Fun Nightlife, Run, RUN, Dragon

“Well, even though we said that, Naruhito, Stolu. There is one thing I must tell you.”

“Hm?”

“Dis?”

Those were Lazaar’s words. It was right after they had begun Operation Popularity, splitting up and hitting on people at random.

“Honestly, with this method, I do not think I will be of much use. It is frustrating to say, but the Lizardonian race is still disliked.”

Lazaar’s voice sounded a little sad. His tail drooped limply.

“Dis… It is true that for humans who do not know Lazaar’s character, Lizardonians are not a race many people readily accept.”

Stolu’s words were also something Tooyama now understood well. Over the past week spent in the adventure city, he had personally felt just how deep the discrimination and prejudice toward the “Lizardonian” race ran.

Even now, he could feel rude glances from customers dressed in fine clothing.

“Don’t worry, Lazaar. There’s no problem.”

While glaring back at the glancing stares and driving them away, Tooyama declared it.

“Naruhito?”

“Your race and you as an individual have nothing to do with each other. At the very least, there are two people here who know you’re a good guy, right?”

Tooyama pointed alternately at himself and then at Stolu. Stolu also answered with a small peace sign without changing her expression.

“Naruhito… Stolu…”

“Your turn comes after this. After we open the bakery. People have things they’re suited and unsuited for. Leave seducing the beautiful men and women to me and Stolu, and just sit back calmly, manager.”

“Naruhito…!”

Tooyama patted Lazaar’s shoulder and made the freshest expression he could. In his own mind, it had landed perfectly.

“Right, Stolu?”

Yes, there was such a thing as the right person in the right place. Even if Lazaar did not get results in this operation, his true stage would come after this, once they opened the bakery.

Tooyama sought Stolu’s agreement—

“…U-umm, well, yes, that is true. …Umm…”

“Ah, what’s wrong?”

“No, how should I put this? I am clever, so I have somehow seen the future from here on, or something like that.”

For some reason, Stolu had a strangely amusing expression, as if she had put something salty in her mouth and was wondering whether to swallow it, while mumbling.

“What are you talking about? All right, then, in one hour, meet back at this fountain. Listen, this isn’t play. It’s work. I’ll give each of you five gold coins as necessary expenses, so use them at your own discretion. If you can get receipts, get them.”

Tooyama took a small pouch from his robe and handed each of them shiny, clinking gold coins.

They had obtained easy money from hunting Titanos Mares, so for now they still had some leeway. Though if they could not pay the fifty platinum coins in their contract with the Church by this winter, everything would be over.

“Ah, understood.”

“Dis.”

“All right, let’s go…!”

Stolu had that level of facial beauty, but she was an idiot. The fact that the handsome man had hit on her earlier was probably just a lucky punch.

And Lazaar. He was a good guy, but discrimination and prejudice existed in any world. It irritated Tooyama, but in order to overturn that as well, he needed to be popular in this shop.

“I’m the key. I’ve got to do my best.”

Tooyama quietly burned with fighting spirit alone.

Lazaar looked at that Tooyama as if finding him reliable, while Stolu looked at him with somewhat flat eyes.

With their respective enthusiasm in their chests, the three left the fountain plaza.

…………

……

…

~One hour later~

“…It seems I misunderstood you people, the Lizardonians. There are people like you among them too…”

An unparalleled beauty.

A black-haired beauty with feminine curves and a slender waist, her perfected body wrapped in a black dress, lit her eyes with heat.

“Those are excessive words, Miss Haroto. Ah, but if you have come to understand that, there is no greater honor for me.”

The man stared straight back into those eyes and gave a wink. A gentle expression floated on his reptilian face.

“Fufu, how humble. I have never met someone like you before… Say, right now, I find myself interested in you.”

“I wanted to know you from the beginning.”

The smooth-talking playboy, no, play-lizard, said it casually. Even those tooth-achingly sweet lines had completely become his own.

“Oh my! Honestly, fufu, what a wicked person.”

“Ah, wait, wait! No cutting ahead! I was the one who first talked to Lazaar-san! Sis, at first you said Lizardonians were scary, didn’t you?”

In contrast to the beauty with a dark atmosphere, a bright and energetic voice cut into the world of the two. A beautiful girl with a shoulder-length short bob and slightly wavy brown hair forced her way in.

She was the kind of beautiful girl whose mere sight made memories of a nonexistent childhood friendship with her well up.

