It was late afternoon one day. Thinking it would be nice to eat out for lunch once in a while, I was thinking about what to eat in the city when I spotted a familiar figure up ahead.
　In the back, but with a black sailor suit and white hair, a rarity in this world... yeah, definitely Shea-san. She's unusually not wearing a robe today, and there's some kind of... flag in her hand...?　I'm sure it's Mr. Shea, though he has something like
　Why am I stopping in the middle of the road?　Let's just say I'll call out to her for now... maybe she'll get tongue-tied again, but that thing is like a greeting in Sia-san's way.
　Chuckling at the usual reaction I expected in my head, I approached Shea and called out to her.

'Hello, Shea-san.
"...Yeah?　Huh?　Geez!
What?

　Shea-san turned around in response to my voice, and for some reason her eyes widened when she saw my face, and then she suddenly let out a scream. Eh?　What is this?　That's an unexpected reaction........

''Hey, isn't it the arrival of the Rathbos all of a sudden!　I'm not ready for this...
'What?　The last boss?　Mr. Shea?　What the hell is going on...
But I've come all the way here. 　Don't think I'm going to get flagged up so easily!
I'm sorry, what the hell are you talking about?

　What do I do?　I don't feel like I'm making any sense to you today, Shea.... Also, this place is the comings and goings of the world, but it's getting a lot of attention........

I don't know what's going on here, but can we change the location for now?　It's getting quite a bit of attention and...
It's kind of hard to be too calm about it... Anyway, um, yeah. I get it.

　Hmmmm.
　While puzzled by Shea-san's unusual appearance, we moved away from the crowded main street to a smaller park that was nearby.

''So, Shea-san?　What the hell happened to you today?　Something's not quite right, but...
Wait a minute!
Yes?
'It's very important, so I'll go ahead and go ahead but I'm not Shea, okay?
...What?

　Isn't that Mr. Shea?　It's not like they're twins or anything like that, they're practically identical, but.......I was stunned, but that doesn't mean that Shea-san would joke about it.
　If that's the case, are you really a different person?　Ummm, hmmm, what's really going on?

'Well, you can call me 'senior' in a friendly way!
...Okay. Oh, my name is Miyama Kaito.
Yeah, I know... it's disgusting.
Huh, well...

　I'm not sure why, but it seems I've suddenly been identified as this guy's junior. No, really, what kind of situation is this!　I can't follow you at all........
　 Hmmm, considering the resemblance to Shea-san, is it someone from the God Race?　Reluctantly, I'm said to be well known among the gods, so if that's the case, it's not surprising that they know about me... right?

So, um, I don't mean to be blunt, but may I ask your name?
"Phew, fine, I'll tell you!　I am the Serious of Serious!　A star of seriousness shining in the world!　It's senior Serious!
....

　Um, sorry, I don't mean to be very rude to a new person, but let me just think to myself... what a weird guy!


What?　
.........haha, I mean..........you mean.........you mean 'name' including your senior?
Yeah?
Well, I see.

　...Can I say that again?　What a weird guy!　Oh, no, that thing?　Maybe they'll write it in katakana, like Serious Sempai, instead of kanji.

''By the way, just to confirm, is that senpai a.......family name or something?''
What?　What in the world are you... you know, the common senior, junior, senior.

　I knew he was your senior!　If that's the case, I think that real name is insane!　But he doesn't seem to care about it at all... or me?　Am I crazy?

'Well, you can call me senior!
Okay, I see.........
Yeah, nice to meet you.

　Umm, hmm, it's getting weird.

"So, um, what was your senior citizen doing stopping on the main street in town just now?
Good question. I was looking for something.
You're looking for...?
Yes, something 'important and essential to this world'!
Important and indispensable?

　The scale of the story is getting bigger all of a sudden. Hmmm... If that's the case, does that mean he's a god, and came to the human world to find something necessary for this world?
　That sounds like a tough story.........

Yes ... 'Serious'!
...Yes?

　........but it's starting to feel like nothing.

'The world is lacking in seriousness. That's why I do!　I'm the incarnation of Seriousness, and this is how I've come out to change that!
....

　Is that, uh, a thing, a philosophical thing?　I'm not good at that kind of thing, but........
　

A being in a place........?
Yeah, that's about right.

I'm not a psycho!

　Because after listening to the story, I've come to the conclusion that it's nothing more than 'crazy people'!　No, no, there are spirits and gods and so on, so maybe it's not surprising that such a concept of something materialized or something....
　While feeling a headache, I swallowed a lot of things and decided to ask my seniors.

''So, assuming that everything senpai says is true.......how exactly do you look for silliness?''

Oh, so you have no plan.
...Yes. And by the way, I had no idea where I was going, and I was lost.

　I can't help but be puzzled by how quickly the tension changes from a confident, smug face to a sulky one. He really is an unusual person in many ways.
　But that doesn't mean I can just leave him alone, now that I've asked him to join me... I can't help but get the feeling that he's not very dependable. I have the feeling that if left unchecked, he'll get into some kind of trouble.

''........Well, where is the seriousness in that?　I don't know what it's like, but I'm somewhat familiar with the geography of the area... um, can I show you around?
'What?　...You're so sweet.

　It's not a good idea to just ignore it and go home because it's a strange personality, and when I suggested it to him, although I felt it would be troublesome, he seemed to be very impressed with it.
　However, a little later, he made an expression as if he realized something.

''Ha!　Don't get me wrong!　Hey, don't think a flag has been raised on me because of this!
Huh, huh...

