Chapter 116

A matte black handgun was aimed straight at us.

When I had seen them at the supermarket earlier, they looked so cheap, but a gun actually pointed right at you looked incredibly heavy.

“Cindy! What on earth are you thinking?!”

Her mom screamed, but Cindy didn’t break her gaze.

“I’m going to get my brother’s whereabouts out of these guys.”

“But Gary looked like he was doing great. This is wrong.”

“Mom, do you seriously believe that video letter? He could have been forced to say all that! For all we know, he’s pumped full of dangerous drugs!”

Brainwashing through drugs?

What an American way of thinking.

We were just good, honest Japanese people.

I whispered to Yoshioka.

“Can you block bullets with magic?”

“9-mil Para, huh… I’ve never tried it, so I’m not entirely confident, but I’ll give it a shot.”

I wondered what a 9-mil Para was.

While I was thinking about it, a transparent shield resembling a sheet of bluish glass manifested in front of us.

It was covered in countless magic circles and magical inscriptions.

“What is this?!”

Cindy and I blurted out the exact same words at the same time.

If we cleared up this misunderstanding, we might actually get along surprisingly well.

“I’ll explain later. Just put the gun down for now,” Yoshioka calmly reasoned with her.

He had also cast a wind barrier magic as a bonus.

He probably did it to ensure no sound leaked out, just in case.

If a gunshot went off, the neighbors might call the police.

Yoshioka tried to persuade her, but Cindy wouldn’t lower her gun.

“Tell me the truth! What do you mean, a telecommunications company? My brother barely knows anything about the internet. At best, that idiot brother of mine is only capable of illegal downloads!”

Well, she didn’t mince words…

“I don’t know what kind of magic trick this is, but you can’t stop a gun with something like that!”

Saying so, Cindy alternated pointing the muzzle between me and Yoshioka.

“Let’s just calm down a bit. We’ll tell you the truth.”

Whether they believed it or not, our only option left was to lay it out.

“The truth is, your brother isn’t in this world. Gary is in another world.”

A roaring blast echoed as the handgun in Cindy’s hand spat fire.

It seemed she had deliberately thrown off her aim to shoot at our feet as a warning.

Still, that was dangerous!

“Don’t screw with me!! A ridiculous story like—what is this?”

It was no wonder she was shocked.

The bullet Cindy had fired was stopped dead in midair, completely flattened.

“Magic Shield is incredible.”

“If it were a .44 caliber, it might have broken through. Though casting a double layer would fix that.”

Yoshioka looked composed, but I didn’t miss the slight trembling of his fingers.

Don’t worry, mine were shaking too.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Senpai. I’m afraid I might accidentally injure her with my magic.”

“Got it.”

Reaching my hand out from the side of the Magic Shield, I struck Cindy’s hand with a Paralysis (Beginner) ball.

Using my Attraction skill, I snatched up the gun she dropped and completely disarmed her.

“We’re sorry. But we have no intention of harming you any further.”

Apologizing, I passed the attracted handgun to Yoshioka.

I did that because I had no idea how to handle one.

Yoshioka accepted it silently, ejected the magazine, cleared the chambered round, and placed everything onto the table.

“W-What… is this…?”

How were we supposed to explain this?

“As you can see, we possess extraordinary powers. It’s just like what you’ve witnessed. It’s hard to explain, but Gary has even more incredible power.”

“Does that mean…”

It was only natural to be confused when hit with something so sudden.

While it might be a common setting in light novels, explaining a hero summons to Americans might not make much sense to them.

“Let me explain it one more time,” I said, but Cindy cut me off with a hand gesture.

Wait.

For some reason, Cindy’s eyes were sparkling.

“So, that means… it’s that, right?”

What would that be?

“You guys are superheroes, aren’t you!!”

All the strength drained from my body.

“Ah, you caught us…”

There it was.

Yoshioka’s improvisational fast-talking.

“We are comrades working on the same side as Gary.”

Well, technically we did belong to the Saxens military.

