Arifureta Chapter 180

Arifureta After – Morning at the Nagumo House Part 1

---

AN: Thank you very much for a lot of the review about the completion.

From here on too, I, Shirakome, will enjoy myself while discharging wild ideas bit by bit, and it will make me happy if you readers can keep accompanying me.

---

「……Wake up. Wake up, Hajime.」

His dozing off awareness was led to awakening by a soft voice and a gentle shake. Because of the brightness that could be seen through the back of his eyelids, he could tell that the curtains had been opened. It was morning, and the sun was insisting on its presence.

「……Don’t mind me. Go on, ahead.」(TN: Here, Hajime is using a line like a hero who will stay behind so that others can escape safely)

「……It’s no good using a clichéd line like that. Breakfast will get cold. So wake up.」

He tucked himself into the bed like a bagworm and tried to take a journey into the dream world. This man who was trying to journey to the dream world, with a voice that seemed as if it was going to disappear at any moment, was the eldest son of the household――Nagumo Hajime. And the one who was making a troubled smile to such a Hajime, even while urging him gently to get out of the bed, was Hajime’s beloved vampire princess that came from another world――Yue.

Yue sat down beside the bed and gently stroked the black hair of Hajime who was curling into himself. Her slender fingertips caressed Hajime’s hair, combing them down. Her eyes squinted affectionately as she quietly brought her lips towards Hajime’s ear.

A small *chuu* sound resounded and Hajime twitched in reaction. Perhaps enjoying that reaction of Hajime’s, Yue’s look was increasingly bursting open in happiness. Next, she placed Hajime’s earlobe into her mouth. Hajime once more twitched in reaction. Yue kept playfully nibbling, while Hajime kept twitching due to such an act.

Yue separated her lips from Hajime’s ear with a *chupa* sound before she opened her mouth while blowing a feverish sigh into Hajime’s ear.

「……If you don’t wake up……Hajime will be the breakfast.」

「I’ll wake up.」

It was a lovely speech, but there were his parents downstairs, and other than them there were also the freeloaders and his daughter. Making a ruckus complete with moaning sounds 「aah-」 early in the morning would be problematic in various meanings. The neighbors would be guaranteed to look at him later with grinning expressions saying 「oh my」. Therefore, Hajime pushed aside the futon with a snap and woke up.

「Good morning, Yue.」

「……Nn. Good morning.」

Hajime’s hair that was curling up here and there was fixed attentively by Yue using her hand as a comb. Since the morning the atmosphere of the two was already teeming with mushiness. It even felt like the morning sunlight that was brightly shining in through the window was growing dim in reservation from these two’s lack in prudence.

Hajime who was exposing a dazed waking up face, which was unthinkable if it was in the period when he was journeying through the other world, Tortus, was narrowing his eyes toward his lover that was caressing his head in front of him. While he was at it he was also running his gaze through the surroundings relaxedly.

Inside the room, seventy percent of it was buried in bookshelves filled with books and games. There was also a desk and a reclining chair, a good quality desktop PC, and a closet between the bookshelves. A window was attached to the wall that was facing south, and navy-blue curtains, the same color as the bed, were hanging over it.

(…..I’m still feeling that this room is ‘nostalgic’. It must be because the experience on the other side was too strong. If I still feel like this even after going home for a year, then it might take a half year more to be able to live without feeling that anything is out of place.)

Hajime sighed a bit inside his heart. And then, he clenched his left hand repeatedly as though to ascertain it. That arm didn’t shine with a dull metallic gleam, its appearance was that of a normal human arm. It had elastic skin and slight marks of suntan similar to his right arm.

Furthermore, Hajime also gently traced his right eye with his fingertip. There, he didn’t feel the sensation of an eye patch that was in the process of becoming his trademark in Tortus. Far from that, there wasn’t even the bluish white shine that was the trait of a god crystal. The eye’s appearance was a dark brown eye that looked like the eye of a normal Japanese person.

「……Nn? Hajime, what’s wrong? It feels uncomfortable?」

Yue noticed Hajime’s state. She then brought her face closer until their nose tips almost touched while tilting her head. The sweet fragrance that tickled Hajime’s nasal cavity slightly bewitched him while he shook his head.

