Quickly changing his shoes at the door, Shu took a quick look at himself in the mirror by the door. He ruffled his slightly messy hair to make himself look a little better, then walked out the door and quickly arrived in front of Kiana's and the others' residence, and rang the doorbell.
"Ding dong." After ringing the doorbell with a considerable lack of familiarity, Shu was hesitating whether to ring it again when the door "automatically" opened.
Shu subconsciously looked down. Theresa, in a pink HOMU pajama set, rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked at Shu in a daze.
"Oh, it's Shu... ahah~" Perhaps because she couldn't lift her eyelids, Theresa could only look up. She tilted her head and squinted to see the person's face clearly, then yawned and stretched as she made way for him to enter.
"Kiana just said you were coming... that was fast," Theresa said, watching Shu change his shoes at the door. Her hazy appearance made it clear that she was probably still lying in bed just now.
He subconsciously took out his phone and looked at the time. It wasn't even nine o'clock yet. It was normal for someone like Theresa to be sleeping in.
"She snatched the soup I was preparing," Shu said, putting away his phone with some helplessness.
Theresa slightly opened one eye, then sighed. "Sigh... so she achieved it this way? Mei said she would ask someone to call you for breakfast, and Kiana even volunteered..."
"...At least it's very effective," after a moment of silence, Shu pinched his nose and saved some face for Kiana.
It was indeed very effective. Among the various ways to get him to come over, Kiana had chosen the most efficient and effective one.
"Mmm, Fu Hua and Li Sushang have already arrived. Bianka and Rita will be here later. Seele and the others... yawn~ Seele and the others have been staying here since yesterday. They're all in the living room now."
Listening to Theresa's report, which was interspersed with yawns, Shu's heart tightened slightly. The urge to turn around and leave flashed through his mind and quickly dissipated.
It's fine. At least they're all people I know. I've at least spoken to them a few times. And with Kiana around, there shouldn't be any awkward silence. I just need to talk less.
"You can go to the living room first. I'll wait for Bianka and Rita. They just said they're on their way and should be here soon, ahhh~"
Why don't you just go back to bed...
The corner of Shu's eye twitched. Theresa had already fallen into a light sleep against the wall. It was clear that she really wanted to sleep.
Tiptoeing around Theresa, Shu walked into the noisy living room without waking her up.
There were really a lot of people in the living room, mainly concentrated on the sofa and in front of the game console.
The girls on the sofa were chatting, their smiles gentle and lively, the kind of heartfelt smiles that only arose from common topics.
The girls in front of the game console were playing and fighting. Although they were not as quiet as the girls on the sofa, they had a liveliness unique to youth. The small amount of urgency mixed in with the laughter was a sign of the color of youth.
Fleeting, yet eternal in every moment.
This atmosphere made Shu stand dazedly at the door for a few seconds. He uncontrollably began to recall when he had last felt this kind of atmosphere.
The orphanage? On Cocolia's island?
No, he had definitely not felt this kind of sentiment at that time. At that time, he was still in a state of alert that "the Herrscher is in the dark and may attack at any time," and he had not felt this kind of feeling from those children at all.
Was it earlier?
Although Babylon was a world of fairy tales, the dark past hidden within it did not contain this kind of emotion.
De Pascal was a pure white place, and the almost single-linear encounter could not possibly have this kind of situation.
So... the last time he had encountered this situation was in the "Nest"? Or in that underground shelter in Sapphire City?
Perhaps it was even earlier, at Chiba Academy...
"Ah! Shu is here!" After being defeated by the great demon king Bronya again, Sirin grabbed her hair in frustration. As she fell with a wail, she saw Shu standing at the door.
With Sirin's shout, all the eyes in the living room instantly focused on Shu.
Along with the laughter and conversation, it also stopped. At this moment, Shu felt like he was the culprit who had destroyed the beautiful scene before.
An invisible pressure suddenly came up.
Should he say something?
"Uh... good morning, everyone?" After a moment of hesitation, Shu raised his hand and squeezed out a smile.
"Good morning, Senior Shu," Seele took the lead in responding to Shu. But even her weak voice sounded more confident than Shu's greeting just now.
"No need to call me senior. Just call me Shu," even with a response, Shu was still a little embarrassed. But at least this meant that someone was willing to talk to him, so that he wouldn't be in a situation where no one cared after he spoke.
"Hey, don't tell me you want this great one to call you Shu-nisan?" Sin Mal, who had taken the game controller from Sirin, raised an eyebrow at Shu before sitting down. "Admit it, you're almost an uncle."
As she spoke, Sin Mal even gave Li Sushang a look in front of Shu.
Shu was silent. He looked at Li Sushang very seriously, seriously considered the age difference between him and Li Sushang, and then thought about the age difference required for the title of "uncle."
What, I'm already going to be an uncle? I thought I was still in the "brother" generation!
As she had wished, seeing Shu's "sky is falling" expression, Sin Mal let out a heartless laugh. Then she turned her head and saw that her character had already been hit to half health by Bronya's most insulting first normal attack.
"You! Bronya, you're not playing fair!" The naive Sin Mal instantly matured, her face flushed as she wanted to fight back.
But she couldn't beat the great demon king Bronya in the first place, and now she was at a disadvantage with only half health. After starting to fight back, she was quickly defeated by the equally excited Bronya in a few moves.
"Next," Bronya waved her hand effortlessly, completely ignoring the thick "curse power" that had spread from the side of Sin Mal.
Next was the time for a real-life fight!
"Damn you, Bronya! Take this! Heaven and Earth Together!"
"Provocation from Sin detected. Analysis result is overestimation of ability." Bronya was not to be outdone. Her eyes narrowed, she put down the controller, turned around, and got entangled with Sin Mal.
The two of them scratched at each other and rolled to the side while trying to grab each other.
In the midst of their evenly matched battle, the laughter returned. Shu felt that the gazes on him had also lessened. This made him let out a long sigh of relief. He walked into the living room and sat down on the edge of the sofa.