Evil Black Maria - Chapter 80. Sweet Nectar In A Spider's Web

–Huh.

In a corner of the bar in the evening, there was a small lamenting voice.

However, the restaurant was busy, with most of the seats occupied.

They couldn’t even reach the seat next to them, drowned by the hustle around them.

“Huh…”

One more sorrowful sigh is followed by another.

Clarissa, who was sitting alone at a table for four, reached for her half-full glass.

The melting ice scraped against the inside, making a chirping sound.

“……Hmm.”

She raised her glass and slurped it down in a single gulp.

The moderately diluted sake felt pleasant on the tongue and passed easily down the throat without any alcohol getting stuck.

Clarissa wasn’t much of a drinker, but she found this drink to be quite tasty.

“Huh….”

However, her mood did not improve.

She sighed repeatedly. Each time she breathed out noisily, the stagnant air seemed to cling to her a little more.

–As a matter of fact, Clarissa had been like this for several days.

Three days ago, to be precise, she had met a certain person – Shizuru – and since then, she had become more and more absent-minded with each passing day.

His friends were worried that something was wrong with her, and although she denied that it was nothing, she wondered how much they trusted her.

“(Oh God..)”

However, it was Clarissa herself who was confused the most by the changes in her life.

She couldn’t stop thinking about Shizuru’s face, his voice and his appearance.

Even though they had only met once, her thoughts and mind have been stained as if she were a colorless sponge being poured with colored water.

“(Love at first sight……,right?)”

Clarissa has never had romantic feelings for the opposite sex in her life, as far as she was aware.

It was only natural. Zack and the others were like siblings who had been together since they could remember, and they were the only people their age in the village where they grew up.

Since the formation of the mercenary group, she has been travelling from place to place and has never had the chance to meet anyone in a casual way.

This was the first time in her life that she had felt this way and she was confused.

She doubted herself whether it was her imagination or not.

But as the days went by, the feelings grew stronger and stronger.

She had to accept that this feeling was definitely love.

“(Well, he is certainly a very beautiful man……)”

She was not sure if that’s a good way to describe a man, but it is what it is.

He has an appearance very similar to that of Izuru, but with a softness – a gentleness- that she does not have, because of her fierce temper

–If he were dressed as a woman, he would probably be more beautiful than Izuru.

“(What the hell am I thinking ……?”)”

Clarissa shook her head to get rid of her disturbing thoughts.

She was so overwhelmed that most of her thoughts were about Shizuru.

“Huh…”

She couldn’t even count the number of times she’d sighed.

She wanted to see him. That’s all she had been thinking about for a while now, wanting to see Shizuru.

Clarissa does not know where he is staying in Labyrinthos.

She regrets now that she didn’t ask him.

“…..Shizuru-san….”

Shaking her glass, which had only ice in it.

She called his name in a muffled, wistful voice.

It was shortly afterwards.

“Good evening, Clarissa-san.”

There was a voice that stuck to her ear from the moment she first heard it.

It came from right next to her, mixed in with the noise of the restaurant.

“…..eh?”

After a moment’s pause, Clarissa’s face shot up and she turned toward the voice.

There was the face and figure that had been burned into her retinas for the past three days.

Shizuru was right there

“Ah…Shi…Shizuru-san..?”

“Hello. Nice to see you again, Clarissa-san.”

He put his fingertips on the table, smiled softly and said.

The smile on his face, as if he was happy to see her again, made Clarissa’s heart leap with joy.

“May I sit with you?”

A modest question with a slight tilt of the head.

Clarissa nodded her head without hesitation.

“Pl..please! Sorry to see you in such a shabby place, but ……!”

“Thank you very much. But the shopkeeper will be very angry with you if you say that, won’t he?”

Shizuru chuckled and sat down opposite Clarissa.

A faintly sweet scent, almost like perfume, entered her nostrils.

It’s Shizuru’s scent, she realises, and another thump goes through her chest.

“……Are you alone today?”

“…… Oh, no. Not at all.”

When the question was asked with a slightly curious look on his face, it took Clarissa a moment to realise how she looked, and shook her head.

She didn’t want people to think she was a lonely woman who went out alone to a bar at night when she didn’t have company.

“Well, you see, …… Roa and Hawkeye are due to arrive later, and …… they’re just busy at the moment, so I thought I’d go ahead and……save some seats for them.”

It wasn’t a lie. In fact, she was waiting for her friends to arrive.

When Shizuru heard this, he placed his hand behind his head and smiled wryly.

“I’m sorry, that was a rude question. The truth is, they asked me to tell you something.”

“Eh?”

Clarissa’s eyes widened at the unexpected statement.

According to Shizuru, he was out for a quick drink when he bumped into them.

They said they had urgent business to attend to and would be late, so they asked her to return to the inn first tonight.

“It was urgent……?”

“Yes. I didn’t get any details either.”

Shizuru shrugged his shoulders slightly.

Clarissa’s eyes blinked, but then she had an idea.

“(I can’ t believe it …… those two thought of that?)”

After all, they have known each other for a long time. It’s not surprising that they have noticed that the reason for her strange behavior over the past few days has been Shizuru.

It makes sense that Hawkeye, who is one of the most clever people in the group, would do something like this.

And even if it’s really just a matter of urgency, the opportunity presented by the situation was still there.

Shizuru said that he had gone out for a quick drink.

So it was only natural that he would be spending time with himself.

“Well, um……then, Shizuru-san …… well, I haven’t had enough to drink yet, so I was wondering if you could join me…….!”

Clarissa’s suggestion, which she repeated in her head as naturally and spontaneously but spoke a little too quickly in the end.

When Shizuru heard her words, he smiled happily and replied with a nod.

“Thank you very much. I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels lonely drinking alone.”

Words and a smile from the heart, without an ounce of false politeness.

Clarissa’s thoughts, slightly intoxicated by the drink, were in a state of rapture as she witnessed this up close.

–So she didn’t notice.

It was only for a moment, really.

“Yeah, …… really.”

Shizuru’s eyes were sad and downcast.