Chapter 287 – Pillar West (4)

“It’s strange, it’s strange…”
“It’s a problem that the rescued magical girls can’t participate in battle for the time being due to liquid poisoning, but the fact that the Kaiju cult suddenly does strange things…Ah…Should we stop talking about this? “

Grape stopped talking and looked around.
Perhaps this is top-secret information that ordinary people won’t even get to know… It’s better not to talk about it in a public place.
Even if it’s not for that reason, there’s no need to say anxious things like “Somewhere is dangerous” Or “Things have gone wrong” Before eating.

It was also something I didn’t have to worry about.
No matter what happens, there’s nothing I can do about it, and the magical girl will take care of it.
I nodded and slightly changed the subject of conversation.

“How was the D poem? Have you changed? Because I haven’t been in a while.”
“Ummm…Well, that…It was fine. It seems like nothing has changed since the last time I was dispatched… Ah, I went to the place Anger told me about.”
“Where?”
“Egg rolls and the landlord’s grandmother…Other places, that’s…”
“I see.”

I looked at Grape, who was hesitant to speak, and roughly grasped the situation.
Others must have died or become incapacitated.
Grape looked at me as he nodded calmly and waved his hand.

“He’s not dead, he’s probably in evacuation. At D, the number of magical girls temporarily decreased, and an alert to warn of infection attacks was issued… Everyone should be healthy.”
“Um…Well, you don’t have to worry too much about it. I’m old, and if the situation is, it might be.”

In this day and age, the elderly cannot survive unless they have a body that can run away immediately when a monster alarm goes off, an environment with a shelter nearby, and proper luck.
City D is not a city with a lot of money, so there are no shelters anywhere like City A.
It is legally required to build a shelter in the basement of a building where a lot of people stay, but such high-rise buildings are rare in D City.

Even so, the fact that I survived until I was young is in itself lucky, but that’s about time to run out of luck.
As I already thought it might be, I didn’t feel anything special.
Grape glanced at me casually and smiled, clasped his hands together and said,

“Ah! That’s right…I’ve been to Anger’s old room.”
“Did you let them in?”
“Um…Yes, that’s what I’m talking about with Anger…The room was cleaned out and rented out to someone else, and there was another woman living there…But her grandmother was keeping Anger’s luggage separate. More.”

Grape said he was my friend, so he seemed to let me in without hesitation.
She says that such a pretty woman is my friend, and she believes me right away. She is still a trustworthy grandmother.
I remembered the time when I lived in D City and lowered the rent by lying to her grandmother, the landlord, that the rent of the houses around her was cheap.

“As for the album… I saw a lot of photos from Anger’s childhood, so I thought I’d bring it… But her grandmother said no.”
“Well, even if I bring it, it will only become a burden.”

Even when I went to city A, she tried to throw away or burn all the albums, so the landlord’s grandmother said she shouldn’t do that, and she said she would keep them.
She remembers thinking that since she knew her grandmother and her dead parents, she seemed to know each other, so if she went that far, she’d have to leave.
I don’t think I gave it to Grape, fearing that I would throw it away or burn it again.

“But…I heard from the landlord’s grandmother… I think I should know…”
“Huh?”
“That… Anger, I remember when I was little…That’s…”
“Did the grandmother even say that?”

I replied to Grape, who looked at me with a little bewilderment.
The landlord’s grandmother, I thought she had a heavy mouth, but I didn’t expect her to be so light.
Maybe it was because Grape was so pretty that his mouth became lighter.

“While I couldn’t see you, my mouth became very light… Yes, I don’t remember when I was young.”

I have no memory of my childhood.
To be precise, I don’t remember anything related to my parents, as if I’d dug holes in them with something.
When we had birthdays together when we were young, it was like my parents did something together but I don’t know what they did, or they went on a trip but I don’t know where they went… I don’t know what kind of food they cooked or what kind of house they stayed at.

