The Annals of the Flame Kingdom (WN)

"..."

"... oh"

A small courtyard, on the grounds of the Duke Terra mansion. An iron round table and a chair made of iron, placed to the degree of brother-in-law, tripod. On that table was a pot of tea and a teacup.

"Is it dusk in here? I thought you were looking."

In its courtyard, where the moonlight drops a gentle light, Ayano peeks into Kota's face as she leans in with her hands behind her back, showing a niggling laugh. One bitter laugh at the trick, Kota points to the chair in front of himself. 'Thank you' laughed happily at the trick, and Ayano silently lowered his hips.

"Black tea...... oh, no cups. Shall I bring it?

"Fine, 'cause I was drinking yours."

Hand over the pot and cup in front of Kota to yourself and mouth the cup you poured yourself. Just the two of them, it was also unspeakably funny to spin and drink one cup in such a scene that it was just a little mysterious: a falling midnight tea party in the moonlight, and Kota turned his bitter smile into a laugh.

"Situations and atmosphere are good, but do you want to spin and drink one cup?

"Fine, nothing. Instead of tilting a glass of wine in a tavern, a grilled chicken, or a beautiful restaurant with a night view over French food, we have a canned beer on TV watching a funny show."

"I don't have a body or a lid... well, I do. Oh, by the way, you're talking right now, because that's where I was drinking, right?

"Shh, shh, indirect kiss! Matsuyo and I kissed each other indirectly...... but it's embarrassing - the times passed over more than ten years ago. Mostly, I spin and drink canned beer, but I won't tell you if it's about a cup now."

Say that and take a breath, drink up the tea in the cup. The temperature was a little too high for Ayano, who has a slight cat tongue flavor, or she said, "Ayanagi, Ayanagi" with her tongue off.

"Damn, you... be careful"

"I thought it was cold to some extent. Tongue, there he is..."

Now drink carefully, surprise the tea poured into the cup, mouth slowly. The flavour itself leaked from Ayano's mouth in the first-class tea, with the unexpected words "ho ho" neither exhaled nor admired.

"... I'm sorry"

Kota talks to Ayano, who is indulging in tea with Hokuhoku's face, with a small, still definite voice. but the verbal Ayano gave a decent look while holding the cup with both hands.

"What is it?

"Well... I summoned you to this world."

"... oh"

Place the cup in both hands on the round table. Ka-chan, playing the sound, the cup descended on the round table, just a little tea filling the cup and the round table, rocked.

"... that's all right."

"Is that good?

"Not exactly good at all... but in the first place, I don't even know if you really summoned me, and there's nothing I can do about blaming you"

"... change the story, why do you think my head hurts so badly?

"I hit eight. You're guilty class enough for circumstantial evidence, so just spoil it for me, okay?

Ayano sighs with his shoulders clasped at Ayano, saying so without any evil. Regardless, it is not meant to be a reprimand for being beaten. A disdain for the goodness of this contemporaneous person, who tries to forgive me by calling myself a guilty class' eight-win 'with circumstantial evidence - more than that, with gratitude.

"There's nothing more I can do than summon you. We're gonna have to give up, right?

"For once, it's not like there's no way to go home..." I think?

At least I want Ayano back safely. I thought so and wondered if it would make me expect too much, but still, Kota stared at Ayano... he bumped into Ayano's gaze like he made a fool of himself.

"... what the fuck?

"You, right? How long you think it's been since I've been here? A month, a month? It's been a year, hasn't it?

"... so?

"Me, too, but you suddenly disappeared on your way to work, didn't you? I'll tell you what, it's been a pretty big case, huh? I even covered the weekly magazine. You gonna laugh?" Elite banker, mysterious disappearance! You're a god hide! 'What a title. You're the elite... I'll boil you some tea with my cord. "

"Oh, don't laugh! The sync's missing, so worry about it!

Turn a cold glance at such Kota's accusations, 'You idiot'.

"... worried, it's settled, right?

……

- Do you have any idea how much I've been looking for you? Not only in Tokyo, but all over Japan over the past year. I saw occult bulletin boards on the internet, and asked college seniors to find out if there were any similar cases in the past. I asked Semi to synchronize with the university that went into the police department and told them to turn the information around in confidence. I looked for you using all the networks I could use. Still, I never know where you are. I really thought you were dead. "

"... bad. And... thanks."

