episode_0110

When I decided to go see Mr. Stay, I was afraid that Mr. Stay’s anger wouldn’t go away and he would get angry as soon as he saw me.

I have seen so many terrible things at the gate where powerful demonic beasts are pouring out, and at the Holy See, which is no less than an S-class gate, but I have never seen anything as scary as Mr. Stay’s expression and tone of voice that day.

So even now, half a year after that terrible day, I still haven’t been able to muster up the courage to meet Mr. Stay because I’m afraid of seeing the face he made back then.

Of course, that was until yesterday.

Just today, after arguing with two cowards who were in the same situation as me and exchanging words that shouldn’t be said, I came to a realization.

The reality of not being able to meet Mr. Stay is more scary than Mr. Stay showing me that scary expression and voice.

After I came to that realization, my body, which had no longer moved under the pretense that Mr. Stay’s anger would go away, began to move very lightly, and so I came to see Mr. Stay for the first time in half a year.

The place where the most terrible thing happened in my life, the life of Saint May Ruina, and the place where I experienced the happiest daily life.

Mr. Stay’s dream and life, ‘Stay this place’.

‘Stay this place’, which I only heard about through an information source, returned after half a year and was exactly the same as before.

The sign that Mr. Stay put a lot of effort into designing is still the same, the warm orange lighting is the same, and even everything that you can peek at in the back alley without being noticed is still the same.

My heart, which had been stiff from tension, began to fill with excitement at the sight of it as if it were compensating for the terrible waiting time I had experienced over the past six months.

It was to the point where I suddenly felt like I could see Mr. Stay’s harmless, cool, cute, lovely smile that I hugged tightly and never wanted to let go of, which I saw every day six months ago, before Mr. Stay’s identity was discovered.

Even after kicking me out, the fact that they left me as is without even doing the slightest remodeling means that Stay missed me too, right? That’s why, after couples break up, it’s painful to see traces of each other, so they end up disposing of all related items. But Mr. Stay didn’t do that. The positions of the tables and chairs I placed are the same. The orange lighting that I installed after hearing that I like warm orange colors is the same. What does that mean? Stay also secretly misses me and has been waiting for me!

When I thought about it, there was no basis for feeling like I could see Mr. Stay’s smile.

The scene of the cafe, which had not changed in the slightest, was a solid basis for this!

You’ve been waiting for me this long, but what if I make a surprise appearance after half a year? Hehehehe. Are you really looking forward to Mr. Stay’s reaction?

Before I knew it, the fear of Stay reacting the same way as half a year ago disappeared, and that space was quickly filled with the desire to see Stay as soon as possible.

The desire to see, which had suddenly surpassed the threshold of patience, took away the initiative from my body, and I walked down the back alley toward the cafe where Mr. Stay was located, as my heart dictated. I took a step.

and. I saw it.

“······.”

“Boss, Boss! Give this a try! This is my own creation that I baked at home!”

“Oh, chocolate cookies? Thank you, I will eat well.”

Mr. Stay and the purple-haired woman wearing the same apron as Mr. Stay, laughing hahaha, going through the same routine. I see you spending the same amount of time.

“······huh?”

My heart, which had been warm with excitement, instantly cooled down, and my steps, which had been light as clouds, became heavy as if they had become one with the ground, making it impossible to move.

“Oh, no. It can’t be like this. Oh, this really doesn’t work…?”

A terrible thing that I had never expected, or even subconsciously imagined because I didn’t want to imagine it, was happening right in front of my eyes, and all I could do was believe my eyes.

However, I was an S-class awakened person, and my transcendental senses conveyed to me very clearly what was happening inside the cafe, regardless of my will.

“······.”

“······Umm, eat now?”

“Yes! Right now! Eat quickly! Eat quickly! Cookies are best eaten freshly baked!”

“No, if it is baked at home, it is not freshly baked… Um. okay. Because there are no customers at the moment.”

Mr. Stay stops after tackling the woman’s words, and then takes a piece of the cookie and eats it with a faint but kind smile.

The woman was smiling brightly with a faint blush on her face as she looked at Mr. Stay.

The scene the two people were drawing was something I had been drawing in my dreams every day for six months.

“Ah, ah… Ah, no. No. It’s not possible…”

I want to run right now and separate them.

I dared to put my hand on Mr. Stay’s shoulder and say, ‘How do you feel? It’s delicious! There’s a different charm to the cookies baked by the owner, right? Should I bake it every day? I want to get that woman, who is excitedly making a fuss to herself by saying, ‘I’ll bake it every day!’, away from Mr. Stay.

