——A coin spiraled upward, spinning in the air.
On the tail side, the copper piece bore the dragon emblem of Lugnica; on the head side, the year of its minting was engraved. Visually, it was hardly different from coins from his original world.
The only difference was whether the technology behind it was mechanical or magical.
The spinning coin reached the apex of its ascent, and for the span of a single breath it hung suspended in the air as though stitched to the sky.
In that instant, Subaru held his breath and watched the coin begin its descent, then started moving both hands at a ferocious speed.
He threw a barrage of punches into the void, and the resulting vortex shrouded the falling coin from view. Instead of catching it head-on, he bent his knees and crouched in time with the coin's fall, buying precious milliseconds, and just before it struck the ground, he crossed both hands to scoop it up—— "——Now! Right or left?! Or maybe the mouth?!"
"No need for bluster. It's right."
"Oh my goddess!!"
He opened his trembling right fist and thrust the palm-sized coin toward the grinning girl.
Seeing her smile deepen, Subaru could do nothing but tremble with humiliation and hang his head. The pouch of lingas transferred to her hand, and from it she placed two lingas neatly in front of Subaru.
"Now, two more to go. You couldn't even guess the coin's face or back, and the coin toss didn't land in your favor either. So — what little trick will you wager on next?"
Seemingly without a shred of doubt about her own victory, the girl was purely interested in whatever gamble Subaru would propose next. No matter what the terms, she possessed an unshakeable core of certainty that she would win.
Subaru, meanwhile, had been utterly defeated even in the coin-catching bet — his one area of genuine confidence — and his ten chips had been whittled down to a mere two. He was staring down total defeat.
From a mental standpoint alone, he was already at a decisive disadvantage.
"This is insane… The coin flip I practiced obsessively reading manga, and it doesn't work? Could that even be possible? Me, the guy they called 'Baratus the Bewitcher'…"
"Let me tell you, little tricks are useless. I haven't even been watching your little coin-flip performance this whole time. There's no need to watch."
Perched on a discarded wooden crate against the wall with one knee drawn up, the girl tilted her head with a pensive expression.
The faint smile never left her lips, but now it carried a tinge of sadistic pleasure — the enjoyment of bullying the weak.
When he thought of her as an arrogant opponent, the man in Subaru couldn't help but burn with desire to crush that insolence. But not a single viable method came to mind.
"If I lose even the coin flip — a bet I went into with total confidence — and get treated as meaningless on top of that! At this point, I'll just have to leave it all up to fate——"
"Have you decided on your method? Or would you prefer to simply hand over the remaining two lingas right now?"
"Hey, hey — in my hometown, fleeing from battle means you get seppuku'd for lacking the resolve of a warrior. Don't underestimate the strictness of the demon vice-commander's squad rules! — And don't you go thinking I'm just gonna roll over as some pathetic loser!"
Her attitude was the very embodiment of the word "arrogance." And yet, it was so impeccably executed that it carried an almost overwhelming pressure, enough to make one want to prostrate themselves on the spot.
But Subaru shook his head in defiance and thrust a finger forward, putting on a brave front.
"The contest will be… a time-honored final showdown passed down through tradition in my homeland — 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'!"
"Rock-Paper-Scissors?"
"Oh? You don't know rock-paper-scissors? You don't know it?! Hey, how sheltered do you have to be in your little box-garden world to not know about that, huh?!"
"Boring provocation. Lacking class. I won't deny that I'm ignorant of the world in the way you describe, but your crude bait doesn't work on me either."
He tried teasing and taunting to destabilize her composure, but the girl saw through every last one of his intentions with a single exhalation.
In truth, such provocations only work when the other party has positioned themselves as someone who will 'engage' with Subaru. Her self-awareness was established so firmly that she viewed Subaru as no different from a roadside pebble — and against that mindset, a pebble's insults couldn't send even the faintest ripple across her heart.
"I-I'm not hatching any schemes or anything! Just because I keep losing doesn't mean I'm gonna try to claw back some wins through some underhanded tactic — I'm not some petty little goblin, so don't underestimate me!"
"What a waste of time. Now then, hurry up and explain this 'rock-paper-scissors.' That will be the end of it."
With a dismissive wave of her hand, the girl mocked Subaru, who couldn't hide his agitation at being turned the tables. Subaru bit his lip in frustration but held out his hand.
