Chương 88: Chapter 24 A Rare Day Off (Part 2)

"Manager... there's a pretty incredible amount of food being ordered." One of the part-timers called out to the manager. An incredible amount? He was young to be a hired manager, but troublesome customers were always a headache. Some people became overbearing when they saw someone young, while others would make complaints over anything.

"Hmm. How much?"

"Ten servings of salted tongue, twenty servings of thick-cut kalbi, fifty servings of loin, twenty servings of offal, and they're still ordering more."

"What? Did we have a group reservation?"

"No... It's a private room with three women." Sumo wrestlers? Had female sumo wrestlers come in? Or maybe food fighters? Even so, there was no way this amount was normal. The restaurant was aimed at the general public and advertised its large portions, but even then, the amount in a single serving was what it was.

"... No matter how I look at it, this has to be a prank. Have you changed the grill yet? If not, I'll go check on them while changing it. If it really is a prank, we'll have to talk about the penalty." Being a hired manager was tough. If he made a mistake with purchasing, he got yelled at. If he was left with excess inventory, he got yelled at. If sales dropped, he got yelled at. Above all, when there was a prank like this, he had to deal with it without getting angry at the customers.

And there were only three women. Just by the numbers, they had already ordered a hundred servings. They had only just entered, so considering the time limit, it wasn't impossible to cook that much with the size of the grills at this restaurant. However, there was a penalty for leaving food behind. It had to be some kids pulling a prank. The salted tongue and thick-cut kalbi had already been brought out. If they had barely eaten any of it, he would have to explain the penalty. He was already sick of it.

"Excuse me, customers. I'd like to talk to you about the grill and your order..." He knocked and entered the room. Lips wet with oil were alluring, and the tongue that lightly licked them was bewitching. Perhaps it was from being exposed to the heat of the fire, but her cheeks were faintly flushed. The tongue accepting the meat brought into her open mouth moved as though craving it, and when her mouth closed, he thought he heard a viscous, wet sound that should not have been audible—a soft, squelching sound.

As the chopsticks were pulled away from her mouth, he thought he saw a slightly seductive strand of saliva stretching from them. Then the fingers reaching for the sangchu were white, gently touching the thick, long piece of kalbi and lovingly wrapping it. Her crimson eyes narrowed at the meat that had grown thicker after being wrapped in sangchu. With a face full of anticipation, she tilted her head slightly upward and brought it to her mouth with both hands.

Perhaps embarrassed to be seen with juice dripping from her mouth, she covered it with one hand and shyly licked the fingers gleaming with oil. There was something vaguely decadent about the sight.

"Ah, excuse me. Are you here to change the grill? Please." Apparently one of them had asked for it, because a server came over carrying a new grill. But why was he frozen like that? I removed the cooked meat and cleared the grill. Mmm. Meat really was delicious. The refined meat from room service wasn't bad either, but as a commoner at heart, this suited me much better. The fact that I had a highball with it was another big point in its favor. Lately, I'd seen wine and champagne, but I hadn't seen this stuff.

Grill it, eat it, wash the grease down with carbonation, refresh my mouth, and then put more meat in to enjoy the flavor and fat all over again. Grated daikon ponzu for the sauce. Spicy miso when wrapped in sangchu. Mmm. Happiness.

"Er, ah... I-I'll change it."

"Please. Is something wrong?" The server nervously changed the grill. He looked young. Maybe he was a part-timer. People working part-time all had their own reasons for doing so, and if he had some kind of dream, I hoped he would work hard toward it. Still, the unsteady way he handled the grill made me worry he might burn himself.

"Are you really all right?"

"Ah, um... You ordered quite a lot... First-san?"

"Yes, well... yes. The amount is fine. I'll eat it all, so don't worry." My wife and Mochida were eating at a more reasonable pace. The two of them were already looking at the sweets, drinks, and limited-time menu items, but more importantly, there was meat. Besides, if I got recognized as First everywhere I went and simply scurried away every time, I'd never get anywhere.

