Chapter 51: Youth?

“I’m going out for drinks with some of my fellow demons, so you guys go on ahead without me.”

“Oh, I’m going drinking with the waitress from earlier, too. Please go back to the hotel and get some rest.”

Apparently, both demons were planning to go out for a second round of drinks.

“Sis, don’t get a hangover, okay?”

“Don’t drink too much.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t drink that much.”

We left the two of them behind and headed back to the hotel.

After parting ways with Takamiya and Kitaura at the doors to our rooms, we went inside and took turns bathing.

“I can’t see anything…”

I had taken my bath first and was looking outside through the window, but it was too dark to make anything out.

“Phew… That was a nice bath.”

The bathroom door opened, and Ayaka stepped out in her sleepwear.

Needless to say, she looked cute.

“The pufferfish was delicious.”

“Yeah. I definitely didn’t feel like eating the poisonous parts, though. The rest was delicious.”

I hadn’t been able to eat the poisonous parts either.

“I thought this was a pretty nice town, too.”

“Yeah. I thought so as well.”

We stood side by side, staring intently out at a sea we could barely see.

After a little while, though, a boat with its lights on slowly passed by.

“Beautiful.”

“Yeah… Hey, what do you think would have happened if we’d stayed in that other world, and nobody had been able to defeat the Demon King?”

“Hmmm…”

“You’d probably have been helping out at my shop.”

“Yeah, I guess something like that might have happened.”

What would our relationship have become?

Well, I suppose it probably wouldn’t have been all that different from what it was now.

“That shop cost me quite a lot to set up, though.”

“Come to think of it, we just left it sitting there, didn’t we?”

I’d spent all the money I had saved up on that place, too.

“We would’ve become missing persons over there, too.”

We had spent five years there, so we had made quite a few acquaintances, and even had a fair number of regular customers at the shop.

“What a turbulent life…”

“Seriously. The only saving grace is that neither of us became especially close to anyone over there. If we’d gotten married and started families, things would’ve become an absolute disaster.”

“We’re twenty-six or twenty-seven, after all. It wouldn’t have been strange for us to have families by now…”

We had acquaintances over there, too, but in the end, the six of us had formed our own little community.

That applied to Ayaka and me as well, and I didn’t think any of the other four had become particularly close to anyone either.

“We were forcibly brought back, so I don’t think we could have brought any family members with us. Maybe some of our classmates ended up in that situation.”

“We were there for ten years, though… What about you, Yuu-kun? Didn’t you travel around, too, instead of just living in that town for five years?”

Of course, Ayaka would ask that.

“I didn’t have anyone like that. I don’t think Minato or Riku did, either. I think we probably always had it in the back of our minds that we might return someday.”

“Well, maybe we did, too. Hey, can I ask you something? If you’d been given the choice between coming back or staying there, what would you’ve chosen?”

………………

“I think it would’ve depended on what you all decided, but I would’ve voted to stay, for the same reason I mentioned before.”

Even if I returned, I had been missing for ten years. I no longer had a place to return to.

The whole world would make a fuss over us, and I probably wouldn’t be able to find a decent job.

“Even if you weighed that against your parents and family?”

If I stayed, obviously I’d never be able to see them again.

“If I were alone, I’d choose to come back. If you all chose to return, I’d come back without hesitation. If you stayed, I’d stay, too.”

To be completely honest, by “you guys,” I really meant Ayaka.

Though I wanted the other four to stay, too.

“I see… Well, I guess I’d choose the same. To be honest, I’d already been thinking about giving up adventuring.”

That was the first time I’d heard her say that.

“Really? What about Takamiya and Kitaura?”

Minato and Riku hadn’t seemed to be thinking that way.

“I haven’t told them, and it’s not as though we’ve actually discussed it. It was only something I’d vaguely been thinking about. You’re always trying to convince the five of us to come work at your shop, after all.”

That was something I had been telling all five of them.

I had constantly urged them to quit the dangerous profession of adventuring and move on to something else.

