CH 107

Chapter 107 – Totoki’s House

The moment I arrived at the house where Totoki lived, I found myself staring with mute amazement.

“…Your house has quite the novel feel to it.” (Bouchi)

“T-That’s not it, Bouchi-kun! …These plants are like this only because of Ior-chan’s power!” (Koine)

“….Ah, so that’s what it was.” (Bouchi)

The grass, flowers, and plants were so thickly overgrown that it looked like the Amazon rainforest. The walls surrounding the house were intertwined with vines and other plants, making it look like a ruin that had been abandoned for years.

“Sorry! I’ll have Ior turn it back right away!” (Yofel)

Yodel bowed her head in apology. But naturally, the girls didn’t understand what she was saying, aside from Mahina.

“Yofel, can he do that?” (Bouchi)

“Ah, yeah. Ior, we need to turn their place back to how it was before. Can you do that?” (Yofel)

“Onee-chan… Yes, I’ll give it a try.” (Ior)

Ior took a pose with his hands outstretched in front of him.

Then, the plants started to move on their own, and began to shorten as if they were being pulled back into the ground.

Amazing…! So this is the power of the <Plant> skill!

I was glad that he could still control his power to this extent. But if he really wanted, he could probably shatter the ground around here and raise a kingdom of plants, instantly creating a jungle.

He had the ability to shape the environment itself. As expected of a unique skill.

Just like Ryudou’s <Rotten Path>, it seemed that unique skills truly possessed a power on a completely different scale.

After a while, Totoki’s house was freed of its floral restraints. Totoki and her older sister were overjoyed that they didn’t have to clean up the house anymore.

Then, we entered their house. I’d heard from Totoki before that her mother was abroad, but it seemed that she still hadn’t returned even now.

That meant that the three of them were currently living in this house. We were brought to the living room and took a seat on the sofa as guests.

Ior and Mahina were playing together, drawing in sketchbooks. Yofel was watching over them with a soft smile.

Totoki came in with a platter of barley tea and cookies, apologizing for this being all that they had.

“Food and water are precious nowadays. There’s no need to force yourself to do this much for us.” (Bouchi)

“Yeah, thanks for that. But I’d like to do this much, at least.” (Koine)

Then I’ll take a sip of the barley tea… It’s lukewarm.

Well, the fridge wouldn’t be working, so there was no helping it. Being able to drink barley tea in this day and age was a blessing enough already.

“Umm, Bouchi-kun. If you don’t mind, could you tell me about Ior-chan and this person?” (Koine)

Well, of course they would be curious. After all, they didn’t look the slightest bit Japanese from the outside… No, they didn’t even look like people from Earth, for that matter.

I didn’t intend to keep it a secret. I could foresee more cases like this happening in the future, so I decided that it would be okay to tell them.

“I don’t know the exact details either. But… without a doubt, these people are inhabitants of another world.” (Bouchi)

“Another world…? Is that really true?” (Koine)

I could tell that it wasn’t just Totoki. Even her older sister had a hard time believing it.

“Well first, as you can see from their appearance, no humans have ears like those.” (Bouchi)

“That’s… true, I guess. Ior-chan also…” (Koine)

“Well, there are tribes on Earth that forcefully deform their bodies. The women of the Kayan tribe are a famous example of that.” (Bouchi)

“Ah, I know about that. I’ve seen it before on TV. If I’m not mistaken, they wear metal rings from the time they’re born, right?” (Aika)

“To be precise, they’re brass rings. They wear them around their necks from childhood, and they gradually increase the number of coils to make their necks look longer.” (Bouchi)

“Make them look longer? Not actually getting longer?” (Koine)

“That’s a result of the weight of the coils causing the collarbone to sink. Because of that, the position of their shoulders drops, ultimately giving them slumping shoulders. That’s where the brass rings come in, making the neck look longer and more prominent.” (Bouchi)

“Wow…” (Koine)

“There are other tribes that deform their craniums. And there are people who do implants too… body modification, or so it’s called. They bury certain tools under their skin to forcibly change the shape of their body.” (Bouchi)

“…D-Doesn’t that hurt?” (Koine)

“Dunno. But the point is that these people weren’t like that from the beginning. They all had some external, artificial means to give them that appearance. But these two are different. Their ears are unmistakably natural. There’s no species on Earth like them.” (Bouchi)

“….That’s why you said they’re from another world?” (Koine)

“But people from another world… It’s still a bit hard to believe.” (Aika)

“I’m sure it is. She and Ior seem to be what would be known in the fantasy genre as an ‘elf’.” (Bouchi)

““Elf?!””

The moment Totoki and her old sister cried out in unison, Ior and Yofel both stared at them with a startled look.

“B-Bouchi-kun! By elf, do you mean those elves?” (Koine)

“I don’t know what other kind of elves you’re thinking of, but probably.” (Bouchi)

When the word elf came to mind, it was probably pretty much the same for everyone.

“I see… Elves are described as being extremely beautiful. And based on their appearance, Yofel and Ior are both really beautiful.” (Koine)

“But Koine, do you really believe that they’re elves? Aren’t they just fictitious beings?” (Aika)

“But onee-chan, there are already those fictitious beings in this world known as monsters, aren’t there?” (Koine)

“Ah… that’s true, too.” (Aika)

That was why I had also accepted it so readily. This world had already become a fantasy world, so it was no surprise that beings like elves, dwarves, and other non-Earth beings would appear.

“But why are elves… or rather, otherworldly beings, here on Earth?” (Koine)

I responded to Totoki’s question by telling her about the ‘light pockets’ that Yofel had spoken to me about before.

“Then it’s possible that otherworldly beings have come to Earth in the past?” (Koine)

“It’s possible. If we really searched, there might even be some alive today, you know? Or maybe they’re being held captive in some government laboratory somewhere.” (Bouchi)

“Wuu… That sounds horrible. I don’t want to imagine that.” (Koine)

That said, what would actually happen if a person of authority discovered an otherworlder? Would they try to investigate everything about them, from their knowledge, abilities, and body composition?

After all, they were species with different bodies from people on Earth. As I heard from Yofel, elves were a long-lived species. The trend of those in power wanting to obtain eternal youth and immortality wasn’t anything new, and that probably wouldn’t change.

“So that’s why we couldn’t understand them. But… how could you and Mahina understand them?” (Koine)

“…I dunno. Perhaps it’s a coincidence? Ma-chan doesn’t know why she can understand them either, right? I think it just happened to be this way.” (Bouchi)

“….I see.” (Koine)

Totoki seemed to be convinced by that, but I could tell that her older sister was looking at me suspiciously. Well, I didn’t think it would be easy to convince her with such an excuse either.

But seeing that Mahina was able to understand them meant that such a strange phenomenon could indeed occur, so she would have no choice but to accept what I said.

“…Bouchi, why aren’t you telling them the truth?” Yofel, who was sitting next to me, whispered in my ear.

I didn’t say anything out loud, but my gaze conveyed that this was for the best. She must have sensed it too, as she didn’t pursue the matter any further.