PMZ 117 – Come with me.

…I fell asleep…

I woke up beside Hayato, who is breathing softly while asleep, and stared at his sleeping face.

To think of it, there’s no way He had a proper sleep since the day before yesterday; it was natural for him to pass out as if he had been drinking.

 –He been quite reckless recently, hasn’t he?

I gently touched her black hair. There is no response at all. It seems that he was very tired.

I always thought of you like some superhuman, but in the end. You’re just another human being,

I know there’s something weighing your mind, though I don’t know what it is because you refused to tell me. And to be honest, I don’t even know if can help you.

“It’s not that kind of problem,” you said… I’m sure he meant that it’s not something that can be solved by force. That’s why He went out alone, without his friends, without me.

He gave up everything he had and even did something that almost like a farewell to this life.

I don’t want this.

Can’t you take me with you?

[Please allow me to follow you.] I want to tell him that, but still I couldn’t bear to woke him up, so I rolled over next to him.

From the gap of an open curtain of our inn, I could see a big white bird flew… huh? It’s rare to see a bird at this time of night. I wonder if it was an owl?

Seeing it made me remember Goddess Minerva. So I closed my eyes, folded my arms, and prayed in my heart.

Lady Minerva, What should I do?

Please guide me.

 –…… as always, no answer is coming at these kinds of situations, not in this or in my previous life.

As I closed my eyes, I began to feel drowsy, and my body and consciousness sank into a swamp-like sensation.

I guess I was also tired…

I wanted to stay awake until George, and the others came back. If Hayato escapes while I’m asleep, I won’t even be able to regret it.

I reached out and put my hand under Hayato’s neck, making it an arm pillow, and then I hug his head.

This way, if he woke up, I would be able to notice immediately. With his head in my arms, I closed my eyes, unable to resist the drowsiness.

As I drifted off to sleep, I felt a little disappointed because my dream of “spending the night together” that I had when we had just become partner had come true in a way different form of what I want it to be.

The fact that it wasn’t an outdoor camp was a small thing. The difference was more fundamental. I want it to be purer, I want it to be something I could excite about.

I never imagined that my dream would come true while we were in this anxious-filled atmosphere.

I heard a knock on the door and woke up startled.

I wondered how long I had been asleep. But I felt relieved to find Hayato’s head in my arms.

When I opened the door, I found the three of them in a jovial mood, completely drunk, and I felt as if my depression had been lifted a little.

“Let’s not get in the way, wait! But that’s our room!  e…? Was Alice asleep too?””

“Yeah. A little… I guess I was tired too. What time is it?”

“Um, …… three o’clock! Time for a snack!”

George was the one who answer. He is definitely drunk.

I wonder if I could trust them with Hayato.

“Shut up, George! You are so annoying! I’m sorry, Alisha, we’re making too much noise. What do we do now? Should we go back to the girls’ room?”

Betty, who seems relatively sober, calls out to me with concern.

“… Yes. It’s almost dawn, so let’s get some rest. We’ll be moving around a lot tomorrow.”

“That’s right. …… Ted, George! Are you two okay? Will you be able to hand over Hayato to Alisha tomorrow morning?”

“It’ll be fineeee.”

I doubt that it will be ‘fine’ at all, but we had no choice but to leave it to the two of them.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine. Let’s go, Betty.”

“Yes.”

I returned to the girl’s room with Betty. Lay down on the bed while trying to get some sleep.

“…Hey, Alisha. I might be asking something sensitive here… but how far have you gone with Hayato?”

Late-night girl talk suddenly begins!

Betty seems to be quite drunk herself. Afterall, there’s no way she would ask this sensitive topic if she was sober.

“I don’t know how far you expect us to be, but its probably nothing. Sometimes he kiss me on the cheek.”

“What? Uhh! Even though you live together, you just flirt? How shy are you?”

“…How about you, Betty? Do you have a boyfriend right now?”

“No No, I don’t. …But I kind of like Ted. dogs are cute.”

“Oh, you like him because of his pet dog? Sure, they’re cute!”

“No! It’s not that! …I mean, it’s cute to see him playing with the puppies. He might have a big build, but you can see the kindness oozing when he plays with them…”

Oh……! Is she serious?

“fufu, I’ll support you.”

“Thanks… and about Ridill? Hayato’s going-to-be territory? I have decided that I’m going to move there too.”

“I see. Ted sure made a quick decision if it something had to do with his puppies.”

“Yes. That’s why I’m going to fol…

god!!!! That’s so embarrassing! Please don’t tell him about this, okay?”

“Worry not. I won’t. It would ruin the fun of teasing you guys afterward.”

“You’re so mean! What should I do? Alishia will tease me to no end from no tomorrow!”

Betty pressed her face against the pillow and flapped her legs.

Then she quieted down and began to breathe in her sleep. I laughed at how easy she slept as if someone removed a battery from her power source.

… I have to go to bed too.

But whether it’s because I was asleep earlier or because I’m anxious, my eyes are clear, and I can’t seem to fall asleep at all.

I could force it using sleep magic, but I’m afraid to oversleep.

I can’t sleep peacefully without Hayato next to me.

I rolled over and over again, feeling the dawn slowly coming from behind the curtain.

As I was thinking about various things in a rambling manner, the conversation I had with Betty earlier came back to my mind.

We’re all going to move to Ridill, huh? Sounds fun. I hope it happens soon.

…By the way, if you continue to move further southeast from this town, you will reach Ridill.

I’ve never been there, but Hayato and the others said they’ve been there before to take on request.

If I’m going to live in that village in the future, I’d like to stop by, even if it just for a short time. I finally felt sleepy after thinking about it.

But then I heard a slight sound of a door slam from somewhere, and I jumped up as if I had been jolted.

It was five o’clock. It was still dawn.

I had a strong-bad feeling, so I looked out the window as I changed my clothes and saw Hayato in his traveling clothes coming out of the inn alone, disappearing into the empty town in the early morning.

 –I knew it!

He has left me behind again…!

I suppressed the urge to cry and hurriedly prepared to leave.

First, I wrote to Betty.

“Hayato has left, so I’m going after him. I’m going to leave my communication device behind, so please contact me if anything happens.”

Along with the letter, I leave a dozen gold coins on the table as both lodging and compensation for their time, and I run out of the inn.

It hadn’t been that long since he had left.

There’s hardly any traffic, and it’s easy to catch up.

I can see his small back all the way across the straight road.

“HAYATO!”

On the outskirts of the town, I shout his name. The sky is a little white, and there is a morning mist surrounding this olive tree town.

“Don’t leave!”

I don’t know why tears started to fall down my face.

How can I help you? I can’t let you go into danger alone.

I’m weaker than you, and I always said, “I’m worried about you. I want to help you.”

That wasn’t a lie! But what I really wanted to say – what I really felt – was…

“TAKE ME WITH YOU!”

He doesn’t look back, but he does stop. I ran as hard as I could to catch up with him before he changed his mind.

As I got closer, I could see him slowly turning around.

I caught up to him, grabbed his arm, and looked up at his face, out of breath.

“Let’s go, together? –“

The confusion was clear on his face, and after a moment of silence, he whispered in a quiet voice,

“Together… How far?”

How far? Wasn’t it already obvious?

The moment I decided to make you my lover, I was already prepared to be stabbed by many girls.

Right now, only my opponent is changed, my feeling has not.

“—till death do us part.”

My feeling is a burden. I understand that too well.