WHEN Mia returned to her hometown, it was pitch-dark already, the clock showing just a little past 7 p.m.
“Phew, I’m beat.”
“I feel quite tired too, although I feel less physically drained after taking a nap on the train.”
As they were stretching their arms, a truck stopped at a roundabout near the train station they had just exited. The front door opened, revealing Ren as the driver.
“Mia! And Misaki too. Welcome back! Good job out there,” Ren said, approaching them and patting Mia on the head as soon as she was within arm’s reach.
Mia just nodded while trying to hide a yawn.
“I explained what happened briefly in my text message. Well, I really owe you guys one this time. I ended up dragging everyone into this though…”
“Yeah, well, you know how fun it is to stick your nose into people’s personal lives. I really don’t mind. Just be happy that it all turned out well in the end, Misaki. I know I am.”
Misaki gave a sheepish smile, to which Ren answered with his typical grin. Then he invited the two weary travelers to get in the truck and stepped on the gas.
“Is everyone off from work already?”
“Yeah, including our overtimers. I think the gang’s gathered already—we were all planning to meet up to go to a barbecue place.”
Apparently, their destination was a grill restaurant.
“Barbecue, huh?” Mia drawled absentmindedly, feeling hunger pangs start at the mention of food.
“By the way, Mia, how are you holding up?” Ren suddenly asked, his hands on the steering wheel.
“Eh?”
“There’s a limit to how much magical power you can spend in one day, right? You didn’t push yourself too hard like you promised me, right?”
This sounded almost exactly like something the kind man from the police station whose name Mia had forgotten to ask had said to her. Her father had never mentioned such a limit, so Mia tilted her head to the side, and replied to Ren in a puzzled tone of voice, “I’m not sure what you mean, but I don’t think I’ve strained myself too hard. I do feel fatigued though.”
“Really? Well, you don’t look so bad at a glance,” Ren hummed, his voice not losing the worried edge to it.
“She’s fine now,” Misaki asserted, lightening the mood in the car. “She did look like she had just raced her way through a marathon after flying all that distance to Kyoto, but after taking a bit of a rest, she was walking and talking like nothing even happened. She slept like a log on the train to Tokyo, and when she woke up as the train stopped, she looked fresh as a daisy.”
“That so? Okay then. …I’m glad to hear that,” Ren let out a sigh of relief.
In Mia’s opinion, there was really no reason to make such a fuss about it. Ren is such a worrywart, although one could never tell just by looking at him, she thought, throwing a leisurely glance at Ren.
Before long, they arrived at a grill restaurant which was a part of a larger franchise Mia had seen many times around town. A cheerful staff member escorted them to a booth towards the back of the store, where Aya, Shou, and Subaru were already sitting, sipping on their drinks.
“Good to see you back!”
“Great job out there, Mia! You really saved the day!”
“Come on, sit down and drink something. You must be starving too. We’ve already ordered, so let’s dig in right away.”
Mia took a seat to the accompaniment of varied appreciative greetings. Shortly after that, the food that the others had ordered arrived. The meat Mia had eaten at the barbecue party was, of course, of unparalleled taste, but the meat this restaurant served was very good too; besides, they offered a huge variety of sauces to go with it. She felt positively ravenous, so, just for today, Mia emptied her head of all notions of restraint and practically inhaled the food on her plate. Subaru fondly watched her going to town on the meat and slipped her piece after piece.
The topic on everyone’s lips was, naturally, Misaki and Sayoko.
“Yippee… Finally, our Misaki bit the bullet! But wow, the way you dealt with it, so manly!”
“Stop teasing me about it. Well, what can I say, I knew I was being a total wimp, so when Mia told me as much, it made my blood boil. But if she hadn’t given me that push, I probably would’ve given up on Sayoko. So, thank you, Mia,” Misaki flashed a broad smile aimed at her.
Mia hiccupped, accidentally swallowing the whole piece of meat she was chewing on.
