Vol. 1 Chapter 4.4 – Resurrection

Shori shori shori—the sound of Shiori-san peeling an apple.

She was fast. And skillful.

Even turning them into little rabbit shapes, she was way more efficient than me.

“Apples are more nutritious if you eat the peel too, right?”

She even considered the nutritional value.

I had just peeled an apple earlier myself—but I couldn’t say that. So Niko sat across from Shiori, waiting for the formation of an entire squad: eight rabbit-shaped slices.

“Issei-san. I’ve finished peeling the apple…”

Shiori looked at the still-sleeping Issei. That gentle gaze made Niko’s heart skip a beat.

“If you don’t wake up, I’ll play a prank on you…”

She poked Issei’s cheek.

I did that too, just earlier.

Naturally, Issei didn’t wake up—

The only sound in the room was the quiet, steady rhythm of the heart monitor.

Suddenly, that steady rhythm faltered.

Niko gasped—and looked at Issei’s face.

Color was returning to his cheeks.

…!?

“Obocchama!?”

“Goshujin-sama—!”

Dota dota—the two maids rushed into the room.

Until now, they had never shown themselves… but it seemed they had just stepped out for a bit.

Issei, who had been bedridden for over a week, suddenly shot upright.

Seeing the light return to his eyes, Niko covered her mouth with both hands.

She couldn’t believe it. How many times had she prayed for his consciousness to return?

“Where is the scale!?”

Issei shouted those words the moment he opened his mouth.

“Nanako! Go get the doctor! Obocchama’s mind is confused!”

“Fool! A genius doesn’t get confused!”

“Nanako! The doctor!”

“Hey Nanako! We’re going out! Bring my clothes and shoes!”

Caught between the head maid and her master, the junior maid was completely flustered.

“Nanako!”

“Nanako!”

“Y-Yes!”

And so the junior maid—Nanako—prepared his clothes and shoes.

Issei, now dressed and trying to stand, staggered unsteadily.

The maid supported him.

“Obocchama, please don’t push yourself. You’ve been on strict bedrest for over a week…”

“I can’t afford not to. There’s something I have to do.”

But a woman’s hands alone weren’t enough to support a man’s body.

“──Fujino-sama, Matsura-sama, I apologize, but could you lend me a hand?”

Neither Niko nor Shiori had any objections.

◇

“The scale, you say?”

“Yes, the scale.”

They were headed back to the mansion in a black limousine.

Inside the vehicle, Chitose echoed the word back in question, and Issei patiently repeated himself.

A genius must grow used to the slowness of ordinary minds. He had no choice but to.

“There was someone calling herself a god—Anubis—whom I met in the Underworld. She dropped her divine tool, the scale, down to this world. I was granted a temporary life to retrieve it. —The deadline is by sunrise tomorrow.”

At the mention of『sunrise』as the time limit, tension swept through the group of women.

“Anubis… She is indeed one of the deities from ancient Egypt…”

It was Shiori who quietly interjected with that remark.

“…But that much knowledge, Issei-san, you must already have, right?”

In other words, wasn’t all of this just something that happened inside Issei’s mind while he was comatose? —That’s what Shiori was indirectly implying.

“There’s no point in debating the truth.”

Issei said. Being a genius, he had already accounted for that possibility, of course.

“Even if I give my all until the deadline and it turns out everything was just my delusion, the only thing I’ll have lost is my effort.”

“Obocchama’s health will be lost.”

Chitose was blunt.

“You were on strict bed rest for over a week.”

“I also… want Issei-san to rest. Your consciousness finally returned. If you collapse again… I don’t want that.”

Chitose and Shiori’s eyes passed over Nanako—who was happily munching on sweets—and turned to Niko.

“Eh? Eh—eh!?”

The peer pressure was immense.

A heavy, silent pressure demanding her allegiance made Niko’s eyes dart around in panic.

“Whether what happened in the Underworld was a dream or an illusion, my course of action won’t change.”

