I came back but the world is still a fantasy!? – School Field Trip Arc – Act 1: This Is What Happens When I Go on a Trip – 04-78: The Summit Meeting – Playfully Exposing (1/2)

A young woman was standing quietly as all the events until now had been a lie.

She had long flowing lustrous black hair and wore a kimono with subdued color, atop which was an indigo blue haori. She didn’t look at all like someone from this era.

Among the people here, only the Mask was meeting her for the first time, but the aura she exuded, her well-proportioned facial features, and her smile naturally softened the air.

Everyone other than Ryou and Tomoe were being excessively cautious with the Mask, but even that was gradually loosening up.

『So she finally decided to show herself.』

For better or for worse, no one noticed it when the Mask muttered.

Even Tomoe, who was closest to him, was too taken by Mikoto’s sudden appearance to notice.

“Fu fu, you’ve gotten so big, Tomoe-chan,” Mikoto said.

“I-It’s been a while, Mikoto-sama! You look healthy too…” Tomoe said.

“Oh, you don’t have to be so nervous. However, I do think you should exercise prudence in front of others regardless if that person beside you is a gentleman or a lady.”

For a moment, Tomoe wasn’t sure what Mikoto was pointing at, but then…

“Huh? Ah! T-That’s!”

It suddenly occurred to her that she had been touching a boy’s(his) body without reservation, and her face turned beet red.

But that only made the smile on Mikoto grow bigger.

Tomoe quickly separated herself from the Mask and flailed about in an attempt to explain herself, but then the ‘Night’ filled her vision.

“Huh?”

『…Sorry, but who are you?』

To be more precise, the Mask was standing in front of them to cover for them as he asked that question.

When Mikoto realized that she’d yet to introduce herself, she apologized in an exaggerated manner.

“Oh, my! I do beg your pardon!　I am the master of this manor, Tsuchimikado Mikoto. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Masquerade(・・・・・・).”

『Tsuchimikado Mikoto…』

She implied that she knew his name, but the Mask purposefully didn’t react to that and just meaningfully repeated her name.

“She’s the Clan Master of the exorcist clans of Japan. She’s at the very top when it comes to lineage and ability. Don’t worry, there’s no need to be so alert with her, she should be able to understand…”

『────What a difficult name to pronounce. Is that supposed to be a tongue twister?』

But he ignored her and just bluntly spoke his mind, leaving everyone speechless.

Mikoto herself was all smiles, but everyone else was sweating buckets.

They knew of her power and standing, so they could never act like that toward her.

Even Tomoe and Ryou, who didn’t have a good impression of the clans, knew how terrifying it was to make an enemy out of her.

Regardless how she appeared, ‘she’ was the leader of the exorcist clans.

If she wanted to, she could make all of the clans hostile toward them.

“Come on! Even you should know that it’s rude to mock the name of a person you’re meeting for the first time!” Tomoe said.

“Please! Don’t provoke her like you usually do!” Ryou said.

Tomoe hastily approached the Mask to rebuke him, while Ryou too followed suit and begged him not to cause trouble.

But as expected, the Mask did everything at his own pace.

『Actually, I almost bit my tongue because right after Mikado came Mikoto.』

“That’s your problem!”

『That’s true, I never had much confidence in my pronunciation.』

“If you know, then fix it!”

Annoyed by his attitude or perhaps afraid of Mikoto’s unchanging smile, Tomoe grabbed the Mask by the chest and shook him while yelling at him.

She was still using the her exoskeleton while doing so, but the Mask seemed unaffected.

Meanwhile, everyone else other than Ryou were shocked to see Tomoe being so violent toward the mysterious thing that displayed such great power.

“Fu, fu fu fu fu… That’s the first time that someone said that about my name.”

Mikoto elegantly smiled while covering her mouth with her hand, as though to say that she found the Mask’s appearance and words interesting.

However, anyone on the receiving end of that narrow gaze was bound to shrink, and Ryou and Tomoe were no exception.

“Awawawa! Please wait, Mikoto-sama!” Tomoe said.

“T-This guy just doesn’t have any manners or common sense! He doesn’t have any ill intent!” Ryou said.

“He just naturally has a potty mouth and personality, but he’s not a bad person!”

『…I won’t deny it, but you’re not being very persuasive if I say so myself.』

“Ah… Hey, stop it already! Even if you end up alright, we won’t! Even I can tell that this is in another league compared to everything else so far!” Ryou said.

When the Mask refused to change his attitude despite that, Ryou grabbed his shoulders and asked him to stop.

For some reason, he and Tomoe were visibly agitated, and just as curiously, he and she were turned to the sky between Mikoto and the Mask.

“Oh… As expected, your eyes have improved.”

『How many of the onlookers have noticed, I wonder.』

As though impressed, a smile surfaced on Mikoto and the Mask.

Everyone else other than Ryou and Tomoe were surprised, but then Mikoto quietly clapped her hands, and the Mask snapped his fingers.

In the next moment…

“Huh?”

Everyone opened their eyes as though to wonder why they hadn’t noticed until now.

A sword swung and a strange beast roared within the many layers of the barrier, leaving all of them astonished.

───GyaAOOOOOOO

───HAAAaaa

Without their knowing, a battle had been occurring right in the space between Mikoto and the Mask.

On one side was a warrior formed from blueish-white light with buns on each side of his head wielding a bronze sword, while on the other was a multi-headed dragon with scales colored like shadows.

The warrior swung his sword, while the dragon bared its fangs. It was just like a reenactment of a battle straight out of the myths.

The shockwaves alone caused the atmosphere to tremble, the roof tiles to fly, the mansion to shake, and the barrier to creak. It was truly a mystery how they did not notice any of this until now.

It was as if this place alone was being hit by a cataclysmic disaster.

Neither Mikoto nor the Mask were looking at them, yet just the pressure of their existence was enough to make them shrink, and they had no choice but to understand.

That compared to them, the demon sword was nothing but small fry.

Some lost their footing, some lost consciousness, but no one laughed.

The only ones who dared yell amidst all that were Ryou and Tomoe.

“Please stop already!” Ryou said.

“Don’t start a mythic class battle here!!” Tomoe said.

They could see since the tongue twister(from the start), so they’ve been desperately trying to stop them.

Even with their knowledge and eyes, they had no idea what those things were, but they could at least tell who the people behind them were.

Before that power that had gone past the level of leagues and entered into a different dimension, Ryou and Tomoe could do nothing but yell with tears in their eyes.