Just 2 more chapters until we’re all caught up to the RAW!!

After that, everyone was going to drink even more, so I decided to head back on my own.

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, it"s scary to go home on your own, right? Please say it"s scary! My excuse to run away……no, since I invited you, as expected I need to take responsibility to make sure you get back." - is what Kuroitsu-san said while crying and asking for help, but I simply watched over that sort of him in 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. It"s still bright, and most of all, Mel-chan is stronger than us. Hence, there"s no need to worry, so let"s go drink."

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

Well……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 drop by the tower.

The guards were also familiar with me, so after seeing my face, they let me in. And like that, continued to go up a number of stairs.

"……Rui……"

When I reached the top floor, I involuntarily let out a voice at that familiar appearance from behind.

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

"It"s been a while, Mel."

Though he spoke with a slightly tired expression, he was 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.

At his slightly surprised expression that seemed to express how unexpected it was, I reflexively smiled.

"I"m sorry.

"……why are you apologizing?"

"I did say "I will give my apology directly the next time we meet"…….I one-sidedly pushed my way of thinking onto you, and tried to corner you. 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. However, it"s as you said."

I suppressed 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."

[Don"t live in a hurry. If you need some sort of objective, then it is fine to find another one once more.] - His words that were composed into a letter.

"However……you are alive. You"re alive……!" - Those earnest words that my 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 that time known as the future that I had been constantly averting my eyes from.

Since that time, I feel 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 of. Now that you mention it, Kuroitsu-san has also said something similar to that before.

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

"I see. That"s good."

Feeling embarra.s.sed at those words, I walked roughly 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 won"t be unnatural to not meet the eyes of him as he stands.

"……now that I think of it, you were able to distinguish the captured bandits as 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 at that place.

"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 are 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 bite, 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 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, then 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 make the most of the time now and enjoy it."

"Hmm~……."

Rui also took a manjuu into hand and was eating 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 that old man Fao"s manjuu."

"I see……..do you like the town?"

"Of course."

"Then it"s fine if you look for it 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 try out 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.

Translator Comments:

Mel and Rui are so cute, aren’t they~? >w