By now our plates were empty and the last drink had been drunk. Gradually, the mood to leave spread, which was not only evident from the late hour, but also the growing tiredness that was slowly making me long for a cozy bed. I enjoyed every minute I was able to spend with Mayu today to the full. The deep insight into her little self, which I found more than exciting, and learning more about her in general, which had nothing to do with training, was captivating.
The waiter had already unobtrusively taken care of clearing the table and bringing us the bill.
Of course, it went without saying that I had paid for them, and she had the glorious idea of pulling out her wallet even though I had invited her. That promised to be an afterthought, even though I had more than clearly understood her intention behind it.
Enveloped and delicately taken in by the cool and refreshing summer night air, we left the restaurant behind us meter by meter and leisurely made our way home towards the subway, which we had used to get here. My companion was walking close in front of me and I looked at her with completely different eyes after this profound conversation. Suddenly she stopped in front of me and turned towards me, which almost caused me to run into her. This had been her part, which I had always secretly enjoyed.
"Thank you, Satoru. For the delicious meal and the lovely evening with you."
She held on to my upper arm, stood on tiptoe, and I wrapped my arm around her narrow waist to steady myself and immediately received a tender kiss on the cheek.
"Despite these depressing issues?"
"Of course. I'm not going to let that get me down."
This was exactly the impression she truly conveyed with her unwavering and sincere smile.
We looked at each other urgently. Her hand now rested more on my shoulder, from which an enormous warmth penetrated through my snow-white shirt.
"Didn't that upset you too much?" because that wasn't exactly what I wanted.
"No. It didn't at all, otherwise I wouldn't have talked about it in such detail."
"I have one last question."
I gently brushed a strand of her lilac hair, which was blown into her face by the gentle breeze, back behind her ear.
"I'd like several," she replied warmly.
"When exactly did you realize that you could see curses?"
"Always, actually, but I really realized that it was somehow different or forbidden when I was about five or six. Due to my father's work at the bank, he occasionally took curses home with him that had attached themselves to him. Looking back and now knowing which levels they are divided into, luckily it was only the 4th level, which I then threw away with toys to make them disappear. But they still scared me. And what do you do when you're scared of something? Especially small children?"
"They confide in their parents, their caregivers with whom they seek protection," I answered her question, to which she nodded.
"And that's exactly what I did. I didn't know at the time that they couldn't do that and they treated me as if I had just done something really bad. Apart from my fear of this monstrosity that had wrapped itself around my father."
I pulled her closer to me and gave her a kiss on the temple. The behavior of these non-Jujuzists towards her was more than out of place, which made my inner rage boil. Mind you, I could understand their point of view, but I certainly didn't sympathize with it.
"Come on, let's go home," I mumbled against her soft skin, once again trying to suppress the feelings that had tried to take over me at the thought of her parents. So I grabbed her dainty hand from my shoulder, intertwined my fingers with hers and walked towards home, strolling as I continued to talk.