The blue marker, that showed Schnee, approached the green markers. It was likely that they were told to leave, as the green markers left the plains immediately. And then, the blue marker instantly changed direction towards Shin. It pushed forward in a straight line.
Though she was slower than Shin, almost all of the Skull Faces that bumped into her were instantly killed.
Silently killing and cutting the approaching Skull Faces, Shin also went toward Schnee. However, his steps were heavy. There was a hint that she remembered him in the letter from Tiera, but he didn’t know what to say when they met again.
Schnee, in the game era, didn’t converse more than what she was programmed to. As a support character, although he had raised her charm setting to the max, he had no idea if that had affected her personality.
If he thought about it, the store had been left neglected. As it was, there hadn’t even been any news from him for 500 years. What did she think of Shin? It was impossible to guess. Instead, it would not be strange if she was angry and hated him.
But without thinking about it too much, Schnee arrived at Shin’s position.
――――While a black skeleton squirmed, the two people had their reunion.
Whether it sensed something or not, the Skull Faces’ movements stopped.
Even if it tried to move right away, it couldn’t move forward; as if it was blocked by a totally invisible wall. Though Shin, while perplexed, also noticed the surroundings, he was hit lightly by paws on his forehead as some kind of interaction. Judging from the thoughts that flowed to him, Yuzuha seemed to have erected a barrier somehow. It didn’t seem like it would be able to hold for a long time, but it was not the situation for a lengthy reunion, so it was not a problem.
When he conveyed “Sorry”, the feeling of the thought “It’s all right” was returned. The fox could indeed read the atmosphere.
That exchange of thoughts was finished in an instant, and Shin changed his attention to Schnee again.
While her silver hair swayed from the wind, Schnee stared right at Shin.
Seeing that, Shin thought, ‘She hasn’t changed at all’ which was indeed an ordinary impression. The silver, shining hair, the transparent blue eyes, and even the clothes she wore; not one thing had changed from the last time they parted.
“…Have you been well?”
Though he thought he should say something else, only those words came out from his mouth.
Those were foolish words, he thought to himself. If the game had been over though, he wouldn’t have met her again, an NPC. So he had been curious.
In a sense, she was the longest-lasting friend he had in the game, and the one he held the most affection for. She was totally similar to a player even if he only saw her because of the VR(Virtual Reality). Therefore, in the VR-world, where the SF(Science Fiction) was excellent, the AI could be equipped with a conversation function…and so on, he thought.
“…………”
Schnee didn’t answer.
Her eyes became watery, and her lips pressed together tightly, as if to suppress something. Seeing the figure which was desperately enduring tears, Shin panicked.
“Schnee…tsu!?”
The moment he called out her name, the flash of silver flickered.
He was embraced affectionately by Schnee, and Shin received an impact that was far stronger than expected. It seems that the outstanding stats, even among his support characters, was not for show. As expected, he almost yelled out “Gofuu!!” but barely endured it.
“Sc-Schnee?”
“Don’t you have something to say?”
Embraced tightly, Shin’s spine almost screamed in pain. Even if the question was asked abruptly, in this situation where he was surrounded by enemies, he couldn’t think of anything.
“Um, sorry for neglecting you until nowAaa!?”
“That’s not it.”
“Gisiri”, the force emitted by her arms intensified. (TL note: “Gisiri”, probably sound of crunching, lol)
“T-Thank you for protecting the store!?”
“That’s not it.”
The force from her arms grew further. It was not an apology, nor even gratitude.
What was it then? What does he need to say?
Shin frantically ran through his memories.
He recalled back to when he came into this world, the last thing that came into his mind was the expression of Schnee weeping and the place everyone once spent time together called ‘Tsuki no Hokora’, which she continued to protect.
(Ah..I see)
From there, it became simple.
What was he really thinking about before, he wanted to laugh at himself.
These were words that he would say in the game, and he had to say them now.
He left the store, disappeared, and then came back.
The first thing he should have said――――
“…I’m home.”
“Welcome back.”