"So, is this the 'To capture a man's heart, you have to capture his stomach first' strategy?!"
Aiko kept approaching Yuka, and she was still in a state of confusion.
and so--
"Teacher Ai! Calm down!"
Yuka slapped her. Aiko uttered a cry of pain and collapsed to the ground.
A beat later.
"...I'm sorry, Sonobe-san, I lost my composure."
"No, no. I'm only apologizing because I hit the teacher."
The atmosphere was quite awkward. To restore the atmosphere, Yuka, the master of atmosphere, gently helped Aiko up and said:
"Teacher Xiao Ai, I understand that you have a lot on your mind. If you have any troubles, please tell me. Please don't force yourself."
"...I'm really sorry for making you worry about me."
The evening sky pulled the two people's shadows far to the east.
The image of teachers and students supporting each other is a beautiful picture.
Although from many perspectives, I really don’t know who is the teacher and who is the student.
After that, Aiko was dejected because she had embarrassed herself in front of others. Seeing this, Yuka took the lost Aiko's hand and walked towards the cafeteria together.
It was still a little early for dinner, so the cafeteria was empty, but Yuka's stomach had rumbled several times, asking for food, so she decided to eat immediately.
In the cafeteria, as long as you sit down, a waiter will bring you today's dinner, so Youhua looked around the cafeteria, trying to find a seat to sit down.
She then noticed several classmates sitting near the cafeteria.
"Thank you for your hard work~Would you like to have dinner together with everyone from Nagayama's team today?"
In the cafeteria were four members of Nagayama's team: Nagayama Shigego, Nomura Kentaro, Tsuji Ayako, and Yoshino Mao. Upon noticing Yuka, Shigego raised his hand and replied:
"Ah, it's Sonobe. You've worked hard, Sensei too. Would you two like to have dinner together?"
"Yeah, I'm hungry. I just met Teacher Xiao Ai there."
However, seeing the expressions of Jūgo and the others, Yuuka frowned and asked:
"...What's wrong? You look so serious. Did something happen?"
“…Um…something’s going on…”
Jūgo seemed to have difficulty speaking, hesitating as if he was choosing his words carefully.
Yuka suddenly turned back to Aiko and gave her a thumbs-up with a big smile on her face.
"Teacher Xiao Ai! That's great! There are lost lambs here! You can listen to students' troubles!"
"Um... Sonobe-kun? If possible, I'd like you to forget what happened just now. How should I put it... Sensei isn't someone who craves trouble, you know?"
The muscles on Aiko's face twitched subtly.
"Really?" Yuka seemed incredulous and turned her gaze back to Shigeo and the others.
"So, where's Endo? He's a member of the team, but we can't see him. Does that mean...something happened to Endo?"
For some reason, Jūgo looked up, Kentaro covered his eyes with one hand, and Ayako and Mao smiled wryly.
Seeing their reactions, Aiko's expression turned serious.
"So he wasn't here for breakfast either. He seems pretty listless lately..."
"I've definitely been feeling listless, ever since that day..."
After hearing what Aiko and Yuka said, it was Kentaro's turn to speak in a heavy tone:
"Yes, ever since Nakamura caused 'that disturbance'... No, to be more precise, ever since we learned of Captain Meld's death."
"Captain Meld..."
Needless to say, Yuka and Aiko's expressions also turned sad. Meld was not only their elder brother, but also their teacher who taught them combat, and also the leader of the Knights who was respected and trusted by everyone.
"...The last person to see Captain Meld alive... was probably him."
“Huh!? Is that so!?”
"According to him, he happened to run into Captain Meld on his way back to his room after using the restroom in the middle of the night. Captain Meld looked quite aggressive, which startled him. He simply felt a little strange at the time, so he said hello and returned to his room..."
Subsequent investigations confirmed that Captain Meld was still alive in the afternoon of that day. This meant that Endo Kousuke, who had encountered him late that night, was the last person to speak with Meld while still alive.
Shigego sighed and said:
"When the Orcus Great Labyrinth was attacked by demons, we decided to let Kousuke escape alone because he was the only one who had a chance of seeing the captain alive."
"Yes, I heard about this. Except for Captain Meld, all the knights were killed, right?"
"Yeah... just to cover Kousuke's escape to the ground."
Thinking of the knights who risked their lives to protect them, everyone closed their eyes and mourned for a moment. Then Ayako and Mao smiled and said:
"Ever since then, Endo-san has held Captain Meld in high esteem."
"He was truly delighted that the captain survived."
That's why he couldn't accept reality. He finally managed to survive, but when he came to, his brother was already dead. He was the last person to see him, and he had noticed something was wrong with Meld.
If I had been more careful then, if I had stayed with the group a little longer then...
Even though it was useless to think too much, if he had done something at that time, perhaps he could have saved Meld. It was because of this thought that Kosuke felt even more guilty.
"...Is his condition serious?"
Yuka asked with a frown.
Kentaro shook his head and said:
"It's not good. The fact that you all noticed him in Sonobe means he's in really bad shape."
Yuka and Aiko tilted their heads, confused as to what that meant. Jūgo and Kentaro, longtime friends of Kosuke, told them the harsh truth:
"Listen up, Sonobe. Kousuke's presence is very weak. No, it should be said that he has no presence at all. Of course, I'm not talking about his mission, okay? I'm talking about his time on Earth."
“I know that…”
"Can you believe it? Even the automatic door can't sense him?"
