"Hey, hey, Chii-chan, let's go! This banquet thing sounds really fun!" Yuuri cheered.
After a moment of quiet, Chito nodded.
That made Yuuri happier.
She turned straight back to Yuto. "Boss, we want to come!"
"Then come tomorrow night. It'll be lively." Yuto nodded.
They said their goodbyes, and Chito and Yuuri left side by side.
Yuto hadn't charged them for the hamburger, the grilled fish, or anything they'd taken with them.
Everything they'd eaten the last time they came had been free too.
He'd never mentioned it to them since it was better that way.
For Yuto, the relief and happiness he felt each time he saw Chito and Yuuri alive and well already more than covered their bill.
Just knowing they were still safe was enough.
"Who exactly are those two...?"
When Erina asked, Yuto told her about the girls' past.
Erina slowly went quiet.
...
"Achoo! It's so cold!"
Yuuri sneezed.
She and Chito were sheltering inside a crumbling, abandoned building, little more than a frame made of a few broken walls.
It couldn't keep the wind out, and it barely kept off rain or snow.
Yuuri hugged her arms, her whole body shaking.
Chito was doing the same beside her. The two small girls shook and shook and couldn't stop.
"Let's... drink some soup..."
"O-okay..."
The cold broke even their words into pieces.
After they swallowed some hot soup, a little color came back into their faces.
With a rustle, Chito spread one of the blankets over the ground.
They already had one set of their own, and Yuto had given them another, so they could lay one set underneath and use the other on top.
Yuuri did the same beside her.
The girls arranged the blankets in a corner, then lay down together without even taking their clothes off.
Only then did the chill start to leave their bodies.
The wind howled outside.
Then Yuuri spoke from under the blankets.
"Hey, Chii-chan... Do you think we could ask Boss to let us stay in the restaurant forever? Or maybe go to another world?"
Chito was quiet for a while. "I don't know..."
Her answer came out small and unsure.
"Then let's ask him next time!" Yuuri said it with her usual energy.
Chito stared up at the ruined ceiling.
After a while, she finally asked, "Yuuri, do you not want to stay in this world anymore?"
"Mm... It's not that I don't want to stay. It's just really boring here, and I want to go somewhere more interesting."
"What kind of place would be interesting to you?"
"Hehe. Probably somewhere with lots of good food!" Yuuri answered with a goofy laugh.
Chito let out a sigh under the blankets.
A moment later, Yuuri spoke again. "Next time, let's ask Boss. We can live in another world together!"
Silence.
Silence was the only answer she got.
After who knows how long, Chito finally spoke. "Let's wait a little longer."
"Eh? Why? Does Chii-chan want to stay here forever?"
"Mm... I want to keep looking and see whether anyone else is still alive in this world."
Yuuri stopped talking.
The cheerful girl sighed, then wriggled one hand out from under the blanket and knocked Chito lightly on the head.
"Chii-chan really is an idiot. How could anyone else possibly still be alive in this world?"
More silence.
Then someone sighed, and a quiet voice came through it.
"There's no helping it. If Chii-chan doesn't want to leave, then I'll stay too. Otherwise Chii-chan will definitely cry! Ah, whatever. Let's sleep, let's sleep. We've got a banquet tomorrow!"
Yuuri closed her eyes.
Beside her, the corners of Chito's mouth lifted.
Her eyes curved like thin crescent moons.
"Once we're certain, we'll leave this world together."
Her soft words were like a breeze moving through leaves. They made the girl lying beside her smile even with her eyes shut.
And without either of them noticing, snow began to fall.
Tiny white crystals drifted down out of the pitch-black sky. The ground slowly turned pale.
Even the wind began to settle.
As the snow came down, everything went quiet.
And in the corner of a ruined, abandoned building, two girls slept side by side.
Both of them wore peaceful smiles.
...
By half past five, the three gamers had finally finished.
Fafnir pulled off his headset first, then Ainz and Rimuru.