“D-Don’t mind it,” she answered quickly, blush high on her cheeks, after hurriedly gulping down her glass of water. Mia wiped her mouth with a hot towel.
…That was a bolt from the blue. Misaki had never smiled at her before. Feeling flustered, she devoted her full attention to devouring the heaps of meat Subaru deposited on her plate with the regularity and speed of a conveyor belt. The group regarded her antics with tenderness; after all that had happened, they all knew how shy the girl was and how much of a front she liked to put up to hide her feelings.
This time, Mia had acted purely upon her feelings without trying to justify it with speeches about her duties as the Supreme Ruler of Evil or the good of the ordinary citizens. The Crow Rangers were happy to see that. They all agreed that doing what she felt was right suited her much better than all that talk about being a villain and taking over the world. …What could they do to break the chains of “achieving world conquest” that were holding her back?
Until Mia’s father had passed way, he had been her whole world—that much was clear from her behavior. She was shockingly naïve, often oblivious about things everybody else thought were common sense. She had followed her father blindly, learned magic per his instructions, and knew nothing but that and her pride as the Supreme Ruler of Evil. That was all she had.
Her father’s words had been her entire world. How could they break that chain of dependence cast over her like a binding spell? The Crow Rangers, especially Ren, were serious about finding the solution to this problem. They wanted to take her to all kinds of places, make her feel and see myriads of things she had never even dreamed of before. Through that multitude of new experiences, gradually, she would grow, so that someday, the chains wouldn’t be able to contain her anymore.
Scarfing down all the meat in her immediate vicinity seemed to mollify Mia; with the last piece of meat disappearing in her mouth, she let out a satisfied exhale. Then, as if having remembered something, she energetically rummaged through the contents of her paper bag.
“By the way, I received some souvenirs from Sayoko. Aya, she got you a box of oil blotting papers and a boxwood comb.”
“Really? Nice! I’ve always wanted a boxwood comb. It’ll make my hair extra glossy!” Aya rejoiced, accepting her souvenirs.
“Wait, there’s more,” Mia announced, and began taking out the Japanese sweets and pickles, a lone business card falling out from the depths of the bag in the process.
“Hm, what’s that? A business card?”
“Yes. I got it from the man who was supposed to marry Sayoko.”
“Why are you carrying his card around?” Ren’s face twisted in a malicious scowl, not liking the fact that Mia had a card with some strange man’s name on it with her one bit.
Misaki hastily tried to say something, but Mia beat him to the punch, replying nonchalantly, “He gave it to me. Apparently, he wanted to sell me a kimono or something.”
“A kimono? Oh right, it says kimono store right here.”
“Yup. He told me to visit his place if I ever find myself in need of bridal attire.”
This news induced a violent coughing fit in Ren. “Bridal attire?! Why so specific?!”
“I have no idea. Oh, do you happen to know what ‘nuptial cups’ are? He mentioned hoping to exchange them with me someday.”
This caused Subaru and Aya to choke on their pieces of meat and suffer the same fate as Ren. Misaki clutched at his head.
“Wha—Misaki! What happened in Kyoto? Why did Sayoko’s fiancé hit on Mia?!”
“I don’t really know either! What I do know is that he seemed to be really into her. Actually, rather than just hitting on her, he seemed to be pretty serious about her, now that I think about it.”
“That’s even worse!” Ren mumbled sullenly into his cup of oolong tea.
Mia observed Aya’s empty laugh and Subaru muttering darkly about how he would never forgive the man who had dared to say such things. “What’s the problem? I fail to understand what is going on. Are ‘nuptial cups’ some dangerous object?”
“Haha, don’t worry about it. Ren’s just losing it because of your newfound popularity, and Subaru’s all up in his father-of-a-teenage-daughter mode,” Shou snickered.
His explanation failing to enlighten Mia, she tilted her head to the side in utter confusion.