Labyrinth Restaurant

The next morning, Alice woke up on her own bed.

"... Huh, in the morning?... Oh, why the clothes?

My thoughts are unclear because of the lead-like carelessness that lingers throughout my body. You said you slept in bed. The outfit stays in work clothes, not bedtime clothes, wrinkled all over.

"... kind of like I was having an unpleasant dream...?

I can't turn my head because of my tiredness. I have vague memories from last night, but Alice analyzed the current situation, probably because I dreamed badly of what I had gotten into bed tired and not dressed, and I couldn't get out of tiredness properly. Originally, it's quite unusual as a high-ranking Demon tribe where sleeping to live is not essential, but I convinced myself that it wouldn't have to be that way either.

Instead, he may have tried to delude himself unconsciously knowing that he should not instinctively remember what happened last night, even if his memory remained vague at this point.

When Alice wakes up with a heavy body, she first dresses from a work outfit full of wrinkles, opens her own door to wash her face to wake up...

"Ah! Dad, Ayashi (...) Hey, I got you!

I finally remembered what happened last night when I heard a silver-haired girl say... Honestly, I almost passed out again in the shock of the moment I remembered, but that barely showed.

"... I remember"

Last night, this girl got lost in the store, and she called the Demon King "Dad".

"I need to ask the Demon King what this means... but..."

It is easy to verify the authenticity of things. Ask the Demon King if he has any idea, and he will answer without falsehood. But what if, as one possibility, the Demon King was somewhere deep inside making children with a woman other than himself...

For the first time in the last few decades since she became aware of her fondness for the Demon King, Alice thought she only wanted to see him now. I want to believe in the Demon King, there is no falsehood in his heart. I still trust the Demon King in most parts of my heart. But I can't really wipe the slightest anxiety, like if I just dropped a drop of ink on a white sheet.

Alice didn't like the weakness in her heart that made her so anxious without believing the Demon King that she wanted to escape somewhere, but she also knew there was no way she could escape from her own heart, and she accidentally crouched on the spot.

... Since when have I become so weak...

If Alice was still the Demon King, she would never have had this anxiety that life and death had nothing to do with it. No, if Alice, the demon king back when she didn't know what love was, saw herself now worried about this, she would defiantly despise herself for being corrupt.

In the days Alice spent with him since she met the Demon King, somehow her animosity toward him turned into confusion, her confusion into interest, her interest into respect, and how long into love.

The change was truly natural, and although I was confused at first by the unknown emotions in me, but never once did I want to let go of it.

Alice thought that while the love that was born in her chest might have weakened herself, that was fine. I was happier with the days when I could be next to someone I loved more than that.

I was just happy to be next door. It's not that I didn't want any more relationships, but it also seemed that if I wanted too much, my happy dreams would wake up like bubbles because my current life was happy as if it were a dream. But still, I believed innocently that the happiness of being next to him would last forever.

A people-to-people relationship is not eternal. Separating for a reason, hating the person you like, or liking someone different from the person you like right now, that's a story that's really common everywhere. There can't even be a good story about bugs that I'm the only exception.

What if I'm not the one next to the Demon King?

Would I be mad if I ever saw a sight like that? Or would you cry out loud? I don't know as if my heart is no longer mine.

Alice learned for the first time that love isn't just sweet. Instead, the deeper the affection, the sweeter the sword of the blades that increases the bitterness when you lose it.

"Ayashi (...) Hey, are you hungry?

Alice looked up when she realized she had been called out. She looked painful while crouching and watched Alice shut up, and the girl was worried and called out.

"... it's okay"

"But you don't have one, do you?

Soon, Alice seemed to be weeping without realizing it herself. I feel my cheeks wet.

She was the girl who stared worryingly at Alice crying like that, but was caught in Alice's sad atmosphere when she said, "Wow...!" And I cried out.

"Hey, you better not...!

Alice felt even more sorry for herself for making such a small child worry, but she could only calm down a little when she saw the girl crying worried about herself.

"... you've made me worry, I'm sorry. But I think you're a very sweet, strong girl who can cry for someone else."

At least I'm much stronger than I was thinking about what I think.

Alice gently embraced the crying girl's body. I whine over and over again to the girl as she gently strokes her back to reassure her, "It's okay now," and then to tell herself.

How many minutes would you have done that? The girl fell asleep crying or not, and at some point Alice's tears stopped.

