"Kiana. A club activity room isn't meant for living in."
Kiana blinked. Her sky-blue eyes were filled with bewilderment.
"Then what's it for?"
Shiraha didn't answer.
Elysia finally couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
That crisp, utterly undisguised laughter echoed through the room, such a shame only Shiraha could hear it.
This girl was pure. A truly innocent child. Now Elysia didn't dislike her one bit.
A child's life should be just like this, innocent, adorable, childhood friends without suspicion... oh. Wait. Scratch that last part.
Shiraha briefly explained the concept of a club, and the relationship between a clubroom and the school. This produced an enormous sense of defeat in Kiana.
"Having a little house of your own is really so hard."
Kiana murmured quietly.
Shiraha shook his head and prepared to look up information on the computer.
Kiana followed beside him. "Shiraha... have you been thinking about these things before?"
Shiraha answered offhandedly. "I've thought about it. But that's something for after I'm an adult, or at least able to work."
Kiana thought it over and felt Shiraha was right. She'd worked before in Siberia too. Aside from one uncle who'd shoved a gun into her hands and told her to fend for herself, no one wanted child labor.
A moment later, Shiraha sat down in the chair. Kiana stood beside him, not seeming tired at all.
Elysia draped herself lazily over Shiraha's shoulder from behind. Being a ghost did have some perks, she wasn't heavy at all. She could rest the entire weight of her upper body on the child.
"Yae Village. Shrine maiden..."
Kiana blinked. "Oh, right—do shrine maidens make money? I heard it's a pretty unique local profession."
Shiraha paused for a moment, then looked Kiana up and down. "Not you. Wait until you're older and go work at a convenience store."
At least that'd give Kiana something to do.
Speaking of which, Shiraha was genuinely a little curious, in the original timeline, how had Kiana wandered all the way from Siberia to here?
Purely by fighting criminals?
Or working illegal under-the-table jobs?
Kiana silently filed "convenience store job" away in her heart, then stayed quiet for less than three seconds.
"So, are you going to become a shrine maiden?"
Shiraha: ....
Shiraha glanced at her and closed the webpage. "Do you like playing games?"
Kiana hesitated. She'd never played games on a computer before. In real life, she had seen other kids playing games, but she'd never played either.
She nodded, still somewhat anticipatory.
"I'll install one for you. Go play."
Shiraha stood up, took Kiana's hand, and prepared to lead her back to her room.
The Raiden house was very large, very wealthy. Computers were naturally available. It was just that Mei and Shiraha rarely played, play too much, and you lost interest instead.
He opened the door again. In the second-floor hallway, Mei was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching the two of them expressionlessly.
"Looks like I came at a bad time."
Mei narrowed her eyes. She was starting to hate the whole "big sister, little sister" thing. It didn't make her happy at all.
Two-person games were the most fun. Three-person dramas brought no joy whatsoever.
Shiraha was quiet for a moment, then extended his other hand. His smile was open and unreserved. "Mei-nee. You came at exactly the right time. Let's go play some games."
Forget it. Play a few games first. It wasn't like Rin was going anywhere.
At dinner, Ryoma Raiden and Siegfried watched the three children sit in three separate spots, far apart from each other, and felt puzzled.
"What's going on?" Ryoma quietly asked the most well-behaved one, Shiraha.
Shiraha gave a simple explanation. "Some small disagreements came up during the game."
He paused, then added, "My skills were too terrible."
Siegfried sneered. "Useless little brat."
Shiraha paused, then spoke in a perfectly natural tone. "I never imagined that setting the AI difficulty to 'Brutal' would be this hard. Three of us, allied, got completely overwhelmed by five AIs, we couldn't even fight back."
"But it's fine. Mei-nee and Kiana are both getting stronger very fast. I'm sure soon enough I'll be able to just lie back and get carried."
As for right now, the two noobs were still sulking at each other. The biggest noob was Kiana. She had, after all, just started playing.
Siegfried looked thoughtfully at Kiana. Kiana kept her head down, quietly eating. She didn't spare a single glance for her dad.
He was quiet for another moment, then asked again. "What game?"
Shiraha's smile was brilliant. "Red Alert. Siegfried, want to join us?"
Siegfried felt like he was almost getting used to this brat calling him by name. He chose to refuse. "Forget it. You kids just have fun."
He planned to try it himself tonight.
As for Shiraha—Shiraha hadn't taken the game to heart at all. Worst case, he'd just cheat.
There were people who used physical cheats just to play Kallen Fantasy. Wasn't it perfectly reasonable for him to cheat in a LAN game?
Back in his room at night, Shiraha lay on the bed, motionless.
"Not going to keep investigating Rin's matter?"
Elysia tried to shake Shiraha awake. If that didn't work, another couple rounds of the game would do. She refused to accept that the all-capable fairy lady couldn't beat five.
Shiraha shook his head. "Leave the rest to Grey Serpent."
He draped his arm over his forehead, his voice muffled.
"The internet isn't that developed in this era. For matters concerning Yae Village in Shinano Province, we'll probably have to check the county records in person."
Trying to pinpoint the location of the Herrscher of Corruption by himself was certainly possible, but far too troublesome.
Elysia nodded. "True. If he knew Rin was here, Grey Serpent would probably help. But..."
"Shiraha. Based on nothing but a rumor, will he really believe it?"
Shiraha grinned.
The Next Day
Shiraha got straight to the point. "Sakura-nee. I've found Rin!"
Sakura had been anxious all day, hadn't even dozed off. Then, the next noon, that familiar little figure appeared once again at her dojo.
She forcefully suppressed her agitation, but the smile that emerged was far from cold and solitary, it could even be called quite beautiful.
"Is Rin... alright now?"
Shiraha hesitated. "I'm sorry..."
Sakura's world collapsed. Still, she forced out a sorrowful, beautiful smile, the corners of her mouth barely managing to curve upward. It's fine. She'd already had some guesses about Rin's fate anyway.
Shiraha paused, then added, "What I said before was wrong. I've only confirmed Rin's trail, confirmed she's sealed within Nagazora City. But the exact location is still unclear."
Sakura's expression froze somewhere between sorrow and blank shock.
Shiraha looked a little embarrassed. "I'm still too young. Nagazora is too big. And I've restricted Teacher's movements. So the exact location will probably have to be left to World Serpent."
Silence.
A very long silence.
Sakura's face, which should have been cold and striking, was now utterly dumbstruck. She was struggling to process the information. You were apologizing... because you couldn't actively search for her?
This child...
Why does he talk with such huge pauses between breaths?
She drew a deep breath. Her heart was still pounding wildly.