Chapter 48
The possibility that other returnees might appear.
That soon became a reality.
Even though Kubota-kun’s return remained a mystery after all, another returned the next day, and another the day after that.
The two newly returned seemed to have seen what A-ji had done before, and as soon as they saw me,
“Geh, A-ji!”
they all kneeled down.
What’s going on?
Is that the promised reaction in the other world survival group?
Well, it was a bit of a hassle, so I used a bit of magic to remove their trauma from their memories, and I passed all the detailed explaining to Kubota-kun and ignored them.
Fortunately, they hadn’t abandoned their decency in their survival lives, and they promised to use their abilities secretly within their personal sphere and to blend in their everyday lives.
I told them that there would be social punishments if they broke their promise, so it would probably be all right.
Well, if they stand out badly, the scary organizations that conceals magic might come to attack them.
So, as for them, well, it’s no problem to say that things are over peacefully and quietly. I’m at peace, even though I’ve been burned by the flames of jealousy over the fact that I’m dating Sasakura-san.
By the way, the magic for removing trauma was developed after the ‘belief’ incident with the League.
It’s a magic that does not mess with one’s memory, but only promotes mental stability. It only removes trauma to the level of seeing animals being slaughtered, and for some people, the effect is so poor that even that level can’t be removed.
Since it is only a bit of a psychological boost, it is weak on trauma directly related to injuries and the like, but if you’ve seen or heard something shocking, it has a subtle effect to some extent.
It’s probably completely useless magic to the magicians of the League. Even though I started developing it because of the fear of their mysterious beliefs, the effect was only moderate at best, and now it had become a powerless magic when used on them.
When it comes to getting rid of that level of trauma, it seems that the only way is to erase the memories of what was done to them. But then they would not know what they had done in the first place, so I decided that it would be inconvenient. Another reason I settled for the magic’s half-assed effects is the extreme optimism that such traumatic events will rarely happen in the future.
Well, since it’s magic that promotes mental stability, it can relieve stress and depression about misfortune besides getting rid of trauma, so it’s a useful spell at any rate.
About a week had passed since.
As I watched the news on TV, I let out a sigh at the fact that the world is not a peaceful place, apparently.
My returnee classmates didn’t do anything.
What’s not so peaceful in the world is the news that’s been on TV a lot for the past few days.
One of the children got a deep cut on his arm as a result of a fight between two elementary school children over something trivial.
Fortunately, the wound was not life-threatening, but it was apparently quite serious.
This is certainly shocking news. At the same time, however, it could be described as a sort of commonplace incident.
It was a tragic accident that happened because of a lack of self-control or lack of understanding. That’s certainly one way to look at it, and indeed some people make those comments.
But while there was a commotion about morality, education, and inadequate supervision, what was getting just as much attention was puzzling mystery of the situation.
The children who were watching the fight testified that “◯◯’s arm was suddenly cut,” and subsequent investigations found no knife or whatever that could have been used as weapon.
They said that even though the kid’s arm was actually cut deep, no one had seen a weapon and no one was able to find one.
The other kid fainted and was rushed to the hospital. When he woke up and the was asked about what happened, he was so frightened by the idea of getting close to people that he turned pale and screamed in a terribly frightened manner, saying “Don’t come! If you get close to me…!”
The victim also said, “I don’t know. I suddenly felt pain,” apparently failing to understand how he was injured.
“…I knew it was this.”
“Maybe.”
I nodded in agreement as Sasakura-san, whose expression twisted in pain at the news, asked me.
If the information that there was no weapon in sight, and that they don’t know how the kid was cut was true, then Sasakura-san and I have an idea.
If he can’t see the weapon, and yet he says that he was cut, then he was actually cut by something invisible.
In other words, by magic.
And considering that Kubota-kun and two other classmates had recently returned from another world, there was a high probability that the child who had caused the injury had returned from another world.
Alternatively, there is a possibility that it was caused by a magician’s child who grew up here, but that has already been denied by Sasakura-san.