"I didn't mean to thank you. Just because I want to. So don't look so strange, you stink."

"It stinks..."

"As, well, anyway! Is that how you disappeared? The General Planning Department is making a fuss up and down! The general planning manager, he was taken responsibility and moved to the left? The guys in the inspection department not only visited the General Planning Department, but also the Marunouchi branch, where they handled the clerks every day... right? What do you think you're saying," I'm back? "You think your seat's in the bank? You don't think our bank is the kind company that warmly welcomes people absent from work for a whole year?

Ayano stares at Ayano with his jitsu eyes, and Kota unwittingly misses his gaze.

Deposit your money, lend it to your customers, and in some cases go around collecting a loan scorched with curse from your customers that you are a ghost, a demon. The best qualities of bankers are not wisdom, computational ability, or calculus, because they say 'mental strength'. It's not something else unusual to say 'unsuitable' in such a banking industry, that is, the disappearance of a mentally weak banker, which is likely to be misleading... but there is actually a lot of information out there. Not as often as once a year, but people still escape from some branch of some bank about every three to five years.

"... oh... that bothered everyone a lot."

If a person disappears, it will naturally be delivered to the police. If you are a student, or a housewife or an old man in a city well, that ends up externally, but not in a bank. A department called the Inspection Department conducts its own investigation from a different perspective than the police.

What caused the disappearance? Was there any power or sexual harassment by your boss? Wasn't there a gambling habit or a squandering habit in the missing banker? What's your working attitude? How many customers does it involve and have that information?

Sometimes he is interviewed until late at night, summoned to the headquarters, submitted to a letter of reversal and an opinion, and informed of his succession to the client of the missing person. Naturally, it's not like the store is closed while you're under that investigation. Do those jobs in parallel with normal business. It also affects the performance of the store, and it is certainly only a negative rating, every day, every day.

The investigation of the inspection department is not as gentle as that of the police. Whatever. 'Inside', anger flies, even paperwork flies. If you want to convey any incorrect information, you will be suspected of covering it up and will be investigated about it. No matter how the banker's qualities say 'mental strength', this surely erodes the spirit.

"... to the boulder, which side can you lower back to, right?

"Wouldn't you be able to go back if the skin on your face was thick? I think that's the best way to find out if you're dead."

"I was going to another world! So you're not convinced, are you?

"You can put me in the hospital in front of the bank. of the head."

Hota sighs heavily at Ayano's words. If you try to be a banker, Hota, it's something I've been prepared for to some extent since I was summoned... but still, there are kuru things.

"... well, some people will be happy when you get back."

"A jolly man?

"Your father, your mother, and your sister."

So... I was crying.

"... oh"

"Socially, it's like you and I are both dead... but still, I think you'd be happy, wouldn't you?

That's what I say, I put my mouth on the cup I put down. It cooled completely while we were talking, or the tea became quite warm, and no catastrophe occurred that would lead Ayano's tongue to burns.

"For those people, it might be one hand to send you home. The job... well, we'll figure it out. Nothing. The bank isn't the only one who can do anything."

Want a drink? Ayano says so while offering Kota a cup. To the words, Hota responds by shaking her head in silence, staring at the jade echoing moon that shines at the top of the heavens as she deposits her body on her back.

"... it's really a strange story."

To be Kota, Ayano also deposited herself on her back, only her eyes said, 'What?' Ask. In response to that gaze, Kota continued his words.

"'Cause it's a summons, summons. How fantastic, you're talking about. You can read words, you can read letters, right? Even you would, wouldn't you?

"Sort of."

"I don't know... yet, if it was magic or something, I'd be convinced. Earlier, Mr. Scion told me about Aleia's legacy. How true that is, it feels like" science. "I've been summoned with that device. I can't believe I'm watching a bad SF movie."

That's what Ayano puts his hand on his chin and thinks of something to Kota, who makes him smile bitterly. Kota looks a little surprised at the trick.

"... Hey, Hota. You know what?

"You think I can tell by that?

"Some famous cat-shaped robot with a big, shiny head."

"... oh"

It's that teacher guy who's a little strange.

"... Raccoon Talks Blue Raccoon,"

"I see. You want to get busted?

