"Reiko..."
Yuto spoke hesitantly as he looked at the girl standing near the entrance.
His voice was unusually quiet, almost as though he were afraid that speaking too loudly might startle her.
Reiko did not respond.
Without saying a word, she walked over to the counter and sat down, never once raising her head to look at him.
Her expression was exceptionally gloomy.
Even in complete silence, she radiated such a profound sadness that merely looking at her was enough to make someone feel sorry for her.
Yuto drew in a slow breath.
For a moment, he did not know whether he should say something or simply remain silent.
Suddenly questioning her about what had happened, or offering comfort before she was ready to receive it, might only irritate her.
Even between friends, there were certain corners of the heart that other people should not casually reach into.
After hesitating for a moment, Yuto chose not to ask.
That did not mean he simply stood there doing nothing.
He turned and walked into the kitchen.
Inside, Erina and Hisako were leaning against each other while taking a short break.
The moment they saw Yuto enter, both initially intended to greet him, but after noticing the unusually quiet expression on his face, they abandoned the idea.
Instead, they silently watched what he was doing.
Yuto took out a sweet potato and cut off a portion.
He sliced it into irregular chunks, heated a pan of oil, and carefully lowered the pieces inside.
The pale sweet potato disappeared beneath the bubbling oil, its surface gradually transforming into a rich golden color as it fried.
Once the pieces were cooked through, Yuto scooped them out and added several chunks of rock sugar to the pan.
By then, what he was preparing had become obvious.
Candied sweet potatoes.
The very first dish Reiko had eaten when she first came to the restaurant.
Back then, she had arrived covered in dust and footprints of different sizes, yet even in that miserable condition, she had still looked nowhere near as despondent as she did tonight.
Yuto prepared the dish with unusual care.
He said nothing throughout the entire process, focusing completely on the food in front of him.
When the syrup reached the proper consistency, he returned the sweet potato to the pan and gave it one final toss, coating each golden piece in a thin, glistening layer of caramelized sugar.
The candied sweet potatoes were finished.
Yuto arranged them neatly on a plate and carried the dish out in his right hand.
In his left hand was a small saucer filled with cold water.
Candied sweet potatoes needed to be dipped briefly in water before eating.
Otherwise...
They burned like hell!
Tap—
Without saying anything, Yuto placed the plate in front of Reiko.
The girl finally raised her head.
Her eyes were filled with confusion and complicated emotions.
They were also heavily bloodshot.
"Eat."
Yuto sighed softly, folded his arms, and leaned back against the counter.
Reiko lowered her gaze toward the plate of candied sweet potatoes.
For a moment, her eyes became unfocused.
A thin veil of moisture gradually blurred her vision.
She picked up her chopsticks, took one piece, dipped it lightly into the cold water, and placed it into her mouth.
Her cheek puffed out slightly.
As she chewed, the small bulge shifted gently from one side to the other.
Reiko's breathing gradually became heavier.
Then, beneath Yuto's quiet gaze, a single drop of water fell from her lowered face.
It was almost certainly a tear.
Yuto sighed again.
It was difficult to connect the cheerful, openhearted girl he knew with the person now sitting before him, silently crying with her head lowered.
But that was simply how life was.
No blue sky remained clear forever.
Eventually, storm clouds would always arrive.
Saitama, who was sitting farther down the counter, glanced toward Reiko before quietly looking away.
He had absolutely no idea how to deal with a crying girl.
Watching from the side suited him far better.
"Thank you."
After a while, Reiko finally put down her chopsticks.
She raised her head and forced a small smile toward Yuto.
The expression looked relaxed enough at first glance, but it could not hide the redness around her eyes and nose.
Still...
She looked considerably better than when she first walked through the door.
Food could not speak.
But sometimes, it could communicate just as much as words.
"Anything else?"
Yuto smiled back at her.
Reiko tilted her head slightly.
Then she smiled.
"Can I have some alcohol?"
...
Clunk.
Reiko placed yet another empty mug on the counter.
By now, the girl's face had taken on the unmistakable flush of drunkenness.
She clearly had not noticed.
Or perhaps... she had noticed perfectly well.
Maybe she simply did not want to leave this state yet.
"Another one."
"All right."
Yuto answered quietly.
He picked up the mug by its handle, walked over to the keg, and filled it again.
Ever since he agreed to serve her alcohol, Reiko had already gone through seven mugs.
And she was not using anything resembling an ordinary cup.
She had chosen the same oversized mugs that Iskandar and some of the others usually preferred.
A single one held roughly four or five normal servings.
Practically an entire bottle.
Which meant Reiko had already consumed the equivalent of at least seven bottles of alcohol.
Perhaps because she was far from an ordinary human, her tolerance was equally abnormal.
"Here."
Yuto placed the refilled mug in front of her.
Reiko looked up and gave him a slightly dazed smile.
She gripped the handle and immediately began drinking again.
This time, however, she stopped halfway and slowly lowered the mug.
Her eyes had become noticeably unfocused.
It was the hollow, distant gaze of someone who had drunk far too much.
Reiko quietly stared at the alcohol sloshing inside the cup.
She lifted one arm slightly and rested her chin against her wrist.
A long silence followed.
Then she finally spoke.
"I wish I were a youkai..." She said it calmly.
And then, unexpectedly, she laughed.
Yet that smile only made Yuto feel an inexplicable sadness.
Her eyes had become deep and dim, like those of an elderly person who had already seen far too much of the world.
Or perhaps like someone who had been wounded so many times that almost nothing remained untouched.
"Did something happen?"
Yuto finally asked.
Now that Reiko had spoken first, he had an opening.
Her nostrils trembled faintly.
She took a deep breath, though it came out slightly unsteady.
Then she tried to force another smile onto her lips.