Alice let the sleeping girl sleep softly on her own bed so she wouldn't wake up, then washed her face to erase the tear trail, then headed under the Demon King to make sure it was true.

"Demon King"

Alice spoke to the Demon King who was outside the store. Even now that I'm doing this, my bad imagination is going to blow my mind and frustrate me.

"I'm talking about that girl..."

I can still feel the urge to stop asking and get away with it, but I remember the warmth when I hugged a girl in my heart and managed to keep the word going so I could be encouraged by that warmth.

"Is it true that she is the child of the Demon King?

I said it. This makes it clear what is true and false. Only a few seconds before the Demon King returns the word feels like an eternity.

And the Demon King opened his mouth.

"Yeah, well, kid, I guess it's like"

Alice mourned for a moment for a word that could also be taken as affirmative, but was uncomfortable with the way she said "something like" and enjoyed about to cry again.

"... like a child, is it?

"Well, maybe it's quicker to get a look at it than to explain it with your mouth"

That's how the Demon King put his palm against the wall of the labyrinth, the area that looked like rock skin with no philosophy whatsoever, and pushed it straight into the back.

"... hidden door, did you have something like this..."

It was a good sight to see the Demon King making all sorts of things with hobbies, confusion and thoughts, and putting his hands on existing things, but Alice never knew as if there was a hidden door right in front of the store.

The Demon King enters its hidden door and Alice follows. About a hundred meters down the dark aisle, there was a large room ahead, with lots of tanks lined up in that room.

Even when it comes to tanks, each and every one is pretty big, about the size of a coffin that adults can soothe in. There are many pipes connected to that tank that seem to be to provide oxygen and nourishment to the creatures inside.

But by tank, it was never fish or anything else that was in there.

Inside that translucent tank lay a creature in the shape of a person to sleep.

"Is this... human?

"It's artificial life."

The Demon King answered the question that Alice unconsciously asked.

"I'm going to be busy with a lot of things, so I need some manpower. And even though I knew how to make homunculus, I had never made it before, so I wanted to make it once."

"So, that girl too?

"Yeah, I think I woke up before I could grow into some kind of applause. Look, only the tuning tank there is open and empty."

Look, there was only one empty thing in the tank, the adjustment tank and the dot.

"I'm glad you woke up, but you can't see me, so it's like you're out there looking for me."

By the way, I heard later that these homunculus were endowed with the knowledge they needed to be born to live, and that's why that girl also knew from the beginning that the demon king was the maker, or parent.

However, as for that girl, the impartment of knowledge was still insufficient because she woke up in a state in which she was growing up, and she seemed to be like a toddler with a mental aspect still to be seen. For this reason, although I woke up fine, I didn't know how to act, and it was the truth of this one case that I was lost out of anxiety or instinctively in search of my parents, or Demon King, the Maker, and went out of this room to look for them and into a store that was right near the hidden door.

The clothes the girl was wearing, by the way, were the shirts the Demon King had left in this room as a change of clothes when they got dirty at work. Apparently, there was a perception that nakedness was embarrassing even in the spirit of toddlers, and I tried on the shirt that I kept close by for now. It was supposed to be dull, bukabuka and not sized.

As for Alice, she had nothing to worry about, but instead, another anxiety and doubt struck her head.

"What will that girl do now?

The cause is unknown, but apparently that girl woke up in the middle of growing up unlike her original plans. Is there no such thing as a negative effect on that child's body or spirit because of that?

"I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that. 'Cause if you go back inside the tuning tank and sleep another week or two, your body and your spirit should be done as planned."

Alice was surprisingly strong and secure when she heard it. You seem to have a lot of feelings for her because of the exchange earlier.

"So it's time to go back to the store? I've put her to sleep in my room, but it's pathetic when she wakes up alone."

When the two Demon Kings and Alice left the stash room and went back to the store, the girl just woke up. I'm rubbing my eyes like I'm sleeping while I'm small and lacking.

"Huh......, I'm hungry"

I was told and I realized that Alice hasn't spoken of anything yet either because of all the things that have happened since she woke up today. (It was actually a complete solo sumo that I was just letting down on my own with a bad imagination on my own rather than having a lot going on) I feel strongly hungry right now because the troubles were resolved beautifully.

"Then it's just lunch, and I'll make something. You want something to eat?