「No, there is no discomfort in both my arm and my eye. Thanks to Yue and the others’ cooperation, the artificial skin and the artificial eyes are all in extremely excellent condition. No one would notice them as long as they don’t get scanned in detail at a hospital. If I have to say, perhaps I’m feeling discomfort from this situation where there is no discomfort.」

「……? Hajime feels discomfort from the appearance of your body?」

「Yeah. After all, the experience over there was just too dense. The metallic arm, the crystal eye, and also the white hair, all those were already me. That’s why, rather than calling this appearance ‘going back to normal’, it feels like I changed again. Well, it’s going to be really bad if that kind of unknown automail and strange crystal eye got discovered on this modern earth, so that can’t be helped.」

While smiling wryly, Hajime tapped on his left hand using his right hand. The artificial skin that used metamorphosis magic had reproduced a splendid skin texture, making the one touching it unable to sense the existence of the metallic artificial arm hidden beneath it.

The one who accomplished this was Tio. The technique of Tio’s, that was the only expert in metamorphosis magic among his comrades, aided by Hajime and Yue’s help, remade the artificial hand smartly and disguised it as a normal arm in an outward appearance and texture.

Also, Hajime’s artificial eye was something that was remade using creation magic while his hair color was due to Kaori’s regeneration magic returning the hair color to what it was before.

Of course, for Kaori whose hand had reached the territory of time intervention, if she used regeneration magic seriously then it was possible she could even restore Hajime’s altered body to a normal human body. Whether it was his lost limb or his change due to eating monsters, all of those could be reverted if Kaori just returned Hajime’s body back to its previous state.

But Hajime didn’t wish for that. Actually, by returning back to earth, things like a tough body were unneeded. But for some reason, it felt like turning his body back to how it was before would be like making light of his journey in that other world. And above all else, he couldn’t be growing senile first and leave behind Yue who would be living for a long time.

In the end, possessing a monster class body, where it wasn’t even definite that it had a lifespan, was in agreement with Hajime’s own wish. By the way, if they were using Yue’s secret technique of apostle creation, then the problem of lifespan could be resolved to a certain degree even if they were using their original normal bodies, so Kaori and the others also didn’t view this matter as a problem.

「……Nn. Personally, there is no problem for me because I can enjoy various Hajimes. Rather I feel happy.」

Yue said that and gave kisses in turn at Hajime’s left shoulder, right eye, and his head. Every single action of Yue’s was overflowing with affection.

On that day, after they had established the method of going home, since that day when Yue was proposed to under the great tree of [Haltina Sea of Trees], Yue’s expression of love had increasingly become polished. She had never been seen without the ring that was fitted on the ring finger of her left hand, and when Yue saw the matching ring that was fitted on Hajime’s left ring finger, an aura of happiness would be scattered in full from her.

「Speaking of that, what about Yue? Have you gotten used to the world over here?」

「……Nn. There are still a lot of things that I don’t know, that I am not familiar with. This is really, a different world. There are a lot of unbelievable things……. But, it’s fun. Every day is fun, like opening a jack-in-the-box.」

「I see.」

「……Nn. Besides, I will be happy anywhere if that is a place where Hajime is. Mother-in-law and father-in-law are also really kind. They treasured me like their real daughter, it feels really happy. Everywhere in Hajime’s world, is filled with happiness.」

「I, I see……somehow, it feels hot even though it’s morning huh.」

The gaze of Hajime who ate a straight punch of love was wandering around. Yue who understood that Hajime was being shy chuckled 「Nfufu」while snuggling him like a cat. Hajime’s hand was subconsciously moving and gently caressing Yue’s fluffy hair.

An atmosphere that was overflowing with sugar content was running rampant since the morning. Yue quivered her long eyelashes while quietly closing her eyelids, her faint pink lips were pushing out to Hajime. Hajime easily surrendered seeing that obviously coaxing pose. His face was approaching near……

「Geez~, Yue-oneechan! Is Papa still not awake nano!?」

The one who opened the door of the room loudly with a bang while entering with a huff was a five-year-old girl who puffed up her flat chest. She was Hajime’s daughter Myuu. However, now her emerald green hair became emerald blond, while her fan-shaped ears, that were the trait of the merman race, had changed into small and cute human ears.

The cause of the change was the illusion that was created by the ring artifact hanging down from Myuu’s neck. The artifact was something excellent that could surprisingly reproduce even the touching sensation; so even if Myuu’s ears were touched, the person touching wouldn’t feel the texture of a fin, but the sensation of a human ear instead. And so, Myuu’s appearance was completely that of a beautiful little girl with blond hair.

The moment that Myuu energetically entered the room, she pointed her finger at the clichéd childhood friend morning scene which entered her eyes and raised a protesting voice「Aa~~!」.

「Geez-, Yue-oneechan! I always told you every time! Doing that to papa right from the morning is a no-no! Why aren’t you protecting your promise nano!」(TN: Here Myuu said ‘me-‘ to Yue. This is the way people in Japanese scold their naughty child or pet, it’s like saying ‘bad’ with a scolding tone in English, though I translated it into no-no here.)

