Chapter 64 - Where and When Shall We Meet?

My surprise at the message window that had suddenly appeared lasted only a moment. Rebecca's eyes slowly drifted shut, and she lost consciousness.

THUMP

I caught her just before her head struck the bed rail. When I hastily looked at Akikira, she hurried over to check Rebecca's condition.

"... She's just asleep."

Akikira let out a long sigh.

"What... did you do?"

I briefly hesitated over whether I should answer, but decided she was someone who ought to know.

"It's a sword that erases magic. A hero used it a hundred years ago."

"What? How could something like that...?"

"It probably wasn't that kind of sword originally. Someone must have cursed it, most likely to prevent whoever inherited it from using magic."

I lifted Rebecca and laid her on the bed.

"I thought that poison might serve as medicine for Rebecca."

"A sword that erases magic..."

Murmuring those words, Akikira pulled a blanket over Rebecca. Meanwhile, I checked the message window again.

Endings 17, 18, and 19. Four, if I included Ending 16, which had locked out of the blue last time. All of them were locked except the True Ending.

Compared with Amelia, whose final ending had locked along with the others, I was exactly one short. Was there still one decisive step left?

Of course, locking three endings at once had also earned me coins. Another 150 brought my total to 200.

More importantly...

Stage 3 perk unlocked.

-You have acquired the [Simulation] ability!

-A summary of your choice's outcome is now available.

Simulation?

This looked like another perk related to dating sims. If I chose something to say or do, I could learn the outcome in advance. Since dating sims were games about selecting dialogue and action options, one choice at a time was probably the best it could manage.

Still, it was practically a glimpse into the future.

"This feels like cheating..."

That wasn't all.

Endings remaining until Stage 4 perk: 3

There was even another stage after this. I still wondered whether it was fair for me alone to keep growing like this, but that hardly meant I wasn't delighted with the rewards.

My hand clenched into a fist all on its own.

"Um, thank you for tod—"

Just then, Akikira started to say something, then changed tack.

"Do you have plans tomorrow?"

"Nothing urgent. Why?"

"I need to keep an eye on Rebecca today, so I don't think tonight would work, but if you're free tomorrow..."

She gently tucked behind her ear the blonde hair that had fallen loose during her hurried run.

"I thought... perhaps the two of us could have a drink."

"..."

What are you doing, system? Unlock an ending right now.

Somehow suppressing the urge to turn on the [Affection Scouter] and look at Akikira, I cleared my throat.

No cheating.

"Well... earlier, you said you'd l-listen to my story later. If you haven't changed your mind..."

Barely managing to contain the smile that kept trying to escape, I put my mind to work.

Drinks. We were going for drinks.

A welcome invitation, but... why hadn't I considered pursuing Akikira in the first place, despite her being exactly my type in both age and looks?

Alcohol. That was why.

This drunk had some truly awful drinking habits.

Her hobby was getting drunk and picking people up like stray cats. She picked up the protagonist's heroines. She even picked up the protagonist himself.

She'd done it with Rebecca, and would have done it with Laward too if I hadn't intervened.

If I accepted, we'd probably meet at a bar. A boozer and a bar.

Was it safe to step onto this drunk's home turf? Would I get caught in her Domain Expansion?

As I agonized over it, I stole a glance at Akikira's face. She really was so beautiful it made me want to swear.

But I needed to get a grip. This was a dating sim.

Whether it was a harem story or a romantic comedy, the standard response in this genre at a moment like this was to lose all social awareness and turn her down. Rejecting her would only make her more curious, more eager, and then she'd—

"Sounds good. Where and when shall we meet?"

Damn it.

064

The next day.

Today, Akikira and I were going out for drinks together. We'd arranged to meet at a small bar she frequented in the Sixth District. It was the bar I'd glimpsed in Ending 6, Lucia's ending.

I sat at the counter, waiting for her.

"Hello."

Before long, a calm voice came from behind me.

"Have you been waiting long?"

I turned to find Akikira in casual clothes, giving me a little wave.

