Chapter 9: From Then On

"Damn. Motoyasu's punches did not miss at all…" I wince in pain for a bit while holding onto the part of my face where I got hit by Motoyasu, trying to retaliate against me a few days ago. Luckily, after the incident, the Old Man decided to give me a day off in order to heal up from my wounds. Who knew that all of the events that had unfolded only happened within 3 weeks or so.

I can't even say if it's a coincidence or not.

After I entered the cafe, I saw the Old Man and L'Arc on the other side of the counter as they snicker for a bit while L'Arc looks at me with a smug grin on his face.

"Oh boy" were the only words I could think of at that moment as I walked towards the counter and took a seat.

L'Arc decided to speak up first. "You know, fighting for a lady is something that I never would've thought you could do~"

Then I sigh while grumbling afterwards as I softly blush for a bit. "Cut me some slack. I didn't just do it for her, but because that asshole had it coming."

The Old Man decided to speak up afterwards. "You know kid, I actually was the one who helped you out with your bail money after I heard the story from the young lady named 'Sadeena'. I know that you can be reckless, but committing assault in a public place is something stupid."

After he speaks, he shows a cocky smirk on his face as he looks at me and says "Looks like that little brown haired lady is really something special to you. At least you had the balls to do something like that. For that, I'll only make you pay me about fifty percent of your bail money~"

I sighed for a bit and smiled at them. At least they helped me out with that situation. I honestly wasn't expecting to stay in that cell for so long. A week in there wouldn't really be so bad anyway. I was once arrested for my brother's mistake, so yeah. I had some experience.

Anyway, after that I did recover for a bit while still doing my best to focus on both culinary school and working at the cafe, so it wasn't really all that bad. But for some weird reason, Raphtalia now frequently visits the cafe as a total regular.

I didn't really question it since it was a nice change of scenery to see a lovely young woman enjoying a cup of coffee that I made for her. Whenever she goes here, some of our customers tend to also just look over her direction.

I don't exactly blame them for doing that. She looks like a foreigner and a beautiful one at that. Like one could mistake her for a model or some kind of celebrity. She once told me that her hair is mostly natural and that she sometimes doesn't like standing out so much because of it, to the point that people mistake her for some kind of "cool beauty".

For some weird reason, a lot of male customers now go to our bar after noticing someone like her, just like how customers are still enamored with Therese. Basically, a new Poster Girl has arrived in our establishment, even if she doesn't even work here.

I don't exactly know why, but...It just felt so right when I saw her smile. Laughing at our conversations from the times that she hangs around the counter of the cafe every morning. Seeing her happily talking about whatever comes to mind and even about how Rishia got her into reading Light Novels and Romance Novels.

It was so cute that I tried my best to not blush at those moments. Like, seriously.

Another surprise that hit me is that I felt someone following me from behind three days ago. At first I felt like I was being stared at from the back of my head and I tried ignoring it. The next day after that, I tried a tactic of just wandering aimlessly around the city, just so I could distract my "stalker" from where I usually go.

I couldn't really take it anymore after the third day, so I planned to catch the stalker once I had the chance. After I did the strategy I had a day ago at that time, I finally lost sight of the stalker for a moment and then I found out where the person was hiding.

As I slowly approached the person, I grabbed their shoulders and turned them around while yelling out "Show yourself! Who are you and why-?!"

I cut off my sentence from there after I found out who was following me. It was Sadeena…

She was seriously lucky that I didn't plan on calling the police on her because she was seriously starting to scare me from the whole "being stalked" schtick that she was doing.

After I let her go for a bit, she scratched her hair out of nervousness and embarrassment as she spilled the beans.

"Sorry if I was stalking you, Naofumi-chan~ I was actually just worried for my little sister since...You do know that I once told you that I couldn't trust you so easily, right?"

Then I retorted. "You literally could've just confronted me about it instead of stalking me for three days! It actually scared me to go outside after that!"

After I said that, she just acted cutesy and said "Teehee~" while lightly hitting her head like she was some kind of Rom-Com Anime Girl.

I was frustrated and started thinking to myself "This girl…!"

After a few minutes of getting the misunderstanding cleared out, me and Sadeena rested on a park bench and got drinks from a nearby vending machine. As I opened up the carton of yogurt milk that I got, she took a breath and started speaking.

"Has Raphtalia ever told you about our situation?"

Then I looked over to her in confusion as I took a sip from the straw of the yogurt milk, replying "No. Not yet. Not that I could remember anyway."

She leans forward for a bit while looking over the park with a serious look on her face.

I knew at that moment, I needed to listen. I just didn't realize how important it was for her to stalk me and open up about herself.

"I wanted to know if I could actually trust you. You see, me and Raphtalia aren't even blood sisters. Her parents picked me up in an orphanage because no one would ever adopt a 12 year old at the time. Truth be told, it was a difficult life. I got into trouble for most of it."

Then I kept quiet while also holding my breath for a little bit as she continued.

