Chapter 110 – Stay Mr! You Are Being Deceived!

When I decided to go see Mr. Stay, I was afraid that Mr. Stay’s anger wouldn’t go away, and he would get angry as soon as he saw me.

I have seen so many terrible things at the gate where powerful demons pour out, and at the Holy See, which is no less than a Pandemonium battle than an S-class gate, but I have never seen anything as scary as Mr. Stay’s expression and tone of voice that day.

So even now, half a year after that terrible day, I still haven’t been able to muster up the courage to meet Mr. Stay because I’m afraid of seeing the face he made back then.

Of course, that was until yesterday.

Just today, after arguing with two cowards who were in the same situation as me and exchanging words that shouldn’t be said, I came to this realization.

The reality of not being able to meet Mr. Stay is scarier than Mr. Stay showing me that scary expression and voice.

After I came to that realization, my body, which had no longer moved under the excuse that Stay’s anger would go away, began to move very lightly, and I came to see Stay after half a year.

The place where the most terrible thing happened in my life, the life of Saint May Ruina, and the place where I experienced the happiest daily life.

Mr. Stay’s dream and life, ‘Stay this place’.

‘Stay this place’, which I only heard about through an information source, returned after half a year and was exactly the same as before.

The sign that Mr. Stay put a lot of effort into designing is still the same, the warm orange lighting is the same, and even everything that you can peek at in the back alley without being noticed is still the same.

My heart, which had been hardened by tension, began to fill with excitement at the sight of it as if it were compensating for the terrible waiting time I had experienced over the past six months.

It was to the point where I suddenly felt like I could see Mr. Stay’s harmless, cool, cute, lovely smile that I hugged tightly and never wanted to let go of, which I saw every day six months ago, before Mr. Stay’s identity was discovered.

Even after kicking me out, the fact that you left me as is without even doing the slightest remodeling means that Stay missed me too, right? That’s why, after couples break up, it’s painful to see traces of each other, so they end up disposing of all related items. But Mr. Stay didn’t do that. The positions of the tables and chairs I placed are the same. The orange lighting that I installed after hearing that I like warm orange colors is the same. What does that mean? Stay also secretly misses me and has been waiting for me!

When I thought about it, there was no basis for feeling like I could see Mr. Stay’s smile.

The scene of the café, which had not changed at all, was the clear evidence!

You’ve been waiting for me this long, but what if I make a surprise appearance after half a year? Hehe. Are you really looking forward to Mr. Stay’s reaction?

Suddenly, the fear of Stay reacting the same way as half a year ago disappeared, and the space was quickly filled with the desire to see Stay as soon as possible.

The desire to see, which had suddenly surpassed the threshold of patience, took away the initiative from my body, and I walked down the back alley toward the café where Mr. Stay was located, as my heart dictated. I took a step.

And. I saw it.

“······.”

“Boss, boss! Give this a try! “It’s my own creation, baked at home!”

“Oh, chocolate cookies? Thank you, I will eat well.”

Mr. Stay and the purple-haired woman wearing the same apron as Mr. Stay, laughing haha, going through the same routine. Seeing you spending the same amount of time.

“······Huh?”

My heart, warmed by warm excitement, instantly cooled down, and my steps, which had been light as clouds, became heavy as if they had become one with the ground, making it impossible to move.

“Oh, no. It can’t be like this. This really doesn’t work…?”

A terrible thing that I had never expected, or even subconsciously imagined because I didn’t want to imagine it, happened right before my eyes, and all I could do was believe my eyes.

However, I was an S-class awakened person, and my transcendental senses conveyed to me very clearly what was happening inside the café, regardless of my will.

“······.”

“······Umm, eat now?”

“Yes! Right now! Eat quickly! Eat quickly! Cookies are best eaten freshly baked!”

“No, if it’s baked at home, it’s not freshly baked… Um. Okay. “Because there are no customers at the moment.”

Mr. Stay stops after tackling the woman’s words, then takes a piece of cookie and eats it with a faint but kind smile.

The woman is smiling brightly with a faint blush as she looks at Mr. Stay.

The scene the two people were drawing was something I had been drawing in my dreams every day for six months.

“Ah, ah… Ah, no. No. It’s not possible…”

I want to run right now and separate them.

I dared to put my hand on Mr. Stay’s shoulder and say, ‘How do you feel? It’s delicious! There’s a different charm to the cookies baked by the owner, right? Should I bake it every day? I want to get that girl who is making a fuss by saying, ‘I’ll bake it every day!’ Away from Mr. Stay.

