Chapter 18 - Kaori's Confession

After passing through several fields for the training of Knights and Court Magicians, and test area for Kingdom's veteran Synergists' volatile products, the five of them—Rio, Shizuku, Kaori, Ryutarou, and Kouki—finally arrived in the Synergists' area where Hajime's exclusive workshop was located.

Along the way, they passed some knights, magicians, and synergists who respectfully greeted them due to their venerated status as Apostles of God. As they grew closer towards their destination, Kaori's body was trembling as if she was restraining herself for rushing into their destination like an impatient child before a toy/sweet store.

Finally, they arrived in front of a single-story building made from stone with tiled rooftop. They stopped in front of the wooden door and waited for Rio to open the door. There was a nasty security system installed in the building if anyone whose mana wasn't registered tried to enter the building.

When Kouki asked Rio what this nasty security was, Rio explained the so-called nasty security to them with a manic glint in his eyes. After Rio finished his explanation, every one of them—even the muscle-head Ryutarou—was trembling with paper-like pale face and horrified wide-eyed expression.

The security was basically a small plate glued to the door. There was a very complex magic circle that the four students couldn't make head or tail of it despite their progress in the magical study under the best Court Magicians the Kingdom could offer.

It was only natural they wouldn't be able to understand the magic circle because Rio was the one who created it. He had visited the Root of this universe using Evolution Magic to absorb all knowledge in regard to Tortusian Magic system. However, he only visited the Root of Arifureta Universe to get all knowledge related to magic and skills and didn't get to know everything else for he wanted to feel the joy from knowing something new in this universe.

As an aside, Arifureta Universe also had the metaphysical plane in which all information was stored. It was similar to the Root from the Type-Moon universe—for anyone who knows about this famous franchise. And Evolution Magic was a path to reach this place after the user mastered it.

Strictly speaking, not even the well-known user of this magic, Lyutilis Haltina, had mastered Evolution Magic. So, Rio who could master it in a mere moment was the real freak. Then again, he had the cheat he received from God—the actual God, not the fake one such as Ehit.

After pouring a drop of his mana on the Mana Scanner, the door glowed and there was the sound of grinding steel before the door was opened automatically. He then led the four students inside, and they timidly followed after him, being wary of some nasty traps they thought Rio had installed in the place. Of course, it was only their imagination. All traps in the place were connected to the scanner and they only triggered off when someone tried to enter the building forcefully.

When they arrived on the first floor, they saw an open space filled with crates and piles of raw ores. There were so many different types in the place and the four students were amazed by the vast types of the ores. The walls, the floor, and the ceiling were covered by a type of mineral that blocked magic and was very durable. Afterward, they followed Rio going up towards the second floor.

The second floor was the real workshop and two bedrooms and a single shared bathroom. The bedrooms belonged to Rio and Hajime respectively, but they were rarely used because Rio would use his own personal room in the castle when he needs his rest and Hajime would stay in his workshop all the time, even when he slept or had his meals.

Finally, they were led to the workshop by Rio and were dumbstruck when they saw the state of the workshop that looked like a hurricane had passed by. There were shards or small ores scattered and piles of tomes and scrolls on the floor and the surface of a heavy work table. Stuck on the wall was a board with many parchments filled with the complex schematic of firearms from Earth or complex magic circles with their details jumbled together closely. Also, scattered on the stone floor were countless parchments with doodles on it.

Finally, the four students followed Rio who walked up to the only sofa in the room. There was someone sleeping in it, their face covered by a book. It was easy to guess the identity of the sleeping person.

"Hey, Hajime, wake up!" Rio called out the sleeping person while shaking his knee that was folded and raised up on the sofa.

"Hmmmph... Five more minutes, dad..."

"There is no way I have a son with an ugly mug like you! Wake. Up. Now!"

"Wah? What in tarnation?! ...Oh, eh, it is just you, Rio. What time is it? Wait a sec... Why Amanogawa and everyone else is here?"

Meanwhile, the four students were amused at the humorous sight before them. Well, Kaori was pouting when Rio insulted Hajime's mug jokingly. Rio even heard Kaori's whisper that sounded like "Nagumo's mug is not ugly!" He could hear that clearly due to his enhanced senses.

"It is shortly after the afternoon training finished. Anyway, they are here for someone who got a withdrawal symptom because her crush disappeared for a week." Rio explained teasingly.

Rio intended to tease both Kaori and Hajime, but the later was oblivious of that. Meanwhile, Kaori screamed out Rio's name in embarrassment while the others had a wry smile—Shizuku—and troubled smiles—Kouki and Ryutarou. The two boys still had yet to be able to wrap their mind around the idea of Kaori's holding a crush for Hajime of all people despite both Kaori and Rio had mentioned Hajime's positive values to them.

Hajime alternated his view between Rio and Kaori, thinking about something. After a few seconds, his eyes lit up in understanding and raised his thumb at Rio. "So you are now dating Shirasaki! Amazing, Rio!" Hajime congratulated Rio and grinned widely.

Everyone else in the room was dumbstruck by Hajime's big misunderstanding. The next moment, Kaori's loud wail echoed in the workshop. Thanks to the wall's soundproofing feature, her loud wail didn't spread out of the workshop.

"WHAT KIND OF NONSENSE WERE YOU SPOUTING, NAGUMO! I'M NOT DATING RIO, YOU DUMMY! THE ONE WHO I LIKE IS YOOOUUUUU!!!" She was tearing up and jumped in Hajime's direction before grabbing his shirt and shaking his body strongly. Her reaction was like a cat that got its tail stepped. And due to her stronger Strength stat, she was easily manhandling Hajime's body. It created a comical sight.

"Mercy, Shirasaki! Mercy! I see my world is spinning! Stop! I get a headache! Please, stooop!"

When Kaori heard Hajime's pitiful plea, she glared at him with teary eyes and an adorable pout. Hajime was patting his c.h.e.s.t and heaved a sigh of relief. But, the next moment, Kaori's words finally clicked in his mind. He looked at Kaori, dumbfounded.

"W-wait a second! Shirasaki, what did you mean by that? There's no way you like me like THAT, right? Please don't joke around with something like that? It is not funny!" Fl.u.s.tered, Hajime tried to reject reality.

At this moment, Kaori realized that she had accidentally confessed to Hajime and turned very red due to her mortification. She had slipped out her true feeling because she was scared that Hajime would think that she was dating Rio while in fact she actually liked, no, loved him. However, she quickly recovered when she saw Hajime's denial and pouted deeply at him.

When Hajime saw Kaori's annoyed look, he became more fl.u.s.tered and threw a begging look in other's direction, asking for help. But, they, Rio included, averted their eyes from Hajime's plight. They didn't want to get caught in this mess. Seeing their reaction, Hajime's expression turned into a mixture of betrayal and desperation.

Rio decided to give Hajime the last pust and dragged the others out of the room. After stepping out of the workshop, he led them to one of the bedrooms, his bedroom. On the way, he told them, "Well, it is up to them now. Let's wait until they finished. For the time being, let's have a small talk in my room."

Since they had nothing to do, Shizuku, Ryutarou, and Kouki accepted Rio's offer without any fuss.