“Fufu, whatever do you mean? I am sorry, Lazaar-sama. That girl is still a child.”

“That is not true. Haine, your pure heart is very beautiful. When you spoke to me, I was happy.”

“Ah, u… Ahaha! No, no, no, don’t stare straight at someone like me like that! I mean, sorry, it would be better if you were alone with Haroto-sis, right?”

She was a lively girl. With bright and slightly unsure air, her expressions changed constantly. She fidgeted while muttering something self-deprecating.

“Fu, you are good at drawing attention, Haine. I want to be with you as well. Do you dislike that?”

“Ah, u-um, no way, of course not… Yes… If someone like me is all right… Then by your side…”

At the play-lizard’s voice, she nodded while making her voice smaller. Her face was redder than a ripe apple.

“Oh my, it has been a long time since I saw Haine truly embarrassed. Fufu, Lazaar-sama, you are a sinful man.”

“If I can be surrounded by two flowers, then I do not mind being denounced as a sinner. If I said I was an adventurer slave until very recently, would that draw your interest?”

“Oh my, what an interesting story! Say, Lazaar-sama, would you tell me about it?”

“Ah, me too, me too! I want to hear it too! Lazaar-san, let’s talk!”

A beauty leaned against and smiled at one lizard. A beautiful girl raised her voice even higher and directed sparkling eyes toward one lizard.

“……………No way.”

Tooyama Naruhito was now in deep despair. Despair deeper than the sea and thicker than magma.

A crowd had formed around that sofa seat.

“H-hey, look. A Lizardonian is seducing those Aizaar sisters… Somehow, it’s going well.”

“No way, right? I saw the son of Mellow Trading Company and a noble from the Imperial Capital try to flirt with them earlier and get ignored.”

“Madam Haroto has the face of a woman. That Lizardonian made the proprietress of Rain Inn fall for him…”

“Ah, Haine… She’s making a female face she never showed me… My brain…”

“That Lizardonian is amazing.”

“His voice is cool…”

Men gathered to catch a glimpse of the overwhelmingly popular dandy, the dandy lizard. Some trembled, some had their hearts broken, and some had their brains destroyed.

Before overwhelming popularity, the unpopular men could do nothing but murmur.

Tooyama was also one of the murmuring people. From terror and despair, his teeth were chattering.

“T-this is bad. At this rate, I’ll become some incredibly painful guy who didn’t even realize he wasn’t popular… Hurry—”

Tooyama had not been playing around during this past hour either. He had tried talking to girls he liked, but he had lost every single time. Complete defeat.

The moment he exchanged one or two words, everyone lowered their eyes and hurried away. At first, Tooyama had generously thought that maybe everyone was just shy, but around the fifth person, he had begun to panic.

Around the time the fifteenth person rejected him, the meeting time was approaching, so he returned near the fountain, and this was what he found.

“Fufu, honestly, Lazaar-sama, is that really true?”

“Ahaha, Lazaar-san, you’re so funny! I want to talk more!”

“It is an honor. To think a time would come in my life when I could speak with beautiful flowers like you. Even if this time is nothing more than one night’s dream, I will never forget this moment.”

“Fufu, what a pretentious man…”

“Ah, haha. Oh no, um, when you look at me with those eyes, well…”

Lazaar was immensely popular.

He was not a dejected lizard, but a popular lizard. At this rate.

“This is bad.”

Suppressing his urge to murder his popular friend, Tooyama tried to leave the place so he would not be seen.

“Ah… I knew it would turn out like this. Of course Lazaar would be popular with girls at a shop like this.”

“Geh.”

Stolu’s voice came from behind him.

This was bad. She had found out he still had zero results. No, wait, wait, wait. Lazaar had probably just landed some lucky punch that exploded and turned into that situation.

But Stolu, Stolu would be fine. After all, she was a kid. She was still fourteen, in other words, a second-year middle schooler. It should be the least popular age in one’s life, based on Tooyama’s experience.

It was fine. Yes, Stolu definitely had zero results too. There was no way any man would be swayed by a second-year middle school brat—

Tooyama timidly turned around.

“Dis?”

Stolu was there.

She was lying on a palanquin-like platform carried by four handsome men.

“What kind of popularity is that?!”

Looking at the sad man who had been the least popular, Stolu sighed.

“Hah, as expected, Tooyama had no results. I somehow had a feeling that would be the case.”

“No, wait. How does anything happen for it to turn into that?”

