"S-Spreading rumors?" Hearing Acheron say this, Paimon seemed to realize the gravity of the situation. She immediately explained herself: "I was just... I was just saying whatever came to mind! I didn't... actually think that way, hehe."
At the end of her sentence, perhaps to embolden herself, Paimon let out a dry laugh.
So it seems it's not Kaito.
Lumine understood this now and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Right... In that case...
Wait!
Could it be Makoto?
Just as Lumine was wondering who it could be, she suddenly remembered the person named Makoto. This time, she felt that must be it.
Even so, she still asked aloud, "Is it Makoto? I feel like it should be Her, right?"
"Of course it's true! I was just making a random guess." Thinking Lumine was asking if her statement was 'true', Paimon immediately declared it was true.
"You two are talking at cross purposes, just babbling nonsense."
Hearing Lumine and Paimon's exchange, Miko laughed again. Then she continued, "Yes, it is Makoto. Her Excellency, the Shogun really wants Makoto to go over and keep Her company."
"Makoto? So that's a name?"
Scratching her head, Paimon finally understood that this 'Makoto' wasn't the word for 'real', but a name.
"What a smart little fellow." Looking at Paimon's bewildered face, it was unclear if Miko was praising her or mocking her.
However, it was obvious Paimon had misunderstood again. "So, is that person named Makoto also small like me? And just how smart is 'smart'?"
Lumine: "..."
This idiot!
Seeing Paimon's confused expression, Lumine was speechless.
However, after thinking about it, she felt that the name 'Makoto' indeed could easily cause some misunderstandings.
"Alright, I take back what I just said."
Seeing Paimon like this, Miko indicated she was retracting her praise of Paimon's intelligence.
There was no helping it; this little one was obviously too dense to be considered smart.
"Then, Acheron, you should go with Miko," Kaito spoke up at this moment, directly telling Acheron to accompany Miko.
He had long anticipated such an event, so he appeared quite direct now.
"Just like that? Not going to discuss it?"
Unexpectedly seeing Kaito directly send Acheron away with her, Miko was somewhat surprised.
She originally thought they would need to discuss it, but it turned out to be unnecessary.
"You can just discuss it with Acheron; there's no need to discuss it with us," Kaito replied quickly.
Since Acheron was technically himself, Kaito said this.
It was just that others didn't know this situation, so it seemed a bit strange. But strange or not, he didn't want to explain much.
"Fine then. Shall we go, Mei?" Thinking it over, Miko turned her gaze to Mei beside her.
"Mn, let's go."
Nodding, Acheron walked over to Miko's side.
Right...
Just as Miko was about to leave, her gaze suddenly turned to Kaito again.
"Why are you looking at me? Surely I don't have to go too?"
Meeting Miko's gaze, Kaito clearly didn't understand what she was doing looking at him.
"No need." Shaking her head, Miko continued, "It's just... are you and Lumine only going to soak in the hot spring?"
Why bring me up all of a sudden?
Lumine, standing to the side, obviously hadn't expected to suddenly become the focus of the discussion. She had thought Miko was about to leave, but then Miko suddenly brought up matters concerning her, which surprised her somewhat.
"I'm still thinking about it."
Since he hadn't decided what to do yet, Kaito could only answer this way.
"Then do your best." Giving Kaito a meaningful look and offering Lumine a smile, Miko and Acheron left the place.
Why do I need to 'do my best'?
Lumine clearly didn't understand why Miko said "do your best." However, since Miko had already left, she didn't ask further.
"Ah! Miko still hasn't settled the Mora payment with me!" After Miko left, Paimon suddenly remembered she hadn't been paid yet.
"Next time. It's not like she's going to run away."
Chuckling, Kaito told Paimon to bring it up next time.
However, despite saying this, he had actually already communicated this matter to Miko through Acheron's side.
After all, Paimon cared quite a bit about this, so he should help her out.
"Alright. Let's go back and have a sleep first."
Hearing Kaito say this, Paimon thought about it and felt he was right, so she planned to sleep after returning.
Having just soaked in the hot spring and eaten quite a bit, the next step was definitely to have a wonderful sleep.
As for Paimon's decision, Lumine agreed very much and didn't say Paimon did nothing but eat and sleep as she usually would.
"Strange. Lumine didn't say I do nothing but eat and sleep this time." Paimon, who originally expected to hear Lumine say this about her, found that Lumine had no such intention. This made Paimon, who was already used to Lumine saying this, very curious.
"That's right, you do nothing but eat and sleep. Is there anything else to say?"
Unexpectedly seeing Paimon bring this up herself, Lumine decided to satisfy her.
She originally hadn't planned to scold Paimon this time, but since Paimon was asking for it, she could only oblige her.
"No way! I just took a commission from Miko myself! How is that nothing but eating and sleeping?" After Lumine really said it, Paimon immediately brought up the fact that she had just accepted Miko's commission to refute Lumine's statement.
Lumine: "..."
Regarding Paimon's rebuttal, Lumine really didn't know what to say.
She suddenly felt that Paimon had actively provoked that comment just to use this matter to refute her; otherwise, she really couldn't figure out what Paimon was thinking.
"Alright, stop talking. Let's go back."
Feeling that the conversation between Lumine and Paimon was truly devoid of substance, Kaito decided to head back first.
Since Paimon wanted to sleep, he would take her back to sleep first.
As for what came next, he would think about what to do with Lumine later.
As for Wendy, he felt he could continue using the previous excuse of her going out for a stroll.
Since it had been used so many times, one more time wouldn't hurt.
"Yeah, we need to hurry back. I haven't slept yet today."
Hearing Kaito say this, Paimon also agreed readily.
No matter what, sleeping was a very important matter and couldn't be wasted.
Sigh...
Can't be bothered to lecture this guy...
Looking at Paimon, Lumine decided she couldn't be bothered to pay her any mind.
Since Paimon would continue to do this regardless of what was said, she might as well stop talking and save herself some time and energy for other things.
Like... the things to come.
____
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