Hikari smiled and said, "Aunt Sayako, you still have to be busy with the izakaya stuff, right? And I'm already this grown up, and you still want to go with me to the bathroom, aren't you embarrassed?"
Sayako's pretty face flushed red. She glared at Hikari, annoyed and shy, "Isn't it because I'm worried about you, Hikari?"
Seeing that Hikari really still looked full of life and energy, she reached out and checked him all over again before she finally felt relieved.
And Hikari, who had just said he was going to the bathroom, stepped out of the izakaya.
Only, he wasn't actually going to the bathroom.
With his constitution, drinking that strong Soju really was the same as drinking water. There was no problem at all.
The ones who had a problem were those middle-aged men who'd just kept trying to toast Sayako.
If only just for the fact that they came to Sayako's izakaya to cause trouble like that, he had to give them a proper lesson.
After those middle-aged men who'd been forcing drinks on her walked out of the izakaya, they each scattered off in different directions.
But how could that bunch of drunkards' walking speed possibly compare to Hikari's.
At an extremely fast speed, he caught up to those guys who'd just been making her drink, one by one. Whoever he found alone, what they got in return was a savage beating.
He didn't even let them see his face clearly before Hikari disappeared again.
For a while, the sound of people wailing like they'd lost their fathers and mothers echoed nonstop along the street.
Until the last one, the very first bald man who had tried to force Sayako to drink.
For the first time, Hikari appeared in front of him.
In a remote, empty little alley, after giving the guy a brutal beating until he was prostrating himself on the ground and begging for mercy, Hikari demanded, "Who told you to come toast Sayako?"
"No one told me, AHHH!"
Before the guy could finish, Hikari stomped hard on his knee. Along with a miserable scream, the sound of the kneecap shattering rang out.
"This is your last chance to answer," Hikari said coldly.
Enduring the pain, the middle-aged man hurriedly confessed, "It was Nagao Haruyoshi! That younger brother of Sayako's late husband, he's the one who told me to get people together to go toast Manager Sayako!"
"I had no choice, either, I'm up to my neck in gambling debt, if I don't do what he says, he'll tell my creditors where I'm hiding, so I could only do it!"
Ignoring the middle-aged man's pitiful tone, Hikari continued asking, "What was Nagao Haruyoshi's purpose in having you toast her?"
The man answered quickly, "He said he wanted us to get Manager Sayako drunk, then he'd pretend to step out and block the drinks for her, a hero saving the beauty. After drinking, he'd fake being drunk and sleep with Sayako."
"He said he's been drooling over the beautiful Manager Sayako for a long time already, and that it's a waste for his sister-in-law to stay a widow, so he wants to 'comfort' her… he also said, after he and his son are done with her, he'd let me also…"
Before the guy could finish, Hikari stepped on his neck. With a crack, his breath stopped instantly.
Snap!
Snapping his fingers, Hikari summoned the flames of his Corpse Incineration Spell and turned the body into ashes, then shoved both hands into his pockets and walked out of the alley.
"Nagao Haruyoshi, huh… that younger brother of Aunt Sayako's dead husband, and that bastard son of his. On the pure love radar, those two dangerous yellow lights that stand for 'bull-head guys', that's you two, right."
"And you even know enough to get others to help, so you can play the hero saving the beauty yourself. You really are clever, huh."
When he walked back to the izakaya entrance, Hikari saw a middle-aged man with an ugly face, followed by a little brat, sticking close to Sayako's side.
He was enthusiastically helping greet the customers inside the shop, and now and then wiped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeve. He looked exhausted, like he was working very hard for the izakaya.
That brat Nagao Jun was also bringing tea and pouring water, looking very diligent.
The corners of Hikari's mouth couldn't help but lift a little.
This father and son really were interesting.
What method should he use to play them to death?
———
After he finished dealing with that bunch of drunkards who'd been forcing drinks, Hikari returned to Sayako's izakaya again.
At this time, the izakaya had once more recovered its earlier lively, almost-like-Tanabata atmosphere.
It was as if that whole scene of those guys making a fuss about toasting Sayako had never even happened.
