Chapter 77: (Future Timeline) Farewell, Michiyo
After the battle concluded...
Kazama Chiba in Tiga form gently cupped Urushihara Michiyo and turned toward the female teacher and the bus.
With each step, the earth trembled lightly.
The children in the distance had already forgotten how to breathe. Dozens of eyes were locked onto that approaching Ultraman.
Until that enormous hand slowly descended to the ground like a stable elevator platform.
Then Michiyo jumped down from his palm.
Witnessing this scene, the students watched as the normally most isolated and inconspicuous Michiyo enjoyed VIP Ultraman transport service. Every one of them was filled with envy.
However, the perceptive Michiyo sensed the atmosphere of parting.
She turned around and stood there, tilting her head up to look at that giant gazing down at her.
"Are you leaving?"
The little girl asked.
Tiga gently nodded.
"Then... will we be able to meet again?"
Michiyo's fingers twisted together, those large eyes filled with reluctance.
Tiga didn't speak. He simply let the fading sunlight wash over him. This scene appeared so sacred—surpassing countless deliberately staged moments from television dramas.
It also somehow suppressed the spreading sadness.
The girl bit her lip. Seeing that the situation was already decided, although her eyes reddened slightly, she still pulled back the bitterness showing on her face.
Then she obediently raised the backpack she'd been protecting in her arms.
"Thank you... here, I'm returning this to you."
Tiga extended his hand. A flash of light, and that backpack instantly transformed into a stream of light that merged into the color timer on his chest.
After completing this, Kazama raised his hand and fired a light bullet toward the sky.
The air was torn apart like fabric.
Then a spacetime vortex flickering with deep blue light slowly appeared, as if about to swallow the heavens.
"SHUWATCH—!!"
With a battle cry, Tiga crossed his arms before him, then pulled them to both sides. Pushing off with his feet, that massive body drove a tremendous current as he flew toward the sky and charged into that vortex.
When the last bit of radiance disappeared into the horizon, that rift rapidly sealed, as if everything that had just occurred was nothing but an overly realistic mirage.
Aside from that still-steaming deep crater on the ground and the faint ozone smell lingering in the air, there was no longer any evidence that a deity had visited.
"He... he left..."
"Such a shame. I wanted to get Tiga's autograph."
The surrounding children's voices were filled with disappointment.
"Hey! Urushihara! Are you friends with Tiga?"
Several bold boys immediately swarmed around her, chattering nonstop like they'd discovered a new continent.
Children's notions of good and evil were always so simple and pragmatic. Just moments ago she'd been a freak nobody paid attention to, but now with the halo of being Ultraman's friend, she'd instantly become the class's center of attention.
If this had been before, facing this scene of being watched by dozens of eyes, Michiyo would have already been scared into a trembling ball.
But now Michiyo stood in place, watching that direction where the light had disappeared, not moving for a long time.
Her hands were empty. Her heart also felt like a piece had been hollowed out.
"What's your relationship with Tiga exactly? He actually brought you back specially!"
"You're so amazing! You actually got to ride in Ultraman's palm!"
"Huh? But why did he just drop you off and leave? Did he abandon you?"
Children speak without restraint, often most hurtful of all.
"It's not abandonment!"
In the past, Michiyo would have probably already lowered her head and started doubting herself, feeling she'd definitely been disliked.
But this time, she gathered her courage and refuted them.
"Big brother just went to fulfill a more important mission. He's a hero. He belongs to the light."
He was her hero.
She wouldn't allow anyone to slander him.
After saying this, she seemed to have exhausted all her strength. She no longer paid attention to those classmates still whispering among themselves.
Under the setting sun, the girl's shadow stretched very long. She gripped her right hand tightly.
In her palm, a card with a hard texture was pressing painfully into her hand.
That was something that had accidentally fallen when Kazama grabbed the Sparklence underground, because the backpack zipper hadn't been fully closed.
Michiyo lowered her head and quietly loosened her fingers slightly.
Borrowing the fading sunlight, the writing on that student ID was clearly visible.
[Private Sakikawa United High School]
[Year 2, Class F]
[Name: Kazama Chiba]
[Enrollment Year: Reiwa 2]
"Sakikawa High School... Kazama... Chiba..."
She gently tasted this name on her tongue.
Reiwa 2? That was in the very, very distant future, wasn't it?
So big brother is a person from the future.
So we have to cross so many years of time before we can meet.
The girl's lips curved upward slightly, forming a smile that didn't match her age yet carried a stubborn determination.
It's okay.
Since she knew his name, knew the location, no matter how long the time, how far the distance...
"I'll definitely find you."
"Wait for me, big brother."
...
Time flowed onward.
The wheels of the world rolled relentlessly forward, never stopping for anyone.
In the blink of an eye, countless calendar pages had turned.
2038, parallel world, Kamimizu City, Akihabara District.
This was a somewhat crowded evening.
Neon lights were beginning to illuminate corners throughout the city, decorating this super metropolis in bizarre and garish colors.
However, for a certain someone, this kind of liveliness was absolute hell.
"Waaah... do I really have to go?... I want to go home..."
On this street corner, a pink-haired girl was walking with halting steps like a death row inmate being led to execution.
If Urushihara Michiyo were here, she'd be shocked to discover this girl was practically a carbon copy of her high school self.
The same pink long hair, the same good figure.
Except for those eyes with a social anxiety gaze that seemed to constantly say "don't look at me I want to die."
Kazama Ichiri.
Currently 16 years old, internet ID "Guitar Hero."
At this very moment, this guitar goddess who dominated the internet was in the midst of her life's greatest crisis.
Although Bocchi-chan had inherited the beauty of that mother who always made shocking statements, and also inherited the magical power of that father who thrived on chaos...
Unfortunately, her personality seemed to have undergone some genetic mutation called "negative times negative equals positive."
She'd become socially anxious.
And not just any social anxiety—the ultimate kind where making eye contact with strangers would cause instant death on the spot.
"I can't do it... there's absolutely no way I can do something like this..."
Bocchi-chan hugged that guitar case bigger than her entire person, her whole body shaking like a phone on vibration mode.
"I'm going to die... definitely going to die of social death... playing guitar in front of that many people... people will actually die..."
"Hey, can you show a little backbone?"
A yellow winged plushie floated beside her, holding a cookie snatched from who-knows-where, munching loudly.
This was Kerberos.
Also known as that majestic Guardian Beast from years ago.
Over twenty years seemed to have left no trace on it, except for becoming even more sharp-tongued.
"It's just a Live House performance, right? Is it worth shaking like this? You're about to shake that guitar case apart. Show some dignity as the Kazama family's young lady!"
"D-don't say it..."
Hearing those words, Bocchi-chan's face instantly turned deathly pale. Her entire being began literally fading in color.
"Today's opponent is Komichi Kazue... she's said to have a voice kissed by angels... a super internet idol with over a million Twitter followers..."
"Making me—someone who only hides in closets playing guitar—compete on the same stage as her? This is basically public execution... her fans will definitely beat me to death with glow sticks..."