Starting a Night Shift Part-time Job at a Convenience Store.

All theiobjectives were accomplished. With this, the case was closed. As Yakumo mentioned, if we stayed hereiany longer, the departed would againicome swarming back, sniffing the presence of the living, so we promptly left theiplace and retrieved Yakumo’s motorcycle, which he had abandoned on the way. Being accompanied by Yakumo, who was moving forward without faltering, as if he was reeling in an invisible thread, we had indeed returnedito our original place.

Starsiwere still twinkling in the sky that I hadn’t seen in a long time, though theisun would begin to ascend within a matter of hours.

Having finally been liberated fromithe clamoring darkness and miraculously made it back alive, I lay down on the concrete, where cars rarely passed, all with a hugeisigh of relief.

To beiable to step on this concrete again, ah… how moving.

Guessed I could goihome.

When I thoughtiof that, rather than being overjoyed, my whole body loosened up with aisense of relief.

“Areiyouiokay? Uh… you have gone through so much that it’s not okay.”

“It’s fine. Since everything is over, forget it…”

Justibeing in close contact with the concrete like this madeime extremely happy.

It was unbelievable that I couldireturn alive from that sea of trees that everyone was dreading. Yakumo did not fabricate a lie, after all. He indeed brought me back safe and sound.

Speaking of that Yakumo, I was stunned to find that he was breathing heavily and walking on his own two legs without any support. Although I had grown accustomed to seeing this situation by now, from his head to his feet, his appearance was so awful that I was tempted to say, “What kind of horror movie did you spring out of?”

“I didn’t bother to ask you since you’re doing the best you can, but are you okay…?”

Even if he were to fall down and die, it wouldn’t be surprising.

I mean, falling off a cliff and getting trapped under a large tree… hey. If anything, how were you still alive?

“Yeah… to put it simply, it hurts like hell. My whole body is burning, jiggling, throbbing, and aching.”

A parade of unintelligible mimetic words. He was beyond severe, evidently.

“Phew… this is a true panic sale, haha.”

“Stop talking nonsense, don’t move anymore, sit down!”

Despite all the complications I encountered, thanks for bringing me back in one piece as promised. At least call an ambulance.

Leaning back on his bike, Yakumo drew in shallow breaths as he opened the cell phone, which had reestablished reception, and he fumbled in his back pocket and put it in my free hand.

“I think this is too cheap of a thank you, but this is the only thing I can give you right now… Sorry.”

He handed me a small piece of thick paper, about the size of a business card.

“This is a ticket for the ramen shop I work at, an extremely rare free ticket that can be used indefinitely and as many times as you want… It’s in Osaka, and if you want to come to visit me, I’ll feed you plenty of ramen on my tab… Oh, but the gyoza is better than the ramen there, haha, isn’t that funny…?”

Yakumo, who was struggling to connect the words, was breathing laboriously.

Not good, an ambulance really needed to be called right now.

“No more talking, you, shut your mouth!”

“Sonny, thanks…”

“Like I said, don’t talk…!”

No kidding, you’re going to die! I warned him, and a weak smile flashed across his face.

“Don’t worry. It hurts, but I have a feeling I can walk home to Osaka like this.”

“No, no, no, no!”

That was undoubtedly absurd.

“No problem, this will heal… itself if I spit it out.”

“There’s no way it will heal!?”

Perhaps sleepiness had set in, and Yakumo leaned back against the bike and crouched down deeply.

“Yakumo… hey! Yakumo! Don’t sleep, you fool!”

I shook him, and his neck jerked, but his breath was faint.

“I’m calling an ambulance right now… just hold on a little bit longer…!”

He was really ready to… this guy. I impatiently pressed the number on the cell phone.

Even though the case had just been settled, if he fell off in front of me or something… I might burst into tears.

“Yakumo…? Hey, you’re not dead, right… Please, don’t die!”

Please don’t tell me that these words were no longer spoken to a human being. My fingers were trembling so much that I kept making the mistake of pressing the wrong button.

I mean―Huh… The emergency number, 110 or 119… which was it―

My mind went blank the moment I lost my mind in a panic. Right at that moment, the bushes at the entrance to the sea of trees rustled violently. What―

When I lifted my head…

“Wahhhh―!!”

A person sprang out of the darkness accompanied by a loud, super-hyperactive voice.

“Akane―! I’m coming to save you! Sorry for the delay!!”

“Douuuuuuwaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!?”

It was impossible not to be taken aback by a third party who unexpectedly emerged from such a place.

A scream erupted from me that I had no idea how many times I had raised it this day.

My organs jumped up and fell all at once to the bottom of my abdomen. How many years had my life expectancy shortened by this?

“W-Whooooooooooooo!”

Who was it―!?Translator:MadHatter

An unfamiliar face burst out of the darkness.

Dressed in a tight black suit like a bodyguard, with a red tie around his neck. He was a young man with chestnut hair and blue eyes, approximately the same age as Yakumo.

With lotsiof leaves on his shoulders and in his hair, he showed up at a hell of a timing, looking quite out of place and neatly dressed.

I supposed heiwas not a specter because he was not see-through, but… Even so, why did he come out from the sea of trees with such a brilliant smile on his face? It was too frightening.

I mean, it seemed like he just mentioned Yakumo’s name…

“…Your acquaintance?”

Yakumo, who had been breathing quietly and heavily, stood up straight and walked up to the young man who had appeared.

He gave him not a hug… but rather a headbutt.

“You bastard… whatiplace did you think you were coming out from?”

“Ouch…! B-But… you look to be fine… I mean, it hurtsss!!”

“You’re way too late! Idiot!”

Following a headbutt, he grabbed him by the chest and threw him over his back.

The man in the suit screamed, and Yakumo, who had been breathing faintly until a moment ago, seemed to have hit some kind of switch when the man in the suit appeared on the scene, and stormed over to him with his mouth agape and a snarling attitude.

“What sorry for the delay! You fool! I almost died when you didn’t hurry up and get here!”

“Yeah. From the looks of it, it looks like you made another spectacular screw-up.”

“Whose fault is it! By whom? You irredeemable person who has no sense of direction!”

“I mean, about this new smartphone? Without Akane, I can’t operate it properly!”

“So I told you not to preemptively buy something you can’t use!”

“Ugh, sorry! Excuse me! Pardon me!”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it! You idiot! God damn it… you’re going to get your ass kicked!

“Faaaatsu―!?”

With a face that would make a bloodthirsty killer cry, Yakumo approached the young man, who was on the run.

“Wait! That’s not allowed! No, no, no, no! We’re buddies, we’re a team! Hurting each other is wrong!”

“Shut up! You made me suffer so hard! Take my pain in your ass, you little…!”

“Aaahhh!”Not shared on aggregator sites

A gameiof tag commenced around me as I watched.

Apparently, the fellow Yakumo was referring to was him. Whatever the circumstances, Yakumo wasigreatly aggravated. I rushed to restrain him, as he seemed to be on the verge of violent outbursts with a bat in hand should I continue to only watch on.

As expected, that spiked bat was dangerous.

Howishould I stopihim…