(Heartfelt thanks to 'Mo Yu Linshang,' 'Shenjingfei,' 'Wufeng Haotian,' '200530481273,' and 'Haidi Zhongcao' for their rewards!)
"Ding-a-ling—!"
With a crisp chime of the wind bell, the doors of a café were pushed open.
Noah and Rentaro entered from outside and walked into the café.
"Welcome."
A waitress immediately stepped forward with a smile and bowed to Noah and Rentaro.
"Hello." Rentaro addressed the waitress.
"I'm Satomi Rentaro. I arranged to meet someone here. He should have arrived already, right?"
"Are you Mr. Satomi?" The waitress answered without hesitation.
"Please follow me."
With that, the waitress led the way.
Noah and Rentaro exchanged a glance before following her deeper into the café.
Led by the waitress, Noah and Rentaro arrived at a corner.
Someone was already there.
He was a man with a pineapple-like hairstyle, dressed in traditional trousers.
He appeared to be over fifty, of the same generation as Itado Nagamasa.
The middle-aged man sat leisurely in a corner of the café, drinking coffee. Only when he saw Noah and Rentaro enter did his eyes light up. He stood and waved heartily.
"Rentaro, over here."
Rentaro immediately smiled slightly and approached with Noah, stopping before the man.
"Long time no see, Mr. Zi Heng." Rentaro greeted him.
"I'm relieved to see that you're as healthy as ever."
"I'm even more relieved than you are." The middle-aged man Rentaro called Zi Heng smiled.
"You brat, ever since you left the Tokyo Area and transferred your registration to Fairy Village, you've been traveling all over the world. You're supposedly the leader of some touring group, right? I heard you often got into conflicts with powerful people overseas. I kept worrying about when you'd finally bite the dust."
"To be honest, there were several times when I thought I was about to bite