Ayano, who grips the fist bone, and Kota, who swings left and right just to the neck. Ayano unfurled her fist by squeaking her nose as she stared at the figure with jitty eyes.

"... there's a warp device coming out of that cartoon, right?

"What is a warp device... a window anywhere?

"Small size"

"Door somewhere?

"It would be too much of an outburst."

"Doors everywhere?

"Endless? Well, fine. Anyway, warp devices around there are possible in principle, right?

"... do you?

"The principle itself is simple, isn't it? Humans, animals, trees, stones, water, if stuck, are a collection of atoms. If you want to move from point A to point B, you just have to tear apart the atoms that make up humans once in A and assemble them again in B."

I want you to think of the plastic model. Disassemble the plastic model you made once - even though I doubt what that means - and reassemble it. With materials and blueprints together, it makes sense to be able to do the same thing.

"The only way words can make sense or letters can be read is if you mess with the assembly of that atom a little bit, right? I'm more convinced than magic, I am."

……

"... what?

"Ayano, is that rational?

"Law school."

"Sometimes you talk rationally, you."

Ayano looks sincerely disgusted by such Hota's words.

"Quit, right? I, rationally, don't really like it."

"That's a statement that turns the rationale of the whole world against the enemy. It's fashionable now, rational girl."

"I'm not a cheap woman who lightly embraces such a fashion, I am."

That being said, Ayano grabs the pot abusively and pours tea into the cup. What the hell touched Ayano's harp line, Hota stares at him as he twists his neck.

"... I don't know what to tell you."

"Is that what this is about?

"That's the thing. Say it's like a bad idea to rest."

That said, Ayano quietly pours the cup of tea into his mouth. A warm liquid went through Ayano's throat and fell to his stomach while maintaining that heat.

"... I'm sorry."

"What?

"Earlier... you know, what I said to the Duke of Terra"

"... oh"

Thinking of the earlier scene, Kota smiles bitterly.

"... nothing more than an apology. I mean, if you want to apologize, don't tell me from the beginning, okay?

"Because... somehow, I felt like I was being fooled by Kota... and I got angry. I'm reflecting now, yes"

With his mouth pointy, Hota strokes Pompom and his head with a bitter smile on Ayano, who nevertheless bows his head to a special victory. Beautiful dark hair reminiscent of Obsidian slipped through the gap between Kota's fingers and fell out.

"... Unfortunately, what you said isn't a mistake either"

"... really?

"Well, I'm not lying that I've lived with some care. The city is getting a little better, so good luck..."

"That duke said, 'I tormented Coata,' is that it?

"... No way"

It was a pleasure for the city to develop. Don't get bigger, richer and tension in your life, such a life was certainly, surely fun.

"... I yelled at you, me"

Huh? I heard it coming from in front of Kota.

"... there was a war between Larchia and Lyme. Terra attracted various chambers of commerce from different countries, because it felt like America. America has a parenthesis called 'Americans', but in Terra, it's like they left their identities in their country, only made boxes and forced them in there..."

- So it's broken.

Forget the most important thing attributed to humans, emotions - keep pretending not to look, the system of the city called Distorted Terra, which I was forced to create, collapsed without a shrill.

"'Please do something,' he said. 'There must be some way for you to do this, right?' That's what they say."

Bitter smile.

"... you'll see, Ayano. I'm not that capable. We can only do what we can. It's good if you know something. If you can do it. But I don't know how to solve something I don't know."

- I don't have that ability.

……

"So I yelled. I hit my desk, I said my voice was ridiculous and all I could do... that's what I said."

……

"... I suffered, I can't believe that's not happening. I was just emotionally angry because I was simply expected and couldn't live up to it."

It's a poorly dressed story, but that's what I said, and I looked at Ayano with a bitter smile.

"Hey, Ayano! Hey, why are you crying!

Afterwards, hurry. Ayano said, 'Huh?' He gave me a look and slowly wiped his own eyes.

"Is that it? Me, are you crying?

Ayano leaned her neck in a heartfelt wonder.

"I'm crying! I'm crying! Where is the element of crying now!

I imagined that it would make me laugh, I can't follow the scene in front of Kota that is the opposite of his imagination. Ayano stood up and took control of Hota with his hand, who tried to rush over next to Ayano. Ayano turned his smile to Kota after looking at Kota, who stopped walking, and wiping his own eyes with both hands.

