Chapter 20: The Old Man Gets Pestered for a Hug by the Receptionist

——Mira and Alicia’s Actual Conversation———

“…Very well, I’ll leave those girls to you, Alicia-sama… but please don’t go too far. They are, for better or worse, affiliated with this Guild… it would be a problem if they were to simply disappear. Well… I honestly wouldn’t mind… but my mother would probably object. Then again… maybe my mother would approve… When it comes to Mikami-san, she and I aren’t so different.”

“My… Mira-san… who do you think I am? I am a ‘Saint,’ you know. I would never do something so barbaric. Hee hee… Naturally, I shall enlighten my juniors with kindness and moderation.”

“…Is that so? If you say so… It’s just that my mother has told me a great deal about you from your Moon Maidens days, Alicia-sama… I hear some people used to call you ‘the Iron-Fisted Saint of Maniacal Laughter.'”

“…Emma-san says the most unnecessary things… I wonder whose fault she thinks that was… It’s because Emma-san lied and kept Mikami-sensei all to herself that I… no, that we…”

“…Alicia-sama… are you alright? You don’t seem to be hiding your bloodlust in the slightest…”

“Oh my… how rude of me. Hee hee… But if you’re going to say that, Mira-san, you were directing some intense murderous intent my way just now, weren’t you?”

“…That was… unavoidable. Because you suddenly threw yourself at Mikami-san’s body… Even I haven’t done that since I became an adult… Why would a Saint like you do something like that in public… wait… that’s not important right now. Please hurry up and discipline those girls for me.”

“Oh, yes… I shall give them a thorough lesson. A lesson in the splendor of Mikami-sensei… hee hee…”

―――

The two of them eventually came back.

And Alicia-san said,

“Well then, everyone, shall we have a little chat? Ah… it might be noisy and disruptive inside the Guild, so let’s talk out back… let’s have a nice, long talk outside. Hee hee…”

“Huh? We don’t talk that loud…”

“Oh, no… I was talking about myself. Please, pay it no mind…”

Just like that, Alicia-san led the Celesties outside.

For some reason, as she left, Alicia-san was holding both her fists out in front of her, clenched tightly.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used these fists on people. Hee hee… I wonder if I can hold back…”

And she muttered something in a low voice.

With Alicia-san and the others gone, it was just Mira-san and me in the Guild again.

A dead silence fell, and the atmosphere somehow turned awkward.

“Um… Mira-san, I’m sorry. Because I was so useless, I ended up causing you trouble, too—”

I tried to apologize for the business with the Celesties, but…

“…You certainly did. Mikami-san. Why were you hiding it… about Alicia-sama…”

Mira-san was glaring right at me.

She was clearly in a bad mood.

“N-No… I wasn’t hiding anything… I just didn’t remember—”

“…Is that true? For someone who forgot… you looked awfully happy when Alicia-sama… was hugging you…”

“Th-That’s not true.”

“Then… prove it…”

Saying that, Mira-san pressed closer.

“Wh-W-Wait… what do you mean, prove it…?”

“Just like you did for Alicia-sama… I want you to… um… hug me…”

“Huh…? But… why…?”

“Th-This… is… um… p-proof! B-Besides, Mikami-san, you used to hug me all the time… but you haven’t at all recently…”

Proof of what, exactly…?

It’s true… a long time ago, I did hug… no, I gave Mira-san hugs.

But… let me be perfectly clear: I had no ulterior motives whatsoever. Yes… it was simply beyond my control.

The first time I hugged Mira-san… yes, it was when we were attacked by a magical beast and escaped together… Mira-san was terrified.

Which was only natural.

She was still just a little girl, after all…

She looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment, and we were still on the run… in a forest teeming with magical beasts…

If Mira-san had started crying loudly in that situation, a magical beast could have easily found us.

And above all, Mira-san needed to calm down.

And so,

I…

“Calm down… It’s okay…”

…said something like that to soothe her… and hugged her.

So, as you can see, this wasn’t a criminal incident or anything of the sort.

I am innocent!

Well, okay… I did hug Mira-san several more times after that.

That much is true.

But… there’s a perfectly valid reason for that, too.

Even after we got back to town safely, Mira-san would sometimes ask me for a hug when it was just the two of us.

It was probably because memories of the attack would come flooding back, making her anxious.

For a little kid, being attacked by a magical beast and barely escaping with your life is nothing short of traumatic.

Naturally, as she got older, it happened less often…

No, to be precise, even after she grew up, Mira-san would still occasionally pester me for a hug, just like now.

And I refused her every time…

But one time, I finally gave in, and we hugged for the first time in a long while…

Of all the people who could have seen us, it had to be Emma-san, and I got an earful.

From an objective point of view, it was just some random old man hugging a young girl, so of course she’d be angry.

Come to think of it, Emma-san started acting really strange after that, too.

I wonder if that was the distant cause of me getting fired this time…

And so, with my head full of jumbled thoughts, I was, as usual, spacing out.

“…Hee hee… It’s been so long… since I’ve been able to jump into your arms, Mikami-san… Ah… this scent really is calming…”

By the time I realized it, Mira-san had already draped herself over me…

“Um… M-Mira-san…”

“…Just like you did for Alicia-sama… hold me… tightly… and prove it…”

Mira-san stared up at me with upturned eyes.