Really.
"Alright." Kisaragi Chiyo shrugged and said nothing more.
"Wait, you still haven't said how Hagi ended up turning into a dog." The topic had been diverted by Kisaragi Chiyo, Matsuda Jinpei finally remembered the purpose of his conversation with the other man.
"That.." Kisaragi Chiyo rested her chin on her finger, a look of reminiscence crossing her face.
"Anyway, it was something like that.." Kisaragi Chiyo picked and chose her words carefully as she briefly recounted how she met Hara Kenji and the circumstances of how he turned into a Bernese Mountain Dog. Of course, this also included the things that happened when they went to Chawashi together.
Matsuda Jinpei fell silent for a moment after hearing this. Kisaragi Chiyo had casually dumped such a massive amount of information on him all at once, leaving Matsuda unsure of which question to ask first.
One could only say that the experiences of this person and the Evil Spirit were quite colorful. At the very least, Matsuda Jinpei never expected that one of his classmates, who had lost contact immediately after graduation, was actually working as a waiter in a cafe while also being an amateur detective on the side.
Although he understood that their reliable blonde ace might be carrying out a dangerous mission that required him to live under an assumed identity.
But as soon as Matsuda Jinpei thought of Furuya Rei working as a waiter, he couldn't help but imagine a scene of him coldly turning away customers.
How laughable, yet how intriguing.
When it came to watching the excitement of his peers, Matsuda Jinpei had always maintained a two hundred percent level of enthusiasm.
Then.. what about the other person? Thinking of this, Matsuda Jinpei slowly suppressed the smile at the corners of his mouth.
And what about Keidan? Where is he now, is he currently on a dangerous mission like Furuya Rei? Is he safe and sound? "Is there someone you know in the story?" Kisaragi Chiyo noticed the subtle change in Matsuda Jinpei's expression, looking at him with a playful smile playing on her lips.
".. No, I was just thinking about something else," Matsuda Jinpei answered vaguely.
Of course, he didn't expect Kisaragi Chiyo to believe his answer. It was precisely because he understood Kisaragi Chiyo, knowing that once he gave a reaction he didn't want to answer, she would choose to simply overlook the matter.
Look, just like right now.
"So that's how it is.. I understand." Kisaragi Chiyo nodded in understanding, acting as if he hadn't noticed anything unusual about Matsuda Jinpei, gently moved the topic along.
"Do you have anything else you want to ask?" The human looked very patient and easy to talk to.
"Any question at all?" Matsuda Jinpei narrowed his eyes slightly, shifting his gaze slightly to the side. He suddenly noticed that in the suitcase Kisaragi Chiyo had packed, a purple tennis ball had appeared for some inexplicable reason.
"I will consider answering you depending on the situation." Kisaragi Chiyo followed Matsuda Jinpei's gaze toward the back, her eyes half-lidded, as her misty gray eyes stared at the tennis ball that had appeared amidst the clothes packed closely together in the suitcase.
The culprit, that translucent tentacle that had just poked its head out from the shadows, was curled up obediently by the edge of the suitcase, tucked away in an angle that Matsuda Jinpei couldn't see. The moment Kisaragi Chiyo looked over, it carefully extended the tip of its tentacle, as if pleading to be petted.
“This is one of Hagi's favorite toys.” Kisaragi Chiyo glanced at the tentacle out of the corner of her eye and pointed at the tennis ball used for teething, introducing it: “Besides that, coming after it are the donut-shaped frisbees and the squeaky carrots.”
“..”
"Oh, wait.. let me see." Kisaragi Chiyo looked at Matsuda Jinpei, who had a hesitant expression on his face, suddenly realized something.
Now that he was a person with both cats and dogs, he had to ensure he treated everyone equally at all times.
There's still some space here." Kisaragi Chiyo squeezed a small space out of the suitcase for Matsuda Jinpei. "If there are any toys you want to bring, you can put them in here too.
“That’s not what I meant..” Matsuda Jinpei said, pressing his hand against his forehead with a look of helplessness.
