Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Makoto Takatsuki Reunites with His Goddess

“You’ve returned, Makoto.”

The goddess favored me with a loving smile. She glowed with divine light.

“It’s been a while, Noah,” I said with a quiet bow. I glanced up at her. Her clothes were covered in gems of every color of the rainbow. There were way too many. Every time she moved, I could hear the jangle of metal on metal.

Yeah... Nouveau riche for goddesses... I thought.

“I can hear you, Makoto,” she told me with a sidelong look.

She was reading my mind like it was nothing again. I might as well have said that out loud.

“Well, with how beautiful you are, you don’t need the gems,” I said.

“Hmm, is that so? Not bad,” she said with a somewhat pleased look. “Right, here you go, then.”

She snapped her fingers.

“Ahh!”

A huge amount of something started raining down on me. Wait, were they the gems and jewelry?

Noah now looked the same as she usually did, and there was a pile of her accessories strewn all around me. Wait, she was giving them all to me?

“Um... Your believers gave you these, right? Are you sure?” I asked.

“It’s fiiine. After all, as my apostle, you’re my proxy. Everything that’s mine is my apostle’s, and my apostle’s words are my words.”

“An apostle’s that big a deal?!”

I’d always been her only believer, so I’d never realized.

“Yup. If you told one of my female believers to come to your room tonight, they’d do it. They’ll do anything you say. Want to try it?”

“No!”

That was scary. Also, Lucy and Sasa would kill me if I did that.

“Well, whatever.” With that, Noah darted closer. “I’m glad you’re back. I’ve got so many believers, and it’s all thanks to you!”

“R-Right. I’m glad you’re happy.”

I felt kinda nervous—it was the first time we’d met in three years.

“And you’ve been all over the place, even though you only just woke up.”

“Eh, it’s been ages since I’ve seen everyone,” I said. “It was a lot of effort, but it was fun.”

“Well done. You should take more care of yourself, though.”

Her voice was soft and loving. Hearing her speak like that made all of my nerves drain away.

“So, by the way... Am I...your apostle...your believer again?” I asked.

Noah blinked at me, and then immediately burst out laughing. “You’re such a worrywart!” She pointed at a sheet of paper.

That was my Soul Book. When’d she get it?

“Goddess Noah’s Apostle,” I read. I heaved a sigh of relief. I’m her believer again. Though I’m not her only one like before, I’m still one of them.

That made me remember Princess Sophia talking to me earlier.

“Oh right, you haven’t chosen a hero or priestess?” I asked.

She was the eighth goddess of the religion—one of the official goddesses of the continent. Surely she should be appointing a priestess to unify her believers and a hero to protect them from their enemies.

“Hmm, I’ll do it eventually,” she said disinterestedly.

“Are you sure? We’re on the verge of the final battle against Iblis. If your hero fights...”

“It’s fine. After all, I have you.”

I fell silent. It was kinda embarrassing that she had so much faith in me.

“Can I be Roses’s State-Authorized Hero again? If you need more believers, then I’ll do anything I can...”

Heroes and priestesses were charged with spreading their goddess’s faith. If our faith didn’t have either of them, I’d have to pick up the slack.

“I hate micromanaging. Don’t sweat the details and just do what you like,” she replied.

“Right.”

That was Noah all right. It was like I’d never left. She was always so laissez-faire with pretty much everything.

“More importantly,” she carried on, her voice getting more serious, “you shouldn’t focus entirely on Iblis. The mortal races in this period aren’t a monolith.”

I didn’t reply immediately. “What do you mean?” I finally asked after trying to figure it out for myself.

We were all allied and about to challenge Iblis together. And despite that...we weren’t all together as a monolith?

Noah smiled meaningfully, probably in answer to my thoughts. “There is no end to mortal greed...” she murmured.

“Greed?”

“The mortals have a plan—they’ll decide who will be the next leader of the continent based on which country contributes the most against Iblis.”

“Highland’s the leader of the continent, right?”

“And that’s started to chaaaange,” she trilled. She launched into an explanation.

There were three main reasons that Highland’s influence was dropping. The first went without saying—their defeat against Iblis. The second was that Queen Noelle was abolishing slavery and the strict hierarchy that they’d had. She’d taken a position against it, and her policies since her coronation had been focused in that direction. The nobility and church were fundamentally opposed to that system changing, so there was some internal instability within the country.

