I forgot to set up the posting settings (sweat).
I apologize for the delay.
Evia-san is going to take action.
I understand that fact is reassuring.
But I can’t help but think that I shouldn’t do nothing.
While washing the dishes I used, I’m thinking only about what happened today.
As for Minami, whom I briefly consulted.
“♪~”
She’s resumed playing the game while humming.
It doesn’t look like she’s controlling six characters by herself like before, but she’s operating two characters with her feet and her hands are on her smartphone.
It’s a posture that can only be described as bad manners, but it’s her usual training, so there’s nothing that can be done.
Minami’s position requires her to grasp the overall situation and constantly adapt to changes.
She constantly rotates her brain to maintain a full field of vision.
It’s a skill I could never achieve.
“Masaru, if you wrinkle your brow like that, like an old man, the wrinkles won’t disappear!”
Minami doesn’t miss when I’m troubled by something like this.
Looking at Minami from where I’m washing dishes, she traces her forehead with her finger, making a gesture as if to smooth out wrinkles.
“Masaru, you work too hard. It’s good to think that you have to do something, to struggle to do something, and to keep moving, but doing only that will tire you out!”
Then, her usual playful attitude suddenly changes, and her words at the end sound like the old Minami.
“It’s just right to think loosely like me. Life is suffocating if you’re always tense.”
But then, she immediately breaks into a loose smile, as if her strength has vanished, and before I know it, I too relax.
This is it. Minami sometimes eases my mind as if she can read it.
Perhaps it’s because we’ve known each other since childhood that she can do this, but the fact that she can so easily relieve my tension isn’t without its own thoughts.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
However, I have no reason to object.
We know each other’s personalities too well to get worked up.
Is it an appropriate sense of distance? How far can I go, and where is it dangerous?
That’s why.
“But I’m uneasy.”
I can spill out my weaknesses like this without holding back.
Minami stopped the game with a click.
“I don’t want to be informed after something happens, like last time.”
“…Is it about Midori?”
And she immediately senses what I’m worried about.
“Yeah.”
“Even I couldn’t have predicted that. My old self was on good terms with people and only showed her good side to everyone. That’s how she ended up being called good at getting along in the world: she was just good at putting on an act. From my perspective, she was just wearing a mask.”
Minami’s dislike for Midori-san remains the same.
She says it with irritation, but she doesn’t refuse to talk about it.
I’m aware that I’m taking advantage of her attitude, but venting my feelings still cheers me up.
For me, the fact that Midori betrayed me, even though it’s a fact, is still something I can’t fully accept.
I know it’s useless to talk about “what ifs” – if only I had been more considerate, if there was something more I could have done, if I had done this or that then.
But there’s a reality where I can’t help but think “what if.”
“Hey. Just as I said, your brow is furrowed. I’m not telling you to stop thinking, but trying to bear responsibilities that aren’t yours is a problem. It’s the same with Amy-chan. Masaru, you should learn to rely on others a little more.”
This time, Minami’s finger gently touches my brow and moves as if to stretch out the wrinkles. I expected her fingers to be stiff from constantly holding game controllers and, more recently, magic staffs, but they are soft and girlish.
And then, Minami’s face, which has been getting more beautiful recently, is so close that I can’t help but be startled.
What is this?
Minami is a relative, a childhood friend. I never looked at her as anything of that sort, but it feels like a part of me I wasn’t conscious of has been suddenly stimulated, and I’m flustered.
“For now, I’ll contact the leader about Amy-chan later and ask Evia-san to confirm. If I leave it to you, you’ll think you have to handle it yourself and start moving to solve it on your own. Is that okay?”
“Uh, yeah.”
She’s normally sloppy, and I’m the one who supports her basic living expenses.
Yet, at unexpected moments, she shows herself as a reliable woman.
Between the natural fading of past relationships and my ex-lover doing something outrageous, I’ve had some strange romantic experiences. However, interacting with the opposite sex shouldn’t be that nerve-wracking.
Half of the party members are women, and I often interact with women due to my relationship with Jiro-san.
They are all quite attractive, so although I was nervous at first, I’m not anymore.
That’s why I’m flustered by my reaction to Minami’s small gestures like this.
“Are you flustered? What’s wrong? Your face is so red, have you finally noticed my charm?”
But seeing Minami’s grinning face, I know the feeling will quickly subside.
Yeah, Minami is Minami.
That feeling from a moment ago was just an illusion.
“As if! After I finish the dishes, I’m cleaning my room.”
“Eh! If you do that in the middle of the night, it’ll disturb the neighbors!”
“Thanks to you, I’ve learned how to do it quietly. Besides, if I leave it to you, you’ll just make the room dirtier.”
“Hmm, in times like these, I wish I could clean it all at once with magic like a wizard in a picture book.”
“You can’t use magic, so it’s a waste of thought no matter what.”
As I resume washing the dishes, Minami sends a message to Jiro-san.