Tooyama timidly addressed Stolu, who remained lying on the platform.

A beautiful girl with only her face going for her being carried by handsome men. It was a scene that made one feel stupid just by looking at it.

“Hm? I was just acting normally, and it became like this. Do you dislike it?”

Stolu yawned and lazily addressed the handsome men.

“No, to put it modestly, it is the best…”

“A small, cute, stupidly strong girl knight is a reward.”

“Her naturally insensitive and arrogant parts are also cute.”

“Her existence itself is a fetish.”

The handsome men carrying Stolu blushed slightly and looked entranced.

“Oh, poor handsome men…”

Just what had that idiot knight done to them? Tooyama quietly covered his mouth and pitied them.

“They looked like handsome men who were getting a little full of themselves, so I disciplined them a little, and they ended up like this. My only merits are that my face is good and I am strong, but was I useful this time?”

Lying on her stomach, resting her cheek in her hand, and swinging her legs, Stolu directed a mean smile at Tooyama.

“Yeah, I wonder who’s the one most full of herself here. Setting that aside, are you starting to twist yourself into some incomprehensible direction again?”

As Tooyama answered while massaging his heavy head—

“Ah, Naruhito, Stolu! Hey, over here, over here!”

Lazaar, who seemed to have noticed them, waved his hand. Even Lazaar had found out.

“Ah, the popular lizard is calling, unpopular man.”

“Should we settle things from back then right now after all? Hm? I seriously won’t hold back just because you’re a second-year middle schooler.”

While glaring at the beautiful girl being carried by handsome men, Tooyama walked toward Lazaar’s seat.

The crowd around them also smoothly moved away from Tooyama’s group. Like a school of small fish scattered by a natural enemy.

“Stolu, you are once again, well… amazing. Why did that happen? Oh, is Naruhito alone?”

Lazaar showed a wry smile, then blinked in confusion. He looked at Tooyama with a truly puzzled face.

“Lazaar, come here for a second.”

“Hm?”

“There’s one thing I want to say in order to continue my relationship with you from here on. Knowing it’s shameful, I want to give you advice as a friend.”

Tooyama firmly grabbed Lazaar’s shoulders from the front after he obediently stood and came over.

He stared straight at that lizard face.

“A-ah. Wh-what is it, Naruhito? Your face is scary.”

Lazaar was bewildered, and for some reason, Stolu gulped.

Tooyama opened his mouth—

“Lazaar, don’t get popular more easily than me. I’m begging you.”

“Are you truly aware of the shame?”

Lazaar’s calm voice stabbed into Tooyama after he delivered the most shameful statement in history.

“Lazaar, it cannot be helped. Tooyama has already passed the age where his humanity can change. He will continue living as a sad, unpopular monster like this.”

“Isn’t that going too far?! It was just coincidence! I’ve had times when I was popular too! In high school, I got confessed to two or three times!”

“Naruhito…”

An adult man seriously argued back against the words of a fourteen-year-old girl. Unfortunately, it seemed that simply accumulating years did not make one an adult.

“…………Hmph, there were some strange women out there. …What is that? Boring. …Did you mate with those women?”

Stolu suddenly lost all expression. Because her facial features were good, her expressionlessness was very cold and frightening.

“No, at that time, I thought it was cool to reject that kind of thing, so I rejected them all. Also, can you stop saying mate? Are you a dog or something?”

Tooyama hid the fact that he was a little scared and continued acting calm.

“…! Fufun. Is that so? Pppp, Tooyama is a disappointing man.”

“Get down here, you bastard. Seriously stop doing bratty girl moves from on top of those handsome men.”

Stolu smiled brightly, like sunlight streaming in at dawn.

“Stolu-san is so lively…”

“I can support this…”

“Her attitude toward us is different… This is watching the girl you like get stolen…”

For some reason, the handsome men carrying Stolu were tearing up.

“Well, fine. Thank you for your work. You may put me down now. As a reward, I will visit one of your rooms later, so decide whose room I should go to.”

““““…! Yes!””””

The handsome men lowered Stolu silently. At Stolu’s words, their faces filled with joy. The handsome man with dog ears flattened his ears, while the human handsome man’s face turned red.

However, in the next instant, all four began glaring at one another, then disappeared into the corner of the hall while continuing to glare.

The murderous intent filling the four of them was strong enough to make even Tooyama feel he did not want to get involved.