"Rock-paper-scissors is a duel where you call out a chant and throw your hand in one of three fixed shapes, and the winner is decided by the hierarchy of those shapes. The three shapes are 'Rock,' 'Scissors,' and 'Paper.' Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beats Paper, and Paper beats Rock. Got it?"
As Subaru demonstrated each hand shape, the girl said "Hm" and tilted her chin.
"I see. An interesting little system. What about the chant?"
"You throw your hand on 'Rock-paper-scissors… Shoot!' at the word 'shoot.' By the way, if both players throw the same shape, you call 'Draw – shoot!' and start over immediately."
"Is that all? Very well. Then I'll throw Paper."
"Strategy right from the start?!"
She was exploiting the 'declaration' — an advanced technique in rock-paper-scissors — and Subaru was shaken by her sharpness of comprehension and adaptability.
Right after learning the rules, she had understood the content and immediately chosen the optimal psychological play. This was the kind of winning move you'd never see in a pure contest of luck — and the skill to select it spoke volumes.
"My plan to throw the rules out there, catch her off guard, and settle the bet in the confusion — it's been completely blown up!?"
"Then let's begin. Come now — rock-paper-scissors—"
"Ah, wait, hold on — hey, I haven't decided on my hand yet…"
His crafty scheme having been seen through and turned against him, Subaru panicked. But once the chant had begun, there was no stopping it. Seeing the girl raise her hand, Subaru raised his in kind.
"— Shoot!"
The hand thrown with the chant was the girl's — exactly as declared, 'Paper.' And Subaru's was…
"I was even trying to be generous and let you have a chance… but it seems you'll stop at nothing to hand over those lingas to me, no matter what excuses you have to make."
"That's not it! Statistically, when people are ambushed into rock-paper-scissors, they instinctively clench their fists and end up throwing 'Rock' — it's a known phenomenon! This was force majeure!"
In front of the girl, who waved her open palm lazily, Subaru held up his firmly clenched 'Rock' and made his excuses.
He was a schemer drowning in his own schemes — a perfect reenactment of Doraemon at his most pathetic.
"Well, then."
With a sigh, the girl's white fingertips plucked one of the lingas from right in front of Subaru's eyes and tucked it into the bag beside her.
Now only a single chip remained in Subaru's possession.
"And now I'll take even that and teach you — someone who doesn't know their place — the truth. I am the apex, and you belong crawling at the very bottom."
"Hey, come on — losing a bet and being treated as the lowest rung of the human pyramid? That's a bit extreme, isn't it? I was just a guy who went all-in even though he didn't have a prayer, got stripped bare, but was too proud to back down and made a spectacular show of self-destruction… Ah, I really am at the bottom!"
"Rest easy. Everyone below me is the bottom. In this world, there is only me and what's beneath me."
"A two-layer pyramid?! There's nowhere to sleep — that's actually refreshing!?"
The base of the imagined pyramid was enormously wide, yet there was only a single point at the apex. It would be a pyramid with a terrifyingly steep angle from base to top.
As Subaru agonized over where to sleep inside his imaginary pyramid, the girl clapped her hands and pulled his consciousness back to reality. Then: "Let us bet the final one and have our last match."
"…Won't you take pity on me here and let the last one slide?"
"All of the lingas you possess will become mine. — I've already told you the outcome. All you need to do now is find a way to deliver the lingas into my hands. I suppose watching you flail about is somewhat entertaining… but even that's growing tedious."
Her tone hadn't changed from before, but it was no less than a death sentence — a declaration that she had absolutely no intention of letting Subaru go. For someone who never once doubted the path she believed in, obtaining the lingas was already a foregone conclusion — and if that was the case, then Subaru had no road left.
"Let's settle this last match with rock-paper-scissors too."
"Hmm? Betting on yourself again in a match where you're already at a disadvantage? It is a decision of sorts, but either way — it's futile."
"No more empty talk. The whole preamble just now is off the table too. I'm taking this match head-on."
Subaru thrust out his fist, cutting off the girl's verbal manipulation first. She raised an eyebrow at his attitude, but — concluding it wasn't consequential enough to matter — shook her head.
"Very well. Then let's start quickly, and end quickly."
Seeing her agreement, Subaru widened his stance and drew back his fist. He covered his drawn right fist with his left hand, compressed his body, twisted his hips, and tightened every muscle like a swordsman performing a drawing cut — rousing his fighting spirit to its peak.
