"Wait, Chris, are you serious?" Darkness asked.
The group had left the Guild and were making their way back to the mansion, with the three asking Chris all kinds of questions as to how she has knowledge on Kazuma and Aqua.
"Yes, Kazuma and Aqua came from another world." Chris reapnded.
"B-but how?! Isn't summoning magic extremely difficult?! In the past most people who could use summoning magic only summoned small creatures, bringing a person to this world would be near impossible, much less two!" Megumin said.
"It is difficult to summon someone to another world, but for us it's as easy as snapping our fingers."
"What do you mean by "us", exactly?" Darkness asked.
"People like me and Aqua. Kazuma certainly did come from another world, but Aqua is from a completely different place than Kazuma." Chris said as she entered the gates to the mansion, leading them off to the side.
"Wait, you're from the same place as Aqua? But where did you guys come from?"
"You'll see in a moment" Chris said before closing her eyes and holding out her hands.
With a swift motion, a large circle appeared underneath the group, similar to teleportation magic, but more complex.
Within moments, the group dissapeared from the world.
The four suddenly appeared in an unfamiliar place, atleast for Megumin and Darkness it was. The floor was tiled with white and black, while the sky was dark and cloudy with blue particles flying in the air, yet despite the dark sky it was rather bright.
"W-Where are we?" Megumin asked.
"We are currently in the heavenly realm." Chris said.
"Wait, how come you're able to come here?!" Aqua asked.
"Because just like you Aqua, I am a goddess as well." Chris said, snapping her fingers. She was engulfed in a bright light, once it dissapeared she took the form of Eris.
"L-L-Lady Eris!" Darkness stuttered before kneeling down on one knee, making Eris giggle.
"Please stand Darkness, we are friends after all. It would be awkward to have a close friend kneel before me." Eris said, to which Darkness stood up.
"No wonder I felt a slightly divine presence whenever you were around. If you could easily come back here why didn't you just take me with you?!" Aqua asked.
"Because the higher ups had agreed to send you to that world with Kazuma, you were not allowed to return without defeating the Demon King. You being here right now is already breaking some rules, even more so with these two here." Eris explained.
"Wait, them why did you bring us here?" Megumin asked, confused.
"Since Aqua didn't look into Kazuma's past I'll be the one to show you all the truth." Eris said, guiding them to a door that was off in the distance.
"The truth of what? Why he's still a virgin-NEET?" Aqua asked.
"No, well I guess it is a bit contributing to that, but more of why what you did hurt him badly."
Eris opened the door to reveal a room, very similar to where they just were, but with many glass balls on separate pedestals.
"These better not be what I'm thinking right now." Megumin said, glaring at the sight.
"These glass balls are used by us to look into people's pasts. I believe there is a similar object in your world, but it required two people and it showed the users' pasts." This got Megumin to shudder at the memory.
"This one allows us to peek into whoever we need to, aside from other deities." Eris explained as she got them to surround an orb.
"And we will be using this to look into Kazuma's past?" Darkness asked.
"Exactly! Oh, and please brace yourselves, this may be a bit overwhelming for mortals to experience." Eris said before activating
The world around them suddenly dissapeared, in moments, a different setting was constructed, one familiar to Aqua, but not to Darkness or Megumin.
When the world had finished being constructed, Darkness and Megumin dropped to their knees and lost their lunch.
"Oops..." Eris said.
"W-Where are we?" Megumin asked, looking at the unfamiliar world they were in.
"We are in Japan, specifically Kazuma's town." Eris explained.
"So this is where he came from, it's so strange. These paths are made from stone and yet part of it is black. What kind of construction is this?" Darkness said, inspecting her surroundings.
"Oh! I know this one! That is a road, cars drive on it while the grey stone is the sidewalk, for people who aren't driving to walk on safely." Aqua explained.
"Cars?" Darkness and Megumin asked. Just as they said the word, a car drove past them.
"That." Aqua said, pointing at the car.
