34 - Honey, Pear, Flax, Bean, Hazelnut, Pineapple, Olive, and Toast

Maja had taken the initiative and offered to help the goddesses work out their issues.

"Firstly, can you please both tell me your needs?"

"Why should I?"

Alku had been taking an attitude since she arrived, and Loppu was nearing her limit, as were the rest of us. Loppu reached over and grabbed Alku's ear, gave it a quick tug and caused Alku to whine. While she cried her crocodile tears, Loppu participated in the discussion.

"I need a good work life balance. I wouldn't mind some time off but there's always so much to do."

Alku finally joined in, but continued pouting and occasionally reached out for Toast.

"That's why you should let me be in charge, go take your time off."

"You never do anything when you're in charge. You can't just abandon the world to go play."

"The world does just fine even without us, all the stuff you do is boring."

Maja interjected.

"Great Alku, is there a reason you want to be in charge? Why do you like it?"

She placed a finger to her chin and looked up as though she was pondering.

"I don't know. I like being the boss, and it's boring being the overseer."

Maja pointed out that maybe Alku didn't actually want to be in charge, she just didn't want to be stuck alone watching over Maa. Loppu argued that unfortunately someone had to do it, because it was too much work to be both the Overseer and the Demon Lord, but she agreed that being the Overseer was boring, and modestly apologized to Alku that she'd had to do it for so long.

Alku was clearly shocked to hear an apology from her sister, and blushed for a moment before reverting to her pouty face.

Maja clapped her hands together.

"Now then! In a relationship, how do we assign a task that neither person wants to do?"

The goddesses stared blankly, so Maja answered her own question like she was talking to a class of young children.

"That's right, we take turns so it's fair."

Alku whined that they had already been taking turns, and Maja explained that their turns agreement could take too long each time, and the condition of only switching when a Hero defeated the Demon Lord was too extreme, and unfair to uninvolved persons.

Yeah!

 Loppu asked what alternative there was.

"Well, let's break things down first. Great Loppulaulu, is there any part of your job as Demon Lord that you could trust to Great Alku?"

"She could do anything I do if she would just stop being so lazy."

"Heyyy!"

Tamon, Hassel and I had started playing on the old console as we had no role to fulfill in the deliberations, and I was winning at Moria Cart, so I tuned out a little on the conversation from here on.

Maja had proposed that Alku and Loppu split the duties of the Overseer and Demon Lord more evenly, and that Loppu delegate some of her tasks to her boyfriend/second in command Kettu, which would allow for some time off. It seemed like a completely logical and reasonable solution to an otherwise petty problem Alku was creating out of boredom, and yet Alku was the one who was still opposing the plan.

"It's too much work, and I don't even really get anything out of it! I'll still be stuck as the Overseer most of the time, and it's-!"

Alku's pouty lip withdrew back into her mouth and her face flushed as she drew her knees up to her chin. Maja finished her sentence.

"It's lonely?"

Loppu's eyes widened in surprise a bit before her face relaxed into a soft smile with pity mixed in.

"Alkulaulu, you know you can always come visit. We are sisters. I will always be here when you feel lonely."

"But only one of us can be in the Overseer chamber at a time."

What an arbitrary rule!

Things went quiet again, save for the music and beeping of the game, and the tapping of buttons on the controllers. Tamon and Hassel were in their own world and definitely weren't reading the room. I'd come in last too many times and was eliminated from the races.

Zay'tun had been resting happily in Loppu's arms, and sneezed. I stared at her for a moment and had an idea.

"What if you had a dog?"

Everyone looked at me and Alku's mouth opened in bewilderment. She started grabbing for Toast again, practically climbing over the table.

"You're going to give me this one?! That's amazing! I'll work a bit if I have-!"

"No, not Toast."

She plopped back down in her seat and pouted once again. I took a shot in the dark and asked Loppu to create a Moroza. Right here, right now. She seemed to pick up on what I was getting at, and snapped her fingers.

A small monster about the size of Toast and Zay'tun appeared. It was completely beyond description.

"So this is what a Moroza looks like untransformed?"

"Yep, it's a rare sight, take it in."

I stared in awe at this amazing creature, and really made sure to remember every detail of what it looked like.

After reveling in the Moroza's majesty, I held Toast up to it. Toast was polite and said 'hi' to it, and panted.

