Kokuto Azaka.
For this famous actress from Type-Moon, Naoki didn't actually know that much. After all, when watching Kara no Kyoukai back then, he focused more on Ryougi Shiki cleaning up her love rivals and the two Ryougis' intimate moments. Other characters, including Aozaki Touko, he mostly only learned about afterwards.
Plus, with all sorts of incidents happening, Naoki's understanding of Azaka only had two somewhat deep impressions.
One was that she was a younger sister who harbored forbidden feelings for her older brother, Kokutō Mikiya.
The other was that she was a disciple of Aozaki Touko.
Beyond that, Naoki had to think hard to remember her.
Helping Azaka pick up the things that had fallen to the ground and returning them to her, Naoki paused for a moment then said, "Excuse me for my boldness, may I ask you something?"
"Eh? A question?"
Glancing at Naoki with a bit of wariness, after observing him from head to toe several times, Azaka finally nodded, "Go ahead."
"Do you know a woman named Ryougi Shiki?"
"Ryougi Shiki?"
Azaka frowned, then firmly shook her head, "I've heard of the Ryougi family, but I don't know Ryougi Shiki at all. Why are you asking me this?"
"Ah, then I must have mistaken you for someone else. Because I saw someone before whose face was somewhat similar to yours with Ryougi Shiki, so..." Naoki waved his hand, after skillfully fabricating a lie to deceive, "Sorry for taking up your time, then please excuse me. Gray, do you still want to buy something? Want to buy some snacks?"
"..."
Watching Naoki push the trolley away, Azaka was slightly stunned, then scratched her head in confusion, "Has no one ever told him his storytelling ability is terrible? His facial expression and eyes clearly show he's making things up."
Although Azaka wasn't specifically trained to read expressions, this just showed that Naoki's ability to conceal the truth was so bad that even an untrained person could tell.
"But... Ryougi Shiki?"
"Quite a strange name."
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Hugging a few bottles of seasoning and putting them into the shopping cart, Gray glanced in Azaka's direction, "Brother, was that your acquaintance?"
"No, I've only met her a few times before. Compared to that, don't you want to buy some snacks or something?"
"Brother's wallet doesn't seem to have enough money for that. I feel that after buying the furniture and kitchenware, Brother won't have much money left, so there's no need for unnecessary expenses."
'Truly grown up, has really become a housekeeper...'
Seeing Gray become like this, Naoki didn't know if it was good luck or bad luck. First cleaning the room, arranging the schedule, then recording and managing money... Gradually, he felt that if this continued, Gray would completely control him.
'My dignity as an older brother is gone.'
"Brother, the expense record book is over there."
"Yes yes, I'm going there now."
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After buying groceries and kitchenware at the supermarket, and then buying blankets and pillows for the night, Naoki and Gray returned home at half-past six in the evening.
"It took you so long!"
Inside the office, Touko, who was sitting on the floor with her legs stretched out, stared sharply at the two who had just returned.
"Since you said you wanted to eat at the office, I waited until now. If I knew this, I would have eaten out."
"Although we just received the remaining payment, that doesn't mean we can start squandering money, Master. Eating at home is much more economical than eating at restaurants outside."
While saying this, Naoki took a can of beer from her hand.
"Besides, just drink a little, it's not good for your health. You haven't even started dinner and you've already drunk this much... There's more than half a case here. Did you drink all this by yourself?"
"Didn't feel like it... compared to that, I'm hungry! Quickly cook me something! I want something to go with my drinks! And a cute boy! You, an old geezer like Naoki, stay away from me!"
"I'm only twenty-one! Not old enough to be an uncle yet!"
"Brother, is this what they call being drunk?"
"Gray, you don't need to know this kind of knowledge." Naoki resignedly massaged his forehead, shameful adults would only teach unnecessary cold knowledge to children—should he reduce Gray's contact with Touko in the future?
Sweeping up the bottles and cans scattered on the floor and throwing them into the trash can, then moving Touko, who was clearly drunk, to the sofa, Naoki said to Gray, "Gray, you watch her here for a while, I'll go cook... ah!"
It was then that Naoki remembered, since Touko said she could use Magecraft to light the fire and cook herself, he didn't buy an electric stove, so...
Looking at Touko, who had already fallen sound asleep on the sofa, Naoki suddenly felt an urge to destroy this body of his.
'She said she'd be responsible for lighting the fire! What does it mean that she got drunk first herself!'
"Brother, what do we do?"
"I'll try to light a fire, at most it'll just blow up the house."
It wasn't the first time anyway, if it explodes, it explodes, just consider it practice.
Watching Naoki take the groceries away, Gray felt a little uneasy in her heart, took Add out from under her cloak and shook it, "Add, what do you think?"
"What do I think about what?"
"Brother went to cook."
"Well, it shouldn't be a problem, although he did blow up the kitchen before, but he's also improved a lot in the past few years, his control over Mana must be fine. The rest is just the taste—hehehe, Gray, you should be able to eat anything, right? After all, it's your beloved brother's cooking!"
"W-what are you talking about!"
Gray, extremely embarrassed, immediately lifted Add.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't throw me! Don't throw me! If you throw me into the corner of the table, I'll really break! I'll really break!" Add hurriedly begged, "By the way, why are you so embarrassed? Let me tell you, that little guy is the type who will sink immediately if hit directly, just go straight—"
*CRASH!*
"Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch!"
Gray, extremely embarrassed, directly threw Add at the ceiling, and it hit the ceiling fan hard.