ve accrued over the centuries to...” Tio trailed off, looking back down at Hajime. “To help you, master. We’re family, after all, right?”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login