Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 127, Section 3: "The Uninvited Guest After Closing Time"

At 7 p.m., the "Starry Night" coffee shop successfully closed for the day.

Mr. Hojo, a regular customer of the shop and a web novelist, was leisurely packing up his laptop while chatting with barista Masumi.

"Congratulations, Mr. Miyazawa. Your novel, 'Reincarnated as a Demon King's Army Soldier, Forced to Infiltrate the Hero's Squad as an Undercover Agent, But My Teammates Are Actually Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army Also Undercover!?' has recently become very popular on the website."

"Thank you, Mr. Hojo, but is it necessary to pronounce your full name?"

“Sorry, it’s a habit.” Mr. Hojo chuckled. “After all, light novel authors need to control the length of their works, while we web novel authors have to rely on the number of updates to please our readers, so our speaking habits have also been affected.”

"I see," Masumi replied casually.

After the Obon holiday, Mr. Hojo finished his part-time job at Amagi Seaside Theme Park and resumed his daily routine of coming to the coffee shop to write novels.

This cycle will likely continue until his savings run out, at which point he'll find a new job and the cycle will repeat itself.

Does this count as financial freedom?
Gain wealth, gain freedom (while losing wealth), gain wealth again, and so on.

"Sigh, I wish the editor could see it and turn it into a Chinese web version."

Mr. Hojo sighed deeply, then looked at Masumi with envy: "As for Mr. Miyazawa, it probably won't be long."

"Still a long way to go."

“No, there is a good chance.” He said seriously.

"Because of the impact of the internet, many paperback publishers have now introduced a lot of web light novels. The author of the second-ranked work on the website received an invitation from Shinazugawa Fantastic Paperback just a couple of days ago."

"If that's the case, then I'll take your kind words." Masumi said casually.

Just as he appeared to be, he actually didn't care at all whether it could be made into a paperback.

Writing novels was a hobby he developed on a whim to express his desire for self-expression, so Masumi was not obsessed with achieving commercial success.

After all, I wanted to debut in a mainstream band so badly, but I failed in the end.

Humans always have expectations for seemingly useless efforts.

"..."

Haiyue used her head to open the curtain and walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of snacks, glancing casually at Mr. Hojo's screen.

"The screen... is so clean... there's nothing there..."

"..."

As if struck by the jellyfish girl's unintentional words, Mr. Hojo lowered his head dejectedly and remained silent, looking almost exactly like Jizo.

"Mr. Hojo, so you didn't write a single word."

"Ahem, I did write a little bit, but I wasn't satisfied with it, so I deleted it and rewrote it."

"What about the rewritten parts?"

"I haven't started writing yet... but if I want to, I can write two thousand words in an hour!" he immediately added, trying to justify himself.

"Mr. Hojo, what time did you come to the store today?"

"Ten o'clock in the morning."

When do you want to start writing?

"..."

"Well, since the shop is closed, I'll take my leave now."

Mr. Hojo sprang up from his chair as if he had been electrocuted, and then fled without looking back.

"Laptop..."

"Please keep this for me! I'll be back on time tomorrow!"

The following sentence was drowned out by the sound of the wind chimes.

Masumi watched his departing figure and sighed softly.

"Speaking so bluntly, you might lose a regular customer."

Beautiful black hair, as black as night, brushed past Masumi's ear. Masumi turned her head slightly and saw Rinne's exquisite, cold face.

Even at such close range, you can't see any pores or blemishes on her face.

"Mr. Hojo shouldn't be that fragile, besides, he left his computer at the store..."

Can't you tell I'm joking?

Rinne interrupted him unhappily, her delicate eyebrows furrowing slightly. Masumi thought to herself, "This unhappy expression suits her quite well."

"I'm sorry, because you've always been so serious, I didn't think of it that way."

“There’s no need to be so formal when you apologize.” She gently shook her head. “Besides, I didn’t ask you to apologize.”

"Feel sorry."

After he said that, Rinne raised her head, her delicate lips pursed into a displeased "ヘ", and the glow of fluorescent lights seeped into her beautiful purple eyes.

"Uh... so what should I say?"

"You don't need to say anything, just open your mouth."

Open your mouth?

So that's how it is. Are they going to cut off my tongue, which I can't speak? Sigh, since it's the manager's idea, I guess that's all I can do.

