After getting teleported outside the ruin, Saya and the other girls got bewildered for a moment.
“Huh? This place…”
“We’re outside the ruin.”
“So we were teleported here?”
Judging from the overgrown grass and the trees surrounding them, they came up to that conclusion since they recognized that place. Taking a look at her surroundings, Saya searched in her memories to find out their accurate location.
If I’m not wrong, we passed by this place a few minutes before we arrived at the ruin.
“Hey, look.”
Karen pointed at the quaking ruin; half of it had already been collapsed, if anyone was still there, it was no longer possible for them to come out of it alive. Shifting her gaze to the ruin, Saya finally remembered Yato’s last word before they got teleported outside.
“I’m going to send you outside the ruin first.”
He was still inside the ruin.
“Yato-kun…”
Saya mumbled with a mourning face as she gazed at the collapsing ruin. She knew that he had a plan before he decided to stay inside, but despite that, she couldn’t stop worrying about him. Lina who noticed Saya’s state, cheered her up with a few words.
“He will be alright.”
“Lina-chan…”
“I doubt that a mere earthquake would be enough to finish him.”
“I know right.”
“There’s no possible way for a cheat guy like him to die from just that.”
Following Lina, Karen and Sara also tried cheering up Saya. After all, the three of them all believed in Yato. Saya nodded after listening to their encouraging words.
“… You’re right.”
Worrying about him at this point would only result in unnecessary stress. If it’s about him, then he should be okay. With that single belief in her heart, Saya waited for Yato to return. A few minutes after their teleportation, the ruin crumbled to a degree that it barely kept its original form and Yato still hasn’t returned.
He should be fine, right?
Saya’s strong faith in Yato’s wellbeing was gradually turning into uneasiness as the ruin continued to fall apart.
There’s no way something would happen to him, right?
Placing her hand on her chest, Saya was almost swept over by unease. At that moment, Yato appeared from a different direction.
“Phew, that was close.”
Seeing him walking over to their place while wiping off sand from his hair, Saya raised a voice of delight.
“Yato-kun! I’m glad you’re unharmed!!”
“It was a close call this time.”
Yato replied with a gentle smile.
“What were you doing inside all this time? Kamiya Yato.”
“Hm? Ah, yeah, just a little something.”
Answering Lina’s question ambiguously, he showed her the thing he was holding in his hand. It was fist-sized crystal, gleaming in purple.
“What is that?”
Yato flaunted that crystal by raising his hand then gave a brief answer to the girls who were gazing at it with great interest.
“This is, Meru.”
“Eh? Meru-chan?”
“To be more accurate, this is Meru’s substance of origin. It’s here where I can replenish her magic.”
“Then that means, Meru-chan is…”
“She’s right here.”
Yato used his free hand to take out his phone from his pocket and showed them the screen where Meru was standing actively with a bright smile in her face.
“Everyone, I am glad that you are okay, Desu!”
“Eh? Yeah, um…”
Not only Saya but even the other three were taken aback after noticing Meru’s evident change of behavior. Until now, she used to be an expressionless AI. Her eyes were lacking life and her voice had a stable and low intonation. However now, she looked like a normal and adorable little girl. Her eyes had sparkles which showed her happiness and she was brimming with health. The fact that something happened to her was unquestionable.
“Hey, is this really the AI we knew in the ruin?”
“Well, she is supposed to be…”
It seemed that even Yato was somewhat confused.
“According to her story, she had to lock a few of her functions to save the small amount of Magic she obtained from Metron, so this is her true form now.”
“Is that so?”
But still, is it possible for anyone to change this fast?
Aside from Yato and Meru, everyone in that place wondered on their own. They all felt as if she was replaced with another personality while keeping the same appearance.
“Because of what happened to the ruin, Metron would probably think that Meru is now dead.”
“You don’t have to bring that person’s name, Desu.”
