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Apparently, vacant seats on a flight can be booked quite easily, even at the last minute.
I managed to successfully secure two first-class tickets from Narita to Salt Lake City.
Yes, two tickets.
My companion was, of course, Yoshioka.
“I’ve always wanted to try flying first class, Senpai.”
Is that so?
Personally, the concept of flying first class hadn’t even crossed my mind to begin with.
Isn’t that the kind of thing reserved for people who have “King” attached to their title, like oil kings or media kings?
No, wait, the king-types probably fly in private jets instead?
I couldn’t even begin to imagine that sort of world.
At the end of the day, I was just a commoner.
Even though my assets had grown, they were still only on the scale of a few hundred million yen.
I’ve heard that people invited to fly first class by casinos sometimes spend hundreds of millions of yen on gambling in a short period of time.
Wealth truly is concentrated in specific pockets, isn’t it?
“Senpai, are you nervous?”
Yoshioka, who was relaxing with a glass of champagne in hand at the airline lounge, asked me.
Man, Yoshioka looked incredibly elegant!
“A-As if I’d be nervous. I’m a man who possesses Courage x6, you know.”
A wide variety of delicious-looking dishes were lined up at the buffet style counters, but I didn’t have much of an appetite.
Yeah, I was nervous.
The people around us all looked like VIPs.
The food was all-you-can-eat, and the high-end alcohol was all-you-can-drink, but my chest felt completely tight.
First-class passengers can eat and drink for free, but we were going to have an in-flight meal after this, right?
The surrounding passengers and Yoshioka were eating and drinking without a care, but was that really okay?
I personally hated leaving food unfinished…
Even if it was labeled as free, the cost of these dishes was undoubtedly tacked onto the airfare.
After all, a round-trip ticket cost around 1.7 million marques.
I couldn’t help but admire how the wealthy buy themselves a stress-free experience with money.
As soon as we boarded the plane, a cabin attendant approached us and asked, “Would you like to change your clothes?”
Change?
Without really understanding, I nodded with an ambiguous smile and was led to a spacious restroom.
I was instructed to change into the provided loungewear here.
So changing into pajamas is par for the course in first class!
I had worn my finest suit in order to minimize Gary’s mother’s suspicion as much as possible, so this system was a welcome relief.
It looked like I would be able to avoid getting wrinkles in my clothes.
And so, our journey through the skies began.
The first-class cabin had only eight seats, and the food and drinks were magnificent, but if I were asked whether I’d want to use it frequently, I’d have my doubts.
I felt like business class would be perfectly fine.
However, for people who have so much surplus money that they don’t know what to do with it, this might be the better option.
After connecting in Los Angeles, it took about seventeen hours to reach Salt Lake City.
It was a remarkably dry place.
Since it was winter over here, there were many tourists visiting to enjoy winter sports.
Come to think of it, this city had also hosted the Winter Olympics.
I didn’t feel any stress at all during this trip.
Part of it was because the flight was first class, but the biggest reason was likely because I could understand the language.
Thanks to my Linguistic Proficiency (Intermediate) skill, I faced absolutely no hardships regarding communication.
Once again, I truly realized the sheer greatness of this skill.
Since we had a bit of awkward time to kill, we walked into a large supermarket that caught our eye.
It felt almost identical to the ones in Japan, but I was shocked to see rifles and ammunition being sold normally in a corner of the sales floor.
On top of that, there were even “Big Sale” tags attached to them.
The cheap, boxed ones looked so much like airsoft guns at a glance that you could easily mistake them.
“You can buy a rifle starting from around two hundred dollars…”
“Senpai, there was a semi-automatic rifle over there…”
America is terrifying…
More terrifying than Saxens…
When I asked the store clerk if a tourist could purchase a firearm, he told me that was understandably impossible.
However, it was apparently feasible if you stayed in America for more than three months.
Like a long-term business trip or studying abroad.
Of course, you wouldn’t be able to bring it back to Japan, though.
Incredible, America.
“If you end up staying long, buy it at our place. My recommendation is the M4 carbine.”
The clerk gave me a nice smile with a thumbs-up.
“An M4 carbine?”
“It’s like a compact rifle that’s also adopted by the US military.”
Why are you recommending something like that to me…
And I wonder how Yoshioka even knew that kind of information.
…Is this guy planning to buy one?
“Senpai, instead of Japan, why don’t we get summoned from America for a while? I feel like a student visa would be pretty easy to get approved…”
He really was planning to buy one!
“You can use attack magic, remember?!”
“Guns are a man’s romance!”
Sorry, I didn’t really get it.
I used to play with airsoft guns when I was a kid, but nowadays I was a bit averse to them.
I mean, they looked dangerous.
The time was just past six o’clock in the evening.
According to Gary’s information, his mom was usually back home by this time.
Apparently, she rarely worked overtime.
This would be an unannounced surprise visit.
The reason was that if we made an appointment, the police might be waiting for us when we arrived at Gary’s parents’ house.
He had suddenly gone missing due to a hero summons.
It wouldn’t be surprising if his family and the police thought he had been caught up in a crime.
