Shea and the others finally arrived.
“Yue-saaaaaaaaan! Hajime-saaaaaan!”
“Daddyyyyyy! Yue-oneechaaaaaan!”
Shea and Myu ran up to the two of them, prompting Hajime to smile at Yue.
“Looks like our time alone’s up.”
“Mmm...”
Hajime and Yue looked up to see and saw his parents, Liliana, Remia, and Tio walking over as well, a bit behind Shea and Myu.
“Look, Hajime. It finally looks like Liliana has relaxed. The hot springs trip finally freed her from the horrors of work.”
“You’re right. It looks like she’s had a great day.”
Hajime and Yue smiled in relief as they saw the gentle smile on Liliana’s face.
“Finally found you, phantom thief daddy! You’re under arrest!” Myu shouted, hugging Hajime as she reached him.
Hajime looked down at her with a smile and asked, “I’m a phantom thief? What did I steal?”
Shea pointed her finger at Hajime like a certain famous detective and replied, “Phantom Thief Demon Lord, you’ve stolen something very precious to me. My Yue-san!”
“Yue, when did you become Shea’s?”
“100,002,000 years ago, I guess?”
“I’m glad you guys are spouting anime references now.”
The Nagumo family’s otaku hobbies were slowly infecting Yue and the others, though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s rude of you to accuse me of stealing Yue. Did you ever consider that maybe she wanted to come with me and we slipped out together?” Hajime asked, feigning taking offense, and Yue smiled a little.
However, Shea’s next words caused a shiver of fear to run down Hajime’s spine.
“Excuse me? You hid your presence, even used presence-altering Artifacts, grabbed Yue, and jumped out the window.”
“How do you know all that?” Yue asked, stunned.
“I mean, I watched the whole thing.”
In other words, Shea’s observational skills had been so strong that she’d seen through Hajime’s stealth.
“I was trying to be as fast as possible too...” Hajime muttered.
“You were fast, but not as fast as a rail gun.”
No matter how hard Hajime tried to hide his presence, no matter how fast he was, unless he was literally traveling at the speed of a rail gun bullet, Shea would be able to spot him.
“That’s terrifying,” Hajime said.
“Did you already forget, Hajime? She’s the most broken rabbit there is. Before long, she’s going to be telling us she’s able to see things moving at the speed of light,” Yue replied.
“That’s even more terrifying.”
Hajime looked down, defeated, and Yue gently patted his head.
At this rate, not only will she be able to follow the trajectories of rail gun bullets, but I bet she’ll even be able to catch them.
Hajime imagined trying to shoot Shea, only to watch her open her palm and show that she’d caught all of the bullets he’d fired at her, saying, “Did you do something just now?” with a fearless smile.
“Is it just me or are you thinking about something weird, Hajime-san?” Shea asked.
“Mrr, it’s not fair that you two left us!” Myu shouted, making Hajime return to his senses.
Hajime scooped her up with his one free arm while Yue smiled apologetically and said to Myu, “Sorry for kidnapping your daddy.”
It was at this point that Sumire, Shu, Tio, Remia, and Liliana finally arrived.
“Look, dear, it’s our ungrateful son. Just what did you do with our Yue-chan after you kidnapped her, hmm? Hmmmmmm?”
“How could you, Hajime? Who do you care about more, your wife or your dad?!”
Hajime turned to Yue, the look in his eyes clearly saying, “See, I told you he’d be a pain.”
Yue smiled wryly back at him, but wisely chose not to comment.
“Master, Japan’s hot springs truly are exceptional. I would like to add one to our house.”
“I can make an underground hot springs room, I guess.”
“That won’t do. I need it to be an open-air bath, master.”
“Well, I get how you feel, but...”
It’d be difficult to put an aboveground open-air bath in their dense residential district. While it would be possible to make one and conceal it, it wouldn’t have the atmosphere Tio was looking for unless Hajime made something too grand to hide.
Meanwhile, Yue took a closer look at Liliana, then whispered in Remia’s ear, “Remia, is Liliana all right?”
“She’s been like this ever since we got in the hot springs. She seems happy, so I guess it’s fine?”
“Yue-san, I’ve finally seen the truth.”
She’s definitely not all right.
Yue had been relieved to know she’d been freed from the stresses of work, but it seemed she’d become a little too free.
“Y-You have?”
“Yes. As I got into the hot springs, I had an epiphany. Why am I even working this hard? What does any of it matter? Then, I heard a voice telling me to just go for what I want.”
“Remia, she’s not fine. She’s hallucinating.”
“I think those are just her inner desires manifesting.”
Liliana spread her arms wide and looked up at the sky like a Buddha who’d achieved enlightenment.
“I understand everything now. The heavens have spoken to me, granted me a divine oracle.”
“Tio! I need your help. Get your spirit magic ready!”
“This is what they told me: ‘If you work, you lose.’”
No, that’s just a meme that Myu picked up on the internet!
After seeing what had happened to Liliana at the theme park, Myu had been worried about her and had decided to do her best to help by whispering memes into Liliana’s ears as she slept. Liliana herself had been muttering “I don’t wanna work” in her sleep a lot, so she’d been primed for this kind of manipulation.
Tio hurriedly cast Soul’s Repose on her, then Liliana blinked a few times as she regained her senses. After that, she recalled how much work awaited her back home and her shoulders slumped. It seemed no matter what, there was no rest for her.
While everyone tried to cheer Liliana back up, the countdown to the New Year finally started. The crowd began to chant along in unison, and everyone’s excitement reached a fever pitch.
Naturally, Hajime and the others joined the chorus of people counting down.
With each number that got called, Myu stood up just a little bit straighter and tried to make her tiny voice just a little bit louder. Shea’s invisible bunny ears were also twitching up and down in time with the countdown.
Remia and Tio watched Myu and Shea with a smile, swaying rhythmically with the countdown.
Sumire and Shu watched Hajime and the others from a distance, their arms wrapped around each other.
Finally, the countdown hit zero.
“Happy New Year!” everyone shouted at once. Then, there was a loud bang as the very first wave of fireworks shot up. A second later, they burst, blooming in the night sky.
“Daddy, Happy New Year!” Myu said, bowing like she’d seen people do on TV.
“Happy New Year, Myu.”
Hajime smiled and patted her head, impressed that she’d learned the proper etiquette for congratulating someone on the new year.
Myu then hopped off of Hajime’s shoulders and bowed to Yue. Yue bowed politely back, then the two of them held hands and walked over to Sumire and Shu.
“Happy New Year, dear,” Remia said, sidling up to Hajime.
“Yeah, Happy New Year, Remia. I’m looking forward to the coming year.”
“As am I. I’m sure it’ll be a busy year, but thank you for looking after us in advance.”
“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“My, my, ufu fu.”
“Don’t just try to ufu fu your way out of this!”
Remia just flashed Hajime a knowing smile and walked off toward Sumire and Shu.