At the Victoria Housekeeping residence, Ellen had found yet another excuse to skip work.
Rina had gone out to buy ingredients. Lycaon—and Corin as well—had taken a delivery commission and were out on the road.
That left Ellen alone, with absolutely nothing to do… so naturally, she sprawled on the sofa and slept.
Honestly. Who even likes that kind of Bangboo design? she thought hazily. That "thinker sitting on a golden toilet"… ugh. Looks just like that statue in front of Ballet Tower…
Though I heard someone's about to buy that building, she mused. Who in their right mind buys a half-corrupted, Ether-eaten skyscraper? Even just purging the Ethereals inside would cost a fortune. What kind of unlucky idiot takes a job like that…
"Yaaawn…"
Ellen's eyelids drooped even heavier.
"Why am I getting sleepier and sleepier… It's like I can't sleep enough no matter how long I do it…"
Her tail twitched once, then sagged.
"…If Chiya were here, that'd be nice. One sip of the tea he makes, a bite of his medicinal cooking… then I'd just pull him into my arms and sleep…"
She jolted herself with a tiny shake.
"No. Ellen. You can't be this lazy…"
"Alright. I've decided. I'll sleep a little more—hopefully no customers—"
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"…Sigh. What a pain."
Half-asleep, she picked up.
"Hello… (rubs eyes) This is Victoria Housekeeping… (yawns) We are very unhappy to serve you…"
"Ellen. Did you stay up again?"
Ellen froze—then her voice softened instantly.
"…Oh. It's Chiya."
A lazy stretch ran through her spine. Her shark tail, nimble enough to avoid getting pinned under her, swayed in the air instead—wagging like an excited puppy, fogging the phone screen with warm breath.
"This is your fault," she said.
"…My fault?"
"Yes."
Propping her cheek on one hand, Ellen raised the other and began counting on her pale fingers—solemnly "listing" his crimes.
"First: Pride. You said you'd come see me every so often, but you decided—on your own—that your willpower outranks my longing. Guilty."
"…Mm."
"Second: Sloth. You promised we'd go to the beach together. Then you stood me up. I ended up surrounded by little fish nibbling my tail—itching like crazy—and I didn't even dare move!"
"…But—mm. Fine. Never mind…"
"And third—Greed."
Her tone shifted from sleepy teasing to genuine sulkiness, words spilling out faster and faster like she'd been holding them in for days:
"Having me should be enough, but you don't know how to rein in your charm, and you never refuse those women with ulterior motives, and unless it's truly impossible you always go all-out to help other people, and then you make that bratty face and say things like 'I don't need payback' and 'D-don't think I'm doing this for you!' which is absolutely the kind of thing that makes people misunderstand, and every single time we go out to eat I can see you tapping your phone and somehow there are more women's names I don't recognize in it!!!"
"Stop—stop! I'm not that bad!"
"Even if you're not, you still are," Ellen huffed. "At the very least… you haven't come to see me in ages…"
"…That one's on me," Chiya admitted.
Honestly, it was almost unfair.
Compared to other fish who "breathe" by just opening and closing their mouths, a shark Thiren—who lives by movement—was built different. After a rant that would've left most people gasping, Ellen didn't even sound winded. If anything, she looked like she was about to keep going.
Chiya—who had called because he wanted to vent his own confusion and pressure—hurriedly waved a surrender flag.
Ellen took the hint and, magnanimously, offered him a step down.
"So," she said, voice turning businesslike, "what service do you need this time?"
"Uh… Rina isn't there?"
"…She went shopping."
"What about Lycaon?"
"…Out delivering."
"Corin, then—"
"She's out with the boss too. In short: you're not considering me, are you? Fine. Victoria Housekeeping is very unhappy to serve you. Good—"
"Then thank you, Ellen~~"
"…Huh?"
Chiya's tone was mild, but the words landed exactly where they were meant to.
"Honestly, I'm feeling really lost. A lot of pressure. I thought I'd need several people."
"But if it's you, Ellen… one of you can handle what would take several of others."
"I just worried I'd be putting too much on you, so I asked whether anyone else was around."