“Hey, Stolu, are those guys going to be okay? They looked like they were about to kill each other until only one of the four survived.”

“They will be fine. They are Rain Inn cast members. They will not do anything too foolish. Now then, I have arranged things so I can enter the area with the private rooms, but…”

Fufun. Stolu twisted her lips and cast Tooyama a sidelong glance.

This brat needed to be shown once who was really above whom after all. Just as Tooyama, whose mental age was low, was starting to become genuinely irritated—

“Oh my, Lazaar-sama. Are these your friends? Fufu, would you introduce me?”

It was a clear voice. Moist and never conspicuous, yet it reached the ears well.

“Ah, Miss Haroto. Forgive me, as you can see, they are a noisy bunch.”

“Oh my, not at all. The eyes with which you looked at them were very gentle. Fufu, it makes me a little jealous.”

The woman directed a passionate gaze at Lazaar. Tooyama looked blankly at how popular his friend was.

“Did it look that way? Then I wonder how the eyes with which I look at you appear to you.”

“…What a mean person. It is a pleasure to meet you, friends. Welcome to Rain Inn. Are you enjoying yourselves?”

The beauty, leaning close to Lazaar and beginning to flirt, had appeared.

Her purple rouge gave off an bewitching charm. Decorations resembling crow feathers, a pitch-black dress.

Like a witch, Tooyama thought as he gazed vaguely at the woman.

“Dis. Thanks to you, we are enjoying ourselves reasonably well, except for one person.”

“Oh my, what a lovely young lady… You are a mysterious person. Though you are very young, you seem very strong.”

As if looking at something strange, the woman gazed at Stolu. Her glossy black eyes, like obsidian, and Stolu’s light-blue eyes reflected one another.

“Dis, Madam Haroto. Have you already forgotten? It has been a while. Thank you for the other day.”

“Oh my! Oh my, my, my, my! Fufu, could it be Knight Stolu? Is that you? Fufufufu, surely not? You have changed so completely that I did not notice.”

Stolu answered bluntly while crossing her arms. After opening her eyes wide in surprise, the woman covered her mouth and showed her astonishment.

“Changed, you say?”

“Yes, perhaps I should say that the possessing spirit has fallen away. Before, you always had a very difficult expression on your face. Now you look very happy.”

“…What do you see?”

The woman looked at her with a smiling, affectionate expression, while Stolu looked displeased.

Even before the girl’s words, which contained the pressure of the First Knight, the woman was not shaken.

“Oops, Stolu and Miss Haroto were acquainted? Then this will be quicker. It seems I only need to introduce one person. He is my friend, Tooyama Naruhito. Naruhito, this is—”

“—Fufu.”

“Miss Haroto?”

Interrupting Lazaar’s words, the woman spilled a laugh. It was the kind of laugh one might make after accidentally spilling just a little water from a cup.

“Fufufufu, I am sorry, Lazaar-sama. Tooyama Naruhito? Are you perhaps that dragon slayer?”

“You know me?”

Tooyama asked. Perhaps because she was beautiful yet had a somewhat suspicious air. There was no friendliness in his words anymore.

“Fufufu, yes, you are a famous person. …My! Could Lazaar-sama perhaps be that ‘Lizardonian slave’?”

“Y-yes. That is correct. Has Naruhito’s name spread that far?”

“Fufu, yes, I have heard rumors for some time. Some stories make me want to doubt whether they are not simply dubious. …Ah, I see.”

The woman’s obsidian-like black eyes stared at Tooyama. They were mirror-like eyes. If one peered into them, it felt as if one would eventually see something one should not see—

“What?”

Tooyama murmured, as if blocking that gaze.

“Fufu, Sir Dragon Slayer, I apologize for saying something very rude, but you were not given the time of day by the girls here, were you?”

“………………Yeah.”

A verbal knife stabbed straight into his skull.

You are not popular, are you? Those words were essentially a declaration of war, words that could make it no surprise if a fight to the death began. Tooyama froze.

“Fufu, I am sorry. I am not mocking you. It is just that many things made sense to me, or rather, yes, perhaps I should say I am checking the answer to a very interesting riddle for myself.”

“…Miss Haroto. You are a wonderful woman, but could you refrain from teasing my friend carelessly?”

“Lazaar…”

Oh no… He was cool. Tooyama felt reassured by Lazaar.

“Fufu, you are quite devoted to Sir Dragon Slayer, aren’t you? Ah, how lovely. You share the same scenery, do you not? Fufu, you have been captivated, Lazaar-sama.”

