Tomorrow

This and that.

After the office and Charlotte and Hermilla’s emotions were sorted out, Rubia and I were kicked out to the best room in the Imperial Palace, with the excuse that our presence would only cause more confusion.

In the process, Heinzel, pale as a sheet, burst into the office where a tremendous roar had been heard, and a huge number of Imperial Knights lined up and rushed in, calming the bewildered imperial citizens, and rooting out the pseudo-religious group that claimed a new god had descended.

There were very… minor problems, but.

Charlotte seemed to have more wrinkles on her forehead, but.

Anyway, the major issues were settled.

“Hic… sob…”

Except for Rubia’s emotions…

“I, it’s okay… I’m here now, by your side…”

I calmly patted Rubia’s back, who was constantly shedding tears.

As I did, I thought.

About the time I spent outside the world.

Roughly… if 30 seconds is 30 minutes… uh…

1 minute is 1 hour… 24 minutes is a day… if you do that for 394 days… uh, eugh…

Let’s not.

Anyway, the important thing is that I’m back here.

I didn’t really feel like it was that long.

“I, I’m sorry… for just, having such a… hard time, sob… Noah, Noah… you were having such a hard time all alone…”

No… I wasn’t really having a hard time…

Of course, I felt a little lonely at first, but before I even had time to feel lonely, the Outer Gods attacked, so it was… bearable.

But I missed Rubia a lot.

“I, it’s really okay… rather… I’m sorry for leaving Rubia alone…”

At those words, Rubia’s crying intensified.

I couldn’t help but lower my head and slip under Rubia’s face, kissing her cheek.

A slightly salty taste lingered on my lips.

“Don’t cry… okay…? It’s really all over now… I’m back like this… and I can be with Rubia… sob…!”

After that, I kissed Rubia’s cheeks and lips several times to soothe her crying.

After a long time of doing that.

Peeking, as the setting sun dyed the room orange, Rubia’s crying completely stopped.

“Hic… then, having to leave because of work… every time the Outer God attacks, I have to go there… sniff… I have to go there?”

“That’s right… since time flows differently like we experienced today, I can just go for a little while. Isn’t that really lucky…?”

“Time… flows… differently… hic…”

…I thought Rubia’s tears had completely stopped, but they welled up again.

“Uwaaa… no, uh, then… shall we… go together? Okay…? If we go together… we won’t have to be apart…!”

“Together…?”

“Yes…!”

Rubia, looking at me with her tear-filled eyes wide open, is pretty. Cute. Amazing as always.

I stroked Rubia’s pretty, pretty cheek, which had been bleeding until just now, but was now completely healed, and nodded.

“But, I… I’m not helpful at all… If Noah gets hurt trying to protect me… I can’t help Noah because I don’t have Divine Power…”

“Ah, uh…”

Huh…? Divine Power?

Divine Power… Divine Power.

I was definitely going to tell Rubia about Divine Power… Ah, that’s right.

“T, that’s right…! Rubia!”

“Yes, yes?”

Oh.

Wait a minute.

Wasn’t this something I was supposed to hide, not tell?

Hmm… uh…

This is bad.

“Ah, it’s nothing…”

“Nothing? What is?”

“…I, I forgot.”

Rubia’s eyes narrowed.

The blue eyes inside sparkled as if they could see through my heart.

“Noah.”

“Yes… Hehet…?”

“Tell me.”

“…I… I forgot…?”

“Don’t lie.”

Soon, Rubia’s arms, close enough to touch my chest, grabbed both of my arms.

“If Noah is hiding something like this… it must be something very serious or important.”

“I, it’s not like that…”

“Again… again, like before, Noah alone… carrying it, dealing with it alone… alone… are you trying to disappear?”

Rubia didn’t cry.

She didn’t cry, but.

I felt an emotion bigger than tears, an emotion more affectionate and painful than tears.

“Please… please. Noah… please… this time, don’t leave me alone. I want to be with you too. Even if I have to die, I… I want to die in Noah’s arms.”

So, I.

I said what I was trying to keep to myself.

“…Divine Power…”

“…Yes?”

“You can use Divine Power again.”

“Divine Power…?”

“…Yes.”

I avoided Rubia’s questioning gaze and lowered my head. After a while, I heard Rubia gasp in surprise.

I carefully raised my head.

There was Rubia, her mouth agape, her eyes wide open.

“…Could it be?”

Nod.

“Rubia… has to become my Priestess… no, my Avatar.”

“Avatar…? Then, why did you hide it?”

“…There’s a… a downside.”

For Rubia to be able to wield Divine Power again, she has to become my Avatar.

Not a Priestess, but an Avatar.

Not borrowing my power to use it.

But using my power as it is.

And so.

In the end, becoming an existence that lives the same time as me.

That’s right.

If Rubia becomes my Avatar.

“Rubia… will have to live forever.”

Like me.

For countless eons, no, forever.

At first glance, it might sound like a huge advantage, not a disadvantage. I felt good when I first learned this fact. I couldn’t help but feel good.

Some emperors are said to have eaten all sorts of things to live forever.

In other novels and games, there are characters who even sell their souls for this eternal life.

But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized.

That eternal life.

Is not so romantic and good.

If you were born as an existence living eternal life from the beginning, you might not feel uncomfortable.

You would think it’s natural.

But, I, Rubia, were human.

We lived lives that had nothing to do with eternal life.

We spent time with a completely different structure of thought, completely different from those beings.

For us, who need to mingle with people and feel happiness, to live eternal life.

