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The Staggering Price of Bridging Worlds – Part 02

“Hikaru.”

Hazuki’s voice interrupted the silence.

He hadn’t anticipated her speaking again, and certainly not calling his name. Hikaru paused, unsure whether to be delighted or surprised.

“Long time no see. How have you been? You did die, after all.”

Hikaru felt it best to accept things as they were, not allowing himself to feel happy or anything. He had already decided not to return to Japan.

Hazuki’s voice remained unchanged, offering a familiar comfort to Hikaru. He vividly recalled when Hazuki, back in middle school, spoke to him while smiling.

But her next words surprised him to the point where he couldn’t express any emotions.

“Serika forgot to mention it, but don’t you want to tell your mom and dad about you?”

Mom and dad. Never did he expect to be asked such a thing.

“Serika has only told me that you’re there. No one else. If there’s anything you want to tell your parents, let me know.”

That was the last message recorded on the video.

“…”

“Hikaru? What was the last thing she said?”

“Oh…”

Hazuki’s question was perfectly natural; there wasn’t anything odd about it. Serika herself returned to Japan to meet her family and Hazuki.

And now that all members of the Four Eastern Stars were in Japan, Serika might not even need to return to this side.

Maybe she’s not coming back.

They would likely discuss it among themselves. When she said there was no need to rush, she might have meant that as well.

Lavia and Paula were staring at him.

“It was nothing…” Hikaru trailed off.

Before he could say “nothing important,” he stopped himself. Just as Selyse, Sara, and Sophie were important to Serika, so were Lavia and Paula to him. He was willing to risk his life for them. He didn’t want to lie.

“She asked if I wanted to tell my parents that I was alive.”

“I see…”

Lavia lowered her gaze upon hearing the word “parents”. She had already lost her mother, and Hikaru had killed her father—though Lavia herself hated the man enough to want to kill him herself.

“I think you should tell them, but I suppose it’s not that simple,” Paula said thoughtfully. “Doing what you want is probably the best.”

“Do what I want, huh?”

In that case, the answer was: not tell them. Since coming to this world, he thought about Hazuki a few times, but barely his parents. And those memories weren’t pleasant.

Hikaru had no siblings. As he grew up and freed his parents from the burden of childrearing, the cold couple started growing apart too. He was the reason they were close to begin with, and as he began walking on his own, the family dynamic took on a triangular shape, each one drifting away from the others.

No love or hate, just indifference. He even thought that they wouldn’t even notice if he was gone for a few days.

“Thanks,” Hikaru said. “I guess I’ll just do what I want.”

---

Hikaru wondered why the leaders he met were always so busy.

Despite the late hour, Queen Kujastria, with dark circles under her eyes, was busy with paperwork, signing documents while eating a simple meal of cheese, bread, and soup.

“Uh… how are you doing?”

Kujastria jumped.

Hikaru, having sneaked into Kujastria’s private chamber through a secret passage known only to the royal family, had deactivated his Stealth about ten minutes ago. Yet Kujastria, engrossed with the papers spread across the table, remained entirely unaware of his presence.

“Oh, it’s just you,” was all she said.

What does she mean by that?

After all the rough treatment he had been subjected to, her reaction made him feel at ease. It was complicated.

“Why did you look a little happy?” she asked.

“Well…”

Hikaru took a seat across from Kujastria.

Even when Hikaru appeared out of nowhere, Luvain of the Theocracy of Bios just greeted him casually, which made him untrustworthy—Hikaru believed the man would thoroughly exploit people whenever he could—while Kagurai of the Quinbrand Empire asked if he had brought an interesting topic.

Compared to them, Kujastria was a breath of fresh air.

“I feel a sense of security here,” Hikaru said. “Like it’s home.”

“And you using the secret passage as you please gives me zero sense of security.”

“If you closed it, I would have to break through the front, and that would be a pain. At least leave this one open.”

“So you’re saying you can break through the front.”

Of course he could. Hikaru’s greatest weapon was Stealth. Though it was weak against Instinct and traps, he had been managing lately thanks to his own Instinct and Mana Detection.

“Since we couldn’t talk much the other day, I thought we could chat a bit today.”

The last time he was here was three days ago. As soon as he arrived at the capital, he woke up Kujastria to get the magic formula for the spell and left in a hurry.

“I was surprised too. I thought there was an intruder in my bedroom, and it was only you asking for the formula.”

“Sorry about that. I was in a hurry.”

The next day was the appointed day with Serika.

“Anyway, the capital has really changed,” Hikaru remarked. “The streets are bustling, and the people’s faces are full of life. Maybe it’s because I was in the Empire until recently, but over there, the effects of the Accursed Toxin still linger.”

“I see. Your efforts are appreciated.”

Hikaru simply shrugged in response. In all honesty, it took a lot of continuous effort, but that wasn’t Kujastria’s fault. She was working hard herself—studying materials that affected the fate of the kingdom until late at night, which was different from preparing for exams.

“I’ll ask just in case,” Kujastria said.

“Hmm?”

“You didn’t barge into Pope Luvain’s or Emperor Kagurai’s private chambers without permission, did you?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Please, for the love of everything, say you didn’t.”

Hikaru laughed.

“Why are you like this…” Queen Kujastria seemed even more tired.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, is it?”

“It is. I don’t want any more victims.”

“Victims?”

“I’m not sure if this is something you already know, but just in case, entering someone’s house without permission is not acceptable.”

“Wait, it’s not?”

“What?”

Hikaru meant it as a joke, but Kujastria took it seriously.

“Unbelievable… What kind of life have you been leading?”

“I-I was just kidding. It was a joke.”

Then Kujastria cracked a smile—the first one Hikaru had seen today.

“I win this time.”

Apparently, Kujastria was simply joking as well.

“All right. I concede.”

I guess it’s fine, if it cheers her up, Hikaru thought.

“Let’s get down to business,” Hikaru said. “How is your research going?”

His purpose for today’s visit was the spell for crossing worlds.

Kujastria put on a frown, crossed her arms, and leaned back against the chair.

“Not good. First of all, I can’t figure out why the portal only works one way. When I think back to when the spell was activated, it seemed to be working fine, and there’s nothing that could be related to ‘one-way’ travel in the sigils.”

“According to the Four Eastern Stars who crossed over, they can use magic, but it’s way weaker. Could that be a factor?”

“I actually built up a hypothesis about that. But theoretically, it shouldn’t matter. We can’t create an environment without magicules in this world either, so there is no way to run an experiment.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize. This is a lot, considering you didn’t have much time.”

Hikaru was impressed. He thought she would have been too busy to work on the spell, but she had been giving it some thought at least.

“I can’t find the time to physically work on it, but I’ve been running thought experiments non-stop.” The Queen said with a smug look, raising her index finger.

“I appreciate that, but you look like you could use a break.”

“I’m fine. Researching the spell for crossing worlds is like a stress relief for me. Plus, with the Accursed Toxin problem finally seeing a resolution, this is the part where I persevere. Once we get past this, I can rest as much as I want.”

“As much as you want?”

“I may have exaggerated. I can rest a bit. Thanks to you, Silver Face. Allow me to express my gratitude on behalf of the ten million people of the kingdom.”

She only lowered her head while sitting, but Hikaru felt a definite weight in her words.