“Se—see? Issei’s saying that, so…”

Niko said, but shrank back when Chitose and Shiori glared at her.

“I made a promise.『I’ll retrieve the scale.』Even if it was a dream, I can’t go back on my word.”

That’s just like Issei.

—Niko thought. Issei could really be such an idiot sometimes.

“Ahaha… See? Issei’s a big dummy.”

“What are you saying? I’m a genius, you know?”

“Haa…”

Chitose sighed. With a reluctant expression, she gave a begrudging nod.

“Wait a second. Why are you agreeing to that!?”

“Because it’s you, Issei-san… There’s no stopping it.”

Shiori nodded as well.

“Then why are you both agreeing!?”

“…So, Obocchama? You’re not planning to search for this scale that fell to the surface without any clues, are you?”

“Wait, the discussion about me being an idiot isn’t over yet. I am—”

“—Right now we’re talking about the scale.”

Chitose’s firm tone silenced Issei.

“…According to Anubis, she likely dropped it while observing a religion that was worshiping her.”

“Anubis, Queen of the Underworld?”

“Exactly. Search immediately for any religion that worships her. It should be a recent one, so focus on new religious movements.”

“Understood.”

Chitose knocked on the interior panel of the door, and paka—a console slid open.

With a headset, she issued instructions to the Goutokuji Conglomerate Intelligence Division, and began researching on the Goutokuji family’s private data terminal herself.

Soon, after compiling intel from her own search and her subordinates, Chitose delivered her report.

“There is only one matching religious organization worldwide that worships Anubis. It’s a new religious group named『Hour of Ruin』headquartered in the mountains of Aichi Prefecture, Japan.”

“Th-That name’s… pretty ominous…”

Niko said.

“Forceful recruitment. Transporting people to training camps as if abducting them. Numerous believers have never returned—many reported missing. It’s also under surveillance by the public security bureau.”

“S-So it’s really… dangerous… huh…”

Shiori added, her face oddly caught in a half-smile. People sometimes laugh involuntarily when faced with situations beyond their ability to process. It was that kind of reaction.

“There are even rumors that the missing people were turned into mummies by the cult…”

“Hii—!”

“Now that you mention it, Anubis did enjoy making mummies.”

“Hii—!”

Shiori screamed at every new horror.

“But… Aichi, huh… It’s a bit far to drive there from here.”

“No need to worry. I’ve prepared『transportation』—”

Chitose had just said that—or was about to—when bababababa—a loud noise echoed from the rear sky.

The car was driving along the expressway. Suddenly, a large helicopter overtook it from behind and moved ahead. While flying at the same speed as the car, it opened its rear hatch.

The limousine smoothly slid into the interior of the helicopter through the rear hatch.

Mechanical arms extended to secure the limousine in place. The hatch closed.

Lights inside the helicopter turned on and the car doors opened.

“W-W-W-What is happening—!?”

“I-I-It’s because it’s Issei—!”

Shiori and Niko clung to each other, trembling.

Meanwhile, the maids and Issei stepped out of the car as if nothing had happened.

“Isn’t it about time we install an eVTOL flying car?”

“I’ll inform the development division.”

While Shiori and Niko were still holding onto each other—

“How long are you going to stay in the car?”

“This is… my first time riding a helicopter…!”

A headset-like device was tossed to them. Once they put it on, it became much easier to hear and speak.

“How many minutes until we arrive?”

“We’ll get there just after sunset.”

To their surprise, it was the maid who was holding the helicopter’s control stick.

◇

They illuminated the landing zone with powerful lights.

Deep in the mountains, a clearing had suddenly opened up. The helicopter made a forced landing in what appeared to be the cult’s main headquarters parking lot.

Startled by the noise and wind, a large crowd burst out from the buildings. They were all wearing matching white outfits.

As the floodlights cast intense beams of light, Issei picked up a loudspeaker and a microphone, shouting at the crowd.