“…Madam Haroto. I am not a very patient person either. It is a well-known fact that Tooyama is an insane man who is not popular with girls, but I do not think it is something an outsider like you should speak about with such a knowing face.”

The woman addressed Lazaar. Even after being admonished, she remained unconcerned and looked back and forth between Tooyama and Lazaar with mirror-like obsidian eyes.

The one who directed sharp words at her was Stolu. And it was not only her voice. It also contained anger tinged with irritation.

“…Sis.”

“It is all right, Haine. Sit down. Stolu-sama has already changed. It will not become like it did back then.”

The woman accompanying her reacted to Stolu’s anger and slowly stood up. When Tooyama glanced around, he noticed several cast members silently beginning to surround the area.

“…………What are you trying to say, miss?”

Tooyama asked quietly while heightening his guard.

“Those are frightening eyes, Sir Dragon Slayer. They are the eyes of a person who can judge others only as enemies or allies.”

“Huh?”

“The reason the girls in this shop do not pay attention to you is simple. All our girls are sharp, clever, and lonely. They would not be swayed by a man who does not pay attention to them.”

“No, I’m the one not being paid attention to.”

“No, Sir Dragon Slayer. Men and women make up for what each lacks in the other. But it seems there was no girl here who could make up for you. …Because you do not look at anyone.”

The woman laughed softly in her throat. Different from the passionate gaze she had directed at Lazaar, she continued staring at Tooyama with eyes containing something much more viscous.

“You are lacking, warped and twisted, a vessel that can never be completed. Most people fill those lacking parts through others. They call that romance or love. But your lack cannot be filled by love. Because you do not accept that.”

“…That’s a harsh way to put it.”

It was no different from being called socially maladjusted. But the woman’s words did not resonate with Tooyama.

“Fufufu, I am sorry. But you are not hurt at all, are you? Because to you, I am an existence that does not matter. You are a very cruel and very warm person.”

“Can those two things coexist?”

Tooyama asked lightly. The woman’s words were accurate. To Tooyama, words from an existence that did not matter were not much different from the cries of monsters.

“Yes, ordinarily they do not. But you are different. You are a person who continues seeking alone despite being a vessel that will never be filled. You are someone who might fill alone what should only be fillable by others.”

Tooyama’s gaze gradually sharpened. However, the woman looked back at that with amusement and spun her words.

As if she were excited to see a rare painting or sculpture, she continued staring at Tooyama.

“In truth, you should need others, yet you fill that yourself. And without realizing it, that way of being begins influencing others. What fills your emptiness is a dream… No, this is desire, is it not?”

“You say strange things.”

Tooyama was beginning to dislike this woman’s eyes.

“Fufu, observing people is my work. But someone like you… I may have never seen before. Warped, lacking, and tattered, yet still continuing to hold onto a scenery. Still continuing forward without depending on anyone. Ah, was it those eyes that captivated Lazaar-sama and Stolu-sama? Or was it that tongue?”

“All the children of Rain Inn favor those who need them. Sir Dragon Slayer, the answer is simple. You are the one who has not been paying attention to our children from the start.”

“That’s harsh. Even so, I was seriously nervous when I talked to them, you know.”

“Fufu, that is a lie. You felt neither nervousness nor hesitation. Because you did not care. You should have been a person who needed to need others, yet you became like this. The only thing that can fill you is the desire you pursue. Ah—”

“You do not need love, or others, do you?”

—The smell of disinfectant, the sound of a humidifier, a hospital room where an IV kept dripping.

Tooyama saw a scene he should not have remembered.

—You don’t need love.

It felt as if, at some time, somewhere, someone had said something similar to him.

“…That is enough, Miss Haroto. You have no right to critique my friend.”

“Oh my, fufu, Lazaar-sama, how unpleasant. Please do not be so angry. …Those eyes are wonderful too. But is that truly all right? To truly follow him?”

“What did you say?”

“After he reaches his destination, he will chase after the next desire again. Because he will never be completed. To fill the emptiness inside him, what is missing, he will go next, then even further next. I wonder, can you keep following Sir Dragon Slayer?”

Those words testing Lazaar were not something a person who had met him today should ever have said.

“Hey, you.”

Tooyama directed obvious hostility at the woman whose words had gone too far.

“Of course.”

“Oh my?”

Before Tooyama could close in on the woman, Lazaar answered.