Sayako, who was standing behind the counter doing the accounts, also noticed Hikari standing at the door.
She quickly walked out and waved to him, "Hikari, are you done in the bathroom? Come over here a second."
Hikari walked over.
Sayako immediately took him over in front of a father and son, then started introducing them, "This is Hikari, my good friend's kid, you can think of him as my nephew, he's a really well-behaved, really sensible child."
Then she introduced them to Hikari, "Hikari, this is my husband's younger brother, Nagao Haruyoshi."
"And this is his child, Nagao Jun."
"The two of them often come to my shop to help out, I'm very grateful to them."
With Sayako's introduction, Hikari carefully looked the pair over.
Nagao Haruyoshi was a dark-skinned middle-aged man.
His eyes were very small, with the whites taking up seven or eight tenths of the visible eye, which made his gaze look a bit scary. Add in that ugly face, and he just gave off a very ferocious impression.
But he always had a simple, honest smile hanging on his face, which slightly diluted that disgusting feeling.
However, after interrogating that bald man earlier, Hikari already knew very clearly.
This Nagao Haruyoshi, even though he was the younger brother, had long since been coveting his sister-in-law Sayako. That simple, honest look on his face was nothing but an act.
And next to him, Nagao Haruyoshi's son, Nagao Jun, was an elementary school kid, short and small, with a still fairly cute face.
But based on the information he already had, Hikari knew this so-called elementary schooler was probably a disgusting piece of work too.
After all, this was the 2D World. If you judged someone as a naive, kind kid just because of their age, your end would probably be miserable.
If he ever had the chance, this elementary schooler Nagao Jun would probably join his dad and commit the same kind of vile acts against gentle, considerate Sayako.
While Hikari was sizing them up, the father and son were silently sizing him up too.
In the end, Nagao Haruyoshi reached his hand out first, "Hello, Hikari."
Nagao Jun smiled and said in a childish voice, "Hello, big brother Hikari."
Hikari also showed a sunshine-filled smile unique to young guys, "Hello."
While they were greeting each other, Hikari's expression stayed completely natural, as if this really were the first time he'd met this father and son.
He quietly watched the expressions on their faces the whole time. Sure enough, when they shook hands, he caught a flash of coldness in Nagao Haruyoshi's eyes.
The guy already seemed to know that his little toasting plan had been ruined, and he'd started to hate him.
These punks' habit of bearing grudges and taking it out on whoever blocked their plans, Hikari knew it inside out.
After they shook hands, Hikari casually pulled out a tissue and wiped his hand.
Then, without chatting more with the pair, he turned and kept talking with Sayako.
And although Nagao Haruyoshi didn't keenly notice that little detail, he really didn't have the slightest good feeling toward Hikari.
While Hikari was joking with Sayako behind the counter, Nagao Haruyoshi was secretly staring death at that young face of his.
Nagao Haruyoshi had been coveting his late brother Genji's wife, the beautiful Sayako, for a long time already.
After all, even though Sayako was a widow, her looks were still among the very top in the entire Ino Village. Her figure was ridiculously curvy, chest and hips both full and round, way better than that haggard wife he had at home.
And on top of that, with Sayako's gentle and considerate personality, Nagao Haruyoshi really wanted to make this sister-in-law his.
So for the sake of his plan, these past few months, he'd been frequently coming to the izakaya to help out.
But even though he'd shown such enthusiasm, willing to selflessly help and support this lonely, pitiful widow Sayako, she had still always kept her distance from him.
He'd been working his butt off in the izakaya all this time and had never gotten any payoff.
He hadn't even gotten to touch Sayako's hand, not even a little.
Nagao Haruyoshi's patience was already on the verge of snapping.
Tonight, he wanted to have this widowed sister-in-law Sayako.
That's why he'd arranged for that bunch of guys to come toast her, hoping to stage a hero-saves-the-beauty show, and at the same time a half-pushed, half-yielding drunken scene with his sister-in-law.
However, that careful plan of his had been completely ruined by this high schooler who'd suddenly appeared.
