Chương 102: Chapter 27 A Brief Respite (Part 1)

I peeled my wife away from the TV screen showing my own face, and we got into the bath together, flirting and fooling around before going to sleep. She would have to return home soon to take care of our kids, so this feeling of being newlyweds and having the place all to ourselves was coming to an end. However, I had absolutely nothing scheduled for tomorrow. A solemn memorial service was scheduled to be held, but I had stubbornly refused to attend.

Considering everything that had happened yesterday, they surely wouldn't try to force me. It was my first complete day off in a while. I wasn't in the mood to get carried away, but I could at least take it easy.

"What are you doing tomorrow? You're not attending the ceremony, right?" Rina asked.

"Yeah, I just don't feel like going. I think I'd rather take some time to relax for once." She hugged me in bed like a body pillow. Her warmth felt comforting. As for what to do... I could swim in the hotel pool, or just stay in the room and watch videos. Come to think of it...

"Rina, I never asked what your Class is."

"Hmm? I'm a Healer. They say my abilities are Proliferation, Regeneration, and Fusion. I just hope I can heal the kids if they ever get hurt." A Healer. I'd heard that Takatsuki also had that Class; functionally, it was a healer. But Fusion... Every Class had some way of fighting. If that was the case, then Proliferation or Fusion had to be her offensive element. For instance, inflicting damage on a monster and then multiplying that wound in an impossible direction. Or fusing something bizarre to a severed limb.

I had heard explanations of various Classes, but they were usually described in single words. The key—and the drawback—to these descriptions was that they left out what they were being used against or applied to. If applied to oneself, a Healer could become a tank; if applied to an opponent, they could become a violent sort of healer. Even if she couldn't do it well right now, she might eventually be able to restore Kudo's arm. With those thoughts drifting through my mind, I fell asleep. The next day...

I watched TV in the morning while smoking a cigarette. The screen showed the memorial service. The Prime Minister and various prominent figures were in attendance, offering flowers and their own words. They had families, their own upbringings, lives they had lived, and hopes they had held. I won't forget you. I won't forget any of you. I'll make sure... I'll absolutely make sure we can operate the Gates safely. Without realizing it, I must have clenched my fist.

My nails dug into my palm, making my tightly clenched hand go white. Rina gently placed her hand over mine.

"Don't you think it's better to find some closure?"

"If I seek closure, I'll be cutting ties with the past. Not yet. Not yet. Nothing is over yet..."

"... You stubborn fool."

"Stubbornness is meant to be held onto. If you can't hold your ground, then you're just running away and leaving things unfinished. So I'll hold onto it as long as it takes."

"Sigh... Just promise me you'll rest once in a while, okay?" She planted a light kiss on my cheek and pulled away. I thought things were moving forward, but considering the kidnapping incident, I needed to solidify my footing soon. Otherwise, there was no telling what might happen next. As for the rewards... my personal cut could be decided after talking with Chiyoda. There was also the matter of the streaming revenue to be given to the victims' families.

Beyond that, there was the matter of wedging those two in as advisors, and the situation with Kudo. Surely, they wouldn't grumble about all that at this point. I had no intention of throwing my weight around, but authority that can't be wielded is nothing more than a hollow facade. I had already established my position through the media. Regardless of who wanted it or didn't, I could make it known to the outside world that this was the kind of person I was—the kind of position I held.

It was a title thrust upon me, but since they had decided it for me without my consent, I'd use it as I pleased. After all, while I had the title and the authority, what that position actually entailed had yet to be decided.

"And now for our next story. A man believed to be a government official was spotted performing a full-body prostration in the middle of Shibuya Scramble Crossing. According to the person who discovered him, photos of the man joyfully engaging in stone-kneeling at an SM club had been scattered around him, and he was shouting, 'Forgive me, Mistress!' Additionally, this individual is believed to be involved in yesterday's Gate weapon..." Stolen story; please report. He really went and did it.

I didn't know whether he was a career bureaucrat who had actually given the orders, but it seemed he'd done what needed to be done. Or was he made to do it? Well, now that the sentence had been carried out, it couldn't be taken back, and I had no intention of retracting it anyway. If he had any regrets, he could regret not talking to me. I'm not some certain country, but I'll keep the window for dialogue open. Don't worry, I won't move the goalposts. Instead, I'll make sure we talk until we're both satisfied...

Mochida arrived later, but since I had no desire to go out, I just sat there tapping away on my smartphone, checking videos and digging through them for interesting information. Ah, so the foreign groups had already gotten ahead from the fifteenth floor onward. It was dim as usual, but the terrain had become even more canyon-like. They were driving around in cars and motorcycles, probably ones they had stored in their rings.

