With people on the street giving them all sorts of strange, thoughtful looks, Yuto was seriously tempted to pretend he had nothing to do with them.
It was just too embarrassing!
The worst part was that neither of them looked embarrassed in the slightest.
As Ainz put it, "It doesn't matter. They don't know who I am anyway."
Rimuru wholeheartedly agreed.
The five got on the train and rode back to Shinjuku Station under the watchful stares of everyone in the carriage.
On the way back, Yuto had been wondering whether he should see Utaha home, but to his surprise, she said she wanted to come back to the restaurant with them instead.
He looked at her in surprise, and Utaha smiled with a hint of pride at having caught him off guard.
She explained that her parents were returning from their business trip tomorrow, and once they were back, she wouldn't be able to linger at the restaurant late into the night whenever she pleased.
So while she still had the chance, she wanted to spend a little more time there today.
Yuto nodded in understanding.
After that, the five took a taxi back to the street outside Ichinosuke Street.
"Ah, youth really is precious!" the driver said, unusually worked up. "Back in my day, I was a full-on anime nerd too!!!"
Yuto could only stare at him with a dark look on his face.
He felt like the driver had misunderstood something!
Then again, after thinking about it for a moment, maybe he hadn't misunderstood anything at all.
After paying the fare, Yuto watched as the driver gave them a thumbs-up and sped away.
The man's driving was wild enough that if Yuto hadn't known for certain he was sober, he would have suspected drunk driving.
The taxi had swerved and jolted like an old man having a fit.
By the time they got back, it was already afternoon.
As they headed toward the restaurant, they passed Hanako's karaoke bar.
The doors were open, but something felt off.
Every employee inside seemed to be carrying the same faint sadness on their face.
At once, Yuto sensed that something was wrong.
He decided to settle the others in at the restaurant first, then come back and ask what had happened.
The group turned into the alley.
Yuto unlocked the door, and everyone went inside. Ainz and Rimuru didn't seem eager to return to their own worlds just yet, they wanted to play a few games first.
Yuto handed them their game consoles, then told Utaha and Tohru to chat for a while.
He said he had something to take care of and would step out for a bit.
No one said much in response.
Tohru wanted to go with him, but he refused, and the dragon girl drooped a little in disappointment.
...
Yuto left the restaurant, stepped back out of the alley, and headed straight for Hanako's karaoke bar.
He asked around briefly after going in and soon got the answer.
Hanako had left.
For a moment, Yuto froze.
Then Chiko came out. When she saw him, she invited him upstairs.
He walked down the corridor, passing the room that had once belonged to Hanako.
The door was already locked. Even the office now belonged to Chiko.
Yuto said nothing. He sat down across from Chiko in the office and asked quietly, "Didn't Aunt Hanako say she was leaving tomorrow?"
He didn't understand.
Why had things changed from what she told him that morning?
Chiko let out a sigh. Instead of answering right away, she took out a letter.
"Yuto," she said, holding it out to him, "Hanako left this for you."
He hesitated for a moment before taking it. The paper was plain, ordinary stationery.
He unfolded it, and neat handwriting filled his sight.
..
To Yuto,
I'm sorry, Yuto. Auntie broke her promise.
After we talked this morning, that man came to see me again.
For some reason, he knelt in front of me and begged for my forgiveness.
I don't know why he suddenly did that. He said his superior found out about what he had done, and that was why.
But I don't believe him.
Whatever reason was behind it, that wasn't something I needed to care about.
In the end, I forgave him.
Maybe you'll think I'm foolish. And yes, maybe I am.
He lied to me, and yet I still chose to forgive him. Isn't that laughable...? Normally, I would never have forgiven something like that.
But the moment I thought of the two little daughters he has at home, my heart softened.
If I refused to forgive him, he would lose his job and probably be blacklisted in the industry.
If that happened, his family would suffer too. And those two little girls... their future would become uncertain.
When I thought of that, I thought of my own past. If I refused to forgive him, would those two girls end up like my sister and me?
Life is unpredictable. I can't be sure.
I still hate him.
But I don't want to hurt those two little girls.
I'm nothing more than drifting fluff in the wind anyway.
There's nothing especially precious about me. So I thought... perhaps it's better to forgive him.
He left afterward looking relieved and overjoyed.
I refused the money he offered me too, and that only made him happier.
Sigh. Never mind him. Let that matter end here.
After he left, my heart only felt heavier and more complicated.
The desire to leave grew stronger and stronger.
So I decided to go today. No more dragging it out.
I don't want to stay here any longer. I'm going back to my hometown, back to that little village where everything first began.
Even if I have to be there all alone, I still don't want to remain in Tokyo anymore.
The one thing I feel sorry for is you, Yuto.
I told you it would be tomorrow, but in the end, I changed my mind and left today.
If we ever meet again, then Auntie will definitely treat you to a meal and properly apologize.
That's all I wanted to say, Yuto.
I'm leaving now. Don't miss me, and don't go looking for me.