If I do something like that, I’m sure I’ll see that expression on Stay’s face again that I saw half a year ago… Now, I can’t even move a single step while looking at Stay and that woman together.

Crackling.

The bitter scent of blood filled her mouth and nasal passages as she bit her lower lip in pain rising from deep within her chest.

I bit down hard enough to create a deep wound, but the pain in my heart was so great that I couldn’t even feel the pain in my lips.

I just want to run right now. I can’t do that, so I have to just watch that horrible scene.

At the end of my gaze is Mr. Stay, whom I have longed for so much, and I don’t even want to look away. I want to keep seeing Mr. Stay.

“Uh, huh. Ahhh…”

Why do I have to suffer so much? I was able to find the answer to that question right away.

Because, it was a question I repeated to myself hundreds of times during the six months I was crouching in fear of meeting Mr. Stay, and the answer to that question was always the same.

“Why do I do such useless things…”

The reason why I’m in so much pain right now, the reason why I’m in so much pain and can’t move from this place, is myself.

If I hadn’t hidden my identity and deceived Stay, if I hadn’t made that kind of contract with Stay, if I hadn’t behaved so badly when I first met Stay, this wouldn’t have happened.

Now that I realized it, it was a late regret that only made it more painful, and in this already terrible situation, this regret dragged me down further and further into an endless abyss.

Even though I arrived here after half a year, as if driven by fear, I was unable to meet Stay again, and only became aware of the reality that Stay had been taken away by another woman. This terrible situation was enough to plunge me into despair.

Just when I was about to realize that it was over with endless regret.

“······.”

“······Huh?”

“······Phew.”

I saw the woman who was clinging to Mr. Stay’s side and smiling so harmlessly as she made eye contact with me and smiled wickedly.

The moment I saw that, goosebumps ran through my whole body, and my mind was filled with numerous questions.

How did you see me?

Isn’t it normal that you can’t see this back alley from inside the café because the viewing angle is exquisitely obscured?

No, before that, you smile like that. Are you really the person who was snuggling next to Stay and smiling so innocently and cheerfully?

But those questions didn’t fill my head for a while, and my mind quickly cleared away the useless questions and came up with a single-sentence fact.

That’s right.

······That woman. I am an awakened person.

The fact that that abominable woman clinging to Mr. Stay is definitely not an ordinary person.

“······Becky. Becky Street. It was late for me to notice because I was usually wearing a mana-disturbing mask artifact. That woman is Becky Street!”

“If it’s Becky Street… Is that Becky Street?”

“Huh. Are you sure? You can’t feel the reverberation of mana at all. Among the awakened, the only one who can do something like that is Becky Street.”

And right next to me, Mr. Mir Ryuin, who was in the midst of despair along with me, spoke brightly, like a mathematician who had solved a difficult problem that no one had been able to solve for decades.

Those words that came out of Mir Ryuin’s mouth were very welcome words for me as well.

Because Becky Street is the empress of the underworld, and she doesn’t work at that café in this country.

What that means is that Becky Street is also deceiving Mr. Stay just like we did half a year ago.

“·····Mr. Stay, you are being deceived. We have to go quickly and save Mr. Stay from that evil and shady woman!”

Because I had the cause to save Stay, who was being deceived, I was able to get my feet off the ground, so I ran faster than anyone else, opened the café door, and confidently shouted.

“Mr. Stay! You are being deceived! The woman next to Mr. Stay is not an ordinary person, but an awakened person! Becky Street is a very, very dangerous felon who is not even registered with the association!”

He shouted at Mr. Stay, ready to pull out his golden chain to engage the evil Becky Street as soon as he resisted.

Since she heard something so shocking from me, Stay will make that same facial expression she showed us half a year ago towards that woman, and that woman will naturally be kicked out by Stay!

Then, naturally, Stay will be alone, and I will spend a much warmer, sweeter, and stickier daily life by Stay’s side than the sight that woman just showed me!

With such expectations in mind, I waited for Mr. Stay’s reaction.

“······.”

“······Uh, huh?”

For some reason, he just looked a little embarrassed by my sudden appearance. Mr. Stay didn’t react as I expected.

“S-Stay? The woman by her side. She’s a dangerous person…? Becky Street, oh, you know? “It’s a name you can’t help but recognize, right?”

I tried to explain it again to see if Stay didn’t hear, but Stay was still expressionless.

When I saw that, I immediately realized something was wrong, but this was also a late realization.

“······I know.”

Before I could clean up the spilled water, something that shouldn’t have come out of Mr. Stay’s mouth.

“Phew.”

And Becky Street’s abominable snort was the only sound that echoed softly in the café.