“Well, it happens often… ? Amnesia due to monster attack…”
“It’s not common, but… That’s right, there are… They do.”

Even though they know that their parents were killed by monsters during the first negative raid, they do not know how they died, where they died, or what became of their bodies.
But, to be honest, I’m glad I didn’t know.
I really didn’t know anything, so I was able to get along without incident.

“That old woman said nonsense, never mind. I don’t even care.”
“Uh, um…”
“Rather than that, did you eat egg rolls?”

I didn’t think there would be anything good if I had to talk about this for a long time, so I naturally asked another question.
It doesn’t matter if I do it, but unlike me, who doesn’t mind, Grape seems to be paying attention.
Grape looked at me in amazement as if he understood my intentions, and then turned to the topic I brought up.

“Ah, egg rolls! I ate deliciously. Thanks to that, I think I got to know other restaurants in D, so I visited them often. The last time I went, I really didn’t have anything to eat, so I only went to the restaurant next to D City City Hall…”
“Uh? Primera? Are you talking?”
“Uh? That’s right… Have you ever been to Anger?”

Primera is the only high-end restaurant in D city that sells whole, whole foods.
Even if I say high-class, it’s only a moderately good restaurant compared to A city, by D city standards, but it was still the most expensive restaurant in D city.
Even if I haven’t been to Grape’s meaning, I’ve been to quite a few places in a different sense.

“I’ve never eaten there…I used to go often, I used to work there.”
“Yes? From when to when… ?”
“Hmm…Before I volunteered for the National Guard… It must have been three or four years ago…”

As soon as I reached the age to work part-time, I continued to apply and eventually was hired as a low-level employee.
Primera was a good restaurant where it was worthwhile to eat leftover food because the quality of the food was better than other part-time jobs.
Thanks to eating leftovers and filling up with nutrients, I was able to build a body that could take the National Guard trainee qualification test.

“Oh… ! At that time, I went to that dispatch every day, so maybe we met already then?”
“Huh… ? No… It can’t be…”
“I will see you often. You must have seen it often, right? I ate in the VIP room every time, but still, when paying or serving food… Aaaaa what kind of conversation was that…”
“No… Uh…”

Couldn’t have seen
It’s true that the place I worked at was a restaurant, but it wasn’t a place exposed to customers.
I was hired to wash the dishes, take out the trash, and clean the kitchen.

Even if Grape had come while I was working, I would have looked at the leftovers from Grape.
By the way, when Grape was eating the most elegant meal in D City in the VIP room, I was picking up the leftovers from the plate in front of the kitchen garbage dump.
It’s a story that goes beyond hurting one’s self-esteem to the point of being miserable.

“Yeah…But I guess you didn’t see it?”
“I must have seen it because I went every day.”
“No…If I saw it, I’d remember it, if I saw Grape, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember it.”
“Uh…”
“Right? Grape is pretty, so if I had seen it, wouldn’t I have recognized it right away when I came as the team leader?”
“I-I see…Hmm…I see…”

Grape is such a beauty that once you see her, her appearance will stick in your mind.
If I saw a woman like that, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember it.
Grape couldn’t refute my perfect logic and was at a loss for words.

“You’ve waited a long time~ This is the Special Hot Pot, and this is the Vigor Hot Pot.”

At that time, the dish we had been waiting for while talking came out.
The clerk placed one dish in front of Grape and me, then opened the lid of a small pot.
My pot had rich black soup with burdock root, eel, and various vegetables, and Grape’s pot had eel, abalone, vegetables, and white soup.

“This is the payment details…I checked the reservation message a little late because there were a lot of customers, right?”
“Uh, ah, um, uh… Yes yes? Payment? Card? Yes, I will.”
“Ah… ! I’m sorry…Enjoy your meal!”

The clerk took the card from Grape’s wallet, which Grape hastily pulled out, and walked away with his head bowed.
Feeling a sudden chill, I kept looking around wondering why I was like this.
Where is the wind leaking in? ?

