The opening number ended and the performers drew together at center stage, Hatsune out front, facing the whole arena with a brilliant smile.
"Good afternoon, everyone!"
Her simple greeting kicked the heat up another notch, and meaningless cheers erupted everywhere until she let out a soft pfft of laughter.
"Today is a rare chance. Not only are we all here together, but we get to stand on a stage this huge, in front of the whole world. Thank you all so much for coming to support this charity concert! While you're enjoying the show, please don't forget to donate. Every bit of kindness, gathered together, becomes an ocean. Thank you, everyone!" She bowed deep at the waist, and the whole line behind her bowed with her.
"Say no more, Princess — I'm donating like crazy!"
"Put in a hundred thousand!"
"Weak. Two hundred thousand!"
"You amateurs. Six figures can't begin to express my love for Her Highness — one million!"
Donations detonated through the crowd.
Then the stage went dark again, the signal that the next number was about to start.
"Up next, please enjoy — Senbonzakura!"
The lights blazed back on over a furious drumbeat, cheers crashing in with them.
The girls danced above while the crowd below heaved like a restless tsunami, the contrast between the two almost frightening, as if the stage itself might be swallowed whole.
Partway through, Ainz and Rimuru pulled off something bizarre.
Waving glow sticks.... fell hopelessly short of expressing what they felt — and they were no ordinary spectators.
They knew magic!
The tall one and the short one traded a few words, then launched in with flawless coordination.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
Sparks suddenly jetted from the tips of their glow sticks.
The change stunned everyone nearby — glow sticks could throw sparks now?
Why couldn't theirs?
Ignoring all of it, the two cranked the intensity up.
The sparks stretched out past two meters, until the sticks looked like flamethrowers in their hands, eye-catching enough on their own that even the drone cameras swung over to them.
But they weren't done!
A glance, a nod, and the spark fountains roared harder still, climbing seven or eight meters before the scattered flames burst open into the shape of fireworks — red, green, pink, purple, blue, all of it blooming at once.
And these fireworks didn't just flare and vanish.
They formed Hatsune's name.
Then her face.
Like high-grade pyrotechnics, conjured out of nothing!
The whole arena gaped.
"Holy shit— those two guys up front are going all out! They brought fireworks!"
"What kind of high-tech fireworks are these? A tiny glow stick blows up into that?"
"They're definitely loaded! Anyone playing with effects like that is a big shot."
"Damn it, I want one!"
It wasn't just the audience, even Hatsune and the others on stage went still inside.
Their professionalism was high enough that the slip didn't break the performance, but Hatsune's eyes flicked to Ainz and Rimuru, then over to Yuto — searching him for an answer.
All he could do was give a helpless shrug back.
Yuto sighed.
He looked at the two of them carrying on beside him and gave his head a small shake.
'So this was what fans were like.'
He surrendered.
He truly surrendered!
Tohru, sitting nearby, noticed his attention drift to Ainz and Rimuru — and her dragon brain kicked into gear.
Oh!
She wanted Boss looking at her too!
"Boss, Boss, look at me! Look! I can do it too!" she said, tugging his gaze over, half playful and half pouting.
"Hm? Do what?" Yuto blinked, lost.
"Look — like this!" She patted his shoulder and tipped her head back.
The next instant he felt an unexplained wave of heat, and watched his dragon girl's throat flush bright red, glowing like iron heated past its limit.
One look told him everything was about to go very wrong.
"Stop!" He clapped a hand over her mouth.
Tohru blinked at him.
"Tohru. What exactly were you about to do?"
"Hm? Breathe fire? Boss, what's the matter?"
Yuto could only stare, dumbfounded.
After a quick word with Tohru, he sighed and turned back to the stage, privately counting his luck.
Thank goodness he'd been fast — if she'd actually let loose a breath of dragonfire, the whole thing would have spun completely out of control!
...
The show ran on without a pause, each performer taking a song, each one getting a turn at center.
It wasn't only Hatsune's stage anymore; everyone had their moment as the lead.
Over those few hours, setting aside Hatsune's opening, the number that stayed with Yuto most was the one built around Luo Tianyi and Yanhe.
The song was Jasmine Flower.
Yuezheng Ling joined in a red dance dress, and the three of them made a picture on stage — warm, gentle, perfectly in step with one another.
Watching them, something tangled and tender rose in Yuto's chest.
It was an old folk tune, soft and slow, the kind of melody that smelled of home, and before he knew it his eyes had started to sting.
In the end it all came out as a sigh almost too quiet to hear.
Before performances that good, time turned brief and brilliant, and the concert was over before he realized it.
