AGWSF 01

Chapter – 01

“Together Forever”

“Hi-ro-to~, it’s morning~, wake up~”

With that lazy sort of voice, my consciousness awoke.

…Ah, right. I’m back.

Even though I spent about eight years over there and aged that much, for some reason, when I came back to this world, my body was the same as when I was summoned—still sixteen, a high school first-year.

I was confused by that, but needless to say, I was also relieved.

“Hi-ro-to~? Hurry up and get up~?”

“I know! Sis!”

My parents passed away when I was much younger.

Despite her own struggles, my sister raised me without ever showing any of it on the surface.

That’s why, ever since I was summoned to that other world, I fought and traveled with the goal of coming back home.

There’s a sense of relief in having made it back.

…Along the journey, I thought many times that I might never see my sister again, that I wouldn’t be able to tell her how grateful I was, that I wouldn’t be able to repay her for raising me.

That’s why, simply put, I’m genuinely happy to be back.

…But at the same time, there was also a definite sense of loss.

One month after I was summoned to that world.

An assassin girl came to kill me.

She’s the only thing weighing on my mind right now.

It might sound strange to be worried about someone who came to kill me, but when she came for me, she was only eight years old, and she was a girl who knew even less about the world than I did, only one month into my own summoning.

So, on a whim—or maybe not, I decided to take care of her.

…It wasn’t so much that I pitied her, but rather that I might have just wanted someone to lean on. I don’t really know anymore. But anyway, I raised her.

I think she probably came to see me as something like a parent.

…She was pretty attached to me, and there’s no way she hated me.

I mean, even when she turned fourteen, we were still bathing together, you know? It’s safe to say she liked me quite a bit.

…Just to be clear, she always wrapped a towel around herself, alright?

Well, by that time I was over twenty, so it’s not like a middle-schooler in this world’s terms would have excited me anyway, and even if she hadn’t wrapped a towel, it wouldn’t have been a pro—…no, when she grew up a bit more, I would have felt embarrassed about it.

So, it’s a good thing she kept that towel on.

“…Hah.”

That’s a fond memory now, too.

She was always by my side.

I shook my head, trying to brush off those tender feelings.

Well, she’ll be fine.

…By the time she turned fifteen, she’d grown so much as an assassin that even I couldn’t sense her anymore. She’s not going to get taken down by some random nobody. She’ll be okay.

Besides, I taught her everything I needed to, and I made sure to say a proper goodbye. So, it’s fine.

…Even as I thought that, it felt like there was something in my eye, and tears threatened to spill.

…If only I’d brought her to this world with—…no, what am I saying.

Even if I had brought her here, what would I have done?

In that world, the age of adulthood was fifteen, but unfortunately, in this world, I’m still a child.

That means, even if I had brought her here, I wouldn’t have been able to take care of her.

…Hah. In the first place—…no, let’s stop.

All I can do for her now is pray.

“Aira… I hope you’re—”

“What?”

Just as I called out the name I gave her because she didn’t have one when we met, and was about to offer a prayer that she was living well, a familiar voice cut in, and right in front of me appeared a slender girl with black hair and black eyes—rare in that world—who, despite being properly fed, had only grown to about the 140cm range, a teenage girl.

“…Huh?”

“…Sorry. It didn’t sound like you were calling me. …My mistake.”

With that, the girl—Aira—vanished again.

“…………Huh?”