"In that case, I don't think Kanna did anything wrong. If I'd been there, I probably would've beaten those brats too." Yuto said it with a smile.
"We understand what happened, but we still hope you can teach Kanna not to solve every problem by fighting," the teacher replied. "If something happens again, she should ask an adult for help first."
Yuto nodded through the rest of the lecture.
A short while later, Kanna and Shouko finally stepped off the bus.
Shouko kept her head lowered, looking as if she had done something terrible, while Kanna remained completely calm.
Her blank, adorable expression made it seem like the whole matter had nothing to do with her.
"I hope you'll have a proper talk with Kanna. Goodbye."
After saying that, the teacher closed the bus door and left.
Since she had spent so long talking to Yuto, Kanna and Shouko were the last children to get off.
Once the bus drove away, Yuto smiled at the two girls.
"Shouko, what's wrong? Why are you looking down?"
He gently rubbed her hair.
"Today... Today..."
Shouko spoke so quietly that he could barely hear her.
"It's all right. I already know what happened, and none of it was your fault. You don't need to keep your head down."
"But I still caused trouble..."
Her voice was filled with guilt.
Shouko was still timid and sensitive, so whenever something went wrong, she immediately blamed herself.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You should raise your head instead of acting like you're guilty."
Yuto crouched in front of her and gently held her shoulders. Shouko nervously moved her lips, a small habit she had whenever she felt anxious.
With a helpless sigh, Yuto pulled her into a gentle hug and rubbed the back of her head.
"Shouko, you need to be more confident. If you keep acting like this, I might stop talking to you."
The little girl immediately panicked.
She moved in his arms and quickly looked up at him, her deer-like eyes shining with worry.
"No. Yuto-nii, please don't stop talking to me!"
Her small hands tightly grabbed the front of his clothes.
Yuto placed a hand against her cheek.
"Then smile for me. If you smile, I'll keep talking to you."
Shouko forced out an awkward smile. It did not look very natural, but at least she was smiling again.
"Mm, much better. Shouko looks beautiful when she smiles. How about I make you something delicious when we get back?"
Yuto smiled and gently patted her head.
Children were easy to distract, and the moment he mentioned food, a little happiness returned to Shouko's eyes.
He knew changing her timid personality would take time, but he still wanted to help her little by little.
Hopefully, she would slowly grow into a more confident girl.
Yuto then turned toward Kanna.
Kanna stared back at him with an innocent, blank expression, slowly blinking her large eyes.
Just looking at her gave Yuto a headache.
How exactly was he supposed to teach a young dragon? Using normal human common sense did not seem like the best idea.
After thinking for a moment, he finally spoke.
"Kanna, you need to be more careful with your strength from now on. You can't seriously hurt anyone. Making them cry is enough, and you're not allowed to bully people first."
He paused before adding with a smile, "But what you did today was right. If someone bullies Shouko, you should protect her and teach them a lesson. I'll make you something delicious when we get home."
A little happiness appeared on Kanna's blank face.
She clenched her fist, proudly raised it into the air, and answered in her usual flat voice.
"Oh."
Yuto laugh when he sees that.
"All right. Let's go home."
There was no need to say anything more.
Yuto brought the two girls back and dropped Shouko off first. While he was there, he mentioned the banquet taking place that night.
Shouko immediately became excited and wanted to come, though the final decision still depended on Nishimiya Yaeko.
After saying goodbye to her, Yuto, Tohru, and Kanna headed back toward the restaurant.
Along the way, Yuto carefully asked Kanna about everything that had happened at school.
Overall, her first day had gone surprisingly well.
After beating up those four older students, Kanna had somehow become the unofficial boss of her class!
Yuto did not know what to say.
Was this supposed to be the elementary-school version of a dragon ruling over humanity?
Tohru, however, was delighted.
In her eyes, Kanna's fight had shown the proper pride of a dragon, and hearing that she had become the leader of her class only made Tohru even more excited.