"A-Amazing! The speed that object was moving at! And it didn't have any horse to pull it!" Darkness exclaimed, marvelling at the sights of an unknown world.
"Ah, there he is!" Eris said, gaining the attention of the others.
They turned to see a young boy with messy brown hair, green eyes, and in a school uniform walking down the sidewalk with a big smile on his face.
"Wait a minute..." Darkness started.
"Is that..?" Megumin said next.
"It can't be!" Aqua said in shock.
"Kazuma?!" They all exclaimed at once.
"Indeed!" Eris confirmed.
They all watched him walk by them.
"So this is his past? When he was a child?" Darkness asked.
"Yes, this is around the time Kazuma was in elementary school." Eris explained.
"I wonder what got him so happy. Bet he's thinking of something perverted." Aqua said.
"Well let's find out shall we?" Eris said, holding her hand out towards him. Within moments, a voice echoed around them.
'Oh I'm so happy! My first love promised me she would marry me in the future! Our relationship is going to last forever!' The boy thought before he met up with a girl. They talked for a moment before the walked off holding hands.
"Awww, so cute... I guess as a kid Kazuma had chances with girls." Darkness said.
"I must say I am surprised even Kazuma managed to get a girlfriend so young, and to make that kind of a promise so early in their life." Megumin said, slightly impressed.
"Unfortunately, things don't work as they always do..." Eris said with a slight frown.
"What do you mean?" Darkness asked.
Suddenly, the location changed to somewhere more in the town. There they saw a slightly older Kazuma walking through town. He still had a big grin on his face.
He seemed to be holding a small bunch of flowers. He wanted to surprise his girlfriend with the flowers so he was heading to her house.
"Awww, he even bought flowers for her!" Megumin gushed.
"Wait, but what did Eris mean that things don't go as planned?" Darkness asked, causing them to look at the young Kazuma.
As she asked that, Kazuma froze in his tracks, his face turning from a joyful smile to a look of pure shock and despair, dropping the flowers onto the sidewalk.
"Wait, what is he..." Aqua started to ask, but they all turned their heads to the girl they saw him with before.
She was riding a bike down the road, not noticing Kazuma.
"No way... That's not her bike... That- It belongs to one of the upperclassmen! Why would she be riding his bike then?! Unless..."
He stood there for a moment, trying to process what he just saw before clenching his fists to tight balls and ran away, tears streaming down his face.
"Oh dear, his first heartbreak..." Darkness said. Everyone else was silent at what they saw. All of them, even the deities, knew very well what it was like to love someone, what it was like to have someone you cherish, and then feel betrayed by that person.
"Is this why Kazuma stayed in his room in the past?" Megumin asked.
"Not completely. This was a major moment I his life that negatively impacted him, but things only got worse..." Eris said sadly, before changing the location to the inside of a school.
There were many teenagers around in the halls, all talking to their respective friends.
They went silent when a slightly more older Kazuma, one that seemed just a few years younger than their Kazuma, entered the hallway. He seemed extremely down, dark bags under his eyes indicating he did not get sufficient sleep.
As he walked down the hall, they looked at him like he was a strange boy. Unwelcome among the group. Many people were whispering, many of which the girls could hear.
"Look, it's that otaku creep..." One girl said.
"He looks like he's about to keel over..." A boy said.
"What a loser, spending all his time watching anime and playing games." A girl said, laughing with her friends.
"So he was bullied in school?" Megumin asked.
"All the time. When he got into forms of entertainment called anime and video games, many saw it as a need to critisize him." Eris explained.
"Hey, nerd!" A slightly more bulky boy shouted at Kazuma, causing him to look up at them.
"What's wrong with you? Did you spend all night watching anime like the otaku trash you are? Or were you up late playing games like a nerd?" He asked, but Kazuma didn't respond.
