Beast and Human
After that.
I spent several weeks taking Aiteru around and educating her—what you might call socialization training. Fortunately, it wasn't particularly difficult. Though Aiteru had shed her form as a bird-beast, she wasn't so thoroughly bird-brained that she couldn't grasp what was said to her.
"Hmm, good. At this rate, you should be fine going out on your own."
"Ehh... I wanna hang around with Astria a little longer."
"I can't keep cleaning up after you forever, either."
With her education finished, and having spent weeks stuck to her side without a scrap of personal time, I decided to release her into the wild, so to speak. Though "release" was closer to foisting her off onto agents of the US government in my place.
I stuffed a grilled banana into the mouth of a clearly dissatisfied Aiteru, sealing her words shut.
"It's fine. You can do this. I guarantee it."
"...Mmm. I don't wanna be apart."
"How long do you plan to cling to your mother's bosom, you little brat."
Fortunately, Aiteru didn't throw any further tantrums. She was fundamentally fond of me. Naturally, she would put every effort into not earning my dislike.
Having thus set Aiteru independent, I left in search of freedom.
The place Astria had left behind.
Alone, Aiteru stared blankly in the direction Astria had gone.
"—Pardon me, Great Sky King."
"...Who?"
"My name is Helen. Starting today, I will be attending to Your Majesty the Great Sky King."
Of course, even if she was alone, there was no chance they would truly leave her by herself. An American agent immediately attached herself and began looking after her.
Despite having acquired an attendant who was practically a slave, Aiteru's dissatisfaction didn't settle easily. Watching her stare blankly into the middle distance with her cheeks puffed out, Helen immediately recalled the instructions Astria had passed along—methods for easing her discontent.
Just as she'd been told in advance, once ice cream and desserts crafted by Michelin three-star chefs were stuffed into her mouth, her complaints finally subsided. After devouring the delicious treats, Aiteru stopped puffing her cheeks and began smiling with satisfaction.
"I wanna go out."
"Pardon?"
"Walk."
"Ah—right away."
Watching Aiteru declare she wanted fresh air the moment she'd stuffed herself full of food, Helen smiled lightly. Transcendent being from another world or not, looking at her appearance and behavior, she was no different from a child.
She found herself treating her as one would a real child. It was only natural. In a world still unaccustomed to magic and the like—one that was easily captivated by outward appearances—it could hardly have been otherwise.
And so, the moment she brought her outdoors without the slightest wariness—
"—Astria told me, you know. She said she wants me to love the humans she loves, too."
"Pardon? Ah, yes. We're truly grateful."
"So—I'm gonna build a nest."
Hearing those words, Helen tilted her head and paused. The fact that her other name was the Great Sky King, and that in As she was known as the greatest of all birds, flashed through Helen's mind.
And then a brief brain freeze—
Before Helen could urgently stop her, having grasped what it meant for an avian creature to build a nest—massive wings flapped open.
"Kyaaaaah—!?"
Whoooosh—!
A mere beat of those wings kicked up a small storm, all because of wings large enough to blot out the sky. Aiteru's body rose high into the heavens on the lift her wingbeats generated.
Citizens strolling through the city carefully looked up at the sudden shadow. And what met their eyes was a creature with enormous wings that could not possibly exist on Earth.
"Wh-what is that!?"
"It's a monster!"
"Al-aliens!"
Some screamed and fled in panic; others shoved their smartphones forward to film, as if they couldn't afford to miss the scene. Aiteru flew past them all, seeking ground suitable for nest-building.
Astria had assumed Aiteru would quietly live out her days eating delicious things, just as she herself did—but that assumption was only half right.
Hadn't Astria possessed a human ego and memories from the moment of her birth as a hatchling? She was fundamentally closer to human than beast.
Having leapfrogged the period when one must cultivate instinct and survive in nature—armed with a human ego and knowledge—she had avoided the risks of survival, but in exchange had missed the window for awakening her instincts.
And so she never imagined that Aiteru would make a choice a little closer to the beast, that she would reveal her true form based on instinct.
As for Aiteru herself—
—It'd be rude to build my nest too close...
As a Transcendent of As and a mythical creature, she didn't consider the mere act of revealing herself to be a problem. Quite the opposite. Her actions were filled with consideration and respect toward humans.
She believed that not eating humans even after revealing a form this powerful was itself a gesture of sincerity toward them. And in truth, it wasn't far off. If a bird saw a bug and didn't eat it—and the reason wasn't laziness or a full stomach—then that was clearly respect.
And so.
"Th-this is bad! Headquarters! Headquarters!"
The existence of As, which America had so desperately tried to hide, was on this day revealed to the world.
It had already been several days, but it still came back vividly.
—Mr. President! An unidentified aircraft over the White House... Mr. President?
—Ah, aah—
The day the shadow covered not only the White House but all of Washington, D.C. The moment the existence of As's beings was revealed to the US Air Force, air defense units, and even civilians.
Ronald felt his mind going blank.
Afterward, they used America's intelligence apparatus to the fullest, manipulating public opinion and deleting videos uploaded to the internet to buy time—but far too many citizens had seen that mythical bird with their own two eyes.
Even now, one could gawk via satellite photos at that transcendentally sized being coiled up in its nest, so they couldn't deny it forever.
Protests from every nation poured in daily, and idiotic citizens who'd fallen for conspiracy theories packed the streets of Washington.
Apparently they had already forgotten how, not long ago, he had turned America into a drug-free nation through a nationwide chemical spray. This was the moment he realized that "today's ally is tomorrow's enemy" wasn't a principle that applied only to politicians.
Damn it, how did it come to this...
But with things as they were, he also felt a certain lightness. In a way, until now Ronald had been shouldering alone the heavy burden that humanity as a whole should have borne.
Of course he had no intention of revealing everything, but he planned to disclose a certain amount. The situation left him little choice.
Click— click—!
Standing before countless cameras, Ronald lightly tapped the microphone as he looked at the reporters photographing him.
"Aah—good day, members of the press. Today, regarding the unfortunate incident that occurred over Washington, D.C. several days ago—"
"—Are there really aliens!?"
"Get that bastard out of here."
After expelling from the press conference hall the reporter who had dared interrupt him with a question, Ronald smiled with satisfaction at the now-quieted press and began reading from the prepared documents.
"Approximately six months ago, the United States of America developed a Gate leading to another world—"
America had developed a Gate to another world. They had kept it secret to monopolize the resources coming from it. That creature was indeed a being that had crossed over from beyond the Gate. Beyond the Gate existed numerous beings friendly to America, and going forward they would maintain amicable relations and continue exchanges with the beings of the other world, As. And so on—
Immediately after the president finished reading aloud lines that sounded like something out of a science-fiction fantasy novel, the reporters raised their hands all at once. With their free hands, they had already urgently typed up the president's announcement as articles.
"—Mr. President! Is what you just said true..."
"—Are the beings of As really friendly!? According to legend—"
"—So that enormous bird came out through the Gate—do you have plans to send it back to As..."
Looking at the reporters chattering so loudly it hurt his ears, Ronald sighed inwardly. At times like this, he envied the authority of As's Transcendents. Their authority came solely from their own power, so they were freer by far than a president who had to receive his power from the entire citizenry.
If he had been not a president elected under a democratic system, but a true king of America as the Dragon King of As put it—if only that had been the case.
Those noisy reporters would by now...
However.
"Going forward, we will transparently disclose our exchanges with the beings of As, and ensure that the benefits are returned to all of you, the people—"
He was a president, not a king.
And for that, he had to know how to bend his own heart when necessary.
At least for now, this was a time to bend.