「……uu. Tha, that is because Hajime is……」

「Blaming others is a no-no!」

「……au. I’m sorry.」

Toward Myuu who pointed her index finger at Yue’s nose while saying 「Bad-」, Yue could only dejectedly hang her head down regardless of her big sister status.

It had been about a year since they moved to Earth. Recently Myuu, who had grown up remarkably, was acting really proper and strict. When all the onee-chans who often became hopeless characters that couldn’t read the atmosphere when they got entangled with Hajime, like Yue right now, Myuu would remonstrate them with a ‘Bad’ like this.

Actually, in order for Myuu to become used to this world quickly, and also because it was desirable for Myuu to have education in good taste, she was then enrolled into a nursery school about two months ago, but it seemed that in the school Myuu became awakened as ‘onee-san’ for some reason.

There was the factor of how based on her age she was included in the senior group in the school, but additionally, there was also how she had been piling up experience that should be too dense for a mere infant. She had been kidnapped, auctioned, traveled through a desert, struggling through a scene of carnage at the Devil King’s Castle, and even participated in a legendary decisive battle. Looking at it from the point of view of such a Myuu, the children the same age as her, who were born in a peaceful country like Japan, were looked upon as really young and naïve, as expected.

Thinking ‘I have to be proper and strict!’, she imitated the outrageous onee-chan group around her and her mother that was overflowing with kindness, like that she acted too helpful towards the other kindergarteners……when she noticed, she had become the trusted and beloved leader of the kindergarteners.

However, her call of 「Gentlemen! And ladies of Myuu’s friend!」 when she was gathering the kindergarteners, or how she said 「Right now is exactly the time to blaze our souls!」when encouraging a child that felt down, or how she showed a fearless grin when there was a child that looked uneasy, those actions that looked a little bit unlike a kindergartener were conspicuous so the teacher there reported it to the Nagumo household……regarding the state of Hajime when he received that contact from the teacher, let’s just say that he was rolling around on the floor for real at that time.

「Really it’s my bad, Myuu. Come on, I’ve already woken up here.」

Yue, who possessed the absolute dignity as the legal wife towards the other wives, was seriously feeling down from getting scolded by Myuu. Hajime sent a glance towards such a Yue while crawling out from the futon. Myuu listened to Hajime’s words and nodded, then faced Hajime and reached out both her hands.

「Myuu? What’s with those hands?」

「Papa, Myuu wants to be carried nano.」

Even though she was scolding Yue just now, Myuu demonstrated a spoiled kid request. Yue went ‘hah’ in shock and moved her gaze to Myuu. Her eyes were clearly narrating her dissatisfaction 「Even though I was scolded when acting spoiled……」which was looking a bit lacking in maturity.

Toward that, Myuu said,

「Mama said, 『When Yue-san pulls back, immediately act spoiled(attack)』, like that nano.」

「……I’m going to speak a bit with Remia.」

Yue became enveloped with faint golden light, right after that, she became adult mode. And then, in order to speak a few words with the mother who taught woman’s battle tactics to a little child, Yue silently, but quickly, exited from the room.

And then Myuu, who kept holding her pose asking for a hug, directed a shuddering gaze toward Hajime who was left behind. This little girl in front of his eyes was steadily mastering the lessons from the seniors around her. From here on, just what kind of growth this beloved daughter would show him after accepting the teachings of the women who had one or two peculiarities, Hajime wondered……

「Papa, carry me nano.」

「……Okay」

With a cramped expression, Hajime hugged Myuu who was making a cute request with a cute grin, and then he exited the room while listening to the tumult that was audible from downstairs.

Hajime who entered the living room on the first floor with one of his arms carrying Myuu witnessed the scene of Yue laying down complaints incessantly towards Myuu’s actual mother Remia. In regards to Remia, similar with Myuu, she was also exposing emerald blonde hair and human ears, right now she was showing her usual 「my my, ufufu」smile while dodging Yue’s complaints flightily――that’s how it looked like, but her cheeks were faintly blushing.

With the adult mode Yue as her opponent, as expected even a professional widow would find herself at a disadvantage. Even though they were the same gender, being stared at by the adult Yue fixedly from a very close range would make anyone unable to calm down. Adult Yue-sama, how terrifying.

「Ah, you finally woke up Hajime-san.」

「Fumu, as I thought, perhaps having Yue in charge of waking you up art no good.」

Shia who was helping with the preparation of breakfast was saying such a thing with an exasperated face while giving her morning greeting, and Tio who was watching the morning news in the living room looked behind while also similarly greeting him.

