After finishing my greetings with Shiro-san and Machina-san, I had officially completed my rounds with the three Supreme Gods—and, for all intents and purposes, Alice as well. Now that the formalities with the higher deities were out of the way, I was free to greet the remaining Six Kings and the Three Kings of the Human Realm in whatever order I chose.
Naturally, my next stop was Kuro.
"Ah, Kaito-kun! Welcome."
"Thanks. Kuro, thank you for coming today. Your group here is quite the crowd, though. There are so many of you."
"Ahaha, well, we were all sticking together as a family at first. I think everyone will start branching off to enjoy the party on their own before long."
Among the factions of the Six Kings, the Underworld King Faction was the one where I had the most acquaintances by a landslide. Even excluding Kuro, there were Ein-san, Zwei-san, Tre-san, Fia-sensei, Funf-san, Zex-san, Raz-san, Acht, Eva, Noin-san, Sei-san, Cento-san, Cien-san, Roze-san... and many others I had met during my visits to Kuro's home. Having them all gathered in one spot made for a truly impressive number of people.
Since the party had only just begun, they were likely huddling together for the time being, but as Kuro said, they would probably disperse soon. I took the opportunity to offer a collective greeting to the group and gave a slight bow of thanks.
"But still, Kaito-kun, you've put together an incredible party."
"I just wanted to make good use of the Magic Ship you gave me, so it was mostly a spur-of-the-moment idea. My initial vision was something more like a small-scale home party, but the Magic Ship turned out to be far more luxurious than I imagined, so the whole affair ended up feeling quite grand."
"...Oh, that's right. This was the ship I gave you."
Kuro blinked in surprise at my words, then spoke as if she had only just remembered the gift. It really did seem like the fact she had given me the ship had slipped her mind, but I had a pretty good idea why.
"Kuro, you probably... just chose something that wouldn't fit in my old Magic Box so you'd have a natural excuse to give me a new one, didn't you?"
"...Well, I really wanted to be the one to make your new Magic Box for you, Kaito-kun."
"I'm genuinely happy about it, really. Besides, even without the ship, my previous Magic Box was starting to run out of room, so I'm glad I received this large-capacity one from you."
"Ehehe, I'm glad then. Actually, back during our first barbecue, Zex and the others said that giving you something too big would just be a burden, and I agreed with them... but back then, I never imagined you would become this incredible."
"I feel the same way. I certainly couldn't have predicted any of this back then."
I remembered the barbecue I had been invited to shortly after arriving in this world. Kuro had let slip then that she wanted to make a Magic Box for me herself. The only reason she hadn't forced one on me at the time was because she had been convinced by the arguments of Acht and the others.
Honestly, I hadn't expected back then that I'd reach a point where even a house-sized Magic Box wouldn't be enough... though, in truth, the space issues were almost entirely Magnawell-san's fault for the massive gifts he kept sending my way.
"But I wonder... you've formed so many connections and become so dignified... and of course, those are wonderful things, but for me... I'm just so happy to see that the Kaito-kun who used to look down all the time in the beginning is now looking straight ahead and living so vibrantly."
"That's because I found so many treasures—maybe a few too many, even."
"Fufu, I see... You really are a master of treasure hunting, aren't you?"
I smiled back as Kuro gave me a gentle, affectionate look. Many factors had contributed to my growth, including things I hadn't known at the time, but I had definitely changed. And the catalyst for that change—the reason I wanted to change—was undoubtedly my meeting with Kuro.
Thinking back on it now filled me with deep emotion. It made me feel a sense of pride, knowing that I had truly managed to move forward.
"Well, I'd love to stay and talk longer, but I have to greet the others too..."
"Ah, you're right. It would be wrong of me to keep you for too long."
"I'll come back later if I have time. Well then—"
"Kaito-kun, wait a second."
"Yeah?"
"Could you crouch down for a moment?"
"Eh? Like this?"
I still had plenty of people left to greet, so I couldn't afford to linger. I wanted to return for a longer chat later if the schedule allowed, but for now, I needed to keep moving.
I had just finished explaining this when Kuro asked me to crouch. Though confused, I complied, and Kuro moved in with a fluid, natural motion to give me a soft kiss on the cheek.
"...Kaito-kun, I love you even more now than I did back then."
She whispered the words into my ear so that only I could hear them, then pulled back with a playful, mischievous smile.
Serious-senpai: "Guaaah, w-what are you doing!? It's time for greeting rounds right now!! We promised that you'd just have a light chat and that lovey-dovey time would be on hold!!"
???: "...Leaving aside what kind of promise that was, you've been acting quite composed lately. Was it because you were underestimating things, thinking that kind of development wouldn't come for a while...?"