The Forgotten (Arifureta x original character)

Chapter 79: Tiamat

It does not take very long for the water to settle down after Hajime's explosion that killed the devourer. Once the water has calmed down, Hajime uses his treasure trove to pull out his submarine. The group then all climb inside of it. Doing so results in all of them getting wet.

Once they are safely inside of the submarine, Hajime says, "Since we all got wet from all of that, I think we should all wash off. There are a ton of showers in here so just go find one that you can use."

Hajime then starts to walk away. Yue, Shea, and Tio all follow after him. Seeing this Hajime says, "You two can go and find your own place to rinse off."

"That is not fair," Shea says. She then adds, "Why does only Yue get to join you?"

Yue replies, "That should be obvious." She then follows Hajime to go and get cleaned off together.

All of the others also go and find showers where they can clean the salt water off of themselves. Zane finds it rather odd that Hajime put all of these showers inside of the submarine that he built. However, this is also the first shower he has really had since coming to Tortus so he cannot complain too much.

Once everyone has finished getting cleaned off the group meets back inside the control room of the submarine. Upon everyone gathering there Kaori says, "I know that you want to talk about our next step. I thought of something while I was showering though. Using restoration magic we should be able to restore our memories of Zane."

Yue says, "I guess that is true."

"Great, then Zane, would you restore Shizuku, Hajime, and my memories of you?" Kaori asks.

"I guess I can do that," Zane says. He then proceeds to use restoration magic on Shizuku, then Kaori, and finally Hajime to restore their lost memories of him.

Once this is done Hajime comments, "Huh. Who knew that you weren't making that up all along?"

Kaori says, "I am so sorry, that I ever doubted you were a classmate. I cannot believe I forgot you either. You helped out around the class a lot. You also helped me personally with homework a few times."

"We had just talked to you earlier the day before you disappeared. We told you that we wanted to get to know you better. I feel awful that I forgot about you after having just tried to get to know you," Shizuku states.

Zane says, "It is in the past. Don't worry about it."

At this point, Hajime says, "Anyway. Moving on. Now I believe that our next destination should be the Sea of Trees to clear the labyrinth that is there."

Shea says, "So we are all going to head there right from here. Don't you think you should stop back in Erisen to check on Myu?"

"Yeah, I guess we should probably do that," Hajime replies. He then adds, "We also need to discuss what we are going to do with our three tagalongs. I agreed that Kaori could come with me if she wanted to. However, Zane and Yaegashi are another story."

Shizuku states, "Honestly, I am really worried about Kouki and the others. I would like to go back to the Capital to let them all know what happened. I am sure they are all really worried since Kaori and I vanished like we did."

"They probably think that I kidnapped you," Hajime comments.

Kaori declares, "That is ridiculous. You would never do something like that."

"Putting that aside. What do you want to do, Zane? I know that you are trying to clear all of the labyrinths. You seem capable of handling yourself so you can come to the Sea of Trees with us if you want," Hajime offers.