If I do something like that, I’m sure I’ll see that expression on Stay’s face again that I saw half a year ago… Now, even though I’m looking at Stay and that woman together, I can’t move a single step.

Crackling.

I bit my lower lip in pain welling up from deep in my chest, and the fishy scent of blood filled my mouth and nasal passages.

I bit down hard enough to create a deep wound, but the pain in my heart was so great that I couldn’t even feel the pain in my lips.

I just want to run right now. I can’t do that, so I have to just watch that horrible scene.

At the end of my gaze is Mr. Stay, whom I have longed for so much, and I don’t even want to look away. I want to keep seeing Mr. Stay.

“Ugh, ugh. Ahhh…”

Why do I have to suffer so much? I was able to find the answer to that question right away.

Because it was a question I repeated to myself hundreds of times during the six months I was crouching in fear of meeting Mr. Stay, and the answer to that question was always the same.

“Why do I do such useless things…”

The reason why I am in so much pain right now is because I am the reason why I am in so much pain and cannot move from this place.

If I hadn’t hidden my identity and deceived Stay, if I hadn’t made that kind of contract with Stay, if I hadn’t behaved so badly when I first met Stay, this wouldn’t have happened.

Now that I realized it, it was a late regret that only made it more painful, and in this already terrible situation, this regret dragged me down further and further into an endless abyss.

Even though I arrived here after half a year, as if driven by fear, I could not meet Stay again, and I was only aware of the reality that Stay had been taken away by another woman. This terrible situation was enough to plunge me into despair.

Just as I was about to realize that it was over with endless regret.

“······.”

“······huh?”

“······Phuh.”

I saw the woman who was clinging to Mr. Stay’s side and laughing so harmlessly as she made eye contact with me and smiled wickedly.

The moment I saw that, I got goosebumps all over my body, and my mind was filled with many questions.

How did you see me?

Isn’t it normal that you can’t see this back alley from inside the cafe because the viewing angle is exquisitely obscured?

No, before that, I can’t believe you smiled like that. Is this the person who was snuggling next to Stay and smiling so innocently and cheerfully just a moment ago?

But those questions didn’t fill my head for a while before my mind quickly cleared away the useless questions and came up with a single-sentence fact.

That’s right.

······That woman. I’m an awakened person.

The fact that that abominable woman clinging to Mr. Stay’s side is absolutely not an ordinary person.

“······Becky. Becky Street. It was late for me to notice because I was usually wearing a mana-disturbing mask artifact. That woman is Becky Street!”

“If it’s Becky Street…is that Becky Street?”

“Yes. Are you sure. You can’t feel the reverberation of mana at all. Among the awakened, the only one who can do something like that is Becky Street.”

And right next to me, Mr. Mir Ryuin, who was in the midst of despair along with me, spoke brightly, like a mathematician who had solved a difficult problem that no one had been able to solve for decades.

Those words that came out of Mir Ryuin’s mouth were very welcome words for me too.

Because Becky Street is the empress of the underworld, and she doesn’t work at that cafe in this country.

What that means is that Becky Street is also deceiving Mr. Stay just like we did half a year ago.

“·····Mr. Stay, you are being deceived. We have to go quickly and save Mr. Stay from that evil and shady woman!”

Because I had the cause to save Stay, who was being deceived, I was able to get my feet off the ground, so I ran faster than anyone else, opened the cafe door, and confidently shouted.

“Stay! You are being deceived! The woman next to Mr. Stay is not an ordinary person, but an awakened person! That’s Becky Street, a very, very dangerous felon who isn’t even registered with the association!”

He shouted at Mr. Stay, ready to pull out his golden chain to engage the evil Becky Street if he resisted.

After hearing such a shocking truth from me, Mr. Stay will make the same facial expression he showed us half a year ago towards that woman, and that woman will naturally be kicked out by Mr. Stay!

Then, naturally, Stay will be alone, and I will spend a much warmer, sweeter, and stickier daily life by Stay’s side than the sight that woman just showed me!

With such expectations in mind, I waited for Mr. Stay’s reaction.

“······.”

“······Uh, huh?”

For some reason, he just looked a little embarrassed by my sudden appearance. Mr. Stay didn’t react as I expected.

“s, Mr. Stay? The woman next to me. He’s a dangerous person…? Becky Street, oh, you know? It’s a name you can’t help but recognize, right?”

I tried to explain it again to see if Stay hadn’t heard, but he was still expressionless.

I instantly realized something was wrong when I saw that, but it was also a late realization.

“······I know.”

Before I could clean up the spilled water, something that shouldn’t have come out of Mr. Stay’s mouth came out.

“Sigh.”

And Becky Street’s abominable snort was the only sound that echoed softly in the cafe.