“And the third is other countries rising,” Noah said, flicking a third finger up.

“Other countries...like Great Keith?”

They were a militaristic nation and the second most powerful on the continent. I guessed they’d gotten stronger than I remembered? Apparently, my assumption was wrong though, because Noah grinned.

“Bzzzt, nope! The correct answer was Laphroaig and Roses.”

“Wha?” I managed after a long pause. Those were the last two names I’d expected to come out of her mouth. Laphroaig had only existed as a country for a year, and even I knew Roses was weak.

“Whatever else you can say about Laphroaig, Furiae’s working hard at it. A lot of the cambions that were hiding throughout the other countries have gone to help her as well.”

Now that it had been officially recognized as a country, it’d gathered a pretty large population, it seemed. I guess it’d count as a rapid expansion of manpower.

“On top of that, Saint Furiae and the Hero of Light working together to defeat Forneus has made a big difference. It’s given the country a real voice.”

“Huh...”

Right, they’d said Forneus had attacked Laphroaig, hadn’t they? I could understand how beating him so soundly would increase their status.

“But what about Roses?” I asked. “It’s got a small territory, a weak army, and not much in the way of resources either, right?” On top of that, its goddess—Eir—hated fighting.

“Firstly, Springrogue said they’d follow Roses’s policies. The reason for that...well, it has to do with you. Can you guess?”

If it had to do with me...

“The stuff with Bifrons?” It’d been me that had stopped Bifrons’s resurrection in what had previously been the Forest of Fiends.

But that on its own was enough?

“It looks like the Forest of Fiends going away was a big part of it. The elders felt an obligation and wanted to reward the State-Authorized Hero of Roses.”

I had no words. This had all blown up way more than I’d realized.

“Great Keith’s position has dropped a bit as well. That’s because of you too.”

“What happened there?” I’d stopped the comet from hitting the country, but my name hadn’t been connected to that publicly.

“After demolishing their tournament, Aya went back to being an adventurer of Roses. She didn’t renew her position as State-Authorized Hero of Great Keith.”

“Sasa resigned from being a hero?”

Right, she hadn’t mentioned any hero stuff. She’d been busy enough as an orichalcum rank adventurer.

“Great Keith’s strongest fighter effectively defected to Roses, so they lost a lot of face.”

“That’s scary.”

We might’ve made some enemies...

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Noah clarified. “The general seems to admire you a fair amount.”

“He...does?”

General Talisker, the leader of their army, had been at the party yesterday. Apparently the joke about canceling all of his appointments to come see me hadn’t actually been a joke. He’d asked really in-depth questions about what’d happened in the past, and he hadn’t been unfriendly at all. I hadn’t thought I’d scored that many points with him.

“Everyone wants a piece of you,” Noah cheered, teasing me. “You’re making me so prooouuud!”

You’re gonna make me blush.

Either way, now I knew what had been going on in the present.

The two of us kept talking for a while. It’d been so long since we’d spoken, and there was so much to talk about.

I told her about my concerns back in the past, and we talked about Demon Lord Cain, the Black Knight. I mentioned how we tried to beat the Seafloor Temple together, and about fighting the other demon lords and Iblis.

Noah listened to it all with a smile on her face.

Suddenly, I remembered something.

“Oh, speaking of all that.”

“What is it?” Noah asked.

“Do you know who Nevia reincarnated into in the present?”

She hummed, putting a finger to her cheek in thought as she tilted her head. Ira had told me she didn’t know. But maybe Noah...

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, okay then...”

Well, that was that, then. I’d just have to keep looking. Was she really one of the people I’d already met? Maybe that was actually a trap, and it was someone I’d never even seen before.

As I worried about it, my surroundings started to warp. I was going to be waking up soon.

“Oh, right,” Noah said casually. “Even if the whole world becomes your enemy...I will be your ally, okay?”

“Huh?”

That had come out of nowhere. It was a weird thing to say. I’d been the one believer of a goddess who’d been originally treated as a wicked deity. Now, though, she was an official goddess in the continent’s pantheon, and she had a huge number of followers.

I had other people I could rely on too—Lucy, Sasa, Princess Sophia, and the Grandsage. Did it make sense for me to lose all of them as allies?