When Yato casually expressed his guess, Meru adorably puffed her cheeks, revealing her discontent. It looks like speaking of Metron’s name in her presence had turned into a taboo. It was a natural reaction coming from her as she was treated like a traitor by someone who assumed her death couple of years ago.
“My master now is Yato-sama, Desu!”
Meru instantly shifted from her displeased expression to a broad and dazzling smile as she declared. Getting angry before smiling again; everyone in that place smiled gently to Meru who became more cheerful than before.
“Right? master~”
“Ah, yeah, that’s right…”
When Meru addressed Yato, he gave back an ambiguous answer. The gaze she was giving him was passionate despite being inside a screen, making Yato to awkwardly look in a different direction. It wasn’t only Yato who sensed the emotions in her gaze. Everyone in that place could tell that type of gaze wasn’t coming from submission or trust; it was the type of gaze which a young girl in love would make. The girls sensed something eccentric in the mood surrounding Meru and Yato so Lina took the initiative by expression her doubt.
“Hey, it looks like Meru is quite interested in you. Did something perhaps happen?”
Yato reacted to Lina’s question by stiffening in his place while prevaricating his words, but shortly after, Meru answered in his place.
“W-Well, uuh…”
“He confessed to me, Desu.”
“”””Eh!?””””
Meru’s brief answer had an enormous impact. Yato’s face turned pale and everyone else directed a gaze of disdain at him. While Yato was trying to avert his eyes, Meru was covering her face which turned bright red while loosely bending her body back and forth. It was impossible for him to make an excuse at this point.
“Y-Yato-kun…”
“Uwa~…”
“Y-You…”
“J-Just how could you…”
“No, wait, you’re reaching the wrong conclusion. I’m not into anything like that. Meru is just misunderstanding things.”
Yato was desperately trying to vindicate the situation, but the scornful glares directed to him did not change. Even worse, Meru aggravated the situation by her next words.
“At that time, master told me ‘I want you to be mine, Meru!’ I did not understand what he meant by that first, however now, I am sure that I will never forget those words in my entire life, Desu.”
“Yato-kun, did you really say that…”
“Pervert.”
“How could you do something like that…”
Well, I admit that I choose a misleading phrase at that time.
Yato was aware of what he has done. Anyone would misunderstand the situation if they were told “I want you to be mine” and currently, he is receiving the natural outcome of his statement while regretting it.
“I didn’t mean it that way, you see…”
“How dare you!!”
When he was about to make his second attempt to explain, Lina snapped from indignation and seized him from his collar.
“How dare you seduce an innocent little girl!!”
“Wait! Wait! I told you, that wasn’t my intention!! Listen to me at least!”
While Lina shaked him back and forth from his collar, Yato, in hot haste, tried to calm her down.
“Not only that, Desu. He even did all those things…”
Meru who was hiding her blushing face added the final blow. Although she was just muttering to herself, the volume of the phone made her voice audible to everyone in that place, enlarging the misunderstanding.
“Those things?!”
“C-Could that be…”
“… Criminal.”
Hearing Meru’s mutter, Saya’s face turned crimson red while Sara and Karen who guessed what she meant winced.
“You bastard! You did not only seduce her, but you even committed a crime!?”
“No! Idiot!! Do you think I had the time to do something like that in the first place!!? Rather, how could that even happen to an AI!?”
Like Yato said, he can’t even physically touch an AI, and that should have been obvious to anyone if they think about it a little. People lose their coolness when they get confused and they become unable to think properly.
Ah, I wonder how long will it take for this situation to resolve itself…
As Meru and the four girls were still making an uproar, Yato raised his head to look at the sky and fell in thoughts.
This place is in a total chaos, but why is the sky so blue?
Right before he was about escape from reality, Yato came back to his sense and went back to desperately work on calming them down, although none of them listened to his excuses.
——————————————————————————–
“…… And that’s how it is.”
After everyone retrieved their composure, I was finally able to explain the situation correctly.
“So that how it is.”
