"Haa... It feels like I’ve just been sleeping all day..."
As soon as I woke up, Hina got up as if she’d been waiting for it.
"Good morning... Haruta? Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah... way too comfortably."
"I’m glad to hear that..."
"So... what are we doing now?"
"No idea... I’m not even hungry, and we already watched a movie... there’s nothing in particular to do."
"Then Haruta, don’t you have anything you like? Some kind of hobby, maybe?"
"A hobby... Ah... I don’t really do anything besides work and beating people up, so I guess not."
"I don’t really have any hobbies either..."
"Ah... come to think of it, I do have one."
"Hm? What kind of hobby?"
"Just... finding sweets and eating them. After that, I just wash up, lie in bed, talk to Akashi... and then sleep. That’s about it."
"Then I’ll go look around and see if there’s a place nearby that sells sweets. Wait here a moment..."
Hina was searching for something on the phone she almost never took out.
"Ah! Found it!"
"...Found what?"
"Ah...! It’s nothing...!"
Even Hina, saying that while flapping her little wings and turning red, was adorable. It was so cute I felt like I might die.
"...Heh... nice... this kind of peace, too."
"Hm? What did you say...?"
"Nothing. More importantly, where is it?"
"Look here... what do you think?"
"Wait a second... where is this... hold on... Hina? Come here for a moment."
"Huh...? Why?"
Thud
"All right! Then let’s go!"
"Wha... wha?!"
I scooped Hina up in a princess carry, made a portal, and stepped through.
Crash!
"Uu... don’t do that... it’s embarrassing..."
"Got it. I was just messing with you."
After I set Hina down, the shop she’d shown me was right in front of us.
"Hmm... oh, this is it?"
"Yeah... what do you think?"
"Nice. From long experience, places like this usually have good stuff. I usually like parfaits, ice cream, pudding, that sort of thing, so I used to come to shops like this a lot on my own."
"Did you ever come with anyone?"
"Hm... come with someone...? Ah, the Tea Party girls brought me here once, back in the day. But that time was really rough. After that, I turned myself in and got locked up in the correctional facility..."
"Eh... what on earth happened...?"
"Just... I’ll tell you later."
"Mm... everyone has a past they’d rather hide. Okay, I’ll wait."
"Yeah. I’ll tell you someday."
"Let’s go in first."
"Yeah."
Once we stepped inside and looked around, it was a fairly clean, stylish shop. It had the strong feel of a standard café, but that in itself made it a nice place.
"What do you want to eat?"
When I asked, Hina thought for a moment.
"Mm... then I’ll just have strawberry cake... what about you, Haruta?"
"How should I put it... maybe because today’s a little late, or maybe because I’m low on sugar... ah, right. I’m getting pudding today!"
After we ordered, a robot waiter came over, took the order, and went back inside.
"But, you know... don’t people usually not come to cafés at this hour?"
"Mm... yeah, that’s definitely true. Still, if I’m with Haruta, it’s good any time."
Weak!
"Kuh... that was the best..."
"Haruta...?!"
"Saying things like that... it’s hard on the heart... anyway, that was good..."
"Honestly... you’ve always been good at pulling this kind of prank..."
"What, is it that bad? I thought that was a pretty decent prank."
"Still... it’s a lot better than back when you were at Gehenna Middle School..."
"Ah... when I dried your hair back then..."
"Well... that’s a memory too... I don’t mind."
Come to think of it, maybe I really had been running around doing completely insane things. Or maybe Hina was just smart and had a good memory.
Just then, the employee brought our food over.
"But who’s paying...?"
"I should, right? I’ve got plenty of money anyway."
"No, I’m paying this time. You bought me a lot last time."
"Money is still being duplicated in real time for me... just let me pay."
"Even so... couldn’t you rely on me just once...?"
"...Haa... if you look at me with that face, I can’t say no, can I...? Fine. But I’m the type who can’t stand being in debt, so I’ll definitely pay you back."
"So... you don’t need to do that... it’s fine..."
"Hey now... still..."
Then Hina listened for a moment and looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Haruta... and sometimes when I see you and Sensei, you put those little fillers in front of what you say. What is that...? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it in Hyakkiyako... or even in Sankyaku..."
"Ah... I keep forgetting. It’s not... some kind of negative expression? Or something like that..."
"Mm... I don’t really know what it means, but it feels familiar somehow...?"
"It’s just one of those things. Anyway, eat first."
Eating sweets after so long made me feel a lot more alive.
"Ah... this is good..."
"But why do you like sweets so much, Haruta?"
"Ah... sweets? Since I usually eat salty and sour stuff, I guess sweet things got added automatically."
"Eh...? What does that even mean...?"
"Whatever it is, my health actually got better, and my body was already in good shape! So anyway, it’s all good!"
"Haruta really does change personalities after sleeping, doesn’t he?"
