"...-in."
A voice called from somewhere far away.
"...-nii."
A voice he recognized.
"...n-nii."
A nostalgic voice. A voice he had yearned to hear.
"...Jin-nii."
Jin opened his eyes.
"It's a ceiling I know..."
Jin had woken up in his own room in the House on Hourai Island.
"Jin-nii..."
"Elsa..."
The one calling his name was his beloved wife, Elsa. Jin slowly sat up from the futon.
"Are you okay? Is it too soon to be up?"
"No, I'm fine."
Jin experimentally turned his neck. He didn't feel any discomfort or lingering pain.
"I see... Thank goodness..."
With tears welling in her eyes, Elsa explained that a teleportation magic circle had suddenly appeared in front of the laboratory, and Jin had emerged from it.
Since Jin was unconscious, he had been immediately carried into the House to be tended to, but the healers found nothing physically wrong with him. However, he had remained in a deep sleep for three days and three nights.
"...It's really you, Elsa, isn't it?"
"Mm."
"...What year is it? What's the date?"
"It's September 20, 3459."
Coincidentally, it was the exact same date as when he had departed from the future.
"I see... I'm finally back..."
"Welcome home, Jin-nii."
As she spoke, the fog in Jin's mind finally began to dissipate.
"Elsa."
"Mm?"
"Elsa!"
"Jin-nii?"
Jin reached out and pulled Elsa into a fierce embrace. She wasn't a phantom or a dream; she was right there in his arms, her presence solid and real.
"Ah, I'm really home..."
"Welcome home."
"I'm back, Elsa."
"...Welcome home."
Elsa seemed prepared to repeat those words as many times as necessary until Jin truly felt he had returned. Then, another figure appeared.
"Father!"
Reiko, unable to restrain herself any longer by simply watching from the shadows, rushed forward.
"Welcome home!"
She threw herself toward Jin.
"I believed with all my heart that you would return to us."
"Reiko, I'm home."
The room soon filled with more familiar faces.
"Jin-san, welcome home."
"Daa!"
"Mother-in-law... and...?"
It was Mine, and in her arms was a baby.
"This is Mio-chan. Your daughter."
"Mio..."
"Onii-chan, welcome home!"
Then Hanna appeared, carrying another infant.
"Abuu!"
"Yuu-chan, look! It's your father!"
"Yuu..."
Jin's quiet room was suddenly overflowing with life and noise.
"So these are my children..."
Jin looked first at Mio in Mine's arms, then at Yuu, who was being held by Hanna. Both babies were smiling happily, as if they instinctively recognized their father.
"Elsa, thank you....And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you when things were so difficult."
"No, it's all right. I'm sure things were much harder for you, Jin-nii..."
"Even so. I'm sorry. And thank you for bringing such wonderful children into the world."
Jin gently embraced Elsa once more.
He noticed the others watching them with warm smiles—though Hanna's face was a bit red—but Jin didn't let go of Elsa.
Elsa, Mio, Yuu, Mine, Hanna, and Reiko. Surrounded by his loved ones, the reality of his return finally settled deep in his heart.
＊ ＊ ＊
That night, the entire Jin Family gathered to celebrate his return.
"Welcome back, Jin!"
"Welcome back, Jin-kun."
"Welcome back!"
Every one of them was genuinely overjoyed to see him.
"Thank you....I went through quite a bit, but I managed to find my way back."
"I'd love to hear the details of your journey," Reinhard said.
"Yeah, me too!"
"...I know. But..."
"But?"
"First, I need to collect all the Space Isolation Barriers I set up."
"That's a fair point."
"And then I want to take my time and tell you everything. However..."
"However?"
"Parts of my memory are vague, like they've been covered in a haze. It's mostly technical things—specifically regarding magi-craft."
"Could it be interference from the world, acting to prevent contradictions arising from time travel?" Laojun posited, offering a complex theory.
"Are you saying a corrective force was at work to prevent a time paradox?" Hanna suggested something similar.
"That might be it..."
"But in the end, what's happened has happened, Onii-chan."
"Yeah."
Jin took a sip of citran juice to soothe his throat.
"I tried my best to return without gathering any unnecessary information... so as not to cause a paradox, but..."
He wondered now if the information that had become blurred was exactly that—the "unnecessary" knowledge.
"I can't remember at all what happened to my descendants... or the descendants of anyone in the Family."
"That is a shame."
"Yeah. Though, over there, I was looked after by Sion and her descendants. And Marikka, too."
"Oh?"
"I-Is that sho?" Marikka asked, her voice hitching.
"Yeah. Once I've finished the tasks I have for now, I'll sit down and tell you all about it."
"I'll be looking forward to it."
"Maybe tomorrow or the day after," Jin said with a smile.
True to his word, two days later, Jin finished the task of retrieving all the Space Isolation Barriers he had deployed. Afterward, he gathered the members of the Family and recounted the experiences he had gained in the distant future.
＊ ＊ ＊
"...And that's more or less how it went."
Jin's long tale finally came to a close.
"Once again, welcome home, Jin," Reinhard said.
"Welcome home."
"Welcome back."
One by one, the members of the Jin Family offered their greetings to him again.
(This is definitely where I belong...)
Jin felt that truth from the bottom of his soul.
The season was autumn. A cool, refreshing wind blew across Hourai Island.