I had no intention of pretending to be an ordinary person anymore, but I thought that perhaps the fact that I didn't appear in front of the general public was part of the problem. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Either way, I was going to live in this form from now on. There was no point in hiding away. Maybe I should stop disguising myself altogether. Even celebrities became ordinary people once people got used to seeing them.

I wasn't singing or dancing. I was simply someone who happened to be there. It might take time, but I was starting to feel that it would be all right. But for now, there was meat. The grill was new too. So let's eat.

"Tsukasa, aren't you eating too much?"

"Hm? There's still more coming. It's all-you-can-eat, so I have to eat."

"Rina-san, Tsukasa ate about this much even with the room service at the hotel."

"What? The money... The bill...!"

"No, no. Both the current hotel and the previous hotel are expenses, so money isn't a problem. But... does she always eat that much?"

"No. He eats a lot, but not that much... Hey, are you really sure your stomach is okay? I don't want a fat Boost-chan."

"I'm finally getting along with the scale. Miracles and magic really do exist♪" Anyway, I spent two hours eating at the all-you-can-eat restaurant, but I never felt full, and my stomach didn't even stick out. Maybe once I got tired of eating, I could call it the Eternal Soup and just sip water forever. After finishing, I put my hat back on and headed toward the exit. Then I was suddenly lifted up from behind.

"Rina, what are you doing?"

"You said you could get along with the scale, but there's no way that's possible. Huh? You're light! No way! You're still this light after eating all that..."

"Can I pick her up too?"

"We'd be in the way here. You can outside." After paying with a gold coin, the man who had changed our grill asked me for a photo and an autograph. I made a peace sign for the picture and signed my name. Apparently, he wanted to display it together with the order history. I didn't particularly mind. I supposed he could think of it as a memento of the great eating spree. The other employees gathered around as well, so I shook hands with them and took some pictures before leaving.

It made me happy that everyone was fairly friendly. After all, there would inevitably be people who criticized me because of what happened in Akihabara.

"Well then... Wow, you really are light. I wonder how many kilograms you are."

"I think I'm 22 kilograms. They weighed me at the hospital, so there might be a slight error." After putting on my hat and stepping outside, Mochida slipped her hands under my arms and lifted me up. Just by weight, I was probably about the same as an elementary school child. This unchanging, hollow body didn't gain weight. It simply remained light. Now then, where had all that meat gone?

"Rina-san, this is fraud, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's fraud. Total fraud. A cute, light, slender husband is fraud! Do you have any idea how hard we have to work to diet?"

"Eek! W-wait! Don't tickle me..." My feet didn't even touch the ground. I was dangling in midair while Rina tickled my side. Stop it. We're in public. I had just made a voice I'd never heard myself make before.

"Stop it. This is embarrassing. People are watching, and I want to go home. I have something to talk to you about too, Rina." The sound I had made attracted some attention, so we hurriedly left the area. A few people seemed to recognize me from my voice and reached out as though trying to stop me, but this time, they would have to give up. When we reached the hotel and parted ways with Mochida, I entered the room. Apparently, the dog noticed that I had returned. He came over wagging his tail.

When I patted his head, his tail wagged even harder. He was probably happy. My wife seemed to be preparing the bath.

"Good. Wait. Good, you can sleep now."

"So, what did you finally decide to name him?"

"Still pending."

"Decide soon, okay? Anyway, shall we take a bath? We smell too." The bath was ready, so we got in together. As always, she embraced me from behind. All right. I'd better bring it up. Nothing good ever came from putting it off.

"Rina, about the new job... I got promoted."

"Huh? That's good. Section chief or something?"

"No. Headquarters Director."

"... Are you staying? You're not coming home?" Her arms tightened around me. My wife wanted me to come home, and she probably didn't want me doing anything dangerous either. If our positions were reversed, I would feel the same. Of course. I didn't want to put the person I loved in danger. But now that someone else's job had become my job, I couldn't simply throw it away. I would have to explain everything I could and show her that I was sincere. That was the only way I could get her to accept it.