“What do you mean?” I asked eventually.

Noah just laughed weakly. “Essentially, that no matter what happens, you can talk to me. You believe in me, right?”

“Of course,” I answered immediately. Her guidance and the elemental magic skill she’d given me had brought me this far.

“If you’re really in trouble, count on me. I’m the one who’s guided you so far, right? You should be relying on me, not Ira!”

With that, she vanished. I didn’t even have time to reply. My vision went white, and I realized I’d woken up.

What was that last thing supposed to be about? I needed to rely on Noah, not Ira?

Maybe I haven’t been showing her enough faith?

If that was the case, I’d have to pray to her more. Noah was the only goddess for me.

Still, that last bit of conversation had been weird.

“Even if the whole world becomes your enemy?”

Those words refused to leave my mind as my eyes opened.

◇

When I woke up, there was a big pile of precious gems next to my pillow. So she really did give them to me. Something was drawing more of my attention though.

“Mmmm... Sir Makoto...”

I felt a weight pressing on my body. There was a person on top of me. This person had white hair and wide red eyes—there was no way I’d mistake her for anyone else.

“Momo...what are you doing?” I asked.

“Good morning, Sir Makoto,” she answered with a grin.

She didn’t carry herself with any of the usual dignity she had as the Grandsage. Somehow or other, she’d crept into my bedroom. Well, I guess with Teleport, it’s not exactly hard. Waking up to find that she’d sneaked into my bed had been a common occurrence a thousand years ago.

There wasn’t really anything to worry about, so I put a hand down on the side of the bed to get up and wash.

Squish.

My hand landed on something soft...softer than I’d expected.

“Hm?”

“M-Makoto?”

I looked and found that my hand had fallen on Lucy’s chest. She had a slightly red face and an indescribable expression. Apparently, she’d crawled into my bed too.

She looked between Momo, who was on top of me, and my hand, which was on top of her breast. She was probably trying to decide which to comment on first. Eventually, she turned to Momo.

“Why are you here, Grandsage?”

“Hmph, you’re here too, red-haired mage.”

Lucy and Momo exchanged inscrutable looks. Regardless of anything else, there were too many people in this bed—it definitely wasn’t built for three.

“You two, would you get outta—”

“Morning, Takatsuki! I made break...fast...” Sasa’s eyes went wide. “Hey! Lu! What are you doing?! And you too, Grandsage?!”

Sasa had come into the room wearing an apron—she dragged the other two out of the bed as soon as she spotted them. It’s been too long. We all had breakfast together, then someone from the Soleil Knights came to collect Momo. She’d dipped out of some important meeting, apparently.

“Grandsage! Please return to the castle!”

“No! I will remain here!”

“You cannot! Queen Noelle personally instructed that you are to attend!”

“No!!!”

The burly knights hoisted her up and dragged her out of the room. Momo could have teleported out if she really wanted to, so I guessed she was more or less willing to do her work. It was a shame we hadn’t gotten to talk much, since she’d gone out of her way to visit me.

I should drop by her place at some point.

“Hey...why is she so attached to you?” Lucy asked.

Sasa eyed me. “Did something happen between you two?”

“Well, in the past...we fought together a bit, I guess,” I answered.

“Reeeeally?”

“It doesn’t feel like ‘a bit.’”

The two of them looked far from convinced.

Momo and I had actually known each other for 1,003 years. A thousand of them had been spent asleep, though.

The two of them kept up their questioning as we finished our breakfast. We were having some postmeal tea when Lucy spoke up.

“Hey, Makoto, have you got any plans today?”

“Nope, none.”

“Then let’s go see Fuu!” Sasa exclaimed.

To Furiae, huh? I’d definitely like to say hi if we could see her. “That’s not going to be easy, is it?” I asked. “They kicked us out just yesterday. Plus, Princess is a queen now.” I remembered the man’s—Havel’s—face. It probably wouldn’t help if we just showed up again.

“Don’t worry, there’s more than one way to meet Fuuri!”

“Yup! We’re great friends!”

“Yeah.”

Lucy and Sasa apparently had a plan. I listened to the two of them explain it.

“We train together with her once every ten days in a public park in the ninth district,” Lucy said.

Sasa nodded. “Fuu spends the whole day sitting down now that she’s a queen.”

