About a year had passed since an entire class of high school students had
mysteriously vanished in the middle of the day. The thirty-two students sitting in
that classroom, as well as their homeroom teacher, had simply disappeared
without a trace. It had been a harrowing incident that no one had been able to
find a cause or explanation for. The students couldn't have been kidnapped,
since it had been the middle of the day, and no one else in school had noticed.
Besides, a group that large would have stood out no matter how hard a potential
criminal tried to keep things inconspicuous. No one had seen thirty-odd students
and a teacher anywhere in the streets, and no one had even seen the moment of
their disappearance.
At first, people had suspected the teacher herself of perhaps doing something
to the students, hypnotizing them for example, and then getting them all to leave
separately and gather elsewhere. However, no evidence had been found of any
suspicious activity on her part by the various investigative agencies that had
looked into the incident. Besides, everyone's lunches had been found left in the
classroom half-eaten. Bits of half-finished homework students had been working
on last minute, an only partly erased blackboard, and desks and chairs in the
middle of being moved all pointed to one conclusion: the students had been
going about their lives like normal up until the moment of their unexpected
disappearance.
There were no traces of people being dragged out of the classrooms or moved
against their will, so it really seemed as though they'd just vanished in the
middle of lunchtime. The students in adjacent classrooms and those who had
happened to be passing by at the time all testified that everything had been
normal until those students suddenly weren't there. They also all had mentioned
that a bright flash of light had enveloped the classroom and someone had
shouted, "Everyone, get out!" seconds before they'd all disappeared.
Unfortunately, the police had been unable to find any leads whatsoever. It was as
if another Mary Celeste incident had occurred in the modern day. After some
time, the students' inexplicable disappearance became the stuff of urban legends.
Naturally, the media showered the incident with constant attention as well. It
Page 234 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
became so famous that international news agencies started reporting on it as
well, not just Japan. Journalists, cult leaders, and researchers of the occult from
all over the world gathered to either look for evidence of their own or offer their
own esoteric theories about what had caused the disappearance. That,
unfortunately, also led to an increase in the crime rate in that high school's city,
and for a time the school had to close its doors for the students' safety. The
parents and families of the students who'd disappeared were bombarded with
constant media attention as journalists pestered them with questions.
Unsurprisingly, those families became exhausted both in body and mind as
they had to deal with the unwanted attention.
Both for good and for ill though, the march of time was relentless, and after
half a year or so, the public's attention moved on to other affairs. News stations
stopped running stories about the incident, at best doing short update blurbs
about how the investigation was progressing. Pundits and fans of the occult tried
to milk as much content as they could to increase their own fame, but the general
public went back to following the latest political events and celebrity scandals
and so on instead. The criminals emboldened by the incident and the commotion
it had caused were rounded up in short order, and the crime sprees ended too.
In the residential district of the town with the mystery high school was a
decent-sized house with a nameplate on the front entrance that read "Nagumo."
In the living room of that house, a tall, lean man with short-cropped black hair
said in a tired voice, "Sumire, shouldn't you head to bed? You were up late
yesterday too."
He was none other than Shu Nagumo, Hajime's dad. He was sitting at the
living room table, staring intently at his laptop's screen.
"I'll be fine. If anything, you're the one who needs to sleep," Hajime's
mother, Sumire Nagumo said. She was sitting across the table and was likewise
staring at her work rather than the person she was speaking to.
If Hajime could see what his parents looked like right now, he would have
been quite surprised. Both of them tended to be quite energetic, cracking jokes
all the time, but right now they resembled lifeless scarecrows.
Though Shu was combing the net for any news of the missing students and
Sumire was busy making flyers with Hajime's face on them, they were working
mechanically, as if their hearts weren't really in it.
"You've been doing your regular job on top of all of this, haven't you?
You'll burn out at this rate."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. All the other guys at my company are helping pick
Page 235 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
up the slack. Hell, they chased me out the other day, saying I wouldn't be any
help with how sickly I looked."
"It's the same at my place. I've been on hiatus for so long that I feel bad
about taking more breaks, but my editor and my assistants have all insisted I take
as long as I need."
The rest of the world might have moved on from the mass disappearance
incident, but the families of the students certainly hadn't. Not content to just wait
for the police, they'd banded together and formed an association to share
information and work on investigating the disappearance independently.