“Ah—ah—ah… Test, test, test… We’ve seen through all of your schemes. Your evil deeds have been fully investigated. But if you hand over the『sacred tool』 peacefully, we may let you off. Now—hand over the『scale』!”

Just as Issei shouted that—

A gunshot rang out, and one of the floodlights shattered with a crack.

“Obocchama! Gunfire! Please get down—!”

A maid grabbed Issei by the collar and yanked him behind cover.

“Why are there gunfights happening in Japan—!?”

“I-I-Issei, you idiot—!”

Shiori and Niko clutched their heads and screamed.

Nanako came around to them and handed over a glossy black object.

“Okay—! Just in case, please hold on to this—!”

“A g—!?”

“A g-gun!?”

The two of them clutched the large handgun with both hands, unsure of how to hold it, and cried out in panic.

“It’s not real—just rubber bullets!”

Nanako lifted her skirt, revealing a similar gun strapped to her pale thigh.

Chitose, on the other hand, had already slung a shoulder holster over her maid uniform. The holster, which pulled tightly across her chest, didn’t just carry a gun—it also had a sheathed katana hanging from it.

“Obocchama, was that supposed to be a negotiation?”

“Hm? What was wrong with it?”

“Against shady people like that, your approach only had the opposite effect.”

Chitose had brought out an anti-materiel rifle. Gashakoon—she chambered a round with a bolt-action.

Rubber bullets…! They’re rubber, right—!?

—Niko trembled, clinging to Shiori as she prayed silently.

“They opened fire without hesitation. I doubt there’s room for negotiation. —Though, I did confirm one thing. The scale is definitely here. The moment I mentioned it, they shot at us.”

“I don’t think it’s wise to use yourself as a target to confirm things.”

“I merely skipped the hassle of balancing negotiation, confirmation, and our own goodwill. I am not so forgiving as to show mercy to those who shoot at us.”

Issei grinned wickedly.

“I’ve positioned special forces in the forest on both flanks and behind us. With your signal, Obocchama, they can storm the facility at any moment.”

“No. There’s no need to risk our own people taking casualties. —It’s about time we put that one to work.”

“…That one?”

Chitose looked at Issei.

Nanako also blinked in confusion and turned her gaze to him.

Niko and Shiori clung to each other, trembling violently as they stared at Issei.

Issei tilted his face straight up and shouted into the dark night sky.

“—Hey! I know you can hear me! How about doing some damn work for once!? Are you planning to make me clean up the mess of your devoted worshippers!? Have some shame as a god!”

Niko, still hugging Shiori, stared at Issei as he shouted into the sky.

On the way here, they had been told the story—that he had returned alive from the Underworld.

It was completely unbelievable… but the cult really existed, and that so-called divine tool, the『scale』did seem to be here…

If that’s all true, then that god of the Underworld, Anubis, must also be—

If this was really all true—

Light began to descend from the sky. Pillars of light shot down, stabbing into various parts of the ground and slowly sinking in.

Then the places where the light vanished began to bulge upward—

A hand emerged. A skeletal hand clawed at the dirt, flinging it aside, as the dead rose from beneath the ground.

“So the missing people were buried. I had no intention of showing mercy to begin with—but it seems they’re even less merciful than I am.”

Issei spoke calmly.

The swarm of dead passed by Issei, Niko, and the others, heading straight toward the cult’s building.

Gunfire, shouts, screams, cries—all kinds of noise rang out, but eventually it began to fade, growing more and more sparse.

Niko and Shiori remained clinging to each other, trembling violently.

We didn’t see anything! We didn’t hear anything!!

◇

Several hours had passed…

Hand in hand, Niko and Shiori walked around the area, searching for Issei.

As dawn neared, the site had become crowded with various people.

Whether they were police, public security, or the Self-Defense Forces, Niko couldn’t really tell.

The combat—if it could even be called that—had ended long ago. Now it was just cleanup.