"——Aaaaaaaah!"
His battle cry burst forth from the sheer force of his concentration.
Meaningless movements, meaningless gestures, meaningless mindset, meaningless bravado.
No matter how much tension he loaded into his entire body, the outcome wouldn't be decided by any of that. He knew that. And yet, Subaru poured every ounce of his soul into the right fist upon which the match hinged.
The atmosphere in the alley shifted, and even the girl's expression hardened at the intensity of Subaru's resolve. And the instant his swelling fighting spirit reached its peak — the two of them moved.
"— Rock-Paper-Scissors… Shoot!!"
The chant rang out. With it, fists were launched like bullets, and for a single heartbeat, all sound vanished.
The air was shattered by the fists' advance, and Subaru saw — in the brief flash of light that crackled through the torn space — confusion spreading through the girl's crimson eyes.
The girl's clenched fist was 'Rock.' And the shape Subaru presented against it was—— "Th-this…!"
"Hear and be amazed, see and be stunned. This is the lethal weapon of rock-paper-scissors, passed down since ancient times!"
In Subaru's right hand, a shape was formed that exceeded the girl's understanding.
——Three fingers raised: thumb, index, and middle finger. An irregular, illegal hand.
Humanity had called it the ultimate forbidden move, and had trembled before it——!!
"That's right — this is the ultimate technique: Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion!"
"What the hell is that?! I've never heard of such a hand!"
"Shut up, you bastard! I didn't mention it because you didn't ask! This part is Rock, this part is Scissors, and this part here is Paper — so my hand beats your Rock!"
"If that logic held, then part of it would be losing as well, wouldn't it…"
"A-a-a-a! I can't hear you!!"
Clamping his hands over his ears and shouting at the top of his lungs, Subaru tap-danced on the spot and reclaimed the lingas. He clutched the last remaining chip to his chest, cradling it tenderly.
"My win! It's my win! No complaints allowed! Unlike a simple coin toss, this is about you not noticing that the rules had a loophole — your own failure to prepare! In other words, my obsessive willpower for victory overcame your supernatural luck! No objections! I'm positive!"
A parade of sophistry, sore-loser excuses, and underhanded cowardice — all distilled into one ugly assertion. The girl let out a bitter "Nngh…" of frustration.
It was the first time, in this brief span of time, that the girl — who had maintained her composure throughout — showed a grimace leaning toward the negative.
"——Then, let us have one final match."
"Huh? What are you saying, Miss Rabbit? The last-chip bet is done and dusted — my victory, curtain call! There's absolutely no reason for me to gamble anymore!"
"One linga against every linga I have won."
As Subaru tried to cut his losses and end things, the girl's eyes blazed with fierce light as she dropped those words.
That stopped Subaru in his tracks, and he stared back at her, rigid. In his dark eyes, the girl's expression had already returned to its fearless composure — no, it carried something beyond that: an even deeper obsession.
"The terms will be rock-paper-scissors once more. However, each player may use the forbidden 'Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion' hand only once."
"Are you insane? Let me tell you — if you back down now, ten lingas are yours…"
"I told you to hand over everything. If it isn't everything, it's the same as nothing."
An almost refreshingly self-righteous rationale.
The girl tilted her head, pressing Subaru for his answer. Subaru's inner verdict was unambiguous: "This girl is a colossal idiot."
Getting this fired up over a bet and failing to recognize when to walk away — that was the very definition of a fool. For Subaru, who had little attachment to victory itself, these emotions were genuinely incomprehensible.
Above all, he couldn't understand the kind of greed that would drive someone to pour their entire being into taking another person's possessions.
Therefore, once he had secured a single linga — and once he had, even if only once, experienced the satisfaction of breaking this girl's arrogance — there was no reason for Subaru to take this bet.
There was none, but—— "An old man's battered face is pushing me from behind. — Get back the Fruit of Bond! And smash that arrogant woman's pride into pieces, and do something unbelievably stupid!!"
"I'll take that as your acceptance."
The girl's low voice confirmed, and Subaru gave a firm nod.
And with both of them raising their fists, the sequence of the final match began.
——The few seconds before the hands were thrown stretched into slow motion, and his thoughts accelerated.
By premise, the 'Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion' was a one-time use. Since it was his trump card — his guaranteed winning move — it was only natural that it be the first card played. If that resulted in a draw, then the match would proceed as a pure game of rock-paper-scissors.
