Manifestation

「Hey, hey, Kamui-kun, let’s hang out together next Sunday.」

「Wait, Kirara-chan, that’s unfair. Noa will also go with you.」

The day had started to get dim. It was about the time when club activities were over. High-pitched voices of two beautiful girls reverberated at a certain street corner. They were so beautiful that they seemed to be mismatched to the ordinary townscape around them.

And there was a pretty boy who was linking arms with both of the girls. He was walking between the two as though being squeezed by them. His name was Kenzaki Kamui. He was a high school student with excellent grades, outstanding athleticism, and pretty looks, albeit also slightly oblivious.

「Hey, girls, it’s kinda hard to walk, so can you let go of my hands? Or rather, isn’t here where we’re supposed to part ways?」

On their way home from school, it appeared that they had arrived at the crossroads where they had to part ways. Thus, Kamui told the two girls so in a slightly mature way.

「Buu… then, see you tomorrow.」

「Bye then, and be sure to consider about our Sunday plan, alright?」 「… okey dokey.」

The two beautiful girls headed home full of energy. Kamui, who in contrast was somewhat exhausted, quietly sent the girls off. Kamui watched the girls’ backs until they completely disappeared at an intersection before he finally headed home himself.

And a dull salaryman-like middle-aged man was walking slightly behind such a Kamui.

(Kuh! Damn you normies. I think it’d be better for you to just explode, you know? Or rather, go explode yourself!)While the man was walking with a casual expression on his face, he was cursing inside. His curses were somewhat chuunibyou-ish.

He was a man who was still suffering from chuunibyou despite his age. His name was Tanaka Taro. He was a salaryman in his thirties who had blended into society, and led an ordinary life while hiding his chuunibyou side.

At this rate, he’d go back to his apartment, casually do something to kill time, before going to bed. Then he’d wake up at the sound of his alarm, and leave for work. Such ordinary days were supposed to go on. However, on this day, at this moment, those ordinary days had to come to an end.

Suddenly, the ground underneath the boy in front of him shone, and a geometric pattern appeared. The pattern gradually shone brighter until its light submerged the boy. After a while, the light gradually receded before completely disappearing, along with the boy…. The only thing left was an ordinary empty ground with no one there, as if nothing had happened at all.

「Haha.. hahaha….」 Naturally, Tanaka, who had witnessed everything, couldn’t help but let out such a dry laugh at the spectacle that just occurred in front of him.

「… Wha, what was that just now? Don’t tell me, because I willed him to explode, my hidden power had awakened?!」

Perhaps out of excitement, he started to express his thoughts out of his mouth. He’d spent his days while hiding his chuunibyou side, but now that such a mysterious phenomenon had just occurred right in front of him, it was running at full throttle.

「Wha! Perchance my time has finally come?! Something like that? Oh no, has the door to wizardry finally opened?」

While continuing to let out his rampaging thoughts, he began to head home. And then, just as he was about to pass by the spot where the boy had disappeared at previously, Tanaka suddenly felt as though he lost the ground which was supporting his body.

「Hyo…」 Darkness suddenly gushed forth as he felt the ground disappearing. He let out such a strange voice as his body fell and disappeared into the darkness.

This was how the two people disappeared from this world.◇ ◇ ◇

Purin Kingdom. In the depth of the castle basement, there was a secret room known only to a select few.

It might be called a room, but it was considerably large, and a huge magic circle was drawn on the floor with numerous magicians surrounding it. Currently, hero summoning ritual was commencing there.

Hero summoning ritual was originally a secret technique of the neighboring Republic of Gokuri. However, in the face of national crisis, Purin Kingdom had opted for illegal means to obtain information about the technique. They then analyzed the information they had obtained, and succeeded in creating their own summoning ritual.

Due to such circumstances, the ritual of the Purin Kingdom was by no means stable. This was because they hadn’t perfectly analyzed the original ritual, and some parts were still unclear. However, currently, they were forcefully performing the ritual despite its unstable performance. Moreover, in order to summon a powerful hero, numerous excellent magicians were gathered from all over the country. As a result, a vast amount of magical energy was gathered as the ritual was being performed. It could be said that it was no longer the same hero summoning ritual of the Republic of Gokuri, and was already a different ritual altogether given how overbearing its pattern was. And now, at last, a Hero was about to be summoned. The magic circle began to shine. Then, the light gradually turned even brighter. Eventually the light became so dazzling that the people gathered there found it hard to even keep their eyes open. Once the light reached its brightest point, it gradually receded after a while. And then, a man, who looked young enough to be called a boy, stood there dumbfounded.

「O powerful summoned Hero, first of all, may you kindly tell us your name?」

Among the magicians surrounding the magic circle, a girl in a Miko outfit called out to the boy.

「… Hero …huh?」

Bewildered, the boy, Kamui parroted her words. However, those words of his didn’t answer the girl’s question from a moment ago. And yet, she didn’t seem to be bothered by it and spoke to him gently.

「It’s understandable that you’re confused. My name is Lala. I shall explain what is going on to you, but could you please tell me your name first?」

Lala, the girl in a Miko outfit, politely asked Kamui once again. Even while still slightly bewildered, Kamui answered her question.

「My name is Kamui, Kenzaki Kamui… I don’t know what’s going on here, so please explain the situation to me.」

This time, he answered her question and told her his name. Then he also somehow managed to ask her for an explanation. Seeing such a Kamui, Lala showed a gentle smile and slowly explained the situation to him.

「Kamui-sama, was it? What a nice name. Just as I’ve stated earlier, I’m Lala. I’m a princess of this Purin Kingdom. Currently, Purin Kingdom is faced with various problems on many fronts. Especially the damage caused by monsters which have reached a critical level. The Kingdom has sent out soldiers, yes, but our soldiers’ power alone isn’t enough to deal with the truly powerful monsters. Therefore, we hoped to ask for the help of a Hero, and performed Hero summoning ritual which has been passed down since ancient times. And then…」

Princess Lala paused her explanation there and stared at Kamui.

「The person summoned was me… huh?」

Said Kamui in disbelief.