episode_0105

The disappearance of Dain Adamas’ mana was something that anyone who knew Dain Adamas would never believe could happen. When it did, Meiruina, despite sensing the extinction of her own mana, couldn’t help but express her disbelief.

＂What？ What in the world…”

“I can’t feel Dain Adamas’ mana. It seems like something has happened inside.”

“Indeed… the fierce mana that was piercing my skin just a moment ago is no longer felt. Could it be that Dain Adamas has fainted?”

“That might be the case. Since it doesn’t seem like the kidnapping drama we were worried about will unfold, we have no choice but to go in first.”

Even though Meiruina found it hard to believe that Dain Adamas had fainted, the response she received from Mir Ryuin suggested that it was a possibility.

Instead of arguing, Meiruina almost contradicted herself by questioning her own statement, but she quickly remembered who was with Dain Adamas and swallowed her rebuttal.

“Right. Shall we go in then?”

“Let’s go.”

The fact that mana, the power to manifest one’s will into reality, was no longer felt meant that the user of mana had reached a state where they could not manifest their will.

Of course, there were ways to conceal the flow of mana, but there was no need to worry about that when the target was Dain Adamas, the strongest Awakener who had no reason to hide her power.

Therefore, the two of them concluded that Dain Adamas had fainted, and since being outside wouldn’t change anything in that situation, they chose to enter the cafe.

“Ahem, we’re here, boss!”

“Have there been many customers?”

Mir Ryuin and Meiruina greeted the staff inside with such casual and peaceful tones that they didn’t raise any suspicion, while unfolding their senses.

At the same time, they initiated a conversation using the mana skill ‘Telepathy,’ which only Awakeners of B-rank or higher could use, to avoid being overheard by the staff.

“We found her. She’s inside the warehouse, lying on the floor with her butt up, so she must have fainted for sure.”

Mir Ryuin was the first to locate Dain Adamas.

“That’s right. But the fact that someone who was emitting fierce mana like a starving beast just a moment ago suddenly ended up in that state…”

Subsequently, Meiruina also found her, and both of them shivered at the sight of Dain Adamas’ condition.

“It must be… the work of Stay.”

“…It must be Stay’s doing.”

They could imagine what had happened inside.

Contrary to their expectations that Stay would be kidnapped by Dain Adamas, he easily and simply made her faint, like eating a cake on a plate.

The fact that someone like Dain Adamas ended up in such a state meant that they, too, could easily end up in that state, so it was natural for their bodies to tremble.

“If… if we were to be exposed, would we end up like Dain Adamas?”

“…As long as we prevent clapping, we can avoid ending up like that. Yes. We are S-rank Awakeners, and Stay is F-rank. We can detect and react to Stay’s movements even while sleeping.”

Seeing Dain Adamas lying in such a vulgar state, Mir Ryuin came up with a simple yet effective way to avoid ending up like that even if Stay were to expose their identities. “Subdue Stay before he claps.” It was a straightforward and surefire method that Mir Ryuin could easily put into practice.

[Are you confident？]

[…]

Until she heard this question from Mei Luina.

From a logical standpoint, it didn’t make sense that S-class awakened individuals like them couldn’t stop the movements of a mere F-class Stay.

While Stay did possess transcendent hand skills to the point where even two people couldn’t perceive it, it was merely just hand skills.

Therefore, before clapping or praising, if they were to grab her hands, she wouldn’t be able to use her hand skills, and even if Stay were to reveal her identity, they wouldn’t end up like Dain Adamas.

This was the situation that would unfold when the two faced off against Stay, wanting to clap.

But Mir Ryuin couldn’t confidently answer Mei Luina’s question of whether she was confident under such logical judgment.

[…]

For some reason, she couldn’t picture herself blocking Stay’s claps.

Despite possessing exceptional intelligence to be called the master of magic, Mir Ryuin couldn’t comprehend the situation at hand.