The woman's outrageous luck had already crossed into the realm of what could only be called supernatural.
Seven consecutive correct calls on coin-flips — and the coin trick that allowed her to locate the coin within either hand. If someone said she could foresee the future, he might actually believe it.
But there was no way she could really see the future. Knowing the outcome in advance and being able to act to change it — that was nothing more than cheating. An ability that absurd couldn't possibly exist—— "Oh! That's literally what I was!"
"Here we go — rock-paper-scissors…"
Seizing the moment his concentration broke, the girl's hand came crashing down. Subaru caught sight of it and, on pure reflex, threw his hand out to match.
And then—— "So you went with Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion, just as expected. But I gotta say — nice try."
Seeing the Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion hand thrust in front of him, Subaru's cheeks twisted into a grin.
Before his relaxed, confident demeanor, the girl blinked again in bewilderment.
"What… is that hand?"
The girl's voice carried an undertone of coldness as she addressed Subaru, who had thrust out a thumbs-up gesture.
But Subaru didn't pick up on the change in her tone. He just snorted a smug "Heh" and declared: "This is the secret art that surpasses even the forbidden move — 'Bomb.' The ultimate special attack that blows away even Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion. Boom, kaboom — opponent is dead. Sweet!"
"What is that?! Is anything allowed now?!"
"This is the real deal — my final hidden trump card! You confirmed the usage of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion, but you never asked about any other hand, so I was under no obligation to reveal it! A direct hit with the Bomb's power on you! Obliteration! Annihilation! Standing ovation from me!"
Subaru slapped his hands together, rallying the atmosphere in his favor, and proclaimed his victory with great fanfare. The girl bit her lip in frustration, then jabbed a trembling finger at Subaru.
"W-will you call anything a win?! Have you no pride as a man?!"
"Winning is winning! Get that through your head! I don't enjoy fighting — I enjoy winning!"
Subaru delivered these villain-worthy declarations with complete confidence, stamping his feet. Then he placed his palm over the girl's outstretched finger from above.
"By having the match just now, you've effectively conceded my victory with the Rock-Paper-Scissors-Explosion as well! Meaning you've boxed yourself into a position where you have to acknowledge this win too! Hah-ha — rock-paper-scissors really is hell!"
"Nngh…"
The girl grumbled bitterly as Subaru celebrated triumphantly. But she quickly shrugged with a "Can't be helped" and placed her hands on her hips, chest puffed out.
"As you say — having let things go this far, I cannot back down now. Therefore, I concede the bet is yours. Do as you wish."
She stepped forward with a flourish. Her posture emphasized her generous bust, and her dress-clad chest swayed slightly, unsupported by anything beneath.
Looking at her more carefully from up close, she was rather beyond his expectations. In all his life, Subaru had never once encountered the type of talent known as a "bombshell." In the Roswaal Mansion bust rankings,
Therefore, seeing the girl thrust herself forward with such official grandeur, Subaru swallowed hard.
"H-hey, hey, hey — that's awfully sporting of you! Can't you put on a little more of the 'Oh no, I could never do something so embarrassing~!' act? If you did that, the noble-hearted
"When a bet has been decided, making excuses is impermissible. Sore-losing likewise. As you pointed out, I grew complacent atop my blessings and forgot my will to win — that was my failing. — That said, having never lost before, this was a valuable experience for me. So there is nothing to regret. Take it."
Come, she said, stepping even further forward. Overwhelmed by her momentum, Subaru stepped back by the same amount. The girl frowned at this.
"Could it be… that when it actually came down to touching, you lost your nerve?"
"Wha—!? W-what are you even talking about?! Who's chickening out here?! Where did you hear that?! At what time, at what minute, when the Earth had spun how many times?!"
"…A man of thoroughly unpredictable temperament. Though I suppose that quality has a certain… charm to it."
With a look of exasperation, she pressed her palm to her forehead and gazed at Subaru with sultry eyes. A chill ran down his spine at that look, and Subaru instinctively hugged himself like a woman.
"Just let me out of here already, for whatever it's worth! I just want to take my lingas and go back! I got separated from an adorable little companion, and— Wait, hasn't this basically been a complete time-out by now?!"
Right about now, Emilia must be searching desperately for the missing Subaru. His plan to slip back to the guard station before she left and act as if he'd been patiently waiting the whole time was no longer viable. Having wasted all this time flirting with the beauty in front of him, Subaru had no right to make excuses.