In the end, it means being left alone.

Exhausted and worn out.

Without meeting anyone, abandoning all emotions.

Alone, with no one around.

We will spend that infinitely unfolding eternity.

That kind of life, that kind of time, that kind of pain.

I couldn’t recommend it to Rubia.

If we are together, maybe even that time can be spent happily forever.

But, but.

Someday. Even once, if Rubia is having a hard time because of that eternity, if I find out about it. I… will be overwhelmed by that guilt and have a very hard time.

That’s what I’m afraid of.

Making Rubia suffer with my own hands.

Making Rubia’s life difficult.

If Rubia eventually wants to die.

I… won’t be able to handle it.

So.

Only Rubia, whom I love.

Different from me.

Ordinary time―

“Why is that?”

“…Yes?”

“Why is that a disadvantage?”

I looked at Rubia, who tilted her head as if she really didn’t understand.

“…Why, why is it a disadvantage… well―”

A deep sigh.

Rubia, who sighed as if she was a little angry, looked straight at me.

“Noah. I thought about leaving Noah alone in this world and dying. I believed that would happen. And then, and then… when Noah didn’t come back to my side… I even thought about dying. Even if I died, if I could just hold Noah’s appearance, Noah’s voice, and scent in my hands, if I could feel Noah even for a moment, I thought that would be enough.”

Light settled in her blue eyes.

A light more brilliant than anything else. A light that will brightly illuminate the darkness in my heart.

“But, Noah came back to my side. She smiled at me, hugged me in her arms, and called my name… So, I… was happy. I was so happy that I became greedy. I had bad thoughts. I didn’t need anything else, I just wanted to live with Noah for the rest of my life, no, for eternity. I thought I wanted this time to just stop.”

Her hand cupped my cheek.

Her beautifully curved eyes, the eyes that reflected me within, turned to me.

“But, really… the opportunity to fulfill my dream, my wish, my desire, my selfish desire… has come. Do you think I’ll have a hard time living that eternity? With Noah by my side, will I have a hard time? Absolutely, absolutely not. Yes. Of course… the people left around us will leave. But… it’s okay. It’s a little mean and embarrassing to say, but… I only need Noah.”

So.

“Don’t worry. As long as Noah, I, each other, are together.”

I.

You.

We.

“Will be happy forever.”

“…Re, really…?”

“Yes.”

Our foreheads touched.

Our noses didn’t touch.

Instead, our lips touched. A little deep, a little sticky.

Those lips, Rubia’s lips that had taken away my body temperature, opened.

“Just trust me.”

Rubia, who repeated the words I had said, was smiling brightly. That smile, that voice, that emotion, pounded hard on my heart, making my breath rough and hot.

So, I.

I.

“Yes…”

I nodded.

And, I smiled.

Just like her, brightly and happily.

“If I, uh… receive Noah’s power and become an Avatar, will it harm Noah… or anything like that?”

…I put on the clothes that Rubia was helping me put on, the clothes that had been taken off somehow, and got up, rubbing my slightly sore thighs and chest.

My waist was throbbing.

My lips were burning.

“Harm…? No. There’s nothing like that. Rather… um… it’s even better.”

“Better in what way?”

“Uh, um… I don’t know how to explain it… um… if Rubia receives this power, we’ll be able to feel each other no matter where we are.”

Rubia’s eyes widened.

“That’s so nice…”

“Right…? Hehe.”

Rubia’s hand, which had been nodding and putting jelly in my mouth, stopped- stopped in place.

“Come to think of it, how did you find out about this?”

“…Yes?”

“How did you find out that Noah would live forever, or that you could create an Avatar? You wouldn’t have known instinctively, or had that knowledge enter your head. And, just now, Noah said. ‘You’ll be able to.’ ”

I rolled my eyes around, avoiding the blue eyes that were staring at me.

“Noah.”

“…Ye, yehet…”

“Which woman is it this time?”

Hiccup.

“I don’t even have to think about who it is. This time… you really met Lilith, didn’t you?”

“…Uh, well… um… yes. I, I met her.”

I nodded carefully.

Lilith.

I really met Lilith…

Outside the world, just before crossing over to this side.

Just for a moment.

I don’t know how it happened.

I don’t even know if that’s the real Lilith.

Really, if it’s just an illusion.

Or a thought form, even I couldn’t figure it out.

One thing I could know was.

The appearance I faced was the last appearance of the real Lilith.

If it wasn’t then, I wouldn’t be able to meet her again.

So… in order to hear the answer to the question that hadn’t been resolved until then, I had a conversation with Lilith for a very short time.

It’s not like I did anything that Rubia would hate. Someone I’m seeing for the first time. A being I’m seeing for the first time, and she looks a little more mature than Rubia… um… anyway.

“I, I really only talked for a moment…! I, I didn’t do anything that Rubia would hate… really…”

Rubia, who had been narrowing her eyes, took away her sharp atmosphere and sighed.

“Yes. I believe you. Um, if it were Noah, I think you would have asked her to tell you the reason why she brought you to this world. Am I right?”

“Oh… th, that’s right.”

Chuckling, Rubia, who had finished putting on her clothes, poured water into a glass, waiting for my answer.

“So, what did she say was the reason?”

I got up from my trembling legs and approached Rubia, and conveyed the answer I had heard at that time as it was.

I decided to tell you everything without hiding anything now!

“She said… because she loved me…?”

At the same time, crack-

The metal water bottle in Rubia’s hand was distorted.

…Wow, Rubia is so strong…