Chapter 26: Venting and the Cola Float
Late that night.
Perhaps because I’d spent the evening breaking into a cold sweat while trying to stop Eve and Mikaela from blowing the house apart, I woke up feeling thirsty.
With a groan, I slipped out of bed and made my way toward the kitchen.
The house was silent.
Moonlight filtered through the windows, painting silver streaks across the floorboards. The only sounds were the occasional creak of wood and the distant chirping of insects outside.
I opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of cola.
The dark liquid hissed softly as I poured it into a large glass.
“…Maybe I’ll treat myself tonight.”
A little reward for surviving that disaster of a dinner.
Opening the freezer, I took out a cup of vanilla ice cream and carefully placed a generous scoop on top of the cola.
The ice cream floated lazily on the bubbling surface.
Then I added a straw.
A cola float.
Perfect.
“If Raphiel sees this, she’ll be in a bad mood instantly…”
“Why?”
“Because if someone catches you secretly eating delicious food in the middle of the night without sharing, anyone would get mad. I mean—”
I froze.
“…Huh?”
“Hey there, Eight.”
A voice came from directly behind me.
Turning around, I found Mikaela standing there.
Somehow.
Silently.
Like a ghost.
“When did you get here!?”
“Just now.”
She pointed at the cola float in my hand.
“Can you make one for me too?”
Then she flashed a mischievous grin.
“Consider it payment for keeping quiet.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
I immediately prepared a second one.
Since it was technically hush money, I even gave her a slightly larger scoop of ice cream.
Mikaela accepted the glass with obvious curiosity.
First, she scooped up a bite of ice cream.
Then she cautiously lowered the straw into the cola and took a sip.
“Pyaah!?”
“Pyaah?”
“I-I’m fine! It just surprised me!”
Her shoulders jumped.
“T-That sweet black liquid exploded inside my mouth!”
“Ah, that’s cola. It’s supposed to do that.”
I pointed at the glass.
“By the way, if you let the ice cream melt a little and then drink the cola, it tastes even better.”
“R-Really?”
She sounded skeptical.
Even so, she obediently pushed the ice cream deeper into the cola and waited.
A moment later she took another sip.
Her eyes widened.
“Whoa!!”
The surprise on her face was almost comical.
“The fizzy liquid became smoother because of the ice cream! It’s even more delicious now!”
“Right?”
“That’s amazing!”
Watching people discover modern junk food was strangely satisfying.
Mikaela drained the entire float in no time at all.
Well, girls generally liked sweets.
With this, she’d probably keep quiet about my secret midnight snack.
Probably.
“This house is full of things I’ve never seen before.”
Mikaela rested her chin on her hand and glanced around the kitchen.
“How does water come out just by turning a handle? And hot water too?”
“Uh… plumbing?”
I scratched my cheek.
“Sorry. I don’t actually know the details.”
“…You use something without understanding how it works?”
She looked genuinely baffled.
“Doesn’t that scare you?”
“Not really. It’s been around since I was little.”
Honestly, how many people in modern society actually understood the full mechanics behind electricity or water systems?
Most people just used them.
Though these days, anyone curious enough could probably look it up online in a few minutes.
“…Hey, Eight.”
“Yeah?”
“Changing the subject.”
She fiddled absentmindedly with her empty glass.
“What do you think of Rafi-chan?”
“A glutton.”
“Huh?”
“Sorry, that came out wrong.”
I coughed.
“A girl who eats well.”
“Isn’t that the exact same thing?”
Well…
It wasn’t inaccurate.
“After breakfast, she asks what’s for lunch.”
“…”
“After lunch, she asks what’s for dinner.”
“…”
“And after dinner, she asks what’s for breakfast.”
Mikaela blinked.
Then she laughed softly.
“A Rafi-chan I never knew existed.”
Her smile was gentle.
But there was also something sad about it.
“I see.”
Her gaze drifted downward.
“You’re different.”
“Mikaela?”
She looked up.
Moonlight reflected in her eyes.
For the first time, I noticed tears gathering there.
Not enough to fall.
Just enough to glisten.
Then, without warning—
She dropped a bomb.
“You know, I hate Rafi-chan.”
“…Huh?”
“I hate the way she’s always so composed.”
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
“I hate the way she uses ‘I’ as her first-person pronoun and acts just cool enough to make it annoying.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I hate how everyone calls her the Second Coming of the Great Saintess and showers her with praise.”
“Right.”
“Seriously pisses me off.”
“…I see.”
I didn’t.
Not at all.
Mikaela had suddenly started badmouthing Raphiel.
Yet somehow—
None of it sounded malicious.
None of it sounded hateful.
Everything she said felt strangely contradictory.
Then her expression changed.
“It’s infuriating.”
The smile disappeared.
“Nobody actually sees Rafi-chan.”
“…What?”
Hold on.
The conversation had taken a sharp turn.
“Rafi-chan suffered so much when she was little.”
Her fingers tightened around the glass.
“So much pain. So much suffering.”
Her voice trembled.
“When I was that age, I was being spoiled as a noble’s daughter.”
Bitterness seeped into her words.