“Of course, Miss Haroto. I decided to follow this man. The place no longer matters. Wherever the dragon slayer is, that is where the Lizardonian slave is.”

It was the same as when Tooyama decided to save Lazaar.

Lazaar, too, had decided for himself. He had decided to pursue Tooyama Naruhito’s desire and its trail together with him.

That resolve was not something that would waver over a few words from another.

“…My, fufu, I truly might grow jealous of Sir Dragon Slayer. Your warped way of being is very warm. Even without love, even without someone who understands and fills you, you make others mistake that for being fine. Gentle, dangerous, and—”

“Your story is long, Haroto. I am getting tired of it.”

Stolu interrupted the woman’s words. Her voice was careless, sighing, and languid, yet it carried a force that allowed no argument.

“Oh my, Stolu-sama. Goodness, have I angered you?”

“Not particularly. I already know that Tooyama is insane and not popular with girls. It does not matter to me.”

“Then—”

While playing with her hair and looking away, Stolu grumbled. The woman turned her gaze toward Tooyama again.

“Do not speak any further about this person, outsider. I will kill you.”

The Angel Church Knights’ finest, and the First Knight in the order chosen by Justice. Her words were heavy.

“—!”

“Sis!!”

“Madam!!!”

At the clear killing intent Stolu directed at the woman, several cast members who had been watching leaped out.

Beautiful men and women stood in the way as if shielding the woman. Seeing them, Stolu formed a cruel smile at the corners of her mouth, one unimaginable from her age.

“Oops, there are a few sharp ones here. Whip Hook, it would irritate me to remain thought of as having grown weak, so shall I play with you a little?”

That pressure had not changed. Because he had grown a little used to her, Tooyama had nearly forgotten, but Stolu, too, was an existence outside the norm.

She wore the arrogant expression unique to a transcendent being, similar to a dragon.

“…Enough, Stolu. Thank you.”

“…Tch. As you wish, Sir Inquisitor.”

At Tooyama’s restraint, Stolu clicked her tongue but obeyed. She was an idiot, but lately she had gradually become someone he could reason with. It was a good trend.

“…What a terrifying person. I do not mean Stolu-sama. I mean you, Sir Dragon Slayer. Without realizing it, you violate others. You captivate others, distort others, and change them. Ah, but perhaps that is precisely why that person also cares about you.”

After seeing Stolu obey Tooyama’s instruction, the woman spun those words with deep feeling.

“…Who are you talking about?”

“Fufu, you will understand soon. Now, Sir Dragon Slayer, are you enjoying Rain Inn?”

“I’m feeling unpleasant after being given a personality diagnosis I never asked for. Now then, what should I do?”

“Oh my, that is troublesome. This is Rain Inn. A flower garden blooming in the adventure city, where dreams are shown to customers who pass through the gate. Within it, it cannot be permitted for even one person to neither dream, nor admire flowers, nor be admired by flowers.”

“…Um?”

“Miss Haroto, what are you…?”

“Lazaar-sama, I apologize for speaking about your friend. Stolu-sama, I apologize for peeking at your important person.”

The woman erased her smile and, changing completely, bent deeply with a solemn expression.

She pinched the hem of her dress and bowed her head.

“…What are you planning?”

“Here in Rain Inn, there is no human who can satisfy Sir Dragon Slayer. However, even so, if only Sir Dragon Slayer cannot enjoy himself, that would disgrace Rain Inn’s name. In the name of its proprietress, Haroto Aizaar, I cannot allow such a thing.”

“What, are you going to introduce me to a girl who suits me?”

Tooyama cracked a joke. He should not have. Haroto answered that joke with a refreshing smile.

“…Ah, it is about time. It seems the two have finished changing outfits.”

“Hm?”

Tooyama froze at those words. Thump. His heart leaped.

“The lights are…?!”

In an instant, darkness.

The hall lights all went out at once. A moment of silence, spreading darkness. The murmuring of the people grew, like fire catching and spreading.

“Everyone gathered here! We apologize for the disturbance! A one-night dream where countless flowers gather. Are you enjoying yourselves?”

A light shone on the stage.

A tall, handsome man with beast ears stood alone under that light.

“…Naruhito, I wonder why. I have a slightly bad feeling.”

“What a coincidence, Lazaar. So do I.”

“Dis, this feeling… Could it be…”

The three grumbled in turn. Bad feelings were generally correct. Tonight was no exception.

