Chapter 24
Maybe You're Lovesick?
Translator : PolterGlast
"――――Would you
mind meeting me and talking?"
Lotus stared at me
with a serious expression. "Eh, u... uh..." His black-purple eyes
looked straight down at me. He's handsome. No, that wasn't the issue. There was
only one thing I wanted to say.
"No, I
refuse!!!"
Seiyaa! I unleashed a
familiar knife-hand strike. I was desperately trying to hide my identity, so
why should I be the one to initiate contact? I absolutely don't want to.
"Whoa!" It wasn't because I was forceful, but it was a demand to let
go! Lotus immediately released one hand and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. I
almost felt a tug at my heart, but there wasn't just one problem.
My own MP gauge was
already about to bottom out. The blinking indicator was in the corner of my
vision. I'm not Cinderella after all.
I immediately gathered
Ichi and the others. "Well then! I don't think we'll be meeting again!
Thank you for your hard work, and please take care of yourself!!" I hated
that the only parting words I could manage were like a set phrase. I wanted to
improve my vocabulary.
"...Whenever you
feel like it is fine!"
Lotus's voice came
from behind me.
I didn't look back.
Ichi and the others were also shouting that someone was coming. Besides the
time limit for my transformation, it seemed like I was already at my limit. I
ran. I jumped with all my might onto Ichi and the others, who were solidifying
around me. In an instant, my body shrunk and I was back to my usual reassuring
size. Boing, boboboing. For short distances, riding on top of everyone was
faster.
With this, I would no
longer be involved with Lotus.
The cloudiness in my
heart had completely cleared, so I was able to sleep soundly that night.
Finally, things would become easier to live with.
The day after
tomorrow. While I was serving at Harapeko-tei, Lotus came in, looking the same
as before. The dark circles under his eyes were gone. "Good, good," I
thought, handing him the stew as he sat at a table with his arms crossed.
"Ah, sorry," Lotus said, ruffling my hair, and then stared blankly at
the spoon in his hand. His reaction was slow.
Usually, he would
eagerly scoop up the stew and chew with gusto, but Lotus just looked from the
spoon to the stew. His movements were sluggish. Was he okay? Sutra-san, who had
recently started coming out of the kitchen for short periods, saw Lotus's
strange behavior and chuckled.
"Maybe he's
lovesick or something."
It was a derisive
laugh. "Lo... lo..." I held the tray and opened and closed my mouth.
For some reason, I felt shocked. The word "love" just didn't seem to
fit Lotus. No, in the main story of the game, he was one of the romanceable
characters, so with a good ending, he should end up with the heroine. But I had
only cleared the normal ending. He had just normally seen the protagonist off
when she returned to her original world.
Lotus glanced at
Sutra-san, who raised the corners of her mouth in a "heh," and
replied curtly, "Wrong." It was a sharp reply without any particular
change in his expression. Surprisingly, he seemed strong against such teasing.
I had thought he would be more embarrassed or angry.
"Then what's
wrong? Well, that speed is usually fast enough, though. Do you usually chew
properly? Don't you just swallow everything whole?"
Sutra-san, acting like
the concerned daughter of a restaurant owner, asked, but Lotus just ignored
her. The sight of Ichi and the others smoothly cleaning around him was somehow
a little surreal.
***
I thought, "Could
it be?" and sure enough, it was. I pursed my lips into a "く" shape and glared intently at the young man in
front of me while clutching the blanket I used as a cape. He was taller than
me, but the heels made our height a little similar. My waist-length blonde hair
swayed in the wind.
"Oh. Yo."
"W-why are you
hereeeeeee!!"
"You ask me
why?"
Leaning against a
roadside tree, Lotus waited for me with his arms crossed. It was the same place
and time as before. Several days had passed since then. The thought that he
might have been waiting here all this time made my chest feel terribly uneasy.
"You said you'd
come when you felt like it, and it would be a problem if I wasn't here. I'm
just waiting on my own. Don't worry about it."
"But I am
worried!"
"Baka,
baka!" I snapped angrily. Lotus laughed. Just a little, cutely, with a
grin.
The cobblestone ground
seemed to stretch endlessly, and it seemed like the only people in the city at
night were just me, Lotus, and Ichi and the others. Of course, that wasn't the
case. Floating above us, thick clouds swayed as they were carried by the wind.
And then, gradually,
Lotus and I started meeting and talking occasionally. Just for short, brief
periods of time, though.
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