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Translator: Barnnn
“Under normal circumstances, I would not be involved in the life of an otherworlder — at least not directly. Yet here we are…”
The Goddess began her address with this curious preface. She proceeded to explain how the summoning of Earthlings to this world was not some spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a pact forged long ago by the triad of divine beings.
The God who ruled over the Alternate Dimension — a plane overflowing with explosive, volatile energy — had, out of necessity, released some of that power into this world. The channel for that overwhelming force took the form of Dungeons.
In response, the Goddess found herself in need of outside intervention — the unique strengths of those not born of this world — to halt the world’s impending collapse.
As the Goddess elaborated, she described how the multiverse itself, ever-expanding and turbulent, needed to be stabilized. In doing so, the God of the universe where Earth resided had turned to the God of the Alternate Dimension, seeking aid.
With their purposes aligned, it was decreed that Earthlings, plucked from their familiar world, would be summoned to this realm whenever necessary.
There were four immutable rules governing the summoning of Earthlings:
One:
They could only be summoned from regions on Earth where the population density surpassed a specific threshold.
Two:
No more than ten individuals were to be summoned at a time.
Three:
The summoning was only permitted during times of extreme crisis, particularly when the world faced peril brought about by the existence of Dungeons.
Four:
Only those considered adults by the laws of this world were eligible to be summoned.
“Wait, what?”
“T-this doesn’t sound right…”
Hal and Ize expressed their bewilderment as the final rule was revealed.
The Goddess regarded Hal with a steady gaze before pivoting toward Ize, her lips parting with deliberate slowness.
“Ichikawa Izumi,” she began, “you were never supposed to be summoned.”
For an instant that felt like an eternity, Ize could only gaze at the Goddess, her mind a blank slate.
The Goddess’s eyes, meeting hers, were eerily devoid of emotion. At that moment, Ize grasped the stark absence of apology in the earlier pronouncement.
Ize’s lips trembled as she forced herself to speak. “Th-then… why? Why am I here?”
“It concerns you as well, Takada Haruka.” The Goddess turned to Hal, who flinched at the sudden mention of his name.
“M-me?”
“In the original course of events, only you were supposed to board the elevator. You, Takada Haruka, were meant to join the other four and be summoned. Ichikawa Izumi was never intended to step foot inside.”
Ize’s confusion deepened. “S-so, how’d this–!?”
“Perhaps you could call it… the will of God.”
“Huh?”
“Specifically, the will of the God of your universe.”
For a moment, everything stopped making sense.
Had the God of Earth intended for her to enter that elevator? Was it all preordained? A cosmic intervention?
Ize’s mind spun with questions she had no answers for, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see Hal watching her, concern etched across his face. But she couldn’t bring herself to respond to him.
The Goddess, her meaty hands now holding a teacup that had inexplicably appeared on the table before her, took a sip before placing the cup on its matching coaster.
“Ichikawa Izumi,” she began again, “you were meant to take the stairs instead of stepping into the elevator. In fact, at that precise moment, you had already begun to leave. Takada Haruka, on the other hand, was supposed to speak to the high schoolers only after you had gone.”
“…So, I arrived earlier than I was meant to?” Hal’s voice carried the unmistakable strain of realization.
“Precisely.”
In short, Ize had only been summoned because Hal’s actions had deviated from the expected course. This begged a deeper question: how had Hal acted out of step with fate in the first place?
“Was it necessary for me to arrive early?” Hal muttered, his voice tight with tension.
Had he already discerned something that had eluded Ize?
Or had a sudden, dreadful understanding dawned upon him?
His face bore the signs of an inner struggle. Ize, sensing the shift in him, turned her sluggish mind toward his expression, willing herself to piece things together.
“Yes, it was,” the Goddess confirmed.
Hal’s fists clenched on his knees. “So… it was to stop Ize from taking the stairs?”
“Indeed. Had Ichikawa Izumi taken the stairs–“
“Enough!” Hal suddenly shouted, cutting her off mid-sentence. His voice was sharp, rising in desperation as his head dropped, and he shook it furiously from side to side. “Not another word, please. I understand.”
His refusal came with such force that it startled even Ize, who had been lost in confusion.
