Volume 6, Chapter 7: I became a Fifth Grader, Part 1

“…… Junikoko Hourglass?”  (TLN: Junikoko: 12, 2 hour periods, related to the zodiac)

Onzada heard those words after he had been summoned by his brothers.

Even though he was still young, since he’d trained seriously ever since he had been an elementary schooler, his abilities had nearly reached that of his older brothers’, and was considered to be an adult, and so he would be taught the secrets accordingly.

“That’s right. Originally, you should have heard this from Honored Father, but I told you a while ago. So, because of that I was told to take responsibility for this. This will be quite a serious talk, so are you ready for it?”

“O-oh… yes.”

“That’s good.”

His older brother smiled gently upon seeing Onzada become nervous in the midst of his reply. Bracing himself at once, he quietly spoke of it all in the main hall that was only lit by candlelight.

“Onzada, I’ve told you about the great [Evil] that will appear ten years from now.”

“Yes.”

“To be precise, there was a prophecy about the spring 17 years from now. And at that time, we had already successfully deployed the technique we used. Its name was the [Junikoko Hourglass].”

“…… What kind of technique it is to have such a name?”

“The true meaning of the technique is not yet known to us as well. However, there was once a large-scale operation that made use of hundreds of practitioners, even us, to seal off that [Evil] over the course of half a year.”

“Half a year!?”

“That’s right, half a year. In that time, the monks and practitioners who were affiliated with [Oyama], exerted their powers continually day and night, taking shifts, and even when they were taking breaks off shift they would serve as guards to protect the ritual, it was quite a bit of hard work.”

“What happened… to that evil that was sent into the past?”

“We don’t know. Sent into the past…… I think that the evil is present ‘now’, but father and the other monks have not yet been able to ascertain if it is asleep or not. It should have been considerably weakened……”

“Is it not possible to find and defeat it?”

“It seems that if we defeat it, the burden on the future would be lessened. But it’s more important that we not wake it over defeating it. If we can wake up that evil in its weakened state on purpose, then we can kill it.”

“…………”

If they did not awaken that [Evil], it seems like they would be able to completely seal it or destroy it in the past.

His older brother didn’t know anything more, and stopped speaking then.

But something stuck in Onzada’s heart.

“…… Why is that evil presence just called ‘evil’?”

In his brother’s words, it was that there was a prophesy that it would bring darkness to the hearts of the people of this world, and return the way to its chaotic state as it was in ancient times.

But, to say that [We must destroy it for it is Evil]…… Onzada felt a little discomfort.

The evil being had yet to do a single thing.

Then, Onzada thought to himself, why couldn’t they just do the same things as they did to castaway or lingering spirits to this, but insist on destroying it?

“That is……”

He was learning magic from that young boy Yuuki whom he’d recently gotten to know alongside Yuzu.

Although the magic had seemed fake to him at first, somehow, he managed to understand the concept of [Magic Power]. The two of them said that magic was an ancient [Power]  of this world.

Because magic power had disappeared from this world, science developed and humans were able to expand their influence.

Then… is this ancient magic power, an evil to the world……?

“……Well, I don’t know either.”

＊＊＊

“Yuzu……. Are you going to the party that’s coming up soon?”

“Eh…… where is it?”

One day, when I’d been called to father’s study, he suddenly told me this.

What kind of party was that? The anniversary of our company was still a ways away, so what’s the occasion?

“Where, hmm…… it’s the 70th anniversary party of Nikuno Ham. Didn’t I tell you, Yuzu?”

“Nope.”

I shook my head a lot at Father’s words.

“I see…… I thought that you’d surely have heard it from Handsome-kun.”

*twitch*

“He’s very fit, and turned out quite a bright boy. Even though his father the director of Nikuno Ham used to say that his son had a strange fear of ghosts and was worried all the time.”

“Oh, I see.”

Aah, there was certainly that feeling before.

It was some sort of evil spirit or something, and if he still felt that way now I was going to introduce him to Onzada-kun’s services. I’ll e-mail him later.

“Yuzu also had something of a physical condition that last time, but now that you’ve stabilized for quite a bit, will you be attending?”