He actually wanted to say that he thought he had just seen a flash of Hara Kenji's tentacles darting from a corner.
Regarding the fact that his childhood friend seemed to have turned into something like the Stoka Evil Spirit, Matsuda Jinpei looked at the victim with a headache, momentarily unsure of what to do with this one person and one evil spirit.
Kisaragi.. you shouldn't spoil him too much sometimes.
Me?" Kisaragi Chiyo blinked slowly. "I haven't done anything.
“Doing nothing is the biggest problem.. No, never mind." Matsuda Jinpei clutched his head and waved his hand in resignation, "You are fine just the way you are."
"I think perhaps once he regains his memories, everything will be fine." Kisaragi Chiyo offered a very perfunctory consolation, pinching the tentacle that was hidden within the wide sleeves of her haori.
I hope so.." Matsuda Jinpei pinched the space between his eyebrows with two fingers. "Maybe I should find some time to talk to Hagi.
By the way." Matsuda Jinpei lowered his hand and casually averted his gaze, only adding in a slow manner just as Kisaragi Chiyo was preparing to leave the room, "I want to bring my screwdriver pillow along.
"Pfft, cough, cough.. I see." Before Matsuda Jinpei's death stare could sweep over him, Kisaragi Chiyo suppressed the smile at the corners of his mouth and nodded with a grin.
After stepping out of the room while maintaining a calm expression, Kisaragi Chiyo finally could no longer hold it in and pulled out his phone to send a message to his friend to show off.
[Do you know how cute my cat is?]
[Oh, of course you don't. I almost forgot that you're a cat lover who is completely ignored by cats.]
The message was quickly marked as read.
The "typing.." indicator above appeared and disappeared intermittently.
Finally, after several minutes, a long string of ellipses was sent over.
Kisaragi Chiyo swiped several times before finally scrolling through the long string of ellipses to the bottom.
A smiley emoticon appeared in the final cell.
[：-D]
When Kisaragi Chiyo prepared to send another message, as expected, she found that she had already been blocked by him.
So petty.. sigh.
Kisaragi Chiyo did not take his friend's childish method of blocking him as a big deal; after all, it was just a small act of retaliation. Once the other party needed him, he would likely be taken off the blacklist.
Kisaragi Chiyo thought this as she put away her phone. Before preparing to head downstairs, she felt a sudden sensation and lifted her head. Standing there, in the shadows of a triangular gap between the corridor's wall and the corner, was Hara Kenji.
With most of his face hidden in the darkness, his dark purple irises stared at him without blinking. As he looked over, the originally expressionless face slowly curled into a gentle smile.
He asked softly, "Are you finished talking with Little Jinpei?"
Kisaragi Chiyo: ".."
“When did you get back?” Kisaragi Chiyo squeezed the tentacle wrapped around her wrist again. “Did you leave it behind when you left?”
"I only just got back." Hara Kenji stepped forward toward Kisaragi Chiyo, skillfully wrapping his arms around the human's shoulders and quickly finding the most comfortable position to rest his head.
I'll keep it.. thinking that perhaps it might help you organize your things.
"After all, I know you much better than Little Jinpei does, don't I?" Hara Kenji gently nuzzled his face against Kisaragi Chiyo, slowly closing his eyes as if to savor a moment of tranquility, or perhaps to soothe the unease following their brief separation.
Although I don't mind you splitting your attention with Matsuda..
"But you mustn't neglect me," the Evil Spirit said in a half-joking tone.
Otherwise, I'll get jealous and eat Chiyo-chan up.
*
Gunma is located in the northwestern part of the Kanto region. With today's well-developed transportation, the time it takes to travel from Tokyo to Gunma is not very long.
By the time Kisaragi Chiyo fell asleep wearing an eye mask on the bus, she opened her eyes to find that the bus had already arrived at her destination for this trip, Kaedokan.
He had originally brought a novel, intending to use it to pass the time on the bus.
As a result, once the car started moving, the black text on the white pages suddenly transformed into a distorted crawling insect. Although she recognized every single word, Kisaragi Chiyo tried several times but could not make them sink into her mind; instead, she only ended up making herself dizzy.
