Tokyo: After years of stagnation, the heiress of the yakuza arrives.

Kuroba Shido glanced at Amamiya Kaoru beside him, then at the message sent by Shimotsuki Takari on his phone screen.

Is Xiaoyu next to you?

He paused for two seconds, then his fingers flew across the keyboard.

【exist……】

The message hasn't been sent yet.

The next second, Amamiya Kaoru stretched out her arm from the side and put a standard chokehold around his neck.

The Black Feather Warrior said, "???"

That feeling is hard to describe.

If I had to describe it, it would be... a suffocating feeling, like being coiled up by a python!

Amamiya Kaoru lowered her voice: "You dare to post it and see what happens?"

Kuroba Shido almost spat out the soda he was drinking. Despite the suffocating sensation, his fingers sprang to life with astonishing speed, managing to add a "no" before the "in".

Not here.

send.

Amamiya Kaoru loosened her grip slightly, satisfied.

But it only loosened up a little.

The python coiling decoration has been temporarily removed, but the python pendant remains.

Kuroba Shido sat on the ground, his neck half-strangled by her arm, holding a bottle of soda in his hand, his expression as clear as if he had just been spun out of a washing machine by life.

He was looking at his phone.

Shuangyue Gaoli replied quickly.

I see.

【That's good. 】

When Amamiya Kaoru saw these two sentences, her eyelids twitched.

What do you mean by "that's good"?

Master, what do you mean by "that's good"?

Shido Kuroba saw it too, and he silently looked up at Kaoru Amamiya.

Kaoru Amamiya looked down at him.

The two people looked at each other.

Shido Kuroba asked with his eyes: Teacher, does your master also think that your presence will cause trouble?

Amamiya Kaoru gestured with her arm: "Try thinking about it some more?"

The feeling of suffocation returned.

Kuroba Shido immediately looked down at his phone, his mind automatically playing the image of Italian pasta being mixed with No. 42 concrete, while also silently mourning his cervical spine.

Another message came from Shuangyue Gaoli.

Ellie is already asleep.

Shido Kuroba blinked.

This opening is a bit strange.

【Ms. Shimotsuki, how is Airi doing today?】

It's alright, I only asked about you and Xiaoyu during dinner.

Upon seeing this, Amamiya Kaoru tightened her grip on his arm even more.

The black-feathered warrior said, "Uh..."

Amamiya Kaoru asked in a low voice, "What did she ask?"

Kuroba Shido spoke with difficulty, "Teacher, please relax a little. Please don't reward me in such a serious setting, okay?"

Amamiya Kaoru: "???"

Amamiya Kaoru paused for a moment before realizing what Kuroba Shido meant by the reward. She glanced down and her face flushed red with alarm. She panicked and instinctively tried to relax, but then seemed to realize something.

Unconvinced, he continued to slay the black-feathered scholar.

Lock it! Lock it!

How dare you challenge the authority of adults! This is the price you pay!

In a fit of rage, Amamiya Kaoru continued to reward... oh no, torture Kuroba Shido viciously!

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

Forget it, I can't even be bothered to talk to you, teacher. How did you get into university with an IQ like that?

Kuroba Shido looked at the screen and continued typing.

She asked us what we were doing.

There was a pause on Shuangyue Gaoli's end.

[I was just asking why you didn't come today.]

Ellie doesn't have many friends her own age, and she rarely mentions others.

[If you have time in the future, Kuroba-kun can come over to our house for a visit, or play with Xiaoyu for a while.]

As Kuroba Shido read these words, his expression gradually turned serious.

Amamiya Kaoru also fell silent for a moment.

Shimotsuki Airi, that elementary school student, is indeed stubborn, constantly calling people "stinky old man," "worthless brat," and "Uncle Hat is taking you away." But to say she doesn't care at all is clearly not true.

Shido Kuroba stroked his chin.

"Teacher, do you think that good-for-nothing brat is starting to miss your unreliable guardian's shared bikes?"

"Thump!"

Shido Kuroba's health bar -1...

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

You just wait, you old ox-horse. It's one thing for others, but you dare to lay a hand on me? Don't you know you're easy prey to me? Who do you think you are, Minister or vicious old woman?

He just loves to bully the weak!

Silently, Shido Kuroba wrote down this grudge in his revenge notebook, intending to get revenge later... A gentleman takes revenge even after ten years!

Kuroba Shido immediately started typing.

If there's an opportunity, I might be able to, but I'm probably a bit busy right now.

In plain language... don't fill up the schedule of impoverished teenagers all at once.

Shuangyue Gaoli paused for a while.

This time the stop was significantly longer.

Kuroba Shido looked at the "typing" text above and slowly raised his eyebrows.

Not right.

Today, Shimotsuki-sensei isn't simply here to talk about Shimotsuki Airi.

She was circling around.

And he wasn't very skilled at it.

My phone vibrated.

Actually, there's something else I'd like to hear Kuroba's opinion on.

Kuroba Shido's eyes flickered.

coming.

