Several dozen minutes later.
Gray returned from the supermarket after buying groceries, and upon entering the office, saw Shiki leaning against the stair railing playing with a dagger, her face cold.
"Um... excuse me, who are you?"
Seeing this older sister she had never seen before, Gray couldn't help but wonder if she was in the wrong place.
And seeing Gray return, Touko stopped her work and smiled, "Welcome back, Gray. Come here, let me introduce you, this is Ryougi Shiki, the wayward girl forcibly brought back by your brother, from now on she will also work here as an employee."
"Ah... I see... Hello, Miss Ryougi."
Gray greeted Shiki a little awkwardly, then, as if belatedly realizing something, she suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Eh? She was brought back by Brother? Even forcibly?"
"That's right, that's right. Your brother himself said he liked her, so he brought her back, planning to give you another older sister."
"Eh eh eh eh?"
Gray hurriedly looked back at Shiki.
'This older sister who looks a bit cold... is someone Brother likes?!'
Touko was joking—that was Gray's first thought. As Naoki's younger sister for more than two years, she more or less knew the type of woman Naoki liked. Although not meaning to be offensive, she was certain, Shiki was definitely not Naoki's type!
After all, Naoki had only been in Mifune City for more than three months, and during that time he was with her almost every moment. In such a situation, how could he have gone out looking for a girlfriend?
It couldn't have been during the time he went out alone to buy groceries just now, right? This was too fast!
'But...'
Although the evidence was clear, but Add had also said before, Naoki was someone who would be overwhelmed by a direct attack, what if this was really—
"Miss Touko, where's Brother?"
"In the study, I told him to tidy up my notes."
*THUD!*
Seeing Gray run out of the room, Shiki, who had been silent all along, couldn't help but frown as she looked at Touko, who couldn't hold back her laughter, "Touko, this joke is a bit much, when did that jerk and I become lovers?"
"Ahahaha! Who told you two to interact like mortal enemies before? Besides, teasing that young man is also very fun, isn't it also quite something to see him struggle?"
"That's true."
And not long after.
At the dining table.
"Miss Touko, how many times have I told you! Gray is still young, doesn't have the ability to distinguish right from wrong, don't keep stuffing her with bad information! What if she gets corrupted!"
Seeing Naoki glaring at her angrily, and Gray sitting beside him with a flushed face, Touko immediately took a deep gulp of her beer, "What's the problem! It's not bad for her to know sooner rather than later. Besides, you're the one who said you were interested in Shiki."
"That was just me standing from an objective standpoint, giving an assessment of her appearance based on common sense! That doesn't mean I like her, okay!"
"Yes yes, I know, I know, calm down and eat at the dining table."
Casually waving her hand to silence Naoki, Touko then said to Shiki, "Come here, Shiki, try Naoki's cooking. Although three months ago his cooking could only be described as barely edible, it's much better now."
Whether it was due to the influence of the Saint Graph Arthur, or just his own habits, Naoki wasn't very demanding about food. Compared to whether it tasted good or not, he paid more attention to whether the portion was filling enough. This caused his own cooking to be the same.
Fortunately, after more than three months of cooking, this bad habit had improved a bit.
Picking up a piece of salmon and putting it in her mouth, tasting it carefully, under Naoki's expectant gaze, Shiki's expression instantly turned gloomy, "It's not good. You heated it for too long, and there's too much salt, can you really cook?"
"Sorry if it's unprofessional." Naoki spread his hands, "It's just that there was a period of time I lived alone before, plus I've been cooking most of the time for these three months, so I can do a little bit."
"Whatever, just eat it as it is."
Seeing Shiki wanting to say something but finally holding back, Naoki sighed, "If you have any opinions, just say them, I'm not sensitive, it can also be a reference for me, next time I cook I can improve."
"Hmm? You need me to give advice?"
"Gray will eat whatever I make, Touko... you see for yourself, she only drinks. So they won't give me advice, and I also don't know where my mistakes are. If you can taste it, just say it directly."
Glancing at Touko whose cheeks were already red from drinking, Shiki couldn't help but start to regret agreeing to join Garan no Dou.
A drunkard, a child, plus a 'normal person' who was actually completely abnormal.
Was this kind of combination really okay?
Eating the salmon in front of her that clearly had too much salt, Shiki wiped her mouth, "Alright. Since I'm here as a guest, if the food isn't good, I'm the one who loses out, later I will try my best to give advice for every dish you serve, no problem, right?"
"Thank you."
A strange person.
Looking at Naoki who had started eating across from her, Shiki couldn't help but feel a little curious.
From the beginning of their meeting, this person had always shown very strange behavior. It wasn't that he was suspicious, it was just that his actions, Shiki couldn't quite understand them.
Whether it was when Naoki saved Asagami Fujino three months ago, or when he broke into Ogawa Apartment and brought her out this time, Shiki couldn't see the meaning behind his actions. Was it just kindness and a desire to interfere in other people's affairs? Or was there another purpose?
Catching Naoki's eyes and facial expressions, Shiki tried to analyze a bit of the thoughts of this person named Natsukawa Naoki.
"By the way, Shiki."
"What?"
"Don't you want to go back and see the Ryougi family?" Naoki asked, "You haven't returned since killing Araya Souren two years ago. I did a little investigating earlier, your family seems to be constantly looking for you, don't you want to go back and give them some news?"
"Give news... it's not like I escaped from any danger, I just ran away from home."
"In any case, that's still your family, making family worry isn't a good thing." Naoki advised, "At least, if I were you, even if I ran away from home, I would send news to my family every so often."
Could that still be called running away from home? Wasn't that just independence?
"Besides, I've always been quite curious, why did you run away from home? Was it because of killing someone?"
"Tch, annoying, why do you ask so many questions?" Shiki clicked her tongue a little impatiently, "...It's just that I don't want to go back. A rebellious phase, understand? By the way, what's the point of you asking all this?"
"The point, huh..."
After pondering for a moment, Naoki smiled, "No special meaning, just a little curious."
Truly a strange person.
Shiki was absolutely certain.