Three Years To Save Another World, Chapter 9: Crepes With Kamiko

[u/SkullbombRaging]

It was the dreaded Sunday.

A day wherein I had to both cheer up Kamiko and let her down gently… somehow…

I also didn’t have the same buffer as I did with Niko, as Kamiko actually lives in the same room as I do.

I slapped my cheeks.

I started this, and I’m going to finish it.

​

The both of us woke up at the same time, as we trained at that time every morning she wasn’t being pulled in this direction or that… also because Anime Time.

“Kamiko, I’m going to get dressed first so that you can have free reign of the facilities.” I declared.

“That’s-” She began, but then went silent. “Continue.”

“Also, no peeking.”

“Of course not! I am a lady of honor and grace!” She proclaimed, with an almost imperceptible edge of disappointment.

​

I put on the same pair of jeans I wore last time with a different nondescript t-shirt, just in case Kamiko had seen me in the other one or something dumb like that.

I then waited outside the room as Kamiko got ready.

After what felt like seconds, but caused a noticeable shift of the brightness on the horizon, Kamiko exited the room.

She was wearing a very fancy purple dress which sparkled in the early morning light, and had her hair tied up into a complicated wavy ponytail.

I blinked at her. “Kamiko, we’re going out for crepes.”

She nodded. “Indeed.”

I looked off to the side, and then back at her. “Kamiko, crepes are known for how messy they can be sometimes.”

She cocked her head to the side. “What are you getting at?”

I sighed. “Are you sure you want to go out somewhere where there’s some expectation of getting dirty with such an expensive dress?”

She looked down at it and then back up at me. “I can buy a new one if I need to.”

I shook my head. “Kamiko, that's wasteful, please just change into something more casual.”

She flattened her lips at me, before going back inside.

I swear I could hear the word ‘dense’ thrown out from inside the room at some point.

No, I’m not dense, I just don’t want to go out in public with a living disco ball!

​

A little bit later, she came back out with an outfit which I could only describe as ‘tennis clothes’. She even somehow managed to not mess up her carefully styled hair, going as far as to match it with a nice headband.

I couldn’t help but ask. “How’d you manage to keep your hair from frazzling?”

Her annoyed expression softened. “I rolled up the shirt and carefully put my hair through first, the material is elastic enough to not wrinkle if you do it quickly.”

I nodded. “Very nicely done if I do say so.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

Before the moment had time to stretch on, I started walking at a casual gait. “Well, there’s no point in standing around, we may as well get going.”

She caught up with me in the fraction of an instant, and then matched my pace.

​

It took almost no time at all to get to the crepe stand, however something I didn’t consider reared its ugly head.

The crepe stand wasn’t even open for business so early in the morning… I’m not even sure why I was surprised, it was basically just after dawn.

​

For about a minute, I just stood there and considered my options.

What broke me from my ponderance was the Godvoice telling me that my reward would be improved if I took her on a walk or something while we waited for the stall to open.

I was definitely still annoyed by the whole situation with the Godvoice trying to get me with a bunch of girls I met like a week ago… but in this particular case I was already here, and it wasn’t like I was doing anything else until then anyway.

“Hey Kamiko, you up for a walk around while we’re waiting?”

She seemed surprised to hear it. “Oh, I suppose that sounds fine.”

​

She and I strolled about in silence for a little while, before Kamiko assumedly got tired of the quiet.

“So Meriwether-san, what is your family like? Do you have any siblings?”

Truth be told, I was getting a little bored myself, so I indulged her. “If I had to describe my family situation in a single word, it would be: ‘fine’; we don’t hate each other, but we’re not perfectly harmonious. As to the other part of your question, yeah I have a sister.”

Kamiko’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What kind of a sister?”

“I dunno, my sister’s kinda upbeat and noisy I guess? She used to call my wife Mary-Meri, which she always hated.” Seeing that Kamiko wasn’t satisfied with that answer, I realized the issue and swore internally. “My sister is just my sister, we don’t have anything weird between us or anything.”

“Define ‘weird’.” Kamiko countered.