"Why are you sticking your tongue out?" The beautiful girl with long, straight black hair narrowed her eyes coldly, her gaze filled with disgust. "How disgusting."

After Masumi withdrew her tongue, Rinne picked up a cookie with her slender fingers and put it into his mouth.

"Chew~ This tastes so good, it's matcha cookies."

"Hmm, it's made with matcha powder I bought from Uji. How does it taste?"

“It’s delicious.” Masumi nodded.

"These are limited-edition items that went on sale starting today, right? Are these the ones left over from the previous sale?"

The idea for limited-edition items came from him – to regularly introduce limited-edition items to give customers more choices, while adding popular and high-volume items to the regular menu.

Rinne shook her head: "No, all the cookies I made during the day were sold out. These are the ones I just made."

“…I see.” Masumi blinked, then reached for another cookie and ate it, asking casually, “Is it to reward the coffee shop staff?”

"No, it was made especially for you," she said casually.

"Are you happy right now?"

"Cough cough cough cough!"

Masumi was choked by her astonishing words and coughed violently up crumbs of biscuit from her trachea.

"Why are you suddenly asking such a strange question?" he asked with a puzzled look.

"Is it weird?"

Rinne sat down on a chair at the bar, propped her chin on her hand, and said nonchalantly, "Didn't you ask me the same question back in Uji?"

"That was due to the atmosphere."

"Do you really need to read between the lines for this kind of question?"

"I think so," Masumi replied, her amethyst-like eyes still fixed on him.

"When you asked me that, what kind of atmosphere did you sense?"

Rinne posed a question.

"What kind of...atmosphere..."

My thoughts drifted back to the memories, and although half a month had passed since that fireworks festival, the feelings I had at the time were still vivid.

“Well…” Masumi thought for a moment and described it as, “…It feels like a samurai serving in the Sengoku period. Even though dying a heroic death like a fallen twig is a very glorious thing, he still can’t avoid a kind of unease and sadness that is almost uneasy.”

He finished speaking in one breath, and even he himself was almost dizzy from the long and complicated sentence in his reply.

She tilted her head slightly in confusion, then sighed, "What kind of answer is that, like an automatic webpage translation?"

"..." The girl immediately fell silent, was she pondering the true meaning of her own words?

"Speaking of which, you smiled back then, didn't you, Kamishiro? And it wasn't a forced smile."

"Ah."

Rinne nodded gently, "At that moment, I felt an unprecedented happiness in my heart, and it naturally showed on my face."

Recalling the fleeting moments of the past, she narrowed her eyes slightly, and outside the shop, the chirping of cicadas, whether oil cicadas or winter cicadas, began.

“I used to be trapped by the past, thinking that I had to be strong without relying on anyone. But every time I exposed my weakness, you were there for me, making me realize that it was precisely because of my weak personality and tendency to run away that I dared not accept other people’s kindness.”

"After figuring this out, I'm very happy every day now, and I think it's all thanks to you."

At this point, Rinne paused slightly, took a deep breath, and then said:
"So, I also want you to be happy."

"..."

"Um, I'll go call Kurokawa and Seno down for dinner—"

Masumi gave a fake cough to change the subject, but as she passed the bar, Rinne gently tugged at the hem of her clothes.

"Wait a minute," she said softly. "I'm not entirely satisfied with your answer, so I'd like to ask another question."

"Uh, go ahead and ask."

“If… I mean, if.” Rinne loosened her fingers from tugging at the hem of her clothes and clenched her hands together in front of her chest.

"If I encounter that situation again, would you still be willing to help me and stay by my side?"

"..."

Masumi saw the black-haired girl's trembling appearance; it was probably the first time he had ever heard Kamishiro speak so weakly.

This contains far more than just weakness.

He could keenly sense that behind those cautious words lay an expectation, almost a prayer that this feeling would be discovered, timidly peering into the depths of the girl's thawed heart.

How should I respond to this feeling?
If we deny it here, won't the heart that Kamishiro has finally opened up close even more tightly? But perhaps what he did was just meddling from beginning to end, after all, Kamishiro's world is constantly moving forward, while his own world has long since stagnated.

Taking on the responsibility of another person's life is a very heavy task, requiring not only a sense of responsibility and courage, but also a matching relationship.

and so--

"I……"

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you..."

Wind chimes are ringing.

A weak, feeble voice drifted in from the night.

"Sorry, our store is closed."

