When Rintaro turned around, he saw a butler and a maid standing side by side, looking exactly the same.

Dressed in a tailsuit and bowing with his hand on his chest is the butler mysterious being Batram. The one who bowed, holding the hem of the maid’s uniform, was the waitress mysterious being Maidie.

They were two attendants of Tagaraak, the general of the Machinery Army. They looked completely human, but their mechanical gestures seemed to be filled with the sound of engine.

「That’s pretty good service for a pumpkin carriage.」

「We are honored to receive such a compliment. Tagaraak-sama has asked us to bring Swordminas-sama along as well.」

「Aah, about that. It seems that Cinderella is embarrassed about going to the ball.」

Rintaro then looked at the tightly closed door. As if following his gaze, Batram and Maidie turned their heads toward the door without moving their upper bodies at all.

「Understood. Please leave it to us.」

The two servants moved in perfect unison and stepped towards the door at the same time.

「Apply for biosensor use」

「Biosensors use allowed.」

「Response received. Confirmation that target is home. Apply to unlock.」

「Unlocking allowed.」

The door lock made a clicking noise of its own accord. Then Maidie put her hand on the doorknob, preparing to open the door.

However――.

「Waaaa!! Don’t come iiiiin!!!」

「Detect obstacles」

Minato wasn’t going to let this go easily either. Though hesitant, she continued to stack shelves and chairs in front of the door like a barricade.

Batram and Maidie looked at each other.

「Apply for blasting.」

「Blasting allowed.」

「Oi, wait, wait, wait, wait! Minato! Get away from the door!!」

「「Destroy Cannon, Fire.」」

Before Rintaro could stop them, the door to Minato’s room was blown to smithereens. The servants, without a hint of apology, slinked into the room.

Minato was curled up in the sheets on the bed, wobbling and shaking.

「「Good morning.」」

「Uwaaaaaaan!!!」

The two servants worked in perfect unison to pull the sheets away, and Minato’s body was thrown onto the bed, spinning like a yo-yo.

「Oi oi, there’s no need to be so rough.……」

At Minato’s exclamation heard from inside the room, Rintaro, who was waiting outside, tried to take a peek inside. Then, Batram came running up to him at a tremendous speed and grabbed Rintaro’s head with both hands.

「You must not look.」

Goki.

Then, with the strength of a vise, he twisted Rintaro’s neck 90 degrees to the side.

「-Aaaaai!! Aaaaaaaaaa!!!」

「I’m sorry. I decided that this is not something that should be shown to gentlemen.」

Batram bowed to Rintaro, who was sprawled out in the hallway while holding his neck.

「It seems that Swordminas-sama soiled her underwear on the bed. Shall I give you a bit more detail?」

「No, it- it’s fine. ……I see…… I see」

The moment Rintaro heard those words, he regained his composure. He even forgot about the pain in his neck.

His wicked brain is now in full swing.

A beautiful woman who teasingly said, “I want you to embrace me”. She was soiling her underwear on the bed.

There was only one answer that could be derived from this. No wonder the door hadn’t been opened, Rintaro concluded to himself.

「So you can’t hold it in anymore, Minato. Don’t worry, we’ll go all the way today!」

A crowd of curious onlookers gathered around after hearing the explosion, but Rintaro, who had been locked out of the room, was alone with bloodshot eyes and muttering ominous things to himself.

…………2 hours later.

After being “dressed up” by Batram and Maidie, Minato was stuffed into a limousine as she was swept away. She was taken to a restaurant in a super-luxury hotel built on the seafront in Makuhari.

50 floors above ground、『Salle de danse du vent』――.

The restaurant, with a fancy name like ‘Wind Dance Floor’, had no customers other than Rintaro and Minato.

In fact, the entire hotel was rented out. As might be expected, the hotel staff were all members of the Machinery Army.

In addition, sitting in front of her was Rintaro, dressed nicely in a suit.

In other words, for Minato, there was nowhere left to run.

（Th-  th- th- th- the last supper……）

Normally Minato would have felt intimidated by the sumptuous food and expensive looking wine lined up before her. However, right now she felt intimidated for an entirely different reason.

Minato was more concerned about which of these items contained poison than price or taste.

「You aren’t going to eat?」

「I- Itadakimashyu!」

At Rintaro’s urging, Minato closed her eyes, popped the roast lamb into her mouth, and washed it down with wine in one gulp. At the same time, A Qinglong sword protruded from the back of her wide-open dress and stabbed into the back of a restaurant chair.