“And we told her she’d get fat if she kept it up.”

“She said it’d be depressing to do on her own.”

“Plus, she doesn’t have many friends.”

“She’ll have guards, but we know them so it’ll be fine.”

“Now’s the time we meet up, so let’s go!”

So that’s about the size of it. “I see.” It was a more casual strategy than I’d expected. Actually, I was thinking that Furiae had pretty much turned into a busy office worker by now.

“So the route there is—” I began, moving to check the map I had.

“What are you talking about?” Lucy asked. “We can just teleport straight there!”

“Uh, but we need to go through a checkpoint to—”

“It’ll be fine as long as we don’t get spotted. Off we go!”

With that distinctly Rosalie-esque statement, Lucy grabbed my arm. Sasa seemed familiar with how things went, and she was already holding Lucy’s hand.

“Let’s-a gooo!☆” she cheered.

“Yeah! Teleport!!!”

The next thing I knew, my vision blurred and went completely white.

◇

The scenery changed. There was a lot of greenery here, but it was too maintained to be a forest. We were in the middle of an urban area as well.

Is this the park they were talking about?

That was when I realized—

“Lucy? Sasa?”

—that I couldn’t see either of them.

Lucy doesn’t have great precision with her Teleport yet. Your arrival coordinates slipped a bit, Noah told me.

So Lucy messed up the spell... Her control had always been a bit rough.

Forget that, though. Look behind you.

Behind me? I did what she asked and turned around. A person with a familiar face and a familiar voice locked eyes with me.

“Huh?” she murmured.

She had long black hair that reached her waist, and her eyes were like black gems with flecks of purple. She had snow-white skin, and her features were stunning—she most definitely fit the self-proclaimed title of “most beautiful in the world.”

This was the queen of the revived country of Laphroaig—Furiae Naya Laphroaig.

Her eyes were wide as she looked at me. “Ah... My knight?” She looked like she’d just witnessed a ghost.

It’d been three years since I’d last seen her. She looked just as beautiful as ever, but her gaping mouth and round eyes made her look a little lost.

“Hey, it’s been a while,” I said, lifting a hand in greeting.

She flinched briefly, her eyes flicked around, and then...her face smoothed out into an expressionless mask.

“Princess?” I asked.

“Who precisely are you talking to?” Furiae demanded coldly, turning away.

Uh? This wasn’t quite how I’d expected this to go.

Oh my, she’s acting all cold to you now that she’s the queen of Laphroaig, I heard Noah tease me.

What was with her?

Well, she’s the leader of a country, isn’t she? Her position is far too different from a commoner like you.

Oh...I guess so. We’d traveled together, but now she’d become a queen, while I was just a former-hero commoner. There was a big gulf between us. Maybe there was nothing I could do.

“Well, I’m glad you’re doing good,” I told her. “See you.”

I’d done what I’d come here for—I’d been able to see her again. I was a little sad to be going, but it probably wasn’t the best idea to stick around too much longer.

I turned around and made to leave. Because I’d teleported here, I didn’t know where I actually was, so I would find a hotel or something first.

“Ah...no, wai...” I heard from behind me. I turned, and Furiae was holding out a hand toward me. I was pretty sure she was going to say “wait,” so I stopped walking.

We stared at each other. I had a questioning look on my face, but she didn’t say a word. Silence reigned.

“Wh-Why are you staring?! You pervert!”

Furiae moved to cover herself. What’s with her? I wasn’t sure how to react, but then I was suddenly engulfed in a looming shadow. I didn’t have a chance to figure out what was happening. Voices shouted from above me.

“Ahhh! Makoto, move!”

“Oh, Fuu!”

Lucy and Sasa fell from the sky and landed on me.

“Guh,” I grunted. “C’mon, Lucy.” I spat dirt from my mouth.

“S-Sorry!”

Apparently, she’d teleported here...right above me.

Loud voices swirled all around us.

“Lady Furiae, are you safe?!”

“Where did they come from?!”

“Arrest them!”

Judging from their stern shouts and general appearance, the people surrounding us were guards. I looked closer and saw Furiae’s aide, Havel.

“What are you doing?! Take them down!” he yelled.

“Yessir! Leave it to— Wait, are they...Lady Lucy and Lady Aya?”

“You want us...to take down Lady Lucy and Lady Aya?”

