During their fight, Shea had unlocked Prophetic Visions, a derivative skill of her special magic Future Sight. It allowed her to see a few seconds into the future, and this she could activate at will. It was thanks to it that she was able to efficiently crush all the monsters just before they attacked. She’d seen Meiru use restoration magic to project visions of the past, and had attempted to do the reverse version of that for herself, to outstanding effect.
“It appears this fight is coming to a close.”
“There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded beast. Let’s end this before they try anything.”
The end was in sight. There was no need to remain on the defensive now. Tio gathered all of her remaining mana and fired off her most powerful breath attack yet, while Naiz unleashed another Void Fissure. The monsters trying to stop the tower’s repair at all costs were sent tumbling into oblivion. A second later—
“Transmute!”
Oscar and Hajime cast the final transmutation needed to fix the tower completely. Veins of golden and crimson light shot down the tower, and with a deep rumbling, the entire thing righted itself, the deep cracks disappearing like they’d never existed.
“Vwoooooooooooooooon!”
The triumphant call of a whale echoed through the city.
“Mister Whale!” Myu shouted happily, raising her hands into the air. Had Remia not been holding her, she probably would have run up to the whale.
For its part, the whale grew brighter and brighter until the entire world was covered in light. It shot up into the sky like a firework and dispelled the dark clouds covering the city with its blinding radiance.
“Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Screams of hatred and malice filled the air as the last remnants of the monsters were burned away. They turned to dust in the light and the black mist that had permeated throughout the city was sucked into the tower. The resulting gust of wind that came from it was so strong that Yue and the others were forced to land atop the tower, or risk being blown away.
Hajime held on to Remia and Myu to keep them from being pushed off the tower. Oscar clung to his glasses with one hand and shouted, “The repairs should be done! Myu-chan, what happens now!?”
Myu closed her eyes for a second, then shouted loud enough to be heard over the wind and the dying screams of monsters, “We go home! Back to our original time!”
Suddenly, a whirlpool of light shot up from the tower. Hajime and the others were swallowed up by particles of light. Everyone present knew that this miraculous encounter in a strange city was coming to an end. Just like when they’d come here, everyone could feel their consciousness slipping away. It felt as though they were being dragged to the bottom of the ocean, again.
Unable to bear parting just like this, Miledi shouted, “Yue-chan! Can you... Can you guys live life the way you want to!?”
She had to know if her earnest wish that the people of the future would be able to live freely had been granted.
Yue turned to Miledi, looking deeply into those kind but unwavering sky-blue eyes. After a brief pause, she replied, “Yep... You wanted a world where people could live freely, right? Don’t worry!”
Yue gave Miledi the biggest smile Hajime had ever seen, then hugged Hajime’s back. The two groups, past and present, were pushed further apart as the sandstorm of light started guiding them back to their respective times. At this point, they were too far apart for Yue to make out Miledi’s expression. But even so, Yue could somehow tell that Miledi was smiling. That Yue’s words had bolstered the Liberator’s resolve.
However, Hajime didn’t want everyone to part on such a somber note. There was no need for sad farewells between them. So he shouted, “Miledi, I’m still gonna pay you back for flushing us down that damn toilet!”
“You’re still going on about that!?”
“And Oscar! That hydra is overkill! Learn some self-restraint, you bastard!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
Even Yue and the others looked surprised by Hajime’s remarks. But a second later, they realized what he was going for. Myu, Yue, Shea, Tio, Kaori, and even Remia, shouted lighthearted farewells to the Liberators who’d aided them in this adventure.
So naturally, Miledi replied, “Let’s... Let’s meet again in the future!”
Miledi’s hopeful farewell was the last thing anyone heard before the light took them and they all lost consciousness.
Hajime awoke to the sound of waves lapping against his submarine. He opened his eyes and saw he was lying atop the deck.
“Huh? When did I fall asleep?”
As he muttered that, he realized there was something heavy lying atop him. Looking down, he saw Myu and Remia resting on his chest, their hands gripping his. He turned to either side and saw the rest of his party was also all lying next to him, sleeping peacefully.
“What the hell’s going on...?”
His memories felt fuzzy. When did he fall asleep here... and why? He remembered they’d gone out to search for the Shimmering Ocean, then...
“Mmm...”
Yue slowly opened her eyes next to him. A second later, so did Myu and everyone else.
“Did we all just doze off or something?” Hajime muttered to himself.
But that didn’t seem right. Looking down at his watch, he noticed almost no time had passed since the last thing he remembered. Hajime slowly got to a sitting position, careful not to push Remia or Myu off.
“Are you guys okay? Does anyone else feel like something’s off?”
“You feel it too, Hajime?” Yue replied quietly.
“Mrrr... I feel weird too. Like we forgot something important.”
Myu hugged Hajime, looking oddly lonely. It appeared no one had any memories of what had happened after they fell asleep.
“By the way, Hajime-kun? Why are you hugging Remia-san?”
“Huh!?”
Remia looked down in shock. Realizing she was resting in Hajime’s arms she hurriedly pulled away. There was no gentle smile or “Oh my” this time. In fact, she was blushing.