There was no change in Tio’s appearance, while Shia’s prided rabbit ears were similarly hidden with an artifact like Myuu and Remia. Right now her straight faint blue hair was put together using a hair tie located around her neck, and the bundle of hair was hung down forward.

「My, Shia-chan and also Tio-chan, you two are saying such things, but if it’s the two of you who are going to wake up Hajime won’t you two also dive in?」

「Naturally desu, Kaa-sama.」

「Of course, Hahaue-dono」(TN: Both ways of calling have the same meaning of mother, but the kanji they are written with has the meaning of mother-in-law.)

Carrying breakfast from the kitchen……wasn’t how she appeared. This person who appeared from the washroom as though to say that she had woken up just now, was Hajime’s mother, Nagumo Sumire. Sumire was a famous shoujo manga artist, so there were a lot of times where she was staying out until late at night in her workplace, she was extraordinarily weak in the morning. Because of that, the Nagumo household didn’t make a regular habit of taking breakfast properly but……

There Shia, who was in charge of the cooking while in Tortus, and Remia, who was a mother with a child, came in. Hajime took home Yue and the others from the other world and not long after that the girls became freeloaders, so the kitchen became entrusted to the two of them.

「Everyone, good morning. Maaan, it’s great that the house is brilliant right from the morning. Even after a year has passed, my heart is still dancing every time I see this. You damn son, how dare you come home after becoming a great man! Really, thank you very much-」

「You are full of energy even in the morning huh, Tou-san. And don’t grin like that while looking at them. You are going to get punched flying you know……by Kaa-san.」

The short-haired middle-aged man with a tall stature, who had been continuously in a state of ‘Right now, I’m intensely moved!’ since a year ago, was the central pillar of the Nagumo household, a company president who managed a game company, Nagumo Shuu.

He who was a pure otaku seemed to be deeply moved everyday from witnessing Yue and the others who seemed to come straight out from 2D. And then, most likely, being called as 「Otou-sama」 by beautiful girls and women was also undoubtedly greatly related to that.

Shuu laughed in a good mood from being surrounded by his daughters-in-law, Sumire was in a daze, and Hajime was doing Myuu’s hairstyle while the breakfast was lined up on the dining table.

By the way, Shuu and Sumire’s yearly income far surpassed the earning of an average salaryman, so the Nagumo household was quite large. Because of that, even when their family increased all of a sudden, the home didn’t feel that cramped even when all of them lived in one house.

Although, because of the sudden increase in the number of residents right now, the renovation of the house was in progress and after several months the house would surely be completed into a splendid building twice the previous size, that the neighbors would notice.

In addition, regarding the administrative concern of Yue and the others, like their resident registration and the like, Hajime had snuck into the government office and finished forging the documents. For their peace of mind, Yue even used her soul magic on the government workers to plant suggestions in them so that there would be no problem. It was hard work because there were a lot of documents that needed to be put in order, for example, passport and identification papers and so on, but at the very least there should be no one that could discover any unnaturalness with their existences in Japan.

Even if they got found out, they could just use soul magic to deal with it every time. They were also planning to slowly leave behind evidence of their existences at the foreign governments too. The government officials of the world would be opposed by age of god magic!

「Yup, Shia-chan, Remia-chan, today the food is also delicious. Before this I thought that putting food into your stomach right from the morning, “Is that some kind of torture huh?”, like that……but if it’s like this then I can eat no matter how much.」

「I get what you mean. Hajime, Tou-san is happy. My son became a splendid cheat harem bastard when he returned back. There is nothing that I can teach you anymore like this.」

「Tou-san, I don’t understand whether you are praising me or speaking ill of me from your words, but I have never received any lesson or anything about being a cheat harem bastard at all.」

Sumire sent an exaggerated praise at Shia and Remia excessively, while Shuu was sending Hajime words with a condescending attitude. Hearing that, Hajime replied back with an exasperated state. To that, Shuu opened his mouth with an irritating atmosphere as though to say 「Good grief, yareyare daze」.

「What are you saying? Haven’t I beaten the soul of an otaku into you since you had awareness of your surroundings? In other words, that was also me beating the soul of a cheat harem into you. The reason that you were able to create a cheat harem in another world, is exactly because of that. How is that? Can you feel the gratitude for your Otou-sama keenly in your heart now?」

「I think I have already talked with you about my experience in the other world, but where is an otaku soul proving useful there――」

Shuu and Sumire had listened to all that Hajime experienced in the other world. About how much effort it took to recover his normal appearance, about how his arm and eye were artificial, about how his gaze turned sharp now, and above all, about how his atmosphere now was completely different from in the past. Hajime told all of those personally without any falsehood or manipulation, nor was he even trying to do those.

