Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 97 - Before the Wedding 5

"So? You knock on my door in the middle of the night, drag me out of bed — and it's just to drink at a tavern?"

Nanahoshi sat across from me, snapped her fingers to order drinks and skewers, and spoke up.

"A lot of good things have been happening lately, haven't they? I'm your best friend. What's wrong with pulling you out for a private drink?"

"Going out for drinks with a good friend is never a problem. But the middle of the night is pushing it. I'm a married man now, you know."

"Oh ho~ That red-haired girl standing behind you just now — was that Eris?"

"Yeah."

"She's beautiful. Looked a little scary, though."

"If you hadn't shown up in the middle of the night, Eris probably wouldn't have made that face."

Nanahoshi narrowed her eyes, propped her chin on her hand, and smiled.

"I'll never understand why they all like you so much."

"Mm-hmm? I'm actually pretty confident about that myself. I just have no idea what my good points are."

Nanahoshi shook her head and changed the subject.

"Want to guess why I dragged you out for drinks?"

Things with Nanahoshi are always easy to guess. Or rather, there's no need to guess at all.

I smiled.

"Progress on the teleportation array?"

"Exactly! With your little sister's help, I successfully teleported something over from Earth."

"Oh?"

That caught my attention.

Was it actually possible to travel back? Or only to bring things over from Earth?

"What was it?"

"A plastic bottle and a soda can."

"Big progress..."

While we were talking, the owner brought everything to the table.

Nanahoshi didn't spare a thought for her dignity. She grabbed her drink and downed it in one go, let out a long sigh like some grizzled old man, then immediately shoved a skewer into her mouth.

I took a sip of my drink, amused.

I reached for a skewer and noticed Nanahoshi watching me with faint disdain.

"What?" I asked, picking up the skewer.

"Rudeus, can you drink like you mean it?"

"I'm not taking criticism about how I drink from a high school girl."

Nanahoshi slammed her wooden cup down on the table with a solid thud, every bit the middle-aged man she was pretending to be.

"My body just hasn't changed, that's all. My actual age... hmm...? I forgot."

"A body that never grows up, huh. Maybe that's not so bad."

Hearing that, Nanahoshi's expression shifted into something wry.

It was hard to tell whether she was laughing at herself or at me.

"Even if I don't age, this body is far too frail. The kind of frail that almost feels deliberate, like this world's hostility toward outsiders."

She raised her right hand as she spoke. Rings of all different kinds covered her fingers, and a necklace hung at her throat.

"Orsted noticed how unusually frail I was and gave me these magic tools to ward off illness. Without them, I'd have died from some minor cold ages ago."

By the time she finished, her second cup was already empty.

"So with a body that fragile, you still drag me out drinking?"

"Getting drunk doesn't count as illness. Orsted found out and didn't say a word about it, so it should be fine. Probably."

I ate the last of my skewer in one bite and took a sip of my drink.

"I hope so."

"Hey! Don't change the subject, Rudeus. You haven't even finished your first drink."

"I'm getting married the day after tomorrow. Getting too drunk would be bad. And if I get drunk, who's going to carry you home?"

Nanahoshi considered that for a moment, then cleared her throat.

I was still wondering what she was about to say when the words came out, and they caught me off guard.

Clumsy, halting Chinese.

"[Man lives but a lifetime; grass endures but one autumn]. Don't tie yourself down so much, you know?"

She stood up and gave my back a pat.

I stayed there for a long moment, murmuring the words back to myself.

"[Man lives but a lifetime; grass endures but one autumn]... heh. Fair enough."

"Oh! It sounds completely different when you say it!"

"Of course it does, when the pronunciation is actually right. Want me to teach you?"

"Yes! I love that saying. I specifically learned it back in school. I just never knew whether I was saying it right."

We drank. We ate skewers. Every so often I taught her a proverb she seemed curious about.

The evening passed like that.

......

A few times I nearly tipped over the edge into full drunk. Each time I barely held on to the last scrap of my awareness and cast Detoxification Magic on myself.

I looked at Nanahoshi passed out beside me and shook my head.

I settled the bill, hauled her onto my back, and started walking home.

Every time I carry her like this, I get this feeling, that the two of us are both people this world threw away. But that's not true. Only Nanahoshi was thrown away.

I have people who love me. I have family. Everyone around me holds me close. But Nanahoshi...

Maybe it's pity. Maybe it's just that she's my only friend. Either way, I've never been able to refuse her. I want her to be happy. I want her to get back to Earth. I want this guileless girl to finally, genuinely find some peace.

"Rudeus..."

Her voice was a murmur, drunk and small.

"Mm?"

"If... if in the end I still can't go back..."

She stopped. Both arms came up around my neck, and she rested her head against my shoulder.

"If I really can't go back... I want to die before you do."

I stopped walking.

What kind of place was she in, to say that?

The experiments were going well. Why would she say something like this?

I didn't know how to answer. So I didn't.

I didn't want Nanahoshi to think like that. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking. But I still didn't want her carrying thoughts like these.

And Nanahoshi, as if she already knew what was going through my head, added quietly:

"It's not a pessimistic thing... I just don't want you to go before me. That's all."

My lips moved. I held the thought for a while before I let it out.

"I'll stay with you."

Irresponsible, maybe. But I said it anyway.

Just to put her mind at ease. Only that.

Those words of hers, they came from fear of being alone. That's what I believed, at least.

"Mm..."

She seemed to settle. I could feel it in the way the weight on my back softened.

I started walking again. Nanahoshi spoke once more.

"Rudeus... you're the only person in this world I've ever really opened my heart to. Even in my last life I never had a friend like you. I mean it — thank you."

"Same. I'm lucky I got to meet you here. I complain about the drinking every time, but honestly? Every time we come out like this, I go home feeling lighter."

"Ha, I knew all that reluctance was an act. Once you're married, you won't be able to just slip out for drinks whenever you want anymore, you know."

"My standing at home is just fine. If I want to go out, I go out."

"I hope so."

After that, Nanahoshi went quiet.

I couldn't tell if she'd fallen asleep. I just walked, the silence easy between us.

We were almost home when she reached up and pinched my cheek.

"Look at the sky."

I tilted my head back.

A sea of stars, wall to wall. I'd gotten used to it in this world, but it still held something.

"How did I never notice before..." Nanahoshi murmured. "The sky here is so beautiful."

"I thought the same thing the first time I saw it."

She lifted one hand toward the stars, fingers reaching.

"Where I used to live, if you weren't out in the countryside, you'd be lucky to spot a handful. Nothing like... a whole Milky Way."

"Yeah. Same where I was."

Nanahoshi smiled.

"Maybe coming to this world wasn't all bad. At least I got to see a sky like this."

A small pause.

"And I got to meet you."

➤ Next: The Wedding — Tears Unshed