"Ah... I’m just really tired, so I was spouting nonsense earlier."
"Really? Then... that’s a relief..."
"Sorry... I think I made you worry too much earlier. Even after I go to Trinity, I’m still affiliated with Gehenna, so I’ll just alternate between Gehenna and Trinity for school."
"Thank you..."
We talked for ten or twenty minutes, and after finishing everything we’d ordered, we paid and left.
"Haruta... we should head back now, right...?"
"Yeah... well... I figured this would happen... or maybe it happened a little too fast...? Want me to take you home?"
"Yeah... my house is close from here... want to walk and talk on the way...?"
"Sure... the stars are beautiful tonight, so talking while we walk sounds nice too."
"Yeah... Haruta, do you like stars?"
"Of course... they’re beautiful, aren’t they? Sometimes when I look at all those stars floating in the sky, I think about something."
"What kind of thing?"
"That those stars... might be the students of Kivotos."
"Mm... ah! I get it."
"You noticed?"
"Yeah... because it’s you, Haruta, I feel like..."
"Right? A very, very long time ago... I once lay down in a wide field and looked up at the stars."
"And then?"
"For some reason... the sky looked amazing."
"Someday I want to go there with you and look at the stars too... and lie down there..."
"Then I’ll take you there someday."
"Yeah... okay. We’re almost home now..."
"Yeah... well... we’re almost at your place now, Hina."
After walking a few more minutes, Hina’s house came into view.
"Mm... how was today, Hina?"
"It was fun... it reminded me of old times too..."
"Yeah... back then, we just played without thinking about anything... that’s probably why it felt even better."
"That’s true... well... I studied a lot even then, so if anything’s changed now, I guess I’m just throwing myself into the Disciplinary Committee work a little more..."
"Yeah. You should rest a little more. Anyway... get home safe! See you in two days!"
"Yeah... get home safe too, Haruta...!"
After watching her go inside, I headed to a quiet open space.
"Hup... haa... whoever’s hiding behind those bushes, you brought more people than I expected."
"...Tch... so I was found out."
"Oh, wow... isn’t this Valkyrie Public Safety Bureau Chief Ogata Kanna?"
"Yeah... I came out after hearing reports that you were wandering around, and I never expected a criminal to be strolling around so openly..."
"Ah, so you came to arrest me?"
"Haa... I already know I’d lose if I fought you. But as the Public Safety Bureau Chief, I can’t just let a criminal run loose. So I came to arrest you."
"Well... I’d let myself be arrested if you asked nicely, but why did you bring so many troops? And to Gehenna, not D.U., no less."
"Haa... that’s exactly why I’ve got a headache. Normally, if you deploy this many troops, some kind of resistance should happen... but something was off. There was no resistance at all. We just got through."
"...Why are you telling me that, Chief?"
"It’s a warning. It might not be us, but the Student Council... or some other faction... could be targeting you. Maybe because of a grudge, for example."
"Whatever. Do what you want... there seem to be about ten people hiding back there, so tell them to come out already. I’ll send them all back to the Public Safety Bureau. Come on out."
"Haa... we were found out...? Chief?"
"...T-there’s a person standing over there..."
When I looked behind her, I saw about eight Public Safety Bureau mob students, along with Kirino and Fubuki.
"Well, well... even SRT couldn’t beat me back then... ah, never mind. I’ll take you home."
Crash!
I slammed the ground and made a portal. This time there was a lot of mystic energy, so it was easy to make, and it came out nicely.
"All right... you can go through here. Ah, don’t worry, it’s not some strange place, so you can go in safely."
"Haa... understood. I’ve only been rude for no reason. Sorry."
"It’s fine. I’m leaving this open for you."
"Thank you."
"Oh, and for the record, it’ll close in ten minutes. Got it?"
"Understood."
One by one, they started going through, and after the last Valkyrie mob student entered, I quickly closed the portal.
"Haa... why is Valkyrie warning me? I definitely destroyed Kaiser completely, so I shouldn’t have anyone with a grudge against me..."
When I attacked Kaiser, I even wore a mask so nobody would know who I was. I wiped the CCTV for sure, burned the whole site to ashes, and after destroying every executive of Kaiser’s various companies, along with the General President, I left after blowing everything up.
"Then... it’s not Kaiser... I killed Beatrice with my own hands... damn it, what is it?"
Too annoyed to think about it any further, I just came back to Schale through a portal and flopped onto the bed in my dorm.
"Haa... this is really pissing me off too... what kind of lunatic is targeting me...?"
"What changes by worrying so much?"
"Yeah... nothing changes by worrying, but still..."
"Oh? Then what is it you’re worrying about now?"
"Huh? Human relationships, damn it—no, who are you...?"
"Haa... why are there so many humans in the future who do not know me... This is the great prophet of Hyakkiyako, Kuzunoha..."
"...?"
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