Chapter 46 …
Following that gaze, I saw a shop.
“Here is….”
“It’s the place where I used to work.”
It was that same shop as before. Back then, San had been severely scolded—and even beaten—by the man who seemed to be the owner.
San started walking toward the shop.
“Wait, wait!”
I quickly grabbed him to stop him.
“Do you really have to go?”
“Yes.”
“But what if something happens again…?”
“It’s something important to me.”
San didn’t look like he had any intention of backing down. What on earth could it be that made him this determined?
“What is it, exactly?”
At my question, he hesitated for a moment before answering.
“…A hairpin.”
…Ah.
At that moment, I understood his stubbornness.
I knew about that hairpin.
And the complicated emotions San had tied to it.
“My mother left it behind.”
That’s right. That hairpin was the only thing his mother had left him.
The only trace of the mother who abandoned him when he was young.
San always carried it with him.
Even while believing she had abandoned him—he still kept it close.
“…I see.”
Watching him risk danger to retrieve that hairpin, I found myself thinking differently about the San from the original story.
Not as the protagonist.
Not as a hero.
But as a very lonely person.
‘He’s always been lonely.’
But still—
“Even so, it’s dangerous. What if it turns out like last time…?”
What if he gets caught again and beaten like before?
“Instead of rushing in blindly, let’s think of a plan. There must be some way—”
I was holding onto him, trying to persuade him, when suddenly it got quiet. I looked up.
“Huh?”
San was staring straight at me.
“….”
His dark violet eyes shone as they looked at me—so unfamiliar, yet beautiful.
“‘Like last time,’ you say?”
“…Huh?”
“…It seems like you’ve remembered something.”
The corners of his lips slowly curled upward, forming a gentle arc on his handsome face.
His shining violet eyes softened slightly as a pleasant smile appeared.
‘Wow.’
For a moment, my heart dropped. It was the first time I had seen the protagonist smile—and it was stunning.
‘So he can smile like that…’
I didn’t know, since he always looked so gloomy.
It was a smile that suited his age—a boyish smile.
‘As expected of the protagonist…’
I barely managed to pull myself together before getting carried away by it.
No, that’s not the issue right now!
‘Last time, you pretended not to notice, you idiot!’
Before, I had been so shocked that San could see Duri’s light that I pretended not to know I had saved him.
And now I’d let it slip like an idiot!
Why do I keep messing up in front of him?
Scolding myself internally, I quickly changed the subject.
“A-anyway… how are you planning to get it back?”
San, still faintly smiling, said—
“I happen to have a special ability.”
—just like that.
“Huh?”
…Hey. What kind of protagonist are you?!
‘Can you just go around telling people that so casually?!’
“W-what kind of ability?”
Even after dropping that bombshell, he looked completely calm.
I forced myself to keep a straight face and asked, pretending not to care.
He stared at me for a moment, then said—
“That’s a secret.”
“What?”
What kind of answer is that?!
“I can have secrets too, just like you, miss.”
I gaped at him, dumbfounded.
‘He jokes like that too?’
Why did he suddenly seem in such a good mood?
After saying that, San had already started striding toward the shop again.
‘Hey, protagonist!’
Didn’t I say not to charge in blindly and think of a plan first?
Just then, a good idea popped into my head.
‘Wait—that’s it!’
I called out to stop him again.
“Wait! I have a good plan!”
“Huh?”
I pulled out a ceramic bottle from my clothes.
‘No matter how special your ability is, wouldn’t it be easier to leave this kind of thing to a professional?’
After all, this one is a professional thief yokai.
…and so now,
we were crouched in an alley beside the shop, planning the “Second Capital Theft Incident.”
“So, you’re saying you’ll use the yokai inside that to steal the hairpin?”
San, sitting beside me, frowned as he stared at the ceramic bottle.
He clearly didn’t trust it. I get it, I get it!
“Yep! So first… I’ll release the seal!”
I said, holding the bottle.
“…!”
At the mention of breaking the seal, tension appeared on his face.
“…Will that be alright?”
“Don’t worry.”
It was probably because I said there was a yokai inside. A faint crease formed between his brows.
“Be careful.”
Oh come on, I said it’s fine.
‘I’m the one who sealed it in there in the first place.’
Smiling, I called out to Duri in my mind.
‘Duri, Duri! Release the seal a bit!’
[To think I’d end up helping with theft.]
I heard Duri mutter with a sigh.
Oh, come on.
‘Technically, it’s not theft. That hairpin originally belongs to San—we’re just getting it back.’
From what I heard, the shop owner is greedy and has a terrible personality.
San had worked there as a servant, and instead of wages, he was given only food and lodging.
‘That alone is already too much.’
In other words, he was practically used as a slave.
Then one day, the owner saw the hairpin San had, got greedy, and demanded to know where someone like him got such a thing.
“It looked quite valuable.”
And while San was washing after work, the owner entered his room, stole the hairpin, and later denied everything.
When San confronted him, asking for it back, the man got angry instead, beat him, and threw him out.
That was the scene I had witnessed.
I shook my head.
‘That level of greed could outmatch even this yokai thief.’
I felt Duri’s power lifting from the bottle in my hand.
‘Don’t release it completely—just a little.’
[Got it.]
The bottle trembled lightly.
“Squeak—!”
A high-pitched rodent-like cry rang out.
“Squeak?”
San, who had been tense, looked momentarily confused.
Then—
pop!
A tiny head poked out of the bottle.
“Squeak! I’m alive! Finally free—huh?”
The squirrel-like yokai thief looked flustered.
“Squeak! What’s going on?! Why can’t I get out?!”
“Hey. Stay still!”
I deliberately spoke sternly.
“Squeak… sniff.”
Its round ears drooped. At least it wasn’t causing chaos like before.
“…That’s the yokai?”
“Yep. Smaller than you expected, right?”
“Yes… quite different from what I imagined.”
San looked surprised.
“It may look like this, but it’s very capable.”
I lifted the bottle slightly and made eye contact with it.
“Hey.”
“Squeak!”
“If you promise to do us a favor, I might let you out for a bit. What do you say?”
“Squeak? You’ll let me out? Really?!”
I smiled sweetly and whispered—
“And the favor? You’ll absolutely love it.”
“Squeak! What is it?!”
Its red, rabbit-like eyes sparkled.
“See that shop?”
“Squeak!”
“You go in there and secretly bring us what we want. Steal it. How about it?”
The yokai’s mouth fell open in excitement.
“Squeeeak! That’s the favor?! I love it!”
“Really?”
“Of course! Stealing is my specialty! Squeak!”
It grinned smugly.
“Squeak! You got your pockets picked clean by me before too, remember?!”
…Seriously?
I barely held back from bonking it on the head.
“….”
Beside me, San stared at me silently.
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
“…That really happened?”
“…Yeah.”
I shook my head.
“It’s a painful memory, so please don’t ask further.”
“…Understood.”
Anyway, I smiled at the yokai.
“So, we have a deal?”
“Squeak! Of course! Hurry and let me out!”
“But if you break your promise, I’ll seal you again. Got it?”
I glared as fiercely as I could.
“Squeak! You’re one to talk! Don’t you break it either!”
Good. The deal was set.
The yokai shook impatiently inside the bottle.
Slowly, I completely removed the sealing spell.
And then—
“Squeeeak! You idiot! You actually believed me?!”
The sly little yokai thief bolted away in an instant.
‘As expected.’
Not surprising at all.
“Ha! What kind of fool makes a deal with a yokai—huh?”
But—
‘That’s why I made the deal very carefully and very cunningly.’