"... Hey, Hota?

"What the fuck! I mean, you, tears -"

"It's okay, it's stopped already."

"- The makeup is terrible because it is zero and I wiped it that way. Ayano, Magitanuki"

Ayano, who leaves a dark makeup under his eyes and looks like a Kabuki neighborhood, is truly Tanuki himself. Serious was barefoot, and fled at full speed.

……

……

"... be buggered, bow your head and beg for forgiveness, or choose who you like?

For that dialogue of Ayano, Kota chooses the latter without saying anything. 'Don't raise your head until you say it's good!' Keep following Ayano's orders to the point of stupidity.

"... that's enough."

Eventually, at the end of the raised gaze, there was Ayano's appearance, completely back in his original face. As far as the sniveling handkerchief peeks out of his pocket, desperate restoration work would have been done... Kota is not wild enough to penetrate it, and he is not unarmed again.

"... Kohon. It kind of gave me a weird vibe... but could this be us, too?

"Obviously, it's one of your sumos."

"Don't say it! Come on, Kohon! Uh... hey, Hota?

"What the fuck?

"Oh, the..."

What time is Ayano's trick with a bad tooth cut? Surprised at the trick, he opened his mouth to speak up.

"... come with me, to the Kingdom of Larchia?

"-"

Unexpectedly whispers his mouth. With that figure in view, Ayano continued his words.

"If you are coming to the Kingdom of Larchia, I promise you the corresponding treatment. Even if you don't have to work, I can promise you that you'll pay me as much money as you can live. I'll even have a house, and I can give you some hope. I can promise you a life where you can live without having to do anything to slap your desk."

"... Ha. Wow, that. That's super nice."

"It's" The Virgin of Larchia ". That's about as much authority as I have. I mean, don't you think it's inefficient for the two of us to live separately?

"Efficiency?"

"It's a land you don't know well, a habit you don't know well? Even if we wanted to go back to the original world, we'd rather work together than alone, wouldn't we? We can support each other, and it's easy to talk to. Don't you want to eat Japanese food sometimes?

"Well..."

"Kota, you don't like cooking anyway, do you? If I were you, I could make Japanese food, right? There's soy sauce here. I can make anything."

……

"That way, it would be absolutely more efficient for you two to live together. So..."

Talk to me that much.

"... Ayano?

Unexpectedly, Ayano closes his mouth. I noticed that Haotai's gaze and my gaze were intertwined, and I smiled bitterly.

"... oh, already! Really... I don't think so."

"... what?

"If you come to the Kingdom of Larchia, do you promise the corresponding treatment? You don't have to work, do you want me to pay you? Is it more efficient to be alone? Can we support each other? Can I talk to you? I want Japanese food... okay. It's basic to grab a stomach."

"Hey, Ayano? What are you really talking about?

"I should have made up my mind then. I wish I had answered properly that I didn't want to lose it. I can't believe this is all I can say when I'm in front of you... I'm really sorry about that already, I"

Unexpectedly, Ayano takes his seat quietly with his mouth shut. Take another step and a step toward Ayano's sudden behavior and the suspicious face of Kota.

"Ah, Ayano? Oh, the... nearby -"

Distance from each other, almost to zero. If he reached out, Kota opened his mouth to try to stop him so close that he could be hugged as he was.

"Hey, shut up. A man doesn't get upset all the time."

The mouth is controlled by an index finger. Ayano's behavior, one head lower than Kota's, looked down like he was in a panic.

"-"

Ayano, with a smile, had eyes. Ayano's mouth slowly opened as she stared into her gaze like she was sucked in.

"- The moon is so beautiful."

A spinning, one-sentient, love poem.

"... I want to be beside you. I want to laugh at you. I want to live with you. In this other world, all I want is you."

I - Ayano Okawa wants to be beside you, beside Kota Matsudai.

"... that's all I wish for. If that's all it takes, I don't need anything anymore."

Pure, words of love.

A love letter of words that does not stop decorating, is foolish, is as honest as a fool, is straight, and that is why it shook Hota's heart.

"... lack of service, didn't you say?

To such a confession directly from the front, an upset Hota throws an answer in the direction of the day after tomorrow. Such an upset of Hota is hilarious, cute - and just a little happy Ayano picked up the ball of that thrown away conversation in discipline.

