THE wooden table on the terrace was loaded with an assortment of cuts of meat and vegetables, canned and nonalcoholic beers, bottled tea and juice, while the grill fire crackled merrily. Subaru was in charge of cooking, grilling meat and bringing vegetables to sizzling perfection one piece after another with practiced ease. Mia followed his every move with rapt attention.
“…Is this really so interesting?” he asked her.
“Yes. It’s not what I imagined it would be. For the barbecue I remember, we used wood and charcoal to start a fire, and then put a grill rack or a camping pot over it to cook food.”
“This one also uses charcoal, but here you can regulate the heat level by turning the knob.”
Wow, what a handy contraption! Mia regarded the grill with a newfound respect. Subaru watched her calmly, checking the temperatures of the meat.
“Beef tongue’s ready, everyone!”
“Okay! Well, let’s dig in then!”
At Misaki’s words, everyone reached for their drink of choice. Mia poured herself a glass of apple juice, and everyone toasted. As soon as the meal began, the air became filled with noise and boisterous chatter.
Misaki, who drove all the way there, was in a sour mood at first, questioning why he had to participate in the festivities too, but a generous portion of grilled meat restored his good spirits in no time, putting a smile on his face.
Subaru was heaping meat and veggies upon plates thrust towards him from people asking for seconds. He kept the best cuts for himself, though, and continued cooking, a beer in his hand. Shou and Aya were exchanging complaints about their workplace, and seemed to enjoy the party just fine. A few steps away from the rest, Ren was lighting up a cigarette and nibbling on grilled meat instead of the normal snacks.
Mia took a seat at the table and was inhaling the meat. It was so good! Not to mention that grilled meat was a rare treat for her. She was thus minding her own business, when suddenly, an avalanche of vegetables dropped onto her plate. …It was Subaru’s doing.
“Eat your veggies.”
“Ugh, but can’t I just enjoy meat, at least on this occasion?”
“Grilled vegetables taste amazing, just so you know. Grilled shiitake mushrooms, in particular, are a delicacy. I’m making some baked potatoes in the coals now too.”
Mia thought that baked potatoes weren’t a special enough dish to make for the party, but kept it to herself, chomping down on a shiitake instead. “Mm… Oh! It’s delicious!”
Just by getting grilled over hot coals, the abundant juices from the shiitake, a mushroom she had eaten so many times before, gained a special, deep flavor and aroma. Subaru sprinkled some lemon juice on top of the mushroom she was eating, and she found that the slight hint of sour complemented it perfectly. Subaru, nodding in satisfaction to her reaction, returned to his duties at the grill.
After that, Mia tried eating other veggies, and all of them tasted heavenly: the slightly crunchy pumpkin, onions and cabbage turned sweet by the heat, fragrant bell peppers.
“Whoa, I just made a new discovery! Who would have thought that grilling turns vegetables this tasty?”
She couldn’t help but wonder if she could replicate this at home. If all you had to do was cut and roast the veggies to make them this good, she could save money on the condiments, which would also make it very practical. Mia continued munching on her food, entertaining such domestic thoughts, until it was time to try the baked potato. She had Subaru put some butter on it for her, and bit into it very carefully, huffing around the small mouthful to cool it down somewhat. She was surprised to discover that it too, was scrumptious.
“Mm! Mmm! I never would have thought a lowly potato could be this delicious!”
“You really get surprised over the most mundane things, don’t you?”
She didn’t know when he had managed to sneak up on her, but Ren was standing right beside her, eating a baked potato as well. His topping of choice was mayonnaise.
“Is it good with the mayo too?”
“Yep, real good! Want some?”
Seeing Mia nod, he held his half-eaten potato out to the girl’s mouth. She took a small bite. She found that the hint of sourness in the mayonnaise enhanced the potato’s flavor.
“Mm, it tastes great!”
“I know, right?” Ren smiled at Mia upon hearing her state her honest opinion with the utmost seriousness.
The two of them nibbled on their respective potatoes for a while in companionable silence, until, out of the blue, Ren ventured a question, “Hey, Mia, I was thinking… You say you’re the Supreme Ruler of Evil, but what is it that you do, exactly?”
“…Huh?” Mia blinked at Ren in surprise.
He finished his potato and took a swig of his beer. “Well, we’re doubling as Champions of Justice, but I can’t say we’ve got a good understanding of the situation. The rest of the gang’s the same—one day, a scrap of paper came out of nowhere, signed by our chief, and that was how we got the job.”
“Seriously, I couldn’t believe my eyes! All of a sudden, he’s all like, ‘stop the Supreme Ruler of Evil!’ or coming up with stuff like ‘Crow Rangers’ and ‘Pink’… I thought the poor old guy went completely bonkers,” Aya inserted herself in the conversation.
Mia looked around the terrace and noticed that Misaki, Subaru, and Shou were all listening in. Apparently, they really didn’t know much about what they had gotten involved in.
However, Mia couldn’t offer much in the way of explanation either. Most of the battles and knowledge of the wars from before faded with her grandfather and all but disappeared with her father. What she was striving to do was extremely simple, but she was still struggling to find a concrete way to make it work, plagued by contradictions and inconsistencies in the teachings her father passed down to her.
“What is it that I do exactly, huh? Maybe it’s worth telling you who are my mortal foes! We are working tirelessly towards our long-cherished dream of achieving world domination!”
“Uh, we kinda know that already. But what are you doing to make that happen?”
“W-Well, that is… F-For now, I decided to take over the town I am living in before I advance on the world, so whenever I have free time, I am patrolling my domain, and beating up whatever reprehensible miscreant who does something that contradicts my ideal or causes trouble for the ordinary working class, or, at least, that is my intention.”
As she ended the explanation of what she was currently up to, Subaru crossed his arms and said, “I see.”
Shou also nodded in understanding, and flashed her a grin, stretching his lips around the mouthful of potato. “So that’s why you were flying around the town whenever you were on a break!”
Then, Aya raised her hand, like a diligent student in class. “I want to ask something, too. What are you going to do if you pull off taking over the world?”
“Eh?! I haven’t thought that far ahead. But you had better be ready for what comes after I defeat you—I shall activate the great magical art of darkness, thus completing the world conquest!”
“The great magical art of darkness?” Everyone raised their eyebrows.
“Ah!” Subaru exclaimed, seemingly having remembered something. “Are you talking about that beautiful rain of light that you showed us the day we first met? I seem to remember you calling that the great magical art of darkness.”
“Ah, the one Mia used to run away from us with her tail between her legs?”
“NO! That was the magic I used as a part of my distraction strategy! The spell I shall use after I lay you lot low is a different one!”
Everyone hummed as if they understood what she was talking about, but she could tell they didn’t. No wonder, for Mia didn’t understand it all that well either. What she did know was that there was a spell that she was supposed to execute in the wake of triumphing over the Crow Rangers.
Mia had been taught the great magical art of darkness by her father ever since she had been but a small child, training to manifest the correct image over and over again. Mia hadn’t been allowed time to play with her friends or to devote to her hobbies—all she had ever done was learn the great magical art of darkness and other spells that came with it from her father.
If Mia had to use one word to describe that great magical art of darkness, it would be ‘history’. Her father had carefully explained to her things not unlike those one would learn about in an elementary school’s social studies class, and then she had to recreate the scenes in her imagination in great detail and make images out of them. This kind of training had continued day after day.
This was why, if Mia was being completely honest, she couldn’t venture a guess as to what would happen when she used that spell after defeating the Crow Rangers. A gun salute…or something?