What’s with that reaction...? Kaori and the others thought suspiciously.
“No clue. I was hugging them when I woke up.”
Even Hajime was confused, which was a rarity. Remia’s sudden change, combined with the fact that everyone’s memories were hazy, meant something must have happened, they just didn’t know what. Yue and the others cocked their heads in confusion.
“Ah! Master, look!”
Tio suddenly pointed to the ocean in surprise. Looking over, everyone saw that the sea was sparkling. As far as they could tell, the shimmering extended endlessly. At the very least, it reached all the way to the horizon.
“What the hell’s going on?”
First their memories, now this. Under normal circumstances, Hajime would have been extremely wary right now. But for some reason, Hajime and the others weren’t worried at all. It was as if they knew there wasn’t any danger.
Motes of light rose up from the shimmering sea, ascending to the heavens. It was like Hajime and the others had been transported to a sea of golden stars.
“Look, Daddy! It’s a fish!”
Myu was pointing to a spot where the motes of light had gathered to create the shimmering form of a small fish. It swam freely through both the sea and the sky, parting the golden light in its wake.
More sea creatures started to form, and within seconds the sea was full of glowing life, floating through the air and water. Whenever one of them touched Hajime or the others, it burst into particles of light, then reformed a short distance away. It was such a wondrous sight that everyone could only watch in stunned silence.
Eventually, a giant whale surfaced from the depths of the glowing sea.
“Vwoooooooooooooooooooon!”
Its warm light was reminiscent of a sunny forest floor in early spring. Everyone instinctively knew they would be safe in its gentle embrace. Though it said no words, everyone could
tell that the whale of light was immensely grateful to them.
“The Shimmering Ocean...” Hajime muttered quietly.
No one contradicted his assertion. As Hajime stared at the massive, hundred-meter long whale and its entourage of sea creatures, Hajime suddenly realized something.
“Is it just me, or do we suddenly have more mana than before?”
“Mmm? Ah, you’re right...” Yue muttered.
Shea, Tio, and Kaori all nodded as well. Suddenly Myu looked up at them and said, “That’s its way of saying thanks.”
A second later, Myu blinked in confusion, unsure why she’d said that.
“Umm, I think I also know a new way to use my Future Sight too now,” Shea said timidly.
“Mmm... Come to think of it, I understand how to control mana better now.”
Hajime closed his eyes for a second, analyzing his current state.
“Damn... I feel like I just leveled up my Synergist skills, too. I bet I can finish my airship and laser now.”
What the hell happened while we were asleep!? Hajime didn’t understand any of this. But while none of this made sense—
“But it feels like something really good happened! Like we met a bunch of really cool people!” Myu shouted happily. Hajime and the others exchanged glances, then smiled in agreement to each other.
“O-kun! Nacchan! Meru-nee! I dunno what happened, but I feel really happy all of a sudden!”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel like I got a really cheeky disciple.”
“Indeed, I feel good.”
“I feel like I met a new angel.”
Far in the past, a group of four stood in the same place, watching the exact same scene. Of course, Hajime and the others had no way of knowing that. But they didn’t need to, so it was fine.
Though Hajime found his utter lack of curiosity about his missing memories curious, his attention was currently focused on the glowing sea. The giant whale let out another grateful cry, then turned its back on them. It dove into the ocean, much like a real whale would. The sparkling water rose up in a giant pillar as the whale displaced it, and the shimmering sea creatures danced around where the whale had submerged.
“Oh yes, Daddy! We have to make a wish!” Myu shouted as she suddenly remembered what the legend had said.
“Those who encounter the Shimmering Ocean will have their wish granted.”
Hajime and the others nodded, and they all silently made their wishes.
“I wish I get to be together with Daddy forever!” Myu alone voiced her wish out loud, and when Hajime heard it he suddenly felt like making another wish aside from asking to find a way home.
Please teach me what I should tell Myu when I have to leave.
In the end, Hajime’s greedy second wish was granted after many sleepless nights spent wracking his brains, and Myu’s wish was granted in the form of Hajime’s promise.
Afterword
Hey everyone, resident chuuni lover, Ryo Shirakome, here. Thank you very much for picking up this Arifureta short story compilation.
How did you like it? It contains most of the short stories written from volume 1 to volume 5. To be honest with you guys, I wrote all of these as bonuses to go with in-store purchases, so I never thought they’d get published as a volume in their own right. As a result, the chronology and setting and contents are all over the place. I’ve basically been writing these with the same mindset that I’m writing the after stories on Narou. So I’m sorry if there are any inconsistencies with Arifureta canon. I realize some of you were probably wondering how some of these short stories fit within the timeline of Arifureta, but please don’t worry too much about it. All these events might have happened during some of the time skips in the main volumes, but if that doesn’t make sense, then I guess they might not have. Either way, I just wrote what I thought would make for interesting stories to fill the gaps in time within the main series.
I won’t blame you guys for thinking I was having too much fun messing around with these stories, but I hope you at least enjoyed them. There might be some of you out there who’ve already read all of the short stories that came with each of these volumes, and if there are, I’m eternally grateful to you loyal readers. You guys are the best.