This made Nagao Haruyoshi furious.
Even though Sayako hadn't agreed yet, he had long since secretly treated Sayako as his forbidden plaything, his property.
Whoever dared block him from getting Sayako, Nagao Haruyoshi would make them pay.
Firming that resolve in his heart, Nagao Haruyoshi turned to look at Hikari, who had made him feel so uncomfortable from the moment he showed up.
Seeing Hikari now behind the izakaya counter, joking and playing around with Sayako, Nagao Haruyoshi was consumed with jealousy.
These past few months when he and his son Nagao Jun came to help at the izakaya, they were basically always the ones greeting customers and cleaning tables and chairs.
Tonight was the same.
And Sayako was in charge of the counter, handling the cash register and taking out drinks. Tonight was the same.
But this suddenly appearing Hikari was allowed to sit with Sayako together behind the counter.
The two of them were sitting very close, and every now and then they'd talk and laugh and play around.
Just from what he'd seen, Sayako had already had physical contact with Hikari three or four times.
And he'd also seen that, when playing around with Hikari, there was a kind of happy smile on Sayako's face that he'd never seen before.
That kind of happy, blissful smile made Nagao Haruyoshi's teeth itch with anger.
This woman Sayako was clearly his brother's widow, yet she was so improper, actually laughing and joking around with a young man.
As the younger brother, he definitely had to correct this warped behavior for his brother Genji.
Thinking that, Nagao Haruyoshi shot his son Nagao Jun a look.
Nagao Jun understood and nodded, then immediately ran quickly over to the counter and called out to Sayako, "Aunt Sayako, there are customers saying they want to drink Soju, the strong kind."
As soon as she heard that, Sayako stood up and said to Hikari, "Hikari, the strong Soju is all in the back room. I'll go get it. You help me watch the counter."
But Hikari stood up with her, "I'll go too, I can help you carry a few more jars out, Auntie."
Sayako smiled, "That works too, Hikari, you really have grown up, huh, you're just too considerate."
As she spoke, she glanced over at Natsuki Akito, who was drunk like a dead dog in the corner, and the disappointment in her eyes grew even deeper.
Following Sayako into the back room where the liquor was kept, Hikari saw that the room wasn't big, but there was a lot of clutter on the floor.
All the Soju seemed to be placed on the very top shelf of a liquor cabinet, at a height that would be out of reach for normal people without a ladder or something.
After looking it over, Hikari faintly understood the scheme that father and son Nagao had just exchanged glances about.
And after looking around the room for a while, Sayako also said in puzzlement, "Huh? I remember I put a ladder in here, specifically for taking down Soju. Where did the ladder go?"
Sayako searched for a long time and still couldn't find the ladder.
She looked up at those jars of Soju on top of the cabinet, the ones she could hardly touch even if she jumped, and looked a bit at a loss.
"Hikari, you wait here for a bit. Auntie will go look for the ladder. I clearly remember I put the ladder right in this corner, where did it go."
Sayako said this and was just about to walk out of the room.
But suddenly, a figure rushed in from outside.
"Sayako, several customers are urging for Soju, they're in a hurry to drink it, is it ready yet?", Nagao Haruyoshi, who rushed in, urged Sayako anxiously.
Sayako looked embarrassed, "The ladder in the room is gone, I can't reach the Soju, I can't get it down. Haruyoshi, could you please go tell the customers to wait a bit, I'll look for the ladder."
Anxious, Nagao Haruyoshi said, "Sayako, those few who want Soju are all regulars of the shop. Making them wait too long would be rude. How about this, you ride on my shoulders, I'll be your ladder and lift you up to get the Soju."
"Pfft!", Hearing that, Hikari couldn't hold it in.
Good grief, his patience is really short, huh, the dagger's already showing.
So this was the idea behind why this father and son had called Sayako in to get the Soju.
[T/N: I have continued all the novels that were paused due to account being susp*nded, in a new account. All the reason and such are in disc0rd with the l!nks to new novels as well. I have also pinned one of the books below, in this chapter, so that you can access others through that account.]