He invites Anima to dinner, somewhat aggressively, and they walk down the main street together.

'Do you want to eat something, Anima?'
'No, no, I don't mind what my master decides for me!
Do you have a favorite food, Anima?
What's your favorite food... I eat everything, but if I had to choose, I'd say... fish.

　...because he's a former black bear?　It's true that bears have an image of eating salmon, and it makes sense that they like fish dishes.

'Alright, then, let's go eat some fish food!
'What?　No, no, I'm not....
Because I want to eat fish I'm sure it's all right?
Uh-huh.

　It was obvious that Anima would refrain from talking up to this point, so as usual, I'm going to force the decision as usual.
　Today's main goal is to have Anima stretch her wings enough.........so I want to make sure I have my preferences in mind here.
　Remembering that Kuro told me about various good restaurants in the past, as I walked down the busy lunchtime boulevard, thinking about which restaurant to go to, I lightly bumped shoulders with a man and woman who were walking in front of me.

''Oh, excuse me.''
No, you're welcome.

　

　Now rub your head against the ground--"Anima, stop! --What?　Ah, ha!

　You forgot?　His attitude towards the servants in the mansion had softened due to the many times I'd warned him to keep his mouth shut... but... come to think of it, Anima had this kind of caustic side to her!
　He stopped Anima, who was about to hit him, and hurriedly lowered his head.

''I'm sorry about our anima!
No, no, I'm fine.

　Fortunately, thanks to the fact that I interrupted Anima before she acted forcefully, I was able to get her to forgive me for assaulting her.

'Anima!　You can't do that, you can't do that kind of threatening thing...
But they're going to hurt their master.
'No, it was just a bump in the shoulder!　It's also my carelessness, so anyway, don't try to get your hands on it right away!
Yes, yes I'm sorry.

　Hearing my words, Anima makes a shunned and depressed expression and tells me an honest apology.
　Soo, did I say that a little too harshly?　No, no, this is the part where you have to be very careful!　

"Well I'm so glad that Anima has been working for me. But just be a little more conservative.
Yes, sir.
Yeah. But thank you, Anima. For being angry for me.
Yes!

　While saying so, I lightly stroke Anima's head, and she nods with a puffy, cheerful expression on her face.
　Yes, well, there is a part of me that is troubled, but.......in the end, Anima is thinking and acting for my sake more than anything else, and that makes me honestly happy.
　Well, I'm sure I'll have to warn her when she seems to be going out of control again, but.......









　Although there was a little trouble, we arrived safely at a restaurant that served fish dishes and ate lunch with Anima.
　Anima may seem a bit cerebral from her usual caustic language and behavior, but.......she has good table manners, and she eats with elegant gestures.

　In fact, Anima seems to have a good head on her shoulders, and since she came to live in Lilia-san's mansion, she's been studying quite diligently, and she's using what she's learned there for my benefit.
　One thing that's especially helpful is organizing letters........I've become a bit more famous since the Treasure Festival, and I still receive letters from many nobles.

　Thanks to Alice, I don't get any more strange letters, but I get a lot of invitations to tea parties and parties anyway.
　 The ones that don't want to participate, Anima writes a refusal letter on my behalf.

　I was shown a little of that letter before, and it was very polite and softly refused in a very polite letter, which is really helpful.
　I've heard that Lunamaria and other servants have taught her how to write letters, etc., and I really think Anima is a hard worker, and to me she's a really dependable child.

''........Anima, how does it taste?''
Yes, it's very good.
Oh, good.

　I wanted to thank Anima for all her hard work on a regular basis in this way for once, so this outing was just right for me as well.
　As I was thinking about this, I saw a bit of sauce on Anima's mouth while she was eating, so I called out to her while holding a napkin in hand.

''Well, Anima. Don't move.
What?
The sauce on your mouth... yes, I got it.
What?
What?
'What? Nothing!　Oh, my dear, you bothered me so much!　I'm sorry!
"...um, yeah. Never mind?









　After lunch, I continued to take Anima around from place to place.
　We enjoyed shopping and standing around eating the food we bought from the stalls... I think we had a pretty good time.
　And just as the surroundings began to turn reddish-blue, I decided to go back to the mansion with Anima, and now we were walking side by side in the setting sun.

