Angelica: “Dad!? Hey, dad!? What did you see!? Why do you look like you’re about to die!?”
While Angelica was shaking my shoulders violently, Ayako-chan was just looking at us.
She’s a typical bookworm girl you find at the library.
I bet she never colored her semi-long black hair. Her skin is also fair all year long.
She’s bad at sports and talking with people. Her voice is also rather quiet.
Yet she got quite some volumes on her breasts pushed up by her apron, and today’s choice of everyday clothing is a vertical-striped sweater.
Who would’ve thought that the disposition of the personification of a man’s ideal Literary Girl Ayako-chan would be such things. Even if you ask me, this is…
Keisuke: “This is too much.”
If I remember correctly, Ayako-chan’s type of men she likes is a fatherly person, she said.
…Is that so. So I look like her dad when he was younger.
In that case the shopkeeper would also be pretty sweet to me. If i resemble her husband when he was younger, she would dote on me.
Angelica: “Dad……are you crying?”
I can’t put strength into my knees, but I did my best to move them and awkwardly stood up.
It’s like I have to forcefully activate a machine that hasn’t been oiled for a long time.
Ayako: “Are you okay, Nakamoto-san?”
Ayako-chan who got up from the cash register rushed over with a patter.
Hii!?
Don’t come closer you pervert!
I unconsciously almost let out a scream with a rather high level of girl power.
When I saw Rio’s favorability in her status appraisal, There was a degree of happiness as I thought “hey, I actually still have it with me”.
But right now, I could only feel true fear.
Angelica: “Dad, what is this girl? Is she a new species of demon?”
Keisuke: “…don’t worry, she’s harmless. She completely didn’t have any magic. Even if an evil spirit were to possess her, her MP is zero.”
Angelica: “Then, what gives?”
Keisuke: “She’s just an ordinary person with a crooked heart. No mistaking it.”
Angelica: “But if the Perception skill is triggered then that means there’s an evil on the level of an undead or a demon you know? Is this person really that bad that she could be put in the same category? Theoretically this is too much, but…”
Are you talking about a game? asked Ayako-chan, peering at my face
Ayako: “…Um, if you’re not feeling good, do you want to go to the room in the back? I have some drugs as well if you need.”
“I’ll hold myself back, it’s not that serious anyways.”
The way she said drugs in italics is scary.
Keisuke: “It’s just a gout. Don’t worry, sometimes I just got an episode.”
Ayako: “……my father also had a case of gout. So Nakamoto-san too, huh…you’re both similar…”
In a moment, I feel that an ominous light dwells within Ayako-chan’s eyes.
I hate this. I don’t want to be here no more.
I whispered to Angelica saying “Let’s get out of here”, but Ayako-chan stopped us.
Did she plan to strangle her rival right here?
Angelica stretched her arms as if to protect me, and the mad bookstore clerk said in a delicate voice.
Ayako: “Something about this person is a bit different today, doesn’t she?”
This person? Does she mean Angelica?
As I stiffened, Ayako-chan continued further.
Ayako: “How was that book? Could that be a good enough reference?”
She wasn’t talking to me, but rather she was talking to Angelica.
Angelica herself was making a face as if she’s saying what are you talking about?
Angelica: “Are you, talking to me?”
Ayako: “Yes, you came here before as well didn’t you? Thank you very much for your visit.”
Did her fathercon got worse that it conflicts with reality?
I stood stunned as I hear her talking about something that doesn’t connect with anything.
Even though she’s so cute, she ended up being so weird in this age.
I want to save her, but even as a Hero this is impossible. I can’t change a person’s heart.
Ayako: “Last week you came with an outfit that look like an old man, but today you wear normal clothes, I see……can I ask what is your relationship with Nakamoto-san? No, I am just curious…”
I think it’s starting to get dangerous so I pulled Angelica outside of the store.
It’s still the height of winter, so it’s cold outside.
I was drenched with sweat, so my bodily temperature is rapidly dropping.
In such a short time, the me who had saved a world had been backed up to a corner.
Angelica: “What’s with that girl?”
It’s a world you better off not knowing, I warned her.
With unsteady steps, I guided Angelica to the nearby hamburger shop, and then we decided to take a breather.
We went to the toilet, rehydrated ourselves, chatted and killed some time.
Angelica: “But she’s scary, isn’t she? She’s an ordinary person, but she had the malice of a higher-class demon, there’s that piko~n piko~n sound at her.”
Keisuke: “What do you mean, pikon pikon sound?”
Angelica: “You see, when I’m using the Perception skill, there’s…a map-like thing on the edge of my vision. If I’m at a point where there is a malicious thing, it starts blinking like piko~n piko~n.”
Keisuke: “Heeh, that’s a bit interesting.”
As expected, Angelica’s skill feels game-like.
It’s totally like “the map on the top-right corner of the screen that shows where the enemies are”.
Angelica: “If it’s powerful or if it gets close to something whose attribute is pure malice, it’ll go piko~n piko~n. But when we get close to that girl it goes pikopikopikopiko and it was blinking red super fast. Red is the color of evil. The redder the marker is, the more evil it is. Normally it’s the color of a demon, but sometimes it could also be the color of an atrocious criminal. I heard that a criminal in a death row is a thin red, but that girl is blood red…”
I thought to myself So for months I have been commuting to a store with such dangerous employee? I just start feeling the chills now.
Keisuke: “On that note, what kind of things did the Perception skill detect from when we were at my room? It was blinking slowly I bet?”
Angelica: “Dad’s room, is it? Hmm…it’s like, it’s spreading around me in the center. It was really scary.”