I am back – Chapter 30

“Are you really going to be okay?”

In the bus, my older sister had already asked for the third time.

“I’m really fine,” I replied with a smile.

It was true; I was fine. It wasn’t my first time going for a volunteer activity.

Of course, it wasn’t like I went very often. As a child, I hadn’t lived such a busy life, but I had never set aside time specifically for volunteer work. In fact, it could be said that kids who deliberately went for volunteer activities were the exceptions.

Nonetheless, since the school required us to fulfill a certain number of hours for service, I had some memories of going with my sister a few times.

To be honest, there wasn’t much a high school student could do in terms of volunteer work. Generally, it consisted of simple cleaning or little things like that. Finding opportunities to help really needy people was actually challenging. Those types of activities preferred teams that came in regularly rather than individuals helping out once.

My sister told me before I got on the bus that it would be a volunteer activity that required a bit of effort.

The place we were going to was a volunteer activity organized by the local church. The person my sister spoke to was a pastor.

As a child, my sister didn’t have a specific religion. It wasn’t because she was an atheist; she just happened to be born into a family without a religion. The same went for me. Honestly, considering our mom worked even on weekends, I questioned whether we would have visited church regularly even if we had a religion.

When I asked her if she had a religion, my sister shook her head with a smile.

She said she still didn’t have one. However, due to some connection, she ended up doing volunteer work regularly like this.

“If it gets tough, you can go back anytime. I already told the pastor beforehand.”

“Yeah, but really, I’m fine,” I answered for the fourth time.

It was a weekday, but slightly earlier than the usual office worker’s commute. Since my sister opened the bakery even earlier, the bus wasn’t too crowded. However, it wasn’t so empty that there were seats available.

Inside the rattling bus, you could barely hear any voices. Most of the people sitting in the bus looked tired from this hour. There was a man blankly staring out the window, a guy around my age half-asleep with his head against the window in the back seat, and an elderly woman dozing off in the priority seat.

That was to be expected. After all, they weren’t going anywhere for fun. Everyone was likely on their way to work to make a living.

Did I look like that every morning when I commuted too?

I hardly remembered dozing off on the subway. After waking up in the morning and exercising, I was usually refreshed. Instead, I felt excited about the thought of seeing my sister’s face.

Ah.

The guy sitting at the back of the bus suddenly opened his eyes wide.

I thought he noticed my glance as I was looking around the bus, but it turned out he was peering out the window.

He hurriedly got up, pressed the stop button, and walked to the back door.

The bus stopped, and the back door opened with its usual alert sound. The man got off the bus and waved at a woman at the bus stop.

The woman, looking a bit older than him, smiled and waved back.

I couldn’t hear what they were talking about once the bus doors closed. Honestly, whatever their conversation was, their relationship remained in the realm of speculation. I didn’t know those two at all.

But just seeing them recognize each other in the morning brought them both joy.

Could they be work colleagues? Maybe I was just overestimating their ages. They could both be university students heading to the same class.

The bus departed, leaving behind the two people who started walking side by side without holding hands.

“……”

I flinched, feeling their gaze on me. When I turned to look, my sister was staring at me.

“What are you looking at?”

Saying that, she looked out the bus window, but then,

“Ah, um…”

When I turned my gaze back, the bus had already turned, and the two people I had seen were now out of sight.

“No, just.”

After a moment of hesitation, I said,

“Just, I saw a nice-looking couple.”

“Is that so?”

My sister chuckled softly at my answer and turned her gaze away.

…I see.

All the people here were likely just the same.

Though they looked tired and bored at the moment, they might have friends at home, at school, or at work. Or perhaps they were building connections in their old neighborhood or some club…

“……”

Thinking about it, the world I had lived in for the past five years was probably no different.

Even amidst the chaos of war and countless people fighting on the battlefield, many people in the kingdom and the elf’s capital city must have been leading their daily lives. At times, they had probably donned bored expressions, dozed, or showed signs of not wanting to do anything, only to eventually smile brightly upon seeing someone they liked or enjoy a drink with an old friend.

If I hadn’t been the one fighting at the front lines, those who were with me—my party members, the knights, and soldiers—wouldn’t have been able to live their lives so normally.

Thinking this way, I felt a sense of relief.

I see.

Even if I defeated the Demon King, the world wouldn’t have turned perfect overnight. Someone somewhere could still be starving or suffering from violence.

But still, I was able to save many people.

I couldn’t save everyone, but still.

“……Siyun?”

My sister, noticing I was lost in thought while gazing out the window, spoke up.

“Ah, yes?”

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

She stared at me quietly. Her gaze was incredibly deep.

Every time I was lost in my own thoughts, she would ask me like that, and I would end up sharing my thoughts with her.

Whether it was worries from school, conflicts with friends, or even sudden thoughts about the future.

She couldn’t resolve everything for me; after all, she was just a few years older. Naturally, she couldn’t solve everything.

But still, talking things out with her could be a relief. I would share personal issues that were hard to tell Mom or friends and sometimes even dreams about the future that were mere figments of my imagination. She always listened to my stories.

Looking back, it’s surprising that someone like her exists.

“No, it’s just.”

After taking a brief pause, I said to my sister,

“Just, I’m happy being out with you like this.”

But right now,

The thoughts I had were unfortunately not something I could share with her.

As for the day I could talk about it… Well, I guess it’s a bit difficult.

“Is that so?”

My sister laughed at my answer.

The bus jolted slightly. The knees of the people scattered around moved a bit. Luckily, my physical abilities honed in that other world allowed me to stay steady.

“……Ah.”

Hearing the bus’s announcement soon after, my sister muttered.

“We’re here.”

Following her words, I looked outside, and we arrived at a neighborhood that seemed a bit mismatched with the road the bus was traveling.

Low, old houses were clustered together, as if they were sprawled haphazardly on a hill, resembling a scene of someone having carelessly piled them up. It seemed like a neighborhood where someone had attempted to accumulate things for later disposal but had forgotten about the collection.

It reminded me of the old town where my sister and I used to live.

And atop that neighborhood stood a single distinctive church spire. Perhaps it was still early since the cross wasn’t catching any light.

“……”

The look in my sister’s eyes as she gazed up at the neighborhood through the bus window seemed to gaze far beyond.

I felt like I understood the reason my sister was doing volunteer work here.