According to her,
“No, if a magician was involved, there wouldn’t be all this fuss about it. The only people who become magicians over here are either children who are related to a magician by blood or orphans who have been discovered by a magician for their talents. And a child who learns to do magic will definitely be monitored. It’s important to do so, in case an emotional child uses magic and the existence of magic is exposed, so that it could be thoroughly covered up. So the chances of that being the case here is very unlikely when they’re making a scene like this…”
That’s what she said.
Of course, there is a possibility that the magicians failed to monitor the situation, but I think that the possibility that he is a returnee is very high because of my knowledge of the other world.
Considering the fact that the child who was the assailant was terrified of approaching people and based on the information from the words he spilled in his trembling voice, it was probably an accident.
It very common for a kid to not have fully developed reason, to fight over a little thing, and then scratch and injure themselves with it.
But the power he had was not normal.
“It’s kinda like…”
“It’s a sad story…”
Both Sasakura-san and I looked at each other with dark expressions on our faces at the unexpected news.
And I could feel an overflowing desire to do something about it.
We basically ignored the people who had returned from the other world.
That was the policy, and I don’t feel guilty about that policy in any way.
But that doesn’t mean I’m insensitive enough to assume that what happened to the supposed returnees was completely unrelated to me.
“I’d like to do something about it, but, well, I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s difficult because things have already happened, and the story is so much bigger than this… but you’re still going to do something about it, right?”
“Well, you know. We’re the only ones who have some understanding of what the boy who injured the other one was scared of. Well, if there’s no one else, I’ll do my best.”
However, the reality remains that that it’s not easy.
It’s not like we can solve the problem by first healing the victim completely.
Even if I erase the memories of the people involved, what has happened can no longer be erased.
If the commotion was at a smaller scale, I might be able to cover it up with a little more gossip, but at this scale, it’s impossible.
I really don’t know what to do about it…
Sasakura-san and I pondered what would be a good solution to the situation.
Chapter 48
The possibility that other returnees might appear.
That soon became a reality.
Even though Kubota-kun’s return remained a mystery after all, another returned the next day, and another the day after that.
The two newly returned seemed to have seen what A-ji had done before, and as soon as they saw me,
“Geh, A-ji!”
they all kneeled down.
What’s going on?
Is that the promised reaction in the other world survival group?
Well, it was a bit of a hassle, so I used a bit of magic to remove their trauma from their memories, and I passed all the detailed explaining to Kubota-kun and ignored them.
Fortunately, they hadn’t abandoned their decency in their survival lives, and they promised to use their abilities secretly within their personal sphere and to blend in their everyday lives.
I told them that there would be social punishments if they broke their promise, so it would probably be all right.
Well, if they stand out badly, the scary organizations that conceals magic might come to attack them.
So, as for them, well, it’s no problem to say that things are over peacefully and quietly. I’m at peace, even though I’ve been burned by the flames of jealousy over the fact that I’m dating Sasakura-san.
By the way, the magic for removing trauma was developed after the ‘belief’ incident with the League.
It’s a magic that does not mess with one’s memory, but only promotes mental stability. It only removes trauma to the level of seeing animals being slaughtered, and for some people, the effect is so poor that even that level can’t be removed.
Since it is only a bit of a psychological boost, it is weak on trauma directly related to injuries and the like, but if you’ve seen or heard something shocking, it has a subtle effect to some extent.
It’s probably completely useless magic to the magicians of the League. Even though I started developing it because of the fear of their mysterious beliefs, the effect was only moderate at best, and now it had become a powerless magic when used on them.
When it comes to getting rid of that level of trauma, it seems that the only way is to erase the memories of what was done to them. But then they would not know what they had done in the first place, so I decided that it would be inconvenient. Another reason I settled for the magic’s half-assed effects is the extreme optimism that such traumatic events will rarely happen in the future.
Well, since it’s magic that promotes mental stability, it can relieve stress and depression about misfortune besides getting rid of trauma, so it’s a useful spell at any rate.
