"L-Long ti no see..."
Perhaps not expecting Takajo to appear before her, Nia looked a bit flustered, and her voice sounded very stiff.
"...I'm sorry for causing you discomfort. If I did sothing wrong inadvertently, please allow to apologize to you, Sensei."
Probably noticing Nia's expression and thinking her unannounced visit was causing trouble for her, Takajo slowly lowered her head, her voice carrying a hint of apology.
"No... that's..."
That's not it at all! She wanted to shout and deny Takajo's words loudly in her heart, but when she actually opened her mouth, her voice was as faint as a mosquito flapping its wings, so small that it was easily drowned out and covered by the venue's background music.
Closing her mouth in distress, Nia felt a bit of self-loathing towards her timid self.
"But, if possible, could you let say one thing?"
Saying this, Takajo raised her head and looked straight at Nia through the lenses of her glasses. Unable to bear such a direct gaze, Nia awkwardly looked away.
"Even if I am hated by you, Sensei... I will still look forward to your books, Honjou-sensei."
"..."
She didn't dare to look up. No, rather, she didn't have the right to accept the friendship she had selfishly abandoned.
Nia gripped the fabric of her pants tightly with both hands, pursed her lips, and couldn't say a single word.
This silence continued between the two. Perhaps not wanting to keep the custors waiting behind her, Takajo smiled bitterly, picked up a book, and dropped five hundred yen into the coin box.
"Then, excuse . Honjou-sensei."
"Ah..."
Letting out a faint wail that even she didn't notice, Nia watched Takajo gradually disappear into the crowd, looking completely lost.
"Um, one copy please."
"...Alright, five hundred yen. Thank you for your purchase."
Hearing a custor's voice, Nia suddenly snapped back to reality, wiped the sweat from her neck, and continued working.
"Nia."
Hearing soone call her na, Nia reflexively turned her head and saw Shido looking at her with a sowhat worried gaze.
"...Ahaha! Sorry boy, letting you see sothing embarrassing. But don't think this competition—"
"Aren't you going to chase after her?"
"Ugh—cough, cough—"
Because Shido's words were too unexpected, Nia choked mid-sentence.
"Why would you say that all of a sudden, boy?"
"Why? Don't you like that person?"
"—Cough, cough!" Choking on her saliva again, Nia glared at Shido complainingly, "Boy, I don't swing that way."
"Eh? No, no, you misunderstood, I ant 'like' as in friends."
"...Don't act like an airhead in a place like this, it's a foul, boy."
Seeing Shido's embarrassed expression, Nia sighed helplessly.
"To answer your question. Boy, I won't chase her. We're in the middle of an important competition right now, I won't get distracted by unnecessary things. Besides, we aren't friends anyway."
"...Really? If you don't chase after her now, I think you'll regret it later."
"You're exaggerating, boy, it's not like... it's a life or death separation... right?"
"..."
If she went to chase after her, it would be equivalent to admitting that Itsuka Shido believed Honjou Nia would die today. Hinting to Shido in this sowhat cunning way, Nia forcefully ended the conversation.
"Sorry, Kotori, I'll leave the change to you for a bit."
"Yes, yes, I got it, honestly."
Nia originally thought Shido would just stay silent like this. However, unexpectedly, Shido suddenly left his seat and walked straight towards Nia.
"Heave-ho!"
—Eh?
Before Nia could react, she had already been lifted out of her seat by Shido.
After gently putting Nia down, Shido sat in Nia's seat as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. How many copies would you like?"
"Uh, um... I'd like three copies."
"That's one thousand five hundred yen total, here's your change. Thank you for your purchase."
"Why can you take over my spot so naturally, boy!?"
Nia couldn't help but shout a retort.
"I'll watch your stall for you, take this chance to go find Takajo-san."
"Huh?" Hearing Shido's words, Nia furrowed her brows in surprise, "Boy, did you forget that I'm currently competing with you guys?"
"Don't worry, I won't slack off. Thank you, that's one thousand yen total."
"That's not the point! What about your own stall?"
