"Oh? Sure, let's just say that's how it is."
Twiggy shot Geno a sharp look—she had heard him perfectly clearly. But seeing as the jab wasn't aimed at her, Twiggy decided to let him off the hook for now.
"Look, who do we have here?"
As Twiggy spoke, another familiar figure slipped out from behind her.
"Alice?"
"Long time no see, Geno."
Looking at that familiar blonde hair and those rabbit ears, Geno finally remembered that he had a young lady for a fiancée.
It had already been the better part of a month since the two of them last met. During that time, to avoid the awkwardness between Twiggy and Alice, Geno had kept away from the Timefield residence.
He never imagined he'd run into her here today—and that Twiggy would bump into her first, no less.
"It's not really 'bumping into' me. I came on my own to see Sister Twiggy."
Twiggy... Sister?
Geno raised an eyebrow. Why did he feel like the plot was developing in a strange direction?
"Let me explain instead. Alice's grandfather asked her to come learn some Ether-science-related knowledge from me over the summer break, so she'll be helping out in my lab for a while."
"Oh, so that's what's going on."
Geno nodded. He still felt that something was a little off, but that reasoning was at least solid enough to stand on.
"Um, Geno, we haven't seen each other in so long... did you miss me at all..."
Watching Alice blush, poking her fingers together as she shyly asked the question right in front of him, Geno's brain briefly short-circuited.
My lady, if you're going to ask, just ask—but why ask with her standing right here?
Glancing at the grinning Twiggy beside them, Geno felt as though he were being roasted over an open fire.
"Don't look at me like that. I already told you, I don't object to the two of you dating. Just be honest."
That was what Twiggy said, and it was what she truly thought. She had made her reasons perfectly clear to Geno before: the kid was just too uptight about everything, and he was wasting a wonderful girl like Alice.
"Phew~ Fine, I'll take it that you really do mean it."
Seeing Twiggy act this way, Geno finally worked up the courage to speak his true feelings.
"Alice, the truth is, about you..."
"Geno! Twiggy! Come quick!"
Geno, just about to say something, was cut off by the abrupt shout. Alice, whose face had been full of anticipation, froze on the spot as well.
"What perfect timing. Come on, let's go see what's going on first."
Twiggy looked thoroughly disappointed—she'd thought she was about to witness a marvelous show, only for Belle to interrupt it.
"Geno, Twiggy, and Alice too—I need your help!"
Seeing how frantic Belle was, Geno set his bad mood aside for the moment and listened to the two of them explain.
As it turned out, investigating the culprit was going to take a while longer, but the driver was in a rush to make his delivery. So he made a request: as long as they could help him get his ducks back, he wouldn't make a fuss about this whole incident.
With no other choice—since the case had stalled for now—everyone figured they'd help the driver round up his ducks first. And so Belle called Geno and the others over.
"Give us a hand. Whether you get to keep the change is all up to you guys."
Naturally, Geno and the others felt duty-bound to help.
It was just a few ducks—rounding them up would be easy enough... or so it should have been.
"Huff~ huff~ this guy~ just how many ducks did he load up~ huff~ huff~"
With a head full of duck feathers, Geno carried the last two ducks back onto the truck, finally getting a chance to catch his breath.
Damn it all—there were at least fifty-some ducks in that truck! This guy was seriously overloaded, did he even know that?!
Beside him, Alice wiped the sweat from Geno's brow with a slightly pained expression, while Belle watched with great relish.
"So, how's it feel—after all that work, having two such adorable beauties dote on you? Aren't you secretly thrilled inside~"
"You sure talk a lot!"
After shooting Belle a glance, Geno simply let himself enjoy Alice's sweat-wiping service under Belle's meaningful smile.
Honestly, it really did feel pretty good.
Before long, Wise came back too.
"Bro, you're finally back. How'd it go—is everything sorted out?"
Belle sidled up to Wise's side. To get the scoop on Geno, she had specifically sent Wise off to handle this matter.
And Wise hadn't run into any crisis despite Belle being absent. Controlling Eous, he'd helped those two Public Security officers capture the fugitive inside the Hollow—though during the process, he'd been mocked for ages by a certain big blue eyeball.
"Ugh, that Fairy."
Not long after Wise returned, the two Public Security officers who had gone to apprehend the criminal also came back to Sixth Street.
Belle, pretending she knew nothing at all, sidled up to the two of them and then introduced them to Geno and the others.
"Let me introduce you. These two are Officer Zhu Yuan and Officer Qingyi—new friends we made earlier when we went to deal with the driver's license matter."
"Hello, we're criminal investigation officers from the Janus Precinct. I'm Zhu Yuan."
"I'm Qingyi. Pleased to meet you."
Geno blinked. From the looks of it, these two probably didn't know that Wise and Belle were Proxies?
Made sense, really—what mouse would ever go up to a cat and announce that it was a mouse?
Tossing those thoughts out of his mind, he extended his hand and greeted Zhu Yuan and Qingyi.
"Hello, I'm Geno, and this is—"
"I know. The young lady of the Timefield family. And you're the Timefield family's adopted grandson and son-in-law. I never expected to run into you here."
Qingyi rattled off Geno's information as though reciting a list of familiar treasures. Seeing this, Zhu Yuan beside her awkwardly clapped a hand over Qingyi's mouth.
"Sorry, Senior Qingyi just spoke a bit too freely. She didn't mean any harm!"
Who talks like this?! Talking like this will really kill the conversation dead!! Senior Qingyi!!
Just as Zhu Yuan was on the verge of breaking down, Geno waved his hand, looking rather used to it all.
"It's fine, it's fine. What this officer said is the truth, and I'm already used to it..."
Seeing that Geno really wasn't angry, Zhu Yuan finally let out a breath of relief and released Qingyi.
"I'm really sorry for the trouble we've caused you."
Zhu Yuan apologized again, and Qingyi beside her offered a token apology as well.
"Since everything's been settled, we'll take our leave now. Don't forget about tomorrow's lecture."
"Don't worry, there's absolutely no way we'll forget."
After seeing off Zhu Yuan and Qingyi, Belle and Wise told Geno and the others about tomorrow's lecture at Lumina Square.
"Do you all want to come along too?"
Geno thought about it. He'd recently finished his new game, and Twiggy's experiment had reached a stopping point, so it seemed both of them were free—he just wasn't sure about Alice.
"Sorry, I have a piano lesson tomorrow, so..."
"It's all right, no pressure. There'll be another chance next time."
Belle comforted Alice, and then the two siblings took their leave as well—after all that running around, the two of them needed some rest.
"Let's get going too. Let's go have lunch. What do you feel like eating?"
"More importantly, isn't there something you still haven't finished saying?"
Twiggy gestured, none too subtly, toward Alice beside them—and then Geno saw Alice standing there, her little face flushed red, as if waiting for something.
Geno suddenly realized. Then, feeling a little embarrassed, he finally leaned in close to Alice's ear and said:
"I like you too, Alice."
____
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