"Resorted to stealing, picking fights with the other rough kids at the orphanage, sneaking out late at night to go to other places, and more."

She snickered for a bit and continued speaking. "My life changed when Raphtalia's parents decided to pick me up from that cursed place and did their best to change me. I was basically an asshole to them, and yet they never gave up on me, even after Raphtalia was born."

Then she looked over at me and kept her serious face on. "They treated me like I'm their actual child, as much as they did with Raphtalia. For the very first time in my life, I felt like I was truly wanted and that I finally found my home."

She looks down for a bit while fiddling with a can of coffee in her hand. "Until the accident happened. It was a Saturday evening and we were driving down the road at that time. We just came back from visiting our grandparent's house. Everything was fine and all, until some drunk asshole on a bike, driving the wrong way, decided to crash into our car, causing us to swerve for a bit and begin to crash into other vehicles. At that moment, I relied on my instinct and held Raphtalia with my entire body, protecting her as much as I could…"

I didn't know what I could say about it...I just kept quiet and continued listening.

She sighed for a bit and continued speaking. "Luckily, she wasn't hurt and only suffered a few scratches. I didn't manage to get too lucky at the moment since I have scars on my back and on my upper arms from all the shattered glass. The only luck I had at that moment was that I was pushed back by the momentum onto the back seat cushion. But our parents...They…"

Before she could finish her sentence, she started tearing up for a bit as I didn't hesitate to put a hand on her shoulder and looking at her.

"Its alright. You don't need to continue at part, if you don't want to."

She wiped up a bit of her tears as she smiled at me and continued speaking.

"I'm fine. I was actually in therapy to help me cope with that night. After me and Raphtalia were sent to the house of our grandparents, I promised myself that I would do anything to protect her. Even if I had to dirty my hands for that reason alone. I don't ever want to lose my family again and she's all that I have left. When she told me what happened, I wanted to end Motoyasu's life. I was seriously itching to grab a knife and head over to where he was, which I did."

Then she smiled again and looked at me as she spoke once more. "If you weren't there, beating him up in next to that hotel, I would've done something stupid that I would never have regretted doing. That's why I told Raphtalia to help bail you out, after I called up Erhard to help with the funds to get you out of there. You did assault the guy in a public place, so you could've been sued if Raphtalia wasn't the victim."

Then I wondered for a bit as to how the Old Man knew what happened. Looks like Sadeena actually knew the guy. You learn something new, I guess.

Then she giggled for a bit and looked at me again. "If you're wondering about Erhard, he's actually an old friend of mine who also helped give me work at that shabby cafe of his, in the old days. I actually knew you were working at the same place that I used to work. Purely coincidental, it seems."

After I finished up on my drink, I threw it at the nearby trash can as I looked at her and spoke. "At least now I know a lot more about Raphtalia and understood why you wanted to find out more about me. You didn't really need to stalk me though."

Then she explained further. "I didn't know much about you, so I thought that maybe you were getting involved with something dangerous."

I sighed for a bit and gave her a serious look as I continued to speak. "I'm not someone dangerous or stupid enough to do something dangerous that will out her in harm's way. So don't worry. No matter what happens, I will also do my best to protect her, again and again."

She smiled and stood up as she walks close to me and suddenly does the most surprising thing I never thought that she would do.

She brushed my bangs up and kissed my forehead as she giggled teasingly and smiled at me, moving back a bit as I blushed in surprise, holding my forehead while looking at her in shock.

"W-What was that for?!" I replied.

She stuck her tongue out and smiled at me again as she replied. "It's now the proof that I can definitely trust you to never hurt her~ You're definitely a great man, but it looks like your heart has already been taken~ Plus, you're a little too young for me~"

Then as she began walking away from the park, I yelled out "What?!" as I kept blushing redly and holding my forehead.

In the end, I grumbled and just started heading back to my place. It was nearing sunset already as I looked to the sky and remembered Sadeena's words and what I told her.

"Why did I say that I would protect Raphtalia, again and again? I only did that once and that was a few weeks ago, but...I felt like I did save her constantly. Again and again."

Then a flashback happened after I said those words. I saw that I was in a dark place. After walking around for a bit, I saw cages of creatures that looked like animals. I saw one cage in particular, covered with a giant white sheet. I pulled it up and then I saw her. A small child covered in dirt, filth, dust, wounds, and in chains.

After that, I snapped back to reality and grabbed my head as I was dripping in cold sweat.

"W-What was that?!"

I took a few short and sharp breaths as I shaked my head after that. Then I started walking home once again, recalling the events of today.

"Raphtalia…"

The name rang through my head over and over again.

"...I promise…"

The End

Notes: Welp. I actually had the energy to do this part. This chapter is basically Sadeena, giving her blessings for the establishment of Raphtalia and Naofumi's relationship that is slowly budding. It's not going to go fast because we still have Raphtalia to deal with. Ciao~! ;p