Masumi turned around and said to the person who came.

The newcomer seemed not to hear him, dragging his swaying body into the shop, slumping down in the nearest chair, and then opening and closing his mouth, uttering some soft murmurs.

Masumi frowned and leaned closer to listen to what she was saying.

"I'm so hungry...please...give me some food..."

◇

"How long has this person not eaten?"

Kurokawa Mio frowned as she sat at the bar with Masumi and Rinne, their eyes fixed on the uninvited guest who had arrived after closing time.

"Who knows, it seems like a tricky character."

Masumi squinted at the strange man's attire: his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, and he had pulled his mask down to his chin to eat, making him look quite suspicious.

Not only that, after eating a curry rice dish made by Rinne herself at the beginning, this strange person ordered ten kinds of desserts on the menu in one go, and took out a small notebook from his pocket to take notes after each bite.

"Speaking of which, what did Seno want to do by calling you to his room just now?" Masumi asked.

"The female protagonist of Ms. Mami's manga is set up to learn classical piano from a young age, so she asked me for help with hand gestures." Kurokawa explained, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Seriously, you've been lingering in the room for so long, did Masumi and Rinne do anything?"

Her sharp gaze swept between the two men, revealing her blatant wariness.

"This is the dining area."

"……makes sense."

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Kurokawa Mio gently stroked her chest, which was not turbulent, and her heart, which had been pounding, relaxed slightly.

"In comparison, keeping an eye on Ms. Asami seems to make more sense."

"Seno?"

"Yes, she's been doing some very dangerous things lately."

What constitutes a "dangerous action"?

"Of course, it's the physical contact that Ms. Asami made with you that went too far and touched the edge of what's acceptable."

Kurokawa Mio gritted her teeth and said, "I don't believe Masumi feels nothing when she's pressed against that kind of lewd body."

"Doesn't Mio always stick close to Masumi too?"

Rinne, who had been silent, retorted in a barbed tone, "The bathroom has practically become your private room lately. Even though it's still summer, don't shower too often."

“I wore a towel between my skin and his skin, so it doesn’t count,” Kurokawa Mio said matter-of-factly. “Besides, I was prepared for the worst.”

Masumi felt a chill run down her spine: "What kind of resolve?"

"I plan ahead for everything, including when to kiss, when to take things further, and when to have children. I'm not like Ms. Mami, who makes impulsive advances without thinking."

Wait a minute, shouldn't it be a provocation?

"With her nonchalant attitude, if things really sparked, it would definitely turn into, 'Oh no, I forgot to prepare that... Oh well, it should be okay,' and she'd do it with Masumi without wearing anything."

That sounds pretty bad.

"No, this isn't bad enough!"

"The worst-case scenario is that Ms. Mami gets pregnant by accident, and then forces Masumi to take responsibility, and the two of them get married because of the pregnancy. At that time, I would be—no, no! Masumi marrying someone else! No way!"

Halfway through her sentence, she waved her hand to dispel the reverie in her mind, ruffled her blonde hair, and made a frantic sound.

Rinne sighed helplessly. The next moment, Kurokawa Mio's eyes, burning with dark flames, turned towards her, and she murmured in a low voice:

"Wait a minute, Rinne, you just called Masumi 'Masumi,' right?"

"Then what should we call it?"

"Miyazawa".

“Mr. Kenjiro Ii also has the surname Miyazawa, which will cause confusion.”

"Then we'll call him 'Mr. Masumi,' just like we'll in the future."

Would you go to a hot spring or a beach with someone addressed as "Mr. XX"?

Just as the atmosphere between the two women was becoming increasingly tense, the same strange man interrupted the crucial moment.

"thanks for treatment."

"Um, could I have another serving of Nama Yatsuhashi? I saw there was one last one left in the dessert display case."

"Please enjoy." Masumi took the last serving of raw Yatsuhashi from the dessert display case and placed it on the table.

"The Ima-Yahashi is 600 yen. Adding the dessert and coffee you just bought, the total is 9070 yen."

"Guuuuu!"

The suspicious person who visited after closing time was immediately choked by the price Masumi quoted.

She hurriedly picked up her half-finished iced latte, gulped down a large mouthful, calmed her breathing, and then, with an embarrassed expression on her face, began to speak again:
"Um... I'm sorry, I don't have a single penny on me right now."

(End of this chapter)