About half an hour had passed before Ana finally came down from upstairs. She had indeed gone to change her clothes, and it looked like she had put on a bit of light makeup as well.
"Is it necessary?" Shun found this behavior somewhat incomprehensible, although Ana like this looked even more captivating than before.
"Girl stuff, mind your own business!" Ana huffed angrily and walked straight out the door by herself.
Seeing this, Shun quickly followed. Goodness, he really didn't know where Himeko's house was and would have to follow Ana there.
It could only be said that Ana was the type to have a sharp tongue but a soft heart. The moment Shun caught up, she immediately linked her arm with his.
"Well, I don't have any experience with this." Shun readily admitted his mistake. After all, this was only the beginning of the two of them officially living together, and there was still a long future ahead. Yes, a very long time.
"Let's call Principal Theresa and tell her we're on our way. Sigh… I wonder if we'll be late because of this."
Ana felt a bit troubled. Being late to a dinner with leadership—if this were an ordinary workplace, you would already be half-dead.
However, with Theresa, there was no need to worry. Not to mention their personal connection, Theresa was the ideal boss for any employee: few tasks, no micromanaging, generous pay, plenty of holidays, and most importantly, she had a good personality, was tolerant, and wouldn't hold small mistakes against anyone.
"Then what if I don't have Principal Theresa's contact information?" Shun was betting on one possibility—perhaps Ana hadn't guessed that his assignment to the Far East Branch had been pushed by him.
"Hmmph, my dear Shun, don't treat me like an idiot, okay? How could there be such a coincidence in this world? I know you're very capable, but next time you must tell me about things like this."
Seeing that Ana didn't seem to mind, Shun breathed a sigh of relief. After all, this counted as scheming against his own fiancée. Although his intentions had been good, it would still be troublesome if pursued.
Fortunately, Ana wouldn't pursue it or make a fuss with him, which let Shun relax.
Since he had been instructed, he should act. Shun decisively called Theresa.
After receiving the information from Theresa that it wasn't too late yet and that they were still preparing, he relayed it to Ana.
"See, we're not late yet, right?" Shun spread his hands and said.
"Even if we're not late, it looks like we'll be the last ones to arrive…" That's how group dinners were. Even if you weren't late, being the last to show up still didn't feel great.
Shun thought to himself: how could they not be the last? He estimated that the people currently at Himeko's house were just those few. Not to mention the "Big Three" families being assigned to Himeko's place, Himeko herself was definitely there, and Theresa, who usually had nothing much to do, was generally hanging out with Himeko and would have arrived very early. That was normal.
So no matter what, Shun and Ana were definitely going to be the last to arrive. There was no room for maneuvering.
As for Seele and Fu Hua's side, it wasn't convenient to reveal them directly yet. He would wait a while longer before gathering the protagonist group of this world.
Although there was one extra person in the form of Ana, and Seele had joined a bit earlier, these people could still be considered the center of the world no matter what.
At this point, Shun's initial arrangements could be considered to have proceeded steadily. Although some accidents had occurred along the way, things were still developing in the direction he wanted.
The main point was that after the Honkai incident in Nagazora City, this world would enter a three-year period of peace. During this time, the only crisis worth mentioning might be the awakening of the Honkai beast Chiyou, whose rank appeared to be Judgment-level on the surface but was actually End-level.
Other matters, whether it was the Anti-Entropy invasion or the Singapore Quiet Gem incident, were essentially man-made disasters and were all related to Cocolia, the number one troublemaker.
If Shun hadn't caught her tail yet, he would have already captured this clown Cocolia long ago.
As for how to deal with her? If Shun's relationship with Seele and Bronya were bad, he might have simply killed her.
But after all, he had to consider the two girls' feelings. Even though Cocolia had caused them many bad things, she was ultimately the mother who had raised them.
Humans are not plants or trees; who can be truly emotionless? Because Cocolia had a bunch of good daughters, Shun wouldn't kill her, but her best outcome would be spending the rest of her life in a dark and sunless prison.
"Let's go. What are you thinking about? Do you really want us to be late!" Ana pushed the dazed Shun and said.
"It's nothing. Just thinking about some things." Shun casually brushed it off.
Some future plot points and such could now only serve as references. Shun had already changed the Third Honkai Impact beyond recognition.
How the subsequent story would develop and whether it would still go in the direction he wanted—who knows.
On a cold and quiet winter evening, Shun and Ana slowly walked along the campus path of St. Freya Academy, which was covered with fallen leaves. Golden ginkgo leaves drifted down, draping the entire campus in a beautiful golden coat.
Shun wore a thick black down jacket with a warm scarf around his neck, hands tucked into his pockets, head slightly lowered. The fallen leaves under his feet made a crisp "crunch crunch" sound.
Ana wore a white woolen coat paired with a pair of delicate deerskin boots. Her chestnut-colored long hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall was especially eye-catching.
The two walked side by side. Although there wasn't much verbal exchange between them, an indescribable tacit understanding and warmth permeated the space between them. The cold wind blew from time to time, bringing a piercing chill, but neither Shun nor Ana seemed to mind. They simply focused on enjoying this quiet moment that belonged to just the two of them.
"Speaking of which, St. Freya is located north of Winter Tokyo, so it should snow here, right?" Shun remembered that in the Far East, Tokyo was the dividing line—south of it was considered southern, north of it northern.
"Probably. Why? Do you want to build a snowman after it snows?" Ana asked casually.
"Hiss, now that you mention it, I actually do want to." As a southerner, Shun had seen very few heavy snowfalls in his life. Whenever it snowed, he would be as happy as if it were New Year.
"Sure. Then when it snows and the snow piles up, let's have a snowball fight. From childhood to now, Dad has never beaten me."
Hearing Ana's words, Shun couldn't help but silently mourn for his poor father-in-law for a second. You really are miserable. Not being able to beat your wife is one thing, but not even being able to beat your daughter since she was little.
"Ah, we're here…" Ana stopped in front of a large villa with a courtyard. At the iron gate, three characters could be seen posted.
"Murata." It seemed this was Himeko's house.