It was not particularly convincing.
"If I were a youkai, life would probably be much easier."
Reiko smiled faintly at him.
For a brief moment, her expression almost resembled the bright, carefree girl he normally knew.
But the hand gripping the mug trembled slightly.
...
No matter how casually Reiko tried to speak about such things, deep inside, she had always longed for human friends she could genuinely get along with.
The last time she came to the restaurant, she had told Yuto about someone.
She had finally made a good friend.
A human.
Not a youkai.
A girl.
A girl who loved smiling and patiently listened whenever Reiko talked about youkai.
A girl who ignored everyone calling Reiko strange and chose to become her friend anyway.
A girl who had genuinely accepted her.
Her first.
And only... ordinary human friend in the truest sense.
Yuto still remembered the expression Reiko had worn when she talked about that girl.
It had been a smile of pure happiness.
Bright as a star.
Unfortunately, not every relationship was destined to reach a happy ending.
Just as many of the stories people remembered most vividly seemed to end in tragedy...
That girl died.
She had taken her own life.
She had been ill, and as her condition worsened, she no longer wanted to continue burdening her family.
And so... she chose death.
The day before she ended her life, she had met Reiko.
Everything had seemed completely normal.
The girl smiled as she listened to Reiko tell her one strange story after another.
Sometimes she looked surprised.
Sometimes she looked frightened.
Sometimes she laughed.
Nothing about her behavior had seemed unusual.
Then, the following day... she was gone.
Like an evening breeze disappearing without leaving even the faintest trace behind.
Reiko did not learn what had happened until the day after her death.
By coincidence, she overheard fragments of conversation between several youkai who happened to mention the girl.
Only afterward did she learn the full story.
When Reiko finally stood alone in front of the girl's grave, she came to understand something that hurt far more than she had expected.
She had barely known anything about her.
She had not known that the girl was ill.
She had not known how difficult her family's financial situation had become.
She had not known what thoughts had been running through her mind on that final day.
Reiko had been too consumed by the happiness of finally having a human friend.
And because of that happiness... she had overlooked everything else.
By the time she finally realized it, everything was already over.
Even beings as unnatural as youkai could not overturn life and death.
The final period had already been written beneath that sunset.
Reiko left the grave in a daze.
She could no longer remember how long she had stood there.
The only thing she remembered clearly was how cold that day had been.
So cold that even sunlight against her skin had felt painfully icy.
Someone who had never seen sunlight could never truly understand the suffering of darkness.
But once a person had escaped that darkness before...
Falling back into it made the pain infinitely worse.
The hopelessness caused by bullying, betrayal, rejection, and insults could not compare with what Reiko had felt that day.
She quietly took another sip of alcohol.
By the time she finished telling the story, her voice had remained remarkably calm.
Two trails of tears were running down her face.
Reiko pursed her lips and forced another faint smile.
"Walking between humans and youkai like this... is really exhausting."
There was a trace of deep helplessness in her voice.
Yuto sighed softly.
Now he finally understood what she had meant earlier.
'I wish I were a youkai.'
Reiko stood upon the boundary between humans and youkai.
Even if she chose to treat humans with kindness, that did not mean humans would always return that kindness.
And while she had youkai friends who could understand her better than most humans ever could, humans and youkai were ultimately different.
Most youkai would still view someone like her with suspicion or hostility.
Standing between two sides while never completely belonging to either...
Perhaps it really would be easier to choose one and belong to it completely.
At least then she would not need to think so much.
Yuto drew in a quiet breath.
"When you're tired, come here."
He smiled faintly.
"I can't offer you anything particularly impressive, but there will always be enough food and alcohol here to fill you up."
Reiko looked at him.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Then, slowly, she smiled.
"Yeah... I suppose that's true."
She lifted the mug and drank the final mouthful.
Afterward, she wiped her lips rather boldly with the back of her hand and stretched both arms high above her head.
"I actually feel a lot better now."
Her smile became brighter.
"Looks like alcohol really does work."
Her eyes were still slightly unfocused, but compared with when she first arrived, she looked considerably better.
"Too much of it definitely doesn't."
Yuto shook his head with a smile.
"I'm really glad I got to talk about all this here tonight." Reiko exhaled slowly. "I should probably head home now. Drinking this much is making me sleepy."
She stood.
Her body swayed slightly, but she quickly managed to steady herself.
Yuto immediately looked concerned.
"Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"Mm! I'll be fine!"
Reiko smiled.
"I'll bring the money for tonight's food and alcohol tomorrow. I really didn't bring any cash with me, so put it on my tab for now, Kamisaka."
"All right."
Yuto nodded with a smile.
Reiko turned and left the restaurant.
Yuto remained where he was, quietly watching her back until she disappeared through the door.
For some reason, he could not help comparing Reiko with other girls around her age.
She was unusually mature.
Even after experiencing so much pain, Yuto had never once seen her genuinely hate anyone.
She had always been exceptionally skilled at controlling her emotions.
Yet that very maturity...
Was exactly what made watching her so painful.
How much sadness was still hidden behind the composed smile she had worn before leaving?
No one could know.
All of her suffering, grief, and loneliness had simply been carried quietly by the girl herself.
Yuto sighed.
Once again, he remembered her earlier words.
'I wish I were a youkai.'
At first glance, those words might sound as though Reiko had completely lost faith in living among humans.
But when he thought about them more carefully...
Perhaps there was still a tiny trace of hope for the future hidden inside them.
It was precisely because that hope remained that her voice had trembled when she spoke.
The helplessness in her tone had really been hesitation.
Even after being hurt by humans again and again...
Even after losing someone she had finally allowed herself to cherish...
Reiko still had not completely abandoned her hope for humanity.
Or for the future.
Realizing that, Yuto could only sigh once more.