I Came Back but the World is Still a Fantasy!? - 4-44: The Girl That Was Played (1/5)

4-44: The Girl That Was Played (1/5)

The design of the buildings in the floating city of Kutoria could largely be divided into three main types.

One, the Earth-style, which is actually the Japanese-style and conforms to the legal standards of Japan.

Two, the simple Garesto-style, which focuses purely on function and affordability, a long way away from the Earth-style.

And three, a style that mixes the strong points of both.

Regardless the design, however, the three differing designs have one thing in common – none of them were taller than a certain height.

That is a culture resulting from Garesto’s unsolvable problem.

In Garesto’s world, they always had to build their cities with raybeasts in mind, so they always had to make them in a shape that could be covered by a dome-shaped defensive wall.

And a building that was too high would obstruct that.

Moreover, they were also suffering from resource shortage, making costs an important matter.

Not to mention that in the unlikely event that if a building were to be destroyed by a raybeast, the collateral damage from the debris would undoubtedly also be big.

Because of those circumstances, there were no structures above a certain height in Garesto, and a similar rule was also enacted in the floating city of Kutoria, which was the place in Earth most frequented by raybeasts.

The city was also already somewhat complete before it welcomed its first inhabitants.

As such, most of the buildings were roughly as tall as the other buildings within the same district.

That’s why – perhaps that might sound strange – but it was precisely because of that that some students have been using them for ‘this purpose’.

“I’ve really done it now! I’m going to be late!”

A human-shaped figure with chestnut-colored hair could be seen running.

That figure was in fact a girl in school uniform, and though she was familiar with the road, she was visibly flustered as she ran.

But of course, it was doubtful whether that ‘road’ she was running on could really be called a road.

After all, that so-called ‘road’ was a rooftop.

With the rows of buildings in Kutoria at approximately the same height, a new road different from the road on the ground had inadvertently been created, making it possible to minimize the distance to certain destinations by jumping across the buildings. This was a path often used by students in a hurry.

Of course, there were some distance between the buildings, and having fences on rooftops were not uncommon either, but that level of obstruction was nothing to the students of the academy.

“There! I can see it! I might just make it in time!”

She(Tomoe) had been jumping across the gaps between buildings and fences to make her way.

When she saw her destination come to view, she heaved a breath of relief and said that.

She had gone to check on a friend, who had been discharged from the hospital, and ended up chatting with her a little too much.

By the time she realized that it was almost time for her appointment, she had no choice but to use this path and run on the roofs.

If that friend of hers were to know about this, she would likely make a glum face and tell her ‘do that in front of me and I’ll have to start regulating it.’

Though this practice was tacitly accepted to some extent, the school has actually prohibited it.

“Alright! I just barely made it—!?”

While apologizing to her public morals officer friend inside her mind, she kicked off against the roof and jumped, but perhaps because she’d let her guard down after beelining for her destination or perhaps because she wanted to check the time, that last step meant to help her jump slipped(・・・).

“Huh? Ah, no way!?”

Her feet was right on the edge of the rooftop, but instead of stepping on the rooftop as usual, she had instead stepped on a pile of fallen leaves, causing her to silp.

A scene taken straight out from a comedy manga, yet it happened to this girl, and before she knew it, she was flying in the air.

Alas, the moment of weightlessness lasted only for an instant before gravity took its toll and dragged her straight down, face first.

With a foster attached, falling even from the roof of a high-rise building would not result in grave(・) injuries, but falling from such a height would indeed hurt, and failing to land properly would still cause injuries.

Given her abilities, she should be able to handle this much, but…

“Wah, wah, wahhhh!?!?”

That would only be the case if she were calm. Unfortunately, the suddenness of this predicament had left her vulnerable.

To be more precise, she simply couldn’t do something that was completely opposite of what she’s been doing until just awhile ago.

All this time she has been rushing to make it to her appointment, but all of the sudden, she was falling.

Her brain just couldn’t keep up with that, and any thoughts regarding how to fix that situation failed to form.

“—!?”

That’s why she could only resort to those defensive measures that have been ingrained into her body.

She rolled her body up to make herself smaller and closed her eyes to brace herself for impact.

In the next moment, a shock(・・) so light(・・) it was anticlimatic(・・・・・・・・) attacked her.

“…Huh?”

When the strange sensation assaulted her through the barrier, she fearfully opened her eyes – and blanked out again.

The sight before her was just too unexpected, though this was a distance she has recently grown accustomed to.

“Huh───?”

“Why do you always find your way into my arms?”

There, right in front of her, was a common boy with Japanese-like black hair and dark brown eyes, dumbfounded by her sudden appearance, though he nonetheless relished in the feel of her body, muttering, “Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

The girl that was being embraced was right next to the boy’s chest and face.

A position where all of her was being carried and supported by the boy, a position exceedingly close.

A position officially known as the Princess Carry.

