After all, the real culprit behind all this mess was none other than Fūko — who had now returned to her doll body.
And it was Lin Feng who had brought Fūko here in the first place.
In other words, if Lin Feng hadn't brought Fūko along, none of this would've happened, and Shizuka wouldn't have been scolded by her mother.
But now, instead of blaming them, Shizuka's mother was actually apologizing to both her daughter and Lin Feng after learning what really happened — which left Lin Feng feeling more than a little awkward.
"Lin Feng-kun, you really know how to talk, don't you? In that case, I'll leave things to you two here."
"Shizuka, be careful while you're cleaning up later, alright?"
After praising Lin Feng once more and giving Shizuka a gentle reminder, her mother finally left the room.
"I know, Mom…"
Once she saw her mother walk out, Shizuka finally let out a small sigh of relief.
"Shuu~ shuu~!"
The moment Shizuka's mother was gone, Fūko — who had been pretending to be just a toy this whole time — finally started to move again.
This time, however, since she was using the doll body that Shizuka had given her, she didn't stir up any big gusts of wind.
"Sorry, Shizuka, I made such a mess here… and even got you all dirty…"
"Fūko, this is all your doing. Hurry up and apologize to Shizuka."
Once Shizuka's mother left, Lin Feng finally had the chance to apologize himself.
After saying sorry to Shizuka, he quickly turned to Fūko, urging her to do the same — and to take responsibility for her mistake.
"Shuu~ shuu~!"
Fūko could understand human speech, and after hearing Shizuka's mother scold her daughter earlier, she had realized that she'd made a mistake.
So when Lin Feng told her to apologize, she carefully fluttered over to Shizuka's side and let out two soft "shuu" sounds. From the low, subdued tone of her voice, it really did sound like she was apologizing.
"Alright, alright, you two… I never said I was mad, did I? You don't need to apologize."
Shizuka was surprisingly easygoing. After all, aside from getting a face full of flour and a short lecture from her mom, she hadn't suffered any real loss.
"Shuu~ shuu~!"
Hearing that Shizuka wasn't angry, Fūko happily circled around her twice.
Before Shizuka could even react, Fūko suddenly used her wind powers again.
This time, though, she was very careful — not strong enough to hurt Shizuka, and not enough to blow the flour dust everywhere.
What she wanted to do was use her wind to blow all the flour off Shizuka's body, while also tidying up the mess she'd made — the overturned pots, dishes, and all the other scattered things.
After a brief swirl of gentle wind brushed over her, Shizuka realized that all the flour covering her had completely vanished.
And when she looked around, everything that Fūko had knocked over earlier in the dining room was now neatly set back in place — all thanks to her wind ability.
One had to admit, her cleanup efficiency was impressive.
"Wow, it's really all clean…!"
"Fūko, you're amazing!"
Shizuka looked at herself in the mirror — not a speck of dust left on her clothes — then looked around the tidy dining room. She couldn't help smiling as she praised Fūko.
"Shuu~ shuu~!"
Fūko had already been overjoyed just to be forgiven. Now, being praised like this, she was practically bursting with happiness — if she had a tail, it would've been wagging in the air right now.
Unfortunately, the doll body Shizuka gave her didn't come with one…
But that didn't stop Fūko from expressing her joy. She pressed herself close to Shizuka's cheek, nuzzling and rubbing affectionately.
"Hahaha, stop it! That tickles!"
Having her favorite doll act so affectionately made Shizuka laugh with delight — though when Fūko got too excited, it was a bit overwhelming.
Watching the two of them getting along so well, Lin Feng couldn't help but smile quietly from the side.
———
Compared to Lin Feng's pleasant visit to Shizuka's house — baking cakes and having fun — Nobita's situation on the other side was… miserable.
Empty lot.
"What did you just say? Nobita, are you trying to say that I, Gian, am picking on you?"
Gian grabbed Nobita by the collar with his left hand and raised a clenched fist with his right, glaring furiously.
"Cough, cough… N-no! That's not what I meant! I just said I don't know how to find a place like that for you…"
Dangling helplessly in Gian's grip, Nobita clutched at his hand, struggling to breathe as he tried to explain himself.
Here's what happened — Gian wanted to practice baseball in preparation for next week's match.
But since it had been raining every evening lately, the open lot had turned into a muddy mess, completely unusable for baseball practice.
So Gian decided to "ask" Nobita for help — meaning he wanted him to figure something out.
"I know you can't do anything yourself. But just because you can't, doesn't mean Doraemon can't, right? Suneo, don't you agree?"
Clearly, Gian had planned this from the start. He never expected useless Nobita to come up with anything — he just wanted to push him into begging Doraemon for help.
"Yeah, exactly! That's right, Nobita. You'd better just give in, or else… heheh…"
Suneo chimed in from the side with his usual sly grin, fawning over Gian as always.
When it came to bullying Nobita under Gian's shadow, Suneo had practically mastered the art. It was easy for him to take advantage of the situation and gang up on Nobita.
"But… even Doraemon might not have a way…"
Nobita mumbled softly, turning his head aside, almost whispering to himself.
"What's that? What did you just say, Nobita? I didn't quite catch that. Why don't you say it again?"
Gian, noticing his muttering, grew even angrier, raising his fist threateningly.
"N-nothing! Alright, alright! I'll go ask Doraemon right now to help…!"
Frightened by Gian's fierce glare, Nobita immediately gave in on the spot.