Chapter 20 - I Won't Compromise
Angelica, who was making an intense courtship with an upward glance, was now a dangerous object that was impossible to look at directly.
Unable to bear it, I averted my gaze.
This is a foul. If I were caught, I might be arrested.
Arrested.
...Crime.
That's right.
Thinking calmly, since this morning, I've been letting a sixteen-year-old illegal immigrant girl suck on my finger.
My smartphone's communication history is contaminated with Rio's cleavage-showing selfies.
The other day, I raided a yakuza office. The day before that, I got into a fight with high schoolers.
Wait...?
Aren't I a more dangerous guy than Gondo?
In just a few days, haven't I become a candidate for a medal in the Crime Olympics?
Am I accelerating at a pace that makes people suspect doping?
Am I overtaking everyone?
I've already lapped the perverts who expose themselves on the street long ago, and aren't the only ones running ahead of me famous serial killers and the like?
Actually, I don't want to see this race venue. Is this hell?
"When did I start putting up times like this..."
I quietly lowered my eyes.
While steeped in sadness, I pulled my finger out of Angelica's mouth.
"...Let's eat. Sucking on a finger won't fill your stomach."
"S-Sorry, Father. Did you hate it? You have such a sad face. Even for a man, it's disgusting to have something like this done suddenly, isn't it? That's right. Since I have no experience with this, I got the sense of distance wrong. I won't do it anymore, so please don't hate me."
"It's not your fault. I just reminisced a bit and got depressed."
"...Reminisced?"
Ah! I get it, you overlapped me with Elsa-san! Angelica, who came up with a completely incorrect interpretation, instantly regained her energy.
"Fufun. It's fine—overlap me more. You remember your old lover when you do things like this, don't you? Please think of me as the next Elsa-san and like me more and more."
"What are you talking so big for when you have no romantic experience?"
While flinching at Angelica, who had become even more clingy than before, I somehow managed to finish breakfast.
I brushed my teeth and rested my stomach. While I was idling around, it was already seven-thirty.
"Shall we go soon?"
I called out to Angelica and changed clothes.
I wore a combination of a black turtleneck and jeans, which wasn't fashionable at all.
Since I'd be wearing a thick coat over it to hide it anyway, anything was fine.
Or so I thought, but on second thought, even that coat was shabby.
Conversely, Angelica was sparkling, wearing the hoodie and skirt I just bought yesterday.
This is bad.
Angelica looks like a reader model, while I look like a homeless person.
If these two were walking together, what kind of relationship would it look like?
...A vagrant being protected by a foreign girl involved with a Christian organization and being guided to a soup kitchen...?
"This is too much. It's horrible."
"?"
While getting depressed by my own paranoid delusions, I left the entrance.
I should pay a bit more attention to my appearance. Eei, what am I moping about alone since morning?
I'm supposed to be investigating the ghost disturbance with Angelica today.
Angelica came out a little later, so I set about locking the door.
Apparently, burglaries are on the rise, so I have to do it properly.
"Is that a key from this world?"
"Yeah. It's not that different from over there, right?"
As I was crouching and fiddling with it, my eyes happened to fall on the door of the neighboring room.
A large amount of newspapers were stuffed into the mail slot. At this rate, they were going to overflow.
To tell the truth, it had been like this for several days.
Even though me and Angelica were making such a racket, there was no reaction, so I should consider that they've been away for a long time.
Did they go on a trip or something?
But would a single old man go sightseeing? I can't help but imagine something unpleasant.
Like he's bedridden with a bad cold and doesn't have the energy to take the newspaper.
Or he was carried off to the hospital without me knowing and is hospitalized.
...Or a lonely death.
Should I say something to the landlord? While I was hesitating, Angelica had already gone down the stairs.
"Outside, outside!"
She was in quite a high tension.
It can't be helped. If a young girl comes all the way to another country and is kept cooped up, she'd end up like this.
"You don't know anything about Japan. I'll guide you properly, so wait up."
I hurriedly followed after her.
When I lined up next to her, Angelica naturally linked her arm with mine.
"I've always wanted to do something like this. I thought I'd spend my whole life living in a temple full of women. I yearned to walk with a man."
She said, smiling faintly. Her eyes and nose were a little red.
She looked happy, but at the same time, she looked sad.
What Angelica is feeling now might not be a heart-pounding romantic feeling or interest in the opposite sex.
Perhaps it's the emotion and sense of accomplishment of reclaiming the life that was stripped away from her.
Just as I was able to return from being a Hero to being Keisuke thanks to Elsa.
This girl might be trying to return from being a Holy Maiden to being Angelica. I renewed my resolve that I must escort her no matter what.
"Leave it to me. Today won't end with just a simple ghost extermination. I'll make sure you enjoy yourself, Ange."
"Father?"
"Ah—that... shall we do, well... date-like things too?"
If she shows me a face like she's about to cry, I can't help it.
The time you might have spent with a father or a lover that you lost. I'll try to make up for it with my own hands. Today only, I'm the father and the boyfriend. It's for today only, really.
"...What's with you all of a sudden? Was I acting that much like Elsa-san?"
"Are you still dragging that joke out? Elsa has nothing to do with it. I'm not overlapping your shadows or anything."
I mainly do that toward Rio. Because that girl's face looks like Elsa's.
