After I finished greeting Shiro-san and Makina-san, I also finished my greetings with the Three Supreme Gods…… while I was at it, I also greeted Alice. Now, if I finish greeting the other Six Kings and Human Realm’s Three Rulers, I can do the other greetings in a relatively free order.
And so, I next came to Kuro.
[Ah, Kaito-kun! Welcome.]
[Unn. Kuro, thanks for coming today…… or rather, you have quite a large group with you here.]
[Ahaha, our family is all sticking together at the beginning of the party. We’ll gradually enjoy the party in our separate smaller groups later.]Among the Six King factions, the greatest number of acquaintances I have are part of the Underworld King camp. Even excluding Kuro, there’s Ein-san, Zwei-san, Tre-san, Vier-san, Funf-san, Sechs-san, Raz-san, Acht, Eva, Neun-san, Sei-san, Cento-san, Cien-san, Roze-san…… There are also the people I met when I went to visit Kuro’s home, so it’s a considerable number of people all together.
Well, the party had indeed just started, so it’s understandable that they’ve gathered, and as Kuro said, they will probably scatter in smaller groups in a little while. Also, while we were at it, since everyone had gathered here, I greeted everyone and gave them a light bow.
[That said, Kaito-kun had planned quite an amazing party huh.]
[I kinda had the idea of making effective use of the magic ship Kuro gave me, so it’s actually more of a spontaneous plan…… At first, I was thinking it would be more like a small-scale home party, but the magic ship turned out to be more luxurious than I expected, making it feel like a very splendid party.]
[……Ahh, I see, I did give this ship to you before.]
After hearing my words, Kuro momentarily had a bewildered expression on her face, then looked as if she just remembered something. It kinda seemed like she completely forgot about giving me this magic ship, but as for the reason…… well, I think I have some idea what that is.
[Kuro, seriously…… just so you could naturally give me a magic box, you just gave me something with a size that wouldn’t fit a normal magic box……][……But I wanted Kaito-kun’s magic box to be something I made.]
[No, well, that makes me happy…… Now that I think about it, even without the magic ship, my previous magic box was insufficient in size, so it’s a good thing I received a large-capacity magic box from Kuro.]
[Ehehe, I’m glad to hear that. No, actually, during our first barbecue, Sechs and the others said that if it were too large, you wouldn’t really know what to do with it, which I remember agreeing…… Back then, none of us expected Kaito-kun to become this amazing.]
[Same here…… I really couldn’t have predicted things to turn out this way back then.]
At the barbecue I was invited to shortly after arriving in this world, Kuro expressed a desire to make my magic box herself. However, she didn’t force the issue because she agreed with what Acht and the others had said.
No, seriously, I never imagined at that time that I’d find a magic box with a house-size capacity to be insufficient…… Well, I mean, the capacity squeeze is almost entirely due to the stuff Magnawell-san kept on giving me……
[But you know, it’s interesting how with various interactions, you have grown to become more splendid…… Of course, that in itself is amazing, but for me, what truly makes me happy is seeing Kaito-kun, who was a bit downcast at first, now facing forward confidently and lively.]
[I had found a little too many treasures after all……]
[Fufu, I see…… Kaito-kun has become quite the master treasure hunter huh.]
Kuro smiles kindly at me and I smile back. In fact, there were many factors that helped with my life, and there were many things I didn’t know at that time…… but I was still able to change. The reason I was able to change had to be because of my encounter with Kuro.
When I think back on that time, I feel deeply moved…… feeling a little proud that I was able to change properly.
[Hmm, I’d like to have a little more leisurely chat, but I have to go round to the others……]
[Ahh, you’re right. I can’t have you here for too long.]
[I’ll come by again later if I have time. Well then……]
[Kaito-kun, wait a moment.]
[Unn?]
[Can you crouch down a little bit?]
[Eh? Like this?]
There are still many people for me to go around for greetings, so I can chat with her for too long. After the necessary greetings, if there’s enough time, I would like to come back to chat with her again, but for now, it’s about time we cut the conversation short.
I was about to tell her so with that thought in mind, but right after, Kuro asked me to crouch down, but as I complied with doubts in mind…… Kuro naturally brought her face close to mine and lightly kissed me on the cheek.
[……Kaito-kun, I love you much, much more than back then.]
Then, after whispering in my ear so that only I could hear, she gave me a somewhat mischievous, joyful smile.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Guaaahhh, w- what are you doing!? You’re just supposed to be going around to say hello! It was supposed to be just a casual chat, with the lovey-dovey time postponed, right!!!?]
? ? ? : [……Putting aside me questioning what promise you’re talking about, the reason you’ve been acting so relaxed up until now, it’s because you were confident that such a situation wouldn’t come for a while huh……]
