392. A little more together




 The light of both, the dungeon and the girl, rose as if in resonance.
 The two lights increased, mingled, and enveloped me.

''--!

 He held his hands in front of his face to guard the light.
 The light that enveloped his entire body rose to an extreme and then slowly settled down.

 And after the light subsided.

''Eh?''

 A startling situation, so startling that my voice comes out, is right in front of me.
 Not the garden of the mansion I was in just a moment ago, but an empty space, like a spirit room.

 In that space, a woman and a girl were standing in front of me.

 It's vanadium, modified by Eli, and the old erythronium.

'What kind of ......'
Thank you.

 The adult woman, the old erythronium, smiled serenely and thanked me.

'Thank you for protecting me. Besides, you even gave me a name.
Is this the right thing to do?
'Yeah, it feels really good ....... I can see now that this is my real name.

 The old erythronium - the adult Vanadium put his hands on his chest. A gesture that seemed to hold something important there.

'I see, that's good,'

 I'm relieved by her reaction.
 I looked at the kid's vanadium.
 He looked at me and smiled at me, smiling at me.

 I smile back too, and then I ask the adult vanadium.

Hey, what did they do to you?
I won't say.

 Vanadium answered immediately.
 Without the slightest hesitation, he said quietly but forcefully.

'Why?'
'I found out after being with you for a while. You help a lot of people. That's what you can do.
...... (nationally)
I can't have you doing anything like that for revenge. That's not what anyone wants.
So you're not going to tell me.
'Shit, I can't make you do something so unsuitable. So I won't tell you.

 The adult Vanadium smiled at that.
 It was kind of complicated, but if she wanted it to be.

'Thank you so much,'
...... (country by country)

 I decided to let it go.

You're welcome.
"So, ......, um... ......

 For a change, the adult vanadium began to squirm.
 Seeing this, the child Vanadium grabbed his hem and made a fist with his little hand, gesturing towards the adult to encourage him.

'Uh-huh! You know, I could stay with you a little longer! ...... Okay, is it?
'Yes, of course. You can stay with me for as long as you want--I'm more of the one asking you to let me stay, since I'm renting the dungeon between us.
"--Hey! Thank you!

 The two vanadiums, adults and children alike, rejoiced at the same time.

 Then they joined hands, and once again, the light shot out of their bodies.
 The two lights mingled and swelled up - and swallowed me up just as they had before.

 I close my eyes in the glare and turn my face away--.

'Lyota! Ryota, hold on!

 I hear Alice's voice.
 She shakes my shoulder, calling me in a slightly impatient voice.

 I open my eyes.

'Do you think a swat would help? Q...
"Why are you hitting me like this, I'm going to die!

 He stopped Alice, who was about to chant All Might.

'Oh, I noticed. What's up, Lyota?
You said you noticed ...... I was here the whole time?
'Yes! I was so surprised when I suddenly passed out.
'Oh, right. ...... Oh! Where's the vanadium?!

 With a huff, I look around me.
 Then I see the unconscious child Vanadium, holding hands with me.

"As a child, huh?
What does that mean?

 Wondering, I told Alice everything that had just happened.

'I said we'd be together, and now I'm wondering if you're still in this form.
What do you mean?
What?

 What do you mean? I looked at Alice as I thought to myself, and she put the melamella in the palm of her hand and held it out for me to see.

'You're the same as Melamella, right? I look my best for being together. Eliezer is just doing the same thing...
Oh, ...... I see.

 Melamellar-phosphorus.
 He was actually a more majestic and proper looking spirit, but when he became Alice's companion monster, he changed to a comical and deformed look, just like the rest of his fellow monsters.

'Does that mean Vanadium thinks that this look is the most appropriate way to be with me,'
I see.
Okay.

 I was relieved.

 I was still concerned that he didn't say what was done to adult vanadium, but that being said, I was relieved that he insisted on being there for me in his child form.

 I'd be worried if he was just gumming it up, but if he's insisting on this, I'm relieved because it means he's not just forcing himself to gum it up.

'Huh?'
What's going on now?
There's something between his hand and the vanadium.

 Once I settled in, I could clearly feel a foreign body.

 There's something hard between the child Vanadium and the hand I'm connecting to.
 I let go of the hand I'm carefully connecting to so as not to wake it up.

'This is ......,'
That's Lyota's bullet.
Yeah. It's empty and has a two-color speckled tip. ...... New bullets?

 Perhaps, I thought, it was a new special bullet given to vanadium.