Chapter 1191 - A Maid's Holiday: Part 4
To sum it up, it was just as I expected. Exactly as I trusted.
And just like her employer, none other than Tetsugo-shi Yotsuya, had been. It was a story of how Itsuki-san had seen through everything completely, without me having to say a single word.
That I had fallen helplessly in love with Sora, and that I loved Nia and Ashe just as much. Perhaps she had realized it even before I myself did.
Having realized it, she accepted it.
As she herself had proudly declared, she was originally on the side of those whose way of life was to kick common sense to the curb.
In the eyes of Itsuki Natsume, I did not seem to be reflected as a bad man who seduces multiple women, including the young lady, but rather as a kindred spirit who charges down the path they desire without caring about anyone—
"I love myself very much too, you know."
Evening. A while after leaving the karaoke box, where we had finished our chat and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves singing and making each other sing. Walking aimlessly again, we arrived at a path along the river in the middle of town.
I was used to her sudden lack of preambles. Keeping her usual close yet not-quite-touching distance, but no longer holding hands, a cheerful-looking Itsuki-san muttered beside me.
"The 'young lady' is more precious to me than anything else in the world, even now, but..."
Early spring, where the remaining chill increases once the sun goes down. With my head somewhat dazed, mainly from being forced to sing too much, and leaving aside my worries about whether she was cold in her relatively thin clothing.
"Just as much, I cherish myself and remain 'myself.'"
Itsuki Natsume was like a mother or an older sister telling a fairy tale to a young child.
"It is a normal thing, you know. To encounter multiple 'most precious' things."
Without holding hands, she bound me to her side with her words as we walked down the path.
"Overlooking them over and over, giving up, and living while holding onto correctly just one."
Somehow, I understood. She wasn't lecturing me, nor was she piling up excuses, drawing an escape route, or twisting logic.
It was just that this person,
"That is normal, and that is common sense—something that does not suit people like us."
Believed so, and existed as herself.
"...Just kidding. I spoke quite grandly, but I am not saying that I am 'special' or anything. Since I am a beautiful, kind, and humble maid."
"...Opinions vary."
"What was that?"
"Did you hear something?"
What was needed to interject a playful banter was the same unchanging sense of tension. For my part, even after exchanging words and true feelings so many times, I couldn't change the way I interacted with Itsuki-san.
As I feigned ignorance, the beautiful, kind, and humble maid nudged me with her shoulder.
Something I had known long ago; she was shorter than me and far more delicate than me. A single woman before being a maid, and certainly a human even if she was a perfect superhuman—and yet, she was extraordinary.
"...It may be cliché, but everyone is a unique, special existence (the only one)."
Indeed, she was,
"That is why, the only one who can make oneself 'oneself' most correctly is oneself."
A pleasure-seeker embodying a 'selfishness' so cool that I couldn't help but be captivated—one that surpassed even my master, the [Sword Saint], which I could never hope to match.
"I will support you, Nozomi-kun."
A way of calling my name with a tone and color somewhat different from before. Just what kind of meaning was included, or poured into that change, I still couldn't read.
"In the end, the one who chooses is not me, but the 'young lady.' If that girl takes your hand, I have no objections. As long as her happiness lies in the future, I do not mind."
As if showing off to me, challenging me to read her.
"I, of all people, am going to support you. —You can do it, right? If it is you."
Truly, a force that brooked no argument.
Even without wearing her maid uniform, she wore her usual dignity. Stopping in her tracks, Itsuki-san looked back at me and smiled. In the words she declared so, there was not even a shred of doubt.
She was telling me to show her the 'me' that I myself had decided upon, without looking back at anything.
"......,"
A cold wind. While holding down my hair as it was swept by the wind, I met her gaze as she looked straight at me. Having been asked for an answer, I reached this point without needing to think—
"Itsuki-san."
"Yes."
While playing the 'person who won't be an ally' that I myself had asked for,
toward her, who had been watching over us all this time.
"Please become our ally."
I shamelessly uttered nonsense that easily overturned my past words.
"If you support me, if you help me, it's way more than just having the strength of a hundred men."
Without even bowing my head, arrogantly.
"Please support Sora. From now on as well."
Without letting my eyes wander, insolently.
"Please support me. From now on."
Yet, she did not laugh at me. She did not sneer.
—Of course. This very me was none other than Itsuki Natsume's order.
"If I am to make Sora happier than anyone else in the world, I need you (Itsuki Natsume)."
Because it was nothing more than desiring the absolute condition indispensable to my 'most precious.'
...The cold wind passed, and my cheeks, robbed of their warmth, began to remember the tension they had left behind. Even though it was what I had intended to say from the start, panic quickly crossed my mind, wondering if my choice of words had been too direct or unreserved, as
"—..."
her black eyes gazed at me as if looking at something truly amusing.
"...I have been courted by gentlemen as many times as there are stars, but..."
And then, she stepped closer.
"Even so... —to be told 'I want you' so directly. This might be the first time in my life that I have received such passionate words head-on."
"Eh, no, um..."
Zero distance. Standing right in front of me, she stopped with one hand placed against my chest.
And then,
"As you surely know, I am not cheap."
"............"
"About three lifetimes won't be enough, you know?"
because she looked up at me with eyes of unmistakable trust.
"...Just what I want."
When I squeezed out my resolve and replied, she gave a single smile.
"—...Very well. I shall prepare the employment contract."
Having secured my commitment, my 'ally' gently tapped the chest she was touching—
"It might be a bit premature, but... shall I call you Master?"
"Please, seriously spare me from that."
Teasing me with a light, dancing step, she began to walk down the path once more.
[Author's Note]
I might fall in love.
By the way, it seems to be early March in the story, and Itsuki-san's birthday is apparently March 8th.
Part of the reason she is in such a good mood might be that Sora-san recently wished her a happy birthday.
Note that the protagonist doesn't know, so he doesn't touch upon it.