Episode 136 – Let’s Date
by Afuhfuihgs
*
Until yesterday, the weather was clear, but the raindrops that started falling from early dawn had gradually subsided by around 11 AM.
Ttok, ttok.
Usually, the only person who knocks on my door during the day is Mena, who comes to tell me to come down for lunch.
However, it was still early for lunch, yet I heard a knock on the door, so I opened it with a puzzled expression.
“Ed, today is the day!”
“…Ah,”
The person standing in front of the door was Banata.
She looked at me, her green hair bouncing.
Her pink eyes, which appeared after she became a succubus, sent me expectant and determined glances, and her tail rose up, wagging behind her back.
“You don’t have anything busy to do today, right? I asked Mom beforehand yesterday. Please, let’s go on a date today.”
“Haa… No, Banata… That…”
“When I woke up this morning, it was raining, so I was in despair, but as I prayed earnestly, it gradually stopped. The Goddess must have been listening to how desperate I was.”
“Aha…”
There’s no way that Goddess would do something so admirable.
I looked down at Banata with a reluctant expression.
As she said, I didn’t have any particular plans for today.
The preparations for the banquet were already complete, and the chefs who would prepare the food on the day of the banquet had all been hired.
Of course, it wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted to quietly treat the promise with Banata as if it never existed.
However, timing is everything in life.
Now, with the banquet not far off, I was not in the mood for a date at all.
A subtle tension spread through my body, and I was not in a situation to focus on a date.
I pressed my fingers against my brow and said.
“… Banata,”
“It’s been a long time since we promised!”
“Of course, it has,”
“Aren’t you even sorry to me? A few days ago, you even spoke to me first for some reason, but it turned out you had business with Rose, not me, and you avoid me altogether unless it’s related to that banquet.”
“Gheu- That’s also true, but,”
Perhaps because she had accumulated a lot of feelings, or perhaps because she was determined this time, Banata tried even harder than usual to persuade me.
I was taken aback by her momentum, but I spoke in a calm tone.
“Now, Banata, listen.”
“Ugh,”
“I certainly have free time today, but with a big event ahead, I’m not in the right frame of mind to casually enjoy a date right now. You wouldn’t be very satisfied dating a guy whose mind is elsewhere either.”
“Then when are you going to go?”
“Well, won’t there be many opportunities after the banquet is over?”
Banata shook her head at my answer.
“Ed, do I look like a fool to you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ha, I know everything. I know very well that Ed is not in a comfortable state right now.”
“…”
Banata’s eyebrows drooped outwards, making her look sad.
She spoke in a slightly tearful voice.
“And… I also know that Ed might die after this banquet is over.”
“What are you talking about? Who said that? I’m not going to die. Do I look that weak?”
“I’m not saying this because I’m worried about that fake hero.”
“…?”
“Ed doesn’t want to live after the revenge is over, does he?”
“…Ah,”
I sighed without saying anything.
Perhaps because I had never thought that Banata would hit the nail on the head, I couldn’t bring myself to lie as shamelessly as usual.
Banata’s cheeks flushed red.
Her flushed face was not due to shyness or affection, but due to tears filled with sadness and pity.
“Ed, I know I’m nothing. I know that Ed has no interest in me.”
“Banata… That’s,”
The shameless lie that it wasn’t true couldn’t escape my lips.
Banata continued to speak.
“It’s okay though. There’s not much of an age gap between Ed and me, but there’s quite a generation gap, so I know that Ed doesn’t think of me as a lover, and the date promise too…”
Unlike her words, Banata seemed a little sad, so she closed her mouth for a moment and swallowed her sorrow.
“…When I asked why you didn’t take off your mask on the day we first met, and you lied without batting an eye, I know how good you are at lying… So it’s okay if the date promise was just a lie too.”
“… Banata.”
“But Ed, but still.”
Banata came up to me, leaned against my body, hugged my waist, and looked up at me.
Her expression, as if tears would fall at any moment if I touched her, was mercilessly stimulating my guilt.
Banata said with a desperate expression.
“But… still, can’t I have one memory to cherish for the rest of my life before Ed disappears? Can’t you at least allow me that much?”
“…”
“Isn’t that okay either? Can’t you even allow me that much?”
I couldn’t say anything.
I wasn’t sure if I could return words that weren’t lies even if I opened my mouth now, and I didn’t want to tell another lie to Banata, who had waited long enough for my deception and lies.
When Banata buried her face in my chest, I turned my head away out of guilt.
I had heard from Ellie a while ago that I seemed to lack the will to live.