While she’s exchanging messages like that, I reply with a slightly exasperated smile to my chilled feelings.
“F-f-f-foolish, Masaru. Based on the leader’s actions, there’s a good chance that the culture of magic will eventually spread throughout this world. And that will be while we are still active. People tend to want to use new technologies. So, a day will come when cleaning can be done easily with magic.”
Minami, who has finished sending her message, shakes her finger while calling me foolish.
“Is that how it is?”
This might be a political topic. I often hear bits and pieces from Jiro-san about such things, but I don’t often think about future developments like Minami does.
“I think there’s a good possibility. Preparations for publicly announcing the existence of otherworlders are gradually progressing. I believe public acceptance will be met with mixed reactions. From the perspective of those who run the country, if they know that the activities of otherworlders are limited, they can accept them more easily by managing them. While managing them, they will create a foundation for accepting magic in Earth.”
However, I can’t help but admire that Minami is even considering such prospects, and I stop wiping the dishes to look at her.
“You were actually thinking seriously about something.”
“How rude! I’ve been working pretty seriously lately, you know!?”
So, I sincerely apologize for what I just said and prompt her to continue.
“Well, returning to the topic of cleaning magic, once the foundation is laid, companies will naturally think of magic that can be sold. Considering factors like existing electronics and automotive manufacturers, price competition is inevitable. There will also be legal regulations regarding new magic technology. Once that flow is established, it will be unstoppable, and magic will be created on its own and blend into society. Then, it will only be a matter of time before magic that makes daily life comfortable is created.”
Minami expounds her consistent theory, but to my ears, it doesn’t sound entirely off base.
“If that happens, our company will undoubtedly be at the forefront of magic technology on Earth. We already have the know-how, and it’s no exaggeration to say we are pioneers among Earthlings who can use magic. Then, it will be natural to gain access to information about convenient magic.”
If one were to hear it, Minami’s words might be dismissed as mere fantasy, but I work for a company involved with magic.
So, I can only nod in agreement.
“If Minami continues to work hard like this, perhaps that will happen.”
I’m truly grateful to have met this company, and I’m grateful for meeting Jiro-san at that time. I finish putting away the dishes and think about tidying up my room next, so I leave the kitchen.
“However, I think creating picture-book-like magic would be extremely difficult.”
“Is that so?”
I put the neglected laundry into the basket, sort the unsorted trash, and return the books I left lying around to their original shelves.
My hands, moving with practiced ease, quickly clean the messy room with the body I’ve honed in dungeons.
While chatting casually and tidying up, Minami sits in a chair with her arms crossed, lost in thought beside me.
I don’t ask her to help.
The last time I asked her to help, she made the room even messier, so I stopped asking after that.
“Because, you have to cast multiple spells at once: transfer magic to return things to their original places, magic to clean things and remove dust, magic to polish and make them shine, and magic to eliminate mites and dust. At the very least, you’d need all these spells. For transfer magic, you’d have to pre-determine the transfer location, and the larger the room, the wider the effective range. That means the magic consumption will be more intense. And then, it depends on the spell and the image of the magic, so it’s uncertain whether you’ll get results commensurate with the effort.”
Therefore, I harbored a faint hope that if there were cleaning magic like Minami described, she might help clean, but listening to her talk, that hope seems distant.
“If you don’t combine them and use individual spells, it might be easier, but then it could be substituted with a vacuum cleaner. You’d have to decide where to draw the line.”
“I see.”
Looking back, I remember that Himik-san and others also clean their rooms with cleaning tools.
That’s not out of stubbornness, but rather the simple fact that cleaning magic doesn’t exist.
Occasionally, I’ve seen them use levitation magic to lift furniture and clean the dust underneath, but that’s about the extent of the magic they use.
“Even if you limit it to just dirt-removing magic, you’d need to set up the spells for what kind of dirt they’re effective against, otherwise, they won’t work. Is it grease or something else? Even if you create magic with the concept of easily removing dirt, if you don’t define the scope of the dirt, it might peel off existing patterns or paint, making it difficult to use.”
“Indeed, even with healing magic, it doesn’t just cure everything, does it?”
When people hear the word “magic,” they tend to think of it as a convenient technology that can solve anything, but in reality, it’s not like that.
Even with attack magic, the scope and power must be precisely determined.
For healing magic, you must carefully assess the process of how to heal it.
With Minami’s enchantment magic, if you don’t consider the potential effects, it could even have adverse consequences.
“Well, technology is advancing day by day. We can only wait for the day when such magic can be used easily.”
“Wouldn’t Minami want to create it?”
“I’d rather remain a user.”
“That’s so like you, Minami.”
Because of our conversations like this, I feel like Minami could create magic, but I laugh, knowing that my childhood friend, who only gets serious once a year, won’t have the motivation to do so, and I focus on cleaning.
Today’s word:
Learn to rely on others.
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“Pandora Pandemic Panic: Pandora’s Box Has Been Opened Again, But We’re Prepared With Secret Bases and More!!”
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