"I'll come home. It may take time, but I definitely will. Right now, the country is moving toward establishing headquarters in every prefecture. This time, they want me to remain as an advisor."

"An advisor? Isn't that dangerous? Especially after what happened in Akihabara... No. I don't want it. I don't want you—Tsukasa—to disappear." I'll tell her. About this body too. We're husband and wife. I don't want to keep secrets from her. If my wife thinks I'm a monster... Then there's nothing I can do about that. It was sad. It was frightening. I was afraid she would hate me. Afraid she would avoid me. But not telling her would be dishonest to my wife.

And if it meant I had to see her crying, I would accept that.

"I'm staying because it's related to the Gates... There are no guarantees. But I want you to see this. This will probably become a secret known only to you and Professor Takatsuki. Dog, come here." When I called him, the dog opened the door and came inside somehow. He approached the bathtub, wagging his tail happily. I stroked his head once and then held out my arm. My wife was probably making a puzzled face behind me.

"Dog, bite my arm off."

"What? Wait, don't!" Ignoring my wife's voice, the dog happily obeyed. He bit off the part of my arm below the elbow and began chewing it. It hurt. But no blood came out. Rather, the blood remained on the end of the missing arm as though held there by surface tension, and then the arm immediately rewound itself and returned to normal. There wasn't even the slightest sense of wrongness. The arms holding me tightened.

"This is... my secret. This body rewinds itself. Even if I'm injured, even if part of me disappears, it starts moving again as though nothing happened. Dog, go back to your place." Her arms did not loosen. But neither of us spoke. The only sound was the drops of water falling into the bathtub. Would she reject me? Call me a monster? Would the ordinary life I had shared with my wife disappear, leaving me to spend my days alone? No. If my wife were to die before me, I would be alone anyway. I was prepared for that.

What frightened me was not even being able to see her off. I had spent more than half my life with her. That would literally be like having half of myself torn apart. Perhaps time would heal the wound. But the scar would remain, continuing to eat away at me. As regret. As sorrow. And as emptiness.

"Tsukasa... Does it hurt?"

"... Yes. It hurts. Even after it returns, the pain remains."

"I see... If your body returns to normal, does the pain in your heart return to normal too?"

"Probably not... My body returns because it's only the outside. I don't know about the heart."

"I see... Tsukasa. Do you... love me?"

"Yeah. I love you. Enough to be scared. Even now, I'm trembling because I'm afraid you'll reject me. But if you reject me... I suppose it can't be helped. I'm creepy, right? Like a monster."

"Yeah... But you're still Tsukasa, right? Stubborn, selfish, always pushing things forward on your own before you even realize it, kind, always doing someone else's work... That's you, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'm me."

"Hehe... Then, only be 'ore' when you're with me."

"Yeah. I'm probably only 'ore' when I'm with you." The strength left her arms, and she gently wrapped them around me. She had probably accepted me. I was happy. I was grateful. Even after learning this monstrous secret, my wife had accepted me. I loved her for it. I didn't want to let go of the hearts we had placed together.

"... Tsukasa... Just as you don't want to be apart from me, I don't want to be apart from you either. So I'm going to leave a scar on your heart. Your first scar. Your first wound. A scar you'll never forget. Is that all right?" My wife's hand slowly slid downward. This was... That sort of thing, wasn't it? I had no intention of refusing. Just as she had accepted me, I would accept her too. This body... I was capable of doing it...

"... In bed, please.... It's my first time."

"Yes. You took my first time from me, so I'll take your first time from you."

"... Please." We got out of the bath, and the shadows that became one disappeared into the evening gloom, continuing to move as though still confirming each other. No trace of it would remain. No proof of what had been done would remain either. Yet there had been a definite warmth in the touch they had shared.