Unfortunately, I’m sure if such readers do exist, you were probably pissed when you heard there’d be a compilation volume coming out and that you didn’t need to buy each volume half a dozen times.
So, by way of apology, I’ve written one entirely new short story for this volume. Incidentally, I called it a short story, but it’s more than 40,000 characters long, so I’m not sure if it really qualifies as a “short” story anymore. It’s nearly a quarter of the whole book.
I, uh, guess it’s more of a special story or a super story than a short story? Sorry guys, I really am just having way too much fun writing these things. I just hope you all had as much fun reading them as I did writing them. Nothing would make me happier.
I tried making these short stories a lot sillier compared to the main series, which is meant to be serious. Anyway, since I seem to have a lot of empty afterword pages left, I decided I’d write down some commentary for a few choice short stories.
I’ll start with the new short story I wrote for this volume...
—The Miraculous Meeting and the Phantasmagorical Adventure
The truth is, I actually used an existing short story as the base for this one. Those of you who happened to be at the Overlap sixth-anniversary event might have picked up the short story I wrote for that, The Mysterious Daydream. That’s what I used as the base for this one.
The Mysterious Daydream also has Miledi, Yue, Hajime, and Oscar all meeting each other, but I had to limit that one to just 3,000 characters, and I didn’t have much time. I really wanted to make it a longer, more fleshed-out story, so when I heard I was getting a short story compilation volume, I decided to expand on that short story. Of course, if everyone remembered their meeting it’d mess up a lot of things in both Zero and the main story, so as much as it pained me, I had to make it so they’d forget about what happened at the end of the adventure. However, I wanted to make sure that something concrete remained from their encounter, which is why things ended up the way they did. Also, those of you who are keeping up with the web version probably already know this, but Myu is someone who attracts all manner of strange things to her, so I decided to make her the centerpiece of this story. Those of you who read the “Afterword’s Afterword” for volume seven that’s on Overlap’s homepage (it’s a short story you can read by answering a survey) will know that a tiny piece of the Hell Eater actually survived and that Myu’s already made it her friend. Myu’s a pretty... scary girl in some ways.
—The Holy Goddess’ Descent unto Paradise
This one’s a short story about Kaori and Shizuku from back when they were on earth. I didn’t mention this in the short story itself, but in truth, Kaori tried doing the same thing in a bunch of other stores, and she and Shizuku got blacklisted from all of them. They also all happen to be stores Hajime frequent. Anyway, there are rumors among store owners that there are two girls who have an abnormally intense interest in porn games. Incidentally, Hajime’s dad, Shuu Nagumo, runs a video game company, while his mom, Sumire, is a popular shoujo manga artist. So it’s only expected that Hajime would grow up to be a dyed-in-the-wool otaku. Plus, with all the times he’s helped his mom ink backgrounds, he’s actually a pretty good artist himself. And thanks to all the times he’s had to help his dad, he’s become a decently skilled programmer. In fact, his mom’s assistants and his dad’s coworkers often come to him for help when one of his parents starts getting carried away.
—Dreams of Family
Whenever I think of isekai stories, I can’t help but think of the families of the people who’ve been transported away. Personally, I imagine it must be much more painful for them when the protagonist suddenly gets transported to another world, compared to when they die and get reincarnated. Becaus
e the family still holds out hope that the protagonist might return to them, it’s even more painful than if they’d just gotten the closure of knowing the protagonist is dead. That’s part of why I wanted to make the ultimate goal of Hajime’s journey to be returning home. And the reason I wrote this short story was because I wanted to both explore and maybe heal a little of the pain felt by those left behind when Hajime got summoned. If you asked me what the main theme of Arifureta was, I’d tell you it’s about Hajime’s journey to become the strongest and so on, but if you think about it, on some level, it’s also about never giving up on your family.
—The Handsome Rabbit and The Iron Boy
This one’s just one of those alternate timeline stories. As I’m sure you’ve all guessed, it’s based on Ironman. Honestly, if you think about the title of Arifureta, this would probably be a more fitting way for Hajime to get stronger than eating a bunch of monsters. (Whoops.) The rabbit’s kind of in a similar place too. I think you’ll see what I mean once the next mainline volume comes out.
—A Store Owner Like This... Might Really Exist
Since I was asked to write this short story for the Tsutaya store, I figured I may as well make it about them. Incidentally, I’m the kind of guy who rents all his movies. If I really like something I’ve rented, I’ll buy it for good when I go to return it. I feel like that’s the best way to buy movies. And so, thank you so much for letting me rent all your movies, Tsutaya! It’s actually one of my favorite stores, so I had a lot of fun writing this story.
—A Certain Peaceful Hero Party
I figured this would be a good place to talk about Ryutarou’s origins. The truth is, he’s based on the boss who shows up in the second Die Hard movie. That guy’s probably my favorite villain in the whole series.
—Midnight Tag and The Most Beautiful Pervert Dragon
Chronologically, The Most Beautiful Pervert Dragon comes before Midnight Tag. I just wanted to write a short story about why Hajime likes riding on Tio’s back so much.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest: Short Stories (Premium) Page 23