She slapped Kanna on the shoulder and proudly declared, "Kanna, tomorrow you should beat everyone in the whole school! Then we dragons will have conquered all the human children, and you can rule the entire place! Ahahahahaha!"
Yuto stared at her in disbelief before immediately giving her a hard chop on the head.
Being called in for a talk with the teacher once was already more than enough!
...
Some time after Kanna returned to the restaurant, Erina and Hisako arrived as well.
Both girls already knew about that night's banquet and planned to attend.
Yuto had finished all the small preparations beforehand and placed a notice on the restaurant's bulletin board.
Since he would be attending the banquet and the restaurant would not open that night, the notice explained the situation to any customers who arrived without knowing.
Even so, someone still needed to stay behind and watch the restaurant.
Yuto had been wondering who he should ask when Tohru suggested the perfect person.
Fafnir.
She immediately returned to her world and dragged him over.
Yuto had expected Fafnir to refuse, but to his surprise, the dragon agreed without hesitation.
He only had one condition: he would not serve any customers.
He would merely guard the restaurant while playing games.
Yuto had no problem with that.
The restaurant was not supposed to serve anyone that night anyway, so as long as Fafnir stayed behind and kept an eye on the place, that was enough.
When it was almost time to open, Yuto stood on the customer side of the counter with Tohru and Kanna beside him.
Fafnir sat behind the counter, completely focused on his handheld console.
SAO would be taking the night off!
Yuto glanced at Fafnir, then at where he was standing. Seeing their usual positions reversed felt strangely amusing.
At that moment, the restaurant door opened, and Hatsune's group entered.
Yuto had already told them about the banquet during their visit the day before.
Hatsune and Luka had apparently needed to beg quite a bit before they were finally allowed to take the night off and attend~
Along with the four girls from last night, another young woman in a neat red-and-white dress had come with them, as well as a pair of blond twins.
Yuto recognized all three.
Hatsune had introduced them backstage during her concert.
The girl in red and white was Yuezheng Ling, while the blond pair were the Kagamine twins.
The moment Hatsune entered, she hurried toward Yuto with an excited smile.
He did not even need to ask what she wanted.
"Kamisaka, when are we going to the banquet?"
'Just as expected.'
Yuto chuckled inwardly.
"Let's wait a little longer. Once a few more people arrive, we'll leave."
Hatsune nodded and casually sat down with Luka and the others.
Since it was their first visit, Yuezheng Ling and the Kagamine twins looked around the restaurant with curiosity, while Tianyi and the others happily explained everything they knew about the place.
Ainz and Rimuru arrived shortly afterward.
Rimuru was clearly in a wonderful mood, while Ainz seemed weighed down by worries.
The difference between them was obvious.
Although no expression could be seen on Ainz's skeletal face, anyone could tell he was in a bad mood.
He barely spoke after entering and, even more strangely, hardly mentioned games at all.
That alone was enough to show something was wrong.
Still, this was not a good time for Yuto to ask about it. He could question Ainz later when they had a chance to speak privately.
Yuuka and the others from Gensokyo arrived after them.
They were briefly surprised when they saw Fafnir behind the counter, since this was the first time anyone other than Yuto had sat there.
Once he explained the situation, however, their surprise quickly turned into curiosity.
Many of Gensokyo's residents were among the restaurant's most troublesome guests, so there was no chance they would miss a pirate banquet.
Marisa threw both arms into the air and cheered like an excited child, while even Yakumo Yukari's normally calm eyes shone with curiosity.
For a youkai sage who had lived as long as she had, something new and unusual was always worth seeing.
Yuuka quietly took a seat without saying anything, but Yuto still noticed that her usually calm green eyes looked more lively than normal.
She was looking forward to the banquet too.
The chance to visit a new world, meet unknown powerful people, and experience something outside her normal life was enough to interest even her.