"…And since they aren't…"
"Ellen, I'm entrusting everything to you."
"…You and your weird lines," Ellen muttered.
But her pout melted away, replaced by unmistakable pride—warm, pleased… and just a tiny bit shy.
"Fine," she said, clearing her throat. "Where are you? Should I come to you, or you come to me?"
"Come to me," Chiya said. "Let's do something that'll make you happy. Something relaxing. Stress relief?"
"…Mm!"
Happy. Relaxing. Stress relief.
Ellen's mind blanked for a split second.
Wait—does he mean—?!
She didn't let herself finish the thought. She sprang off the sofa like a cyclone and was out of the room in a flash.
And the moment she left, another call came in.
But now, there was no one there to answer it.
Just as the caller was about to despair, the door opened.
"Hm? Ellen isn't here? She just ignored a customer call…"
Rina's voice carried a dangerous gentleness.
"It seems we'll need to retrain Ellen on Victoria Housekeeping's rules, Lord Lycaon."
Lycaon sighed.
"…Corin?"
"C-Corin… agrees…" Corin squeaked, faintly murderous for reasons even she didn't fully understand.
"First, we answer the phone," Lycaon said wearily.
Rina picked up.
"Hello. This is—"
"You're Victoria Housekeeping, right?! Help us!!!"
"Sir/Ma'am, please calm down—"
"Man! We can't calm down! The people outside are about to lose it! And there's a disobedient cat in here who wants to—"
"Let me take the short one outside! Nicole, don't stop me!"
"Nekomata. Calm down."
"Anyway, we're inside the Dead End Hollow! Chiya gave us your contact! We're important to Chiya!"
"Oh?" Rina's smile sharpened. "And may I ask what your relationship to Lord Chiya is? If you simply obtained the number by chance—"
"Chiya's my dog—no, I'm Chiya's dog—no! Wait, hold on!"
The voice on the other end scrambled, then blurted the final answer like it was a battlefield confession:
"Chiya is my man! I belong to him! Is that relationship good enough?! Just hurry up and get here!"
The call ended.
Lycaon stared at the silent phone.
He could feel it.
Not one—two terrifying pressures rising inside the room.
Rina's smile was impeccable, sweet as sugar and sharp as a blade.
"Lord Lycaon," she said lightly, "shall we depart? I'm… very curious about who that young lady might be."
Corin, meanwhile, was whispering to herself like a tiny executioner.
"Chop… slice… mince…"
Lycaon: "…Sigh."
"Let's go," he said. "For the client's sake, I hope they're still alive when we arrive…"
Meanwhile, at Lumina Square, in a children's park not far from a hotpot place, Ellen stared at Chiya, pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed.
Her tail—previously wagging with excitement—drooped in total defeat.
"So, Chiya," she said flatly, "this is your idea of 'stress relief'?"
Chiya, seated on a kiddie rocker shaped like a pink ice-cream cone, rocked happily back and forth.
"Isn't it great? I feel my whole body relaxing."
His silver cowlick bobbed with each sway, fluttering in the breeze—like bait on a fishing line, tugging Ellen's gaze again and again.
"And whenever I come here, there's always a kid on it, so I feel awkward competing. But today there isn't a single kid around, so I can finally let go and—"
He didn't get to finish.
A pair of red eyes closed in on his face—so close he could feel her breath.
Then strong arms locked around him from behind, trapping him.
"I'm sorry, Chiya," Ellen said.
"I'll forgive you."
Having declared something wildly backwards, she opened her mouth and—
Chomp.
A "shark bite" landed on his sensitive little cowlick.
Chiya's entire body froze.
His throat bobbed with a hard swallow.
Warm breath brushed his temple. Fine, prickling pain radiated from the hair roots—then quickly melted into a different sensation, one that made his ears burn.
"W-wait…" His voice caught in his heated throat, the ending trembling.
He tried to lean back—and only made the caught strand pull tighter.
The tug at his scalp made his knees go weak.
Far away, a ship horn sounded, absurdly loud. His heartbeat thundered in his ears. Even his breathing turned into scalding fog.