“But Rafi-chan was enduring things no child should have to endure.”
“Grana mentioned something about training that was basically torture…”
“Exactly!”
Mikaela slammed her palm on the table.
“Also, what’s with that ‘I’ nonsense!? Why can’t she just say ‘Me’ like everyone else!?”
“That’s the part you’re upset about?”
“She acts like she’s special!”
Mikaela pointed accusingly at the air as though Raphiel were standing there.
“But she’s not!”
The words burst out almost violently.
“She just happened to receive blessings and talent from the gods! She’s still a normal girl!”
“Do you really think she’s trying to act special?”
“I don’t care!”
The floodgates had opened.
Nothing was stopping her now.
Yet every complaint overflowed with unmistakable passion.
Not hatred.
Not contempt.
Something else.
Something much warmer.
“Everyone keeps comparing her to that Great Saintess!”
Mikaela’s voice rose.
“Don’t lump Rafi-chan together with some old hag from three hundred years ago!”
“Whoa, calm down!”
I hurriedly refilled her cola float.
“Here! Emergency refill!”
“Mmph.”
She accepted the spoon automatically.
After taking a bite, she continued grumbling.
“What annoys me most is that Rafi-chan herself accepted it.”
“Accepted it?”
“She acts like it doesn’t bother her.”
Mikaela stared into the melting ice cream.
“But nobody sees her as herself.”
The vulnerability in her voice struck me.
“Nobody looks at Rafi-chan and sees Rafi-chan.”
Unlike Ronda, who had viewed Raphiel through entirely different eyes, Mikaela’s anger came from the perspective of a friend.
A genuine friend.
Someone who cared deeply.
I couldn’t help smiling.
“You really love Raphiel, don’t you?”
Mikaela froze.
Then she laughed bitterly.
“…Of course I do.”
A tear finally escaped and rolled down her cheek.
“I hate her.”
Her voice softened.
“But I love her too.”
She wiped her eyes.
“She was my first friend.”
The smile she wore was fragile.
“When things were hard, she stayed by my side.”
Silence filled the kitchen.
Then she pointed at me.
“That’s why I hate you too.”
“Wait, what!?”
How did this become my fault!?
“Rafi-chan calls this place ‘home.’”
Mikaela pouted.
“She talks about this house like she belongs here.”
“Uh…”
“And the two of you feel weirdly close.”
“That’s not—”
“She abandoned her pilgrimage and settled down here.”
“That wasn’t exactly planned—”
“And now she’s getting along with a Demon King!”
“Okay, that one definitely isn’t my fault.”
I had absolutely no defense against these accusations.
Mikaela sighed.
“I completed the First Trial.”
Her voice became quieter.
“I learned things I never wanted to know.”
The joking atmosphere vanished.
“And now I have to carry out a mission that could cost me my life.”
“But if Rafi-chan’s happy…”
She smiled faintly.
“Then I guess that’s okay.”
“The First Trial?”
“You don’t know?”
Mikaela blinked.
“Saintesses travel across the Kingdom of Elde and visit sacred sites called Trial Towers.”
“What?”
“You climb to the top.”
Suddenly the fantasy setting felt a lot more fantasy.
“Then you’re given memories.”
“Memories?”
“From three hundred years ago.”
I stared.
She stared back.
“…This world just got significantly more fantasy-like.”
“I’m not entirely sure what that means.”
Neither was I.
But memories from three hundred years ago?
That sounded absurd.
“Anyway,” Mikaela continued, “if what I saw in those memories is true, this country could be destroyed at any time.”
My smile vanished.
“…What?”
“The purpose of the pilgrimage is to obtain the power needed to prevent that.”
I fell silent.
Then a troubling realization struck me.
Wait.
If Raphiel had abandoned her pilgrimage…
Wasn’t that actually a pretty serious problem?
“Mikaela, could you explain more about—”
I stopped.
“Huh?”
No response.
“Mikaela?”
Nothing.
Her head had slumped onto the table.
Soft breathing escaped her lips.
She was asleep.
“Seriously?”
Well, it was the middle of the night.
She’d been traveling for who knew how long.
Between exhaustion and the sugar crash, she’d probably reached her limit.
Still, sleeping face-down on the dining table wasn’t exactly ideal.
“Excuse me.”
“Mm…”
I carefully lifted her into my arms.
She weighed surprisingly little.
Then I carried her to the guest room—
And stopped.
“…Raphiel?”
There was already someone occupying the bed.
“Mnnh… I want more food…”
Raphiel was sprawled across the mattress, sleeping like a log.
Her shirt had ridden up, exposing her stomach.
Completely defenseless.
Completely un-Saintly.
At that moment, she didn’t resemble the revered Second Coming of the Great Saintess.
She didn’t look like a legendary figure.
Or a religious icon.
Or a chosen child of the gods.
She simply looked like a girl.
A normal girl her age.
Perhaps that was what Mikaela wanted everyone to treasure.
Not the Saintess.
Not the symbol.
Not the miracle.
Just Raphiel herself.
As I watched her sleeping peacefully, I found myself smiling.
…Yeah.
That really was something worth protecting.