episode_0108

＂······.”

“······.”

In the alley across from the block where ‘Stay this place’ was located.

Although the cafe interior was not visible from here, it was an ideal spot for stalking the cafe owner, Stay, with their exceptional stalking skills.

Mae Luina and Mir Ryuin, who had found this perfect spot with their heightened stalking abilities, were now staring at Stay’s cafe with a gloomy expression.

“······Oh, she’s coming out.”

As the attention of the two was focused on Stay’s cafe, a woman with short red hair emerged from the cafe.

Her face, cautious as if afraid the door might break, was perfectly tinged with sadness as she came out almost as if fleeing.

Although Mae Luina and Mir Ryuin, both S-rank sensitives, had intuitively grasped the situation from the conversation inside and the unfolding events, it was only when they saw the sorrowful expression on Dain Adamas’s face that they truly realized what had happened.

“······Are we really abandoned by him？”

“······Yes.”

Even Dain Adamas, who had the least aversion towards Stay among the three, had no choice but to admit that they had been truly abandoned.

The happy days they had spent with Stay over the past month were no more.

Having already been unable to endure even a week without Stay by their side, resorting to stalking him with transformation magic, the two had become even more addicted to him over the past month.

The reality of Stay being completely out of reach, abandoned by him, was so dreadful that they could not bear it.

“Well, then I guess we have no choice but to kidnap Stay and lock him up in my room. I can’t imagine a life without Stay anymore.”

She spoke of kidnapping and confinement so casually, as if it were a natural course of action.

“······I tried that, it didn’t work. Standing in front of Stay and meeting his gaze, what should I say? My body heats up and all thoughts of resistance vanish.”

As Dain Adamas returned to the alley, she picked up on Mae Luina’s words and countered her opinion.

Despite her earlier outburst and the moisture in her voice from being cornered by Stay face to face, the advice she offered was valuable, born from her own experience.

“Of course, until you hear his applause, you could just ignore it and move on, but once you hear that applause, you can’t resist. Trying to force yourself on Stay using your own strength and willpower only makes you lose your power. So don’t do anything rash. I don’t want any sparks flying because of you. I don’t want to be more hated by Stay.”

Dain Adamas was already fearful just imagining how angry Stay would be if Mae Luina’s kidnapping attempt failed.

“······If there’s more hatred to be had. Dain Adamas’s words are right. But I don’t have that. I’m beyond being hated by Stay, I’m despised. He probably has no remaining affection for me anyway. Sigh. If I’m going to be hated anyway, I might as well just leave him there and be hated······.”

Unfortunately, Mae Luina’s words were not reaching Dain Adamas at this moment.

Her time had stopped the moment she heard Stay’s words telling her to leave just now.

Just 10 minutes had passed, but Mei Luina was already so addicted to him that she couldn’t imagine a life without Stay. So her time seemed to stop at the moment she heard him say to leave him.

That moment was the last conversation Mei Luina had with Stay.

From then on, there would be no Stay for her, and Mei Luina would have to live her life without Stay. But now that Mei Luina had become so dependent on Stay that she couldn’t live without him, she saw kidnapping and confinement as an inevitable choice for survival.

＂If you’re not going to help, then get out of the way, Dain Adamas. I really can’t stand it anymore. So if you interfere… I’ll seriously get angry.”

Kidnapping and confining Stay was a matter of life and death for Mei Luina, so risking her life was natural for her, allowing her to challenge even the strongest human in the world without hesitation.

Golden scars spread across Mei Luina’s back, and golden chains began to emerge from her sleeves.

When Mei Luina decided to annihilate her enemy in front of her, she took on the form of a fighter, ready to strike.

The look in Dain Adamas’s eyes sharpened at the sight of Mei Luina, as she had shown during the conquest of the EX-grade gate.

“I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d end up fighting you like this.”

“I already have so much I want to unleash. It’s all your fault that I revealed my true self in front of Stay. It’s all because of you.”

“Blaming me for this. You’re a shameless liar. You still don’t realize that the longer your lies go undetected, the harder it will be to cover them up？”

“I couldn’t help it!”

