Chapter 11: The Lord of the Next World
After pulling Kyoko Aoyama down from the rooftop, Hikigaya first led her into the shop.
But as soon as he sat down behind the counter, Kyoko's curiosity had her wandering around, looking at everything in the store.
Hikigaya didn't stop her and first looked at the letter.
After thinking for a long while, he decided not to peek at the letter Motoko had written to Kyotaro. Although he was very curious, if he wanted to read it, he could simply do so when delivering it to Kyotaro.
Before that, he thought his shop staff situation could have an important breakthrough.
"Kyoko, are you interested in working part-time?" Hikigaya asked the bored girl, who was exploring his store. "I happen to need staff."
"Part-time?" Kyoko looked away from a painting that was clearly a copy and asked, "These are all fake, right? Does anyone actually buy them?"
"Calling them fake is a bit much," Hikigaya corrected her seriously. "I'm not running an antique store."
"True…" Kyoko found this reasonable, but then she asked with curiosity, "So, you want me to help you with what exactly?"
"Work part-time, obviously. You seem to have nothing to do anyway," Hikigaya stood up and pointed to his seat, saying generously, "There's no setup in all of Tokyo more luxurious than this. You can play any game."
MMP, it really couldn't go on… Not a single match lasted more than ten minutes. Which company made this game? Trying to go bankrupt!?
"No thanks, I still have classes," Kyoko said disdainfully, glancing at Hikigaya's so-called super-luxurious computer. "Playing games with boys is the most boring thing. I need to find a boyfriend."
"You don't understand—dating isn't as fun as games." Hikigaya pursed his lips, then casually asked, "By the way, which school do you go to?"
"University of Tokyo. Why?"
"…"
Hikigaya was slightly shocked. The paper-wielding swordswoman was a true genius—what an absurd setup!
Her Onmyou skills were terrible, but somehow her intelligence had betrayed the revolution and thrown itself into the arms of science?
"I see… so you go to Tokyo University too…" Hikigaya nodded expressionlessly, trying to make it look casual. "Same as my sister."
"I've already met Komachi," Kyoko said happily. "She's really cute, and we've promised to be good friends."
'You've met her? Just now?' Hikigaya thought.
He had clearly urged Komachi to go to school earlier. She probably forgot something and ran back for it. Truly a scatterbrained child.
As for his scatterbrained little sister becoming friends with Kyoko, that was fine. Kyoko's Onmyou skills might be terrible, but as a descendant of the Shinmei-ryu, Hikigaya felt reassured with her around.
He just needed to test her skill. He trusted Shinmei-ryu, so he had to make sure Kyoko's swordsmanship wasn't as unreliable as her Onmyou techniques.
"All right," Hikigaya carefully chose his words. "The waterfall in the back mountain is a good place for training. Your mother used to go there. I can take you to see it."
"Why didn't you say so earlier! I'll go check it out now!"
Obviously, Motoko hadn't told her daughter much about her time in Hinata Village, but that didn't stop the admiring daughter from treating her mother's old spots as great training locations.
As a result, before Hikigaya's recruitment pitch for a part-time worker was halfway done, the girl he was trying to recruit had already rushed off.
Hikigaya wasn't too disappointed. If the girl could run, the house wouldn't escape him—people lived here, so eventually she'd be his.
Still… Compared to humans, dolls seemed more reliable.
Checking the time, Hikigaya packed up, closed the shop, and returned to his room in the North Wing.
In a corner of his room, a chair had been added since he last tidied it, and Moe was sitting there.
Her appearance was indistinguishable from a real person—a beautiful girl sitting on a chair, seemingly asleep.
Originally, Moe's human-like appearance was due to the reverse influence of her spirit on the material after becoming a Tsukumogami. Despite her human-like touch, mechanical traces remained in the texture and joints.
But now, no mechanical traces could be seen in her limbs. When Hikigaya held her hands, the sensation—temperature and softness—was entirely human. Her skin was milky white, even more radiant than pearls.
Her features were refined: symmetrical face, rosy lips like begonia flowers, hair like clouds, and though her eyes were closed, a trace of melancholy lingered beneath her fluttering eyelashes.
Bringing in a professional to restore her had been the right choice. Leaning slightly in the chair, Moe now looked like a fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty. Her curves were breathtaking.
Her spirit had been nourished by the Light of the Next World, fully restored in every aspect.
It was time to awaken her.
Hikigaya half-kneeling, took Moe's hands, palm to palm.
Osiris, who overcame death, grants eternal life to those who faithfully believe in him.
Hachiman Hikigaya, having overcome Osiris, was the Lord of the Next World—able to command floods, end them, cause life to flourish or perish, and control the rising and setting of the sun.
Golden light shone from the place where Hikigaya and Moe's palms met, bathing the room in a golden hue. It shimmered like rippling water, and the breath of life and growth emanated fully from Hikigaya.
Outside, the sound of something landing could be heard, but Hikigaya ignored it, focused entirely. This was the first time he had fully used this power since being released from the secret ritual.
The crucial moment had arrived.
Unlike giving life to inanimate objects or dragging the living into the abyss to revive the dead—which represented the greatest strength of this power—this required much more time and energy.
In the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, priests, to satisfy people's wishes for ascension after death, created many spells. Gathered together, they became the so-called Book of the Dead, preparing praises for the gods, boasting of achievements, concealing faults, and providing spells for the deceased to pass judgment.
Hikigaya, of course, didn't need any judgment or the forty-two standing attendants of Egypt.
But he did need time and focus.
The Nile in ancient Egypt had only three seasons; floods and grain growth occupied two-thirds of the year, while the sun's rising and setting took a single day.
Hikigaya Hachiman's resurrection, however, required at least sixteen hours.
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