When Yuto finished cooking and brought the food over to Hestia and Sakura, the goddess was in the middle of an argument with her.
After listening for a moment, Yuto understood why.
It was the same old thing.
Sakura wanted to go see the Dungeon, and Hestia flatly refused. Even with Sakura putting on her cutest, sweetest pleading, the goddess wouldn't budge an inch.
The food finally broke up the argument.
Hestia tapped Sakura lightly on the head and fixed her with a very serious look.
"Sakura, don't bring this up again, all right? Or Onee-chan really will get mad!"
It was rare for Hestia to look this serious.
Next to her usual slightly silly self, the difference was honestly striking, enough that even Yuto was a little surprised.
Seeing her goddess this way, Sakura puffed out her cheeks, but in the end she could only give a small, resigned sigh.
"Okay."
That satisfied Hestia.
"Now eat." She turned her attention to the food in front of her.
Sakura's eyes met Yuto's. There was a touch of disappointment in the little girl's gaze—but there was even more mischief hiding behind it.
How could Hestia ever guess that the little girl pestering her about the Dungeon had already begun taking secret lessons from El-Melloi II and the Hero King?
This was a great victory for Sakura!
Yuto gave a small shake of his head and a slightly helpless smile. Inwardly, he felt something as he looked at her.
That weak little girl from before had finally started to show real growth, and he'd watched the change with his own eyes.
How could it not move him?
Yuto looked over at Reiko beside them.
The girl was eating the fried ham one bite at a time, and each time her clean teeth bit into the golden slices, a crisp little sound rang out.
This fried ham wasn't the usual kind, where a whole sausage was fried in one piece.
That way wasn't bad, but it was hard to change the flavor deep inside the ham. Slice it thin, though, and coat each slice in a mix of flour and starch, and it became something else.
Because the slices were thin, every part of the ham could sit fully in the hot oil, and the coating on the outside turned into something close to a potato chip—golden, crisp, and wonderfully fragrant.
With each bite, the flavor of the ham blended fully with that crisp taste in the mouth.
It was two layers of pleasure at once, the kind of food that satisfied a person easily.
"Reiko, did something good happen lately? You've looked happy these past few days." Yuto asked with a smile.
The girl had been propping up her head as she ate.
Her bright, flowing golden hair scattered little points of light, as if a crowd of tiny fairies were dancing along the fine strands.
At his question, she chewed twice, swallowed, and turned to him with lively eyes, the corner of her pretty mouth curving up.
"Oh my. Is it that obvious?" Reiko looked at him, surprised, though the smile stayed at the corner of her mouth.
Her bright, faintly playful eyes still carried that happiness.
Yuto pressed his lips together, then smiled softly. "Anyone could tell."
"Ha, then I suppose there's no hiding it." Reiko took her hand out from under her chin and reached back to scratch her head, a slightly goofy smile crossing her face.
Silly as the smile was, it depended on who wore it.
On Reiko's face, at least, it looked lovely.
"I really have been a little happy lately, because I've finally made a friend. Ah—I don't mean you're not my friend, Boss. You are. But this friend is the first one I've made in my own world." There was a bit of apology on her face, and only after Yuto nodded to show he understood did she go on.
"She can see youkai too, but she isn't from an exorcist family or anything. She's just an ordinary little girl.
Meeting her was a coincidence, but a lucky one.
Ah, it really does move me a little. What she's been through is almost the same as what I've been through—being misunderstood by others, getting dragged into all sorts of trouble.
We've both lived that. It's a strange feeling. It's like I've met another version of myself. We get along really well. Lately she and I have been gathering with the youkai in the forest, and everyone likes her a lot.
Her parents ignore her on purpose because she can see youkai, but that little kid is surprisingly strong. She's only six, but she's as mature as a sixteen-year-old girl. When she told me about her past, she didn't even cry."
Reiko spoke with a smile, her eyes shining with real joy—an excitement and happiness she had never shown before.
Yuto understood her.
Reiko had been misunderstood and pushed away since she was small. Her ability to see youkai had been turned into a reason for other children to mock and insult her.
She had no friends, and even the adults around her either resented her or feared her.
The first time Yuto met her, he'd felt the loneliness and sorrow hidden under her smile.
Smiles really were all different.
There were happy smiles, smiles worn to look strong, proud smiles, arrogant smiles.
People could pretend.
But no matter how well someone hid it, the truth underneath was always noticed in the end.
Reiko's life had not been a kind one. It was almost like a tragedy some playwright had written on purpose.
Misunderstanding and suspicion filled everything around her; insults and sarcasm filled her world.
And even so, the girl had held stubbornly to her smile. By then it hardly mattered how much real feeling was left in it.
Yuto still remembered how Reiko had looked the first time she ate candied sweet potatoes—those two lines of tears sliding down her cheeks, and the bitter, wronged smile that came with them.
Now she had finally met someone who'd been through something similar, someone who could truly understand her.
Even if that person was only a child, it was enough to make her deeply happy.
It was like a little boat that had drifted alone on the sea for a very long time finally meeting another small boat.
