Chapter 57: Shizuku's Feelings

As we exited from the dungeon, the first thing I spotted was Tohru punching a guy and sending him flying.

"..."

Watching closely, I saw a few dozen men wearing adventurer's armour lying all over the dungeon's entrance and then looked at the side where Tio was standing with Myu in her arms.

After confirming Myu's safety, my gaze landed on Tohru who was nonchalantly standing, across her stood the last of the two adventurers, who were cursing Tohru.

"YOU DAMN MONSTER! DIE!!!" cursing her, they lunged pointing their swords at Tohru's vitals. 

Tohru seeing them move so slowly, and feeling the non-existent amount of threat from them decided to let them land a hit.

"Clang!"

"Clang!"

The attacks that were aimed at Tohru's heart stopped, clashing with her maid's uniform, creating a sharp clashing sound. Both adventurers unable to break through the maid uniform couldn't believe it, and unconsciously muttered, "How?"

"Guess that's the best you can do," Tohru ignored their question, swung her fist, and sent them flying like others.

"..."

The hero's party saw this unknown blond girl casually tanking the attacks from those adventurers and right after sending them flying, was dumbstruck. First, was that blond girl Yue with her absurd magic, then the rabbit girl with her absurd strength and now another blond girl with strength. At this point, they started to wonder if this world has strong people like them, then why do even need to summon heroes? Isn't it much easier to ask them for help?

Shizuku, observing the blonde girl effortlessly overpowering the adventurers, asks Rihito, "Is she also with you?"

"Yeah, she is," I replied, looking at a little hooded girl running towards me.

Smiling I crouched down and took the running girl in my arms.

The girl exclaimed, "Papa… you are back," she said with a big smile.

Smiling back at her, I patted her and asked, "Myu have you been a good girl?"

"Un, I was good and I stayed with big sisters, just like Papa and big brother said," saying that she gave a smile which said praise me.

Seeing what she wanted I patted her, and to that, she happily giggled.

Taking my eyes off Myu I looked at Tohru who suddenly appeared beside me, "Good job protecting her," I praised her.

Tohru being praised blushed and scratched her head in happiness, "No problem, Master~," she responded.

Hajime seeing Rihito ignoring all the surrounding bodies lying around and talking with the girls, sighed. He then looked at Tio and asked, "What happened here?"

Tio smiling wryly answered, "Well, after you guys left, we decided to look around the city. Until that point, everything was going fine. But then suddenly some ruffians came and started to threaten us, telling us to come with them or they would harm Myu, to which as you can guess already Miss Tohru didn't take that well."

"..."

Hajime listening to the whole story nodded, "I see, that's good, they deserved that beating."

Rihito who also heard the whole story looked again at Tohru, and saw she was currently in her own world giggling to herself, "hehehe… Rihito Praised me."

…

Shizuku was shocked when she saw the little girl calling Rihito 'Papa'. For a moment, she was unable to process the situation and her thoughts started to wander, she thought [Is she Rihito's child.] Then snapping out of that thought she shook her head [That's not possible. Even if he does that, there is no way the child could be born in three months, not to mention this child is about 5 to 6 years old. So, there is no way it's his child.] finally coming to a conclusion she calmed herself down.

"..."

While Shizuku was struggling with her thoughts, the other side, Kaori, after observing Hajime, who was totally acting like a different person, finally determined to confess to Hajime. She has decided no matter what happens she won't let go, even if she has to fight to stay with him. She thought while she glared at Yue, who also glared at her back.

Kaori took a deep breath and walked past Yue, with determined steps she stood before Hajime and looked him in the eye.

"Nagumo no, Hajime, I have decided, I want to go with you…"

After that, the confession happens similar to the anime Minus the annoying Kouki, who happened to be knocked out.

Although Hiyama tried to use guilt to make Kaori stay, Hajime promptly shut him down by whispering something in Hiyama's ears.

…

After the half-success of Kaori's confession, nothing much happened, we then with a few members from the hero's party like Shizuku, Kaori Suzu, Endou and Meld headed to the guild. Others were sent to the inn to rest, which they happily complied with. 

We then informed the guild master about the incident that happened in the Dungeon, both from our side of the story and their side. The guild master seeing the request had been fulfilled rewarded us with a large sum of Ruta, which Hajime and Rihito declined and instead of Ruta, we asked for rare metals which the guild master was happy to accept. After that, we also headed towards the inn.