So, in the end, he decided to give up.
"What a beautiful inn." Kisaragi Chiyo pulled his suitcase and got out of the car with a cat and a dog. He tilted his head back to look at the retro Japanese-style building before him; it occupied such a vast area that he couldn't take in the whole thing at a single glance.
The hot spring inn was nestled in the mountains, like an exquisite ornament embedded in the landscape, making it a perfect place for a relaxing vacation.
It's wonderful." Kisaragi Chiyo stroked the head of the Bernese Mountain Dog crouching beside her, "We'll be spending three days and two nights here starting today.
I don't mean to rain on your parade," Matsuda Jinpei said, glancing at him from where he sat perched on Kisaragi Chiyo's shoulder, "but before you relax, you should worry about your deadline.
".. I know." Kisaragi Chiyo thought about the things she needed to do over the next few days, suddenly felt that she was still not quite suited for going out.
Anyway, we should still..
Just as Kisaragi Chiyo was about to check in with the cat and the dog, someone suddenly called out to her from behind.
Is it Kisaragi-kun?
Turning around, the handsome blond detective approached from not far away, wearing a brown trench coat. A friendly smile graced his face, his purplish-gray eyes curving slightly as his gaze swept over Kisaragi Chiyo and then over the Bernese Mountain Dog, who had clearly grown a whole size larger.
Finally, his gaze landed on the black cat with white paws, which was crouching gracefully on Kisaragi Chiyo's shoulder.
This cat," Amuro Tooru stared at the kitty with its beautiful teal eyes for several seconds before slowly commenting, "It's so fat.
Because he was in his molting season, the merely chubby Matsuda Jinmi: ".."
This human is so annoying.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Thank you for your support, my little angels! Mwah m much mwah
Chapter 56
This day was no different from any other. It wasn't yet the true peak season for tourism, so there weren't many guests staying at Kaedokan at the moment.
So during her leisure time, when no one was watching, Miss Rika, who was responsible for receiving guests at the front desk, would sneakily use the computer to play movies.
“Hello.”
The movie had only been playing for ten minutes when a male voice came from above, startling Rika so much that she slammed the playback screen shut. She hurriedly stood up and said to the guest standing at the front desk, with a hint of panic but practiced ease, "Welcome to Kaedokan."
Rika forced a warm, professional smile onto her face. She looked up, gazing at a male guest who had one hand resting on the front desk.
He was an exceptionally handsome man, with healthy tan skin and smooth blonde hair.
His purplish-gray eyes had a gentle expression, the downward curve of his eyes made him look approachable, carrying a naturally friendly aura.
The man was wearing a brown trench coat, he looked to be only in his early twenties. His smile made him seem harmless, as if he were a guest with a good temperament.
Rika made a subjective judgment.
“My friend and I would like to check in,” the blond man said with a smile, waving his phone toward Rika. “I booked the room online.”
Understood." Rika nodded, operating the computer and skillfully logging into the backend software. "May I ask the guest's name?
Amuro Tooru." The blond man repeated himself after speaking, as if he were afraid Rika hadn't heard him clearly, "My name is Amuro Tooru.
Understood, Mr. Amuro." Rika quickly looked up the man's reservation in the back-end system. "You booked a single room. Here is your key card, please take it. May I ask, your friend—
Rika had just handed the room card to the blond man and was preparing to ask the other guest a question, but the words that should have come out of her mouth with practiced ease suddenly got stuck the moment she saw him.
Rika's hand gripping the mouse broke into a cold sweat. Her eyes widened slightly, her body trembled with a tremor that was difficult to detect, as she stared at the guest standing on the other side of the front desk.
"Welcome to Kaedokan, sir," Rika said, her voice carrying a hint of dryness.
The young guest with raven-colored hair just stood there, when his misty gray eyes looked over casually and calmly, Rika felt her mind go blank for a moment. It wasn't until she snapped out of it that she realized she had been holding her breath.