"Kaguya-san."
Kamisaka Yuto greeted the young lady in front of him with a soft smile.
"Kamisaka-kun."
Kaguya returned the smile just as softly, the faint blush still lingering on her cheeks.
It was light enough that nobody else would ever have noticed it.
Yuto gave a small nod and let his gaze drift past her to Hayasaka Ai.
There was a trace of helplessness on the other girl's face, and the expression made him curious, though he kept the question to himself.
"Are the weapons inside?" he asked, turning toward the warehouse.
"They are," Kaguya said. "Hayasaka, open the door."
At her quiet instruction, Hayasaka crossed to a small door set into the wall beside the main entrance — the one the warehouse staff used during their shifts, no larger than an ordinary doorway and dwarfed by the enormous loading gate beside it.
She tapped a few numbers into a keypad, then drew out a key and fit it into the lock.
Two layers of security.
Watching from the side, Yuto couldn't help being impressed; it was the first time he'd ever seen a lock that elaborate in person.
The door opened with a soft beep, and the group filed inside.
It was dark at first. The warehouse had few windows and was all but sealed against the daylight, but Yuto could still make out shapes in the gloom — boxes, stacked everywhere.
Then Hayasaka flipped on the lights, and his expression shifted toward something closer to shock.
The crates he'd glimpsed in the dark were military cases packed with weapons, piled layer upon layer until they rose like a small hill.
Scattered among them were mortars and similar artillery, along with heavy machine guns and other modern hardware.
'With this much firepower,' he thought, 'you could probably hold your own in a small war.'
"There wasn't enough time to prepare properly," Kaguya said, and there was real dissatisfaction in her voice.
"With a bit longer, I could have brought in some heavier equipment from the Middle East and Europe."
Yuto sighed inwardly as he listened.
'So this was what the young lady of the Shinomiya family was like — a little terrifying, honestly.'
"I think this is already more than enough to satisfy Ainz and Rimuru," he said, exhaling.
"Good."
"Then I'll take it all now."
He'd already told her earlier that he'd come to collect the weapons for Ainz and Rimuru, so Kaguya simply nodded.
She didn't bother asking anything as foolish as how he planned to carry it away, she trusted that he had it handled.
He produced a scroll — the new spatial storage tool Ainz had given him.
All it took to activate was unrolling it.
As he opened it, a faint light spread across its surface, and with a single thought every weapon in the room vanished.
Then he rolled it back up, the whole thing took only a few seconds.
Kaguya watched, her lips parting slightly in surprise, and Hayasaka's eyes widened too.
Still, the two of them held themselves together far better than they once would have — they were startled, but neither made a sound.
"That really is convenient," Kaguya murmured, shaking her head, the disbelief still plain on her fair face.
"It is," Yuto agreed.
Magic could be wonderfully convenient sometimes.
"Sorry to make you come all the way out here, Kaguya-san," he added, turning to her with a gentle smile.
"It's no trouble at all. There's nothing much happening at school today, and Hayasaka and I both had a free period anyway." She said it lightly, with a smile — which only made Hayasaka, standing beside her, let out a quiet sigh.
What was she supposed to do?
Once her young lady decided something, all she could do was nod along!
"Is that so? I'd always heard Shuchi'in Academy ran a tight ship."
"For ordinary students, yes — it's extremely strict," Kaguya said, a tiny note of pride slipping into her voice.
"But the academy is rather forgiving with its honor students."
"So Kaguya-san is an honor student, then?"
"Kaguya-sama is ranked first in the entire academy," Hayasaka supplied.
That made Yuto straighten up, and the way he looked at Kaguya changed entirely.
First in the whole academy — the girl in front of him was a genuine, top-of-the-class prodigy.
Under his gaze, Kaguya felt her own cheeks warm.
"That's amazing."
"Eh?! Th-that's nothing. It's not worth you saying so, Kamisaka-kun."
His admiration sent her stumbling over her words, color rising in her face.
"No, really. It's impressive," he said, and he meant it.
Back in his own school days his grades had been nothing special — he'd thrown himself entirely into learning to cook and let his studies slide.
After being praised a couple of times like that, Kaguya started drifting off somewhere pleasant.
Hayasaka caught it out of the corner of her eye and immediately understood: her young lady had crumbled again.
She suppressed a sigh.
Kaguya was formidable in nearly everything, yet she was hopeless in moments like this — and at a moment like this, Hayasaka absolutely had to step in, or her young lady would humiliate herself within the minute!
"By the way, Boss — about what you mentioned last night, Kaguya-sama already called that publishing house. The answer should come through any time now." Hayasaka's move did double duty: it redirected the conversation and put her young lady back in the spotlight at the same time.
Yuto nodded gratefully toward Kaguya. "Thank you, Kaguya-san."
As he said it, Hayasaka discreetly tapped her young lady from behind — a small reminder that brought Kaguya's expression back to normal.
"It's nothing. You've helped us so many times already; this was just something I handled in passing. It isn't worth thanking me over." She declined his thanks with a serene smile, her posture flawlessly graceful — every bit the product of the refined upbringing she'd had since childhood.
And then, in the very next moment, she went conflicted and hesitant again, as though there were something she wanted to ask.
"Is there something on your mind, Kaguya-san?" Noticing the change, Yuto offered the opening himself, but Kaguya only shook her head, leaving him faintly puzzled.
Luckily, Hayasaka stepped in once more.
A good maid, after all, had to read her master's heart!
"Now that I think of it, when you messaged me last night, Boss, I was in the bath — it was terribly inconvenient to reply." She pretended to fix him with a put-upon, faintly accusing look.
He smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that."
"It might have been easier if you'd just messaged Kaguya-sama directly."
At that, Kaguya perked up instantly.