"And on top of that — the moment you've got the right to claim your prize, you hesitate to follow through. I'm not doing this — my inner innocent heart is telling me that the first time I touch a chest in another world, it has to be with that special someone, no, no, no!"
"A disgustingly outdated moral code… That's something I don't particularly approve of either, as it happens."
With the question of whether to touch or not flip-flopping between them, the situation was becoming increasingly convoluted. Subaru was channelling every ounce of his virginity into a last-second hesitation, while the girl — for her part — refused to pull back the body she'd offered, considering that a blow to her pride.
And in the midst of this utterly baffling stalemate, the change came not from either of them, but from outside.
"Hmm — this is about to become troublesome."
The girl suddenly looked away from Subaru, turning her face toward the alley entrance. Subaru followed her gaze.
"Huh? Looks like some not-very-friendly folks are shuffling in from that direction…"
"And leading them is a familiar face of mediocrity. Oh dear — a pack of fools without an ounce of entertainment value."
She shook her head with an expression that left no disdain unspoken. Subaru scrambled to his feet beside her, scanning the opposite end of the alley for an escape route. He didn't sense anyone approaching from that direction, but he couldn't confirm it wasn't a dead end either — and yet: "Either way, the vibes here scream 'BAD END if we get caught'! 'I heard the name Reinhard and came back' — what were those guys even thinking!?"
"You let loose too many boastful claims about being acquainted with the knight among knights, and they caught wind of it. They've got their pride too. They've rounded up numbers, eliminated any chance of losing, and come back for round two. That's what you've been calling 'obsessive willpower for victory,' isn't it?"
"What a pathetic loser spirit! I'm the type who can forgive myself for not having any pride, but can't forgive other people for acting like they have none!"
Subaru and the girl both made spectacularly selfish declarations. And among the group approaching, the scatterbrain at the front spotted them. The man shouted something, signaled to the rough-looking men behind him, and they broke into a sprint. Seeing this, Subaru cursed: "Son of a bitch — is today officially a disaster day or what?!"
Starting with the near-fall from the dragon carriage, then getting separated from Emilia, and now this — if things went sideways, it could even turn into a sword fight. He really couldn't catch a break.
Subaru grabbed the girl's hand, shoved the lingas into the bag, and charged at full speed in the opposite direction — into the unknown darkness behind them.
"Hey — what do you think you're doing? Don't touch me so casually!"
"Do I look like I have time for that?! If you don't want to get caught, run too! Just look at those leering faces! If we get grabbed, this turns into some young-adult-magazine scenario and things get real pervy!"
Dragging the reluctant girl along, Subaru pushed forward with deliberate emphasis on each syllable: "Right now — I have ownership rights over your chest! So letting those guys lay hands on it is an absolute no-go! Got it?! Dash! B-dash!"
Pulling her arm, tearing through the rough ground, Subaru dragged the girl deeper into the alley's depths.
Feeling the men's curses and footsteps chaining together as they gave chase, aware of his own racing heartbeat and his lungs beginning to burn — he ignored it all and pressed deeper, deeper into the narrow, narrow alley.
※※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ It was a full twenty minutes after Subaru had been left behind that Emilia was finally released from the guard station and made it back to the street.
Her original objective — arranging a meeting with Reinhard — could be called a failure, despite the considerable time spent.
When she asked Julius about Reinhard, he had offered: "Reinhard? He's been quite busy lately and hasn't had much free time… However, if it's a message from Emilia-sama, I'd be happy to pass it along to him myself."
Julius had been courteous enough to make this offer, and Emilia had managed to decline, but her original purpose had collapsed, so she had planned to return to the street.
"I ended up spending more time with Julius than I expected."
"He didn't mean any harm, and he was well aware of it, so there was no discomfort. Besides, I don't mind his colorful, refreshing mana — not one bit."
Paack responded from within Emilia's silver hair as they finally emerged onto the street. She nodded.
"I know he's not a bad person. Our conversation was meaningful, and I have no complaints about it…"
"Well, he does tend to talk about himself a little too much. …If Subaru were here, he'd say something about 'reading the air,' right?"
Emilia sighed at Paack's cheerful laughter, then surveyed the street. Twenty minutes was more than enough time to grow tired of waiting.