No, it’s not decreased or stabilized at all. But it’s been peacefully resolved.

“But since I’ve never gone out of his household, what if I don’t know how to perform formal greetings?”

“Since Father will be going with you, just greet the people how I greet and it’ll be fine. Yuzu’s also become a fifth grader, and sometimes people have asked me ‘Oh, where’s your youngest daughter?’ If you’re not feeling well then it’s okay, but otherwise I’d be quite happy if you would come.”

“Oh….”

As expected, it’s impossible to play hooky for this. It seems like I’m going to be drawn into the trouble……

Also, like father said, I’ve just entered the fifth grade in elementary school.

This body of mine has grown quite a bit, no? As to how much larger I’ve gotten, well, Ooba-onii-chan tried to hug and lift me for the first time in a while, and started to strain his back.

…… How rude. I am very light. However much I eat ramen, my stomach hardly changes, and I hardly eat any other meals. Comparing it to Kotone-chan who has to swim laps to lose weight thanks to overeating ramen…… that…… in an instant, I felt a chill.

Oh yeah, there were things like that too, now that we’re talking about ramen.

*

One day, when I entered Dad-chan’s ramen shop, I had a slight feeling that something was very wrong.

To express it clearly, I thought that it was like the heavy soul of that corrupt business family that I ate, and not anything like the sweet taste of a wicked lady, that’s the kind of feeling.

“W-Welcome”

“………”

“………”

My eyes wandered towards the kitchen as I gazed upon him silently.

“You should greet customers more energetically.”

“……Welcome!”

At he who spoke out with a more or less desperate voice, I could only gaze at him scornfully.

“…… What are you doing? Yuuki-kun?”

“………”

In the kitchen, Yuuki-kun was washing the dishes while wearing a loose cook’s uniform.

While I was standing at the entrance, Misa noticed me and came closer.

“Yuzu-chan, welcome”

“Hey, Misa…… what’s that.”

“Ah, this. Yuuki-kun loves ramen, so he brought me souvenirs from all over the country, it’s amazing.”

“Heeh……”

*chira*……

“So after talking to my onii-chan properly, he decided to help out with the shop.”

“Heeh……”

*chira*……

“I-I, it’s because Misa said that I’d never eaten the ramen of the province”

As my twinkling eyes looked at him, Yuuki-kun began to confess.

I see…… It’s [Misa], huh. It’s a good thing you get along well with her. Given that Dad-chan didn’t say anything, does he approve of this too?

Then I’ll be the one instead.

“My daughter is not easy, young’un.”

“What are you talking about suddenly?!”

*

…… Well, that was that.

Hmm, isn’t it nice that you’re having some lingering affection? Well, it can’t be helped since Misa is so cute. As per usual, she’s like a ‘kokeshi doll’.

As to why he might be attracted to an elementary school girl, despite having the memory of his past life, it was because his feelings were considerably influenced by his actual age.

“Does this mean that Yuzu will not be attending?”

“……ah, yes”

Oops. I didn’t hear anything that was being said in between. …… Well, it’s alright. It just means that people will say that I couldn’t attend the party because I was sick.

“Don’t worry so much about it. Both Ooba and Kotone will be attending.”

“Ooba-onii-chan is going to be the heir, right?”

“At first, he’ll be going to Nikuno Ham to intern and learn, as one of the rank and file.”

“That’s nice. If you let him start off as a company manager, he’d become a failure, right?”

“…… Yuzu sure is strict with Ooba.”

“The employees of the future are important too. In the case of Kotone-onee-chan, there’s going to be a lot of suitors?”

“Ooh, Kotone surely will, for how pretty she is! She’ll be nearly 20, but she still hasn’t brought home her boyfriend……”

“Don’t worry so much about the youngsters.”

“Did Yuzu pick all these up from Father saying them!?”

What, did Father say those too? Anyway, because Kotone-chan’s significant other is Dad-chan, he can’t be brought home to the family easily.

And so, I ended up agreeing to attend Nikuno Ham’s party.

Nn~…… I wish I wouldn’t run into any problems.

Author’s Notes:

Next time, the heroine returns again.