The Moroza started to pixelate, and became a pomeranian-ish looking dog. More pom than Zay'tun, but less than Toast. It kept a singular eye in the middle of its face, and copied everything else nearly perfectly; stumpy legs, luxurious white fur, and a slight curl in the tail. The uncanny thing about it was that it somehow looked more... fancy? Like it was showing off. This worked well in its favour, because Alku flew over in a flash and scooped it up, showering it in kisses. 

"This is mine?! This one is mine, right?!"

I was surprised she took to it so quickly considering before she complained about Zay'tun being a 'knockoff'.

"Well it's obvious isn't it? This one is beautiful, and it's for me."

Maja rarely became irritated, but the implication that Zay'tun was not beautiful made her ears twitch, and tap her finger angrily on the table.

Loppu, Alku, and Maja chatted some more and agreed on the previous terms set out, along with the promise to meet once a week for counselling until things settled down. Alku truly seemed happy with everything now that she had her own dog, and it got me thinking...

Alku hummed and nuzzled her new companion, and left through her clouds, and Tamon asked if we could go home now too. I didn't see a reason why not, and we thanked the Demon Lord for everything and turned to leave through the exit we came in.

"Why would you walk all the way back?"

We were stopped by Loppu, who gestured to another cloud portal behind her. Loppu's clouds were darker and grey, which seemed fitting for her. She said if we just walk through we'd be right back in our shop.

I realized I was seconds away from seeing Kana again, and my heart started to race. Once I stepped through that portal, I knew exactly what I had to say to her.

I worked up my courage, and my friends nodded to me knowingly as I stepped into the clouds.

My vision was blurry, but I saw a faint silhouette of pink hair as I emerged into our shop room floor.

I tensed up my body and closed my eyes and shouted at the top of my lungs.

"I LOVE YOU."

I opened my eyes to see Pinnea wearing a pink feather boa all around her shoulders, and she gasped at my confession.

"MY! Oh my my my! Oh my absolute goodness! Surely you weren't thinking of me all the while you were gone? Oh but who could blame you! My my my! What a sweet young man to so boldly profess his love for me! Not that I'm not used to it mind you! But my dear sweet boy you're simply not my type!"

She roared with her usual laughter.

I felt like I had turned to stone, and my friends followed behind me one after another through the portal until we all stood on the shop floor. Toast excitedly romped around sniffing his familiar surroundings, and Zay'tun chased behind him barking happily. Pinnea welcomed everyone with kind words and kisses, and introduced herself to Hassel much in the same manner we had met her in. Hassel was in awe of Pinnea and twirled her twintails bashfully.

I stiffly looked over at the counter and saw Kana sitting there, looking just as frozen as I was. I snapped back to reality and marched over to her, grabbing her hands. I looked deep into her eyes and repeated myself.

"I love you, Kana."

Pinnea called out that she didn't take me for a cheater, laughed heartily again, and continued chatting with the rest of the group. I didn't take my eyes off Kana and waited for her reply.

Across her flushed face a smile grew steadily, until she was beaming at me.

"I love you too Mitsuta!"

She jumped clear over the counter into my arms and landed her lips smack dab on mine, and we kissed for the first time. I couldn't believe it. It had been a year and six months since I'd first come to Maa, and met this girl and fell in love with her. Now, after a long and perilous journey she was in my arms and I was never going to let her go.

Kana looked up at me with her big glossy eyes and wide smile.

"So what are you going to do now?"

I was excited to tell everyone about my new plan for the business, but right now I just wanted to rest and hold this girl and pet my dog.

"Tonight we celebrate, and tomorrow we get back to work!"

Everyone cheered and gathered around to talk about our adventure, how the shop had been since we left, what each of us was excited to do, anything we could think of. We talked and laughed long into the night. I felt at ease to finally be home, and reflected that I'd never felt like this before. Back in Japan I was always alone, with the exception of Toast, and I didn't try to make new relationships, or even put in basic effort to maintain old ones. I was complacent with how things were and just bounced from job to job, with no drive or aspirations. Since coming here I'd done so much, and have things to look forward to now, and I could never have achieved any of it by myself.

I looked around the room at my friends, my family, my dog, and smiled contentedly.

I'm not the hero, they are.