Chapter 23: The Charumera, an Indispensable Melody
In the hospital room, the three girls were eating the assorted fruit platter Kazuma had brought as a get-well gift. Not with single-minded focus, but while enjoying a lively conversation, they ate the apples and oranges Kazuma had cut.
“Come to think of it, I was a little worried, but is everyone okay?”
“About what?”
“You know, a lot happened this time, right? So, um… I was wondering if you’re all okay mentally.”
What Kazuma was worried about was their mental state. After all, they had fought to kill in the real world, so they had to be feeling at least some stress. Perhaps, though not visible on the surface, it might have actually become a trauma.
“Hmm… I don’t think there’s any problem at all, really.”
Kaede answered in her usual manner, as if to say nothing was wrong. Kazuma peered into Kaede’s eyes and understood that she was speaking from the heart.
“Seriously…?”
“Yeah. For me, at least.”
“Ah…”
Hearing that, Kazuma looked at Marin and Shion. The two of them were slightly frightened, but their eyes were looking straight at Kazuma.
“Well, it’d be a lie to say I’m not scared… but what I’m aiming for isn’t something you just get scared and run away from.”
“Me too. I want to be a courageous person who can clench down on their fear and take a step forward.”
Kazuma’s heart was shaken by their words. Their eyes were so clear, it was unimaginable from their earlier appearance. They truly didn’t look like the people he had just seen. What on earth had that been? Kazuma wondered if perhaps he had been daydreaming.
“Hahaha, you three are strong.”
“Probably, the other Combat Course students are the same.”
“I wonder about that. You won’t really know unless you actually go through the same experience.”
They were certainly strong. However, if asked whether their classmates were similarly strong, he wouldn’t know. Just as Kazuma said, it wouldn’t be clear unless they actually experienced the same thing.
Perhaps they might possess a spirit of steel like them, but if things went wrong, there was a risk that promising future National Defense Force soldiers could be crushed.
(I could do it in a snap, but it’d be really bad if I actually did, huh…)
If Kazuma got serious, he could probably recreate a situation not like this recent incident, but like the one with the Humanoid Ibinom. However, if he did something like that, it would undoubtedly guarantee trauma.
Still, if they could overcome it, even if not to Kazuma’s extent, they could probably become about as strong as veteran warriors.
If that happened, Japan would undoubtedly become the world’s strongest nation. Indeed, as long as Kazuma was alive, they would be unrivaled.
(Well, I’m not gonna do it, though.)
Kazuma, who had decided to live peacefully, wouldn’t do such a thing. He probably wouldn’t do it even if asked. Even if his true identity were exposed, he surely wouldn’t do it. He had fought in the other world to the point of getting sick of it, so he wasn’t seeking any more conflict.
“Kazuma, Kazuma.”
“Hm? What is it? What’s up?”
“Kazuma, give me your banana.”
Kazuma froze for a moment. His thought process halted at the sudden dirty joke, and he wondered if his ears had broken.
“My banana?”
“Hm? Just as I said.”
Stars spun above Kazuma’s head as he received a shock as if he’d been hit on the head with a hammer.
“Satsuki-cchi~. She probably means the banana you brought.”
“…Ah, that one! Right! Aha, ahahahaha!”
“Satsuki-kun, what were you imagining…?”
“……”
Kazuma, unable to say, “What else could it be but that thing?”, silently stared into the distance.
“Kazuma~?”
Kaede’s carefree voice echoed emptily.
◇◇◇◇
They had been engrossed in pleasant conversation for a long time, but it was about time to leave. Kazuma left the get-well gifts and departed from the hospital room.
“See you, Kazuma.”
“Bye-bye, Satsuki-cchi!”
“Satsuki-kun, come again, okay? Also, if possible, I’d be happy if you could gather some information about Silver Knight-sama!”
“Aye aye, see ya~”
Ignoring the strange request, Kazuma waved one hand lightly and left the hospital room where the three were staying. He had come in the early afternoon, but outside was dyed in the colors of sunset. It seemed they had talked much longer than he thought, Kazuma chuckled to himself.
“Well, this kind of thing is nice too, huh.”