"Ange is Ange. You're not a replacement for Elsa."
"Hmph...?"
"I want to go on a date because it's Ange."
"H-Hmph."
"Oh, you turned red. This is payback for this morning."
"H-H-H-Hmph."
That's not even an acknowledgment anymore; it's a hum.
Watching Ange try to cover her agitation with strange sounds, I'm starting to understand the fun of teasing a younger girl. Hey, hey, aren't I supposed to like women in their late twenties?
This is strictly for Ange's life rehabilitation, don't forget that, I told myself.
"Let's finish the sensing first. The date is after that... I mean, I guess we can walk while sensing. Can you do it?"
"It'll eat up my MP like crazy, but I can manage."
"Alright. Oh, before that, I have to deactivate the [Sacred Circle]."
At this rate, just by Ange walking, the evil spirits in the vicinity will be blown away. Since the goal is to find and subjugate them, there's no point in driving them away.
We both closed our eyes and concentrated our minds on the skills.
The activation of Angelica's sensing and the termination of the barrier magic were announced by system messages.
Preparations were complete.
We began our stroll while linking arms.
We left the apartment and proceeded down a desolate road.
To Angelica, who happily asked "What is that?" at every turn, I taught her this and that.
"All the roads are paved; is this a wealthy country?"
"The economy has been bad for nearly twenty-five years, but apparently, it's still the third-largest economy in the world."
"Heh—. ...Eh? Then Father, who was born and raised here, is quite a young master?"
"I'm middle class, middle class."
As we proceeded down the road while talking, we passed young men a few times.
However, Angelica seemed to get bored of them quickly. At first, she would cast a quick glance, but she soon stopped showing interest.
She did, however, follow elderly and middle-aged men with her eyes.
"Do you like anyone as long as they're older?"
"It's not that."
Isn't the average age of the pedestrians high? Angelica watched the elderly with interest.
"I thought it would be normal for more children and young people to be walking around—"
"You're quite sharp."
Even though it's winter break, I don't see many young kids. Yet, walking seniors appear quite often. Even if many students on long break spend their mornings sleeping, it must seem strange from the perspective of someone from another world.
Over there, elderly people were rare. There were only a few in each village.
In the high-birth, high-death other world, the younger generation was the overwhelming majority. It's natural for Angelica to be curious.
"There are simply a lot of old people. Right now, this country is aging at a tremendous speed, and apparently, one in four people is sixty-five or older."
"Eeeh! Why did it become like that?"
"Because lifespans are long. It's normal for men to live to eighty and women to their late eighties."
"Is this a country of people who draw the blood of elves?"
How should I explain it?
That scientific technology and medicine have developed immensely, and various diseases have been eradicated.
Improvement in food conditions. Welfare. I end up having to explain the history the human race on Earth has followed.
Since it's knowledge from a middle school graduate, I'm worried about whether it's properly correct, though.
"Haa—... The people of Earth really worked hard, didn't they?"
"Oh, you're already using the words you learned."
"This is Earth, and Japan. I've memorized it. Are there any other points I should keep in mind?"
"Nothing else. I'll tell you if it's necessary."
Being young, her desire for knowledge is strong. A teenage brain is like a sponge. It wants to absorb everything. It's so dazzling it's almost painful to watch.
For some reason, Angelica is also squinting her eyes and looking at me. Rather than being dazzled... she looks like she's pitying me. Did she start to feel sorry for me because my clothes are too uncool?
"Is there something on my face?"
"Father, I thought you were pitiful."
"Is it the clothes after all?"
"Clothes?"
She tilted her head as if to say, what are you talking about?
"If it's not the clothes, what's pitiful?"
"Father is."
"What do you mean by that?"
Angelica's blue eyes were fixed on mine. There was a light that made me feel a strong will.
"In this country, monsters don't appear. There are no wars. It's wealthy. Anyone can be taught to read and write. It's natural to live long enough to be surrounded by old people, and entertainment is abundant. Right?"
"When you list it all out like that, it does feel like a tremendously blessed country."
"It is blessed."
Angelica stated without hesitation.
"If Father hadn't been summoned to our world, he could have lived peacefully here...? By now, you'd be married to a woman of this world, have children. Decades later, you'd die at around eighty. Leaving behind a lot of assets. That kind of life was taken away, and you became a Hero. ...And you even lost Elsa-san, whom you finally met."
"It's in the past. I don't care about it anymore. Even if I had lived here the whole time, I would have just become a boring office worker."
That's a lie.
There is probably no human who hates being summoned to another world as much as I do. But not showing that is what being an adult is about.
"The air got heavy. Let's change the subject. Did anything get caught in the sensing?"
"Nothing so far," Angelica shook her head. At the same time, she squeezed both my hands.
"Father, don't forget... I am the reward for you defeating the Demon Lord even at the cost of throwing everything away. My youth and my body are things to be offered to Father."
I answered while looking at the leaves dancing in the dry wind.
"You're the one who shouldn't forget. For the years you served as a Holy Maiden and responded to the people's faith, taste the happiness of a woman to your heart's content in this world. Go out with a younger, more handsome man."
"...We're saying the same thing, aren't we?"
"Hm. Is that so? ...Maybe we're two of a kind."
Unfortunately, there seemed to be nothing in this area. No compromise could be found between the two's opinions, and the target ghost didn't appear either.