“Shinichi-kun, are you sleepy?
We’re almost done, so you can use the nap room if you want?”
“I-I’m alright. It was morning when I left, so…”
By the time they’d finished most of the papers, it was already the next day, but Shinichi had gotten a lot of sleep because of the farce and he also left during the morning, so he wasn’t sleepy at all.
They had to do it in the morning because it was easier to deceive people that way.
“Oh, I see. So, there’s that sort of time difference.
And in your case, I guess you couldn’t really tell the time.”
“R-Right…”
‘What am I doing?’ Shinichi thought to himself as he gave that safe reply in a weak voice.
Although she would not even dream that there’s actually another otherworld, she still came to the same conclusion that Shinichi did, that the reason there was a difference of six years since his disappearance was because of the time he spent traveling to and fro worlds.
“Ah, you must be hungry. Sorry for not noticing.
The cafeteria isn’t open yet, so let’s go buy something from the convenience store.”
She thought the reason he spoke so weakly was because he was hungry.
Shinichi tried to stop her, but she stopped him by saying, ‘It’s fine. You don’t have to be reserved.’
“…………………What the heck am I doing?” Shinichi muttered to himself as he hung his head toward the desk of the waiting room.
There were a lot of things to think about, but right now, what he wanted to say the most was how pathetic he felt.
“I couldn’t ask her at all…”
About his dad, about his mom, about the divorce, the current situation of his siblings… Nothing.
They were together the whole night, so there were countless opportunities for him to ask, and yet he couldn’t ask her.
Yes, the man who attacked the demon king in front of the whole world – a farce it may be – was unable to ask a simple question.
Even ‘she’ who followed him was so shocked that despite wanting to encourage him, her mouth was left hanging.
“Kyu, kyuu?” She asked.
—Just what in the world are you doing, Master?
She asked with the cries of a beast just to be safe, but he could only wryly smile back.
Naturally, she couldn’t actually tell what he wanted to say with just that, but she could still tell that he was troubled.
“You want to say this isn’t like me, right?
Well, sorry. Even I get nervous and hesitate sometimes… Like now.”
His brain still hadn’t caught up with the sudden turn of events, which is why he unconsciously refrained from trying to find out anymore. But despite figuring that out, his mouth just wouldn’t listen to him.
“Sigh… Just what am I supposed to do?” He asked.
“About what?” Answered Rinko from out of nowhere.
“W-Woah!?”
Shinichi jumped up when she suddenly answered, but for some reason, he was able to quickly calm down and turn to her.
“Ah, sorry. Did I surprise you?
You didn’t notice me and you were mumbling to yourself, so I thought something might have happened,” Rinko said.
“I-It’s nothing. Please don’t mind. Still… you sure were fast though,” Shinichi said.
The clock in the waiting room showed that not even 5 minutes had passed, yet she’d already come back with both arms full of food and drinks.
“Yup. There’s a store inside the building and the costs are deducted straight from our salary, so we can just get what we need.
There’s no telling when an employee is going to buy something, so it’s to save costs on having to hire a dedicated cashier.
Anyway, here. It’s just sandwiches and drinks, but go on. Eat up.”
“…Ah. Thank you. Itadakimasu.”
At first, Shinichi wasn’t sure whether he should actually take her offer, but in the end, he couldn’t refuse. To be more precise, since he didn’t really know how to act toward her, he decided to act as courteously as he could.
Naturally, something like this was a given.
“Kyuu, Kyuaa?”
Meanwhile, she was rubbing her eyes several times, unable to believe what she was seeing. Was this really her master?
He wasn’t the impolite sort who didn’t know how to speak courteously, but it was her first time seeing him so nervous.
But Shinichi even failed to notice her reaction as he opened his food. And when he did, nostalgia hit him hard. Although he just opened the package according to the arrows, his movement was still without pause, and yet he hadn’t touched one of these things in two years. For once, he actually felt like he was finally back. And that brought a smile to his face.
“Ah…”
“*BITE…!?
The bread is so… soft! The egg is so… sweet!
Ah, yes, this is definitely how a sandwich should be. Yep!”
Shinichi lost himself as he ate the egg sandwich.
Although he’s eaten the same dish back in Falandia, the difference in ingredients roused his nostalgia and made his eyes water.
He never thought he’d be brought to tears by a cheap mass-produced product bought from your local convenience store, but here he was unable to keep his tears from flowing.
“……You don’t have to rush. We have plenty here, see? Which drink do you want?”
Rinko didn’t say anything despite his tears and instead offered him several plastic bottles.
When Shinichi saw the green bottle, the color of his eyes changed, and he took it with shaking hands.
“This is… Japanese Tea! Ahh, ahhhh, the nostalgia!!!”
“……Kyuii?”
Shinichi skillfully opened the lid and poured the contents into his throat.
As tears flowed down his eyes while he drank, Rinko gently watched over him.
As someone who worked here, she has long gotten used to seeing returnees be emotionally affected by food. And although it was a misunderstanding, when she thought about what kind of environment he was in, she couldn’t help but also want to cry.
Meanwhile, ‘she’ was about to have her jaw dislocated with how wide her mouth was gaping. There were indeed times when Shinichi was elated to eat something after not having eaten anything decently during their travels, but actually seeing him cry over food was a first.
Tl Note: Umm… Could I get those TL archives someone mentioned they had before? Maybe I could just edit them and credit the old tls, so we can skip this whole thing because we’re actually only half-way through this chapter. Yeah, sorry for the turtle pace.
Email it to me at [email protected] if you have it please. Thanks.
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