She felt genuinely sorry for having let him waste all that time with nothing to do. But what made Emilia's heart uneasy even more than that was: "I have a bad feeling… it's kind of what I expected."
"…I didn't think he'd be the type to stand around waiting patiently for twenty minutes."
Her nagging fear had come true. Emilia ran her hand through her silver hair and lowered her head.
In the street before the noble quarter — where he was supposed to be waiting — there was no sign of Subaru. She'd briefly wondered if he might be hiding somewhere nearby, but after spending several minutes in front of the guard station without him showing up: "He's definitely not on this street anymore… Paack, can you track him?"
"I'll give it a shot, but right now Subaru's mana is pretty faint overall, so if I mess up, don't get mad at me."
"That way of talking is starting to sound like Subaru's. — Anyway, please."
"Okay~," Paack replied softly, parted Emilia's silver hair, and hopped out. Clambering out of the hood, he perched on Emilia's shoulder, twitched his pink nose, and began sniffing for Subaru's scent — or rather, the lingering traces of mana that suffused his body.
For mana belonging to someone he was reasonably familiar with, Paack's nose was quite reliable. The problem was how much time had passed since Subaru disappeared, combined with his current mana deficiency from his physical condition. Both factors made reunion feel uncertain.
While Paack worked his nose, Emilia scanned the surroundings, trying to get a bearing on where Subaru might have gone.
The street served as the entrance to the noble quarter, and more importantly, it sat right in front of the guard station — so foot traffic was extremely light. Access to the noble quarter was tightly controlled, and for anyone with no business there, the area in front of the guard station would be the last place they'd want to loiter. As a result, excluding Emilia, the number of people on the street could be counted on one hand — and so: "…What is that person doing?"
That was precisely why the peculiar behavior of a figure she spotted down the street caught her eye so sharply.
The location was a few dozen meters from the guard station, along the path leading toward the commoners' quarter — opposite the noble quarter's entrance. There, leaning against a wooden waste-collection bin placed by the roadside, the person had thrust their head and arms inside and was rummaging around.
"Maybe they dropped something."
Emilia pressed a finger to her lip and mused. She glanced to her shoulder — Paack had his eyes closed and was still diligently sniffing, chasing the lingering traces.
She still didn't have a clear lead on where to start looking. Having confirmed that much, Emilia murmured a small "Okay" to herself and stepped forward, heading toward the suspicious figure.
Had Subaru been present — or anyone else, for that matter — they would surely have stopped her from doing this. Approaching someone so enthusiastically digging through a garbage bin was the kind of act that came with a visceral sense of aversion. But there was no one here to halt Emilia, and the one person who might have offered a word of caution — Paack — was too absorbed in his task to notice her movements.
And so, unimpeded, she arrived right behind the figure.
"Oh man, you're not in here either, Princess. Seriously, what am I gonna do…"
Her ear caught the grumbling voice as she drew close enough to touch him.
Even from the back, it was clear — it was a man's voice. The figure with his upper body stuffed into the bin was wearing somewhat grimy light clothes. However, the wide-bladed sword slung horizontally at his waist made an extremely strong impression.
From the back, his build from shoulders to legs was sturdy and powerful — this was undoubtedly someone with considerable combat ability.
The coarseness of his voice alone suggested someone you'd normally want to avoid engaging with.
But then again, the person who happened to be standing here was the type who defied ordinary concepts — an impossibly kind-hearted half-elf.
"Um."
"— Hmm?"
Unfazed, Emilia called out to him. The man made a startled sound and pulled his head back— "Ngahh!"
Just before extracting his upper body, he cracked the back of his head against the rim of the bin. He crouched down, and the momentum carried his chin into the outside of the bin on the way back up. Having smashed his head in rapid succession — once up, once down — the man slumped.
"Ow ow ow… What the hell — what am I even doing at my age…"
"Are—are you alright?"
Hearing his oddly poignant self-reproach, Emilia reached out and touched his shoulder, guilt-ridden for having startled him. The moment she did— "Kyah!"
The man sprang to his feet with startling force, and Emilia — whose hand had been on his shoulder — flinched.
The man then turned around on the spot, coming face to face with Emilia, who stood behind him.
He was taller than her, so her gaze angled slightly upward. And the instant her eyes met his face — Emilia's violet-blue eyes flew wide in shock.
Pointing a finger at the stunned Emilia, the man spoke: "Hey — don't go touching me so casually, sweetheart. You'll get burned if you touch me."