"That's enough!" Seeing that Stelle still looked like she planned to eat the trash, Gin reached the limit of his patience. "Stop worrying about that useless garbage in your hand! Come here and meet the person who will be taking care of you!"
He needed to quickly dump this trouble onto Scotch and let him deal with it.
"Oh." Stelle nodded obediently, but she still didn't put down the "pretty piece of trash" she was holding.
Following Gin's gaze, Stelle examined the three handsome, distinctively featured men standing nearby.
Wow, do underground organizations have appearance requirements these days?
But was it just her imagination? She couldn't shake the feeling that these three men, standing together, gave off a strange sense of déjà vu.
She scanned the three men, letting her gaze rest on Rye, then turning to look at Gin, and then back to Rye, comparing them side by side.
"Gin, he looks just like you!" Stelle exclaimed excitedly, as if she had discovered a new continent.
Rye found Stelle's reaction amusing and slightly raised an eyebrow.
"He must be the one who's going to take care of me next, then," Stelle asserted, rubbing her chin.
"He's not!" Vodka quickly denied it, unable to stop himself from grumbling, "Besides, apart from the long hair, how does Rye look like Big Brother at all?!"
"Then it's him!" Stelle shifted her attention to Bourbon, sizing him up. "Blonde hair and dark skin —very distinctive."
Bourbon's mouth twitched involuntarily, and he abruptly clenched his fists.
"Not him either!" Gin couldn't be bothered to let Stelle guess any further. There were only three people, and she had managed to guess two wrong already. He stated the answer directly, even though it was obvious: "It's the one on the far left."
"Ah~ compared to the two next to him, he looks a bit plain." Stelle sounded slightly disappointed.
At this, even Scotch was struggling to maintain his calm expression.
While he wasn't a stunningly handsome man, calling him plain right to his face was incredibly rude.
Stelle: "Besides, I'm already an adult, and I've picked up quite a bit of common sense recently. There's no need to specifically find someone to look after me, is there?"
"If you had common sense, you wouldn't be rummaging through trash cans!" Gin ignored Stelle's complaints, motioned for Scotch to step forward, and introduced him. "This is Scotch. He will be responsible for looking after you from now on. He knows how to cook, so no more eating garbage—whether it's pretty or ugly!"
He then looked at Scotch, stressing, "Scotch, take good care of her; this is a mission! And do not let her near the kitchen!"
After saying this, Gin and Vodka immediately turned and left.
Watching how impatiently Gin abandoned Stelle, Scotch and the others left standing there fell silent for a moment.
"Ahem." Scotch finally broke the silence. He cleared his throat, walked up to Stelle, and, looking at the girl who appeared to have just reached adulthood, couldn't help but ask softly, "Your name is Stelle, right? Hmm... since I'll be responsible for looking after you, would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?"
"Of course, mutual understanding is important," Stelle agreed with a natural nod, then smiled and introduced herself. "My name is Stelle. I'm just over one year old. I was previously a passenger on the Star Rail Express, but unfortunately, I'm currently temporarily lost during my interstellar voyage, so I'm staying on Earth for the time being."
Bourbon had already been annoyed by Stelle's previous comment about his "blonde hair and dark skin," and upon hearing this self-introduction—which contained no reliable information besides her name—he finally snapped.
He could ignore the part about interstellar travel, assuming Stelle was delusional or dreaming, but claiming to be just over one year old was absolutely ridiculous.
"One year old?! Miss Stelle, are you serious? You look nothing like a one-year-old!" Bourbon retorted sarcastically.
Stelle tilted her head and looked at Bourbon with an innocent expression. "But I was genuinely only brought into this world just over a year ago. Doesn't that mean I'm just over one year old?"