Several tens of minutes later.
"You're really skilled at dealing with women, kid."
Seeing Arcueid sitting on the edge of the bed, Touko, who had just returned from her nostalgic stroll, couldn't help but chuckle: "First me, then Shiki, Aoko can also be counted, and now Her Highness the True Ancestor Princess, you're truly talented at gathering women around you."
"Could you please not use such misleading phrasing? Master, by the way, why did you include Miss Aoko? I only made a cooperation offer to Arcueid, and she accepted based on the current situation."
"Yes, yes, yes, whatever you say."
Touko waved her hand: "In that case, our cooperation period ends when Her Highness the Princess is completely healed by Avalon?"
Arcueid nodded in agreement.
"The main reason I'm weak is the wounds that can't be healed under normal circumstances. Nighttime is fine, but during the day my healing ability isn't that strong. If I have that scabbard, it will help me a lot—my estimate is about three days."
Three days.
This was the time Arcueid needed to fully recover. Of course, this was just physical recovery; restoring her strength might take longer, but even with only about thirty percent of her power, she was confident she could handle almost any problem.
"Master, could you please order one more room?"
"Eh? Why?"
"I can't possibly keep sleeping here. There are too many women in this room; I'll just sleep outside."
This hotel room was a twin room; Gray would definitely sleep in one bed, a child's sleep had to be guaranteed. Besides, Arcueid was a patient, so she also needed one bed. Touko and Naoki sleeping on the sofa wasn't a problem either, but there was only one sofa, and he also felt awkward kicking Touko out and staying with two girls.
In that case, he himself had to leave.
"You really have a good sense of self-sacrifice; if you were ten years younger, you'd definitely be cuter." Touko chuckled, "Well, I'll return the money to you later; will that be enough for three days? Don't get lonely and come back in the middle of the night."
"Won't happen! Do you think I'm an elementary school kid who needs company!"
*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*
Suddenly, the sound of knocking on the door was heard. Aoko leaned against the doorframe, which had been open who knew when, folding her arms across her chest as she looked into the room: "No need to order another room, Kouhai-kun; you can just sleep at my place."
"Eh?"
Naoki and Touko were simultaneously surprised.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Aoko's room was actually right next to Naoki and the others' room.
Following Aoko into her room, seeing the personal clothes scattered on the floor, Naoki couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "That... Miss Aoko, this is..."
"Ah! Sorry, sorry! I haven't had time to tidy up these past few days!"
Hurriedly running to gather her pajamas and underwear and stuffing them into a suitcase, Aoko scratched her head a little embarrassedly: "Just pretend you didn't see anything! Kouhai-kun!"
"Haaah, alright."
Naoki sighed slightly helplessly.
"Then, why did Miss Aoko ask me to stay with you?"
"Well, because I overheard what you guys were talking about outside the door earlier. Although it wasn't intentional, I just happened to be looking for you and accidentally heard it." Aoko explained after sitting on the edge of the bed, "Regarding the vampire investigation last night, I found some things and thought about exchanging information with you. I asked you to stay with me also for that reason."
"If it's one room, it's economical, no need to go back and forth, and it can save on phone and accommodation costs too."
"Miss Aoko, are you that frugal?"
Aoko spread out both her hands: "After all, during these ten years of traveling abroad, how many troubles have I encountered because I didn't have money? So now I'm very frugal; even one yen I can split in two."
"I understand; it really feels bad not having money. Even splitting in two is sometimes not enough; if possible, I'd like to split it into four."
"Exactly, exactly, exactly!"
Both often facing financial difficulties, Aoko unconsciously smiled and nodded: "Turns out we're really similar; I like you more and more, Kouhai-kun! We must become close after this!"
"Um, please also help me in the future, Miss Aoko—then, about the situation last night that you mentioned?"
"Oh yeah, yeah, we should talk about important things."
Aoko immediately put on a serious expression: "Last night I was responsible for the southeast area, and while I was investigating, I felt like I was being watched."
"No, it can't really be called being watched; more accurately, he accidentally found me and was observing me out of interest... that's how it felt."
Observing?
Naoki frowned: "Did you see who was watching you?"
"Birds."
Aoko said in a low voice.
"Black birds. Although they're hard to spot at night, I saw them clearly; they were birds. And it wasn't my illusion; those birds kept staring at me."
"Birds... what a coincidence. After parting ways with you yesterday afternoon, I also encountered the same situation as you, except it happened during the day."
"You too?"
The shared experience made Aoko frown: "Who exactly..."
"In this regard, I already have a clue and have asked Shiki to investigate it; the results should come out soon."
"Eh? You know who the culprit is?"
"Nero Chaos, the tenth of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors—it should be him."
As Naoki uttered those words, his gaze suddenly caught several birds flying past outside the window.
Black birds.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Meanwhile, in a park.
*SWISH!*
With a single slash cutting the lines of death, instantly killing the attacking birds of prey and black panther, Shiki frowned slightly in dissatisfaction.
"The sixth time."
During these two days, this was the sixth time she had been attacked by this kind of black beast. Although it could be easily dealt with, strangely, Shiki didn't feel the sensation of real killing; instead, it was like killing shadows or illusions.
This half-hearted sensation made her very annoyed; she wanted to immediately run to the alley and beat all the small punks to a pulp to vent her frustration.
"Tch, whatever; I guess that idiot Natsukawa will definitely nag and lecture again later."
As if remembering something annoying, Shiki clicked her tongue and put away her knife.
However—
"One step too late... no, did someone get here before me?"
At the entrance of the park, Ciel, wearing a school uniform, stared at Shiki standing amidst the remnants of the black beasts that hadn't yet disappeared, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
"You... who are you?"