When Yuto heard that, his expression changed a little.
A lot of the time, people didn't need to explain the deeper meaning of their words.
He let out a small sigh. "Yeah, maybe going home for a while would be good. Are you coming back, Aunt Hanako?"
"Coming back... I don't know..." Hanako took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
What she said next sounded weak and drawn out, like a thread being pulled apart.
"Then the bar..."
Yuto stopped halfway through his sentence.
Hanako sighed softly. "I'm thinking of leaving it with Chiko for now."
Sadness and weakness laced her voice. She had spent nearly half her life building that karaoke bar; the best years of her youth had all gone into it.
She knew every person working there, one by one. Leaving that place was like leaving behind a big piece of her life.
"Does Chiko know yet?"
Hanako shook her head. "Right now, only you know. I'll tell Chiko later."
Yuto stayed quiet for a moment.
He had only known Hanako for two months, but she had really treated him like family.
Now that she was leaving, his feelings were complicated.
"Is it because of that Shinomiya manager?" Yuto asked quietly.
"No, i'm just tired. Really tired."
When he mentioned the manager, Hanako's smile turned a little bitter.
She acted calm and said she didn't care, but deep down, it still hurt.
Looking at her expression, Yuto's heart felt unsettled.
"All right. Does Aunt Hanako have any other family at home?" he asked, dropping the topic of the manager.
Hanako went quiet before shaking her head. "It's just me now."
Yuto already knew her mother had passed away, but he hadn't known she had no one else left.
"Come to think of it, maybe my father is still alive. But who knows where he ran off to," Hanako let out a small breath, her tone and expression very calm.
When she talked about her father, it sounded like she was talking about a stranger.
Yuto pressed his lips together.
He didn't know much about Hanako's past, and now that she had said something like that, he didn't know what to say.
"Aunt Hanako... what happened with your father?" he asked carefully.
"Don't worry too much, Yuto. I don't care about him anymore. It's fine even if I tell you." Hanako smiled faintly, but coldness and mockery were hidden in it.
Taking a slow breath, she started telling Yuto about her past.
When she was very young, her mother had already been weak and sick for many years.
The family was poor, and she also had a younger sister. Her father became addicted to gambling.
After a few years, there was nothing left in the house to sell, and her weak mother worked hard to support Hanako and her little sister, but her father still refused to change.
That year, Hanako was sixteen, and her younger sister was twelve.
Her mother died from sickness and overwork.
To pay off his gambling debts, her father sold Hanako and her sister.
That was how she entered this line of work.
Her younger sister died later too, and only Hanako somehow stumbled her way through life and lived until now.
Most of the women working in the karaoke bar now had lives a lot like hers.
She didn't have much power, so all she could do was help where she could.
She had struggled forward one step at a time and somehow made it this far.
Her words were calm and simple.
Even when she talked about her mother's death and her sister's death, she only paused a little, but when she talked about her father, her face was full of coldness.
After listening to her story, Yuto let out a quiet sigh.
He felt like he was truly seeing Hanako clearly for the first time.
No one was really that strong, she had just seen so much pain that it had become normal.
"Yuto-chan, make sure you grow into a good man, okay? Don't casually break a girl's heart," Hanako smiled.
Yuto could only smile helplessly.
"All right, you should head back and get some rest too. I'm going to take a bath."
Yuto nodded and stood up.
"By the way, when are you leaving?" he asked before going.
"Tomorrow, probably. I need to explain a few things today."
"All right. I'll come see you off when you leave."
"You don't need to."
"No. I do."
...
When Yuto returned to the restaurant, his heavy expression worried the dragon maid.
"Boss, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Yuto gave a small smile and didn't say more.
Tohru pouted a little, but in the end, she only nodded.
She really wanted to know what was wrong, but she also knew when not to ask.
Right now, it was obvious Yuto didn't want to talk about it, so she held herself back.
Of course, if someone had made her boss upset, she would smash them flat.
Like stepping on an ant, she would crush them completely!
By the time Yuto got back, it was a little after seven.
Talking with Hanako had taken some time.
Guessing this was around the time students would be waking up for school, he took out his phone.
He didn't have many contacts.
Utaha hadn't replied to the message he sent last night, probably still asleep, but he hadn't taken out his phone to contact her.
Hesitating between Kaguya and Hayasaka, he chose Hayasaka.
What he wanted to say was actually very simple: he just wanted to help Hanako get back a little of what she had lost.
Last night, she had cried in front of him in such a humble, miserable way, but she was not the one in the wrong.
She should not have been the one crying!
Now that she was leaving, Yuto wanted to do something for her as a way of paying her back for how much she had looked after him.
After he sent the message, Hayasaka didn't reply right away.
Yuto put the phone back in his pocket to wait for her answer.
The first thing he needed to do now was buy groceries, as the restaurant had run out of ingredients.
If a restaurant had no ingredients left, could it even still be called a restaurant?
Before, Yuto had always ridden his bike alone to buy groceries.
But now Tohru was here too.
Was he supposed to let her sit on the back of the bike?
"Boss, what's wrong? Is it about me?" Tohru noticed the troubled look on his face.
Yuto explained what he had just been thinking about.
Tohru straightened up a little and suddenly get an idea!
"Boss, how about I take you to buy groceries?"
Yuto froze.
She would take him? How?
....
At that moment, Yuto was on Tohru's back.
Honestly, being carried by a girl felt a little embarrassing, but reminding himself that she was actually a dragon made it easier to accept.
So right now... did this count as riding a dragon?
Yuto held on tightly to Tohru, wearing the storagespace backpack, since they were going to buy a lot of groceries, it would be useful.
"All right, hold on tight! I'm taking off!" Feeling his arms tighten around her, Tohru shouted excitedly before shooting straight up into the sky with him on her back!
She broke through layer after layer of clouds, the sharp wind making his clothes flap loudly.
Yuto felt both excited and a little nervous inside.
He had seen plenty of strange creatures by now, and his own body was no longer ordinary, but this was his first time flying like this.
Humans were naturally drawn to the sky; curiosity had always been part of what pushed people forward.
He couldn't help but shout out loud.
They were already far above the ground, so no one would hear him.
Tohru could feel how happy he was, which made her happy too.
In the next moment, her human body changed into a huge green dragon, and Yuto sat steadily on her back.
He took a deep breath.
He had agreed to her idea, but now that it was really happening, he couldn't help feeling excited!
Right now, he really was a dragon rider!
"Tohru, you okay?" he patted her back.
In dragon form, her back was hard—nothing like how soft she felt in human form.
"Yep! Don't worry at all, Boss! No one can see us while the perception-blocking spell is active!"
Perception blocking was one of her spells.
It stopped normal people from noticing whoever or whatever it was placed on, working much like the restaurant's own effect that changed how people saw things.
That was why Yuto had agreed to let her carry him in the first place.
"I meant you. Is it hard for you to fly with me on your back?"
"Wah! Boss, that means so much to me! But please don't worry, I'm totally fine!" Tohru got emotional.
Just hearing him worry about her made her feel like a race car that had just been filled with fuel, and she instantly sped up!
"Wait! Slow down!"
Now Yuto was the one getting nervous!
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