Naturally, the coworkers of those parents all understood the situation they
were in. Shu was the manager of a small-scale video game company and Sumire
was a popular shojo mangaka. Normally, if they'd taken as much time off as
they had, their respective employers would have fired them, but their coworkers
and bosses sympathized with the two of them and were doing all they could to
accommodate them. Most of Shu and Sumire's coworkers knew Hajime
personally, since he'd often come in to help them both even as a kid, and they
were worried about him as well.
At any rate, thanks to the kindness of those around them, Shu and Sumire
hadn't lost their jobs. The two of them were grateful for that, since they didn't
want Hajime to come back just to find his parents were both NEETs. However,
as time had passed, those around Shu and Sumire had started to lose faith. At
first they'd given the two of them words of encouragement, saying that they'd
definitely find Hajime-kun before long, but now they'd written him off as dead
and sympathized with his parents, who still desperately wished to believe he was
alive. Of course, they couldn't bring themselves to say they thought he wasn't
coming back, but in their hearts, they were hoping Shu and Sumire would move
on, for their own sakes.
Shu and Sumire were both perceptive enough to notice the change, and it
only made them feel more helpless. At the same time, it was only thanks to the
pity their coworkers were showing them that they could continue searching for
Hajime, so they couldn't really say anything.
Some other families hadn't been so lucky. Many parents had been forced to
quit their jobs, or had collapsed from the stress of working while also looking for
their kids. The Sonobe family, for example, had been hounded by so many
reporters and gawkers that they'd been forced to temporarily close down their
restaurant. The Hatayamas had it even worse, however, since at the start people
had suspected Aiko of being the mastermind behind the disappearance. Many
Page 236 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
people willing to believe baseless accusations without evidence had started
harassing them so badly that Aiko's grandparents had a breakdown and needed
to be hospitalized. But regardless of their situation, every parent was still
desperately searching for their child even a year later.
Unfortunately, no one had been able to discover any clues. The reality that
with every passing day the chances of finding their children grew slimmer
continued to press down on everyone, draining their hope and energy.
Shu and Sumire were no exception. They still believed their son was alive out
there somewhere and doing everything he could to make his way back home.
They even cleaned his room every day so that it would be ready whenever he
returned. But as time passed, despair started winning out over hope and their
hearts began to waver. Whenever they cleaned his room, they could feel how
cold it was without his presence, and it felt like they could hear echoes of his
voice from the corners. They knew those voices were just hallucinations, but
they couldn't help but turn around hopefully every time.
Every single time the doorbell rang, they rushed out in the hopes it was
Hajime standing outside. But recently, the two of them had stopped talking to
each other as much. Trying to force a conversation just led to empty back-andforths like this one, so they'd started having them less and less. However, when
silence fell, they could hear the ominous ticking of the clock, denoting the
merciless passage of time.
Tired of reading heartless comments on the internet, Shu closed his laptop
and let out a deep sigh. As always, he hadn't found any useful information. He
rested his elbows on the table and covered his face with his hands.
"Hajime...where are you?"
"Dear..." Sumire said worriedly. Though both of them were in their early
forties, they both looked wizened and old.
Sumire stopped her own work and looked up at her crying husband.
"Maybe you should sleep after all?"
"You know I can't, even if I wanted to."
"I guess not..." Sumire mumbled sadly. She understood her husband's
feelings perfectly. No matter how physically exhausted they became, they
couldn't shake the sense that time spent sleeping was time wasted.
As the days passed, their restlessness and frustration only mounted. They
wouldn't be able to sleep soundly until their son was safely home.
"Don't worry. It's only been a year. Even if it takes decades, we'll find him.
And we can't afford to collapse until then."
Page 237 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
"Yeah, you're right."
Shu worked his stiff facial muscles into a facsimile of a smile, and Sumire
responded with an awkward smile of her own. She got up and circled over to
Shu, hoping to comfort him even a little, but before she could hug him the
doorbell rang.
Shu and Sumire exchanged glances, then turned to the clock in the living
room. It was well past midnight.
"I'll get it. It's probably just another one of those vultures."
"Be careful."
Considering the time, it could only be a nosy journalist or a heckler of some
sort. Even if there had been a serious breakthrough in the investigation, the
police or any of Shu's contacts would have called him first before just ringing
the doorbell. No decent person would be ringing their doorbell at this time of
night. In the worst case, it might even be a burglar or some other criminal.
Recently, they'd stopped getting as many visits from curious onlookers and
journalists, so Shu or Sumire should have guessed that there was another
possibility, but they were so exhausted at this point that they'd stopped hoping it
was their son every time they went to the door.
