PLEASANTLY warm from their long soak, the two girls put on crisp, rustling yukatas and left the springs behind, engrossed in lighthearted chatter. The moment they were out the door, Mia was greeted by the sight of two incredibly familiar people, along with a man she didn’t know, and a small girl.
“R-Ren and Aya?!”
Ren’s gaze locked on Mia, “HA! HA! HA! Mia… So, all this time we’ve been searching desperately all over for you in our rental car, you were here, enjoying delicious food and relaxing in a hot spring? You are so gonna get it!”
“Oh, Mia! We were so worried! What are you doing in a place like this?” Aya lightly knocked her on the head.
As Mia was gingerly rubbing the sore spot on her head, she heard Kana’s voice. “…Masayuki.”
The way Kana spoke his name left no doubt in Mia’s heart that this was the woman’s husband. Why would her husband be with those two? Mia looked thoroughly mystified, so Aya offered an explanation.
“Some time ago, a woman was reported missing. She disappeared from the town park at around noon, and although her family looked everywhere for her, they couldn’t find her.”
While they had been combing the park and its vicinity, there had been a call from a station attendant who had seen Kana and a teenage girl head towards a platform together. When Ren and Aya had caught on that the teenage girl must have been Mia, they felt their blood freeze in their veins. They had been absolutely convinced that Mia had gone on a trip on her own, but now they had learned she had been spotted with a woman who had been reported missing!
Had Mia gotten herself involved in some kind of trouble? The two police officers, convinced that that must be the case, had taken Kana’s husband and daughter with them and had come all the way here. Thanks to the tracking device, they had been able to approximate their location quite easily, but there were so many hotels and inns in this area; they had had no idea which place it was exactly that Mia and Kana had chosen to stay, so they had to resort to asking around randomly and hoping for the best. The search had taken them quite some time, but eventually they had reached here.
“Ugh, here we were, thinking you’ve gotten yourself into some kind of crazy mess, worried out of our minds, looking for you everywhere, and here you are, stuffing yourself full of food and lazing around in a hot spring without a care in the world! You are so in trouble for this. I’m not letting this go until I dish out some extra special punishment!” Ren gritted out, closing in on her with malicious determination.
Mia backed away, snapping defensively at him, “Wh-Why in the world did you have to worry about me?! Whatever I choose to do is none of your concern! I am the Supreme Ruler of Evil! It is my job to perpetrate evil deeds. You get no say in what I do to perform my duties!” Mia yelled at him with mounting desperation.
That didn’t seem to faze Ren, who took a final big step towards her, and pulled her into his chest by the arm, tightly closing his arms around her. Holding her in his arms, he whispered in her ear, “…I’m begging you, please, if you’re gonna stir up trouble, do it somewhere close to us. Don’t stray too far away from me,” he bit out, almost pleadingly.
Mia’s eyes flew open in surprise, her mind racing a mile a minute. She felt so confused her head started spinning. Why was there so much sadness dripping from his voice? How could she deny him after hearing it?
“Why? …Why do you care about me so much? We are enemies. You are the Champions of Justice, and I…I am the Supreme R-Ruler of the evil orga—”
“Mia. To me and to Ren, to all of us, you are just Mia before you are the Supreme Ruler of Evil, and we worry about you. Caring about people has nothing to do with their position,” Aya softly asserted, brushing through Mia’s hair with a gentle hand.
When Mia looked up at Ren, she noticed that his brows were furrowed, his face drawn painfully. His clothes under her cheek were damp. A tentative sniff revealed a slight tang of sweat. He had probably worked it up while looking for her. As she glanced over at Aya, she saw that her shirt was sticking to her chest too, a dark circle of perspiration discoloring it. Mia felt terrible at her discoveries.
“…S-Sorry,” a word of remorse spontaneously tumbled from her lips.
Her own mouth was betraying her, apologizing to her mortal foes, the Champions of Justice, against her will—something she would never be caught doing under normal circumstances. Ren smiled softly in response and tenderly stroked her back. Mia felt warmth spread through her heart at that one small gesture.
Kana and Mia quickly changed from yukatas into their regular clothes, and exited the ryokan. Kana and her family said they would take a cab to the train station. Ren, Aya, and, by extension, Mia, would go back after returning the car they had rented, which meant that this was where Mia and Kana would part ways.
“Glad that we could find the missing person within the day, before something happened to her!”
“Yes. I am so sorry to have caused you so much trouble.” Kana bowed her head politely, and her husband, who was standing by her side, did the same.
Mia eyed Kana pensively, thinking whether she should say something to her. The woman, however, beat her to it, flashing her a big smile. “Mia, thanks for listening to me and my petty whining. I feel so much better now. Thanks to you, I feel like I might’ve gained a new perspective.”
“I-I see. Um, well, what can I say… Be good to your husband and daughter!” Mia said, awkwardly scratching her head.
Kana nodded, lovingly looking at her family. Her husband tentatively called out to Mia. “Um, I still don’t understand how you’re connected to all of this, but thank you very much for being there for Kana.”
“N-Not at all! I did nothing worthy of your gratitude! Rather, I was the one who abdu—A-Ah, err, never mind! Um…” Mia stammered, flailing her arm out in front of her as if trying to wipe away what she had just said.
She couldn’t very well say, “Hey, I was the one who kidnapped your wife,” so to distract the man from her slip of the tongue, she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. “C-Could you…could you talk more to Kana? A-And give her lots of love!”
“Wha—Mia?!” Kana gaped, startled, her face rapidly reddening, but Mia had already lost control of her mouth, babbling further.