"You promised, so no taking it back!" Asuna blinked and leaned a little toward him, her chestnut hair scattering tiny bits of light as it moved.
The corner of her mouth curved, her whole expression so playful that it was impossible to stay annoyed.
"I'm not going to take it back." Yuto spread his hands, a little helpless.
Asuna took a happy bite of salad at once. In such a good mood, she felt it tasted even better than usual.
"Boss, another cup, please." Rias asked him for more; while he'd been talking with Asuna, she had emptied her cup completely.
The flush on her face was growing more obvious by the minute. Her eyes still looked clear for now, but she might turn dazed at any second.
"Any more and you'll be heavely drunk," Yuto reminded her kindly.
Rias didn't seem to care.
"It's fine," was all she said—though the way she looked right now told everyone plainly that she was almost there.
"It's all right. If Rias gets drunk, I'll look after her. Please don't worry too much, Boss." Watching Rias like this left a heavy, clogged feeling in Akeno's chest.
She had no power to change Rias's fate, but at the very least she could take care of her.
"All right." Since even Akeno said so, Yuto nodded and poured Rias another cup. As he took the empty one back, his eye caught her face again.
She looked a little blank now, her gaze empty and far away—the dazed, foolish look of someone who'd had too much to drink.
"Oh, right—has Shinomiya-san come by tonight?" Asuna suddenly asked about Shinomiya Kaguya.
Yuto shook his head.
Kaguya had seemed very busy lately, all because of the Shinomiya family.
After some quiet help from Ainz and Rimuru, she had started fighting for power within the family again, and the situation was looking very good for her.
Kaguya had told Yuto all of this herself.
After everything that had happened before, she trusted him a great deal—enough that it sometimes gave him the odd feeling he'd become one of her confidants.
"Oh... is that so." Asuna looked a little put out.
Yuto glanced at her, puzzled. "Do you need something from Kaguya?"
"Mm. Actually, I wanted to invite Shinomiya-san to my birthday banquet too. But I couldn't reach her during the day, so I thought I'd come here tonight and try my luck. I didn't think she wouldn't be here either..." Asuna rubbed her forehead, looking troubled.
Yuto frowned slightly.
There had been something unnatural in her tone on that first sentence, and he'd caught the small difference at once.
His mind turned it over on its own, and he arrived at a rough guess: inviting Shinomiya Kaguya probably hadn't been Asuna's own idea.
It was only a guess, of course.
He couldn't take it for the truth.
"Don't you have Kaguya's number?" Yuto asked.
"Ah... well... I do, but I don't really dare call her. I sent messages, and she turned them all down..." Asuna looked a little embarrassed.
Her father had asked her to invite Kaguya, and she'd agreed, but she knew her own limits.
A few casual chats with Kaguya weren't enough to call them friends.
Kaguya was famous in their circle for being cold and distant, and with the recent trouble in the Shinomiya family, people had grown even more wary of her.
Asuna was only the daughter of a small company owner, someone Kaguya had spoken to in passing a handful of times.
To call her directly on the strength of that and invite her to a banquet—just thinking about it felt like a stretch.
But when she'd messaged during the day, Kaguya hadn't answered a single one, which left Asuna no choice but to come to the restaurant tonight and hope for the best.
With a bit of luck, maybe Kaguya would agree for Yuto's sake.
"What about Hayasaka? Did you try her?"
"Hayasaka-san... seems to have blocked me." As Asuna said it, her expression soured, her whole face turning rather unpleasant.
Yuto nearly laughed.
Blocking someone out of nowhere—somehow it fit Hayasaka perfectly!
"Give it a while. Maybe Kaguya just hasn't seen them yet. Once she does, she'll reply." It was all Yuto could offer.
Asuna sighed.
The girl looked like a balloon that had been pricked, sagging a little all over.
Faced with that, Yuto could only smile.
Just then came a sharp scrape from the side, like fabric dragging against something, followed by a crisp crash.
A glass had shattered.
From behind the counter, Yuto saw it clearly.
Rias had been resting her elbow on the counter, propping up her head with her arm, and her elbow had slipped.
The counter was always wiped spotless—Yuto had even waxed it once—so it was a little slick.
Normally that wouldn't matter, but when someone was drunk, small accidents like this came easily.
Rias's face was flushed red, cute but unmistakably the face of someone who'd had too much.