“No way, no how.”

“They’d take us down.”

“You got that right.”

So as soon as the mages acting as Furiae’s guards recognized Lucy and Sasa, they lost their nerve.

“Makoto Takatsuki! To think you would sneak past Lady Furiae’s guards just to see her... The punishment would normally be severe, but we shall let it pass just this time! Leave, now!” Havel demanded harshly.

He really wanted us gone. We met with the queen without permission—should he be letting us go? His behavior confused me, but it would be a pain if he decided to change his mind.

I was about to apologize and leave, but not everyone was so accepting.

Specifically, Lucy and Sasa lit up in protest.

“Come on, Fuuri! Makoto came to see you!”

“That’s right! You’ve missed him so much, haven’t you?!”

Furiae remained silent.

“Wait! Lady Furiae is tir—”

“Shut it, Havel! Unless you want to eat a Fireball!”

“I’ll beat the hell out of you!” Sasa added.

“Pardon me,” Havel replied after a long pause. He pulled back at their threats. Was he really one of the leaders of Laphroaig?

“Fuuri! Why won’t you say anything?!”

“What’s wrong?!”

Still, she said nothing.

“We’ll just cause trouble if we stay,” I said, trying to mediate.

Havel’s face smoothed out in relief. “Indeed. We have countless things to do in regards to the Third Northern Front Plan. We have no time to concern ourselves with a retiree! Go back to Roses and soak in their hot springs, you former hero!”

Despite how harsh the tone was, his suggestion was oddly kind. The plan he mentioned drew my attention, though. The Third Northern Front Plan, huh? I’d have to ask Princess Sophia or Sakurai for the details.

“Hmph! Makoto’ll be a State-Authorized Hero again soon!”

“That’s right! Then he’ll be a hero of Roses, so he’ll be involved!”

“What?!” Furiae demanded, breaking her silence. Her composed expression had broken apart into shock. I met her eyes.

“Princess?” I asked.

“N-No!” Her expression jolted again as she turned away. She murmured something to Havel, and he looked at me.

“Makoto Takatsuki...you are taking the position of State-Authorized Hero again?” His overbearing attitude had softened out of nowhere.

It wasn’t like I needed to answer him. I was considering it when Lucy and Sasa decided to answer for me.

“That’s right! Princess Sophia’s making the preparations now!”

“Takatsuki’s ready and raring to fight Iblis!”

Havel showed no real reaction to that. But behind him, Furiae was shaking.

“There you have it, Lady Furiae,” Havel said to her.

Furiae’s response was too quiet for me to hear.

“Makoto Takatsuki, your list of accomplishments is long. Among other things, you defeated the demon lord in Springrogue, assisted the Hero of Light against Zagan, and even fulfilled a duty from Goddess Althena herself. All of these have been great contributions to our cause. Why do you still wish to fight?”

It was a pretty long question from him.

“‘Why’ isn’t exactly...” I could hardly just say it was because there were still more demon lords. I would sound like an idiot.

But Sasa said it for me. “Well, there are more demon lords, so Takatsuki will face them!”

Stop it, Sasa, you’re gonna have them thinking I’m stupid. Lucy just nodded in agreement.

“There you have it, Lady Furiae.”

Furiae’s shoulders started to shake, and I heard the word idiot from her at least once. Surely it was getting pretty annoying for Havel to keep playing messenger for us.

“Perhaps you could speak to him yourself?” he suggested, apparently thinking the same thing.

That same expressive jolt made its way across her face as she turned to me. Her long hair fanned out with the movement.

“Makoto Takatsuki!” she proclaimed, glaring and pointing a finger at me.

“Y-Yes?” I asked, straightening instinctively.

“I will not accept this! In the name of the queen of Laphroaig, I will stop your return as a hero!”

“Huh?” What was that supposed to mean?

“Lady Furiae, interfering in the assignments between other countries is outside of your authority.”

“Be quiet, Havel! We’re leaving”

With that, she strode purposefully away.

What the hell was all that? Lucy, Sasa, and I all exchanged baffled looks.

“My apologies, Sir Makoto Takatsuki, Lady Lucy, Lady Aya.”

Havel’s earlier haughtiness vanished as he apologized—he ran after Furiae.

