The air after the rain was cool and clean.
As the headquarters of the Loki Familia, Twilight Manor stood at the northernmost edge of Orario.
The rain-soaked stone towers rose tall within the courtyard, their misty outlines shimmering dreamlike under the touch of sunlight.
Riveria stood in the open corridor, her gaze distant and unfocused.
She hadn't brought the boy back with her.
When she had first lifted Bell onto her back, she'd considered it—but reason quickly erased the thought.
Outwardly, the Loki Familia was one of Orario's most powerful groups. But Riveria, who knew its inner workings, was well aware that its members were all problem children.
If she brought the boy to Twilight Manor, even Loki herself would certainly meddle.
And setting everyone else aside, Bete alone was trouble enough.
That stupid wolf would take one look at Bell and sneer without hesitation.
"Why'd you bring home garbage?"
Riveria could already hear the words in his voice.
Though she could have explained everything, she had no desire to share this secret.
Part of it was her own selfishness; part of it was for Bell's sake.
The boy needed room to grow. Letting that band of misfits swarm around him would do him no good.
More importantly, if she did bring him back, that werewolf would probably call her "old hag" right in front of him.
Just imagining it filled her with a vague, unpleasant disgust.
Counting Falna's effects, in human years she was only a little older than the boy—wasn't she?
After being in the Familia for so long, why did she even care about that now?
I wonder how the boy's doing.
She glanced down at the courtyard, where Familia members were training, and decided that teaching would be a good way to distract herself.
...
Inside the tavern, the god Miach sat quietly by the bedside, watching over the Chienthrope girl with a worried expression.
For safety's sake, he hadn't entered the casino during the chaos but had waited outside for news.
Naaza had been carried out by an elf. After explaining what had happened, she'd fallen into a deep sleep.
Morning sunlight poured into the room, sweeping away the shadows of the storm.
A new day had barely begun, and already disaster had struck.
If not for the boy's intervention, things could have ended far worse.
When Naaza woke, she would have to think carefully about how to thank Bell.
Miach waited silently.
Faint voices drifted in from the next room, breaking the stillness.
"Syr, at times like this, you've got to give the boy some warmth, nya!" Chloe declared loudly.
"Huh? What should I do?" Syr asked in confusion.
Chloe grinned mischievously and whispered in her ear, "Take off your clothes... crawl under the blanket with him... wait for him to wake up... and then it's mission complete, nya."
"Eh? Eh... Eh—!" Syr's face turned bright red. "Absolutely not!"
"The boy's all banged up! If Syr won't do it, then I'll step in, nya," Chloe said, already padding toward the edge of the bed.
"Have you caught the dumb cat's disease too?" Lunoire said flatly, landing a firm punch.
When the boy had shown up yesterday, everyone had dumped the blame for skipping work squarely on her.
Thanks to that, Lunoire had been dragged out of bed at dawn by Mia, forced to go buy ingredients in the middle of the downpour.
The poor human girl had been desperate for an outlet to vent her frustration.
"Nya~ How many times do I have to tell you, your punches really hurt, nya!" Chloe protested, rubbing her head.
"Don't forget what you did," Lunoire said sharply. "I heard from Anya that you brought that boy into the break room, didn't you?"
"I had legitimate business there, nya. I've got a clear conscience, nya." Chloe said confidently, glancing at Syr and Ryuu for help—only to be met with their cold, expressionless stares.
"That's the changing room!" Lunoire declared, her tone righteous.
"So what, nya?" Chloe asked, completely unbothered.
"Hmph hmph hmph, allow me to answer this one, nya!"
Anya, the so-called "dumb cat," suddenly popped up, arms crossed and a baseball cap perched on her head from who-knows-where. "Question one! What do we wear while working here, nya?"
"Tavern uniforms," Lunoire replied, the first to cooperate despite being the one scolding them.
"Question two! What were we wearing before coming to work, nya?"
"Casual clothes."
"Question three! How many spare outfits do Syr and Ryuu have prepared, nya?"
"All of them."
Normally, the staff only changed their outer clothes and aprons. But because of her obsession with cleanliness, the Elf girl always changed everything before work.
She had a habit of monopolizing the changing room, much to Mia's irritation.
The day after getting scolded, Syr started copying Ryuu, also changing her full outfit in the break room.
Faced with that, Mia could only sigh in defeat—and so, their habits continued to this day.
"The answer's clear, nya!" Anya declared triumphantly, oblivious to the storm brewing behind Ryuu, who was at the center of it all.
Syr blinked innocently, waiting for the explanation.
"The boy must've seen Syr's and Ryuu's under—" Anya's words cut off as a sharp chill ran up her spine, making her shiver violently.
"I see... this might be the biggest and most scandalous incident in tavern history, nya." Chloe, the main culprit, looked completely unrepentant.
Egged on by her, Anya regained her "detective mode." "Exactly, nya! The boy must've been shocked by how much bigger Ryuu is than he imagined, nya! And as for Syr—maybe he saw the color and lost all his illusions, nya!"
Syr had silently appeared behind her, her cheeks red as ripe fruit.
"Th-this is just a theory, nya…" Anya stammered, tail puffed and trembling as she tried to back away.
Too bad she couldn't escape the human girl's grasp.
"Nya... I was wrong nya…" Anya squirmed helplessly as she was tickled, laughing and twisting but unable to break free.
Watching the scene unfold, Chloe couldn't help but grin mischievously.
A knife flew past her face.
It sliced the air near her forehead and buried itself into the wall with a sharp thud.
Chloe's smile froze. Like a stiff doll, she turned her head slowly.
Ryuu stood by the window, silently staring at her.
Her expression was unreadable—cold and beautiful as ever.
Chloe, having worked with her long enough, knew exactly what that meant. Ryuu was angry.
"Uh… I was just joking, nya. This morning, I only opened my own locker, nya."
Ryuu said nothing, her eyes sharp as wind, cutting through every lie.
"I swear, the boy definitely didn't see anything, nya!" Chloe blurted, frantically waving her hands.
And just as the tension was about to snap—
Bell opened his eyes.
He'd only caught that last line. Sitting up slowly, he asked,
"…See what?"