She wore a leather jacket over a white shirt with a couple of buttons undone. Her trousers hugged her thighs, openly revealing the contours her lab coat usually concealed. In her coat, she tended to draw my attention upward, but today it was the opposite.

Though she hadn't gone as far as Rebecca, she'd clearly put far more care into her makeup and accessories than she did while working as the school nurse.

Her beauty moved me enough that I could have submitted two A4 pages detailing exactly what looked good and how, but I stopped there and pulled out a chair for her.

Naturally, this wasn't something I ordinarily did.

"I come here often, but strangely, there's nobody here today. On a Friday, too."

She spoke as she looked around. As she'd said, there wasn't a single other customer. A smartly suited bartender was quietly polishing something, and that was all.

Well... this was my establishment, after all...

I'd made preparations before Akikira arrived. I'd told the Houndry boys to quit their grumbling and clean the place up, since they'd be entertaining two guests, myself included.

"This is a first. Everything here is good, and I suppose everyone else knows it too, because it's always crowded."

"Well... lucky us."

It was indeed a popular bar. Apparently, Houndry had originally been known for its liquor, as its name was a combination of 'hound' and 'winery.'

"Feel free to order whatever you'd like."

"No, today is my treat. You're the one who helped me. That's why I asked to meet outside."

"Looking at this menu, the prices are rather steep."

I spoke as if I'd never seen the menu before.

"That's why I chose this place. I couldn't treat you to something cheap."

A bottle here cost about as much as Veronica earned in a week of backbreaking work, but Akikira turned the menu's pages with a look of determination.

"If you're going to be like that, I'll order for us."

Proving she was a regular, Akikira ordered two drinks from the bartender with practiced ease.

Two weeks of a maid's work at a magic-item shop vanished in an instant.

"Then I'll accept just one drink. I'll pay for the next one."

"The next one? Are you already arranging our next date?"

"I meant the next drink."

One drink, then two. As we kept going, they turned into one bottle, then two.

Her cheeks flushed bright red, Akikira began drunkenly rambling. I'd expected this, so I let it all go in one ear and out the other.

There was one small piece of useful information, though.

"I used to work at the mage tower too."

For the record, what follows is my own interpretation of Akikira's slurred speech. I hadn't expected an impromptu listening test, but anyway.

"The mage tower?"

"I spent quite a long time doing research. My specialty was healing magic."

"Then how did someone like you end up..."

"Working as an academy school nurse? I caused some trouble before I left, and my career went to shit. Once I was out, I realized I wasn't getting any younger and had nothing else I could do. I even considered becoming a delivery worker."

I cautiously suspected that the trouble in question had surely involved alcohol.

I'd wondered the same thing when talking to Veronica, but what kind of lives did mages in this world lead? Succeed, and you innovated. Fail, and you made deliveries.

"I never imagined anything like what happened to Rebecca."

She swirled the ice in her glass.

"It happened after I left, but I had... absolutely no idea they were secretly doing that sort of thing in the same place."

She seemed to be looking at the amber liquor in her glass, but her eyes were unfocused.

"I think some very powerful people must have been involved. Otherwise, it couldn't have happened."

"Powerful people..."

"Yes. Someone very, very, very high up."

Akikira's voice grew steadily louder.

"Was that guilt why you took Rebecca in?"

"No. Meeting Rebecca was a complete coincidence. Besides, I told you, it happened after I'd left."

She sighed and slumped forward onto the counter. Her shirt rode up, exposing her slender waist.

Why was I looking at that?

"You seem quite drunk."

"Me?"

"Yes. Let's call it a night. It's already been two hours."

"No, I'm..."

Akikira shook her head and dropped her glass.

THUP

I caught it just in time and set it back on the counter.

"Ah, I dropped it again..."

"Again?"

"No, nothing."

Ah. Did she mean the teacup in the infirmary?

What she'd felt then must have been very... different from being drunk. She must have been frightened and heartbroken.

I handed her her jacket and went outside.