“Hal?” she called out, “What do you mean, ‘not another word’? What did you figure out? Hal, tell me!”
Her mind raced, unable to see the connection Hal had already made.
She reached for him, grabbing his clenched fists in both her hands, shaking him as if to rattle loose whatever he had discovered.
“Say something, Hal! What about the stairs? What would’ve happened if I’d taken them?” Her voice rose in pitch. “C’mon, answer me! Answer me, Goddess!”
“Ize, no!” Hal’s desperate shout echoed.
In the same breath, the Goddess’s words struck with brutal clarity: “Ichikawa Izumi, you were destined to fall from the top of those stairs… and lose your life.”
The weight of her words seemed to drain the strength from Ize’s body, her hand slipping lifelessly upon Hal’s arm. With a tenderness that belied the moment, Hal gently enclosed her hands in his.
For a few seconds, he stared at Ize, her mind still in a daze. Then, turning to the Goddess, his voice steady — its fury now spent — he posed a quiet question.
“May I ask you a few things?”
“Of course. That is why I brought you both here.”
“Earlier, you mentioned that Ize — Ichikawa-kun — was only summoned into this world because of the will of the God of our universe. Why would he go out of his way? Why Ichikawa-kun specifically?”
“It wasn’t just Ichikawa Izumi that he sought to save.”
Hal’s brow furrowed. “Wait, does that mean… me as well?”
“Yes,” she confirmed with a simple nod.
Ize, still staring downward, slowly raised her head at the curious revelation.
Hal, saved by Earth’s God? The idea seemed almost unfathomable in the context of all they had learned.
The Goddess’s gaze wasn’t fixed on either of them now. Her eyes drifted, as though recalling something from far beyond the present moment.
“We — the God of your universe and I — observed a fleeting moment in the lives of those summoned. A fragment of fate, so small it slipped by unnoticed, lasting no more than two seconds. If those two seconds elapsed as they should, Ichikawa Izumi, you would have descended the stairs and lost your life. But with those same two seconds gone, you entered the elevator, joining Takada Haruka and arriving safely in this world. On the other hand, Takada Haruka, had you come alone — with only the other four — you would not have escaped the site of summoning. The pre-existing bonds among them, the disparity in age, and the difference in the type of skills you receive… they would cause your future in this world to be one of cold rejection.”
This time, it was Ize who tightened her grip on Hal’s hands as the Goddess’s emotionless words sank in.
It made sense: without Ize’s Stealth skill, Hal would have never left the summoning site. Without any combat skills of his own, he would have been subsequently deemed powerless — and discarded by those who had been summoned with him, unwanted in the battles to suppress the Dungeon Deluges.
“The potential skills Ichikawa Izumi might awaken, the way they complement your own latent abilities… your shared fates… The God of your universe saw it all and chose to erase those two seconds.”
Had she not been summoned, Ize realized, she would have died.
Had Hal arrived alone, he would have been doomed in this new world.
The Gods, watching the threads of time and fate, had seen how those two seconds would lead to a tragic end for both of their lives.
Hal’s brow furrowed as he fixated on an earlier doubt that lingered unresolved. “…By the way, Goddess, you mentioned our bodies are ‘from Earth.’ Does that mean our universe’s God made me younger?”
The Goddess replied without hesitation. “Yes, it was he who de-aged your body, though that particular choice was made at my request.”
“And why would you request that?”
“It was part of the exchange. In return for allowing Ichikawa Izumi — someone who, by all rights, shouldn’t have been summoned — to remain here, I asked your God to revert you, Takada Haruka, to the age of fourteen. The reasoning… well, it lies in the restrictions I face as a divine being.”
The Goddess proceeded to clarify: The Gods were bound by certain self-imposed rules when it came to interacting with mortals in their respective realms. We impose these rules on ourselves to maintain balance and respect the natural order.
For example, in one world, mortals’ skills were granted only at birth, while in another, they were awarded upon completing various trials throughout one’s life. In some, divine guidance was provided through mystical creatures.
The Goddess of this world, too, had her own limitations. She could only intervene in the lives of children who had not yet undergone the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.
To communicate with Hal and Ize, to have them understand the weight of their altered fates, they both needed to be children — as per the rules that governed her interactions.