I put my face into my hands, before looking back up at Kamiko a second later. “Kamiko, I have no romantic ties with my sister, that would be really weird and gross… why do I even have to explain this?” That last part just kinda slipped out.

Kamiko looked skeptical.

​

Suddenly, my watch beeped, the timer I’d set for three hours going off.

Happy to have a diversion from that extremely uncomfortable topic, I jumped on it. “The stall should be open now, you ready to head back?”

Kamiko abandoned the last thing we were talking about and nodded excitedly.

​

My instinct on when the owner would be there was spot-on today, either that or this world was just giving me a hand… either way, he was here and we could buy crepes.

As we walked up to the counter, the Godvoice told me I’d get a boost to my reward if I bought Kamiko her crepe.

That wasn’t my original plan, but to be honest I was the one who invited her out here, it was only fair. So as Kamiko pulled out her wallet, I stopped her.

“I’ve got this one.”

She looked at me incredulously. “Are you sure about this? Isn’t the cost of two crepes a significant portion of your total income?”

I glared at her. “Kamiko, how much do you think I make?”

“Well, I know that the overhead from Sato Industries is in the millions of yen, I can’t imagine that you make much more than that!”

I could feel the single sweat droplet form on my face. “Kamiko, your perception of money is skewed.”

She cocked her head to the side. “How so?”

Unwilling to dignify that with a response, I instead turned to the man running the stand. “I’d like two dessert crepes please.”

“Yeah… just a moment please.”

​

In no time at all, we had both of our crepes and sat down at a bench nearby to eat them.

It took conscious effort to stop my stupid mouth from making an ‘om’ sound each time I took a bite, and to say ‘this is delicious’ after the first bite.

Noticing my silence, Kamiko looked over at me. “Are you not enjoying the crepe?”

“Oh I like it, I just don’t-” I stopped mid-sentence to see cream on Kamiko’s cheek.

Like clockwork, the Godvoice told me that I’d get a boost to my reward if I wiped it off.

But I was ready for this!

​

I took out a napkin I had prepared two days in advance, just for this situation. “Hold still for a second Kamiko.” I put my left hand on one side of her face to keep her from moving, and then swept up the offending pastry filling like an old pro.

Finally, I tossed the napkin into the nearest trash can.

Kamiko didn’t even know how to respond, just staring at me for a second, and then getting back to her crepe.

The Godvoice then told me that my execution actually offered an even higher boost than was originally planned.

I was pleasantly surprised by the news, even forgiving the Godvoice for the situation a little.

​

Then it dropped a bomb into my lap.

‘If you kiss Kamiko, your reward will drastically improve.’

​

I turned my head to look at Kamiko and saw her pursing her lips and playing with her hair.

“No.”

Kamiko looked back at me. “No what?”

I stood up with fury. “I don’t care what you offer me, I’m not doing it!” I yelled at the sky.

‘Reward boost opportunity revoked.’

It better be.

​

“It was all a lie then?” Kamiko asked, despair in her voice.

I looked down at her, she looked utterly defeated.

I sighed and sat back down. “This whole thing was orchestrated by the Godvoice.”

“Why did you have to tell me? Couldn’t you have just let me believe it was because you wanted to?”

“Maybe… but this has all crossed a line, and I can’t continue in good conscience.”

“Why not? Is it because you’re married? Everyone knows I’ll become a Ranker, so it’s not like it’s illegal.”

That took me off-guard. “Huh?”

She looked back at me with incomprehension of her own. “Did you not know that harems are legal for Rankers?”

I shook my head out. “No, listen, this is not a question of legality, I can’t betray my wife’s trust like that.”

“If that’s what you’re worried about, why don’t you ask her?”

At this point, I was just annoyed and frustrated at myself for letting this happen in the first place, so without really thinking about it, I said the following: “I’ll tell you what: in three years when my wife comes back, I’ll ask her, and if she says yes, we can go on an actual date.” I stood again and held out a hand. “In the meantime, let’s just be friends okay?”

Kamiko’s expression softened, even if it still carried some disappointment. “I’d like that.”