I introduced myself once again to Okura Shigenobu-san, whom I hadn’t expected to encounter.
[Errr, you already seem to know this, but once again, I’m Miyama Kaito.]
[Ou. Can I call you Kaito? Living in this world, I’ve gotten into the habit of calling people by their first names.]
[Ah, yes. It’s alright.]
[You can also call me as you want, Shigenobu, or Shige like Kaori-chan does.]As expected, I’m not comfortable calling him Shige-san out of the blue, so I’m just going to call him Shigenobu-san here. After I introduced myself, Shigenobu-san turned to Aoi-chan and Hina-chan.
[Errr, so those girls are Japanese too. I did hear that there was a summoning accident……]
[Ahh, yes. I’m Kusunoki Aoi.]
[I’m Yuzuki Hina.]
[ ! ? ]
When the two introduced themselves, Shigenobu-san’s eyes widened in surprise for some reason. As I tilted my head at that unfamiliar reaction, Shigenobu-san paused for a while and with an expression that couldn’t hide his surprise, he spoke.
[……Could you be Kusunoki Group’s…… I see…… So a fate such as this exists huh.][Errr……]
[Ahh, sorry. You’ve grown up a lot, and it has been decades here, so I didn’t realize it right away…… but I didn’t expect to see someone I knew here.]
[……You know who I am?]
Apparently, what Shigenobu-san was surprised about was Aoi-chan, as judging from the way he spoke, he seemed to be talking about Aoi-chan.
Aoi-chan also asked back with a surprised expression on her face, to which Shigenobu-san…… had a rather lonely look on his face.
[I’ve met you several times before…… Oh, that’s right. When I decided to emigrate to this world, my existence in that world had been removed right from the start. It’s natural you wouldn’t know about me…… No, even without that, with me being at this age, it wouldn’t be strange if you have no idea what I’m talking about……]
[Errr, in other words, you met Aoi-chan before you were summoned to this world?]
[Yeah, I’m the eldest son of a small company…… No, well, it’s a small company compared to the Kusunoki Group, but I met her at a party I attended as the successor candidate of our company. Though I say that, our exchanges were merely just greetings…… In the first place, I was just 10 years old at that time…… Good gracious, even if I understand in my head that the flow of time between this and that world is different, seeing you like this…… I’m really feeling like I’ve experienced what Urashima Taro felt.]
I see, the flow of time between this world and the other world is nearly 10 times. Even if it’s been 10 years here, only a year would have passed back on Earth…… Seeing Aoi-chan again, who was probably once not more than a year older than him, even if he understands in his head that there’s a time difference of tens of years, it’s understandable that he’d be surprised.
[……Well, it might just be my memory being hazy, but I feel like you’ve become different from the impression you had back then. How should I say this…… The you back then had cold eyes.]
[No, it would probably be the same now, as I really hate parties and stuff like those. I hate that household to death……]
[Hahaha, I see……]
Aoi-chan seriously feels antipathetic about her family’s household…… the Kusunoki Group, to the point where she seriously declares that she will immediately disassociate herself from them when she comes of age. According to her, “In the first place, I’ve only met my parents a few times, so I’ve almost forgotten what they look like”.
With Aoi-chan’s personality, it seems that she will seriously cut ties with her once she becomes an adult, so I was worried that she might get into a dispute for that…… but surprisingly, Aoi-chan apparently “got Eden-san’s promise to cooperate with her at that time”, so it seems that that matter was already considered dealt with. As expected of Aoi-chan.
After chuckling at Aoi-chan’s words, which sounded really displeased as she talked about her past, Shigenobu-san spoke with a serious expression on his face.
[……Can I ask you one thing? Do you know what happened…… to the company called Okura Heavy Industries?]
[Okura Heavy Industries? Errr, if I remember correctly, their President retired as the Chairman a few years ago, and his “only son” took over. Immediately after the handover, things were a little confusing, but recently, it seems like things have become stable and they’re growing little by little.]
[……I see…… so things…… have been doing well for him.]
The words that he seemed to be digesting, the name of the company and the story of how his existence never existed right from the start……
[……In other words, Okura Heavy Industries is Shigenobu-san’s……?]
[Yeah, my parents’ company. And the new President is my younger brother…… no, the one who used to be my younger brother. I had been caught up in a lot of disputes back then. Thus, I migrated to this world to escape from it all. I have no regrets about the choice I made back then, but even if it’s just a little bit…… I’m feeling some reluctance in my heart, making me want to know what happened to my family…… to my brother. Thank you. It’s nice to know that.]
[Ah, no……]
After saying this and bowing deeply, Shigenobu-san spoke again, smiling brightly with a somewhat refreshed expression on his face.
[……Sorry, I digressed. I wanted to talk with you guys more leisurely, but you guys still have the awards ceremony…… Ahh, that’s right. There will be the afterparty today, so it may be difficult to meet up again afterwards, but if you have the opportunity, it would be great if you could come and visit us. My wife also heard about you from our old friend and wants to meet you.]
[I suppose so. We also want to talk about various things, so if you don’t mind, we’ll come visit you some time later.]
[Ou…… Ahh, do you have a hummingbird? Let’s exchange contact information.]
[Yes.]
And like that, we parted ways with a promise that we would get to know Shigenobu-san and talk again later, while we went on our way to the awards ceremony.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [For a moment, I wondered if a God should be so favorably disposed to help one individual break off their ties, but then, I remembered how partial she originally is.]
Makina : [In the first place, Gods being impartial is just people’s illusion. Once one has shown the intention of intervening in something, it would be just a matter of individual discretion to a greater or lesser extent~~ Well, as for my case, I do love all of my children, but I just have a special fondness for my beloved child and those around him.]
