We Just Beat It Down and That's the End of It, Right? (4)

It wasn't just Alice. Rex, Kururu, Tina, Parna, Takako, Menou, and David all kept waiting for Kagami to come back. But he never did. Since Kagami never returned, everyone who had started working at the casino because of him began to go their separate ways. They couldn't spend their whole lives working at the casino for someone who might never come back.

The first to leave was Rex. After a year had passed, he said, "I'm leaving. I don't intend to spend my whole life here, passing my days as a bartender..." He had decided Kagami wasn't coming back, so he left. Rex had come to learn by Kagami's side, so there was no reason for him to stay at the casino without Kagami.

Then, two years after Kagami disappeared, Kururu and Tina were the next to leave. Kururu received a letter from an unknown sender. After reading it, she said, "...There's something I need to find out," and vanished without a trace the next day.

David searched everywhere for Kururu for a week, but without knowing where Kururu had gone, he had no chance of finding her. Kururu remained missing.

The last time Alice saw Kururu, she was growing more listless by the day because Kagami hadn't returned. For some reason, Kururu looked at Alice with a grave expression, as if she were in a hurry.

Then Tina left, too. She had been juggling her work with the Church and had taken the stance that, since Rex and the others were helping as members of the Hero Party, she should help as well. When Rex and Kururu left, she said, "I'm going to set out on another journey of training! There are still so many people I can't save with my abilities... I need to learn at least detoxification magic," and departed.

Before even a few months had passed, Takako left for reasons unknown, too. She handed over everything she ran—the CLUB GACHIHOMO and the bar—to Menou and Kenta-Uros, saying, "I want to explore all kinds of possibilities, too," before leaving.

Takako was the only one who occasionally returned to Valman to show her face. The others never came back, not even once.

In the end, only Alice, Parna, Menou, and David remained at the casino. Menou stayed partly because Alice was there, but more than anything, she remained out of a sincere sense of gratitude: she still hadn't repaid Kagami for all he'd done for her.

Kagami had entrusted David with running the casino, but, like Parna, David had also stayed to keep his promise to protect Alice. Besides, he thought that if Kururu ever came back, it would be to this casino. So he kept running it, waiting for her day after day.

"I wonder what everyone's doing right now..."

With a rice ball from her lunchbox in her mouth, Alice wore a wistful expression.

"Who knows? Maybe they're dead somewhere."

"Don't say such ominous things, Parna-san. What if Tina-san or someone actually showed up as a corpse? What would I do then? I'd cast healing magic on them and purify them, okay?"

"You're the one saying something ominous. Kuu-chan and Tina are both fine, I'm sure. Tina's just off on a journey of training, and I don't think Kuu-chan would give up on that guy."

"What about Rex-san?"

"That guy... Who knows? I don't know what he's planning, but he's probably doing something reckless. When he left... he had the same tense look I used to have. And he hasn't come back in two years."

At those words, Alice looked worried. Kagami wasn't the only one she was concerned about. Rex, Kururu, and Tina—her companions who had spent their days with her three years ago—were all as precious to her as family.

Alice knew full well that she was who she was today because they had been there for her.

"Come on, cheer up. Sure, I said he looked all tense, but he's still that perverted Nipple Boy, you know? Even when he tries to create a heavy atmosphere, he just can't pull it off—that's his nature. He'll pop back in one of these days."

"Yeah, you're right!"

"Come on, let's head back. The tour break is over. Let's give it our all at work today, too!"

"Yeah!"

After that, the two returned to the visitors they'd left waiting on the tour, then headed back to Valman.

"Long time no see."

When Parna and Alice returned to Valman, they headed for the casino's break room to rest their legs after the long walk. The moment they opened the door, they found a blond-haired hero sitting there, casually drinking tea as if nothing were amiss. He was dressed in an adventurer's outfit suited for a long journey.

"Yep, you're a nipple all right."

"So that's the first thing you say to me after all this time? That's way too harsh."