Unable to control her constitution, Minato silently took a mouthful of the food served to her. Although her table manners were not the best, Rintaro supported Minato, who was tense to the bone.

「I guess these kinds of restaurants make you feel weirdly tense, doesn’t it. Hahaha……」

「Fuun, fuun, T- T- T- Thaf’s right……」

Minato’s tension had reached a peak to the point where she could not speak fluently, in a way that was quite different from Rintaro.

In a completely different sense to Rintaro, Minato’s tension had reached a peak where she could no longer speak clearly.

The black one-piece dress, coupled with Minato’s tall stature, brought out the charm of her figure to the fullest, drawing Rintaro’s attention and not letting it go. The sight of her long, healthy legs peeking out from the slit would have turned the heads of every man in the hall if the venue hadn’t been exclusively booked.

Her light makeup, which brought out the natural beauty of her face, and her modest accessories, which were not too flashy, accentuated her gentle inner self. Her moist eyes were like black diamonds, and the breath escaping from her moist lips was like the sweet breeze blowing through the Mediterranean Sea.

However, Rintaro did not realize it, but there was already a pile of fruit knives under the table.

「…………」

「…………」

What to say in such a situation? Silence fell between the two of them, as neither of them knew what to say to the other.

The silence was broken by Rintaro, or more precisely, by the intercom that Rintaro wore in his ear.

『Rintaro, what are you being so relaxed about? Get straight to the point!』

Tagaraak’s voice came over the intercom as she watched them from another room. She had Rintaro wear the intercom in order to give him precise advice on the delicate issue of negotiating with a subordinate who held a secret.

Rintaro replied in a hushed voice so that Minato could not hear him.

「…… Even if we get straight to the point, what and how can we talk in this situation?」

『In these situations, it is better to listen to the other person rather than talking.』

Now that she mentioned it, that’s true. First, he needed to help Minato relax, who had become as stiff as a stone statue.

The right way to do this is to let the other person speak rather than to approach them from your own side.

「I see, as expected from someone with years of experience… So reliable!」

『Who’s got years of experience, ja！』

Although she had been making an active approach, Kenmochi Minato was a woman whom Rintaro knew well, he could not assert himself to her face. He should smile and show a gentle, accepting attitude.

Rintaro tried to make Minato feel at ease as much as possible, and he spoke to her with an awkward smile.

「……Hey Minato, I’m sure you know what’s going to happen next, but before that, can I ask you the reason?」

Grin… Rintaro raised the corners of his mouth. It was a villainous smile, as if to say that he knew everything about her.

Depending on how you look at it, it was an unmistakable threat that said, “At this point, you can’t deny it.”. Even if Rintaro had no such intention, it must have appeared that way to Minato.

Minato barely spun the words, her lips trembling as if in contemplation.

「Ugh, forgive… forgive me…」

With her head bowed and tears filling her eyes, she quietly revealed her true feelings.

「I- I just wanted to know…… About Rintaro, more deeply……」

In other words, Rintaro took this seriously, thinking that she wants him to tell her about himself.

The timid Minato was seeking Rintaro with all the courage she can muster to the point of tears. And not through the words of a stranger, but through Minato’s own words.

「…… There’s no need to forgive, I have already decided.」

Rintaro quietly stood up and went around the table to gently hug Minato’s shoulder.

He felt Minato’s body jump up with a jerk. The sound of her pounding heart could be felt through his palms.

Now all he had to do was to give her the sweetest words possible.

「Minato, I have no intention of letting you go home tonight.」

In Rintaro’s arms, Minato’s body trembled slightly.

She seemed to be unable to contain the joy that overflowed from her heart. Or it was like a fawn just before it was eaten headfirst by a wolf.

And, It felt like the shaking was getting stronger and stronger.

「Actually, I’ve already reserved a room. …You know what I mean, right?」

「………………Yesh.」

Minato’s whole body was shaking violently as she nodded her head slightly.

Unbeknownst to Rintaro, who was holding Minato by the shoulders, the small knives that kept shooting out like machine guns from above Minato’s head were making countless holes in the ceiling of the restaurant.

…………

Two shadows watched them from a corner of the restaurant.

「Phase 28 completed. Next, we move on to phase 34, room tour……」

「Mission understood. Piigaga…… Mission, understood……」

---

<187: The Decisive Battle is Tonight
189: Strategist Zhuge Rintaro, Fell in Makuhari>