“Today, we have good news for everyone. We would be grateful if you would lend us your ears. We deeply apologize for disturbing our guests’ hearts.”

“Among the many flowers blooming proudly in our Rain Inn, tonight, two most noble flowers will bloom in that flower garden. We would like to share this with all of you, and so we make this announcement.”

“Sir Dragon Slayer, this shop is a one-night dream. In order to face harsh and sorrowful reality, people have the right to see sweet dreams. That is true for our guests, but more than anyone, it is also true for Rain Inn’s dear children.”

While receiving the people’s attention, the handsome man with beast ears used lively gestures to calm the place.

As Tooyama watched his stage, the voice of the woman called Haroto reached him from within the darkness.

“With people this good-looking, I feel like they wouldn’t have much trouble.”

From a distance close enough to feel her breath, a flower scent so sweet it was cloying reached Tooyama.

“Oh my, that is not true. No matter how good-looking one is or how blessed one’s birth, there are countless people who are not fulfilled. …Not everyone is someone who can fill their lack alone, as you do.”

“Sir Dragon Slayer, not everyone can continue holding desire and dreams as you do. That is why people seek others. What they cannot see or pursue alone, they try to have others fill for them.”

“…That’s quite a convenient story. I feel like that expects too much from people.”

“Even so, people rely on people. Everyone does. Someone like you is truly rare. The way you continue forward, trying to fill your own lack by yourself alone. From the perspective of other humans, you could only be called a heretic, but fufu, from the perspective of those people, that way of being must surely be very lovable.”

“…………What?”

At the woman’s words, Tooyama asked back blankly.

“Two flowers to you. No, is it the reverse? Perhaps it is you to the two flowers. Please, take your time. Enjoy the fun night life at Rain Inn.”

“Eh, wait, hey?!”

She vanished. Her presence and voice alike.

Like a television screen going dark the moment its power was turned off.

“Miss Haroto? …She’s gone. I completely lost sight of her.”

“…Lazaar lost sight of her? What is that woman?”

“T-Tooyama, Lazaar. Look ahead, at that stage…”

At Stolu’s words, Tooyama and Lazaar looked toward the front of the main hall, at the stage illuminated by light.

“That woman, when did she…?”

Madam Haroto, who should have been beside them until moments ago, was now standing on the stage at the front, in a position overlooking the hall. How she had moved there was unclear. The trick and mechanism were unknown.

“Good evening, everyone. It is a fine night. I am Haroto Aizaar, the mistress of this establishment. Are you all seeing pleasant dreams?”

“Haroto! It’s me! Marry me!”

“Madam! When will you reverse-request me?”

The venue erupted all at once. From the darkness, men shouted toward Haroto in the place of light.

“Fufu, I am glad to see everyone so lively. But please be quiet for just a little while. Yes, you will not regret it. Those present here today are fortunate. For you will be able to witness a sight not even recorded in fairy tales.”

At Haroto’s voice, the audience immediately fell silent. It was not a special ability. She made it possible through nothing but her bearing.

“They are existences far above us human species. More beautiful than anything, nobler than anything, solitary beings without equal. Rulers of the great sky, arbiters of the world, and living legends.”

Ah, this is bad.

Tooyama blinked. His narrow eyes like those of a Tibetan fox opened and closed repeatedly.

Tooyama Naruhito had forgotten. He had focused too much on aiming for the bishop’s scandal, and his excitement over scheming for the first time in a while had made him forget.

He had forgotten that the bishop was not the only one being watched and observed.

He had forgotten, in his overexcitement, that hunters always, at any time, could become the hunted.

But it was already too late.

“Then allow me to introduce those who, for a certain reason, will become supreme flowers for this night only. They are supreme existences who gather all envy and respect in the Empire, no, in this world.”

Light fell.

In the dark hall, only the stage was brightly illuminated by the chandelier’s light.

“They are two dragons.”

Light, darkness, brilliance.

Just as the light on the stage seemed to vanish for an instant, it returned in the next.

Haroto bowed more deeply than ever before, then stepped back once, twice.

On either side of her, the sun and moon were seated.

Everyone, truly everyone in that venue, forgot how to blink for an instant, forgot how to speak, forgot how to breathe.

““………………””

Silence.

Before anyone noticed, gold and silver were there.

A long golden-haired woman wearing a mask over her eyes, and a silver-haired woman likewise wearing an eye mask, were seated in throne-like chairs.