"Huh~?"
"Kousuke's presence was so weak that Jūgo and I started to wonder if he wasn't actually human, but a youkai or something. We even tried to verify whether he was human or not."
"Hey, Nomura and Nagayama are both Endo's friends, right? You two are good friends, right?"
Yuka's question was ignored.
"In fact, his presence has become very strong before."
By the way, the so-called strong presence is only what Kosuke said. In fact, it only means that he can be recognized normally by others, which does not mean that he is eye-catching.
"Um, isn't that when he gets depressed?"
Yuka considered the current situation and expressed her hypothesis, while Kentaro nodded in confirmation.
"And it was a traumatic experience. The last time I remember it was..."
"When he was in junior high, he confessed his feelings to the girl who sat next to him a year earlier. But she replied, 'Uh, which class are you in?' It broke him so much that he locked himself in his room."
Yuka was surprised, while Ayako and Mao felt sorry for him, shedding tears even though it had nothing to do with him. Ayako and Mao shook their heads and said:
"It's really unusual though. Even when we're a team, we sometimes forget about Endo, but lately I've been able to quickly notice his absence."
"The fact that someone would say, 'Huh? Where's Endo-kun?' is already an anomaly."
Although Yuka wanted to say that being commented on like that meant Endo Kousuke himself was an anomaly, she was a person who knew how to read people's expressions, so she kept it to herself.
Afterward, Yuuka and Aiko joined them, and they discussed how to cheer Kousuke up. The conclusion was that neither this nor that approach worked. Eventually, the conversation subtly veered off-topic, with everyone chatting over their meal about topics like, "Huh? Endo was left home on a family trip!?" and "Huh? He was left alone on his junior high school graduation trip!"
As they were enjoying their dessert, they could no longer tell whether they were discussing serious matters or chatting about "The Shocking Endo Story."
Suddenly, a painting on the wall closest to the long table where Yuka and the others were sitting began to glow.
“Eh? I remember that was set up by Nagumo—”
Just before Yuuka uttered the word "portal"—
"At least treat me like a girl~~!!"
Accompanied by miserable cries, Her Royal Highness the Princess of this country flew out.
Her head hit the long table and slid across the polished surface.
Everyone quickly grabbed their plates, leaving the desserts to rest. Liliana, like a race car entering the pits, stopped in front of Yuka and the others.
The way she stretched her arms forward was very beautiful.
But no one said it out loud, or rather, no one could bear to say it out loud.
Then——
“Lord Nagumo, I can do it myself—”
She must have been trying to say she could leave. Liliana's personal maid, Holina, slid over and stopped beside her.
But the beautiful return ends there.
"Your Highness, please get out of the way—!"
“Damn it, stop it now!”
The Royal Guards Knights also flew out. It seemed that the criminal who caused this incident was quite lenient towards the princess and the maid. The Royal Guards Knights' flying force was completely different from theirs.
"Princess Liliana, please run away—Aaaaaa!"
“Eh? Wait, wait a minute—Guah!?”
The Royal Guards knights rolled on the long table, and Liliana and Holina were knocked away like bowling pins.
They all tangled together and fell under the table, Liliana pinned underneath, the Royal Guards piled on top. Perhaps because of the weight, Liliana let out a groan that was unbecoming of a princess.
Then, the "portal" installed in the painting on the wall closed silently.
"Princess Liliana, are you okay?"
Aiko rushed to Liliana's rescue. The Royal Guards paled, chorusing, "I'm so sorry, Your Highness, but this is all that demon's fault!" as they tried to explain themselves to Liliana.
Ever since they met 'Director Hajime' in the Empire, they seemed to have decided that Hajime was the 'devil' the Emperor was talking about.
"No, it's okay. I know it's not your fault. My body is fine, but my mind is more damaged..."
Liliana opened her dead eyes and muttered to herself, "What on earth is a princess who was sent back to her country..."
Yuka and the others grasped the situation, their sympathetic gazes fixed on Liliana. "Nanyun is truly astonishing, actually abducting the princess and throwing her away." "The world is vast, but only he could do that," Kentaro and Jūgo said, their voices tinged with either admiration or astonishment.
"Uh~ Lily, anyway, I just want to say, welcome back?"
"Ah, Yuuka-san, everyone's here too. Liliana's back."
The princess gracefully lifted her skirt and bowed to everyone.
But there was no way to hide what had just happened.
"Princess Liliana, I'm going to report our return to Her Highness the Princess (Luluaria). We'll need a little time before an emergency meeting, so why not enjoy your meal first?"
The content of the report could potentially cause a huge uproar among the kingdom's top brass, so Holina made this proposal.
She probably also considered that Aiko and the others might want to know about Hajime and the others' current situation.
Liliana, grateful, accepted Holina's proposal and sat down with Aiko and the others.
So after Holina ran to report to the princess and the Royal Guards left to contact various units and replace the guards, Liliana began to briefly explain to Aiko and others what had happened in the empire.
After listening to the explanation, everyone's thoughts were:
"Amazing, truly amazing, Nagumo."
"I understand why the Royal Guards call him a demon."
"A-Amanokawa-san and the others are alright, right? Can they keep up with Nagumo-san? And what's with the mask?"
"Is Shizuku's stomach upset? We need to be nice to her when she comes back."
Kentaro, Jugo, Ayako, and Mao all looked into the distance.
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