Others were performing parkour-like acrobatics, pulling off flashy moves through the canyon with nothing but their own bodies. Vehicles were convenient both for exploration and getting around, but you had to keep at least one person inside, or they would be decomposed without question. Armored vehicles would probably be fine, but standard passenger cars looked like they would have a harder time. In fact, there was a Gunner riding on top of an armored vehicle, cheerfully spraying a. 50-caliber machine gun.

There were also videos titled things like "Using Magic to Enhance Something," but all of them were pretty underwhelming. To put it bluntly, while magic could assist other people, using it to enhance them was difficult. Wrapping something around the body like an outer shell could be managed, but actual physical enhancement was a high hurdle. It was a matter of visualization: what exactly counted as enhancement, and how difficult it was to accurately visualize another person's body.

For instance, if you wanted to increase someone's speed, what exactly would you enhance? Cardiorespiratory ability? Explosive power? Or perhaps reaction speed? Depending on the situation and the person's tendencies, whether it was the whole body or just one part... there was no end to the things to consider. On top of that, if your visualization differed from the other person's own image of themselves, the magic would start fighting against itself.

Even if you managed to cast it, if it differed from their image, it might merely feel insufficient—or, if it worked too well, the result could be disastrous. They might literally crush their own bones just by clenching their fist too hard. Once it reached that point, support Classes such as Enchanters would probably be better suited than magical Classes. I hadn't met one yet, but there were so many different kinds of Classes that I'd probably encounter one eventually. Seth's videos were becoming a regular fixture.

Perhaps he'd taken a liking to it, because he'd uploaded a camping video from a safe space. The floor was relatively shallow, and as long as you could overlook the bizarre appearance, there was food to be had. He sat around a fire with a woman who seemed to be his mother. Apparently, they had tamed a horse and tied it up with a rope, and they were happily eating roasted horse meat by the campfire while chatting.... This guy is seriously going to move in here.

As I enjoyed my coffee and cigarette with those thoughts in mind, my wife called out to me. It was around noon. Once the room service we had ordered arrived and the three of us ate, she invited me to go to the hotel pool.

"Tsukasa, you definitely look best in black, right? A bikini?"

"Mochida-san, no, it has to be a school swimsuit here. A classic one, with 'くろえ' written in hiragana across the chest," Rina countered.

"You two, sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't even have a swimsuit." I had no idea whether they would have one in my size, and going out to buy one sounded like a chore. I liked swimming, so that wasn't the issue, but even if they offered rental swimsuits, wearing one somehow felt like wearing someone else's underwear. I just couldn't get in the mood for it.

"You can just buy one at the hotel gift shop! If you spend all day overthinking, you're going to grow moss!"

"She's right. Come on, live a little!"

"Sigh... Fine. If you two are swimming, I'll tag along." Saying that was my downfall. I was dragged straight to the hotel's swimwear shop. Women's swimsuits in all sorts of colors and designs were on display—bikinis, one-pieces, pareos, and rash guards.

"Okay, I'll take this one..."

"Hold it right there!" Rina interjected.

"Tsukasa, what is with that dowdy fitness swimsuit? Listen to me: you're a girl and my husband now, which means you have every right to dress up. I'm picking your swimsuit!"

"I'll assist you, Rina-san!" My short-sleeved, shorts-style swimsuit was snatched away by my wife. That had the least skin exposure... I could understand a girl wanting to dress up, but did that apply to a husband too? I bought my own clothes, but I tended to stick to plain, black, understated pieces. I had never cared much for fashion, and besides, I was getting old. I had no desire to wear low-riding pants or flashy things at this point in my life.

If I were younger, I might have worn the B-boy styles that used to be trendy... Come to think of it, that was probably how I came to like baggy clothes. With my old body, though, clothes didn't really hang loosely on me. Halfway into a bit of escapism, I was aimlessly fidgeting with a swimsuit nearby when the two called out to me.

"After discussing it together, we decided on this... Wait, Tsukasa, is that the one you want?"

"Hmm? This?" What my wife and Mochida held was a pale pink tube-top-style swimsuit. It was the type that hung from the shoulders, with frills around the collarbone and more frills around the waist. It gave off a somewhat childish impression. On the other hand, the swimsuit I had been unconsciously fiddling with was a black bikini. It had no particular decorations, with a halter-neck top and black bottoms in a simple brief style.

If I had to choose between them, I'd much rather go with this more mature-looking one than something childish. If I picked out a rash guard to wear over it, it wouldn't even show that much skin. And above all, I didn't want to wear pink.