“Uwaah, that’s my first time seeing the real thing in action.”

“Arara, Tomoe’s completely red.”

“Heh heh, let’s take a picture.”

Moreover, three girls Tomoe knew well just had to witness it.

This was already Tomoe’s fifth time, and all of it by the same person(Shinichi), but she still wasn’t used to it.

The red that had flushed her face soon permeated the rest of her body.

As a red with a different meaning from the first time permeated her, Tomoe broke.

“N, n, n…”

“Hmm, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“…N-NOOOOOO────!!!”

A brilliant uppercut by a girl who had exceeded the limits of her various tolerances was unleashed.

“Ow, that really hurt. The person I went to save, threw me a huge punch.”

Five-seven-five.

Shinichi rubbed his face and muttered that haiku while swinging his ‘short sword’.

But of course, his face had already been healed, so not even a bruise could be seen.

“I-I said I’m sorry!”

Perhaps it was because she remembered or because she found it embarrassing, or then again, perhaps she was merely reflecting over her actions, but regardless, with a face still beet red, Tomoe received all of Shinichi’s short sword with her ‘long sword’.

She knew that she was completely in the wrong here, so with a step, she just parried his sword and apologized.

But the short sword came back and easily deflected her long sword, so she could only grit her teeth and take a step back.

“Moreover, you slipped because you weren’t paying attention to your footing? ‘A moment of carelessness, a lifetime of pain.’ Do you know that proverb, my dear formerly seriously injured patient?”

“Uu, oww!? You!”

Poked at a bad place, a small opening was revealed, and Shinichi’s short sword landed right on her arm.

In response, she renewed her focus and slashed upwards, causing her ponytail to swing.

But the boy jumped back and dodged it by a hair’s breadth.

“I know you were in a rush and all, but in the first place, a girl wearing a skirt shouldn’t be going boing boing off the rooftops… People will see it, you know?”

The boy glanced down to the lower half of the girl’s school uniform.

“Shut it! Most female students wear spats anyway!”

So it wouldn’t be a problem even if it were seen, she said with a voice stronger than expected.

“You fool, I’m telling you that there are men who prefer that!”

“What are you even worrying about!?”

As nimble sounds rose, a short sword and a long sword danced.

Tomoe was slightly disadvantaged and was hit several times, but the way she handled her sword was both fast and beautiful.

But Shinichi’s dominance remained unchanged, as he was able to fend off her attacks with minimal movement.

The display put on by the two could only be described as spectacular, and the three spectators found themselves swallowing their breath.

But at the same time, the conversation they were having was turned in ‘that’ direction.

“Aren’t those called leggings?”

“How late are you on the trends? Nowadays, there’s a clear distinction between the clothes used for fashion and those used for sports.”

When used for fashion the term was Leggings, and when used for sports the term was Spats.

A somewhat petulant expression appeared on Shinichi because of that, and he found himself yelling.

“This whole business of changing terms so frequently needs to stop! Consolidate the terms! I can’t keep up!!”

“Don’t complain to me!”

The girl complained about his misplaced complaints and charged at the exposed body of the boy, but the boy still easily dodged.

Moreover, because Tomoe had taken such a huge step, she left herself fully open, allowing the short sword to descend on her from the corner of her eyes.

To dodge, she allowed her momentum to send her tumbling forward and distance herself from Shinichi.

When she turned to him, a leisurely face could be seen on him, while resting his short sword on his shoulder.

“Ku, and I thought that was an opening for sure!”

“I just made it look that way, you simple-minded girl. Also, you’re full of openings. However, I was able to confirm that you were indeed wearing spats, so that puts me at ease.”

“…Con, firm? Ah!”

For a moment, Tomoe didn’t understand what Shinichi was saying, but when realization dawned on her, her cheeks flushed again, and her girl instincts compelled her to immediately push down on her skirt.

Apparently, he’d seen her when she rolled away from him.

There was a stark difference between there being no problem even if she was seen and her showing it.

Mostly in regards to modesty, honor, and her pride as a woman.

“Ku ku, didn’t you say it wouldn’t be a problem even if you were seen?”

But Shinichi laughed despite knowing that and resumed his attack with his short sword.

Tomoe’s face was awashed with shame and anger, but all she could do was to glare at him as she was too caught up being on the defensive.

“But I still think that’s your weak point when fighting. At the very least you need to be trained enough to be able to hold yourself back during battle.”

“‘T-Trained’!? W-Why did you have to phrase it like that!?”

“To agitate you, duh!”

“Ah!?”

After being agitated as Shinichi intended, he swept away her long sword with his short sword, and like magic, the weapon she was holding was suddenly sent flying, while the hilt of Shinich’s short sword was pointed right at her face.

“You fool, this might just be a little contest, but you shouldn’t take your opponent’s words so seriously. In the first place, I didn’t mean anything strange by the word ‘train’. What were you imagining?”