By the time we had gone around to all the games we all wanted, it had become lunch time. So we decided to grab lunch together.
“I brought my own lunch.”
I decided to completely ignore the hardcore vegetarian who took out an entire half of a cabbage—raw!—from a purple pouch.
It would have been fine to just find a random chain restaurant, but it occurred to me that this was a good time to set up an impromptu mini incident. After making a phone call, I brought Shouta-kun and Baba to the open terrace café that Kaburagi-san liked so much, and secured a table outside.
Shouta-kun ordered a cup of hot coffee and sandwiches, and Baba chose the vegetable juice with no hesitation. When it became my turn to order, I called the phone in my left pocket with the phone in my right pocket, and pretended that I had urgent business to take care of. I threw down a 5,000 yen note to cover their bill, then quickly made my exit. Once I was out of sight, I ducked into the nearest internet café, locked myself in a private room, and switched to telekinetic monitoring mode.
Well then, this should be a good show! Several tens of minutes later, when Shouta-kun was right in the middle of teaching Baba how to play one of the most popular mobile games at the time with her sitting on his lap, he suddenly heard someone calling out to him.
“......Shouta? What are you doing?” It was Touka-chan, who just happened to pass by, in the middle of carrying out an urgent errand that I had asked of her. I had estimated the distance from Touka-chan’s home and the time it would take her to get herself ready, carefully arranging everything so that she would pass by this café with perfect timing.
Touka-chan, who was in a rather plain outfit composed of black shorts, a gray T-shirt, and a small handbag decorated with the Great Buddha of Nara, directed eyes filled with doubt toward the composition of a dressed up Baba and Shouta-kun in his showy outfit pressed against each other playing a game. From her point of view, surely this looked like Shouta-kun leaving her alone to enjoy a flirty date with a cute little girl. Things were going to blow up! This was my way of giving the two of them a little prodding, as there had been almost no new development in their relationship at all after the Super Water Sphere Incident. But frankly speaking, I just wanted to see a bittersweet scene of an adolescent romance. Gehehehe.
“Oh hey, Touka.”
“Touka, good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon to you too. So, what are you two doing? Didn’t you say that you’d be at home doing your homework today?” After kindly returning Baba’s greetings, Touka turned to press Shouta.
Here comes the lovers’ quarrel! Oh yeah! Things are getting fun! I was fully aware that what I was doing was in mega, super, terrible taste. However, my heart could not help but to speed up. It was my hope that this encounter could help Shouta-kun to clarify his attitude toward Touka-chan. Dammit, I also wanted an experience of being questioned by a pretty girl while having tea with another pretty girl during my adolescence!
Shouta-kun pulled back slightly from Touka-chan bearing down on him, and, with his eyes shifting all over the place, answered, “Ahh yeah, I finished up earlier than I’d expected. So I thought about visiting this café that Master had recommended.”
“Is that so. I haven’t had lunch yet either. Mind if I join you? This seat is not occupied, right? You mind if I sit here?”
“Sure, why not. Excuse me, waiter!”
Touka-chan readily accepted his reply, lowered herself into the seat next to Shouta’s, and spread open the menu. I initially thought this was an attempt to get in Baba’s way, but soon realized that that was not the case at all. The three of them had begun to chat harmoniously among each other.
Aww...... they’ve just met up like normal. No fighting broke out. Touka-chan’s “What are you doing?” turned out to be just a normal question and not an expression of jealousy at all.
Well, once I thought about it again, it kinda made sense. Baba’s outer appearance was that of a 9-year-old, while on the inside she was a 905-year-old grandma. A girl who would consider either of those forms a proper love rival would have to be quite the piece of work. In other words, Baba was not enough to trigger Touka-chan’s jealousy. And Baba being a baba, the way she looked at the two middle schoolers was completely with the eyes of a grandma looking at grandchildren.
When the conversation was directed to Baba as Touka-chan asked what she thought about her life so far in Japan, Baba stopped picking out the bacon bits in her vegetable salad to think deeply. After a brief moment, she replied, “I love it. Especially the sub-culture here, it is much more developed than it was in my country. Every day is very fun.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I love seeing you laughing every day too.”
“Indeed. I would love it if these days could just go on forever.”
I-Is that so. But isn’t that the kind of line that, after it’s said, won’t ever come true? Possibly because she came from another world, apparently Baba did not know about the concept of “flags” and similar forms of foreshadowing. According to what she had described so far, it sounded like the sub-culture in her world was practically non-existent. As such, it wouldn’t be strange that these concepts were foreign to her.
Though in the first place, this reality was one in which things happen regardless of flags anyways.
After saying “Let’s get married after I get back from the war,” people still normally come back and get married.
After saying “Like I can stand this any longer! I’m going back to my room!” the person still normally lives on.
It might sound completely uninteresting, but this was “the norm.”
But in the same vein, participating in a reckless charge during war would get you killed like normal, and turning your back on a serial killer would mean getting stabbed in the back like normal. A certain amount of effort is required for “these days to go on forever,” and a certain amount of reward would come from that certain amount of effort. Though of course, the tragic outcome of effort going unrewarded also being normal was what made reality so shitty.
I very much wanted Baba to put in her bit of effort.
“And that’s why, for the sake of protecting this most precious peace, it falls on us to put an end to the World Shadows, and to the demon lord behind them all.”
Oh, that part you don’t have to put effort into. I don’t want to die just yet.