　Uh, you mean those?　By flag in this case, do you mean a romantic flag?

I'm telling you, I'm still about a '96' in favorability rating!
...What's the maximum, by the way?
One hundred.
"...what was the default value when you met them?
About 30?

　It's an amazingly high rating. Within an hour of meeting him, his favorability rating had risen tremendously. Where in the conversation up to this point was there anything that could raise his favorability rating by 66?　

''........Well, well, anyway, looking for seriousness?　
'Hmmm, I'd like something to eat anyway. If possible, a spicy dish. And if possible, something famous.

　Uh, you mean those?　Is this person just 'coming to tour the Symphonia Royal Capital' after all?　Well, that's still more gratifying than the incomprehensible search for seriousness.
　After concluding that, I opened the eating guide Kuro gave me and led him to the restaurants while listening to my seniors' requests.








　Since the resemblance to Shea-san, I thought he would have to be very spicy to satisfy me, but that was too much for me, so I led him to a restaurant that served slightly spicy food.
　He seemed to be totally fine with it, and seemed to enjoy his meal very much. I thought I heard something like "I've only eaten baby sponge cake all this time" or "I've only had cocoa" at that time... but I'd like to think it was my imagination.
　I'd like to think that the fact that she was crying during the meal was just because she was moved by the deliciousness.......not because she was being mysteriously tortured or something.
　And although the senior didn't have any money and I had to buy all the money, he looked apologetic, so I want to believe that he wasn't being cheated.

　My senpai seemed to switch gears very quickly, or perhaps it was just as I had expected at first, but he had a big swing in his tension. When I thought he was depressed, he really got back on his feet quickly, and in a way, he might be an interesting person to watch.
　Although he is a strange person, he doesn't seem to be a bad person... somehow, sightseeing in the royal capital with the excited senior was fun in its own way, and I ended up showing him various places.

　In the end, we didn't find anything serious, and in the evening, we returned to the park where we first talked.

It was so much fun!　Thanks for all you've done for me!
'No, I had fun, too. But in the end, you didn't find any seriousness.
"...what?　Ah!
...you forgot about it.
'Yes, no, this is, you know, a thing... Seriousness is not a day in the life of a thing!　It's not that easy to find them!
Don't make up words that don't make sense.

　Today, we've completely broken the ice and are able to converse with each other with some ease in this way. Well, I'd say my senpai has an image similar to Alice's, or perhaps it doesn't matter if I treat her roughly to some extent. Rather, it's more of a feeling that if you deal with her politely, you'll end up losing out on her.
　But on the contrary, you don't have to be so careful, so once you get used to it, you may find it easy to talk to him.

Anyway, thank you for today--
...What?

　Senpai, who smiled and was about to thank him, immediately disappeared from sight................and then was punched away. In the place where Serious-senpai was just a moment ago, a familiar 'stuffed black cat' appeared in the form of a fist swung out of the air as if to replace him, and immediately afterwards a roar could be heard.

''Feng, if you think you've gone anywhere at all.......you're a troubled senior.''
'A, A, Ali, Alice!　What are you doing now?
'Oh, no, no. I'm not a super-beautiful Alice-chan, I'm just a fan.
'No, no, no, totally Alice no, more importantly, what are you doing!　Seniors!

　While I was stunned by the sudden appearance of an apparently Alice-like costume, I hurriedly looked in the direction of the huge dust cloud that would have blown up senpai.
　I don't care if this is Shea-san or something else, but from what I've seen all day, senpai is a person with only normal physical ability. If Alice hit that, what would happen..............d*mn it, I'll be mad at Alice later!　I need to know if my senpai is okay....

"It hurts like hell........but how can you treat someone like this all of a sudden?

　But then he came out looking totally fine!　He looks normal and healthy, although he has a gag manga-like bump on his head.
　When I'm confused about the situation, Alice?　The first thing he did was to tell me that he had seen the question.

''Oh, don't worry. Since you have a 'gag correction', you're basically an invulnerable endurance ghost, so there's no problem at all.
'What?　No, what are you saying out of the blue...

　Gag corrections are like that cartoon...no, I'm getting seriously confused. I can't think straight.

Anyway, I'm going home, senpai.
No!　I haven't found the seriousness yet!
I'm telling you, it's not...
No, it's got to be there.　As long as I'm Serious of Serious, Serious is going to show up from the other side!
f*ck it.
Geez!

　I don't know what it is, I can't keep up with the situation at all. The next moment when you think that the senior was cut into pieces by the stuffed black cat, he revives as if nothing had happened.
　I'm not sure if it's because of the fact that I was left behind, or if I felt my head ache at the state of not understanding the meaning of the situation, but... for some reason, my consciousness gradually drifted away.










''--Ha!

　I bounced off the futon and got up..................and it was my room that I had seen before. I hurriedly looked around, but neither senpai nor the stuffed black cat was anywhere to be seen.

"...what?　A dream?

　It's just that I've had some pretty weird dreams. Am I tired?
　While thinking about this, I got up out of bed and suddenly found a neatly wrapped parcel on my desk. I picked it up and checked it, but the sender's name was not written on it.
　While tilting my head at the unfamiliar package, I opened it and found an assortment of powdered cocoa that you dissolve in milk and a flag that you might use for a beach flag or something.

　The flag had the word "Happiness" written on it in something that looked like magic, and a message card was stuck to the handle.
　And on the message card was written in pretty letters: "Please do not break this flag.











''I'll leave this flag unbroken. Also, that.........that was fun, thank you. From Serious Senpai.''