I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace

When I received the birthday present from Anima, it just so happened that the second act of the hidden talent show was about to begin. As I turned my gaze toward the stage…… There stood Kaori-san and Akane-san.

That was certainly an unexpected pair of participants. From the looks of it, Kaori-san was completely flustered, while Akane-san seemed rather relaxed. I guess Akane-san must've dragged her into this.

Because I was seated fairly close to the stage, and the area happened to be relatively quiet at the time, I could hear the voices of the two on stage.

[A- Akane-san, I really am incredibly nervous. I mean, we’re right after that amazing sculpture act……]

[Don’t worry about it. Embarrassment in a setting like this is the kind you just throw away and forget. Even if you mess up, people will forget, and if they don’t, well, it’ll make for a funny story later. On top of that, it’s a chance to get noticed by the bigwigs for free, and there’s even a shot at prize money. It’s totally worth giving it a go.]

As expected, it looked like Akane-san was the one who brought Kaori-san along. Akane-san was pretty shrewd———– well, she was the head of a merchant guild. She likely figured that getting noticed by the kind of people who gather at these parties would eventually turn into a business opportunity.

Kaori-san, on the other hand, definitely didn’t seem like the type who’d want to put herself out there like that, so it had to be Akane-san leading the charge. Still, rather than entering solo, she chose to perform with Kaori-san, which meant…… whatever act they were going to perform must require Kaori-san’s abilities.

"Now then, the next entry is a duo of Hero Actors, Kaori-san and Akane-san!"

"Ah~~ yeah, I think I’ve seen them before. Wasn’t Kaorin the Hero Actor for that time before the last? Akanen was from even earlier, right? But I’m pretty sure they were both summoned as Hero Actors the years Archlesia Empire was in charge."

"Hey, I’ve got a good memory! Once I see a face, I don’t forget it. I just don’t recall them unless I’m interested…… but lately, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to the people around Kai-chan, so it’s getting better~~"

Fate-san’s growth was really something. Ever since what happened with Mom and Dad, she seemed to have naturally started taking an interest in the people connected to me, without having to force it.

Knowing what she struggled with back then, it made me quietly happy to see how far she’d come.

As I was thinking that, Akane-san stepped up to the Loudspeaker Magic Tool on the stage and began to speak.

"Thank you for the kind introduction. We’re the duo of Akane and Kaori, here to show off a little hidden talent. Honestly, after that incredible performance by Founder-sama earlier, we’re feeling super intimidated, but we’d be grateful if you could just watch with the kind of indulgence you’d show a child’s school play. That said, I’m mostly just here to help, Kaori’s doing the real work."

"P- Pleased to meet you."

"……I really wish she’d calm down a bit more, but oh well…… Right, this here is Kaori. She might look like an adorable little puppy at first glance, but she’s actually an amazing Water Magic user. And today, we’d like to give you a glimpse of that."

Kaori-san looked visibly tense, while Akane-san remained composed and explained things in a relaxed tone. After that, she put on a headband, with what looked like an apple…… no, a ripple fruit fixed to it, then stepped away from Kaori-san.

Wait, is this that thing? Are they going to do one of those "shoot the apple off the head" tricks with magic?

"……Akane-san, why do you even have a headband like that? I mean, a headband that can fix a ripple to your head……?"

"Ah, this? I got it at Hydra Kingdom's Founding Festival. Believe it or not, it’s actually a magic tool. Just placing a ripple on it keeps it from falling off, pretty neat, right?"

"That’s way too niche……"

Ah, right, that was one of Alice’s gag inventions. If you wore that headband, anything placed on top of your head wouldn’t fall off. It seemed like it might have some use, so no real application came to mind but…… Akane-san actually bought one of those, huh……

"Well, as you can probably imagine, Kaori’s going to use Water Magic to shoot the ripple off my head from a distance…… She’s super nervous but…… you’ll be fine, right, Kaori?"

"……Akane-san, just to be safe, shouldn’t you be wearing full-body armor?"

"Can you not say stuff that makes me more nervous!? Even if you miss, just don’t hit me, okay!?"

I couldn’t help but chuckle at their comedy-like exchange. Of course, I was sure they had some safety measures in place. Besides, Kaori-san didn’t sound like she was actually panicking, so this was probably a rehearsed part of their act.

After their back-and-forth, Kaori-san overlapped her index fingers and thumbs to form a square, aiming it at Akane-san. Then, a blue, laser-like stream of water shot from Kaori-san’s hands and cleanly pierced through the center of the ripple.

But that wasn’t all. She released her finger formation and then extended both hands toward Akane-san, firing much thinner water lasers from all ten fingers, and began to manipulate them delicately.

Ten streams of water moved in intricate patterns, a visually striking display…… and when it ended, what remained on Akane-san’s head was a ripple carved into the shape of a somewhat cutesy rabbit. Applause echoed through the venue.

"T- Thank goodness it worked out……"

"……Yeah, well, I didn’t take it splashing all over my head into consideration…… My hair’s totally soaked……"

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai: [Come to think of it, when she hit her nose before, she attached just a small water orb to the tip of it and kept it there while casually talking with Kaito, so she must really be good at precise magic control……]

? ? ? : [Well, compressing water and firing it like a water cutter already requires a pretty high level of mana control to begin with.]