kscans

Chapter 172 - Flag

"Did we manage to get everything you need?"

We got home appliances and daily necessities. I think that's pretty much everything...

"I think this is enough, for everything I can think of right now."

"If you find you need something else once you're settled in, you can just buy it then."

That's true. We've bought the bare essentials for her to live a normal life. Anything more would be meddling. Shopping on her own will be a good learning experience too, so it's probably best we don't overdo it.

"Satou, Suzuki, Takahashi. Thank you for everything."

"Don't sweat it. This is our job."

"Takahashi-kun, that's a little too detached."

By the way, about the underwear... yeah, well, we bought some. No matter how you looked at them, they were all the kind of thing that screamed, "Are you going to make your move!? Right here!!". We were completely put off.

"Alright. We've secured a hotel, so before we split up... how about we grab a bite?"

Just saying goodbye now would feel a little anticlimactic. Besides, I already told Saku-chan I wouldn't be home for dinner tonight.

"Setsuko-chan, is there anything you want to eat? It's my treat, so anything's fine."

"Hmm, let me see..."

"Come to think of it, Setsuko-san, can you handle the food here?"

There are plenty of things eaten normally in one country that foreigners would find absolutely impossible. If that's true just between countries, it must be even more so between worlds. The Arima brothers got used to it so easily that I'd completely forgotten about that.

"That is not a problem. Humans and elves. Naturally, there are differences in our anatomies, but there are many similarities as well."

Because of that, she said, her sense of taste is naturally quite similar to ours. When she talks like this, she really seems like an intelligent elf. But the core of her personality is so unintelligent that I can't help but see glimpses of it.

"That said, when I switched from patient food to normal meals, I was a bit taken aback by how strong the flavors were."

"So elves do prefer lightly seasoned food. That's so fitting. I'm actually a little moved."

"Does that mean you're not a fan of strong flavors? In that case, maybe Japanese food would be good?"

"Oh, no, not really. I was a bit surprised, but I got used to it right away."

"Setsuko-chan, you adapt really fast."

Setsuko-chan gave a wry smile at my praise, saying that wasn't quite it.

"It is a matter of my profession. Being an archaeologist does not mean I lock myself in a room and pore over documents."

In fact, she said most of her work was physical labor. Come to think of it, that makes sense. You have to travel to sites and investigate things, so your body is your capital. Setsuko-chan's world seems to have been fantasy-based, so the dangers of her fieldwork were probably on a completely different level from here.

"So it's only natural to eat strongly flavored meals to replenish the energy you burn."

"Yes. Most of my meals were like that when I was out on fieldwork."

"In that case, maybe Chinese food is an option to get you more used to stronger flavors?"

"So what's it gonna be? We're not picky, so we're fine with anything."

"Hmm... This is difficult... I did some research on my own, but there are just too many choices..."

"Hey, take your time. Takahashi, don't rush her."

"You're right. My bad."

"Do not worry. I know you did not mean it that way."

She's a really good person, as long as it's not about her kinks.

"For now, why don't we just wander around? We might find a place that catches our eye."

"I am sorry for the trouble."

"Don't you worry about it."

...Well, if I'm being perfectly honest. Walking through town with three beautiful women in tow feels pretty good. I'm not in that kind of relationship with any of them, but getting carried away is just a sad part of being a man... huh?

"What's wrong, Setsuko-chan?"

She had suddenly stopped and started glaring into empty space. Was something there? I expanded my senses a little, but I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary.

"...This may not be the time to be cheerfully deciding what to eat. I sense the precursor to a great calamity."

"Is this some kind of special sense you otherworlders have? I don't feel anything in particular..."

"Same here."

It seemed to be the same for Takahashi and Suzuki.

"Even practitioners of your caliber cannot sense it? Especially you, Satou."

"Yeah. What exactly is happening?"

I tensed up a little. It was a pain to have my good mood interrupted, but I'd rather not ignore it and have things get even more troublesome.

"The boundary between life and death is beginning to blur."

"..."

We all stared blankly at her words, then...

"Is that all?"

The three of us laughed together. I got worked up for nothing. Seeing us, Setsuko-chan showed a look of panic and confusion.

"Wait a moment. Do you not understand what it means for the boundary between life and death to become ambiguous!?"

This is a grave situation!! she warned, urging us to be on guard. Well, I guess so. For someone who doesn't know, this would definitely seem like a huge deal.

"Listen. Life and death. They are one of the principles closest to the very source of..."

"Hey, hey, calm down. This happens every year."

"Yeah, yeah. It's not something we need to do anything special about."

"Every year!? You are telling me this happens every single year!?"

I explained Halloween to her as she trembled in astonishment.

"Sure, the blurring of a principle so close to the source might be a big deal, but the actual harm isn't that great."

Even if the boundary between life and death blurs, it's not like the living just suddenly drop dead. Evil spirits might come to our world, Aberrations might become more active, and some groups might try to scheme something. But it has never developed into anything on a world-altering scale.

"If anything, the fact that you washed up in this world is a bigger incident for us."

"..."

"Setsuko-chan?"

When I called out to Setsuko-chan, who had suddenly become lost in thought, she gave a wry smile and said, "Oh, it's nothing."

"It is just that I feel I now understand why I was able to arrive in this world."

"What do you mean?"

"The concept of other worlds existed in my world as well. However, there were no artifacts or people that had actually drifted over from another world."

It was a concept close to fantasy. There were some who tried to explain it with solid theories, but they never went beyond hypotheses.

"But in this world, though few in number, objects and people do drift here."

Like the Arima brothers, the fragment of a ruined world attached to Okutama Island, and Setsuko-chan herself.

"What is the difference between a world where things drift in from another world and one where they do not? I believe one answer may be the flexibility of the world itself. Normally, the boundary between life and death should never waver. It is an immutable principle, and if it were to waver, it would likely be a situation where the world itself is on the brink of collapse. If the boundary between life and death were to waver in my world, it surely would have started rolling toward its doom."

Seriously? That's nuts, other worlds are scary.

"Should I describe it as having some play in its structure? A margin, a blank space that allows for some principles to waver without issue. Perhaps because of that, this world can accept things that drift in from other worlds without any significant problems."

I see. So this world is just super lax...

"One could say it is a tolerant world, but that is also terrifying. It could invite an unimaginable disaster someday."

Um, could you please stop saying things that sound like a major story flag?