''Well Anima, I took you around a lot, but aren't you tired?''
'Yes, sir!　No problem ... rather, well, it was a lot of fun.
'I see, that's good ... that's a bit of a 'shrug', isn't it?'
Huh?

　Hearing my words, which I told her while smiling calmly, Anima opened her eyes wide and stopped in her tracks.


"...no, I don't know the details. It's just that I've been feeling kind of 'impatient' lately...

　Yes, in fact, the reason I took Anima out this time was for another major reason other than the fact that she hadn't taken a break at all.
　Anima is a very serious and hard-working girl... but even taking that into account, there was a sense of impatience hidden in the emotions conveyed from Anima recently by the sensory magic.
　It was like something tense, like that... I didn't understand the cause of it, but I also hoped it would be a change of pace.

　

''.........Am I....useful to my master?''
...What?

　With those words, my sensory magic senses Anima's strong anxiety.
　After glancing at that expression that even looks weak, and after unintentionally glancing at me who is at a loss for words, Anima continues to speak.

''........the only thing I can be proud of to others is my military strength......but my own power.... ...not even close to "Lord Alice".
...Anima.
"I'm afraid that maybe I'm... not needed by my master and that's what I'm afraid of, more so than anything else, master. I tried to branch out and see if I could help the But it was no match for my day job and I remained useless and I didn't know what to do with myself. .....
....

　Anima's voice is trembling.
　...Totally, I hate myself for being so stupid. The insecurity she's been carrying in her heart for a long time, the insecurity.......why couldn't I have noticed it earlier?
　If you ask me, yes. ...

　No, you'll regret it later. Right now, there are things that should be done before that.

　Thinking that, I approach the prone Anima and hug her body as if I were wrapping her in my arms.

''Eh?　Master!
''I'm ... sorry. Anima I had no idea that Anima was so anxious about it. I'm so sorry for being a stupid husband.
'No, no!　No!　This was because I was weak in my own mind...
Now that I think about it, I haven't said it right I don't think I've said it right and Anima is not a deadbeat.
Huh?
'You've always worked so hard for me, always tried to do things I wasn't good at... Anima is a really dependable girl.
Goshu....hin...hin...sir?

　Yes, it was an easy way to wipe away Anima's anxiety. All I had to do was say my heartfelt feelings... but stupid me was really slow to do it.
　At first I was so confused, and it wasn't just once or twice that I was overwhelmed by her personality... but before I knew it, Anima, who was always so straightforward and serious, and who adored me so single-mindedly, had become a very big part of my life.
　So much so that I felt it was natural for her to do something for me.

'Well I need my anima. So don't say such sad things about being useless.
'Oh ... ahhh ...'

　As gently as possible, while holding that body, which is smaller than I thought, I will say what I couldn't say before.
　The weakness that the firm anima showed for the first time, to take it in stride........

''Well I think I'm less than half a man as a master, and I can't give precise instructions to Anima, who is trying to be a follower, and I'm sure I won't be able to assign work to her successfully in the future.

'The master-servant relationship is difficult for me, and I don't think I'll ever get used to it... but um, and this is coming from someone else... but as far as I'm concerned, my relationship with Anima is ... well, I think we want to be like a family.
Huh?

　Yeah, I don't think I'll ever be a great master. After all, the ideal relationship I have in mind is one that is as close to family as Black is.
　But I would like to have that kind of relationship with Anima if I could.

So, if you don't mind that I am such an unreliable person, will you continue to help me in the future?
''~~!　Ha, yes!　I am ... all of me ... all of me ... is for my master, forever and ever!　If the master will allow it, let me serve you until my body rots away.
Yeah. Nice to meet you...
'Yes ... yes, master ... I ... I ... I ... ...I am happy to have my master as my Lord.

　A quiet sob echoed in the dusk - I think it was those gentle tears that washed away the anxiety I had been feeling.

　Dear Mom, Dad - I was confused and troubled by many things at first. But when I think of your honest strength, I think I have always been encouraged by you. I don't really understand the master-slave relationship, but I was convinced without hesitation that Anima was like a family member to me - that she was important to me.