"Where do you live? I'll walk with you at least as far as somewhere well-lit."

"You'll take me to the main road? You don't look the type, but you actually... know about things like that."

"What else can I do? It's already night, and this is quite..."

Though I owned the place...

"...a dangerous neighborhood."

"Then I'll take you up on that. Thank you."

Akikira nodded stiffly and took the lead. Or rather, I practically had to hold her up.

I'd only intended to walk her to the main road, but somehow we ended up outside her home.

"Go on in. I enjoyed our conversation."

At that, her eyes went back and forth between my face and the apartment building's entrance. After looking once, then twice, she said,

"Would you like to come in for just... one more drink?"

"Pardon?"

"I don't think I've quite had enough yet. I have some liquor at home too. It won't be like what we had earlier, but..."

At this hour? Into her home? Together?

No. No, that wasn't right. This was crossing a line. Things were heading in a dangerous direction in more ways than one.

Even if we just sat quietly playing Halli Galli at Akikira's place, it still wouldn't feel quite right. Going into the home of a teacher who taught the students I sponsored... didn't that look a little strange?

It would make it seem like Akikira had been my goal all along. That sort of development.

I really ought to back off here.

"Sounds good."

Ah, damn it.

CLICK

The apartment door closed.

For someone who'd worked at the mage tower, she had a modest, ordinary home for one. I'd heard that women living alone sometimes left men's shoes in the entryway, but Akikira hadn't even done that.

Just as she'd seized my wrist at the academy, she took hold of me and led me into the room.

"I didn't think you'd actually come in."

She took off her jacket and tossed it aside.

"I thought you didn't pick up on things like that. I suppose I was wrong."

Then her hands moved to her snug trousers.

So we weren't going to play Halli Galli.

Fine. What did it matter if I lost my divine power? What did it matter if I became useless starting today?

Hadn't I done a good enough job raising the protagonist and the heroines? They'd won the Peach Garden Festival, and I'd blocked seventeen of the thirty endings. I was already past halfway.

Couldn't I consider this moment a hidden reward too? I'd even resolved Rebecca's problem, so let's put the kids aside for a while.

From here on, it was time for the adults.

"All done. Hehe."

Having dealt with her trousers as well as her jacket, she slowly closed her eyes, so I closed mine too.

At that moment, a hissing sound spread through my ears, like a snake slithering past.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just hallucinated the sound of someone I failed to kill, but it doesn't matter."

"Mm... I don't know what you mean, but shall I... keep going?"

["Well, here's a chance to devour two commanders of knightly orders."]

"What?"

"Ah, nothing again. I heard someone else's voice this time, but it doesn't matter. Please continue. Go ahead."

The Death God's cult's snake and fox. Next came...

["I thought of you as a brother. Everyone calls one another Brother, but I meant it. Commander."]

Chris.

["How much longer do we have to keep doing this shit? The brothers and sisters who died yesterday are walking toward me today to kill me. Daywin, say something. What am I supposed to do now? What can I do?"]

Blash.

["I'm sorry for leaving you a position like this. Truly, I'm sorry. I ruined everything. And I'm so sorry it's taken me until now to apologize."]

The commander who had held the post between Blash and me.

["You are not holy, nor are you even a knight. But that is precisely what makes you who you are. What the order needs now is neither honesty nor devotion. Please, be cruel and cowardly, and win."]

Even the Bishop.

"Hah, hah..."

"Are you all right?"

"No. It's just..."

I staggered to the terrace door, opened it, and went outside. The cold night air made me feel a little better.

Perhaps because she no longer had anything to lean on, she collapsed onto the bed as soon as I moved away. Then she fell asleep just like that.

After making absolutely certain she was asleep, I lit a match on the terrace.

-Speak, Lord Karma.

"It's been quite some time since I gave my orders, yet I've heard nothing."

-My apologies. However, as you instructed, we've picked up the fox's trail. I'll contact you again when we find a decisive lead.

Yes... I supposed so...

Not yet. I couldn't lose my virginity and become powerless yet.