A moment of peace. The incident was resolved safely, and no one had died. It was a happy ending. However, only for Inoue and Tamura was it a bad ending. Since they weren’t friends or anything, Kazuma didn’t care.
As he was leaving, Kazuma made eye contact with the nurse at the reception, gave a light nod, and left the hospital. Under the sunset sky, Kazuma walked leisurely and relaxedly back to the dorm.
On his way back, Kazuma discovered a nowadays rare ramen stall using a handcart. His excitement reached a peak, and he charged towards the ramen stall. Another nostalgic melody felt pleasant, and it resonated heavily in his empty stomach.
“Oh, welcome.”
The handcart stopped in front of Kazuma. Just as the man who had been pulling it was putting out the noren curtain to set up shop, he spotted Kazuma, whose stomach was growling to announce its hunger.
“Oh, you’re surprisingly young.”
“Ahahaha, well, yeah. I’m still barely in my twenties.”
“Huh~. I thought this kind of thing was usually done by much older men or women.”
“I hear they were common long ago. There are hardly any now.”
While making small talk, the owner finished setting up the stall. Kazuma sat down on a provided round stool and placed his order with the man standing in the kitchen area.
“One large ramen!”
“Aye!”
“By the way, where are the ingredients? It looks like you’ve got the kitchen loaded onto the handcart, but…”
“Fufufu… Actually, I possess the Item Box Gift!”
“Oooh! Isn’t that an incredibly good one!”
The Item Box is a considerably rare type among Gifts classified as support-type. Since it can store all sorts of things in a different dimension, it’s highly valued. Of course, Item Boxes also have levels.
There are various kinds, like ones that can stop time in the alternate dimension, preventing contents from spoiling, or ones with storage capacity as large as a factory warehouse. Among them, the best one is still time-stop. Not only the National Defense Force but also militaries of various countries and wealthy magnates would hire someone with it.
“Well, mine only slows down time, so it’s not that amazing, you know.”
“No, no, that’s still plenty good! But why are you running a ramen stall? With an Item Box, you must be in high demand, right?”
“I turned them down. Because there was something I wanted to do.”
“Could it be, running a ramen stall?”
“That’s right. A long time ago, I read about it in a book. A story about a ramen stall that does mobile sales like this.”
“So you admired that, huh?”
“Yeah. At first, it was nothing special, but now it’s reasonably popular.”
For someone saying that, Kazuma was the only customer. However, since it hadn’t even been a few tens of minutes since opening, it was natural that there were no other customers yet.
“Is that so? I had no idea.”
“Yeah. It became a bit of a topic on blogs and SNS, you know? I’ve even been on TV.”
“That’s amazing! But for all that, there aren’t many customers coming, are there?”
“Ahahaha. You’re pretty blunt, aren’t you~. Well, a little while ago it was super popular and there were lines…”
Kazuma felt a twinge of unease as the owner averted his gaze, looking slightly awkward. Kazuma started to worry that perhaps the customers had stopped coming because the ramen was bad.
“You see, because the stall is like this, no matter how hard I try, the number of customers I can serve is extremely small. So, while the ‘talked-about ramen stall’ had lines for a while, customers decreased because once they ate it, they felt it was enough. Well, even so, people who like our ramen still come even now.”
As he said that, the owner directed his gaze behind Kazuma. Following his gaze, Kazuma turned around to see an elderly man approaching. Apparently, that man was a regular. When the owner said, “Welcome,” the man sat down on a stool without saying anything.
(I see~)
Indeed, this kind of stall probably wouldn’t become a trend. It became a topic of conversation because it was unusual. Just as the owner said, once you ate it, unless there was something exceptional, you’d probably be satisfied.
However, among them, there were not a few people like the man sitting next to Kazuma, who couldn’t help but love the ramen the owner made. The owner was probably making ramen today too for people like that.
“Here you go. Large ramen, sorry for the wait.”
“Time to eat!”
It was freshly made and piping hot. The fragrant aroma of soy sauce wafted, whetting his appetite. Unable to hold back any longer, Kazuma plunged his disposable chopsticks into the golden, shining soup and slurped the sparkling, glistening noodles.
Kazuma’s eyes flew wide open, and he roared.
“So good!!!”
At those words, the owner became happy and, with a smile, diligently continued to make ramen.