Epilogue 2-The Long Road Home

One Year and Two Months Since Entering

Dr. Shuhei Nishimura gently felt around Michiko's left knee, examining the post-operation scars, along with probing her for pain and sensitive areas. Mitsuha was waiting in the visitor's room to handle paying the bill. As one of the few people on Earth who knew Mitsuha's secret, she had originally wanted Nishimura to handle Michiko's still-damaged knee, especially since he had also taken care of her during her last hospital stay*. However, he reminded her that he was an internal medicine doctor, so he referred her to a colleague at Otsuki General who was an orthopedic surgeon. Although the knee had mostly healed at this point, there was still quite a bit of clean up needed to deal with the buildup of synovial fluid which was hindering her full recovery.

* see The Long Kiss Goodnight

Once that procedure was done, Nishimura had provided Michiko with some prescription pain medication and antibiotics, along with a list of physical therapy exercises, and scheduled both girls for follow-ups for their respective medical conditions. Michiko looked at the bill and cringed a little; when she was in college, she had a student medical insurance policy, but that had long ago lapsed during her time in Zegleus, leaving her with little money, so Mitsuha ended up footing the bill. As a newly-appointed noble, she would no doubt have money provided to her down the line, but that was months away at best. I'll have to pay her back, she vowed, and I won't take no for an answer. Besides... I did end up... err... borrowing some supplies from her store during my extended stay, so it'll all come out in the end.

For her part, Mitsuha did consider the idea of bringing Michiko back to Japan to stay for her own good. Dr. Nishimura himself had asked about the possibility of living in that Kingdom*, which she had shut down fairly quickly for its impracticality, but Michiko was a different situation. For starters, Michiko had already learned the local language and culture. Second, unlike Dr. Nishimura, even if she weren't already a noble, Michiko's skills were directly applicable, even in a medieval society. Lastly, when she had accidentally let it slip back in Zegleus, she got immediate pushback from half the noble families, including the Bozes, the Ryners, the Pasteurs, Marquis Eibinger, Platidus and the Capital College staff, not to mention the entire Royal family. Geez Micchan... what did you do, go out and make friends with everyone? Iris and Sabine in particular made it clear they wanted Michiko in their lives, if she was willing, and Mitsuha really didn't want to be on the bad side of those two.

* see Manga Chp43 / LN Chp17

To that end, Mitsuha tried to look on the bright side. Michiko was her best friend since kindergarten, all the way up through high school, and was probably the closest thing she had left on Earth to family. Having her around could be fun on a personal level, and being in the Royal court as an advisor to the King could be useful on a political level. Mitsuha was already close to the King, but it never hurt to have another ally who could keep her ear to the ground. Michiko would also be the only person on Zegleus besides herself who had advanced Earth knowledge, which made her an invaluable asset to the Kingdom who could advise the King and nobles if Mitsuha herself wasn't around. This was likely going to be the case... she was going to visit the continent of Vanel at some point, with the intent of gathering intelligence and put a plan into place to weaken them economically from within. However, there was one more thing Mitsuha needed to address... something she refused to compromise on.

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"Are you serious... Again?" the Wolf Fang Captain exclaimed.

"Yep..." Mitsuha nodded.

The Captain looked Michiko over then looked back to Mitsuha. "What are you doing... building your own girl commando squad*? He sighed, "Well, at least this one looks old enough to carry a weapon."

* A/N: At this point of the story, Colette and Sabine have both been through Wolf Fang's firearms training

"H-Hey, that’s rude! It's not my fault all my friends are... nope, never mind."

Michiko looked on awkwardly during this conversation. They had been speaking English, which she knew just enough to pass her high school tests, which is to say, barely any at all. When Mitsuha had told her about coming here, she had reservations whether it was necessary, but Mitsuha shut those down fast. You have pins in your leg and I was in a coma for months... do I really need to go on...? Mitsuha explained icily, which made Michiko look down in resignation. Of course, she was right... after all the both of them had went through, that was such a stupid thing to say...

The captain launched straight into his lesson for Michiko, with Mitsuha as interpreter. "You’d better not try anything. Micchan's a noble too," Mitsuha warned.

"Hey... I'm not that kind of... wait, what...?" The Captain looked at Michiko, then back to Mitsuha with disbelief. "Do you know anyone who isn't a Royal or Noble?"

"Huh?" Mitsuha considered. "Well, I guess you guys..."

The Captain groused as his men behind him tried and failed to conceal their amusement.

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The Captain started with the safety lecture, which Mitsuha translated. Michiko belatedly realized she probably violated every single rule during her short stint running around Zegleus with a loaded pistol, chasing after the rebel leadership... probably shouldn't mention that or he might just boot me out right now for being a high risk...

Once that was established, they moved to the shooting range, where the Captain laid out the chosen pistols they would be using, starting with the Walther PPS for everyday carry, then the Beretta 93R for combat carry. Mitsuha was secretly relieved to see Michiko had just as much difficulty picking up the skill as she did. In contrast, Colette and Sabine had mastered the skill far quicker and both were now much better shots than she was. If Michiko had performed like that as well, her ego probably wouldn't have been able to handle the humiliation. It's just not in our Japanese modern culture to shoot guns these days, she mused.

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Bar Micchan closed its doors for the evening. Nakamura-san sighed as he shut down the bar's computer and turned out the lights. This past year had been one of the worst in their family's history, even worse than the day their close friends the Yamano family died, leaving Mitsuha an orphan. Now they too had felt the loss of family, when their daughter Michiko had failed to return from her scheduled trip with Mitsuha.

Mitsuha hadn't told them where they were going, but assured them that they would be back in a few weeks, plenty of time for Michiko to register for her next semester's classes. That was more than a year ago. Since that time, they had reported the missing pair to the police, but little else could be done. The officer who took their case showed the appropriate sympathy, but something about his eyes revealed that there were doubts about finding either girl. There was just too little to go on, and the dark truth was that girls went missing every year and would rarely ever be found.

He and his wife tried to move on as best they could, but the loss of their only child left a hole in both of their hearts that never really healed. Everything from the empty bedroom, photos on the wall, and the cooking trophies on the shelf left a reminder of what they had lost. Their friends had offered condolences and well-wishes, but in some ways, that made it worse.

Nakamura-san poured himself a beer as he and his wife sat down to dinner. While not the healthiest way to cope, some nights he needed the comfort that drink could provide. Just then, the doorbell rang, much to his annoyance. Who could it be at this hour...? He made his way to the front, opened the door then froze in shock. The beer slipped from his hand, dropping onto the floor.

"ご無沙汰しております。" Michiko solemnly said. She had nervously rehearsed this greeting, lest it come out in Zegleus instead of Japanese. "いかがお過ごしでしょうか*？"

*Gobusata shiteorimasu! Ikaga osugoshi deshouka / It’s been a while. How have you been