As we walked toward the inn, I noticed Shizuku looking at me with a conflicted expression for quite some time. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but at the last moment, she hesitated, held back, and didn't speak her mind.

I inwardly sighed seeing her act so indecisively, [She always becomes like this when it comes to her own feelings, her upfront personality just vanishes.]

"Shea," calling her, I handed Myu to her.

Myu looks at me tilting her head and asks, "Papa you going somewhere."

I patted her head and looked at Shizuku. "Hey, Shizuku can we talk for a moment?"

Rihito's sudden initiative startled Shizuku. "Ah, sure," she sputtered in response.

"..."

Shea and Tohru just nodded and didn't say anything, they already noticed the tension between them. The same goes for Hajime and the others, they also nodded and headed back, leaving Shizuku and me. I walked near the trees on the roadside, leaned against one, and gazed at Shizuku, who still had that conflicted look. 

Rihito, seeing the silent Shizuku, spoke, "You have been staring at me with that conflicted look for quite a while, you want to say something to me don't you, then say it." I decided to be as direct as I could.

Shizuku heard Rihito's direct question and didn't know how to answer him. Should she tell him that she wants to go with him more than anything? When it finally came time to make a choice, she didn't know what to do.

On one side was the desire to be with the person she loved, on the opposite was her responsible side which urges her to stay. She worries, that if she joins Rihito, what will she do if something happens to her classmates in her absence? What if another demon attacks? Will they be able to take care of themselves? From the beginning, she has been keeping watch over them. She won't be able to forgive herself if something happens to them. What should she do?

…

Rihito sees Shizuku in tears and feels the urge to hold her, to soothe her. However, he holds himself back. He knows what she is thinking. He guesses that, instead of thinking for herself, she is once again thinking of others. Honestly, it is one of her most likeable and annoying traits.

"I-I don't know what to do…" Shizuku said in a quivering tone.

I softened my gaze and said, "Shizuku, you do know, you can be selfish, right? You don't have to always act like a worried mother." 

I got closer and I wiped her tears. "You don't have to act all brave in front of me."

"I-I want…" Before she could say more, I covered her mouth with my right hand.

"You do not have to decide now, think about what it is that you want and what you want to do. After that whatever you decide, I will support it."

"You are not like Kaori who can be fixated on one thing. You are the type who cares about everyone that's close to you, and that's also one of the things I like about you."

"Thump"

"Thump"

Upon hearing those words from his mouth, Shizuku's heart started to beat rapidly. She couldn't help but stare at him and think of him as her prince, especially as she remembered the previous incident of Rihito saving her, which had solidified the idea of him being the prince even further.

Shizuku, unable to restrain herself any longer, grabbed Rihito's collar, pulled him close, kissed him, and poured all her feelings into that kiss before looking at him.

"You are so unfair, if you say something like that, how am I supposed to hold back," Shizuku stared at Rihito with a new glint in her red eyes.

"I have decided, now that you have made me fall in love with you. You are not getting away from me, I will do whatever it takes to make you mine."

"..."

"..."

Rihito, when he started the talk, he didn't think his words would affect Shizuku so much to the point that would make her, this. The way she looked at me now just gave me shivers, in her eyes, I could see love, happiness, relief and many more emotions swirling. It was almost like I had unknowingly flipped a switch, which made her like this. Thinking till that I sighed, [Whatever, as long as she is happy, I don't see any problem with her current state.]

…

After our chat, she latched on to my left arm as we walked towards the inn. Just to come across an angry hero who was arguing with Hajime in front of the inn. Seeing this scene I sighed.

[It's one thing after another, can't he wake up after we leave? Give me a break.]

…

"Chapter end"

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Author note:

Hey, what do you think about Shizuku's character? Even though she likes Rihito, it's clear that she genuinely cares for others. She doesn't give up on her friends who are still salvageable. Her character is just like that. For example, she's been cleaning up after Kouki's mess for years, which has caused her many troubles, especially from the girls. If it were anyone else, they would have cut ties with him immediately, but she didn't and stuck with Kouki. That's why she needs a little push, which she got. Anyway, with this, she joins Rihito's party.

...

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