ch341-ch360 · 350-ch350

Chapter 350: The Memory That Didn't Come Back

"Then we begin. First, every buff you have. After that, on my signal, we cast 'Heal' simultaneously. Ready?"

Kuwashima-san, suddenly all crisp and formal, is the very image of a saint.

The Kuwashima-san on TV—'the Holy Maiden'—this should be called 'Saint Mode' rather than Super Mode, I suppose.

Even though she was grumbling away until just a moment ago.

But this person has never once said she opposes the treatment or doesn't want to do it.

Even if she does think of me as the bad insect that latched onto Kasumi-san, she won't cut corners on the treatment.

She is properly a 'Holy Maiden.'

"Yes! The buff split as planned, right? I'll handle 【Miracle】."

Buffs don't stack.

Akiyama-san is a former combat jobber, so she probably doesn't have many recovery-job skills.

She'll take the big ones and leave the rest to Kuwashima-san, it seems.

Akiyama-san—no, Fuyumi-san, is it.

I have a feeling I was completely lovestruck over this person......

Ugh, my head......

It's fine—no such memory exists.

"I'll do as I please, thank you very much. Going full throttle~!"

Shiraishi-san, weren't you told "in moderation"?......

Apparently all her evil points are getting poured into 【Miracle・False】.

Honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen.

There's even a chance the memory I have right now gets lost again.

You know what, let's call this o—

"Then we begin."

"【Miracle】!"

She started before I could say "wait."

From Akiyama-san, in a praying pose, a gentle light pours down.

(It's warm...... so this is 【Miracle】......)

And on the other side, Shiraishi-san raises her hand, and a pitch-black light......

(Ababababah...... This can't be good, can it?)

"Ready—go!"

"St—"

【Heal・Extreme(Evil)】

The three of them call out in unison.

I tried to stop them out loud this time, but too late.

The Extreme and the Evil fused into something downright heinous......

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"Ugh...... I've been through the wringer. Huh? Where... is this?"

For a moment I panic, thinking I'm back under the spotlight in a bright room—but apparently not.

I know this room.

No—should I say, in moments like these it's more a question of knowing the ceiling?

A bright white room with no lights in it, ceiling or otherwise.

The only things here are two doors, and......

"Why am I here again?"

The room where you meet the goddess, isn't it.

Which means, naturally......

"Long time no see. Huh? Not really that long?"

She wasn't there when I first looked around, but the moment I noticed, she was right in front of me.

Maybe by the goddess's sense of time, it hasn't been long enough to count as "a long time"......

The goddess who looks just like Mizuki......

Last time was after I broke through Floor 40, so that was October, I think?

It's been over two months since then, so to me it really has been a while.

"Still, I thought this was a room you could enter once every 10 level-ups, or every 10 floors you clear."

I'm Level 44 now, and I've only been up to Floor 41.

Is there some other condition?

"Huh? Roughly right? Then how did I get in here this time? Ehh? A miracle happened? Well, that's...... how do I put it......"

No—it certainly happened, or rather...... you were using it, weren't you.

Apparently Shiraishi-san's power was so immense that it became a genuine miracle.

"Hmm-hmm...... hmm? A miracle happened, so you can reincarnate in another world? No, that's a bit...... 'Return to being a baby and start over'? Huh? Is someone angry about something?"

The goddess has been in a bad mood from the very start.

I have no idea what I did to anger her......

No—I've been here twice before, and both times I went home through the door behind me. Maybe it's about that?

Maybe this time she intends to send me out through THAT door and have me reincarnated in another world.

Being dragged there by force would be bad news.

This time, I'm deliberately not using 【Presence Detection】.

The rainbow torrent I saw last time......

I'm afraid of understanding what THAT meant.

Umemoto-san had the face of someone who had seen something terrifying.

Come to think of it, last time Umemoto-san......

"Ow, ow—so she IS angry?"

The goddess, who had come closer, was grinding her foot down on mine.

"Huh? The Christmas party? We did hold one, though?"

She grinds down even harder.

That was the wrong answer, wasn't it.

What she means is: "I wasn't invited, though?", right?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't know how to contact you! Next time—next time I'll absolutely invite you! Huh? No? That's not it?"

What does she mean, then?

The goddess turns away with a Hmph! and lifts her foot off me.

As if to say: go on, then......

If you reincarnate me in another world, there won't BE a next time, you know?

"......Thank you for last time. The poison is cured thanks to you. You powered Umemoto-san up to save me, didn't you? Thank you."

That's right.

Last time, she powered Umemoto-san up in order to save me.

I couldn't hear it myself, but that's what Umemoto-san said......

So I'm saying my thanks before I go.

I didn't get to see a tsundere goddess going "It's not like I did it for YOU or anything," but she said "one last thing," and......

"'Once the new year begins, go to Mizuki Saori's house'? 'As soon as possible'?"

That's a strangely specific instruction.

"To her house—you mean, pay her a visit?"

Her parents are famous for hating adventurers, though?

"Ah...... Oh no, is it time!?"

The door ahead opens, and I'm about to be sucked in.

"One more thing—tell me! The person who came here with me last time—do you know where they are now? Huh? You saw them in Hokkaido?"

What does "saw" even mean?

And a place name came out, too.

It knows Japanese place names......

Not only does it know about Mizuki, it issues strange commands—what IS this goddess?

Ugh, I can't hold out any longer.

I'm about to be sucked into the door, but the goddess seems completely unaffected.

Not a single hair of her is moving.

"Thank you! See you then! 【Gate】!"

The suction is so strong I can't possibly run to the door behind me.

I put out the 'Left Hand Gate' up ahead and step into it......

In my fading consciousness, I have a feeling she impressed upon me: don't forget Mizuki.

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"Stand clear! Defibrillation, going in—three, two, one"

"Ah, wa...... abababah"

The instant I woke up, I got zapped with the defibrillator.

"He's back! Brain waves too!"

No—they just vanished, actually.

"I told you he was fine, didn't I. He woke up before the shock, didn't he."

"This is a symptom adventurers get now and then, but so even the brain waves disappear, huh. Normally you'd assume the person died."

According to the branch manager and Kuwashima-san, apparently it's a common occurrence.

Last time there was a huge fuss about Umemoto-san's heart having stopped, after all.

While you're dreaming of the goddess, you apparently look dead.

And before that too, 'the usual party's scout' said my heart had stopped......

"Haruki-san, are you all right?"

Kasumi-san grips my hand and calls to me worriedly.

I stopped being all right just now, actually.

"No, no—give us a scare, why don't you. So—your memory? Do you know who I am?"

My memory......

It came back before I even received the treatment......

"Yes—these past six months, certainly. Huh? Maybe not everything came back......"

The Goddess Adoration Society......

Only the memories of THAT organization didn't come back!