"Relax. Vitamin is Vitamin, and you're you. Don't undervalue yourself for no reason."
Yuto lightly flicked Tohru on the forehead.
Naturally, it did not hurt her in the slightest.
Tohru, however, immediately fell into unusually serious contemplation.
'Don't undervalue yourself.'
That meant Yuto thought she was worth something.
And since Yuto himself had said it, there was only one possible conclusion.
'That means I'm important to Boss!'
The realization struck her all at once.
Ohhhhhhh!!!
Tohru was instantly revived.
She was important to Yuto!
Compared with that, what did one stupid dog matter?
Vitamin could not even come close!
That was simply how Tohru worked.
Her thoughts tended to move in a straight line, and because her emotions came quickly, they often disappeared just as quickly once she found something else to focus on.
...
It was already well past midnight when Yuto found himself sitting with Chito and Yuuri, quietly listening to the two girls talk about the latest part of their journey.
There were no other customers left in the restaurant.
Everyone else had eaten, stayed for a while, and eventually returned home, leaving the three of them alone in the quiet dining area.
Chito and Yuuri had arrived a little over half an hour earlier and had already finished their meals.
"So you still haven't found anything..."
Yuto spoke softly, unable to keep a trace of sadness and helplessness from entering his voice.
Chito had just finished describing the latest stretch of their journey, and once again, it had been exactly as empty and silent as everything before it.
Other than the two of them, there had been no sign of another living person anywhere.
Tonight, Chito looked more exhausted than usual as she recounted what they had seen.
Her expression was subdued, and the experiences of the past few days seemed to have worn her down more deeply than before.
No matter how strong she tried to be, she was ultimately still only a teenage girl.
A person's emotional defenses could only endure so much before reality's endless hardships began wearing them away.
Yuuri sat nearby with her chin propped in one hand.
She looked vaguely helpless herself, though whenever she glanced toward Chito, genuine concern appeared in her eyes.
"Haah..."
Chito let out a weary sigh.
Yuuri immediately reached over and patted her shoulder.
When Chito turned toward her in confusion, she found Yuuri wearing an unusually confident expression.
"Don't go sighing like that, dummy!"
Yuuri declared it with such exaggerated seriousness that it was obvious she was trying to comfort her.
Unfortunately, the overly dramatic confidence she had adopted made the whole thing look rather ridiculous.
Yuto could not help smiling.
"I'm not the dummy. You're the dummy, Yuu."
Chito rolled her eyes, but some life had already returned to her expression.
Yuuri's attempt at encouragement had worked.
The method was simply... uniquely hers.
Seeing that, Yuto relaxed a little as well.
"If you really do reach the end of your journey one day, what do you two want to do afterward?"
The question made both girls pause.
"For me?" Yuuri cupped her cheeks in both hands as she thought about it. "I'd find somewhere nice and sleep for a really long time, then come back here and eat until I'm completely full. Hehehe~"
She laughed happily.
Yuuri had always been carefree and, admittedly, was not especially burdened by complicated thoughts.
She did not even fully understand what the point of their current journey was.
All she knew was that Chito wanted to keep going, so she followed her.
Because Yuuri rarely overthought anything, she rarely had much to worry about either.
Chito was different.
She remained silent for much longer, staring blankly at the tabletop as though her thoughts had drifted somewhere far away.
Eventually, she shook her head.
She genuinely did not know anymore.
Chito had thought about the end of their journey many times before.
Back then, the answer had seemed much clearer, and she had imagined several possible futures waiting for them once they reached their destination.
But time had passed, and things had changed.
Instead of becoming more certain, she felt increasingly lost.
Living as simply as Yuuri did was, in its own way, something extraordinarily difficult to achieve.
Chito had spent her entire life continuing this journey because she was holding onto hope.
Hope could be a wonderful thing, but if it ultimately led to nothing, then what remained afterward could easily become despair.
Once, Chito had imagined that if they truly reached the end and discovered there was nothing waiting for them, she and Yuuri might simply find somewhere with enough food to survive and remain there until they eventually died.
At darker moments, she had even wondered whether reaching the end might be the right time to end her own life.
Either way, the final destination had always seemed to lead toward death.
Those thoughts, however, belonged to the time before they discovered the restaurant.
Now, everything was different.
Their old assumptions no longer applied.
There were other worlds.
Other places.
Other possibilities.
Could they perhaps live somewhere else instead?
It was an incredibly tempting idea.
Yet Chito still hesitated.
"You seriously can't think of anything, Chii?" Yuuri asked lazily.
Chito shot her a glare but did not answer.
Yuto smiled gently.
"If that day really comes, how about working for me?"
Both girls looked at him in surprise.
Neither had expected him to say something like that.
"And yes, I'd pay you," Yuto added.
"Ehh? Working for Boss?" Yuuri tilted her head, thought about it for only a moment, then immediately grinned. "Hmm... sure! That sounds pretty good! Hehehe~"
She agreed with her usual straightforward cheerfulness, her smile bright and completely sincere.
A faint light appeared in Chito's eyes, though she still looked uncertain.
"What would we... actually do?"
"I've been thinking about expanding the restaurant someday and offering a delivery service for customers who can't easily come here. Basically, I'd pack their meals and have someone deliver them directly to their worlds."
Yuto smiled.
"When I thought about who could do that kind of job, you two seemed like a pretty good fit."
The idea of a delivery service had occurred to him some time ago.
The more he thought about it, the more workable it seemed.
As far as employees went, Chito and Yuuri were unusually well suited to that kind of work.
Neither of them had many ties anchoring them to any particular place, and if they eventually became employees of the restaurant, Yuto genuinely believed they could handle the job well.
More importantly, he hoped it might give the two girls another path forward.
Delivering food across different worlds had to be better than remaining forever in a dead one where nothing was left.
"Eh?! That actually sounds really fun!" Yuuri immediately grabbed Chito's arm and shook it excitedly.
"Chii, Chii, say yes! We can deliver food together from now on!"
Chito hesitated for only a moment before finally nodding.
The instant she did, Yuuri's face lit up.
"Ohooo!"
She let out an excited cry that sounded more like an overjoyed monkey than a teenage girl.
Yuto laughed and nodded.
"Then it's settled, okay?"
"Mm."
...
Some time after Chito and Yuuri left, Ainz, Rimuru, and Fafnir all arrived at the restaurant.
The three of them had originally gone to Ainz's world together, so Yuto was mildly confused to see them return so soon.
"Are you... done for tonight?" he asked hesitantly.
By that, he meant their so-called plan to conquer worlds.
Nighttime was usually when the three of them went out together to work on that particular "great undertaking."
"Nope!"
Rimuru bounced upward as he answered, sounding unusually cheerful, as though he were eagerly anticipating something.
Yuto raised an eyebrow.
"Then what happened?"
After listening to Ainz and Rimuru explain, he finally understood.
Ah.
They were waiting for the official SAO launch event.
It was already a little after five in the morning, and apparently the three of them intended to stay at the restaurant until the event began.
Yuto could only sigh helplessly.
As expected.
When gaming was involved, absolutely no serious business whatsoever was getting done.