“I knew it! The reason my brother can’t come home is because he’s worried that hostile forces might target us, right?!”

“Precisely. It’s exactly because Gary and we are specialists in covert operations that he requested us to act as messengers. More than anything else, he fears any harm coming to you.”

“Oh, Gary…”

Tears welled up in his mom’s eyes again.

On the other hand, Cindy was incredibly excited.

“Tell me! What kind of abilities did my brother awaken?!”

Yoshioka thoroughly explained the hero’s specs.

Cindy’s excitement reached its absolute peak.

Half of it was a lie, but I wondered if this was really fine.

As it turned out, Cindy was a massive hero geek.

She truly was Gary’s sister.

She and Yoshioka, who was also well-versed in that field, were hitting it off completely in their conversation.

Names like the spider guy, iron guy, and a wonderful lady were flying back and forth.

So while a Japanese light novel explanation didn’t register, an American comic book explanation made perfect sense to her…

“So, what other kinds of abilities do you guys have?!”

Cindy directed a passionate gaze toward us.

“Let’s see… Senpai, why don’t you show her that?”

“Huh?”

“You know, that. When you think of a hero, it’s gotta be that. Like what that lonely hero in the red and blue tights does when he sticks to a wall.”

Ah, that…

“I have to do it?”

It felt incredibly embarrassing to do on purpose…

“Just do it!”

Spurred on by Yoshioka, I kicked off the air.

Using Sky Walk (Beginner) and Gecko Hand, I stuck myself to the ceiling.

“Amazing! Amazing! You can do the exact same thing as my favorite hero!”

I don’t shoot spider webs, though…

“But if Gary can’t make it, how come you guys were able to come to our house?”

“Oh, Mom, don’t be silly. Kota is a ninja. Of course he’s great at covert operations.”

Before I knew it, I had been turned into a ninja.

On top of that, she was calling me by my first name.

As a bit of fan service, I used Dummy to display a cloning technique, which prompted her to lung forward, hug my clone, and plant a kiss on its cheek.

Except, that one was the dummy…

The dummy’s arm was buried deep into Cindy’s chest.

Oh yeah, America!!

What a massive shame!

But it was fine.

Lady Clara, my chastity has been preserved.

Once the series of commotions settled down, we formally recorded the video message for Gary.

His mom, now with her makeup perfectly done, spoke to the camera.

“Oh, Gary… I’ve been worried sick about you this whole time. But I heard from Kota and Akito. You’re working for everyone as a hero, aren’t you? Mom is so proud of you—”

When the gun was pulled out earlier, I wondered how things would turn out, but it looked like we managed to successfully fulfill our duty.

The only unexpected part was that Cindy kept sticking awfully close to me and Yoshioka.

She seemed to love comic book heroes from the bottom of her heart.

“Hey, can you shoot beams from your eyes?”

“That’s a bit impossible. Though a technique called Solar Ray, which concentrates sunlight through a lens made of water magic, is currently under development.”

“What is that?! That is so cool!”

The two of them seemed to get along famously.

After retrieving the luggage we had been requested to gather from Gary’s room, we bid our farewells.

We were strictly made to promise by his mom and Cindy that we would definitely visit again.

Next time, his mom was going to bake her specialty apple pie for us.

Since we intended to come check on them again, I set up a portal at the Salt Lake City airport.

This time, our Home was set up at Amida Trading, so we couldn’t use it right away, but next time, if I reset the Home in my room, traveling back and forth with Japan should become instantaneous.

Since our passports were still in a state of having exited Japan, we needed to make sure we got our re-entry stamps properly, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to use them anymore.

While sipping on our welcome drink champagne, I looked down at Salt Lake City as it receded beneath us.

Come to think of it, I had grown somewhat used to first class.

Though I didn’t think I’d get used to guns anytime soon…

Yoshioka seemed genuinely serious about buying a handgun.

Rather than using it, he seemed to want to collect it.

He was fired up about building a shooting range in the basement of Amida Trading.

I wondered if he would apply for a long-term stay visa the next time we came.