None of us had a clue what had happened, so we just headed back to the inn via Lucy’s teleport. We were going to have a discussion within the party about what had caused her to act like that.

Not long after, a red-winged bird flew through the window.

“To the two Crimson Fangs! Urgent request from the adventurer’s guild!”

The bird must’ve been enchanted or something, because it was speaking fluently. It held a small roll of paper in its talons.

With practiced movements, Sasa removed the letter and read it.

“Again?” Lucy complained. “I’ll pass.”

“We can’t, Lu. There’s a flock of wyverns attacking a village in Roses.”

“Ah, damn it! That’s one of the things we have to deal with! Let’s wrap it up before dinner!”

“Yup! See you later, Takatsuki!”

And with that, the two of them teleported away.

I would have wanted to go too...

I’d asked them about it, but apparently, Lucy wasn’t used to teleporting three people. That was what had caused the issue with teleporting to Furiae earlier. Lives were on the line here, so they couldn’t afford to be late. Hence, I was left inn-sitting.

I was all on my own in the room. I considered going to see Momo. Her estate was within the castle grounds, though. I probably couldn’t go there on my own. After all, I wasn’t a hero anymore.

A knock at the door drew me from my thoughts.

“Come in,” I answered.

“Oh, you’re on your own?” Princess Sophia asked. She stepped through the door with a surprised look at how empty the room was.

“Are you done with work for today?” I asked.

“No, I still have things to do, but I came to see you.”

“Are you resting properly?” I asked after a moment. She was a real workaholic.

“I’m fine. There are people who have it worse than me... Regardless, I’ve arranged an audience with Lady Noelle. Make sure you’re free tomorrow.”

“That was quick.”

“She wants to thank you as soon as she can. Goddess Althena forced you to go to the distant past completely alone, so she likely feels some responsibility for it. She put a lot of effort into making time for you.”

“Well, I’m back safe, so it’s not really a problem.”

The princess giggled. “I thought you’d say that, but Lady Noelle isn’t happy with leaving things as they are.”

“I see.” Noelle was really earnest about that sort of thing. It made sense, considering she was descended from Anna.

Princess Sophia and I spent some time after that discussing things. It sounded like the Third Northern Front Plan would be put into motion quickly. There was friction over who would take the lead on it, though. Relations between Highland and Laphroaig were particularly rough. That wasn’t a big surprise, considering how much Highland used to discriminate against cambions. Because of that, though, things had ground to a halt.

“There are people saying that whichever country is responsible for Iblis’s defeat will be the next leader of the continent. That would be fine, but there are also rumors of warfare to rule the continent as a whole. Lady Noelle and Furiae wouldn’t go to war, but...”

Her voice was low and miserable. People were saying that kind of thing? She had a lot of weight on her shoulders at the moment.

I told her about visiting Furiae. Obviously, she was taken aback at the issue with the teleport.

Also, apparently, Furiae was deeply in debt to Princess Sophia. Roses had been the country to provide the most help for Laphroaig’s rebuilding. She couldn’t understand why Furiae had been so cold to me.

After we’d been talking a while, she made to leave. “I will see you tomorrow, then.” She departed, rushing off, and I was on my own again.

I looked vacantly up at the ceiling, trying to puzzle out Furiae’s act. She didn’t want me to be a hero again for some reason. “What’s she thinking...?” I mused to the empty room as I lay back on the bed.

I wasn’t expecting a response, of course. The question should have just faded away into silence.

“Allow me to answer, Master of mine,” came a low, carrying voice.

I leaped out of the bed, frantically checking my surroundings. I couldn’t see anyone, though. “Who’s there?” I asked in a clipped tone, readying my dagger.

“For what reason are you so tense, Master?”

“Huh?”

Listening more closely, the voice was coming from near my feet. Two eyes shone from within the shadow my body cast on the floor. Then, a black creature bounded out of it. A familiar black cat.

“Wait... Twi?”

This was the cat that had become my familiar in Macallan. He’d always been friendlier with Furiae than with me, though.

“Indeed. To think I would be forgotten... How sad.” The cat let out a sigh and proceeded to groom his fur. I couldn’t manage a single word in response.

“What is wrong, Master? Incidentally, I am famished, so I request some fish.”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“Why are you suddenly talking like it’s nothing?!”

Apparently, the biggest change since I’d gone to the past...was him.