Similar to the previous Chapter 35, with a slight modification.

After that we had a fun time eating and drinking, and started to party.

Everyone dropped me off in front of the mansion before saying that they"d go to drink more, and thus we split up at the gates of the Anderson Marquis House.

Kuroitsu-san said in a tearful voice, "I at least have to eat at home on my holidays or else my wife will get sick of me……!" -and tried to run away, but unfortunately was captured by everyone and taken away.

[Mel, please let me see you off inside of the mansion. It"s fine, right? Please say it"s fine! My excuse to run away……no, since I invited you, as expected I need to take responsibility to make sure to see you off until the end.] - is what Kuroitsu-san said while crying and asking for help, but I simply watched over him doing that in a mute amazement.

Because, when he was captured, everyone"s movements were definitely faster than their movements during training, and even I could just barely react to them, so I was genuinely surprised.

……by no means was it because everyone"s eyes had a dangerous glint upon hearing the word "wife", so I got scared and pretended not to see him.

[Mel~!!]

[You must be kidding, Kuroitsu-san. Mel-chan will be fine even without an escort. Once she goes through the gates right in front of us, she"ll be inside the Marquis House, plus it"s still bright, and most importantly, Mel-chan is stronger than us. Hence, there"s no need to worry, so let"s go and drink.]

I heard such a voice saying thus from a distance, and silently cheered Kuroitsu-san on in my heart.

Well then……it"s still around sunset.

I"ve finally come out to town after all, so it"d be wasteful to just go back like this, thus I decided to go to the tower.

Lately, father has become quite strict, so I haven"t been able to go out to town alone.

Kuroitsu-san and everyone were probably monitoring me, and were likely ordered to see me home.

Thinking about it that way, out of everyone, Kuroitsu-san"s decision was probably the most correct one.

The guards at the tower were familiar with me, so after seeing my face, they let me in.

And like that, I continued to climb up numerous sets of stairs.

"……Rui……"

When I reached the top floor, I involuntarily call out to that familiar back.

Perhaps because I muttered so close to him, it reached his ears, and he slowly turned around.

"It"s been a while, Mel."

Though it"s been many days since I last saw him, he spoke with a slightly tired expression while making a soft smile.

"Yes, truly. It"s been a while."

"……you"re looking much better than I thought you"d be."

Now that I think of it, ever since the bandits were captured, I haven"t met with him.

I reflexively smiled at his slightly surprised expression that seemed to express how unexpected my reaction was.

"I"m sorry."

"……why are you apologizing?"

"I one-sidedly questioned you, and tried to drive you into a corner. This is the apology for that."

As he bowed his head sincerely, I felt my smile grow deeper and deeper.

"Please don"t apologize. It"s true that……I was irritated at that time…….but, it"s as you said."

I withdrew my smile and spoke seriously, choosing the words I had to say to convey the things I had to tell him.

"I was only looking at the past, completely deserting the important things I have in the present. In reality, when the bandits were captured……my purpose for living and everything disappeared, and I became an empty human."

I lost my guidepost and felt as if I were thrown out into the darkness, feeling a fear of the obscure future.

Thus, I felt impatience and futility.

Like that……when I imagine how things would"ve been if I remained unable to see in front of me, it makes me shiver.

"However, at that time, my brother"s words and your letter helped me to face forward."

[If your goal disappears, it is fine to just find another one. You have that much time. Don"t live in a hurry.]

That lettered composed of his words.

[However……you are alive. You"re alive……!]

Those earnest words that my elder brother spoke as if he were crying.

Because I had both of those, I am thankful that I am living right now.

I became able to look at the time known as the future that I had constantly been averting my eyes from.

Since that time, I felt that time within me has begun to tick once again.

"……that"s why, thank you."

When I said that and smiled, he also smiled again.

"You"ve changed."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Your sharp atmosphere that made it feel as if I"d be stabbed if I approached you has disappeared."

I have some memory of what he was speaking about.

Now that you mention it, Kuroitsu-san has also said something similar to that before.

"……that might be so. Right now, I"m having a lot of fun."

"I see. That"s good."

Feeling embarra.s.sed at those words, I recklessly walked to his side and sat close next to him.

I sat because I couldn"t look at him.

If you sit in this position where you could look down on the town and watch the scenery, it probably wouldn"t be unnatural to not meet the eyes of him as he stands.

"……now that I think of it, you knew that the captured bandits were my target? Could it be that you knew?"

"There"s no way I"d know. It"s just that I thought "what if", is all."

"I see……"

He also sat down next to me.

"Wanna eat?"

Suddenly, he took a package out from his bag.

"From the market square……it"s manjuu from old man Fao"s place."

"Thanks. Itadakimasu."

I took one of the six manjuus and brought it to my mouth.

At that moment, a spiciness that I can"t explain in words spread out within my mouth.

"Ah, you pulled a miss?"

Seeing my reaction, Rui muttered as if it was nothing.

"*cough*……*cough*! What the heck……is a miss!?"

"……the manjuu are sold in packs of six, each with a different flavour, and five of them taste incomparably delicious, but for some reason, there is always one that is extremely spicy. Even if you know there"s a miss, they"re famous for being so delicious that it just makes you wanna buy them, you know? Well, lately it"s been said that it"s fun to see the reactions when you share them amongst friends and someone pulls a miss."

As he said that, I opened up the canteen he presented to me, and vigorously drank the contents.

I drank until the canteen went empty, but even now the inside of my mouth was stinging.

"I was surprised that you were able to eat it all in one bit, but……you didn"t know, huh. Rather, to pull a miss right from the first pick……"

Rui held back a laugh.

"……tch! If I knew, then I would"ve chosen a bit more carefully."

At my reb.u.t.tal, Rui couldn"t endure any longer and began laughing.

In the beginning, I wasn"t too amused at Rui"s reaction and was sullen, but gradually felt it was ridiculous and began laughing.

While I was doing that, before I knew it, the stinging in my mouth went away.

"……if the one earlier was a miss, then there aren"t any more misses, right? Give me another one."

"Yes, of course."

When I timidly put the manjuu that was pa.s.sed over into my mouth, it was exceedingly delicious.

"……it"s normally delicious. I wonder why it"s put together with a miss?"

"Who knows? Well, it does seem that the misses are also quite popular with those who like spicy things."

"I don"t get it at all."

Those were my true feelings……..as someone who received a baptism from that "miss".

"……does Rui go out into town often?"

Since he"s capable of coming into this tower on his own just based on facial recognition, his father should be someone with an appropriately high status.

Despite that, it was incomprehensible that he was allowed to go out into town on his own.

"…….that"s right. The more you grow, the more your movements are likely to be restricted. That applies both time-wise and status-wise. Even if you wish for it, you"re unlikely to have the same amount of freedom as you do now. That is precisely why I feel that I should make the most of the time now and enjoy it."

"Hmm~……"

Rui also took a manjuu into hand and ate it.

"Well, thanks to that, I was able to encounter this delicious thing."

"I"ve also started to go out into town lately. Up until now, all I"ve done is train, so there are a lot of things that I don"t know about. It"s the same with these old man Fao"s manjuus."

"I see……do you like the town?"

I briefly thought about his question.

"……I suppose. Right now I do find it quite likable."

"Then it"s fine if you search for things you like from here on out……isn"t it fine to learn more about it? To be able to learn about something that you didn"t know about is the greatest happiness, is what I think, you know?"

"That is true."

"Then, should we go walk around trying different foods next time? I"ve got a number of recommendations."

"Eh, is that true!? It"s a promise."

A promise for the future.

That is a new step for the sake of advancing forward.

"That it is."

My heart pounded with that which was exchanged.