Shu slowly got to his feet and picked up the interphone receiver. Never in his
wildest dreams did he expect to hear his son's voice on the other end.
"Umm...it's me..."
Shu looked over at the display and his jaw dropped. Hajime was standing in
front of the door, timidly looking up at the camera. Those who'd only known
him from Tortus would have been shocked at how unsure he looked.
Sumire, who was staring at the display as well, looked just as shocked as her
husband. Of course, Hajime had grown, both physically and emotionally, during
his time in Tortus. He had a different air about him now, he was a few
centimeters taller, and his eyes had a dangerous gleam to them that hadn't
existed before, but Shu and Sumire still recognized him instantly, especially
since the way he raised his eyebrows slightly when he wasn't sure how to act
hadn't changed one bit. Their beloved son, the one they'd fervently believed was
still alive, had finally come home.
Shu dropped the receiver, then he and Sumire both rushed toward the door.
They tumbled over each other as they crossed the narrow hallway and flung the
entrance door open.
"U-Umm...I'm home, mom, dad."
It wasn't an illusion this time. A very real Hajime was standing there in front
Page 238 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
of the door, looking a little nervously at his parents.
"Hajime!" Shu and Sumire shouted in unison, almost bowling him over as
they ran over and hugged him.
"Hajime, you dolt! Where have you been all this time?!"
"Ah, thank god... Thank god you're safe. Do you have any idea how worried
we were?"
They both squeezed him so tight he had trouble breathing. After all the
hallucinations they'd seen, they had to know he was real. They had to know that
he wouldn't just disappear again. And so, they hugged him as tightly as they
could.
The dim streetlights, the bit of light leaking out of the house, and the pale
moonlight all gently illuminated a family finally reunited.
For a long time, Hajime said nothing. He just stood there, his arms halfraised, his eyes wide. He knew his disappearance must have been causing his
parents to worry. He'd also known they'd have faith he'd return. But he was a
very different person from the one they'd known. Sure, he'd dyed his hair black
and made his fake arm and eye look as natural as possible, but that didn't change
what he was inside. He'd thought his parents would have been shocked at how
he'd changed. In fact, he'd been expecting them to wonder if he really was
Hajime or not. Depending on the situation, he'd even been planning on giving
them some time to sort out their feelings if they weren't ready to take him back
right away.
Now that the moment had come though, he realized he needn't have been
worried. No matter how much he might have changed, Sumire and Shu would
never mistake their own son. The fact that they hugged him without hesitation
was proof of that. All of the fears and worries Hajime's clone had thrown at him
back at the Frost Caverns had all been groundless after all.
Overcome by emotion, scenes of everything he'd seen and experienced in
Tortus flashed in Hajime's mind. Once he was done reminiscing, he thought, Ah,
I'm finally home.
With trembling arms, he wrapped his parents in a big hug. He needed to be
careful not to crush his thin, frail parents with his monstrous strength, so his hug
was as gentle as possible. In a voice that trembled as much as his arms, he said,
"Dad, mom, I'm home."
He'd wanted to say those words for so long.
After a while, Shu and Sumire stepped back, tears in their eyes. They looked
down at their son again, taking him in. Then, smiling, they said in equally shaky
Page 239 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
voices, "Welcome home, Hajime!"
Those words signaled the end of Hajime's long, painful journey.
Hajime had been teleported to another world along with his classmates, and
despite being given one of the most run-of-the-mill jobs in existence, he'd grown
strong enough to defeat god himself. He'd overcome all obstacles in his path,
determined to make it back home no matter the cost. And now that he had, his
story could finally come to a close.
Page 240 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
Page 241 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
Of course, the Nagumo family would have quite a busy time once they
learned that Hajime had brought a vampire princess, a bunny girl, a masochist
dragon, and a dagon mother and daughter back with him. The world would be in
an uproar with the sudden return of the missing students as well, and numerous
powerful organizations and world governments would take action once they
learned about the existence of an entire other world.
Peaceful though they might be, Hajime and his comrades' days would still be
filled with incidents and adventures of all kinds. But all of that was a story for
another time.
One thing was certain though, which was that no matter what else came
Hajime's way, he would overcome it without fail. No matter how powerful the
threat, he would beat it down with even greater strength. If fate conspired against
him, then he would tear down fate itself. Because as long as he had his precious
comrades—and his beloved vampire princess—by his side, he was unstoppable