—
Novice Town.
XXX Tavern.
Isaac was preparing to close up for the night after watching the last of his patrons leave. Then...
He heard the soft ding-a-ling of the bell above the door.
“Sorry, we’re closed for the night. Please co back tomor—”
But when he saw who it was, he froze mid-sentence.
“Yo,” she greeted casually, raising a hand.
“Sh-Shuna?!”
Standing in front of him was soone he hadn’t expected to see.
She had even changed her outfit—swapping out her usual attire for sothing different. Well, it was autumn now; perhaps she had finally realized that the cold wasn’t sothing to take lightly.
But what surprised him even more...
This Shuna was soone he had never seen before.
She still looked as healthy and full of energy as ever, but there was a weariness in her expression. Not the kind of fatigue that ca from traveling, but sothing more like the exhaustion of soone who had been emotionally wounded.
If Isaac rembered correctly...
She had left with that boy—the one he’d been waiting years to see again. Allow him to call him a “boy,” because in Isaac’s eyes, that young master was still just a kid.
And it wasn’t just any departure—it was one she had carefully orchestrated. She had “pretended to be drunk” so he would escort her—surely that had been an act, right?
Isaac had even witnessed the aftermath: the young master’s little maid ca looking for him, and Shuna’s old teammates showed up as well. anwhile, that pair of lovebirds had disappeared sowhere to enjoy themselves.
But now...
“Hmm, my train just arrived. I’d like to grab sothing to eat and maybe have a drink. Given our friendship, that’s not a problem, right?” Shuna asked casually.
“No problem at all. Wait... train? What train?”
“The fastest and most convenient mode of transportation these days. It’s just a sha you have to hop on when no one’s looking—it’s a bit of a hassle,” she said, scratching her head.
Isaac imdiately sensed sothing was off.
Her first words hadn’t been an explanation of her current situation—especially not the question he most wanted to ask: Where was the person who had been by her side?
“Alright then, what do you want to drink? We’ve got plenty left over—business has been slow ever since the dungeon here disappeared.”
“Chaos—no, just give your signature cocktail,” she said after a brief pause.
“Hmm?”
The way she started to order the sa drink as that boy but then quickly changed her mind... Isaac couldn’t help but feel there was sothing ominous about it.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
Shuna stared at her drink without saying much. Unlike before, when she would return from adventures and chat with him about all sorts of things, she remained quiet.
Alright, Isaac thought. He had seen enough to piece things together.
“You...”
He hesitated for a mont.
“Did you get dumped?”
“...Eh?!”
Shuna had just taken a sip of her drink when she heard those words. She barely managed to swallow it without spitting it out.
“...Maybe. But... I... I didn’t even confess, so... so technically, no,” she muttered, staring at her glass as if it held all the answers. Her tone and expression were tinged with frustration, as though she were trying to convince herself as much as him.
This...
This was unmistakably the look of soone who had realized they didn’t stand a chance with the person they liked and had co to drown their sorrows while putting on a brave face!
—How could this happen?!
—How could soone as invincible, adorable, and assertive as Shuna possibly lose?!
—Could it be that boy is actually so heartless player?!
“You... you didn’t say anything, but I can already tell from that pitying look on your face, old man. I never agreed to you acting like my father, so stop worrying about like one!” Shuna snapped.
“Alright, fine. So... tell everything? We’ve got plenty of drinks here,” Isaac offered.
“Hmm... do you believe in ‘fate’?” Shuna asked suddenly.
“Nope.”
“Well, that kills the conversation.”
“Fine, fine—I believe in it. Happy now? Go on.”
Shuna twirled her glass with her long fingers. Her nails had grown quite long—it seed she hadn’t trimd them in so ti.
“I wanted to make a move... but I realized that the parts of him I like might overlap with sothing buried deep inside him,” she said cryptically.
“Don’t speak in riddles; I’m too old for that,” Isaac replied bluntly.
Shuna scratched her head in frustration.
“If it were him, he’d understand exactly what I an!”
“Then why don’t you tell him?”
“Hmph... Anyway, at first, he felt like soone living both in control of and controlled by his own ‘fate.’ Like a ‘scalding stone’—warm and passionate toward others but with a core so hard you couldn’t figure out what he truly wanted.”
“...Do all you smart people talk this way?” Isaac muttered.
Shuna shot him a glare.
“Fine, keep going,” he said quickly.
“We... we went through so things. Let’s just say he brought it upon himself—I won’t comnt further. But after that, I saw sothing ignite in him—a hope for living in the present. It was like that stone had been cracked open just a little,” Shuna explained as she raised her glass and held it up to the light, letting the red liquid catch the glow.
At this point, Isaac still hadn’t heard what he most wanted—or dreaded—to hear: confirmation that Shuna had been outright rejected.
“Isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t that what you wanted?” he asked.
“It is. Until... I realized sothing else,” Shuna said as she set her glass down.
“The fear he has toward —later I figured out it stems from his fear of fate.”
“......”
“Old man, you rember how I told you I’ve always been incredibly lucky? Like I have so kind of halo where everything I want or try to do succeeds on the first attempt?”
“Yeah... like a protagonist?”
“He seems to have noticed sothing about —about my identity. And so he keeps trying to learn about my past—as if he’s comparing it to so ‘fate’ he has in mind,” Shuna said with a sigh before downing the rest of her drink in one go.
“He doesn’t need to say it out loud—I can feel it. To him, I might be an obstacle in his plans. So... to avoid getting in his way, I ca back here—the starting point—in the sa way I left.”
“......”
To be honest, Isaac didn’t fully understand how Shuna had “failed,” nor did he grasp why the other party might have rejected her.
“Let put this in terms I can understand: so you confessed and got rejected?”
“No—I rejected myself before he could figure out my feelings and ran away.”
“...Are you really Shuna?”
“What’s that supposed to an? Do I look fake to you?”
“The Shuna I know would face challenges head-on—she’d go on the offensive and take charge! She’d throw herself at him and leave him no room to escape!”
“...Do people really see that way?” Shuna muttered under her breath.
“So what’s his ‘important business’ then?” Isaac asked curiously.
Shuna pushed her empty glass toward him, signaling for another drink.
But Isaac placed his hand over the rim of the glass, refusing to pour more.
“Don’t get drunk. Just tell .”
“Ugh... If my brilliant mind is correct, he’s probably heading to the capital... to confess to Princess Treya—the one who’s been searching for him all this ti,” Shuna said begrudgingly.
“???”
—So he really is just so scumbag playing around with everyone’s feelings!
“Every ti he ntioned it, his face would light up with that sa ‘master of fate’ expression—as if he were preparing for his grand coback. It reminded of adventurers playing chess—the look they get when they think they’ve got everything under control... only to get checkmated in an instant~”
“You sound pretty bitter about this, Shuna.”
“A little. But honestly? I can’t imagine him losing,” Shuna admitted as she picked up her empty glass and stared at the single drop left at the bottom.
“If he does lose... maybe it’ll crack open his shell a little more.”
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