A companion, at last.
Yuto was truly glad for Reiko.
He listened to her story with a smile and didn't interrupt her once.
When she asked if she could bring the girl to the restaurant next time, he nodded and agreed.
He was curious about her too.
Just from the way Reiko talked about her, he could feel the girl was like a mirror held up to Reiko.
So what kind of person was she? It was hard not to wonder.
After Reiko finished eating and talking, she left.
Her spiritual power might be extraordinary, but her body was still that of an ordinary person, and it was late—she needed rest too.
For a little while after she left, plenty of people in the restaurant were still thinking about her, Erina and Hisako most of all.
The two of them were more easily moved than the others; what the rest had seen went far beyond their experience, which was why their reactions weren't as strong.
Yuto let out a soft sigh, then couldn't help looking over at Hestia.
The goddess had been listening to Reiko's story too, so her eating had slowed for a bit.
Now she was digging in again with great enthusiasm!
Under his gaze, she swallowed a huge mouthful in a rather unrefined way, then let out a long breath, her face full of comfort and satisfaction.
As a goddess, she had no real need to eat—she could live on the faith of countless people alone.
But this Hestia was a goddess who had come down to the mortal world.
Her divine power was sealed, and her body was basically the same as an ordinary girl's.
She could get hungry.
She could get tired.
She had worked at the tavern all day and had been hungry for a long time, and now that she could finally rest, of course she meant to eat well and treat herself.
Manners weren't something Hestia bothered with.
When she noticed his gaze, she looked up, her bright eyes puzzled. "What is it?"
Yuto shook his head.
He'd only been caught watching the way she ate, and if he told her that, given her personality she'd probably sulk for a while.
Hestia gave him a strange look but let it go. A moment later, though, she stopped, as if something had come back to her.
"Oh, right. Kamisaka, Ryuu is coming by later to deliver the alcohol."
Yuto's expression shifted slightly.
The mead in the restaurant came from his arrangement with Mia, the owner of the tavern where Sakura and Hestia worked.
When they'd set it up, they agreed she would send alcohol over regularly, and he'd been keeping it in mind.
By his count, it really was about time.
Still, he looked at Hestia with a bit of helplesness.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
The goddess laughed awkwardly and scratched her head. "Your food was too good, so it slipped my mind for a moment."
She might not be a goddess of wisdom, but she was very good at begging for mercy—a skill trained through painful experience.
Before Hestia met Sakura, she'd had no Familia members at all.
If she hadn't played cute, leaned on Hephaestus, and pleaded day after day, she wouldn't even have had a place to live.
Life wasn't easy!
Yuto looked at the deliberately cute face she was making and sighed.
This hopeless goddess still hadn't changed much.
As luck would have it, not long after Hestia said that, the restaurant door opened.
And came the elf who worked at The Hostess of Fertility—Ryuu.
Her expression carried its usual coolness. She was very beautiful, but there was a distance about her that made her hard to approach.
Slender as she looked, she had a barrel as tall as a person resting on her shoulder—an advantage left over from her days as an adventurer.
"Good evening, Boss. I've come to deliver the alcohol." Even with the barrel on her shoulder, Ryuu bowed calmly to Yuto, without the slightest strain on her face.
"Sorry for the trouble. Tohru, go help her, quick." Yuto had Tohru step forward at once.
"It's fine. I can manage." Ryuu politely turned down the offer and walked from the door to the counter.
Her steps were steady, and the big oak barrel on her shoulder didn't sway in the least.
Yuto opened the small counter door for her.
Once inside, she set the barrel down smoothly, then went to check the restaurant's original one.
The lid on top could be opened, and Ryuu rose slightly onto her toes to look inside—her height made it a little awkward.
"Good thing I came in time. There isn't much left in here."
With that, she moved the old barrel out of its spot and swapped in the new one. The whole thing took less than a minute.
Once everything was in order, she bowed to Yuto again.
"Boss, I'll take the old barrel with me."
"Thanks."
At his nod, Ryuu lifted the old barrel onto her shoulder and came out from behind the counter.
As she moved, the liquor still inside sloshed against the wooden walls. When she reached Hestia, she stopped, which left everyone a little puzzled.
Then she looked at the goddess.
"Lady Hestia, Lady Loki is looking for you."
"Huh? That washboard is looking for me?"
"Yes."
Hestia was a goddess, so Ryuu naturally used the proper honorific for her.
Right now the goddess looked confused.
She and Loki were something close to archenemies. Whenever they met, the two of them would start trading insults at once—one calling the other a cow monster, the other calling her a washboard.
In a certain sense, the bad blood between them ran fairly deep.
So hearing that Loki was looking for her, Hestia couldn't imagine why.
"Then, Ryuu, do you know what she wants me for?"
Ryuu shook her head. "I'm sorry, Lady Hestia. Lady Loki didn't say, but she looked very serious. I think it must be something important."
Hestia frowned.
Something important.
She had a faint guess, but she didn't dare follow it too far, and a quiet unease began to spread through her chest.