That was exactly the question she'd been wrestling with — why hadn't he messaged her directly?
Was she somehow less important than Hayasaka?
Yuto smiled, a little helplessly. "I assumed you'd already gone to sleep by then, so I messaged Hayasaka instead."
The explanation smoothed the tension out of Kaguya's face at once — which only made Hayasaka, watching her mistress sidelong, sigh to herself yet again.
When, exactly, would her young lady stop needing to be propped up?
...
After they left the warehouse, Kaguya offered to drive Yuto and Tohru back herself.
On the way, he told them about the arrangement he'd made earlier with Gilgamesh, and Kaguya agreed without hesitation.
When Hayasaka casually asked what he had planned for the afternoon — and the two of them learned he was taking everyone to another world to see Hatsune Miku in concert — both girls were openly envious.
Yuto extended the invitation to them on the spot, but for one reason or another neither could come, so all they could do was sigh over it.
They dropped Yuto and Tohru off at Ichinose Street, then drove away.
Back at the restaurant, the morning's work was already done.
All that remained now was the concert in the afternoon — and until then, Yuto had more little snacks to make.
By the time noon rolled around, Yuto set his work aside.
He'd put together a good spread: taiyaki, croquettes, and the like.
With time to spare, he'd also made a batch of flower cakes — rose, since there were no sunflowers to be had, but rose ones did the job.
Hatsune's concert was scheduled to start at two-thirty, which meant he needed everyone gathered before then.
"Tohru, could I trouble you to head to the school and pick up Shouko and Kanna?"
He stepped out of the kitchen and called to Tohru, who was sprawled near the counter looking distinctly drowsy.
Dragons didn't keep human hours, but lying around like that still made her sleepy; the restaurant's calm, settled atmosphere was the best sleep aid there was.
At his words she snapped awake, sitting bolt upright.
"Got it!"
Yuto smiled and nodded.
Tohru had been to the school with him before, so she knew the way.
That morning he'd also spoken with the girls' homeroom teacher about taking them out early — a young, inexperienced university graduate who had agreed readily on the spot, and who had met Tohru at the time, so there'd be no trouble there.
Meanwhile, he could go and collect Ainz and Rimuru himself.
The two of them set off on their separate errands.
Tohru stepped outside, went invisible, shifted into her dragon form, and beat her wings toward the school — it would take her no time at all.
With a thought of his own, Yuto crossed over to Ainz's and Rimuru's worlds and brought them both back to the restaurant.
By comparison, he was still the faster of the two.
The moment they arrived, the pair dropped all pretense.
Back in their own worlds, with their subordinates watching, they'd been playing it cool; here there was no need!
"Hell yeah!! I can't wait for Hatsune-chan's concert! When are we leaving?!" Rimuru bounced absurdly high, his slime body springy as a rubber ball, smacking the floor and rebounding with a wet boing.
Ainz said nothing — but his bones rattled faintly, restlessly.
Anyone could see he was barely holding it in.
"Once everyone's here, we'll go," Yuto said, and headed into the kitchen.
The snacks he'd made were all in there, and they needed to be packed properly rather than just carried over loose.
Hatsune herself might not mind, but there'd be other people present, and it was better to be careful — a matter of respect for both sides.
If he and the others showed up looking careless, it would only embarrass Hatsune, who'd done the inviting.
Ainz and Rimuru trailed after him, then settled at the counter.
For those two, the best way to kill time was always a game; once he'd dug out their handheld consoles, they got straight to it.
They skipped VR since there simply wasn't time for it now.
In the kitchen, Yuto sorted the taiyaki, croquettes, and flower cakes into separate boxes — decorative gift boxes he and Tohru had picked up at the supermarket that morning.
After that done, he walked back out and tossed the scroll to the two of them at their game.
They blinked at it, confused for a second, before it clicked.
"Everything's in there," he said offhandedly, leaning back against the inside of the counter, looking relaxed.
Both of them lit up and thanked him over and over, to the point where it seemed like they might start worshipping him like an ancestor.
A while later, Tohru returned with the two little girls in tow.
That left only Lucoa.
Yuto asked Tohru to go fetch her, and the dragon turned around and headed back out.
The moment Shouko arrived, Ainz and Rimuru perked right up and started chatting with her.
The last time she'd called them "uncle," the two had been thrilled beyond words!
Yuto turned to Kanna, who was as serenely spaced-out as ever, and ruffled her hair.
"How was school today, Kanna?"
"Mm. It was fine." She nodded blankly, and even that small motion came off impossibly cute.
Shouko, beside her, swung around to face him, practically glowing.
"Yuto-nii-san, Kanna-chan was incredible today! In PE she came first in everything — none of the boys could keep up with her!" She sounded as proud as if she'd done it herself.
Yuto listened with a smile while Kanna's face stayed perfectly composed, not the least bit moved by the praise. Which was only natural — she was a dragon.
Beating a class of human children in a footrace wasn't exactly worth bragging about.
"And — oh, and! All the boys kept trying to get Kanna-chan's attention. They're so childish!" Shouko's face filled with exasperation and disgust as she said it.
Watching the little girl playact at being a grown-up complaining about boys, Yuto found it honestly funny.
"They were so annoying," Kanna added, finally speaking up.
Her tone carried the same exasperation, though her usual dazed flatness blunted most of the edge.
Just then Tohru flickered back into the restaurant, returned from her world — but with no Lucoa beside her.
Yuto pieced it together at a glance: looked like their group had shrunk by one more.
Sure enough, the moment Tohru opened her mouth, it was exactly what he'd guessed.
Something important had come up for Lucoa, and she couldn't make it; she'd asked Tohru to pass along her apologies.
Yuto didn't mind much.
He stepped into the kitchen, gathered up the packed snacks, and came back out.
It was time to head to Hatsune's world!