As the mansion's front door closed again.
Only Haimo and his Familia members remained in the hall.
Seeing that Haimo had deliberately sent Hestia away, the girls all grew serious.
"Lord God."
Tsukuyo Inaba opened her eyes, turning her red pupils toward Haimo. Though sightless, they looked exceptionally deep.
"Did you send Lady Hestia away because you have something important to tell us?"
"You could say that."
Haimo nodded, making no attempt to deny it.
"All right."
With his back against the door that had just closed, he looked at those familiar faces.
Onigawara Rin.
Tsukuyo Inaba.
Sasamori Aya.
Nemumeno Satori.
Hanabishi Warabi.
And Kikakujō Mary.
These girls had still been fighting and feeling lost in another world for their own reasons just days ago, yet now they had followed him into this unfamiliar world without hesitation.
Looking at them.
Haimo put away the joking, bantering expression he had worn with Hestia.
A trace of seriousness appeared in his black eyes.
"Hestia's gone."
"That makes it easier for me to tell you what that surprise is."
Haimo paused, then said softly:
"Although..."
"It's only been a few days since you left your world."
"Even counting everything, it hasn't been a week."
"But..."
"Would you like to go back for a look?"
"At your original world."
"Aichi Kyosei Academy."
As Haimo finished speaking.
The entire hall fell into a second of dead silence.
Then.
"Huh?!"
A perfectly synchronized cry of surprise nearly lifted the roof.
"R-really?!"
"We can go back? Right now?"
"But... but haven't we already traveled to another world?"
"Doesn't a gate that crosses worlds... take an enormous amount of energy?"
"We can still go back whenever we want?"
"And..."
Nemumeno Satori also looked deeply puzzled.
"Aren't gods forbidden from using divine power in the Lower World?"
"If something