“Tachihara-kun, I like you! Please go out with me!”

“………………”

A few days after school started, Kawabata-san called me out to the park and confessed her feelings. Back during the summer break, at the end of our time at the beach, there was already an atmosphere suggesting she might confess, so it wasn’t an earth-shattering shock, but I was still surprised.

“…I’m sorry. There’s someone I like. That’s why I can’t go out with you, Kawabata-san.”

Yes, right now, I like Sara-san. The door to the other world hasn’t been fixed yet, and even if it were to close permanently, I can’t just ignore these feelings and start dating Kawabata-san.

“I see… so you already have someone you like… I guess I’m just not a good match for you, huh…”

“No, that’s absolutely not true! Kawabata-san, you’re beautiful and kind, and honestly, I don’t think I’m good enough for you! If I didn’t already have someone I liked, I wouldn’t have hesitated to go out with you.”

To be honest, if Kawabata-san had confessed to me back when we went to the beach, I might have ended up dating her. At that time, I hadn’t yet realized my feelings for Sara-san.

“…I see. Hearing that from you, Tachihara-kun, makes me happy. Even though I got rejected, I’d really appreciate it if we could still interact as we always have.”

“Of course.”

“Alright! Then, see you at school tomorrow!”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

Kawabata-san ran off from the park. She really is too good for someone like me. Having to turn down her confession truly hurt my heart. Being confessed to by someone as beautiful and kind as her might be a miracle that will never happen again in my life.

‘Hello. This is a pen. Who are you?’

“…Phew. That’s enough for today.”

It has been two weeks since I lost access to the other world, but the door still hasn’t been fixed. Every three days, Ande sends me a piece of paper through the portal, updating me on the progress.

Ande inherited the power of the Great Mage from me and gained the ability to connect the door to the other world. I don’t know the details, but thanks to that, research on this magic has apparently advanced dramatically.

“I need to do my best too, so I’m ready when the door is fixed.”

Right now, I’m studying the language of the other world. Using a voice recorder to listen to Ande’s voice and a homemade dictionary that translates words from my world into the other world’s script, I am slowly learning.

Since I lost my inherited magic, I can no longer understand their language. That’s why I’m starting from scratch.

I’m not in any clubs, so I have plenty of time. And since I have a clear goal—being able to talk with Sara-san and the others—I’m far more focused than I ever was when studying English.

“My language studies are progressing well, but my magic training isn’t going anywhere…”

I’m also trying to train my magic, but my progress there has been poor. I brought back a beginner’s magic textbook called First Steps in Magic from the other world and have been experimenting to see if I can use magic in this world, but so far, no luck.

Since I was able to use magic after inheriting the power of the Great Mage, I don’t think it’s completely impossible to use magic here, but…

“Fusuke, how about we take a walk to clear my mind?”

“Hoo!”

“Mom, I’m taking Fusuke out for a walk.”

“It’s late, so be careful.”

“I know. I won’t go far.”

“Hoo♪”

I had told my mom about Fusuke and got her permission to keep him at home. I came up with a weak excuse—that I found an injured wild owl, took care of it, and it got attached to me—but in the end, Fusuke officially became a part of the Tachihara household. Now, he’s free to fly around the house at his original size.

“Huff… huff…”

“Hoo-hoo.”

Ever since returning to this world, I’ve also been training my body. I haven’t regained my old chubby physique despite losing my body-shaping skill, but I don’t know when I might rebound. And if I ever return to the other world, I need to be in good shape, even if I don’t know how useful it will be.

By the way, the sale of the jewels and gold coins that I had asked Mori-san to handle went smoothly, and now my bank account holds over 50 million yen.

Even though I have such a huge amount of money, I’ve been too nervous to withdraw more than a few tens of thousands of yen. The only way I’ve used it so far is by secretly helping out with the household expenses.

When you actually get your hands on a fortune like this, you end up afraid to spend it… I don’t even have any major plans for it, and I still have several times this amount in jewels and gold coins at home. Keeping such valuable things in the house is too risky, so I plan to rent some safe deposit boxes and distribute them for storage.

“I’m home~”

“Hoo.”

“Welcome back. You have school tomorrow, so go to bed early.”

“Yeah, I’ll take a shower and then head to bed.”

After taking a shower with Fusuke, I returned to my room.

“Alright, let’s do this. Just like always…”

I pulled out a stepladder and checked the portal that connected to the other world. Lately, I’ve made a habit of checking it every night before bed and right after getting home from school.

“…Huh!?”

Earlier today, when I got home from school, there had definitely been a black surface on the ceiling… but now, it was gone, leaving nothing but an empty hole.

I reached into the hole, but nothing happened. I hesitated for a moment, then stuck my head inside—only to find a dark, dusty attic.

“The door to the other world… has closed?”

It seems that before Ande could repair it, the portal lost its ability to absorb magical power and shut down completely.

“He said that once a door closes, reconnecting it to this world would be difficult… I hope it’ll be okay.”

Apparently, once the portal closes, it’s hard to reestablish a connection to my room. Knowing there’s nothing I can do about it makes me feel incredibly frustrated. All I can do now is trust Ande and wait.