"Did you find out what that means properly?

"... oh"

"I'm the Virgin of Larchia, and you're the Demon King of Rondo de Terra, right? Since time immemorial, it's your job to capture the Virgin."

"I think it's the princess, not the Virgin, that the Demon King grabs?

"Details are good."

"Besides, this feels more like the Virgin is grabbing the Demon King."

To Kota's words, he giggled and laughed.

"So... Dear 'Demon King'? Take me - this, the Virgin."

Please, please grab it.

"My mind, not my body. I think of you, I think, my heart, I admire you so much that you can only see me... please grasp me."

Illuminated by the moonlight, in the courtyard.

How mysterious - and beautiful - is Ayano's appearance, where he picks the edge of his skirt and shows it with his head bowed in a playful gesture.

"- Ah."

- "The Virgin of Larchia"

The words are worthy, and Kota takes his breath without expecting Ayano to look like that.

"... I don't want answers right now. But think about it."

The trick, too, for a moment. Ayano dyed bright red to his ears as if nothing had happened, raising his head and saying so quickly.

"... Ayano"

"Ahhh! I can't hear you! I mean, I'm ashamed to death! I'm gonna die, so I'm gonna go home!

As for the dislodging, he distanced himself from Kota at such a rate that the expression suited him, and tried to walk home early on on the path he had come to. "Migi! 'To that unfortunate voice, which is roughly far from the divine image of earlier.

"... pu... kukuku... hahahahaha!

Kota doesn't stop, she laughs out loud. After standing up and paying for the bread and the mud on his clothes, Ayano glanced at Kota.

"... you know what? Normal, laugh?

"No, please, please... Kukukuku..."

"Kota!

"Wah, bad, bad! So, but..."

Bite the laugh to death and still half-eyed see Kota leaking an indestructible laugh, sighing heavily like he gave up.

"... it's not something you can't be. I'm so ashamed."

"No... but, come on, it was beautiful, huh?

"You don't say it with laughter! Something's upsetting me."

"If we're gonna start over, we're gonna hang out?

"Are you telling me to be ashamed or die? Besides, that's... because that's how I really feel. We don't need to start over."

Say that, have another beautiful grin.

"Then I'll tell you. If you feel responsible for 'I summoned you', then quit giving answers with that sense of responsibility, okay? I don't want you to be by my side with sympathy. I want to be with you who crave me from the bottom of my heart."

"...... hmm. Okay."

"Yeah, well..."

That said, turn your back and walk out...... stop that move. Ayano, who finds the universe and raises an odd voice like, uh, uh-huh.

"... religion?

"What kind of religion would stare at the universe and make an odd noise! Not... oh, no!

That's how you scream, bissi your index finger! and point it at Hota.

"Fine! I don't have a special winning personality for loving fair play, and I don't have the same dm sexuality to send salt to my enemies to push myself! Honestly, it's more sexual to strike unintentionally without making any noise from behind!

"Is that a heel declaration? Why are you telling me that now?"

"So... I don't have such a winning personality, but still, that... you're the only one who wants to be at the 'fair'. So I really don't have to tell you this."

Sayings.

With that look on your face, like a crying laugh.

"Of course, the customers who I know of" Hota "were not the ones who roughed up their voices, yelled at them, or slapped their desks at them at the same time... that made them 'emotional'."

Stuck inadvertently in words by that look.

"... that's not true. Spring Wind Hall."

To that powerless objection of Kota, Ayano shook his head beside him in silence.

"... Not at all, no? You know Kota, right?

Talk that far, pounding bread and both hands.

"- Oh, quit! This story is over! Anyway, you acted like you were, and I'm glad you chose me on top of that! Whoa! Whoa!

"Oh, oh."

Ayano nodded unexpectedly like he was pressured by such a quick mouth at once so as to curl up. One as satisfied with its Kota's behavior. This one nodded, 'Bye!' Turning his back, Ayano slowly walked down the path he had originally come, this time without falling.

……

Its back bends the corner, staring until it is completely invisible, and Kota makes a cup of leftover tea in the pot. Drink completely cold tea at once.

"... to"

Similar to the feeling, Kota's feeling of drinking tea, which had become completely bitter as a result of the long time he had put it down, spread to the courtyard, where the moonlight fell gently, and melted and disappeared without anyone asking.