Whatever we decided to do, the sooner we started, the better.

“We’re already getting close to thirty.”

“Yeah… That’s the thing. I knew it wasn’t a job we could keep doing forever. I bet the other four had vaguely considered it, too.”

Maybe they had.

We continued staring outside just like that.

◆◇◆

I was sprawled out on the bed, idly looking at my smartphone, when I heard a knock at the door.

Hina sat up and went over to the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

It was Sis Linda.

“Come on in.”

Hina opened the door and returned with Sis Linda.

“Here, I brought you a souvenir.”

Linda placed a can of chūhai on the table.

“Alcohol?”

You’re still drinking after going out for a second round?

“Well, why not? It’s a girls’ night. Should we invite Ayaka-san, too?”

“Ayaka’s not coming.”

“She’s with Yuu, and those two are so serious. There’s no way they’re drinking alcohol.”

Those two were the ones who had complained the most the last time we drank.

And they had gotten the drunkest, too.

“That couple over there’s a little strange.”

“Exactly!”

“They’ve always been like that.”

Seriously.

“Um… Are they dating? I mean, are they actually in a relationship? I don’t sense much romance between Yuu-san and Ayaka-san.”

What does she mean by “romantic”?

Well, I understood what she was getting at.

“I don’t think so.”

Hina shook her head and sat down at the table, then picked up the can of chūhai. I got off the bed and joined her at the table.

“Takanashi-kun is just really shy about romance.”

I could understand Takanashi-kun’s reasoning, though.

The six of us got along well, and romantic complications could easily drive a wedge between us.

“Yuu-san likes Ayaka-san, doesn’t he? I could tell that clearly the first time I saw them.”

“Yep. I used to sit behind Takanashi-kun back when we were students, so I know him pretty well. He was always looking at Ayaka.”

I had been able to tell right away.

He was in love with Ayaka.

Even five years later, nothing had changed.

“What about Ayaka-san?”

“I seriously have no idea what Ayaka thinks.”

“She’s gentle and easygoing, but she doesn’t show much emotion on her face.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“She can certainly be a little difficult to read, but… she’s definitely aware of Yuu-san’s feelings for her, right?”

“Of course.”

Anyone would immediately realize when someone had feelings for them.

“Well, Ayaka doesn’t dislike him, and I think she likes him, too. You can tease those two a little, but don’t interfere too much. Honestly, even after Sis denied it earlier, if someone told me they were already dating, I’d just say, ‘Oh, okay.’”

People ask me for relationship advice fairly often, so I know what I’m talking about.

“Can I ask you about the biggest mystery?”

“Sure.”

It was probably that.

“Those two call each other by their first names, right? There’s nothing strange about that by itself, but they call everyone else by their surnames, don’t they?”

“Yeah.”

“When did that start again?”

Hina asked me.

“About three years ago, I think. Around the time the two of them went on a date.”

“Ah, their shopping date. Yeah, yeah, I remember that.”

That brought back some memories.

“Oh, they actually go on dates?”

“Most of the time, the guys and girls split up and do their own thing, but those two often go places together.”

“They’re even sharing the same room now.”

We’d reached the point where even that didn’t seem strange anymore.

“…………They’re not dating?”

“Like I said, just leave them alone.”

“Exactly. They’ll end up together eventually anyway. Takanashi-kun is serious about her, and Ayaka doesn’t exactly seem opposed to the idea.”

Takanashi-kun had even said he was going to marry her once we reached Tokyo.

I was planning to advise him to take things one step at a time, though.

“Hmmm… What about you guys?”

“Nothing going on, right?”

“Nothing. I guess the same goes for Minato and Riku, right? I’ve never really heard anything about either of them.”

We didn’t even talk about that kind of thing in the first place.

“Your love lives are all pretty barren, huh?”

“I want you to understand that we’ve had more important things to worry about.”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, hmm. How about this? I could help restore your confidence as men.”

“Don’t.”

“That’s not even funny.”

We might have been twenty-six, but at heart, we were still high school students.