I knew very well that Ellie was originally a very smart woman, so I didn’t feel as embarrassed as I do now, but the fact that even Banata, whom I only thought of as a slightly clueless girl, already knew my confused heart, made me feel embarrassed and complicated.
Was I such a transparent person?
Banata said with her head buried in my arms.
“…I guess not.”
“…”
“Euu, euheut, heuk.”
I stroked Banata’s head as she leaned on me and said.
“Banata.”
“…Yes,”
“As you said, I lied. Literally from the day I first met you.”
“…”
“You started to like me because of what happened at Aureo Academy, right?”
“That’s right.”
“…Yeah, but everything you saw back then was a lie. I used you for revenge, and the terrible things you went through when you were captured by Jennifer were because I killed Daniel.”
“…”
“Saving you was also to get Mena’s help, and not removing Rose from your head was also because it would help my purpose.”
“…I know.”
“I’m not someone you should like.”
I confessed my sins one by one like parishioners confessing before a priest.
The end of my confession was nothing more than a clear declaration that the feelings Banata had for me were based on lies.
Just as a castle built on a foundation full of soft sand is bound to collapse no matter how large it is, regardless of how much Banata liked me, her love, which started from my false appearance, was very unstable and futile.
I condoned her favor out of necessity, and now I’m suddenly feeling sorry.
Even when I think about it myself, I was a very selfish person.
Banata listened to my words and hugged me for a long time without saying anything.
I also quietly stroked her head, waiting for her to say something.
Banata finally raised her head slightly after more than 10 minutes.
She was smiling.
“Banata?”
“Hehe, sorry. I was enjoying Ed stroking my head for a bit too long because it felt so good.”
“…What?”
Somehow, the small ears that had sprouted between her hair that I was stroking twitched every time my hand moved, and her tail was also wagging.
I looked at Banata with a dumbfounded expression.
Banata smiled brightly, revealing her white, small teeth, and said.
“And Ed, don’t say such stupid things.”
“…”
“You shouldn’t say things like ‘I’m not someone you should like’ or ‘I’m not qualified’ before I like you.”
“…Huh?”
“Ah, of course, if someone I don’t like says that, they’d look like a weirdo, but ah, then I wouldn’t like them, so it would fit the purpose? Uh…”
Banata muttered to herself like that, then suddenly shook her head from side to side and said.
“Anyway, I don’t care about that. It doesn’t matter. I don’t know. I already like you.”
“Banata, I told you…”
“I won’t give up even if Ed hates me, so did you think I would think badly of Ed just because I misunderstood something?”
Banata fearlessly slammed her adorable heart into me.
“I told you, I’m not a fool. I know that Ed doesn’t like me, and I know that you’re not the person I thought you were. I know how much Ed liked the Saintess, and how much you suffered.”
“…”
“But I can’t help it. What am I supposed to do about liking you? Ed appears in my dreams every time I sleep, so what am I supposed to do?”
“…Ha, geez.”
“So Ed, please go on a date with me. Give me a chance, no, give me a memory. So that I can remember it even if Ed disappears someday…”
Banata said that while looking straight at me.
Her cute, childlike side, which I couldn’t have imagined from her clumsy and cautious first impression as a librarian at Aureo Academy, and her little devil-like side, which subtly pushed her big breasts against me, were shining.
A refreshing girl who seemed like she would radiate happy energy and soothe my mood if I was by her side, no matter what serious sadness and pain I was suffering from, was holding onto my waist and had no intention of letting go.
I let out a hollow laugh at Banata’s shameless charm.
“Ha,”
“How is it? Have you changed your mind?”
“Still not today.”
“Ah, please.”
“No,”
I poked Banata’s puffed-up cheeks with my index finger and said.
“Let’s go on a date after the banquet is over.”
“Ah, another lie!”
“This time it’s not a lie for real.”
“…”
Banata squinted her eyes and glared at me.
I smiled at Banata and said.
“I just won’t die.”
“…Really? You promised.”
“When has my promise ever meant anything?”
“Oh, then… a vow? A bet? A contract? Anything is fine. It’s unconditional, ‘for sure’.”
“Okay. I got it.”
Only then did Banata slowly release my waist, which she had been holding onto from behind.
Then she stretched out her pinky finger and held it out in front of my nose.
“Pinky promise.”
“Okay.”
I also stretched out my pinky finger like her and brought it to Banata’s hand, hooking our fingers together.
Banata said with a satisfied smile.
“Okay. Then I’ll stop bothering you today. I’ll see you later when we eat. Ed.”
Banata said that and stepped away from the door, walking down the hallway.
I thought as I watched Banata’s receding figure.
That in an unexpected way, I had a reason not to die.
.
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