I've been asking for a request to see if the Demon King would make something.

"That demon king. Can I make it today?

That's what Alice suggested.

Alice doesn't mean she likes to cook separately, but she has enough cooking skills to help the Demon King. As the Demon King, I had no reason to say no, so I decided to leave it to her.

While Alice was cooking in the kitchen, the girl painted with crayons and painting paper that the Demon King had removed from somewhere, and the Demon King looked to enjoy the look. While I waited, the girl was painting with pleasure, but after a while when a delicious smell came from the kitchen, she became soggy with a restless look that reminded me of her hunger. After a while, by the time Alice brought in the basin with the dishes for the three of us, it seemed like it would still bring Yodale.

"It's a bowl of parents and children."

The dish Alice has been cooking was a bowl of parents and children. There were two bowls for adults, one small bowl for girls, and a slightly multi-eyed, sweet flavoring of the flavor, considering that the child would eat it. The thick eggs are intertwined with shiny, bite-sized chicken, sprinkled with bright green triplets as colour.

Alice thought this dish deserved it as a tightening of this one that inspired her to think about her parents, kids and all sorts of other relationships.

The girl's hands were dirty with crayons, so I wiped them clean with a squeeze and said we'd have all three of them before the meal started.

Girls can't use chopsticks yet, so grab a spoon and carry the bowl of parents and children to their mouths diligently. Because of eating too much momentum, I almost stuck it in the nod from time to time, and the rice grains on my cheeks, but each time Alice sitting in the next seat bakes her care for it in a worthwhile way to make her drink water and wipe her mouth. If you had anything else to see the sight of, you would have said you were like a mother.

Such a busy and enjoyable meal will eventually be over.

"Ayashi (...) Hey, welcome!

"Yes, you were crude. … and"

Now, is it because you fed the ice cream the first time we met, the girl seemed to have confused Alice's name with the ice cream?

"Arisu, hey, honey?

"Yes, my name is Alice."

So Alice realized there was.

"Lord Demon, does this child have a name?

"No, I haven't thought about it yet."

It's inconvenient that you don't have a name, and I just want to name you something. As I casually looked around thinking about any good ideas, I noticed that a cosmos flower was alive in a small vase in the corner of the store.

"It's this kid's name, but what about the name Cosmos?

Autumn Cherry Blossom (Cosmos). Flower words are the innocence of a girl.

As for Alice, it felt like that little, poor flower name would stick to this girl.

"Mine, if you rub it?

"Yes, that's the name of that flower. What do you think?

"Yeah! Me, rub it!

"Yeah, I think I can be cute, too."

Thus, the girl's name was determined unanimously. For the record, we will continue this flow in the future, so that the Homunculus made by the Demon King will be named after the plant.

Thus, Alice's worries have been cleared up, and events such as meals and naming have come to an end, and this case is about to come to an end.

"Well, I'll put the cosmos to sleep in the tuning tank."

When the Demon King says so, he pulls Cosmos's hand and heads to the hidden room outside the store. Cosmos doesn't seem particularly unpleasant either, and I'll be honest with you without messing around. As a cosmos, she simply feels like taking a longer nap.

"Aye..., there you go, see you later"

It's probably weeks after Alice next meets Cosmos, and by then, she should have grown in body and spirit, not in what a toddler looks like now.

Alice, who remembered a little loneliness about it, untied the blue ribbon she had on her hair.

"I'll give you this ribbon, I'm glad you took care of it"

"Yeah! Thank you, there you go!

I tied Cosmos' silver hair with a ribbon. Even if you said goodbye to the cosmos in this figure, you probably wanted something like a visible bond.

Some time later, the story of what happened when Homunculus and Alice, who tied their hair with a ribbon, reunited again, another time.

Alice was cleaning up earlier meals by herself after Cosmos headed to the stash room with the Demon King.

As I was putting the dishes together on the table, I found crayons and painting paper loose next to the chair where Cosmos was sitting. Probably obsessed with the meal and forgot it as it was.

I casually turned the painting paper that was turned upside down,

"Hehe."

There was a picture of Cosmos holding hands with the Demon King and Alice with his left and right hands.

It was a toddler's tedious ability to paint, but the way the three of them were laughing and holding hands was like a real family, and to Alice's eyes the painting seemed more valuable than any famous painting.