139 139. The World of Shinobi

Arriving at Kyouko's house, Izumi pressed the bell, and the sound of the bell ringing called the owner of the house. The one who opened the door was Yuriko who seemed to be off work. Izumi also greeted her.

"Good afternoon, Yuriko-san. Is Kyouko inside?"

Even though Izumi knew that Kyouko was inside, he still asked as a formality.

"Afternoon, come in! Kyou-chan is inside." After greeting Izumi, Yuriko turned around with a shout.

"Kyou-chan, your boyfriend is coming!"

However, there was no answer.

Yuriko looked at Izumi with a bitter smile.

"She's been like this since a while ago. I don't know what's wrong with her. Are you two fighting?"

Izumi shook his head. He also didn't know the exact reason.

"We're not really fighting. It's just hard to explain."

Then, Yuriko patted his head.

"Then go see her and makeup! Or you can take her somewhere to freshen up."

Izumi just thought that being sent to another world really traumatized her. So he thought about what if he erased part of her memory. But, he didn't know how. Hiiro's magic needed a certain condition if he wanted to erase someone's memory. Thus, he couldn't hope to rely on other people's magic. It would be better if he faced it head-on instead of erasing a memory as if avoiding reality.

*Knock* *knock*

"Kyouko-chan, I'm in."

He looked at the depressed Kyouko who seemed to hold her knees with both of her hands.

Izumi sat beside her.

"Kyouko-chan…"

Kyouko raised her head to look at Izumi.

Her eyes were red and her body trembled just after she saw Izumi.

Izumi felt uncomfortable with that look. It seemed he needed to tell the truth.

He grabbed her hand.

"Let's go out for a moment! I don't feel comfortable telling about things before when other people are around."

Kyouko didn't answer right away and remained silent for a while. This made Izumi ask again.

"How?"

"Alright!"

Hearing Kyouko's approval, Izumi dragged her out of her bed.

"W-wait! I need to change."

"Alright. I'm waiting outside."

After a few minutes, Kyouko got out of her room.

"Yuriko-san, I borrowed Kyouko!"

"Take care!" Yuriko smiled at him as she waved her hand.

After that, he left the house to go somewhere.

— — — —

Izumi took Kyouko to a shady spot near the park, where there were several gazebos that had circular seats and large umbrellas. Izumi chose the unused gazebo and sat on the circular seat along with Kyouko.

They were both silent for a moment. Kyouko didn't know what to say, while Izumi didn't know where to start.

Kyouko slowly let out her breath and started to speak.

"I-I want to ask two things about you."

Izumi was a bit surprised.

"Two? Was there something I didn't know aside from the other world thingy?" Izumi said inwardly. He turned to Kyouko.

"Sorry. I think it's because of me that caused you to get dragged into another world."

Kyouko froze for a moment. But then, she asked,

"Since when?"

"Huh?" Izumi wasn't sure what Kyouko meant.

Kyouko asked again.

"Since when did you know of such a world?"

"It's been around three months."

"Then, can you stop going?"

Izumi widened his eyes. He didn't expect Kyouko would say such a thing.

"Why?"

In the last mission, Izumi had a crazy thought. Summoning a person from another world wasn't that easy. But, Edea could summon 6 people at once. He wondered if the dimensional barrier in his world was too easy to get through. If what he thought was correct, then his world could be invaded anytime.

Since he thought of that possibility, there was no way he would stop going to another world to gain power.

While trembling, Kyouko replied.

"It's so scary looking at you killing people. I saw it in front of my eyes. You… you killed people using a blade or something. After that, you looked terrifying before I passed out. I feel like you're not the person I know anymore. I feel you are getting further and further away. Can you please stop? I don't want to see that part of you."

Izumi was dumbfounded. He didn't think Kyouko would be so scared. However, at that time he killed did not mean he was a criminal. He only had to because Kyouko was attacked. How could he allow someone he liked to be killed in front of his eyes?

Kyouko liked horror or thriller-type movies. Maybe Kyouko liked murder scenes as well. But that didn't mean she liked murder in the real world.