Amamiya Kaoru also subconsciously moved closer, watching even more intently than Kuroba Shido.

Kuroba Shido glanced at her sideways.

"Teacher, weren't you not here?"

Kaoru Amamiya said expressionlessly, "I may not be here, but my eyes are."

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."

The logic of the old cows and horses is becoming increasingly abstract.

Frost Moon High Glass continues to post.

I have a very good friend.

Her daughter has a somewhat unusual personality; she's not very good at interacting with others and rarely expresses her own thoughts.

It wasn't rebellious or withdrawn in the usual sense; it was just... her way of seeing the world was different from most people's.

Kuroba Shido stared at the screen.

Amamiya Kaoru looked at the screen.

The three heads of the Big Black family peeked out of their backpacks and looked at the screen.

The room was silent for two seconds.

Kuroba Shido reached out and pressed the big black head back down.

"When adults are talking, little mice shouldn't peek."

Big Black: "Squeak."

Kuroba Shido ignored it and continued staring at his phone.

Shuangyue Gaoli's words were quite subtle.

But the subtlety was too obvious.

What kind of close friends, what kind of friend's daughter, what kind of unique personality, and what kind of different way of seeing the world.

Isn't that the Minister?

If you cover up your name, I won't be able to recognize you?

Kuroba Shido saw right through it.

But he couldn't say.

Because Shimotsuki Takari was clearly building steps.

She wanted him to continue down this line, and then casually bring up Miyazaki Kiyoshi so that no one would have to directly admit that "we are coordinating our statements."

Very respectable.

They're also very adult-like.

In plain language... let's all pretend to be stupid.

Kuroba Shido began to cooperate.

Everyone sees the world differently, and that's not a problem.

If it's just a matter of having a unique personality and not being very proactive in expressing oneself, then it may not need to be forcibly changed.

On Shimotsuki Takari's end, it almost immediately showed that she was typing.

[Does Kuroba-kun think so?]

【Um. 】

What if the people around her are constantly worried about her and want to help her get through this?

Kuroba Shido thought for a moment.

Offering help and making corrections are two different things.

The former was standing next to her, and the latter was standing opposite her.

Amamiya Kaoru stared blankly at those words for a moment.

She was only peeking from the side because she felt guilty, but as she watched, she suddenly realized that the words sounded familiar.

The text doesn't look familiar.

The situation looks familiar.

The "daughter of my good friend" that Shimotsuki Takari mentioned looks more and more like Miyazaki Kiyoshi the more I look at her.

weekend.

The Miyazaki family.

Frosty moon and high glass.

Kuroba Shido.

Kiyoshi Miyazaki.

As the threads in Amamiya Kaoru's mind slowly came together, the next second, she looked down at Kuroba Shido in shock.

"Kids, are you talking about Kiyoshi Miyazaki?"

Kuroba Shido hadn't had a chance to answer yet.

Out of shock, Kaoru Amamiya instinctively tightened her grip on his arm.

Kuroba Shido's vision went black; in a physical sense, his brain suffered from oxygen deprivation and insufficient blood supply...

Shido Kuroba's health bar -1 -1 -1...

Revenge notebook +1 +1 +1...

Damn you old ox-horse, you just wait!

……

Shuangyue family.

In the bedroom on the second floor, the lights were dimmed.

Shuangyue Gaoli sat at a small table by the window, her long hair loosely hanging down her shoulders. Her long dress fell to her knees, and the soft fabric outlined her waistline in an elegant curve. She still looked composed, but when her fingertips stopped on the phone screen, she hesitated a little more than usual.

The room was very clean.

The bookshelf held books on medicine and psychology, and next to it were drawings by Shimotsuki Airi from her childhood, carefully framed. On the table was a glass of warm water, with a little bit of steam still clinging to the rim.

She had just visited Ellie.

The child was already asleep, his face buried in the pillow, his little hands still clutching the corner of the blanket. He looked much better than during the day.

Shuangyue Gaoli should have been at ease.

But she can't feel at ease at all right now.

Miyazaki Ritsuko needs Kuroba to come over this weekend.

It's highly likely that Miyazaki Kiyoshi already knows that she knows Kuroba.

Xiaoyu is completely unreliable.

If we don't check the information with Kuroba beforehand, any glance during our weekend meeting could give us away.

Shimotsuki Takari looked at the message from Kuroba Shido, "Helping and correcting are two different things," and let out a soft sigh.

This child is indeed very perceptive.

No, it should be said that he was too perceptive.

After all that beating around the bush, the other person probably already knows who she's talking about.

They just didn't expose it.

Shuangyue Gaoli's fingertip hovered over the screen for a long time.

Continuing down this path will only make things more awkward.

Forget it.

Don't do it again and again.

She lowered her head and typed.

【Kuroba-kun.】

My good friend's daughter is quite famous; you've probably heard of her.

Kiyoshi Miyazaki.

【Do you know Kuroba-kun?】

The Black Feather Warrior said, "..."