"Come on, answer me!" The boy said, shoving Kazuma onto the floor, causing his bag to open up and spill his notebooks and pencils all over the floor. Everyone who was watching started laughing a little at Kazuma
"Look at you, nothing but a loser. You're nothing but trash!" The boy shouted, causing Kazuma to start welling up with tears.
"Look at him, he's about to cry!" A girl said, laughing.
"Baby gonna cry!" Another person said.
"Nothing but a good for nothing otaku nerd."
They watched as Kazuma covered his ears to block out the sounds of the others. He got up and ran in the direction he came from, tears streaming down his face.
"And unfortunately, it went on for a very long time... Which all led to the life he lived before coming to Belzerg." Eris said, switching locations again to see Kazuma in his room. He wore his signature green tracksuit, but his eyes were glued on a monitor, playing video games. The vision began a timelapse to show how Kazuma would spend most of his time in the room, in the same position, only leaving to get food, go to the bathroom or sleep.
As they watched the sad display, more voices were heard.
"That boy is not my son! He is a failure to the Satou name!" An adult male voice was heard.
"Such a disappointment, we had high hopes for him. but I guess we were wrong." An adult female voice said.
"Onii-san is such a weirdo, he has no girlfriend and only stays in his room. It's embarrassing to be related to him." A young boy said.
The three figured the voices to be Kazuma's parents and younger brother that spoke.
They felt pity for the boy. Even Aqua had to admit, after going through all that, it was understandable why he didn't want to go out. Why he wanted to shut himself from the world. He felt betrayed by his first love, his classmates were torturing him, and his family lost all hope for him.
He was so young, yet endured so many hardships.
"From here, Kazuma lived his life this way, until the day came that he died." Eris said, earning the attention of Darkness and Megumin.
The scene changed to Kazuma walking down the sidewalk. As he was on his way home, he noticed a girl on her phone, crossing the street.
The sun was bright, and the lack of proper sleep and energy made him unable to see too clearly, but he saw a vehicle moving towards the girl.
In a quick motion, he ran at the girl, pushing her off to the side, sacrificing his life.
"So he sacrificed himself to save a girl from one of those vehicles. How noble of him." Darkness said.
"Yes well, unfortunately it was in vain as the vehicle was one that moved very slowly, so the girl would not have been even remotely injured. Kazuma unfortunately died of shock, thinking it was a real threat about to kill him." Eris said.
The scene switched to Kazuma sitting in a chair, in a room that was very similar to the one that they saw when they first arrived in the heavenly realm. What was in front of him shocked the other two.
Aqua sitting on a throne like chair.
"W-Wait, so it IS true? Aqua really is..." Megumin said in disbelief.
"Yes, Aqua is also a goddess. She oversaw Japan, Kazuma's country, while I oversaw our world."
They watched as the scene played out. Kazuma learning of the truth about how he died, Aqua laughing at him, being offered to be reincarnated into their world, and dragging her along rather than picking a cheat item like that one idiot, Mitsubishi they think his name was.
"And so that brings us to the recent events." Eris said, changing the scene one final time to the guild hall.
The very familiar scene of Aqua begging Kazuma for money.
From here they saw everything. The other tables that spoke ill of him, the group of girls that were chanting "Scumzuma", the many insults Aqua threw at him, and the thoughts he had before he had finally had enough.
They watched it all, and it made their chests feel like lead. They had just watched Kazuma suffer through so much in his own world, only to have to deal with more ridicule and insults from the city he had saved multiple times.
Once they saw Kazuma leave the building, the viewing stopped, leaving them in the room with all the glass balls on podiums.
"So there you have it. Now you know the truth behind Kazuma's past, his trauma and why he was so quick to shut himself in. I hope this gave you some insight as to what needs to be done." Eris said,
The three looked at each other.
They knew what they had to do.
That was interesting to write. I will admit I had to hella improvise Kazuma's past, vaguely knowing how he had a first love that rode an upperclassman's bike but I'm not certain if they ever explored those events. This chapter also ended up being longer than what I normally write so hopefully it was enjoyable.