As they walked from the station area to the shopping district, the town was the picture of peace and quiet. The sinking of one tiny island, so far away, hadn’t affected it at all.
“Though I still have no idea what happened back there...” Aiko said, looking puzzled.
“Me neither,” Yuichi said. “But maybe he knows something about it?”
Yuichi pointed down, at the wolf striding proudly between the two of them. It was Nero.
They’d known that if a werewolf showed up in town, it would cause a huge panic, so Aiko had asked him if there was anything he could do about it. As a result, he had transformed into this shape.
A wolf-man who had been the size of a large human had become the size of a dog. It was physically impossible, any way you looked at it. But it suggested, once again, that common sense didn’t apply to creatures like him.
“There is no need for you to accompany her as long as I am here, you know...” Nero suggested.
“By the way, you probably shouldn’t talk,” Yuichi said. “You never know when someone might be listening.”
The “wolfdog” form they could explain away, at least. But if anyone saw him talking, they’d really be in trouble.
“Do not worry,” Nero assured him. “‘The dog is talking’ is not the first conclusion most people will draw.”
“I guess not, but still...”
It was true that people would typically interpret the things they saw to match up with what they knew to be possible. Almost anyone observing the scene would just assume the conversation was between Yuichi and Aiko.
“I am not the type to consider these things very deeply,” Nero said. “It seems that is how I ended up manipulated by that woman.”
That woman.
Yuri Konishi had made reference to a mysterious woman, as well. Apparently the mysterious woman had thought up nearly all of Yuri’s plan for her.
“You think she was after Noro?” Yuichi asked.
“I am uncertain,” Nero said. “The way she spoke did not suggest it...”
“But we made it safely off the island, so I guess it doesn’t matter,” Yuichi said. In that regard, maybe he was being too optimistic, but he just couldn’t be bothered to think about these things that hard.
“Lady Aiko asked me not to speak of things that do not concern her current life, but...” After a period of silence, Nero spoke up uncertainly.
“What is it?” Yuichi prompted him. He had a bad feeling about this.
“Because it may prove a great threat to Lady Aiko’s way of life, I wish to tell her...” Nero gave Aiko a questioning look.
“Does this have something to do with the princess stuff?” Aiko sighed. After a moment’s thought, she added, “...Well, if it’s dangerous, I guess you’d better tell me either way...”
“Including myself, Lady Aiko, you have twelve retainers,” Nero explained. “Of them, three lost your favor and were cast out...”
“Yeah, I had a feeling I wouldn’t get it...” Aiko said with a wince.
This sounded like something Mutsuko would like to hear, Yuichi thought. A princess of darkness, retainers swearing their loyalty to her... It was all extremely middle school.
“Of course, I do not believe they would bring you any harm, but their affection for you is excessive,” Nero continued. “Those who put your well-being above all will not care what happens to anyone except for you. To be quite honest, I do not know how they might react if they met you now, but they could pose a threat to your current way of life. And to Yuichi, especially. He might be the first one targeted.”
“Well, I’m not too worried about anything coming after me,” Yuichi said. It was hard for him to understand why he might be targeted, but if he was the only one they were after, he could probably handle it.
“Naturally, I am certain you can handle yourself,” Nero agreed. He seemed to acknowledge Yuichi as a superior. He had his memories from the time he was fused with The Head of All, and the fact that Yuichi had been able to defeat it had given Nero a high opinion of him.
“I’m not worried about Sakaki, either... but what should we do?” Aiko asked.
“We’ll just have to be on the lookout, that’s all,” Yuichi replied. “I’ll be with you during school, and Nero will be with you at home, so that should cover all the bases.”
“Ah, I do have a dog, so I hope you’ll get along with him, Nero,” Aiko said. “He’s a Shetland Sheepdog named Marion.”
“A dog, you say?” The thought of being lumped in with a dog seemed to hurt Nero’s pride, and he turned his gaze downward. But it only lasted for a second before he snapped his attention forward again, to something in front of them.