About a week had passed since.
As I watched the news on TV, I let out a sigh at the fact that the world is not a peaceful place, apparently.
My returnee classmates didn’t do anything.
What’s not so peaceful in the world is the news that’s been on TV a lot for the past few days.
One of the children got a deep cut on his arm as a result of a fight between two elementary school children over something trivial.
Fortunately, the wound was not life-threatening, but it was apparently quite serious.
This is certainly shocking news. At the same time, however, it could be described as a sort of commonplace incident.
It was a tragic accident that happened because of a lack of self-control or lack of understanding. That’s certainly one way to look at it, and indeed some people make those comments.
But while there was a commotion about morality, education, and inadequate supervision, what was getting just as much attention was puzzling mystery of the situation.
The children who were watching the fight testified that “◯◯’s arm was suddenly cut,” and subsequent investigations found no knife or whatever that could have been used as weapon.
They said that even though the kid’s arm was actually cut deep, no one had seen a weapon and no one was able to find one.
The other kid fainted and was rushed to the hospital. When he woke up and the was asked about what happened, he was so frightened by the idea of getting close to people that he turned pale and screamed in a terribly frightened manner, saying “Don’t come! If you get close to me…!”
The victim also said, “I don’t know. I suddenly felt pain,” apparently failing to understand how he was injured.
“…I knew it was this.”
“Maybe.”
I nodded in agreement as Sasakura-san, whose expression twisted in pain at the news, asked me.
If the information that there was no weapon in sight, and that they don’t know how the kid was cut was true, then Sasakura-san and I have an idea.
If he can’t see the weapon, and yet he says that he was cut, then he was actually cut by something invisible.
In other words, by magic.
And considering that Kubota-kun and two other classmates had recently returned from another world, there was a high probability that the child who had caused the injury had returned from another world.
Alternatively, there is a possibility that it was caused by a magician’s child who grew up here, but that has already been denied by Sasakura-san.
According to her,
“No, if a magician was involved, there wouldn’t be all this fuss about it. The only people who become magicians over here are either children who are related to a magician by blood or orphans who have been discovered by a magician for their talents. And a child who learns to do magic will definitely be monitored. It’s important to do so, in case an emotional child uses magic and the existence of magic is exposed, so that it could be thoroughly covered up. So the chances of that being the case here is very unlikely when they’re making a scene like this…”
That’s what she said.
Of course, there is a possibility that the magicians failed to monitor the situation, but I think that the possibility that he is a returnee is very high because of my knowledge of the other world.
Considering the fact that the child who was the assailant was terrified of approaching people and based on the information from the words he spilled in his trembling voice, it was probably an accident.
It very common for a kid to not have fully developed reason, to fight over a little thing, and then scratch and injure themselves with it.
But the power he had was not normal.
“It’s kinda like…”
“It’s a sad story…”
Both Sasakura-san and I looked at each other with dark expressions on our faces at the unexpected news.
And I could feel an overflowing desire to do something about it.
We basically ignored the people who had returned from the other world.
That was the policy, and I don’t feel guilty about that policy in any way.
But that doesn’t mean I’m insensitive enough to assume that what happened to the supposed returnees was completely unrelated to me.
“I’d like to do something about it, but, well, I don’t know what to do.”
“It’s difficult because things have already happened, and the story is so much bigger than this… but you’re still going to do something about it, right?”
“Well, you know. We’re the only ones who have some understanding of what the boy who injured the other one was scared of. Well, if there’s no one else, I’ll do my best.”
However, the reality remains that that it’s not easy.
It’s not like we can solve the problem by first healing the victim completely.
Even if I erase the memories of the people involved, what has happened can no longer be erased.
If the commotion was at a smaller scale, I might be able to cover it up with a little more gossip, but at this scale, it’s impossible.
I really don’t know what to do about it…
Sasakura-san and I pondered what would be a good solution to the situation.