“Ichikawa Izumi, your coming of age was more than ten months away from the time of summoning — far too long for me to delay delivering this explanation. Worse, I couldn’t be certain you would even attend the Coming-of-Age Ceremony when the time came. However, Takada Haruka… by returning you to the age of fourteen, I believed you would sense something was amiss, that you would eventually question your circumstances. That curiosity, I knew, would lead you to seek answers at the church, where we would finally have this conversation.” She paused, breaking her stoic expression into a playful giggle. “Besides, isn’t it far easier to travel alongside a fourteen-year-old as a fourteen-year-old yourself, rather than as someone over thirty?”
The Goddess’s shift in her tone caught Hal off guard.
“I… uh, well, yes,” Hal admitted, scratching his head. “If I was still over thirty, traveling with a bunch of teenagers, I’d definitely feel more pressure to be the responsible adult and protect them every step of the way. I mean, I STILL feel the responsibility, having a great deal more life experience than Ize and all. But… being a boy again, I feel… like, I don’t know, I can relax and enjoy this world a bit more?”
With that, Hal stood from his chair, meeting the Goddess’s gaze directly.
“Thank you,” he said, bowing deeply. “Thank you for de-aging me.”
“Ah!” Ize yelped, startled by Hal’s sudden display. She jumped up and bowed in turn, though the heat of the moment made her gesture far more exaggerated. “Thank you for saving our lives! And for bringing us to this world!”
“It was your universe’s God who saved your life, Ichikawa Izumi. But I appreciate your gratitude all the same.”
With a graceful clap of the Goddess’s hands, and before either of them could speak further, two steaming cups of tea appeared, the fragrance wafting through the air and immediately easing the tension that had built in their bodies.
“Now, let us set aside the heavy matters,” the Goddess said, her voice warm and inviting. “There’s much more we can talk about, but for now, relax and enjoy some tea.”
Once they took their seats again, Hal chuckled to himself, shaking his head.
“Man, I can’t believe I was this close to being dragged into this world with no real chance — in the ‘misunderstood as useless’ formula, no less! I owe you, Ize. Seriously, thanks.”
Ize waved her hands in front of her, flustered. “No, no! I should be thanking you! If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve taken the stairs then!”
Hal nodded quietly, sipping his tea. He had already made peace with the fact that their fates had been twisted by unseen hands, but Ize was only just beginning to realize the depth of it.
As they spoke, the enormity of what had almost happened — her death, so close and yet averted — began to creep into her mind.
And with it, fear — the fear she had felt standing at the top of those stairs, the moment she had almost forgotten, came crashing back.
Before she could stop herself, a tear slipped down her cheek. Then another.
“Ah…” she murmured softly, as the tears began to fall, drop by drop.
Since being summoned, every day had been an exciting adventure.
[But I knew…]
She had been happy when her injury healed.
[Deep down…]
She had been glad to have her fantastical powers.
[There’s been that feeling…]
But the knowledge of what might have been was too heavy now.
[I’m scared…]
“Fuh… ugh… ughh…” she sobbed, her voice breaking. The tears, already flowing freely, began to drip down onto her knees.
A hand landed gently on her head.
“Don’t hold it in,” Hal’s voice murmured. With rough, yet inexplicably tender strokes, he playfully ruffled Ize’s hair. “You don’t have to hold back,” he repeated, his voice trembling now, betraying the emotion he had been holding in himself.
Ize looked up, her tear-filled eyes meeting his. “Hal… you too,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
“No need to hold back.”
“…Yeah.”
Hal’s breath hitched, and then, without warning, he too began to cry.
[…Heh, what a weird guy,] Ize thought, through the blur of her own tears. [But somehow… it’s reassuring, knowing he’s here.]
Ize extended her slender arms as far as they would reach.
Hal lowered his hand, gently cradling her head in his palm.
Ize’s face rested against his collarbone.
His forehead gently touched the crown of her head.
Their bodies trembled,
Their tears flowed,
And so, in that moment,
Ichikawa Izumi — now Ize,
Takada Haruka — now Hal,
Resolved to take a new step forward,
Not alone, but together — Here, in this world.
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