Isekai Restaurant
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 24: The Comiket -1
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- Silas -
I served the order for Bang-san as I watched everyone excitedly getting ready for the Comiket tomorrow, fixing their costumes and makeup or making sure their props were fine. Although it would take a lot to do any damage to any of those props as they were made by Ainz' Create Greater Item Magic.
We had to leave early in the morning tomorrow so they were all doing a last round of checks. And by check, I mean, Rimuru and Ainz, and to some extent even Kazuma and Fafnir, were going around fixing whatever minute flaws they could find while Milim danced around with her Magical Girl Sailor Moon Costume waving around her magic wand.
"They are very excited, aren't they?" Bang-san laughed as he looked at everyone.
"Yes. They have been preparing for this for months. It's quite hard to not be excited after all that."
If I was being honest, we needed this break too.
Especially after the crazy past two weeks.
"Hahahaha, it's good to be young."
As we were talking, the door to the Restaurant opened, and an unexpected face appeared on the other side.
"Well, isn't this a surprise? Welcome to my Restaurant. Orihime is with other girls upstairs and I can't go up right now. In the meantime, what would you like to eat, Miss Tatsuki?" I asked with a smile. Yes, it was the same girl, Tatsuki Arisawa, who came with Orihime that day.
Today, however, unlike her usual tomboyish look, she looked more... worried.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure." I answered, although surprised by her request.
"Umm alone."
I raised an eyebrow at her request but nodded nonetheless and led her to a private room to talk.
"Yes?"
"Umm… you… know magic and stuff, right? I mean, you were the one who drove away that monster who had attacked Orihime and me that day?"
"Eh… yes. You can say so." I did know magic so that was not a lie. "But I'd advise you not to call that guy a monster... at least in front of Orihime."
"Huh? Why?"
"That guy... he was the spirit of her brother who had been corrupted or something. Lavy kinda exorcised him."
"What?!"
"Yeah… so don't say that in front of Orihime. That girl might not show it but she will definitely be hurt."
"I... thank you for telling me." She bowed again.
"Don't mind that. I just think you two have a very good friendship and thus gave you a heads up about what not to do to accidentally hurt her."
She nodded.
"So, yes, I know magic but what about it?"
"Umm… can you teach me magic… please?" She bowed deeply in front of me.
"Huh? What?"
And then she explained everything in detail about how she had encountered another such situation and they were saved by Ikki's arrival this time. This was however her limit and she went ahead and questioned them about it.
Ichigo, the carrothead who had just come, couldn't hold it in and blurted everything out.
Seriously dude… get your act together. Weren't they supposed to hide things like MIB?
"My friends are out there fighting who knows what kinds of monsters, getting hurt trying to save everyone and I just… I can't do anything but stare at their backs... helplessly. It's… frustrating." She had her hands clenched into fists as she looked down at the ground, at her feet.
"Even yesterday, I found out that Ichigo had gotten seriously injured by someone who took Rukia-san away. They are training right now while I am again unable to help them in any way."
…
I wanted to tell her that supporting them as she could was enough but at this point, I knew that these words would only serve to hurt her even more.
I knew that from personal experience and that's why I found myself empathising with her a bit.
"Please… can you teach me magic?"
…
I took a deep breath.
"I am learning magic myself but that's not something you can learn quickly. It requires years of training and at least months to even get started."
"I will work hard." She replied quickly. I however raised a hand and stopped her.
"There is however something else I can do."
"What?"
"I can help you awaken a power that you can train with your friends." I smiled at her. If she was doing all this to help her friends, then why not let her join them?
After all, Kisuke was the one training Ikki.
"Can you really?"
"Hmm. It's not that hard. Come with me."
"Eh… okay."
"By the way, you are not planning on going to save that middle sch… I mean, Rukia girl, are you?"
"Yes."
"Then you have to promise me something first."
"What?"
"You will go and meet Kisuke. If he doesn't permit you, you will stay back and train till you can get stronger. You will not try to do something reckless. After all, if you get hurt, Orihime will be sad and... I don't like my employees being sad." Especially if it's because of me.
"I will. Umm… can you keep this a secret from Orihime?"
"Why?" I asked her with a frown. I was actually planning on taking Orihime to awaken her power too.
"I don't mean anything bad. Orihime is my best friend and I like her a lot but… That girl will want to join them too and... she can't fight to save her life. It will only endanger her more. If you want her to learn magic, then teach her. I would only be happy if she could learn to defend herself. All I am asking you is not to worry her with the news about saving Rukia or she will want to join in too. She can be very stubborn in the weirdest ways." She explained.
Hmm. Kisuke did say he could handle that and even I knew that Orihime couldn't fight. I guess I will ask her to join Sakura and Lavy for magic lessons when August-san and Irene-san get back.
"Alright. Let's go get you something first." I led her out and called Rimuru to the side and explained to him the entire situation briefly first.
"So she wants to help them out. Hmm, sure. I can see that. What's your plan?"
"Let her awaken a device and then Kisuke can manage everything. He is the expert at that." I shrugged lightly.
"Oh. Yeah, that works. Let's go and get it over with. I need to get back and help design the props for the competition the day after tomorrow."
…
Seriously.
There was something wrong with this situation. When did giving someone a superpower start being treated as a passing thing, not even as important as a visit to a Comiket?
Anyway, I waved those thoughts away.
I had gotten used to keeping my common sense in my back pocket since I got involved in the whole Multiversal Restaurant. It's just that I sometimes forget that fact.
The entire process was easy.
Just the three of us went to Ikki's world and Rimuru created a barrier with a snap of his finger and started the process.
Soon enough, her device manifested.
A pair of gloves with a metal plate to protect the back of her hand but before anything, chains appeared around her, just like in Sakura's case.
"Wha… what are these chains?"
"Don't worry. It's nothing bad. Talk to Kisuke. He will explain everything. Then you can ask me if you want me to remove them or not. For now, check your device."
The girl nodded and stared at the gloves in awe. "This is... real." And then she bowed deeply in front of us. "Thank you. Thank you for helping me out. I will owe you a favour for this."
"Just take care, okay." Rimuru waved his hand before dragging us back to the Restaurant and running off to the other people who were busy working on their costumes. Seriously, this guy's impossible.
"Don't mind him. Everyone is just too hyped for the event. You must have a basic idea about your power, right?" I asked.
She nodded. "Hmm. These gloves can increase my base power by a certain amount depending on the number of hits I land on an enemy."
"That's quite a great power. Work hard and you will be able to get very strong." I encouraged her.
"Again, thanks to you two."
"Never mind. By the way, since you are here, do you want to order something? This is a Restaurant after all and I remember saying that I would treat you to something good the next time you visit."
She sat down and ordered a few things and after a while even Orihime came down and saw her, getting busy with their own conversation.
I too got busy with my own thing, though I did remind myself to help awaken Orihime's Device too.
Having seen the process several times already, I was quite familiar with it and could do it on my own too.
Finally, when everyone was finished, we served dinner for the group.