At the Fuyuki City Church.
Rarely did Naoki come here.
"You're going to Tokyo?"
Even rarer, Caren—who wasn't freeloading at the Natsukawa residence and had actually returned to her own home—stared at him in surprise. "For a sixth-grade elementary school trip? You can't stand leaving your little sister alone? What a sister-complex brother."
"I won't deny it." Naoki replied seriously. "I checked the itinerary with Atalanta. They leave school in the morning, take the Shinkansen to Tokyo, arrive around noon, spend the day and night there, and return the next afternoon. It's called a one-day trip, but it's practically two days."
"Hm, what's the problem with that?"
"Leaving Gray alone out there for two days? I can't relax!"
This hopeless brother was beyond saving.
Caren sighed in resignation. "I recall that new teacher… Mrs. Natsukawa, isn't she going along?"
"Who's that?"
"Hm? Doesn't that cat girl using your last name mean she's married to you? What's wrong with calling her your wife?"
"That's a huge problem. I only gave her a pseudonym for convenience. How did your mind go there?"
"But having the same last name makes it hard not to think that way." Caren chuckled. "That Servant's going too, so you're still worried about your sister's safety?"
Naoki shook his head firmly. "Tama's not just looking after Gray. With so many kids in her grade, even she'll be a bit overwhelmed. So, at the very least, I'll take care of Gray to lighten her load."
"In short, you can't function without your sister, so you want to tag along, right?"
"Who can't function?! You think I didn't survive before Gray came along?"
"Maybe someone was supporting you."
"Hmph~ You're way off." Naoki grinned proudly. "In the beginning, I was the one supporting others!"
So he was the one supported later, huh? And was that even something to brag about?
Caren roughly understood the kind of life Naoki led before. Honestly, supporting a good-looking guy like him? Plenty of rich women would line up for that. Sadly, she wasn't one of them. Otherwise, she might've been tempted to try.
Not to support him for his looks—just because she felt he could entertain her for a long time.
"So, how are you going? As a chaperone?"
"No, I'll tell Gray I happen to have business in Tokyo and tag along. I actually do need to go to Tokyo."
"Why? You're that eager to visit Tokyo?"
"Not me—that kid at home wants to."
Oh, Mordred.
Caren understood immediately. "Didn't you enroll her in school as a student? You're letting her go to Tokyo?"
Mentioning this, Naoki's expression darkened. "Don't bring it up. That kid's not cut out for school at all. She caused so much trouble. Five days a week, I was called to the school—almost daily phone calls…"
"Hm, I can imagine. Servants struggle to adapt to modern society."
Atalanta was doing decently. Since she loved kids, with some time, she could adjust to an elementary school and gradually blend into modern society.
But Mordred—that delinquent had zero intention of adapting! She even planned to dominate the school first, then the whole country, aiming to become the king of Japanese high schools! With her abilities, if this were an anime sports series set, she might actually pull it off.
Thankfully, she hadn't learned about prime minister elections yet.
"So I pulled her out of school and plan to find a time to take her to Old Man Jewel's place, dumping her on her mom."
"You're like a clueless dad who can't handle his kid and wants to pawn her off on her mother."
"Can you stop using phrases that could be misunderstood every time?" Naoki said, mildly annoyed. "Anyway, I'm going to Tokyo with Gray. Just letting you know."
"Why tell me?"
Naoki answered flatly, "Aren't you my supervisor? Besides, I'll have to call Rin too."
"…"
Caren felt utterly defeated by this guy.
Normal people under supervision would want to break free, right? It's uncomfortable being watched all the time. Escaping supervision this morning would've been the logical move.
But Naoki was the opposite. Not only did he willingly accept her as his supervisor, he even informed her of his travel plans—Could you at least show the attitude of someone being monitored?
"Fine, I get it. Go to Tokyo if you want, but I'm not coming this time. I'll hand the monitoring duties to the church's personnel in Tokyo. Just don't cause a major incident during those two days."
"Relax, I don't intentionally cause trouble, and I always follow the Magus principle of concealing mysteries."
At those words, Caren's eyebrow twitched.
She desperately wanted to ask if he had amnesia or something, daring to claim he always hid mysteries. Every time he dropped a moon, where was the "concealing" in that?
(Whatever. If he causes trouble, it's not my mess to clean up. Let the Tokyo church deal with the headache.)