The sun sat arrogantly in her chair. Her abundant golden hair was tied up, her legs crossed, and she leaned back against the backrest as if looking down on the audience.

“Beautiful… Could that possibly be…”

“What a majestic figure. Oh, to think the time would come when I could see her with my own eyes.”

That sun captivated people even with her arrogance. Lower creatures were forced to understand. The rank of the living being that existed above them. A life outside the frame, one too awe-inspiring to even approach.

In human hearts arose the impulse to immediately prostrate before that sun and show obedience.

““………………””

The moon quietly placed her hands on her knees and tilted her head.

Everyone had the illusion that every time her silver hair swayed with her quiet movement, they could hear a beautiful tone.

That moon confused people simply by existing. Lower creatures were forced to understand that they were nothing more than toys to that being.

In human hearts arose the submissive desire to immediately offer themselves to that moon, to have her direct her interest toward them even for a moment, and if it were for that purpose, they would not mind even presenting their own lives.

“Oh…”

“How beautiful…”

“So pretty…”

“Like jewels…”

“Are they… living beings?”

And above all, that sun and moon were beautiful.

More dazzling, fleeting, and powerful than the light illuminating them itself—

Humans were entranced by the beauty of dragons.

“Now then, let us immediately have the two of them follow the custom of this dream flower garden. Yes, let them perform a reverse-request. Ladies, your nominations, if you please.”

“……….”

“………………”

This was nightlife.

And this was Rain Inn.

Guests who wished for a one-night dream were not the ones who chose. It was a social place where the dreams that rose for one night chose the guests.

A place for fun nightlife. Dragons loved playing.

Ah, the thin, long golden finger pointed at him.

Ah, the silver, supple white finger also pointed at him.

The destination of those fingers was the same. Everyone turned around. Everyone searched for where those fingertips led.

A strange group of three: a Lizardonian, a light-blue-haired girl, and between them, a black-haired man whose complexion was worsening in real time.

The two pointed at the black-haired man.

The two reverse-requested Tooyama Naruhito.

“……………This is bad.”

“N-Naruhito.”

“Ah, ah… I understand everything now.”

“Fufu, then, you who were pointed at by the two of them, Sir Dragon Slayer Tooyama Naruhito-sama, please come to the stage.”

Haroto’s voice sounded delighted.

She was the mistress of this mansion, a woman who loved night dreams and, above all else, loved the flowers that showed dreams.

“From tonight’s flowers of Rain Inn to you.”

“This is a reverse-request♪”

The woman, who adored love and romance, had a truly wonderful smile.

““——””

The sun and moon laughed.

Even with masks over their eyes, their laughter was unmistakably—

“……………Laz—”

Tooyama sought help from his companions—

“Shadow Guidance. Good fortune, Sir Dragon Slayer.”

“It is your turn, Sir Dragon Slayer.”

Thickly, shadows covered Lazaar and Stolu. Shadows covered only Lazaar and Stolu.

—Wherever the dragon slayer is, that is where the Lizardonian slave is.

—Do not speak any further about this person, outsider. I will kill you.

The warm words of his reliable companions surfaced in his mind.

The two who had gotten angry for his sake gave extremely bright smiles, raised their thumbs, and vanished into the shadows.

““Have a good trip.”” “Naruhito.” “Tooyama.”

Lazaar and Stolu fled. They simply abandoned him.

“…Such quick judgment!!”

Tooyama’s cry echoed vainly through the hall with its lights extinguished.

“Now, please enjoy a fun night.”

The clear voice of a woman spread through the darkness.

“Fukaka.”

“Spupu.”

Smoothly, the two beautiful dragons removed the masks covering only their eyes.

Eyes like beautiful jewels, blue eyes like a deep ocean trench, and dark eyes reflecting the bottom of a bottomless abyss.

The dragons’ eyes were revealed. Those eyes that captivated humans and made all lower creatures tremble.

Everyone in this venue let out a breath at the beauty of higher beings. Everyone except Tooyama.

“…………Wow.”

Two beautiful dragons he knew well.

The Hoarding Dragon and the Dragon of Human Knowledge smiled gently.

But for some reason, only their eyes were not smiling. From thinly opened eyes, blue and darkness peered out.

Ah, as expected, their eyes were not smiling. Their narrowed eyes were clearly open.

Their eyes were very scary.

Ping.

“Why…?”

There was not a single person who picked up Tooyama’s murmur.