There wasn't much difference in their faces.
Fafnir's stayed as cold and blank as ever, and Ainz and Rimuru weren't human to begin with, so their moods were hard to read anyway.
A whole night of nonstop gaming didn't seem to have tired any of them out.
Which made sense.
Not one of the three was human.
Once his headset was off, Fafnir didn't say a word to Yuto or anyone else.
He looked straight at Ainz and Rimuru instead, and his face went from cold to sterner still, like a man about to deliver a lecture.
"You two are leveling far too slowly!"
Sure enough, he scold them both at once.
Ainz and Rimuru both looked apologetic.
"Sorry. I'll keep working harder!"
"Me too!"
Among gamers, the one with the highest level and the best skill naturally became the boss.
Everyone understood that without anyone saying it. Right now Ainz and Rimuru were fully committed to their meek, obedient parts.
Fafnir kept criticizing them, though in between the complaints he handed out plenty of useful strategy too.
It was something like the old saying that hitting and scolding were both signs of affection.
Once he'd nagged the two of them to his satisfaction, Fafnir walked to the counter, set down his headset, and left.
His exit was remarkably smooth and decisive, he didn't even say a single word.
Yuto felt a bit awkward.
This place was not an internet café where you could play all night and walk out without a word!
Then Ainz and Rimuru came over to the counter.
"Sigh. I got killed several times today. It was awful! Anyway, Boss, I'll see you tonight." Rimuru said it in a thoroughly defeated tone and left.
Yuto had nothing to say to that.
After Rimuru was gone, Ainz let out a heavy sigh too.
Even the red lights in his eye sockets looked dim, almost like their batteries were running down.
"Damn it! I won't give up! I swear I'll get stronger!"
Out of nowhere, Ainz was suddenly fired up, like someone had injected him with something.
The sudden swing left Yuto confused.
Why did he get so worked up all of a sudden?
"Hey, Kamisaka, can I come earlier today?"
Yuto blinked at him.
"Don't tell me you want to come early just so you can play more games..." He looked at Ainz with a mix of hesitation and disbelief.
Ainz was shocked. "Exactly! How did you know?"
Yuto drew in a deep breath.
Did that really need to be asked?
Why did this Ainz seem so strangely foolish?
Could playing too many games actually make someone stupid?
After going back and forth with Ainz for a while, Yuto finally let him go.
Ainz would be coming back earlier tonight.
It was almost six in the morning, with only an hour left before closing. Yuto figured no one else would come.
Until she appeared again.
The sight of her brought back her last visit at once.
And the question that had come up back then had been sitting in his mind ever since.
...
"Welcome."
Yuto smiled gently at the girl in front of him.
She was still in the same clothes as last time.
A red top and a short black skirt, and below the hem a pair of black thigh-high stockings.
Her hair was still tied up in twin tails, though she'd changed the color of her ribbons.
Unlike her first visit, though, she looked much calmer now. There was even a trace of respect, and something close to awe, in her eyes.
After all, in a place like this, coming from an old and famous line of mages was hardly worth showing off about.
"Good morning, Boss." Rin tipped the top half of her body toward him in her own version of a polite bow.
Then her eyes drifted, without meaning to, toward the airheaded dragon girl standing nearby.
Tohru blinked.
Feeling the look, she turned and gazed back, curious.
That tiny movement made Rin go stiff.
She looked away in a hurry, then forced a rather rigid smile at Tohru.
It looked like the smile had been dragged onto her face.
The weight of knowing Tohru was a dragon still sat heavily on her.
After she left the restaurant last time, Rin had gone home and gone carefully through a huge pile of books, hunting for even the smallest scrap of information about dragons.
She went through everything she could find, over and over, and every book that mentioned them seemed to say the same thing.
Between every line, they all said the same thing.
Unbeatable.
And so Tohsaka Rin, who was normally proud enough to look down on nearly anyone, had wisely chosen to look after her own skin.
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