"Kyouko-chan, I didn't mean to scare you. But, that doesn't mean I'll forgive anyone who hurt you."

Kyouko smiled bitterly.

"Can you leave me alone for today?"

Kyouko felt it was better to be alone for a while. While Izumi was worried about what Kyouko asked earlier.

Izumi could understand Kyouko's reaction. It would be very strange if Kyouko didn't react like that after she found out that her boyfriend had been involved in killing even though it wasn't done on earth.

"Sigh! Let me take you home." Izumi offered.

"No, just go back! I'll go home myself!"

Her response made him lower his head in disappointment.

"Alright then. Be careful.."

Izumi let Kyouko think it through before deciding. Then Izumi walked away, but he didn't really go back home. Izumi was still watching Kyouko from afar.

"If she doesn't accept it, what should I do?" Izumi could only say to himself while watching Kyouko from afar. He put his hands into his pockets with a lonely expression.

He saw Kyouko who started to stand up from her seat and started walking back home. Izumi followed her from behind like a stalker. Seeing that Kyouko had arrived at her house a while later, Izumi left.

Izumi took out his phone and call Hiiro.

"Otamegane, are you already in the shinobi world?"

[Not yet. Why you asked?"]

"Then, let's go. I'm coming too!"

After that, Izumi sent Warrod, Rori, and Tabane private messages one by one. They replied they would go there soon.

Sadly, Izumi couldn't leave Kage Bunshin in his world while he go to another world. So, he can only play in that world for a day.

— — — —

Izumi arrived in the shinobi world after buying some bottles of Vodka. When he looked around, he seemed to be in the middle of an unknown forest. But to his surprise, Warrod and the others were already waiting for Izumi.

"I thought, I'm the first one here!" Izumi murmured.

"You're too slow, Izumi-chan!" Tabane said to him.

"My bad!" Izumi scratched his head while looking around. He could feel the strong gust of wind and smell the seawater.

"Where are we?" Izumi asked.

"Wait a minute, I'm still scanning the area around here!"

The one who answered Izumi was Tabane.

"Scanning? You mean, something like GPS mapping?"

"Yup, something like that. I'm the most genius person in the world anyway."

"The hell, I can make that too if I want!"

Meanwhile, Hiiro who was along with Warrod and Rori started to speak.

"I'm quite surprised to see that girl has such knowledge in any science. That thing could even move without magic."

"Ufufu, you'll be even more surprised by their inventions." Rori replied with a chuckle. This made Hiiro turn his head with surprise on his face.

"Invention? Two of them?"

"Well, the two of them often share ideas and knowledge about science. They learn from each other. Although at first, Izumi studied under Tabane." Rori explained.

After seeing Tabane's devices, Hiiro could tell that Tabane was a genius in the field of science. But, he didn't expect that Izumi would be the same and had studied under Tabane. He was curious about what their inventions were.

"What did that guy make?" Hiiro pointed at Izumi.

"It's Infinite Stratos." Rori replied.

"Infinite Stratos? What is that?"

"Hmmm. It's something like a robot in Tabane's world."

Actually, although Rori was somehow a bit inferior to Tabane, Rori herself was quite a genius. But she wasn't as interested in studying science or creating an IS as Izumi was. She was only interested in the results.

"It's coming!"

After a few minutes of waiting, a device similar to a drone but without a propeller appears at a fairly high speed. Everyone turned their heads to the sky.

They could see a small object flying toward them. That object slowed down and was caught by Tabane. Tabane plugged a data cable into the drone and connected it to her holographic computer.

No matter how many times Izumi saw the holographic computer, he was still impressed. If there was a time, Izumi himself intended to make his own holographic computer.

Izumi asked.

"How much data was transferred to your computer, Tabane-chan?"

"About 2 GB. I only scanned the surroundings, so it doesn't take up much memory."

"Surroundings? Around this area?"

Tabane didn't answer again and instead told the others.

"It's done, guys."

Tabane showed an image that was already similar to a google map satellite. The picture was very clear. But still, they have no clue where they were.

Only Izumi noticed something.