Together, she and Shiori walked among the crowds.

Why was she even here in a place like this? It was because she was worried about Issei.

After he had finally come back to life—no, after waking from his coma—if they’d just left him alone, it felt like he might disappear again to some unreachable place…

At last, they spotted Issei’s back. Niko and Shiori stopped in their tracks.

“Issei…?”

“Issei-san…?”

“Niko, Shiori—”

Issei turned around with the same smile he always wore.

Not a trace of fatigue showed on his face.

At his side, Chitose stood upright, her posture and uniform perfectly composed, though her expression showed clear exhaustion.

The other maid—Nanako—was leaning against Issei and Chitose’s legs, fast asleep.

“Sorry for dragging you both into such a dangerous situation.”

“Th-That’s okay.”

“I-I’m fine… really..”

Niko and Shiori said together. It tickled them, and made them truly happy, to know that Issei was worried about them.

“Issei… is that?”

Niko’s gaze fell to the object in Issei’s hand.

“Ah. The scale.”

“Then… since you’ve gotten it back…”

“Yeah. The mission is complete.”

“Then…”

Niko and Shiori looked at each other, and nodded.

—Then he doesn’t have to do dangerous things anymore.

“Well then… It’s just about time.”

Issei stared out toward the horizon as he spoke.

“Huh? Time?”

“I told you, didn’t I? The deadline was until dawn.”

“But that was… I mean, since you got the scale or whatever… it should be okay now, right?”

“Oh? Did I not explain that properly?”

Issei spoke calmly.

“The life I have now was temporarily granted to me by Anubis. Recovering the scale was part of my promise to her—but regardless of whether I fulfilled it or not, this life only lasts until dawn.”

“…Eh?”

Now that it was mentioned… she vaguely remembered him saying something like that on the way here.

Back then, she hadn’t believed in the Underworld, or gods, so she hadn’t paid attention…

But the fact that the scale existed meant the Underworld existed, which meant Anubis was real… and if that was true, then what Issei said about his ‘temporary life’ must also be true…

“Issei… are you going to die?”

“I already have. The moment I was hit by that truck.”

“No…”

Niko looked to Chitose, as if pleading for help.

The maid who served Issei kept her eyes lowered, her expression showing she had already accepted everything. Nanako was still fast asleep.

Turning beside her, she saw Shiori’s wide eyes trembling.

“Issei-san! There has to be something—! Something we can do! We’ll think of something, I know it!”

“Sadly, time’s up. And I’d rather use the time I have left not to struggle, but to talk with all of you.”

“…!”

Tears welled up behind Shiori’s glasses as she looked at Issei.

“Shiori… Read books. In my place. Lots of them.”

“Y-Yes…”

Shiori squeezed out her reply.

“Niko… Sorry I won’t be around to go to school with you until graduation.”

“Don’t apologize, you idiot.”

“Hmm…? Then. Your panties were quite good ones.”

“Even bigger idiot.”

Niko wiped the corner of her eye with her finger.

“Come on. —Say something to Chitose-san too.”

Prompted by Niko, Issei turned to Chitose with an expression like, Ah, right. That’s obvious.

“Chitose… thank you for everything until now.”

“No need to thank me. Serving you, Obocchama, was my duty.”

“I’ll miss your tea.”

“I am honored.”

Chitose nodded with the perfect maid expression.

“And… you were the only one who could scold me. Let me say that.”

“That’s… f-far too much… of an honor…”

That perfect maid façade cracked at last.

Wiping her eyes roughly with her palms, Chitose looked straight at her master.

“It’s… about time, isn’t it?”

From beyond the horizon, the morning sun began to rise.

Bathed in that sunlight, the scale in Issei’s hands shimmered, then gently disintegrated into particles and vanished.

And then Issei’s body swayed, losing strength.

The three women caught him together, cradling his body.

“Nh…? Huh? What happened to Goshujin-sama—?”

Nanako, now awake, looked around in confusion.