Part 4
---The next morning, all the way until the very moment before the departure time, Izayoi never appeared at the meeting place.
Asuka who obtained the rights to participate from day one had an umbrella in her hand with her baggage packed for a long journey placed beside her. That scarlet formal dress of hers was just as eye-catching as ever and only highlighted her elegant stance even further.
Adjusting her grip on the umbrella, Asuka touched her hand to her cheek with a hint of worry in her voice:
“Izayoi-kun is still searching for it? Didn’t we turn the place over already last night and came up with nothing?”
“YES! Everyone, even the children have been enlisted to search for it…Uuu we’ll be late if we don’t set off soon…”
Kuro Usagi was wearing her usual outfit with garter belts and thigh high socks while waiting worriedly for Izayoi and Jin beside her was feeling the same.
“Ah! He’s here!”
Jin shouted out, but Izayoi was not wearing his headphones. But he was wearing a hairband in place of it.
Kuro Usagi widened her eyes and asked.
“Are…you alright?”
“If I didn’t place anything on my head, my hair would stick out horribly but that aside, I’ve something important to say.”
Izayoi moved aside. Behind him, Yō and Calico cat were there with a luggage pulled up beside them.
“……Are you sure?”
“No choice. Without that thing on my head, my hair will not be obedient and that leaves me with no choice but to stay. Although my headphones were just some old spoilt junk, but it bothers me to be unable to find it.”
Izayoi threw back his head while laughing cheerfully. As for the other members of No Names, they looked at each other. In other words, Izayoi would rather stay back to look for his headphones than go to Underwood.
Yō who had a blank expression blinked her eyes as she lifted her head to look at Izayoi—and it was not long after that she had suddenly revealed a happy and beautiful smile akin to a flower blooming while expressing her gratitude to him.
“Thank you. I will work hard in your place.”
“Ah, I’ll leave it to you. So you better keep your promise and make at least a 100 friends okay? After all, the South has lots of Eudemons and I was looking forward to the trip ya know?”
“Un. I know.”
Yō waved her hand energetically in farewell to Izayoi before gathering Calico cat into her arm as she ran towards Asuka and the others.
Just like that, Kasukabe Yō, Kudou Asuka, Kuro Usagi, Jin Russel and Calico cat all went ahead to Underwood.
Leticia and Izayoi waved goodbyes to them while seeing them off. When the gang was out of sight, Leticia looked at Izayoi worriedly.
“Izayoi-sama……are you sure about it? You’ve given us the concession grant and had won the priority. You deserved this reward the most. If it’s about the headphones, we can-”
“You won’t find it. The perpetrator definitely must’ve hidden it somewhere that only the culprit can find it.”
Leticia’s face became tauter.
Even though she did not say it, but she should have had the same hunch as Izayoi as well.
Izayoi then shrugged his shoulders and smiled wryly.
“At that time, I was having a bath, so the headphones cannot magically grow a pair of legs to run off. Is it not? Or maybe I was struck by a binbogami[32]? In that case it would make a unique looking collection.”
“Then…who is it??”
“Well, using the process of elimination, Yō would be the most suspicious…… However, Yō isn’t the sort of person to do these things. Seeing it in another light, it should be those who were close to her.”
“Then who is it?”
Leticia continued to press the matter but Izayoi just waved his hand away.
“Forget it, forget it. It’ll probably show up within a few days. Besides, it’s just headphones made by some layman, so they’re pretty much worthless anyways.”
“...Made. By. Some. Layman? Could it be that it was made by someone you know?”
*Uu* Izayoi frowned. And they were both reminded about their conversation in the bath yesterday.
Although Izayoi wanted to change the topic for he felt it too troublesome to talk about…But thinking about it, there really wasn’t anything to hide and hence, Izayoi decided to push away that thought.
“……Want to hear about my home world?”
“Yes. Most definitely.”
“Well, please make some breakfast then, I’m famished. As for tea, please make some nicely brewed green tea and Japanese sweets as well. For that will be the cost for the conversation.”[33]
Izayoi laughed loudly as Leticia lifted up the hems of her skirt before saying with a smile:
“Yes, my master[34], today’s breakfast shall be prepared by thee with the utmost skills for thou delight.”
Saying that, she playfully gave a curtsey with a dramatic intent. Perhaps Izayoi felt that a Leticia who was using such a practiced movement for her joke to be amusing, he was laughing heartily while walking towards the dining hall.
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