"Leave it to Kotori. Even though she's only in middle school, she's much more capable than , her older brother. Ah, two thousand yen total, thank you for supporting Honjou-sensei."
"I said that's not the point... Ah, damn it..."
Watching Shido completely transform into a "Honjou-dou" staff mber, Nia scratched her hair in frustration. After thinking for a mont, she slumped her shoulders in exhaustion and asked.
"Boy, why go to such lengths to make find Takajo? Are you trying to say 'don't leave any regrets just in case you really die'?"
"...It has nothing to do with life or death separation," Shido said in a calm yet firm tone. "I just think that if you back down here, it'll be hard to muster the courage to talk to her the next ti you see her."
"W-W-What are you talking about, I'm just..."
Neither admitting nor denying, Nia answered evasively.
"—I will not run away!" Suddenly, Shido spoke with a very deep, chuunibyou-like tone. "I will no longer use any excuses to escape the past. Experiencing regret just once is enough."
Nia widened her eyes in surprise.
"Tokiya's line..."
That was a battle from the later stages of Chrono Phantasma, where the enemy used necromancy to summon Tokiya's deceased sister and lover, Yun, from the underworld, and manipulated her to bewitch Tokiya into killing his friends, Ryu and Tora.
On one side was his unforgettable yet illusory true love, and on the other were the brothers who had braved life and death with him on his journey. After a painful and conflicting deliberation, Tokiya made his choice.
[I will no longer use any excuses to escape the past. Experiencing regret just once is enough.]
She rembered crying the whole night when she saw Yun smiling as she gradually dissipated in Tokiya's arms on TV back then.
And then, she beca a complete otaku.
"Well, honestly, I just learned it from Yutsuki and used it right away. After all, I didn't have ti to watch that ani while rushing the manuscript recently. But, I really like that line."
Scratching his cheek slightly, Shido said with a bitter smile.
"I see..." Nia showed a convinced expression, then asked, "Then why did you say this to ?"
Even if Ryougi Yutsuki taught him, deciding to use these words to provoke her right now was undoubtedly Shido's own choice.
Hearing this, Shido turned to look at Nia and said seriously:
"Because Nia, ever since Takajo-san left, you've had an expression that says 'I wish soone would give a push from behind'."
"What!?"
Nia hurriedly touched her cheeks, then upon seeing the smile playing on Shido's lips, she instantly realized.
For a mont, feelings of embarrassnt and annoyance surged, and Nia's face turned completely red.
"Ah! I'll go! I'll go, okay! Boy, if my manga isn't sold out when I get back, I'll definitely make you pay!"
Leaving behind that angry remark, Nia turned around and rushed into the crowd with hurried steps.
...
God is lonely, but God can endure that loneliness, which is why they are called God.
Nia believed this.
She wasn't arrogant enough to think she was God, she just happened to obtain god-like powers through a twist of fate.
Because of this power, she saw many things she shouldn't have seen.
An editor who constantly proclaid that works were selected for publication based purely on rit, but actually engaged in unspoken rules (casting couch) with rookie manga artists behind the scenes.
A family of three that looked amiable and friendly on the outside, but constantly argued at ho, with the parents abusing their children out of stress.
Even a pitiful-looking beggar on the street, Nia actually saw that he secretly owned a luxury private car and a house, and was richer than her when she was still a rookie manga artist.
And also...
To say that seeing these ugly sides of humanity didn't disappoint her would be a lie.
Of course, the scope of this disappointnt also included Honjou Nia herself.
As ntioned before, Honjou Nia was not God, but a human.
And humans, in the end, are social creatures.
Even after obtaining the omniscience of a god, Nia still chose inaction. She neither chose to expose these ugly truths nor deliberately cut ties with those who disappointed her. She just silently used the information she held to smoothly maintain her interpersonal relationships.
But also because of this, when facing a true friend, she would instead choose to actively distance herself.
Nia was very afraid.
She was afraid that one day, she wouldn't be able to resist her curiosity and would use her Angel to investigate a friend's past; she was afraid that after using the Angel, she would be disappointed in the friend she had finally made; she was afraid she would be disappointed in herself for doing such a terrible thing to a friend.