I'll live well.
I'll really live well.
The things that matter most always arrive a little later, don't they?
Goodbye, Yuto.
— Hanako Yamashita
...
Yuto drew in a slow breath.
Inside, he had no words, but on the outside, his face remained calm.
There was no address in Hanako's letter, and when he asked Chiko, she didn't know where Hanako had gone either.
After sitting there in silence for a long time, Yuto finally smiled.
What exactly was he struggling over? Wasn't what he ought to do now simply wish her well?
Goodbye, Aunt Hanako. May your road ahead be peaceful.
...
Far away, on a dirt road in a village, the figure of a middle-aged woman walked slowly onward.
She carried a few belongings on her back, sweat glistening faintly on her face.
The afternoon sunlight fell over her like a gentle caress.
After a while, she turned and looked back.
In that direction... was Tokyo.
...
When Yuto returned to the restaurant, his expression had already settled back into its usual calm ease.
The others asked what he had gone out to do, but he only smiled and shook his head.
Though they were curious, no one pressed him further.
"By the way, Kamisaka." Ainz, who had been busy with his handheld console, looked up at him.
He was back in his skeletal form now, though the mountain of anime merchandise piled around him created such a jarring contrast that it was almost surreal.
"What is it?" Yuto asked as he stepped behind the counter.
Ainz lowered his voice and gestured awkwardly with his hands.
"That thing. The VR stuff. You know.... get in touch with... well, you know what I mean, right?" He talked like a man trying to deliver a secret code, and the tone only made his fearsome undead-overlord image even harder to take seriously.
Yuto's gaze shifted slightly.
He understood at once: Ainz wanted him to contact Asuna and ask her to bring VR gear.
"That can be done," Yuto said, "but I happen to have something else troubling me at the moment."
He deliberately put on a troubled expression.
At once, Ainz slapped the table with a bang. "Say no more! Just tell me!"
At that moment, he looked almost heroic!
"It's nothing major," Yuto replied. "It's about my freezer."
He then explained his idea: using space magic to turn the freezer into a proper space freezer, one large enough to hold far more ingredients.
"A small matter!" Ainz said grandly, sweeping one skeletal hand through the air. "Leave it to me!"
For a man who had mastered hundreds of spells and thousands of other strange magical arts, something like spatial layering was hardly a challenge.
The moment he finished speaking, Ainz got to his feet, clearly ready to march into the kitchen and begin modifying the freezer on the spot.
But Yuto stopped him. "Wait a moment. I'm not planning to modify this freezer. I want to order an upright one and put it here first. After that, you can work on it."
"Fine!" Ainz agreed immediately. "When the time comes, just call me!"
At that moment, he carried himself with a rough sort of grandness, almost like Iskandar.
It seemed recent company had influenced him more than a little.
Once that was settled, Yuto took out his phone.
He needed to contact Kaguya.
After all, he didn't have Asuna's contact information himself, so the only way was to ask Kaguya to act as a go-between.
That morning he had messaged Hayasaka because of the situation, but now there was no need for that.
Calling Kaguya directly, however, felt a little abrupt.
If it had been Utaha, it wouldn't have felt that way at all.
But someone like Kaguya—a young lady from a powerful family—gave him the impression of always being busy.
Films and dramas were always portraying wealthy heiresses as endlessly trapped in meetings and formal engagements.
If he called and happened to catch her at a bad time, it would only be awkward.
So he typed out a message instead.
[Kamisaka Yuto: Kaguya-san, may I trouble you with a favor?]
He sent it.
No reply came immediately.
But Yuto didn't mind.
If anything, it only confirmed for him that not calling outright had been the correct choice.
He assumed Kaguya must be busy, which was why she hadn't answered yet.
...
At Shuchiin Academy, meanwhile, Kaguya was in the middle of the final class of the day when she suddenly felt her phone vibrate.
She wasn't someone who liked checking her phone in class, but for certain reasons, she decided it would be fine to take just one quick look.
Click.
With a soft sound, her flip phone opened.
There was a small (1) in the message menu. Kaguya frowned slightly in puzzlement and opened it.
The moment she saw the sender, her expression changed.
She hurriedly opened the message, then began pressing the phone's buttons in a panic.
Because it was an older flip phone with physical keys, the clicking sounds were quite obvious.
But no one in the classroom dared say anything to her.
Not even the teacher, he glanced at her once, then pretended not to notice.
Kaguya, for her part, was far too flustered to care what anyone else thought.
She stared anxiously at her screen, brow furrowed.
'Texting... Hayasaka definitely taught me how to do this! So why can't I remember now?!'
In her hurry and confusion, Kaguya accidentally sent back only three digits message: 111
Kaguya froze.
When she saw the message marked as successfully sent, she went completely still.
...
Buzz—
Back at the restaurant, Yuto took out his phone.
Kaguya really had replied, but the entire message was just: 111.
He stared at it for a moment, then found himself genuinely thinking it over.
What exactly was 111 supposed to mean?
---------
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