“For a lifetime? Really?”

“Ugh, that’s it! We don’t need to talk anymore! Just fight me and get it over with!”

Everything Dain Adamas said was logical, and Mei Luina couldn’t refute her, so she chose to resort to violence.

Just before the golden chain flew like an arrow and hit Dain Adamas’s forehead.

Boom!

“Stop. Are you both out of your minds?”

Three layers of magic circles unfolded in front of Dain Adamas’s forehead, blocking Mei Luina’s golden chain.

It was Mir Ryuin who blocked Mei Luina’s chain.

“What’s going on? Mir Ryuin, are you also going to interfere? Mir Ryuin, you should take my side! We’re in the same situation! You were completely abandoned by Stay just like me! How can you support Dain Adamas, who made us look like this…!”

Already in an unstable state due to Mir Ryuin’s defensive magic, Mei Luina was genuinely perplexed.

“Calm down! We’re right in front of Stay’s cafe! They say you can endure being hated, but can you really handle destroying Stay’s cafe and facing his wrath?”

“Oh, no…”

But Mir Ryuin’s rational question immediately deflated the tension and defused the impending explosion.

Over the past month, Mei Luina had seen firsthand how much Stay cherished his cafe while preparing for its opening. So even the unfiltered Mei Luina now knew that destroying Stay’s cafe would be a tough task.

After calming down through Stay’s intervention, Mei Luina was finally able to engage in conversation, and Mir Ryuin sighed before speaking.

“And Mei Luina, surprisingly, the situation may not be as dire as you think. It may be too early to resort to extreme measures like kidnapping and confinement.”

Mir Ryu-in’s words that the situation might not be as bad as it seems.

Upon hearing Mei Luina’s voice, which seemed to be filled with disbelief at the exaggerated words she had just heard from Stay, who had already become a trauma for her, she responded with a voice that seemed to convey her lack of understanding of what was being said.

＂W-what are you talking about？ I clearly heard Stay telling us to leave. He even told us to leave while cursing at us. And even said he didn’t want to see Daiin Adamas…”

Despite receiving Mei Luina’s gaze, which seemed to be looking at someone who couldn’t accept reality and only chased after the exaggerated, Mir Ryu-in remained unfazed.

“That’s right. He said he didn’t want to see. Indeed, Stay told Daiin Adamas, who is trying to survive in a despicable way, that he didn’t want to see him because he was disgusting.”

“Hey.”

“But before saying he didn’t want to see him, he added the word ‘now.’ In other words, Stay said to Daiin Adamas, ‘If you understand, leave. I don’t want to see you now.’ Do you understand now? Stay doesn’t want to see us right now. In other words, he may not want to see us now, but he may consider the opportunity to restore the relationship in the future!”

Mir Ryu-in could remain unfazed because he had evidence to hold onto.

Although it may seem like he just caught the tail end of the word ‘now’ and said it to Daiin Adamas, who was the least guilty of the three, Mir Ryu-in was still arguing that they were not done yet based on the ‘now’ mentioned by Stay.

In fact, if he didn’t do this, he would have been ridiculed and suppressed by Daiin Adamas, who would kidnap and imprison Stay while suffering from mental breakdown like Mei Luina, leading to eternal contempt and hatred. Therefore, he had no choice but to present this logic.

However, setting aside such circumstances and focusing only on the validity of Mir Ryu-in’s logic, there were subtle parts that could be believed.

“I-I think that might be the case…!”

“D-Do you think so?! W-We still have a chance, right?!”

In truth, there was barely any believable part in Mir Ryu-in’s logic just now, but even that tiny bit was precious to the two of them.

“Alright, Mir Ryu-in! Let’s wait then! Until Stay’s anger subsides and we can communicate with him!”

“Yes! Let’s do that! Once we can communicate, if Stay listens to me, I can persuade him as much as I want! I am Mir Ryu-in! I have a lot to offer to Stay!”

“…”

Watching the two of them ignite a spark of hope even after being in such a situation, Daiin Adamas thought to himself.

“I made the right decision to stay away from these people and avoid getting involved from the start.”

And so, the three of them began their uncertain wait.