“Too misleading.”
“Don’t give us the false alarm again.”
“Yeah, you could have said that in the beginning.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Just how many times did I try to tell them the truth? It’s because of you getting confused about the tiniest details that I couldn’t explain everything in the beginning. They’re making it sound as if it was my fault. Anyway, after I had finally solved the misunderstanding and took a deep breath, Sara had suddenly changed the topic.
“Well then, I will be leaving now.”
She didn’t have any reason to stay with us. However it felt somewhat sad to see her go.
“You’re already going?”
“Well, I have nothing left to do here and I must go report what happened to Metron-sama.”
“Speaking of Metron, I already talked to him about you.”
He is probably having the type of wild delusion he read in doujins about both Sara and Lina now. I doubt he will treat her flatly when she comes back.
“Come to think of it, what did you tell him?”
“You will find out once when your back. Just look forward to it.”
Sara gave me a doubting gaze when I evaded her question with a smile, though she eventually gave up.
“Well, that’s fine. I believe in you.”
Leaving those words behind her, Sara walked a few steps away before her body started to suddenly shine. When the light disappeared, Sara had already transformed into her angel form.
“You’re permitted to use【Angel Transformation】?”
“Only when I’m returning back.”
My eyes were glaring at Sara. Her hair grew longer and her eye’s color turned to golden yellow. Extending her wings while taking a flight posture, she turned only her head back and spoke.
“Come to think of it, Lina.”
“What is it?”
“I take back what I said earlier. It was my bad… ridiculing your friends.”
Sara earnestly apologized to Lina while seeming a little bit embarrassed. Her voice gradually lowered until it turned into a whisper in her last words. She was probably looking for the right timing to say it.
“Don’t worry about it. Take care.”
Lina replied to her with a gentle smile. Lured by that smile, Sara chuckled and turned to look at me. It looks like she still had something to tell me before leaving for once.
“Also, you!”
“Hm, me?”
“I couldn’t say this because of the many things that happened, but thanks for saving me at that time. Let’s say that I owe you one; that way I’d feel better.”
She was referring to the time when I saved her from the normal golem’s punch. Her unyielding character makes her honest sometimes I see. Well, in any case, I had to give her back a frank response since she was being honest with me too.
“Yeah, I will have you help me out with something someday.”
“You can leave it to me.”
This time, making sure she didn’t forget to say anything else, Sara used her wings to fly high in the sky.
“Later then.”
“Take care.”
“Bye bye!”
Sara flew until she disappeared into the vast sky, leaving Karen and Saya waving their hands while seeing her off.
So she has left, huh. Now what?
Now that things have settled down, we started walking back to the beach.
“What are we going to do now?”
“Since we’re still on the island, let’s swim.”
“Good idea. I still didn’t swim yet.”
“I agree.”
“In that case, I know of a good place, Desu.”
Suddenly, Meru entered the conversation. The weather was still clear and it was still a bit too early to go back despite all the troubles we went through. It would have been a shame if we didn’t enjoy the remaining of the day.
“Alright then, let’s do that.”
Thus we followed Meru’s guidance to her suggested place. It was a long day, but our summer vacation had yet to start.
—————————————————————————————
Bonus
Succeeding misunderstandings
“I’m back.”
“Welcome back, Sara. Aren’t you tired? Do you want to drink so tea?”
“N-No, I’m fine. More importantly, about the task you gave me.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay! Let’s not talk about the past now, shall we? What happened cannot be undone after all. Cheer up. There’s no one in this world who never committed a sin in their lives.”
“Y-Yes…”
Why is he treating me like this?
“A-Ah, speaking of tasks, maybe you should take few days off. It should serve you to rest and get better.”
“T-That would a bit too much…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay! Your body and health is the most important thing. You should take some rest.”
Just what did Kamiya Yato tell him? ⇐ Sara
Hopefully she could take back her vigor in the future. ⇐ Metron
