About ten minutes later, in the kitchen of the Japanese-style wooden house.
Why did I have to do all this...
As Chiba put away the tea set in his hands, he looked gloomily at the now-empty bag of tea leaves beside him, a bitter smile spreading across his lips.
"Hahahaha! Yes, yes, Yuya was seriously hilarious that time! I'm dying!"
"On a D-rank mission, he actually got chased all over the place by a cat!"
"That wasn't a cat, okay? It was a bear! A bear! A bear with serious fighting power!"
"Hehehehe!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Just stop explaining. The more you explain, the funnier it gets!"
"You... you people!"
Outside the tightly shut kitchen door, wave after wave of laughter drifted in, mixed with a fair amount of noise.
"...Sigh."
Listening to those sounds, Chiba could not help closing his eyes with a long sigh. The sight of the crowd packed behind the door when he had opened it earlier surfaced in his mind.
No choice, there was no tea left.
And there was nothing else to serve them, either. He still had to go out and buy something.
Besides, Hirohiko and Yukina were back, so the supplies at home might not be enough. At this hour, there should still be shops open, right? Better hurry.
After that image passed through his mind, Chiba sighed again and made up his mind.
Once he had decided, Chiba acted quickly. It was getting late, after all. If he went too late, he might not be able to buy anything.
So, he opened the kitchen door. At once, louder laughter and noise came howling in from the living room like a gust of wind rushing through.
Good thing this place was remote. Otherwise, if it had been in a residential area, someone would