“Hey, let’s eat!”

I nodded at Grape’s words and looked down at the warm pot.
The broth and color weren’t appetizing at all, but the flavor was quite nice.
When you lift the spoon and bring the broth to your mouth, the sweet, salty, and deep subtle taste spreads widely on your tongue.

“…How is it?”
“…Delicious.”

It’s the first time I’ve tried it, but it’s not bad.
It’s very thick, and the more you eat, the warmer your stomach becomes to sweat.
I continued to move my hand, feeling somehow warm inside.

“How about grapes?”
“I like mine too. Do you eat a lot? If it’s not enough, you can do more.”

Grape said so, but one pot was enough to fill his stomach by himself.
I ate slowly, thinking that there would be no need to do that.
The eel has a very strong…Something concentrated taste.

As I was eating slowly, Grape glanced at me.
The corners of my mouth rise with each bite of my food.
My stomach is warm, but for some reason it gets colder and colder.

The more you eat to get rid of the chills, the more the chilly feeling doesn’t go away even though it’s warm.
Is it a dish that was originally made to feel like this… ?
I thought something was wrong and emptied the pot clean.

“Whoa… I ate well.”
“I really enjoyed the meal.”
“Huh…”

After eating, I yawned as I stretched out from the sudden drowsiness.
After staying up all night, shopping, and filling my stomach with warm food, I fall asleep.
Grape said, leaning his elbows on the table and resting his chin on his hand, as I looked sleepy.

“Are you tired?”
“Yeah… I guess…”

It seems that his nervous mind is gradually relaxed next to Grape, and he seems to be more sleepy.
Should I say I’m relieved or should I say it’s safe here… There is a vision phone, a hypnosis application, and a grape…
I yawned several times in succession as I rubbed my eyes from the overwhelming fatigue.

“Shall we go home soon? Do you want to go and wash up… Rest and sleep?”
“Um…Then it’s fine…”
“Right? Oh, Jim will come to visit me later when I get off work… Shall we go have a good rest?”
“Huh? If you do, I’ll be grateful… Right?”
“Can I call you a taxi?”

When I blankly replied that I wanted to wash up and sleep as Grape said, Grape jumped up from his seat and pulled my arm.
As soon as I was taken out of the restaurant by Grape, I was fortunately pushed into a taxi that had stopped right in front of me.
The taxi driver, who appears to have stopped the car and was resting, was watching the View Tube channel.

[Animals use different methods to attract mates. Delicious food, well-decorated house… It’s all a way to leave offspring.]
[They are hunting for food. Distracting the prey greatly increases the success rate of the hunt. Oops, you fell asleep… In the wild, you’ll be eaten the moment you’re careless.]

A video of a wild animal that has become difficult to see after the monsters invaded appears.
It is a preferred channel for older people because it is good for reminiscing the old days.
The taxi driver saw Grape and I getting into the taxi and asked, changing the screen from View Tube to Navigation.

“Guest, where is your destination?”
“Please leave first, quietly… Drive gently, and I’ll tell you once you get out of the shopping center.”
“Huh…”
“Are you very sleepy? I’ll wake you up when I arrive, so would you like to get some sleep?”
“Umm…I guess so…I’m going to sleep for a bit then…”

With Grape by my side, I felt safe, and I closed my eyes, feeling the fatigue that had accumulated over the years rushing in at once.
Grape shifted his position a little so that I could lean on him and put him to sleep, and then began to pat my leg slowly, as if putting a child to sleep.
Grape’s palm, beaten with a slow beat, urged him to sleep.

“Please go to this address.”

Grape sat in his back seat with me, took my hand and put his arm around his.
I didn’t even wear a seat belt, but it’s fixed so that it doesn’t shake at all to the extent that I feel stable.
I fell asleep thinking it was a little cold in the car.