In other words, Shuu and Sumire should have known about the sequence of events of their son’s grand experience starting from his experiences in the abyss. In spite of that, Shuu now declared that otaku knowledge was useful in those experiences, hearing that Hajime was a bit unable to accept it.

And so, Hajime normally objected to Shuu, but Shuu and Sumire immediately grinned widely while cutting off Hajime’s words.

「『Ladies and gentleman-, all of you warriors-』」

「-」

「『Right now in this time, is exactly the time to blaze your soul-』」

「!!」

「『If you said you are going to get in my way, I’ll kill you.』」

「!?」

「『I’ll protect Yue, and Yue will protect me. With that we are――』」

「I got it already-! Otou-sama, really thank you very much-! That’s why, stop it-」

Hajime writhed while asking them to stop with a voice that sounded like a scream. Toward their son who was enduring his shame that much, the father and mother were mercilessly dealing the pursuing attack.

「Oi oi, what’s wrong Hajime? What are you feeling ashamed for? You were cool you know? In real life, there is almost no chance to say those kinds of speeches you know? When Tou-san watched the image recording Tio-san showed to me, my heart was trembling hard. Oh man, it was really an amazing chuu――cough-, really an amazing heroic speech you know?」

「Yes, truly. Not only to the girl partner, but you even said 『she is my woman』 to the girl’s parent, when I watched that I thought, “Just from what galgame this conquering character came from?”. Really……」

After giving a glance at Hajime who was shaking while holding his chopstick, Shuu and Sumire paused with a superb timing before continuing with splendid harmony.

「「Hajime-san, those were seriously awesome –ssu. Truly, thank you very much-!」」

「You two are noisy-. Don’t screw around, stop messing with me using that material-」

Shuu and Sumire knew about the events in the other world not only from Hajime’s story. While keeping it secret from Hajime, Tio used regeneration magic to leave behind recording images of every memory――obviously the events in the abyss were not included, other than that, the time when Hajime accepted Shia, the time when Hajime spoke resolutely to Tio’s grandfather Adol, and even Hajime’s speech to his classmates in the Devil King’s castle, etc.――and showed it to Shuu and Sumire. Since then, at every opportunity, Shuu and Sumire would praise Hajime 「As expected from our son-!」 with teasing mixed in it to mess with Hajime.

The corners of Hajime’s eyes lifted up fiercely and brutally put pressure on Tio in an outburst of anger. With a cough, Tio choked in the middle of slurping her miso soup. Miso soup was dripping from her nose while her breathing was getting rough ‘haa haa’.

「A, as expected from the parents of Hajime-san. Recently I have become used to it, but as I thought, seeing the figure of Hajime-san being toyed around, the uncomfortable feeling that I get is not half-baked desu.」

「……Nn. But, the bullied Hajime……is also nice.」

「My my, Yue-san. Recently, it feels that if it is about Hajime-san then everything is fine for you. Fufu, Myuu too has to work hard like this. Also Tio-san, this is the dining table you know? Please don’t go *haa haa* while dripping snot like that, eat your food properly. Right now your face is looking quite “over the age limit” you know?」

Shia smiled wryly towards the exchange between Hajime and his parents, while Yue’s cheeks reddened for some reason, Tio was going *haa haa*, and Remia was going ‘my my, ufufu’ smilingly. This was the ordinary day of the Nagumo household recently.

Just when Hajime was going to snap from the mess, Shuu and Sumire easily drew back and concentrated on their breakfast as though nothing had happened. Hajime who was trembling from losing the target of his anger was then comforted by Yue and the others altogether.

With a sidelong glance at their son who was being taken care of by beautiful women and girls, Shuu and Sumire faced each other and their expressions burst into a smile.

「Nevertheless, that time when Hajime suddenly returned home, and in addition, he also introduced Yue and the others, it was really shocking huh.」

「You’re right. For him to really go to another world and return home bringing a cheat harem, that’s something that I had never even dreamed of.」

While exchanging words with small whispers, both of them recalled that time when Hajime came home.

---

AN: Thank you very much for reading this every time.

Thank you very much too for the thoughts, opinions, and reports about misspellings and omitted words.

For the time being, I’m thinking of writing a bit about the story of post-going home.

After all, there are considerable requests and also hope for a present-day story (lol).

Shirakome himself is swelling out with wild ideas.

Next will be the story of Hajime returning to his home and reuniting with Shuu and Sumire.

I think it most likely can be posted at 6 P.M Saturday next week.

Please take care of me from here on too.

---

Previous   Table of Content   Next