His fingers clenched the rocker's handle until his knuckles whitened. Somewhere along the way, his collar had been tugged open just enough to show a faintly flushed collarbone.
When Ellen's teeth grazed his scalp again—
Chiya's back arched sharply.
His jacket slipped, exposing the back of his neck—already beaded with sweat, glittering under the sun.
When Ellen finally released him, Chiya had collapsed bonelessly on the rocker, breathing fast and shallow.
Ellen licked her lips without thinking.
So his cowlick is that sensitive…
Noted. Extremely usable next time.
She leaned in—ready to escalate—
"YOU DAMN SHARK! LET HIM GO!!!"
A furious shout exploded behind her, followed by something whistling through the air.
Ellen's instincts screamed: small, round object—Bangboo-like—flying straight at her.
No time to think.
Her body moved first.
Ellen scooped Chiya up and jumped away from the rocker.
As she did, she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye—
A small, bright red boar.
"…What."
Amillion's Lament vs. Round Shark: Battle in Progress
Back at the Vision Corporation demolition monitoring point, in front of the train—
"Ugh—!"
"YOU LITTLE DWARF! YOU MURDEROUS BASTARD! SURRENDER!"
With Nekomata's furious smack, Perlman got flattened against the platform like a slime.
Handcuffed, he could only wail pitifully.
Nicole snapped orders at Nekomata and Belle:
"Nekomata, drag this guy onto the train! Anby and Billy already went to the cab!"
"Proxy—tell the residents to get ready to board on the platform!"
Hearing that, Perlman jerked his head up, cold sweat bursting out.
"You… you're going to use the train to take those slum rats out?!"
"No! Absolutely not!"
"If they escape and start talking, Vision and I are finished!"
"I don't care who does it or how—stop this right now—!"
At that exact moment, one of the thugs Nicole had pinned under her foot—taking advantage of a lapse—slammed the detonator in his hand.
Boom.
Fairy's warning hit immediately.
"Warning. Planned transit route unexpectedly severed. Detecting rail damage from a small-scale explosion. Plan failed."
"What—?!" Belle shouted, steering Eous around in panic.
"Nicole! Bad news—the rails are damaged!"
"What did you say?!"
The masked thug turned his face toward Perlman's direction. You couldn't see his expression, but the smugness oozed out of his voice.
"Officer Perlman, no need to worry! I've destroyed the only rail line leading toward New Eridu… They can't get out—"
"…What?!"
"You—you—YOU IDIOT!!"
Perlman's breakdown was instant.
"The rail was supposed to be blown after we retreated!"
"You did it now, so the refugees can't leave—great—but that means we're trapped too!"
"Waaah… why am I so miserable… Why did it end up like this…"
"I finally had a chance to grow taller… a chance to become part of the TOPS financial league…"
"Two happy things stacking together, becoming a dreamlike happiness… so why… why is it like this…"
"It's you—YOU—"
"Ugh—!"
"Shut up, dwarf!"
Nekomata yanked Perlman around and drove an elbow into his stomach like a sledgehammer.
Perlman rolled his eyes and started twitching on the ground.
Anby and Billy rushed in from the cab.
"Nicole! Bad news—enemy reinforcements are showing up all around us! What do we do?"
"Damn it…" Nicole spat. "Take the dwarf. We retreat into the train!"
Once inside the cab, the enemy forces didn't dare storm in—Perlman was a hostage.
But their original plan was completely dead.
"At least this guy's good for something," Billy quipped, sitting on the floor.
Anby, grim as ever, replied, "They won't rush us, but the evacuation plan has failed."
While Billy and Anby frowned, Nekomata suddenly started laughing.
"Hey! Now's really not the time to laugh!"
"No," Nekomata said, eyes gleaming, "I'm not laughing at that. During the fight… I happened to find something…"
"…My family heirloom."
Nekomata slumped down, frustration leaking out of her shoulders.
"Nicole… even if you called reinforcements… can they really make it in time?"
"Relax!" Nicole said, forcing confidence into her grin. "Chiya's judgment is never wrong!"
"…Still," she muttered under her breath, "why do I feel this creepy chill up my spine…?"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 74)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter20)
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin