I suddenly found myself having a stroll with Eden-san…… It’s already been a few hours since we started, but I didn’t expect that she would last this long.
I thought that she would definitely go on a rampage and our stroll would then end there…… but Eden-san is still holding on without losing her sanity.
No, at those times when it clearly looks like it’s no good anymore, a strange situation she makes this strange reaction and returns back to Phase 0…… but still, to have lasted this far could be described as quite an accomplishment.
Thanks to this, we were able to go around here and there. Going through the deserted island we went first, the quiet seaside, and small hills, now, we were at the lakeside where we could see the sunset.
I have no complaints about the places we visited. Many of them had a quiet and relaxing atmosphere, and if I just visited them normally, I would have been able to relax…… if it weren’t for the ticking bomb next to me that could explode at any moment……[……How is it, my beloved child?]
[Yes, it feels rather lonely here, but it has a nice view. The setting sun reflecting off the water gives the place a nice touch.]
Thinking about that extremely unusual…… or rather, that expression on her face that I’ve seen for the first time, as she jumped up with a frightened expression on her face, I expressed my impression to Eden-san who had returned back to Phase 0.
[……I’m glad to hear that. My child has been so tired lately after all.]
[Eh?]
[Meeting new people can be exhausting in its own way. Whether you realize it or not, if you were able to calm down even a little bit, it’s worth inviting you here.]
[……Thank you.]I certainly may have been a little tired after meeting so many new people recently. Eden-san seemed to have sensed this and invited me out for a change of pace.
……I see, now that she mentioned it, I can understand why she chose to visit only places where there are obviously no people. I’m honestly glad that she felt that way…… so I decided to stop the unnecessary tsukkomi and responded with my thanks.
There was a short silence after that, and after a short pause, I asked Eden-san.
[……Eden-san, can I ask you something?]
[What is it?]
[Eden-san, you mentioned you’ve participated in a bazaar before…… Do you have any other stories like that?]
[……Fumu, is my child interested in my past?]
[I guess so. No, it was just that even though we’ve talked for quite a while, I kind of feel like I don’t know much about Eden-san……]
Despite the fact that we talk five times a week, I don’t really know much about Eden-san herself. Just like how she had joined a bazaar, Eden-san may have some unexpected preferences, like how she once said hamburgers are her favorite.
When I asked her about it, she looked at the setting sun in silence before she calmly spoke.
[……Back then…… A long time ago, I am a being who “used to be a human, and became God”.]
[……Huh? Eh? Eeeeehhhh!?]
The words that she spoke were the most shocking thing I’ve heard all day. E- Eden-san is a former human? It was so unexpected that my mind was unable to keep up.
However, it didn’t sound like a lie or a joke. If that’s the case…… Eden-san really is a former human?
[The Earth that my child lived in, the solar system in which Earth is located, and even the galaxy that my children call the Milky Way…… They were made to resemble the world I once lived in. I certainly didn’t modify it that much, but strangely enough…… today’s Earth looks a lot like the one I once lived in.]
[………………..]
[The bazaar I mentioned earlier was in my former world.]
Not knowing what to say in response to the series of surprises, I dumbfoundedly looked at Eden-san’s profile…… She seemed to be feeling nostalgic for the past, and yet, she somehow had a gentle expression on her face.
[……From the time I became a God until now, if I speak in units that are easy for my child to understand, it has been over 20 billion years. I’m only talking about the space I was in though, so with my child’s world having a different flow of time than where I was, far more years have passed since I created it.]
[I see…… Honestly though, even if you say that it was 20 billion years ago, it’s so long ago that the human me can’t even imagine it…… but Eden-san, you remember that time very well, don’t you?]
[Yes, no matter how many years have passed, my memories in that word…… the memories of the ten years I spent with my one best friend would never fade.]
[One best friend?]
After listening to the words Eden-san calmly said, she looked up at the sky, which was beginning to darken, and muttered.
[……Would it be alright if we change our location first?]
[Eh? Yes.]
[Let’s move to that deserted island we went to first. If we’re talking about that time, that would be a good place. Let’s teleport there…… and by the time I finish telling the story…… “I suppose we’ll be able to see the stars”.]
The expression on Eden-san’s face when she said that was very kind and gentle…… Although she was obscure in the way she explained them, I could tell that she really cared about her best friend.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [……Fumu, in other words, the reason why Makina so desperately wanted to take a stroll with Kaito while suppressing her outbursts was to heal the mentally exhausted Kaito huh……]
? ? ? : [I see~~ What a perfect consideration, isn’t it? Just one thing though…… If you were to just close your eyes on the fact that “the mental stress caused by the person accompanying him is greater than the healing power of the scenery”……]