So—
"Hah... hah... I didn't realize before... this venue... is way too big..."
Nia panted heavily. Looking at the complex, crisscrossing flow of people before her, she slumped her shoulders in exhaustion.
Co to think of it, she had just rushed out because she couldn't resist Itsuka Shido's prompting, but she had absolutely no idea what Takajo's schedule was next.
"According to 2D developnts... shouldn't the next scene skip directly to finding Takajo... to actually get lost here... as I thought... reality is... a trash ga..."
Although this kind of problem could be quickly solved using Rasiel, if she wanted to rely on her Angel at this crucial mont, even if she found Takajo, what she wanted to say would definitely lose its aning.
But if she didn't do this, Nia's own stamina would definitely run out before she found Takajo.
"I have to think of a way... I know! I'll just go to the lost children's center and ask the staff to use the PA system to call Takajo over to get !"
Nia couldn't help but clap her hands in approval of her own flash of genius.
"How am I so smart!"
"Smart my foot! How old are you, have you no sha?"
Before Nia could finish praising herself, a paper fan landed on the back of her head with a smack.
"Biri-chan! Can you stop doing this, even with my good temper, I'll get angry, you know."
Squatting down and holding her head, Nia knew who hit her without even looking up, and complained in dissatisfaction.
"That's because you were thinking of doing sothing embarrassing again..."
Yutsuki sighed lightly and said slowly.
"Booth 34 in the Central Area, the person you're looking for is there."
"Both the boy and you, Biri-chan, you guys see through things way too easily..."
How could she have any room to complain after that? Nia couldn't help but show a helpless smile.
"Say~ Biri-chan."
"What?"
"I can't run anymore. Can you carry ?"
"Get lost!"
...
"Ta-Takajo... Sensei..."
"Eh? Honjou-sensei? Why are you panting so heavily?"
"Ahaha... Intense exercise for the first ti in a while... It's a bit too much for ."
Supporting her still-trembling knees with her hands, Nia panted heavily, giving Takajo a smile uglier than crying.
"Damn it... My back hurts so much... Biri-chan... Did you have to go that far for a joke..."
Feeling a burning sensation on her back, Nia muttered softly to herself.
"Honjou-sensei?"
"No... it's nothing. Just a mont."
Sensing Takajo's confused gaze, Nia waved her hand, wiped the sweat from her face, took a few deep breaths to steady herself, and spoke solemnly.
"Takajo-sensei..."
"Yes, is there sothing you need from ?"
"Um, well, you see... Actually, I..."
Feeling like she couldn't find the right words to express her thoughts, Nia beca sowhat incoherent.
(This is bad... What should I say at a ti like this?)
Over the past few years, because of her Angel, despite her uninhibited and nonsensical outward appearance, Nia was actually better than anyone at wearing a mask and conversing fluently with others.
But precisely because of this, when she took off the mask and tried to communicate with her true heart, she instead appeared clumsy.
(Should I just do a dogeza and apologize? No, if it were seeing that, I'd probably run away. Or maybe find a topic with shared interests first, or just confess directly? Being too serious isn't good, maybe a casual hint while making an ani reference...)
Hurry up, or you're going to chicken out again. Nia desperately urged herself in her mind.
"U-Um, after this convention is over... can we... be friends?"
Hearing Nia's words, Takajo first widened her eyes in surprise, then let out a relieved laugh.
"Pfft—Honjou-sensei, what you just said sounds like you're setting up a death flag."
"Eh... now that you ntion it, it really does..."
What on earth am I saying, Nia thought with a sweatdrop.
"Then, allow to break that flag right now."
Gently holding Nia's hands, a sincere smile appeared under Takajo's large glasses fras.
"There's no need for that. I and Honjou-sensei have always been very good friends. I'm so glad this wasn't just my own delusion."
[...Hey, hey, I'm Honjou Nia.
I can't hold back my tears. What should I do? Waiting online. Urgent!]
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