Shichen had not expected to encounter Lycoris Recoil here, much less witness them dealing with a terrorist right before his eyes. Since he was able to see it all so plainly, it was clear this world was not as peaceful as it appeared on the surface.
Just then, the high school girl turned around and glanced in his direction, but he had already moved his gaze to look out the window with Kanna. He wasn't sure whether she had noticed him watching earlier, yet given she dared to handle that terrorist so openly, it must have been a time-sensitive situation.
Hence, he decided to play along, pretending to have seen nothing.
Hopefully, they wouldn't set their sights on him.
Indeed, that Lycoris agent had no time to concern herself with whether Shichen noticed; the bomb was still counting down, so she had to quickly call someone in to deal with it.
Soon, urgent footsteps sounded in both directions of the train car. Several more girls in the same uniform, each carrying a small backpack, came walking in. Without a word, they approached the man, shouldered their packs, and swiftly carried off the body, along with the man's corpse.
They departed, including the first high school girl who'd fired the gun.
Shichen continued looking out the window with Kanna, doing his best not to draw attention. After a while, once he could no longer hear footsteps around him, he turned to look at the seat where the man had been. It was now completely clean, not a trace of blood remaining.
Truly worthy of a specialized covert organization. Even the aftermath was handled so swiftly.
Better to get off now, Shichen thought.
He wasn't afraid of a bomb exploding, but he did worry about Lycoris Recoil coming back to give him trouble. If they wanted to question him or wipe his memory, that would be problematic—he definitely wouldn't cooperate. That would only lead to more hassle.
So at the very next station, as soon as the train stopped, Shichen got off with Kanna in his arms.
"Shichen? Didn't we need to ride further?"
Kanna, now used to clambering onto his shoulders, asked from atop his head.
"You're so clever; you even know where we're supposed to get off now," Shichen teased.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I saw a crepe stall nearby. I'll take you to try some."
"Crepe?"
"Mm, it's a sweet, super-tasty pancake."
"Really?" Kanna's eyes lit up.
"Haha, you'll see soon enough."
"Then let's hurry and go!"
"Sure!"
Crepes were indeed better than that omelet rice. Kanna devoured three different flavors in one go, and still looked like she hadn't had enough. Her tiny pink tongue licked around her lips, as if searching for any remaining whipped cream. Her big eyes kept glancing reluctantly back toward the crepe stand.
Noticing her expression, Shichen patted her head and asked with a smile, "Want some more?"
"Is that okay?" Kanna's eyes went wide.
"Of course."
"Shichen, you're the best!" Kanna leaned in and gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
Smooch.
Shichen blinked, touching the spot Kanna had kissed. Then, with a grand wave, he declared, "Kanna, how about we try every flavor they have?"
"Really?" Kanna's little mouth formed an O in surprise.
"I wouldn't lie to you!"
"Thank you, Shichen!"
That stall offered seven flavors in total. Kanna polished off the remaining four without difficulty, then Shichen led her away. She could open her mouth quite wide—big enough to take an entire crepe in one bite—and still seemed to want more.
He simply found it hilarious.
Once they were done, he carried Kanna into a nearby side alley, and teleported them both straight back home with spatial magic. It happened to be prime business hours at the café, so returning home, they ended up in his bedroom. By now, Kanna had only two remaining crepes left, and was steadily finishing them off.
She was still in the midst of devouring the second crepe, her eyes sleepy again. Once she finished, she dozed off right on his bed, not bothering to change clothes.
Seeing that, Shichen shook his head. After pulling a blanket over her, he quietly went upstairs to set up the newly purchased game equipment. He spent a while installing all the wires and consoles. Although it wasn't many pieces, he had a bit of a perfectionist streak, wanting to align and organize the cartridges neatly and make them easy to reach.
Tohru and the others didn't care much about these games. Only Kasumigaoka Shiwa might check them out due to her novel work, so Shichen just had to keep certain 18+ galgame out of Kanna's sight. Actually, Kanna was so obedient that a simple warning would likely do, but he planned to be cautious.
All in all, he spent almost an hour tidying up the game room. He checked his work and felt it was worth it—everything was neatly arranged and instantly gave a fresh look. Without further delay, he wanted to bring Kanna up to play. But after going downstairs to his room, he found that she'd already curled up on his bed, fast asleep, still wearing the same outfit, evidently too tired to change.
Shichen decided not to disturb her. He left the room alone, back upstairs to the game room to try out a Pokémon game first. After all, he needed to re-familiarize himself, especially with the Legendary Pokémon's abilities and lore. Who knew whether he might control them someday?
Time flew by while gaming. Two and a half hours passed before Chisato came upstairs to find him.
"Chen-nii, something's come up." Entering the game room, she walked behind Shichen and hugged him around his shoulders.
"What's the matter?" Pausing his game, Shichen turned his head to ask.
"Just got contacted by DA."
"DA?" Shichen frowned. "What did they want?"
"Don't worry, it's nothing major," Chisato said cheerily, resting her chin on his shoulder.
"They're not asking me to go on a mission. They just want me to help with something small."
"Something small?"
"Mm-hm, apparently they want me to look after someone. Looks like this person might need a place to stay here."
Shichen set down his console and turned around fully. "They're asking you to look after someone?"
"Yeah, that's about it. Anything wrong?"
"Do you want to help them?"
"Well, yeah. The organization cared for me a lot in the past. Even though I've left, I still want to repay that debt."
"In that case, there's no problem." Shichen smiled, nodding. "It's just looking after someone, right? Why would I object? And you never have to be formal with me. If you want to do something, just do it."
"Thank you, Chen-nii! Muah!" Overjoyed, Chisato gave Shichen a quick kiss.
"Taking advantage of me, huh?"
"Ehh-hey~" Chisato stuck out her tongue mischievously, acting cutesy.
"But I should get something in return."
"Is that so? That's even better!" she teased.
"…."
~~~
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