“She who has now been called to be with God, her name is...”
Everyone from the shop was seeing Shequraso off at her funeral.
Under a blue sky, she was smiling. She had her same pretty face as always.
“...Shequraso...” Lupe sobbed.
I hugged her from behind.
Her fluffy hair felt nice, so soft, and I buried my face in it and cried too.
The official story was that Shequraso had died of illness.
No one at the shop was okay with that, and the guild master’s family even went to protest. But the hectosquad commander had been so big and important, not to mention commander of the unit that had been wiped out, so the matter was left unsettled.
The shop also stopped doing outside dates and “comfort visits” for a while. The one who felt most responsible was Madam. She was crying and apologizing the whole time even though no one was blaming her.
I told her it wasn’t her fault, too. She replied, “Thank you for coming back safe,” and cried again.
Sex work is a job full of sorrow. Everyone is weak. It’s no wonder that they get swept along when getting swept along is the only option.
When we can stand up, let’s stand up straight.
“Shequraso...”
I love you.
We were friends ’till the end, weren’t we?
And from now on too, right?
Now then.
Even with all that going on, I still had to work.
We’re women in the service industry. We have to smile for the customers and keep our bodies pristine.
“Come on in!”
The shop was jam-packed just like any other week, so I was running around.
Tables, check. Drinks, check. Nothing wrong with the floors/walls/ceiling.
Recently I acquired Carpentry, of all things, so I can’t help but notice if something in the building needs maintenance.
What an obnoxious cheat skill I have. I wonder if God will ever come again. I’d like to punch him out.
“Haru, it’s almost time for the show!”
“O-Okay!”
But I have to put all my skills to work for this job.
I decided I would give it my all. I felt like I was the only one who could save the shop.
Even if that was reckless.
“U-Uhh, th-thanks for coming to Blue Cat Nocturne tonight, everyone.”
Nooobody is listening. The shop was full of chatter, and no one was paying attention to me up on the stage with my guitar-like instrument.
It felt like such an away game. Isn’t this the shop where I work? No? Aren’t I pretty popular here?
(“Haru.”)
Lupe gave me a stealthy You got this fist-clench as she waitressed.
When I took a closer look, I noticed Sumo crunched behind his usual table, looking nervous for some reason and wiping sweat away.
I took a deep breath and smiled.
Even if I couldn’t be as cool as her, I figured I would smile like I usually do.
“E-Err. Well, here’s a song from my hometown. It’s called, ‘Toritetsu.’”
Using a bone for a pick, I strummed.
I had been practicing, so my guitar sounded pretty good.
“I’m gonna go take a pic of the 7:52 DeHa 1000 ♪”
My voice used to be so out of tune it had startled karaoke box employees, but now it rang out beautifully. No one else was paying any attention, but Sumo and Lupe both looked a bit surprised.
Hell, I was surprised at first. I mean, Hectosquad Commander Buffness’s skill was Super Great Singing—that’s hilarious. I should have had him sing for me before killing him.
But now I was the one with the singing voice. I could be confident and let the customers hear it. My songs would bring in business.
Except I was so nervous I couldn’t really sing at all...
I thought once I got started things would work out, but I seriously couldn’t handle it. The pressure of a solo show is no joke. Without someone who knows what they’re doing beside me, I get super anxious. I couldn’t even tell if I was smiling properly or not. All I knew was that I was blushing.
I wanna go nuts. I wanted to be the hype girl like usual. But if I snapped, who would actually perform?
I sang, even though my voice was trembling.
“I wanna take a picture of you on your travels to a new world ♪”
Sumo even started clapping on the beat. (Who does that?)
It’s actually harder to play now. This isn’t a sumo bout!
Then Lupe was trying to get the other customers to do it. This isn’t festival music!
Agh, this is so hard. Whyyyy.
Well, it’s definitely a new kind of show. It’s fun.
You must be smiling, Shequraso.
＊
“Huh? No way! What? You’re giving this to me?”
I was thinking how nervous Sumo looked, and then the next minute he was giving me flowers to celebrate my singing debut.
A bouquet of little pink flowers.
I always thought the best stuff to get from guys was anything practical, like clothes or accessories, and from Sumo, of course, meat made the most sense. This was the first time in my life I’d ever gotten flowers.
“Oh my god...I’m...actually super happy...”
It was super out of character for me, but I really was super happy.
I felt like I was going to cry. Or rather, I did cry.
I had just decided not to shut down or stay quiet about my emotions, so the tears caught me off guard. Unable to hold them back, I made Sumo all flustered.
For some reason even Lupe started crying, and it was like this total season-finale atmosphere even though our fight had just started, and the other customers started clapping even though they hadn’t even been listening.
Idiots. I love you all.
“Ahh, I never thought I’d hear you sing ‘Toritetsu.’ To be blunt, only girls listen to that guy, so I have no interest, but that song is nostalgic. Oh, can you sing that other one? ‘Okuhonzakura.’ My friends said I should do that one in one of those videos where you sing, so I did for a limited time only. I’m not sure how many subscribers I got, but I did get a bunch of likes. So you wanna sing it together?”
I thought my flowers might wilt. I nearly let the snot drip out of my nose.
“Why the hell are you here?”
“I’m here. Isn’t that enough? I thought maybe you had chilled out a bit by now. I mean, it’s not like this was the first time you said stuff that made no sense, so with that in mind I just felt like, I gotta protect you, ya know? Heh-heh.”
Chiba pushed his red helmet back (it didn’t actually go back, though) and blushed.
I can’t believe this guy. There is seriously no point to me having anything to do with him.
So why did I murmur his name so often when I was getting passed around between a hundred guys? That is some dark-past shit.
I should deactivate Level Bind... I should take this idiot out...
“Oh, it’s raining.”
Rain fell, as if to cool my heart’s rolling boil.
I remembered the icy look in that guy’s eyes.
Since we slept together, the silver-haired man hadn’t been to the shop even once.
I wondered why. Was I that bad? I might seriously lose confidence. Especially near the end, I was a total mess, a shame as a pro, but...
No.
He was outside the shop. My Woman skill, or rather, my nose, was telling me so.
I stuck my bouquet into Chiba’s helmet and ran out the door. That wet silver hair that stood out even at night. That height wrapped in that long coat. Those awfully sharp eyes.
It was him.
My heart was positively skipping.
“H-Hi, good evening. A-Aren’t you getting all wet in the rain? Come on inside the shop!”
He stared at my face and then, without changing his expression, said, “I don’t need a drink. I just came to see your face.”
...
Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?
I was stunned for a second and turned the color of boiled octopus.
Uh, I can’t do this. I’m on the clock right now. B-But maybe I could talk to Madam and get time off starting now, and maybe, uh, would inviting him to my room work? Actually, it’d be the first time having a guy in my room not for work. W-Would he like, sleep over?
It was so sudden I wasn’t ready at all. Well, my body was! It’s my job, after all.
But man, this guy is always saying the most random stuff with a blank expression.
“...I knew someone like you would appear at some point. I just never thought it would be you.” He squinted. It was all like a riddle to me.
“I’m steeped in hatred. I don’t want your forgiveness or pity. I also know that you’re all from a different generation. Evolution, change, those are things humans do—they’re creatures that discard the past. For you lot, my hatred is just a story. Especially for you other-worlders.”
The rain poured down his hair and face.
Maybe he can’t survive outside the rain. It occurred to me that maybe he was incapable of crying.
“Someone will appear to end the story. Regardless of what sort of conclusion it is, I’m sure it will be bad luck for me. Maybe when it happens, I’ll be glad it was you. That’s what I thought, so I came to see your face”