The hundreds of thousands streamed out, and Yuto's group made their way backstage, where Hatsune and the others were resting and taking off their makeup.
The moment Hatsune spotted Yuto she didn't even bother finishing with her makeup, just hurried straight over.
"Boss! Everyone! How was our performance?" The girl who'd blazed so brightly up on that stage was right back to being the lively girl next door.
"It was amazing," Yuto said with a smile, and beside him Ainz and Rimuru spilled over with their own excited praise.
Hatsune lit up with a hugely happy grin.
"We should be heading off, though," Yuto added — and the smile on her face stalled.
"So soon?" She looked confused, then disappointed. "I wanted to treat you properly."
He smiled gently. "A performance that wonderful was treat enough; there's no need to fuss over us. Besides, the restaurant opens before long — I can't dawdle too much."
The girl sighed and nodded.
"But if you've got time tonight, why not come by the restaurant? I'll cook a few good dishes and host you properly. Call it a small thank-you in return."
At that her eyes lit straight back up, and she nodded hard. "Mm, mm, mm! I'll definitely come!"
"Bring as many people as you like."
"Eh? Is that really okay?"
"Of course! I run a restaurant — how could I ever complain about too many customers?" he said, smiling at her.
She was over the moon now!
He'd come at her invitation and watched a concert like that; the least he could do was show his appreciation.
And as a chef, there was only one way he knew to do it — with his cooking.
Tonight, he'd make the restaurant lively!
...
By the time they returned from Hatsune's side, it was six-forty — only twenty minutes before the restaurant opened for the night.
Lucky for Yuto, he'd finished all the opening prep that morning before heading to the concert... otherwise he never would have made it in time.
The group flashed back into the restaurant, but Yuto didn't busy himself with anything else first.
He rested a hand on Shouko's head, because the first thing that needed settling was whether the little girl was staying or going home.
"Shouko, do you want to head home, or stay here for a while?"
She pursed her lips and scratched her head with one small hand. "I want to stay! Mama's still working too, so I'll wait here until she's off and comes to get me."
"All right. Then let me call your mother." He smiled, gave her hair another light stroke, and pulled out his phone since he had Nishimiya Yaeko's number saved as well.
The moment the screen lit up, though, he found a string of missed calls waiting, every one of them from Erina and Hisako.
Puzzled, he called Yaeko first anyway, once he'd explained about Shouko, she agreed at once.
The same as before — she'd come by after work to pick her up.
Then he called Erina back, still a little baffled.
Had something urgent come up?
Why all the calls?
The instant the line connected, a sulky voice met him from the other end.
"You finally picked up… Kamisaka-kun… your phone really is impossible to reach." Erina didn't raise her voice, but she sounded like she was holding her temper on a short leash.
"Sorry, sorry. I just got back from the concert venue."
At that her tone hitched, as though she'd been about to let something fly and had to swallow it, and she let out a helpless sigh instead.
When Erina spoke again, the simmering anger had drained away.
"If that's the reason… then fine. I'll just barely forgive you."
The deflated little grumble made Yuto laugh. "So — what's the matter?"
"Sigh… you didn't forget what you said yourself, did you?"
He blanked for a second, then it clicked. "The freezer?"
"Yes — yes! The freezer! I've got it ready. If now's convenient, I'll bring it over."
He'd asked her to source one in the small hours of the morning, and somewhere between then and the giddy rush of the concert it had slipped his mind entirely.
"Now works. Sorry to put you to the trouble."
"If you want to thank me, then make me a few more dishes, Kamisaka-kun."
"Mm, don't worry about that!"
He hung up, breathed out softly, and turned to Ainz and Rimuru. "Are you two planning to stay looking like that?"
The pair were still in their armored forms.
At his words they seemed to snap to, and a heartbeat later a skeleton and a slime stood in the room once more.
"Ahh, my head's still full of the concert — I completely forgot." Rimuru laughed brightly, the easy, uncomplicated laugh of someone who never lets much weigh on them.
"Indeed," Ainz agreed beside it, with no small feeling.
"So what are you two doing now?"
That stopped them cold.
They just stared.
"Aren't you going back to check on things?" Yuto sighed inwardly on behalf of their subordinates.
How unlucky did you have to be to wind up with bosses like these?
"Eh — honestly, I'd love to say I'm not going back, but just to be safe I'll go have a quick look," Rimuru said.
"In that case I'll head back for a bit too," Ainz added.
Neither of them wanted to, that much was obvious, but they left all the same.
Going by Yuto's read of them, though, they'd be back before long.
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