Laughing, Hikaru staggered back as he put a hand to his forehead.

「Are you okay?」Paula asked.

「What’s wrong with him, Selica?」Selyse added.

He couldn’t even answer. It felt like everything just fell into place in his mind.

『I thought it was strange. We both came to this world, although there was a bit of a time difference between our arrival. Then as it turned out we didn’t live that far from each other back in Japan. I thought perhaps proximity had some effect when traveling between worlds, but it was too nonsensical. After all, the earth constantly revolves around itself. And in a cosmic scale, coordinates change very quickly.』

『Hey, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?』

『We lived one station away from one another, and we met in another world… How? Is such a coincidence even possible?』Hikaru answered his own question.『It’s impossible. Yes, the answer was there in plain sight all along.』

Hikaru came to this world after he met Roland Zaracia, right before his soul was judged.

The other souls he saw then all had black hair and black eyes. Do all Japanese come here? he wondered, but that wasn’t the case.

『One’s soul after death is affected by its relations.』

Japanese people, of course, had deeper connections to their fellow countrymen, which explained why there were people with black hair and eyes all around him back then.

Likewise…

『You and I were connected through Hazuki-senpai.』Hikaru said.

『What? You know Hazuki?』

Hikaru nodded.『Your soul, which traveled earlier, attracted my soul through Hazuki-senpai, with whom we had strong bonds with.』

『You’re saying I drew you here?!』

『Yes, you did.』

Selica arrived in this world first. As an Earthling, her soul was incredibly rare. After she arrived, Roland used his spell and reached Earth’s realm of the departed. That’s why Roland was able to meet Hikaru.

『In other words, my arrival to this world was not coincidental at all.』

The Adventurers Guild was rowdy, but the reception room they were shown to was incredibly quiet, as if some kind of magic item was installed inside.

「This is the grimoire. The purchase price is 100,000 gilans, which is the maximum amount. Will that be all right?」The guild receptionist held out a bulky book.「Please take your time in reading it. I’ll make some tea.」

After serving tea to the guests, the receptionist left the room. Paula pulled the magic book to her and leafed through the pages, but the contents didn’t make much sense to her.

「Are you okay about letting Selica and Hikaru go alone?」asked Selyse, who was sitting at the same table, sipping her tea.

The only other people here were Sophie and Sarah. Selica and Hikaru were not around as they had something important to talk about.

「Yes.」Paula replied.「What about you? You’re not worried about Selica?」

「Hmm… Well, those two seem to be from the same place. I know there are things only they can talk about.」

「Yeah… Selica sometimes feels like she’s so far away.」Sarah plopped down on the table.

「But when she’s with Hikaru, it feels like she’s showing her true self… which I don’t like…」Sophie said as she sipped her tea in an elegant manner.

「Do you feel the same way about Hikaru?」Selyse asked.

「Ah, yes I do… Sometimes, or rather almost always, he feels so far away.」Paula ended up saying what she really felt.「Hikaru-sama is a strong, smart, and caring person… To be honest, sometimes I don’t know why he has me by his side.」

「That’s because you’re a splendid Healer!」Sophie interjected.「If you’re feeling lonely, I urge you to visit the church—」

「Sophie. Let’s save that for another time, okay?」

「Oh, uh… yes.」

Selyse’s gentle but sharp gaze silenced Sophie.

「I see. So you sometimes feel the same way too, huh? There’s no end to our troubles, I guess.」

「Y-Yes.」

Selyse flashed a smile so bright that made Paula, a fellow woman, blush. She now understood a little why she was called the Sun Maiden.

But it feels like Hikaru-sama is his true self whenever he’s around Lavia-chan.

Paula felt that the bond between the two was so strong that no matter how far Paula closed the distance between them, she could not reach it. That could be the decisive difference between Selica and Hikaru’s situation.

Hikaru and Selica sat facing each other in a small café located on a back street. There were hardly any other customers, so talking in a different language was not a problem.

Steam rose from the tea that was served to them. Unlike Selica, Hikaru didn’t have sugar or milk in his tea. Selica even ordered pound cake for herself.

『You sure eat a lot.』Hikaru said.

『Or you don’t eat enough. I thought boys your age still grow taller.』

『Give me a break. Even if that’s true, you wouldn’t get taller by eating cake. Anyway, I’ve got a question for you.』

『I’m sure you do.』

『You’re quick on the uptake. Good. So tell me more about it. What happened exactly when you were transported to this world?』

『All right. So Hazuki and I met— Wait, you’re not asking about Hazuki?』

『Huh? Why would I?』

『I mean, wouldn’t you normally ask about her? You know, given the flow of our conversation.』

『No, no, no. We were talking about how exactly this whole “transported to another world” thing works. For that, first it’s more important to find out how you came to this world.』

『You’re so boring. So when Hazuki mentioned having a “stuck-up brat” as a junior, she was talking about you.』

『Hazuki-senpai wouldn’t use that kind of language.』

『Uh.』

Hikaru hit the mark, as Selica frowned and shoved cake into her mouth.

『Huh… I see. So she told you about me, huh?』

Hikaru felt his inside grow warm and fuzzy somehow. Then he was overcome by a feeling he had rarely felt since he came to this world—nostalgia.

『I didn’t know you could make that face.』Selica said.

『What? What kinda face was I making?』

『Forget about it. Anyway, you want to know how exactly I came to this world, right?』

Hikaru nodded, convinced that Selica’s story contained a hint to the spell of crossing worlds.