With no answer in sight and feeling frustrated in this situation, the best way to solve the problem was to ＂just try it out and see if it works.” However, if she were to do that, she would immediately reveal her identity, get abandoned by Stay, and take the shortcut to ruining her life, so unfortunately, she couldn’t use that method.

[Mei Luina, can you stop Stay’s claps?]

So Mir Ryuin chose to deflect the question with another question in a very cowardly manner.

[Huh, are you asking me if I can stop Stay’s claps? Why would you ask such an obvious question? I am the Holy Maiden Mei Luina, and Stay is just Stay.]

But unlike Mir Ryuin, Mei Luina had the confidence to answer this question.

Because to Mei Luina, answering such a question was so obvious.

[So, the result is naturally predetermined. Stopping Stay’s claps is too easy…]

And so, Mei Luina attempted to say the answer that Mir Ryuin couldn’t, “I can.”

[Too, too easy…]

She only attempted.

[…]

[…]

In the end, Mei Luina, for the same reason as Mir Ryuin, couldn’t answer the question of “do you have the confidence to stop Stay’s claps?”

And so, even though she started the prelude to not getting caught by Stay, an awkward silence flowed between the two, and the frustration of not being able to answer such a simple question grew in their hearts as the silence prolonged.

“Haah… a guest. Um. Hasn’t arrived. ‘Guest,’ you see.”

Fortunately, the awkward silence didn’t last long.

It was thanks to Stay’s voice breaking the silence by answering the question they posed when they entered.

The two responded to Stay’s voice breaking the silence, but at the same time, they felt a sense of eeriness in his response, as if he didn’t even treat Dain Adamas, who was unconscious in the warehouse, as a guest… no, as a human being.

The thought that they might end up in the same state as Dain Adamas if their identities were revealed made them feel uneasy.

“…”

“…”

Once again, it was Stay’s voice that thawed the frozen two.

“Oh, did you both finish your work well?”

“Yes, yes? Oh, yes! We, we finished well!”

“Y-yes. We finished well with Mary. Um. Yes.”

“I’m glad. You might feel like it’s an intrusion, but I… was worried. It’s just that… I’m not familiar with your circumstances.”

The warm and affectionate voice that was so different from Stay’s cold and stiff voice when he asked if there was a guest just now.

“Hehehe… Thank you for worrying. As I mentioned, we finished well. It’s all thanks to the concern of the boss. Right, Nier unnie?”

＂Uh, yeah. That’s right. And Boss, what you did for us, please don’t feel like you have to go out of your way to do that. You’re our Boss. I’m your employee. The more you care, the happier I am.”

“Oh, really？ It’s a bit embarrassing······ Haha.”

[Oh my! What’s with that awkward laughter! Are you trying to be cute? Are you subtly hinting for me to cover you up?]

[······Huh?! Ah, no, Meiruina. It’s not the right time yet. Today is the long-awaited opening day of the cafe for Stay, and if you do something like this on a day like this, irreversible consequences will occur!]

[Oh, oh my! Th-that’s right. I almost did something terrible. I almost lost my mind to Stay’s charm and gave myself to him with that innocent smile! Thank you for stopping me, Mir Ryuin.]

Feeling the concern from Stay and the slightly awkward laughter that followed, the two of them trembled to the point of thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be okay to live hiding our true identities for the rest of our lives?’

Addicted to the warmth Stay provided and the everyday life they shared, the two momentarily stopped their guard against the time bomb fainting in the warehouse.

Rustle.

And unfortunately for the two of them, during that momentary pause in their guard, Dain Adamas woke up.

“······Huh?! S-Sta… Stay!!!”

Clang! Bang! Crash!

Due to the slight delay in sensing Dain Adamas’s awakening, the two of them could only watch as she blew up the closed warehouse door and appeared before them.

“······What. Mir Ryuin and Meiruina? Why are you here?”

And well, once that happened, it was only natural for things to turn out this way.