Side: Amahashi Kakeru

When I got home, Filia was making clothes.

She'd been at it ever since coming over here, and she was good—pro-level, honestly. Apparently she could even make the real deal, like proper dresses. Impressive.

"Oh yeah—there's Grandma's sewing machine somewhere."

There was an old treadle-powered sewing machine in the room we'd meant to make Grandma's. It ought to still work. I showed it to Filia.

"What kind of machine is this?"

"You sew cloth with it. Though I've never actually used it myself."

Being an old model, it was big. About the size of a table, an antique through and through. I tried to copy what I'd seen and show her how it worked, but… it didn't go very well.

"Oh my, now there's something interesting."

While I was struggling with it, everyone gathered around. Noctia's eyes, in particular, lit up.

"I can't figure out how to use it."

"Let me have a look."

"This is Grandma's keepsake sewing machine, so don't break it."

"I'd never do that. Besides, the build on this is simpler than other machines, isn't it."

She started poking at it, brimming with curiosity, which made me a little nervous—but did she actually understand how it worked?

"You do it like this. And then…"

"Ah, yeah, that might be it."

How did she figure out a sewing machine she'd never seen before and get the hang of it that fast?

"As impressive as ever, I see."

"Yes…"

Pricia and Sanctina were stunned too. The truth was, the only one in our house who'd really mastered the electrical appliances was Noctia. Everyone else only knew the bare minimum.

Filia listened with great interest as Noctia launched straight into a lecture on how to use it.

"My, my, this really is something."

When the sewing machine started up with that nostalgic sound, Filia was delighted too.

"Well? Think you can use it? If we go to the electronics store there are newer ones with all kinds of functions, but…"

"This is plenty. With this I can cut down on a lot of the work."

If it was going to be useful, then she should go ahead and use it. Grandma would be happier that way too.

"Oh, right. Kakeru, the holy armor and the holy sword—I've handed them over to Noctia. It's no good leaving those lying around."

Filia had started sewing, humming to herself, so I'd gone back to my room to change when Pricia called out to me.

"Sure, got it. To be honest, I had no idea what to do with them anyway."

I'd been thinking it was about time to stuff them in the closet. They were so divine they stood out, and apparently Kitamura wanted to come over with his eyes on the women.

If Noctia could take them off my hands, that was for the best.

As far as gear went they were the highest rank back in the other world, but they screamed "Hero's armor and sword," so they'd be hard to use even if I dove into a dungeon here.

"Wait, is it really fine for Noctia, though? Wasn't that anti-Demon-Lord gear?"

That suddenly bugged me. The people over there had said that armor, sword, and shield were gear made to fight the Demon Lord. Wasn't there some downside to leaving them with Noctia?

"That's just something the human race decided on their own. As for their attribute, they're sacred equipment with the chief god's blessing, yes. But there's no special damage against the demon race or anything. The humans have it wrong—the demon race are residents of that world too. It's not like we're weak to the chief god's blessing."

"Wait, there's no special damage against the demon race?"

I'd asked out of concern, but the one even more surprised by her explanation than me was Pricia. The people over there had always made it sound like it worked on the demon race.

"As a racial attribute, the demon race isn't strong with light. That much is true. In that sense, the light-attribute holy armor and holy sword aren't our strong suit. But even so, it only amounts to a weakness. The human race has its strengths and weaknesses too, doesn't it. I'd say it's about the same. 'Special damage' is putting it far too dramatically."

Pricia was holding her head, shocked.

"Sanctina, did you know about this?"

"No, I didn't know either."

So Filia the elf seemed to have known, but the two from the human race hadn't. I really did keep coming back to the same thought: the people running that world were a pretty nasty bunch.

"There are several holy relics left behind by the gods in that world. The demon race had some too."

"I see. Then I'll let you hold on to them. I'm never going to use them again anyway."

It wasn't like I could exactly toss them out with the trash. And what was going to happen to them when I died someday? If I could return them, I'd want to.

Once I'd changed out of my uniform, the three of us—Pricia, Sanctina, and me—went out shopping.

This had been turning into a daily routine lately too. Not every day, but about once every two days we'd go shopping.

Well, it was getting noticed, and people made a fuss about it…

"Amazing. To think the same quality of goods never runs out."

Pricia, who must have gotten used to the supermarket by now, looked around the store and offered that impression.

"Now that you mention it, maybe so."

In the other world, where monsters roamed outside the towns, the area people could actually use was limited, so distribution had never developed.

Whoops, I needed to do the shopping. What was cheap today?

"There are so many ingredients and seasonings—it's fun."

Sanctina was enjoying the shopping and the cooking. None of the places in the other world had ingredients and seasonings as varied as Japan, after all.

Thinking over tonight's menu, I picked ingredients from the produce section. Sanctina liked to cook, but her repertoire wasn't all that large yet. I wasn't beaten just yet, either.

"Welcome. Getting along as well as ever, I see."

As I was picking out this and that and we came to the prepared-foods and bento section, a familiar shop clerk called out to us with a fond smile. Before I went off to the other world, I used to buy bento and side dishes here all the time.

"It must be hard, the culture being so different in another country. Let me know if anything comes up."

"Thank you very much."

Same as the lady next door—it was nice of them to call out to me like this. I appreciated it.

"Amahashi?!"

"The famous…"

"In the flesh…"

I was about to head to the register when I heard some familiar voices. It was Kitamura. He was with a few guys who looked like his club buddies. I could've sworn I caught some ominous words in there, but I'd let it slide.

"Yo, you heading home now?"

"Yeah, uh…"

Kitamura and the others froze the moment they saw Pricia and Sanctina.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Pricia."

"I'm Sanctina."

"N-nice to meet you!"

Faced with Pricia and Sanctina greeting them cheerfully, Kitamura and his friends were stiff as boards. Well, that was only natural. Just talking to foreigners was rare for them, and when the foreigners were beauties on top of that, they'd only get more nervous.

We split off so we could line up at the register, but I had a feeling I was going to hear about this again tomorrow at school.