Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Su'er hit his forehead against the table over and over again. After Think said those words, he looked ashen.
Mother and daughter.
And mother and daughter.
Mother and daughter my foot. Their hair colors are different. How can that be inherited?
By mutation?
Such a big change only changes the hair?
Oh, Riku and the others don't know about genetics...
With the relationship between you and Jibril, will adding a generation to yourself not cause a great war?
After the last time he hit his forehead on the table, Su'er fell onto the table with a blank face, letting the cold tabletop sober up his mind. From this position, he could see Think and Jibril sitting together with smiles on their faces. He didn't know what these two guys had said to each other in private, but the most amazing thing was that there was no sign of an argument at all.
"Here, have some more water," Riku calmly said, pushing the cup in front of Su'er and blocking his view.
For this man, just from Su'er's reaction, he had already sensed a lot.
On the other side, Couronne was still speechless. She mumbled for a long time without saying a single word, only flailing her two arms in the air.
"Oh oh oh, huh huh? Mo, mother and daughter?" Finally, she managed to squeeze out a few words, knocking her teeth together. Couronne kept looking back and forth between Su'er, Think, and Jibril, her fingers starting to tremble.
"Is, is it that fast??!"
Couronne was already doubting the limits of human growth, constantly counting on her fingers, not knowing what she was calculating.
Or...
"Ah~, this one... ahem, yes, we are mother and daughter~," Jibril said with a smile, holding Think's arm with her hand and affectionately leaning on it.
Su'er saw Think's expression visibly stiffen. Jibril was applying force!
"Ah, little Ji is indeed a very good child, isn't she? Do you want to pat her head? She's very cute~," Think said with a forced smile through gritted teeth while rubbing Jibril's hair with her other hand, and even turned to invite Couronne.
"Ah, ahahaha, no, not necessary for now, right?" A faint sense of warning flashed in Couronne's heart. She quietly swallowed her saliva and refused with a dry laugh.
What's wrong with this mother and daughter pair? It feels so messy...
"Don't listen to her nonsense. She always likes to joke around and see people's dumbfounded reactions," Su'er kept rubbing his temples. So why did these two have to follow him here? Wouldn't it have been better to just wait outside?
They could find a place to fight whenever they wanted, which would be much more refreshing than acting here.
"Speaking of which, do you still remember when we found this safe spot?" Riku suddenly turned his head and asked Su'er, looking at the strange atmosphere on the other side.
"Of course, I remember. The temperature in the cave should have been cold and damp, but when we came in, weren't we surprised why it felt so warm?" Su'er recalled and said.
"Yes, your guess at the time was correct," Riku nodded in agreement and said, "There is indeed a hot spring here. Everyone accidentally dug it out when they were widening the cave after moving here. Are you interested in going to see it?"
The last words were directed at Think and Jibril.
"Oh! Right, the hot spring has now become a unique feature of our settlement. We used to have to specially boil water for baths, but now we don't have to waste any!" Couronne said proudly with a smile when this was brought up. "Girls should love hot springs. I'll take you to see them, okay?"
"Mmm~~~hmm~~~," Think drew out her voice, tilted her head to look at Su'er, and then at Riku. "Okay then~, I'll be waiting for your news, Su'er~"
"Okay, be careful."
"Huh? What's there to be careful about in the settlement? Su'er, you're ridiculous. You've been scared and worried outside for too long, haven't you?" Without further ado, Couronne excitedly stood up. She wanted to pick up Jibril from the chair, but in the next second, she was nimbly dodged.
"Anyway, you two haven't seen each other for such a long time, so you should talk more! We'll be back in a while!" Couronne stuck half of her body out from the wooden door and waved her hand. "By the way, Think and Jibril, right? I'll just call you by your names. Let me take you around first, okay?"
"Although Su'er hasn't been in the settlement all this time, we have always kept his room for him. Do you want to go and see it? Or do you need anything..."
"Oh? Let's go and see that first..."
The wooden door, which was not very soundproof, was closed, and Su'er and Riku could hear the voices outside gradually fading away.
Both Su'er and Riku let out a long sigh of relief.
They were not too worried that those two would do anything out of line... Uh, probably. Su'er still believed that they knew how to distinguish between what was important and what wasn't. If he had stayed here, it would have indeed been inconvenient for him to talk about some more private matters with Riku.
"They're not human, are they?" Riku suddenly said in a low voice after a long time of quietly staring at the closed wooden door.
It was not a guess or a test, but a direct affirmation.
"No, the blonde one is an Elf, and the pink-haired one is a Flügel," Su'er knew that Riku must have noticed the abnormality, so he answered straightforwardly. "How about it? Are you scared?"
As he spoke, Su'er chuckled slightly and turned his head to carefully observe Riku's expression—there was no expression, or rather, it was surprisingly calm.
"You're still as twisted as ever... but much better than before," Riku saw what Su'er was expecting at a glance and couldn't help but smile wryly. "The old you would also make some jokes, but it was much less relaxed from the inside out than you are now. It seems you've been through a lot of things outside these two years."
"Well, something like that," Su'er sighed deeply. Meeting again after two years, it felt like there was an endless amount of things to say, so much so that Su'er didn't even know where to begin.
"I'm already very satisfied just seeing how everyone in the settlement is now," Su'er propped his head up with a hint of melancholy, and slowly said, tapping the table with his fingers, "That kind of mental state can't be faked. It's not the numbness from before, but a fresh vitality... You and Couronne have worked hard these two years."
"Everyone has worked hard," Riku didn't deny it. He just added more hot water to Su'er's cup. "Tell me about your things. Those foods and cold-resistant clothes should be your doing?"