Author note: This happens after the incident where Darkness tries to rape Kazuma in the bathroom and tries to make Megumin break up with Kazuma. Kazuma feels he is just an annoyance to his party and find Darkness statements true, he is trashy, he even questions why Megumin fall for such and guy but he already knows why, still he still feels like by just being with Megumin he can tell that she wouldn't such a guy.
Kazuma's perspective
"Oh, you're leaving now? You haven't even finished washing my front yet! What kind of thanks is this!? You keep saying that I'm gutless, but you're pretty gutless yourself, aren't you?! What was it, a member of the Dustiness family will never yield? Don't you dare flatter yourself with such words!"
A vein started throbbing on Darkness's temple.
"Fine, I'll wash you! But that will be it! I won't go any further! I'm not that easy of a woman that I'll fall for your cheap provocations!"
"Enough with the words, hurry up and get to it! That is, if you have the resolve to go through with it! Aqua's dead drunk after eating my high quality snacks and Megumin's in the Crimson Demon village! In other words, there's no one left to interfere! Don't think someone will conveniently barge in just like what happened the last time."
Darkness angrily picked up the towel and started scrubbing me.
"Hey, that hurts! If you want to thank me, then be more gentle!"
"You really complain a lot for a man! I'm just going to hurry up and get this over with!"
Perhaps she's getting angry to hide her embarrassment. Darkness, her face bright red, has been staring at a certain spot for quite some time–
"Can't you do something about that?! I can't help but be bothered when I see your towel rise like that!"
"That's just a little party trick. I took out a few frogs earlier, didn't I? I gained a couple of levels and learnt the party trick skill."
"As if there exist such a useless trick! Seriously, what kind of man are you… You really aren't a match for the pure and straightforward Megumin! Hurry up and break up!"
How could she say such a thing?! Although i can't say she is wrong.
"Too bad, Megumin's already head over heels for me! Who in hell would listen to you!? I think I'll go find Megumin when she gets back and have her properly pamper me!"
"You really are the lowest form of trash… Oh, I know. I should've done this from the start."
An inexplicable smile appeared on Darkness's face.
"I'll make something happen between us before telling Megumin exactly what happened. I'll let her understand exactly how weak of a man you are and make her give up on you. It wouldn't hurt Megumin if she gradually gives up on you of her own volition. If you can escape from my clutches, I'll accept that you are a fitting man for Megumin!"
Saying that, she suddenly lunged at me!
How could this girl say something so wicked…! Then again i can't say that she is wrong, she is right actually, i don't get it myself, I am weak, i am unworthy of such a person to take interest in me. Now that i think about it, i can't imagine me and Megumin would be having a good future toghether, it will just end up with Megumin leaving because she notice how wrong of her to fall for such a man. I have to be honest to myself here, i don't wanna say cliche anime phrases like "It's better this way", I'm not an anime protagonist nor am i a hero, but sometimes in life, these cliche things do happens on way or another, it would be even worst if i ignore the consequences now and just continue on just or the sake of not doing cliche things because this is real life not an anime.
"I-Megumin… Don't think it'll go exactly as you planned! Let go of me!"
"You say that, but you aren't using any skills or resisting at all! You're actually looking forward to this, aren't you? Now, I'm sure you know what comes next…"
Darkness excitedly said some lines that wouldn't seem out of place as part of a villainous monologue.
Just then,
"Just what exactly comes next?"
That was Megumin's cold voice that I'm so used to hearing by now.
At this point, Darkness and I were pretty much naked and hugging each other.
Both of us looked towards the door.
Standing behind the glass door was Megumin, a mask of disgust on her face and glowing eyes.
Before Darkness could say anything,
"Help me! This woman barged into the bath to attack me!"
Sorry Darkness, you pushed me too far.
"Y-You bastard! You really are the trashiest of men!"
True.
Next Morning
In the hall of my mansion.
Darkness was trembling with the newspaper in her hand.
Seems like she was concerned about the fact that we used the authority of her house to get this article published.
"Y-You… You used the authority of my house for all kinds of frivolous matters again… Hey, where do you think you're going, Megumin?! I'm lecturing the both of you!"
Darkness caught Megumin as she tried to sneak off to the second floor with Chomusuke in hand.
At that time, Aqua tugged on my sleeve.
"Kazuma-san, Kazuma-san, please give me that article. Look at this, I'm described as the beautiful, blue-haired Archpriest."
"I don't want to, I want to keep a copy of my own special article too. Look, my introduction is the 'strongest of the weakest class'. It really tickles my chuuni soul. Nevermind that, Darkness, it'll be fine, right? The security of this town is good, right? If some rough-looking adventurers start spouting dangerous things, the police will cart them off, right?"
Darkness took a deep breath.
"Duels between adventurers are allowed by the Adventurer's Guild. You fought with that magic sword user some time ago, remember? Anyway, even in the worst case scenario, Aqua can-"
"Revive me even if I die!? Don't joke with me!"
This country has laws governing the strangest of things, so why the hell is it suddenly lacking at this most crucial point?! This world man!
Megumin, her collar firmly in Darkness's hand, gave me a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, Kazuma. I'll deal with any adventurers who come seeking a challenge, so you can rest assured and continue boasting as you wish."
"Don't spoil this man, Megumin! I feel like you've been excessively overprotective of him lately. Just what happened!?"
Megumin eyes started glowing as she turned around to face Darkness.
"What happened? You dare ask me that?"
"Ah…"
In response to Megumin's sudden confrontation, Darkness flinched and let go of her collar.
"It's because someone had an affair and stole the first kiss of the man in my heart!"
"A-Affair!? Megumin, don't make it sound so obscene…"
Darkness uneasily took a step back, and Megumin advanced on her.
"I thought you were a sheltered young lady, so I let you confess your feelings and settle things out of the goodness of my heart, but you! You aren't satisfied by just confessing! Last night, too, you tried to seduce my man with that erotic body of yours!"
"I-I didn't try to seduce… Hey, Kazuma, you say something too!"
Rather than that, I want to hear Megumin say 'my man' one more time. I still don't feel like i should be happy about it, rather i feel sorry that Meguming had fallen for someone like me.
Weren't we supposed to be more than friends, but not yet lovers? Since when did I rank up to becoming Megumin's man? Been a long time since someone makes me feel this special, i still wish i can accept it.
Suddenly, Aqua, who was watching this lover's-quarrel-like scene unfold from the sidelines, slammed her hand on the table.
"Kazuma-san, you've changed! You are no longer the virgin NEET who had to rely on me to get through life! Since when did you become a harem protagonist?!"
Going from a virgin NEET to a harem protagonist is really leaping up high in life. To be honest, being in this world have changed me, i can't say for the better but having this feeling of importance makes me feel like i can still be me without any worries.
While in the background
"And what's with the clothes you've been wearing within the mansion recently?! They are so thin that you might as well be a woman of the night! Do you really want to show off your body to Kazuma that badly?! You do, don't you?! Every time you take a bath, you always hang out close to Kazuma for no apparent reason!"
Next to us, Megumin pressed Darkness about the lascivious sleeping gown that she was wearing.
Now that she mentioned it, yeah, Darkness has definitely been walking around with much thinner clothing recently.
"T-That's not it… I-It's because it's getting hot!"
"It's almost winter!"
Wait, could she be? Darkness said something about giving up on me before she kissed me, but is she actually trying to seduce me? I can't think of her for falling for me even after she had confessed, she did said all of those things which i found to be true.
There was that incident last night, too.
"And you purposefully wear these kinds of clothes in front of him! Kazuma is a weak-willed man, so I definitely won't allow you to tempt him like this!"
Oi i maybe weak-willed with womans but with life, i can confidently say i can move on from almost anything.
"I'm not trying to tempt him- Ow, ow, ow! Don't pull on me, Megumin! You'll rip my sleeping gown-"
….
"You're wide open!"
"Grah!"
Just when my attention was drawn towards Darkness, Aqua attacked me with a flying drop kick.
Receiving a kick to my stomach, I crumpled and curled up into a ball.
"I defeated the harem NEET!"
I'm going to kill this girl! UHHH!
I couldn't raise my voice due to the pain. Then, Chomusuke, who was laying next to me, raised her head.
She was motionlessly looking in a certain direction– looking at the window.
"What's wrong with this little one? If she wants to go out, she would normally just jump over to the window and start pawing at it."
"Ouch… Did you see something unspeakable? Is there a ghost over there or something?"
By the time I've recovered from the pain, Aqua has already moved to the window– and started shouting as she looked outside.
"Ah, hey, why are there so many stray ghosts in the city? I've been regularly cleansing the cemetery, so why are there so many of them here?"
At those words, everyone turned to face Aqua.
"… Hey, don't think I'm at fault just because ghosts are involved. I really have nothing to do with this! These ghosts aren't naturally occuring, someone summoned them here!"
… Summoned ghosts?
The only ones who can do that would be the rare holders of the advanced Necromancer class, and Liches that are hailed as the Kings of Undead.
There shouldn't be a Necromancer in this town right now.
That leaves-
Aqua met my gaze and gave me a nod.
"I let her off because she serves me tea and snacks whenever I visit her store, but it seems like she's finally shown her true colours! I've already taken a bath and changed into my pajamas, so I don't feel like going out today, but I'll go out early next morning to lecture her!"
No, you should go do it right now. You are the reliable in these kind of situations!
The next day
Kazuma perspective
I went out early today to settle something in my mind
I left a note at the masion's hall saying "Dear my party members, i am off to do something that i have had in mind, goodluck dealing with the ghosts, i will not be back for a while or even ever. So if i die for some reasons and can't be revive, i will have a note to tell you more about what i want to do.
~Kazuma"
Aqua perspective
When i saw the notes, i panicked.
I woke Darkness and Megumin up to show them the notes that Kazuma left.
Aqua:"What was he thinking? I don't know what he is about to do but i have a feeling that it's not gonna end well, me goddess instincs are giving me red flags!"
Megumin:" What ever he is up to, we need to find him! And by saying So if i die for some reasons and can't be revive, i will have a note to tell you more about what i want to do, i think he is going to do something extremely dangerous! WE NEED TO FIND HIM QUICK!"
Darkness:" True, get your equipments, let's head for the guild first."
after we all gotten ready, we all went to the guild to see if he is there, we also agreed to leave the ghost problems for later.
After we have arrived, we only saw a few adventurers and Luna so i took the initiative and went up to ask Luna
Aqua:"Hey Luna!"
Luna:"Hey Aqua how can i help you?"
Aqua:"Have you seen Kazuma here in the morning?"
Luna:"Yeah he said that he would be doing some quests, for what quests i don't know, but he did said that if you are coming to find him then you don't need to."
Megumin:"Did he say anything else?"
Luna:"Unfortunately not, he just told me that before taking some quests then leaves immediately after that. I didn't get the chance to say anything."
Darkness:" Well knowing him, we shouldn't get inside his buisness, just leave him be, he would probably be crawling back to us when he runs out of money or food"
Megumin:" You do have a point, let just leave him be, we can't really find anyways so it's useless for us to do so."
Aqua:" He probably have realise how useless and weak he is so let him train"
then after that we went and took care of the ghosts problem we had.
Then we just waited, wait till he comes back, we still visits the guild everyday to check if that Hikineet is there so that we can drag him back home.
Days passed, Darkness is getting irritated and Megumin is getting more and more worried. For me i'm just relaxing while he is gone, he can't be gone for that much longer right? He will come back eventually, yeah he WILL!
Weeks passed, not a single sign of him, Darkness have turned from being furious to worry to the point of not being able to sleep, Megumin have asked the police that have they seen him to no avial, they said the will be on the lookout and will contact us if they ever see him, the adventurers in the guild said that they have seen him but just for a very short ammount of time in the guild before he leaves for another quest. They also said that the time he is there are usually at midnight or very early in morning when no one is awake.
Months passed, the situation is getting dire, we have getting no sign now, no one have seen him anymore, we are getting really desperate, to the point of putting up a quest to find that NEET for 10 millions eris. A lot of people have taken up that quest but no one was able to find any sign of him.
A Year have passed, we have all trapped ourselfs in our room, feeling guilty for him leaving or even dying. Having that thought scares me, even though i have seen him died a lot of times before, having the feeling of not being able to revive him this time and him die forever really give me deppresion
The next day we went to the guild to look for him one last time.
When we arrived there, the adventurer who saw us burst into tears.
Aqua:" I don't like what i'm thinking"
Megumin:" It have been a year since he left, why are those guys crying?"
Darkness:" Oh no i have a bad feeling about this"
then Luna walks up to us with a face of dread, sadness and face full of tears told us
Luna:" Haven't you guys heard? Kazuma's body was found dead, we are still not sure if it's his or not but it have that sword with him"
We turned pale, unable to say anything, Megumin starts crying non stop so was Darkness, i was too shocked to be able to even comprehend the thought of him being dead. Then reality hits, he is indeed dead, it was said that some adventurers found his body lying next to a dead griffon. Why wasn't he telling us this?! Why did he become so reckless!?
Then suddenly, the adventurers who was crying till now stood still and looked at the figure at the guild's front door.
It was Kazuma with YunYun
Megumin suddenly charges straight to Kazuma and gave him a kiss, YunYun was just standing there dumbstruck. me and Darkness run towards him and gives him a big hug.
Kazuma:" Um what are you doing? Megumin what's happening?"
Megumin:" ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? After Worrying us for that long and then just asked us what's happening?!"
she starts to attack Kazuma but to him holding her down.
Aqua:" Where the hell have you been you HikkiNeet?! I thought you are dead!"
Darkness:" YEAH HOW YOU YOU JUST LEAVE US LIKE THIS!?"
She starts to also attack Kazuma to which also got her held down by force, he seems a lot stronger, ever more than Darkness which is supprising
Kazuma:" Well i have been out to redeem myself, make myself stronger so i decided to leave you guys for a while to level up by myself and YunYun also came along because she also wanted to help me"
Megumin:" You could've have TOLD US! You could have~"
He then went to give Megumin a tight hug
Kazuma:" I'm sorry, i know that i could've been more active but i figured you guys wouldn't care that i was gone anyways so i didn't."
Darkness:" WE DO CARE! Please COME BACK! I'm sorry for Everything!"
Megumin:" I'm sorry for not being with you enough! Please COME Back!"
Aqua:" wait what level are you in right now? You have been trainign for a year!"
Kazuma:" Well i haven't really changed much, my level haven't really rasied much also, i'm currently level 80"
D,M,A:" 80!?"
Kazuma:" Yeah, with the help of YunYun, i fought a lot of powerful monsters and leveled up quickly, oh and thanks YunYun"
YunYun finally coming to her senses
YunYun:" Yeah no problem Kazuma, i'm glad to help, i can even say that you are more powerful than me now! Thanks for letting me help you, it was nice the time we spent toghether."
Megumin:" You aren't cheating on the right Kazuma?"
Kazuma:" Of course not, YunYun and i are just comrads. Beside do you think i'm willing to just ditch you?"
Megumin:" Alright i trust you, but will you come back?"
Kazuma:" I'm not"
D,M,A:" WHAT!"
Kazuma:" I'm kidding, i am, i just want to become more usefull to our party"
Megumin kissing Kazuma again said " Don't you ever dare to leave us again!"
Kazuma:" Don't worry, i don't intent to"
Darkness:" Yeah if you do, we will beat you to a plump!"
Aqua:" i will use my God Blow intill you die if you ever do these kind of things again!"
Kazuma:" Like if you can?"
YunYun:" Ok everyone, he is back now, i will be leaving now,bye guys"
Megumin:" Wait YunYun! Come to our mansion, let's have a party for Kazuma returning and you will join us!"
YunYun:" Really Really really really?! Is it ok that i spend more time with you guys?"
Aqua:" Yes that's a very good idea, come on!"
Darkness:" Alright! Let's GO!"