Yuichi’s gaze was drawn to the same thing.
It was a girl, standing in the middle of the throng.
She wore a white blouse, a bowtie, and a dark blue skirt; it was probably an elementary school uniform. She had a dainty build and a ponytail, held in place with a scrunchie, that accented her features very well.
She was quite a pretty young girl, but aside from that, there was nothing unnatural about her. So why did Yuichi feel so unsettled when he looked at her?
There was something different about this girl.
Then suddenly, he realized it.
She didn’t have a label.
He had gotten used to seeing labels above everyone’s heads, but the air above her was blank.
The girl was craning her head around, as if searching for something.
Their eyes met.
The girl brightened with joy, then an instant later, she puffed up with anger.
She barged up into Yuichi’s personal space. “There you are! Hey! Give Soul Reader back! I’m gonna be in big trouble without it!”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but it was clear that it was the start of another bizarre incident.
It seemed Yuichi’s unusual summer vacation wasn’t over just yet.
Afterword
Thanks to your support, we’ve reached the third volume. I owe it to all the readers who bought the last two books. Thank you very much.
I’m the type of person who reads the afterword first, so I don’t want to write too much about what happens in this volume, but I also don’t want to be too random, so now I’m stuck. As a reasonable compromise, how about a story of the trials and tribulations of writing this book?
Well, I really had to rack my brain to figure out the subtitle. I nearly didn’t come up with it in time. I always think them up after I finish writing the whole story, but maybe that’s the wrong way to go about it?
Hmm, I still have more pages to fill. I guess it’s time to talk about the day I met a ninja.
It closed a while back, but there used to be an amusement park in Shiga Prefecture called Lake Biwa Tower.
There was a ninja mansion in the amusement park that had been moved there from a real ninja village (I forget if it was Iga or Koga).
There was a ninja there.
You might be thinking, “Of course there would be a ninja in a ninja mansion,” but usually, there aren’t. You just walk around the mansions looking at the various tricks they set up.
I just happened to be there when the ninja were there — they charged an extra ninja fee, those stingy jerks — and I got to see the ninja.
What’s that, you ask? Am I sure it wasn’t just someone dressed as a ninja as part of a show?
Yes, I’m sure. I asked him.
“Being a ninja is my only job,” he said.
I think if being a ninja is his only job, and he can make a living that way, then he must be a pretty good ninja.
The guide lady was showing us around the mansion, when suddenly, an evil ninja gang attacked the tour group, and the professional ninja drove them off. It made for a fun action show, and we got to see the ninja throw his shuriken.
The shuriken pierced through some upright tatami mats, and the visitors tried to pull them out, but they were so deeply embedded that it was i
mpossible.
“Is this ninjutsu?!” I asked him.
“I just have strong shoulders,” he replied.
So it wasn’t ninjutsu?!
“I went to the Koshien championships with these,” he went on.
Stop being a ninja and go play baseball!
So, um, that has nothing to do with My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World — although maybe it does, a little — so let’s move on to the special thanks.
To my editor. I’m sorry I caused you a lot of trouble this time, once again. Since I was this bad even on volume 3, it’s probably not going to get any better...
And to my illustrator, An2A. Thanks for doing wonderful illustrations once again.
Now, then. I’ve already started work on the fourth volume, so I hope it gets released soon! But, you know, I’m just happy I get to keep writing it. I’m happy, but I wonder if I’ll ever have time to rest...
Tsuyoshi Fujitaka
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Copyright
My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World: Humanitiy’s Extinction Happens During Summer Vacation?!
by Tsuyoshi Fujitaka
Translated by Elizabeth Ellis
Edited by Emily Sorensen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 Tsuyoshi Fujitaka
Illustrations Copyright © 2014 An2A
Cover illustration by An2A
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2014 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2017 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: April 2017
Humanity’s Extinction Happens During Summer Vacation?! Page 17