ch21-ch40 · 022-ch22

Chapter 22: The Battle Ends, and Day Fades

Once the old guys were gone, the black smoke coming from Papa's armor suddenly burst out more intensely.

"Eh, Papa, are you alright!?"

"---"

I think he said something, but he was enveloped in the gushing smoke, so I couldn't see or hear anything.

But that only lasted for two or three seconds. This time, the spread smoke started gathering as if flowing backward.

And just when I thought I could see Papa's form, the smoke had gathered on his palm, growing smaller and smaller, eventually turning back into the usual black stone.

"Fuuuuuuu, good thing it held out until those guys were gone"

Papa said that with his usual smile.

But he wasn't his usual self. His glasses had been knocked off somewhere during the fight, his clothes were covered in dirt, and his face was full of bruises. Though it had stopped, a trail of blood flowing from his forehead reached his cheek.

"Papa!"

I frantically threw my arms around Papa. Thinking back on it later, being hugged so forcefully must have hurt, but Papa gently embraced me.

"Ai, I'm sorry for scaring you like that. It's alright now, you know?"

Papa stroked my hair, but I couldn't lift my face, keeping it buried in Papa's chest.

Papa's shirt, which had dirt and sweat on it, got even messier with something else.

"So awesome... I don't have my smartphone, so I'll at least burn this image into my brain"

I thought I heard my best friend say something suspicious, but I pretended not to hear it for now.

　　―　◆　―

"Yamanai-kun! Yamanai-kun, are you alright!?"

"Hey, I heard he's just sleeping. Get up, Yamanai."

Having finally calmed down, I released the exhausted Papa and went with Kiriko to wake up Yamanai-kun.

Papa was completely worn out, sitting on the small step in front of the company building to rest.

"He won't wake up. Should I try kicking him like that old guy earlier?"

"Cut it out, he was just being controlled, you know."

Stopping Kiriko from saying something dangerous, Yamanai-kun seemed to sense danger instinctively and started to wake up.

"U, uuuun..."

"Ah, you're awake? Yamanai-kun"

"You're awake, huh."

While glaring at the disappointed Kiriko, I checked on Yamanai-kun.

Yamanai-kun rubbed his eyes as he sat up, looking around nervously.

"Ah, what? What happened to me..."

"Yamanai-kun, are you okay? Do you have a headache or anything?"

Papa said he's fine, but it would be terrible if there were aftereffects from the other world's techniques, right.

Yamanai-kun was blinking rapidly, probably surprised to be suddenly addressed after waking up.

"Shirakawa... and, Onaki... ah, Arizuki is!?"

"Sumi's fine, Papa saved her."

"Eh, 'saved her', you say..."

When Yamanai-kun looked around, Papa was waving at him.

"How do you do, I'm Ai's father."

"The bicycle guy from that time! Eh, so you were Shirakawa's father!? Th-then those scary guys..."

"Fufun, get ready to be surprised, the old guys were actually Ai's papa—mmphg!"

I hastily covered Kiriko's mouth as she started to boast, hands on her hips.

"Shirakawa?... What on earth happened here?"

"A-Ahaha... the old guys went somewhere, so it's fine now, don't worry about it. More importantly, I'm glad you're not hurt either, Yamanai-kun."

"!"

Yamanai-kun seemed to be full of question marks, but for now, I smiled with all my might to bluff my way through.

...I don't know if I successfully bluffed him, but thankfully Yamanai-kun didn't press further and stayed quiet, so that was good.

"Oi, you guys alright, Rokuro! Ai-chan!"

Huh, is that Grandpa's voice? Why??

When I turned around, the landlord grandpa appeared, climbing the stairs while bathed in the orange glow of the sunset. He looked pretty cool.

"Ah, Gou-san, thank you for your hard work."

"Not 'thank you for your hard work', Rokuro. Making an old man like me climb these stairs."

Grandpa came over to us while saying that, exasperated.

Even though he said that, he didn't seem out of breath at all.

"Grandpa, you're amazing, so energetic!"

"Oh, Ai-chan, I'm glad you're safe. Oh well, I walk with Shogun every day, you know."

Grandpa is pretty strict with Papa, but he always smiles at me with his eyes turned down at the corners.

"Shogun" is Grandpa's dog, whose real name is Tamamushi Tamarumaro. His nickname is Shogun. He's a husky with a very traditional Japanese name, a dog with various somewhat contradictory traits.

"Still, I was surprised when I suddenly got a call from Rokuro saying 'I need the food truck'. Good grief, what a rough user of an old man."

"I'm sorry, but given how the car's been running lately, it was faster to chase them by bicycle."

Papa said as he scratched his head.

He had chased them in the food truck at first, but then found my bicycle and switched to that, apparently. That must be where we were caught by those old guys.

Hm? Come to think of it, how did Papa know where we were? Did he have a GPS on my smartphone?

"I came here in the food truck, so let's all go home together. The sun's about to set already."

"That would help. Honestly, moving anymore is physically difficult for me now... mnyah..."

"Papa!?"

Papa's upper body, which had been sitting, swayed, and he collapsed as if leaning against the small stairs of the company building.