Now her expression held both nerves and embarrassment.
Breaking the glass had cleared her foggy mind for a brief moment; her pride and manners as a high-ranking devil forced her to sober up.
"I'm sorry, Boss! I'll clean it up!" She apologized quickly and moved at once to bend down for the pieces.
But even with her mind briefly clear, her body was still drunk.
She swayed, and as she bent, it looked like she might tip over entirely.
Akeno caught her in time and held her steady.
"Rias." Akeno said her name softly.
Rias went still.
Her expression turned complicated at once, tangled and unsettled.
Yuto drew a light breath.
"It's fine. It's only one glass. Let Tohru handle it." He spoke gently, and the dragon girl came over to gather the broken shards.
Rias slowly turned back to the counter and lowered her head. On her half-hidden face was a deeply gloomy look.
"I'm sorry, Boss." Her voice was very low.
"It's all right. These things happen from time to time, don't let it bother you." Yuto spoke warmly.
"I'll pay for it." Rias raised her head and looked at him with a touch of stubbornness, a drunken haze still refusing to leave her ruby eyes.
Yuto met that gaze and sighed to himself. "It's just a glass—there's no need. Go home and rest early. Pushing yourself when you've had too much isn't good for you."
His lack of concern seemed to make Rias anxious.
"How can that be...?"
As she spoke, Akeno gently took her hand, and Rias lost her focus for a moment.
Akeno sighed quietly to herself, then looked at Yuto. "I'm sorry, Boss. Please forgive us for what happened tonight."
"It's fine. It's only a small thing." Yuto waved it off.
Akeno smiled an apology, then turned back to Rias, her eyes full of gentleness and pity.
"Rias, let's go home and rest." There was a faint sadness in her voice, a strange sadness that made it hard to tell whether it was for Rias or for herself.
"Akeno..." Rias looked at her.
Before she realized it, sleepiness had crept into her eyes, and almost on instinct, she nodded.
Akeno smiled softly.
She quietly drew back the suggestion she'd placed on Rias's mind, then helped her to her feet.
"Thank you for the meal, Boss." She bowed lightly to Yuto and left together with Rias.
Yuto let out an easy sigh and began clearing away the dishes the two had left behind.
"What happened to her?" Asuna asked, a little curious.
Elegant as Rias had been at first, her expression had grown heavy with worry as she drank, and anyone could tell something was wrong.
No one had asked while she was there; only after she left did Asuna's curiosity get the better of her.
"Who knows?" Yuto shrugged and carried the dishes into the kitchen.
As he washed the plates, he thought over what had just happened, and in the end all that was left was a quiet sigh.
Life was the most complicated thing of all.
Everyone carried painful secrets they couldn't share with others.
That was simply how it went.
"Oh, right. This is from Fafnir." Just as Asuna was about to leave, Yuto took out the cursed doll Fafnir had brought.
Asuna accepted it with a puzzled look, her eyes turning at once toward Fafnir, not far away.
He sat there with his arms crossed, headset on, playing his game in silence—cut off from the outside world entirely.
The girl tilted her head, her expression a little odd, and looked back at Yuto.
"Why is Fafnir-san giving this to me?"
Yuto smiled faintly. "You can think of the doll as payment for a trade, Asuna."
"Payment?" Asuna didn't follow.
Yuto pressed his lips together, then went on. "The game headsets. The ones you brought made Fafnir very happy, but he doesn't like taking things for free. So he brought this doll in exchange."
Understanding came over the girl's face, along with a little helplessness. "I never meant to trade them for anything. I didn't expect Fafnir-san to be like this."
"A dragon's pride isn't something you can describe in a few words." Yuto shrugged.
"Then is it just an ordinary cloth doll?" Asuna asked.
She was a clever girl, and she'd already felt Fafnir's pride before.
With a personality like his, she doubted he would simply hand over a plain cloth doll as a trade—for a dragon, that seemed impossible.
Which meant the doll in her hand was some kind of magic item.
The moment the thought struck her, curiosity welled up, and her eyes turned to Yuto, hoping for an answer.
But what made her a little uneasy was that Yuto seemed to be hesitating.
Should he tell her the truth? That was exactly what he was weighing.
If he told Asuna the doll in her hand was a cursed tool, she probably wouldn't want it!