If we contacted them in advance saying we carried a message from Gary, there was a risk they might report it to the police.
In the worst-case scenario, we might suddenly be told to “freeze” with a gun pointed at us.
Because, well, this is America!
Gary’s house was huge.
Though, it wasn’t that Gary’s house was exceptionally large.
Every house was big.
On top of that, everyone had a spacious yard.
I suppose Salt Lake City had a low population density.
Looking at the windows, the lights were on, confirming that the residents were home.
Holding my smartphone in hand, I set it up so I could play Gary’s video letter at any moment.
Accompanied by nervousness, I pressed the chime.
The person who appeared was a lady who looked very much like Gary.
Her eyes and mouth were a dead ringer for his.
“Good evening. My name is Kota Hinoharu, and I’m a friend of Gary’s. I’ve come here today to deliver a message from him.”
When I stated the purpose of my visit, his mom’s eyes widened greatly, and she stared at us intensely enough to bore holes through us.
“You might not believe me, but please take a look at this first.”
I pressed the play button on the smartphone I had prepared.
“Mom, Cindy, it’s been a while. It’s Gary. Right now, I’m in a place that’s really far away—”
Watching the video displayed on the smartphone, his mom placed her hand over her mouth and gasped.
I paused the video.
“Excuse me, but would it be alright if we came inside?”
I also had to hand over the three hundred thousand dollars I was asked to deliver.
It wasn’t exactly something to do at the front door.
“…I suppose so. Please come in. A friend of my boy is always welcome.”
Once inside the dining room, we re-introduced ourselves.
His younger sister, Cindy, was also home and exchanged greetings with us.
Dressed in a tight-fitting T-shirt and jeans, she carried an aura that screamed full-volume American.
Above all else, her chest was USA-sized.
She had freckles on her face and looked a bit unrefined, but that gave her a simple and lovely charm.
Right now, though, she was looking at us with highly suspicious eyes.
I guess it couldn’t be helped.
Out of nowhere, two foreigners had shown up carrying a message from her missing older brother.
I handed the smartphone to the two of them and had them watch the message.
“—And that’s why I’m entrusting three hundred thousand dollars to my friend, Kota. I hope you can use it for Mom’s living expenses and Cindy’s tuition—”
When the video letter reached this part, Cindy looked at me with a face that said, “Are you serious?” before shifting her gaze to the attaché case Yoshioka was holding.
Due to Yoshioka’s insistence that bundles of cash suited an attaché case, he had gone out of his way to purchase a Zero Halliburton.
Personally, I thought a paper bag would have been fine, but apparently that was a no-go.
“Hey, Mr. Hinoharu, is this Japan?”
Tears welling in her eyes, Gary’s mom asked while pointing at the smartphone.
“Due to certain circumstances, I can’t disclose the exact location.”
I could neither confirm nor deny it.
“Is my brother doing something criminal?”
“Cindy!”
Her mom admonished her, but if someone suddenly sent three hundred thousand dollars, it was only natural to think that way.
Furthermore, the fact that it wasn’t a wire transfer but delivered directly via a person made it suspicious.
“No, it’s not like that. I understand your suspicion, but this is compensation that Gary earned through legitimate means.”
I opened the attaché case and piled the bundles of cash onto the table.
“I can’t believe it…”
Both of them placed their hands over their mouths in shock.
“But what’s with the clothes my brother is wearing? Is this a cosplay party?”
On the screen, Gary was clad in the armor equipped by heroes.
I, who was captured alongside him, was dressed in a Saxens military uniform that felt quite retro.
Since Gary was originally an otaku, wearing this kind of outfit didn’t seem to cause any sense of incongruity for them.
Rather, it seemed to convey that he was living happily.
“Please tell me, what kind of work is he doing?”
His mom asked worriedly.
“He’s protecting everyone, or rather, he’s particularly strong when it comes to communication networks… It’s a country that is incredibly backward in those sorts of things.”
After all, Gary’s original skill was Magical Communication.
“Does that mean he started a telecommunications company in a developing country?”
“Well, something like that.”
My explanation was faltering, but I wondered if they believed me.
“I can’t believe it of that brother of mine. I thought he was just a regular otaku…”
“Gary is highly adored by the local people as well, you know.”
As a hero…
“But why did he leave without saying anything to his family?”
“We don’t know that ourselves either.”
Even if I mentioned a hero summons, there was no way they would believe me.
“…I understand. But please let me confirm just this one thing. He is safe and living in good health, right?”
“Yes. I can swear to it.”
As a mother, she probably had a lot of things she wanted to say, but for the time being, she seemed satisfied.
I asked the two of them to let me record a video letter addressed to Gary.
Gary would also be happier to receive a message directly from the two of them.
Cindy announced that she would change her clothes if we were going to film.
I suppose she wanted to look fashionable even for a video addressed to her brother.
We honestly decided to wait in the dining room.
Cindy returned in less than a minute.
However, a black handgun was gripped in her hand.
“Both of you, don’t move!!”
Cindy aimed the muzzle straight at us.
…See?
I knew it, America is terrifying.
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