Padoru Felice

That night, Yoshikage Kira stayed behind to clean. Though he usually did all the classroom cleaning himself, he said nothing.

"If this is all it takes, then I'll just keep enduring it," Yoshikage Kira told himself.

After cleaning the classroom, Yoshikage Kira set off for home.

Whether it was fate or something else, Yoshikage Kira's right eye suddenly began twitching.

"Why has my right eyelid been twitching? Did I forget to take something?" Young Yoshikage Kira frowned slightly, opened his schoolbag, and found that he had indeed forgotten several books. So he turned back.

And so, in the lingering light of the setting sun, Yoshikage Kira ran into the phantom thief catgirl, Padoru Felice.

So, should he turn Padoru in? Yoshikage Kira thought as he lay in bed at home.

Lying in bed, his thoughts drifted far away.

Simulation was, in essence, nothing more than role-playing.

But "if you wore a mask for too long, you could no longer take it off."

Besides, He Cheng-rui was only a college student who had just come of age.

"Yoshikage Kira... No wonder the simulator warned me at the beginning not to be influenced by the character template." He Cheng-rui sighed. He could feel that he did not need to deliberately play the role of Yoshikage Kira.

Because the existence known as Yoshikage Kira was influencing him in reverse. His pursuit of a peaceful life had become an instinctive behavior.

"It's only been a few years. Has the influence already become this great?"

"I just hope I won't develop a sick obsession with beautiful hands."

With that thought, Yoshikage Kira fell asleep.

The next day, after finishing the cleaning, Yoshikage Kira did not hurry home. He went to the milk tea shop across the street, ordered a cup, and began waiting for the cat to walk into his trap.

After waiting for around ten minutes, he saw someone sneakily approach the door and start picking the lock. Yoshikage Kira knew it was time to act.

Yoshikage Kira lightened his steps and slowly walked up behind Pardo, who was focused on picking the lock.

Perhaps because she was too absorbed, Pardo did not notice someone standing behind her.

Yoshikage Kira reached out and tapped Pardo on the shoulder. Her body shuddered, and she slowly turned around. When she saw Yoshikage Kira, who looked around her age, she seemed to relax. A friendly smile appeared on her face as she opened her mouth to say something.

"Miss Padoru Felice, you wouldn't want others to find out that you steal things, would you?"

Pardo had just opened her mouth to argue when Yoshikage Kira's words stopped her cold.

Seeing fear and panic surface in the wide eyes of the frail girl before him, Yoshikage Kira pointed to the milk tea shop across the street. "Let's talk inside. How about it?"

After taking a sip of milk tea, Yoshikage Kira looked up at the restless girl sitting across from him. Tattered clothes of unknown origin wrapped around her thin body. She was dirty all over, but the pair of hands resting on the table were very clean—fair, slender, and delicate, making one want to hold them in one's hands and toy with them.

Noticing Yoshikage Kira's gaze, Pardo drew her hands back slightly. Seeing her movement, Yoshikage Kira came back to his senses.

Then he sternly said to the girl before him, "Do you know whose things you were stealing? Have you considered the consequences?"

Pardo panicked. "I didn't steal your things! I only steal from bad guys!"

"I was ordered by those bad guys to catch you."

At that, Pardo shrank back and said softly, "But I didn't steal your things. Why are you helping those bad guys?"

"What makes you so sure I'm not a bad guy?"

"Everyone in Twilight Town knows Doctor Yoshikazu Kira is a good man. Then you should be a good person too, right?"

"..." Yoshikage Kira was speechless. He raised a hand and rubbed his temple.

"Besides, I wasn't the only one stealing things. That teacher of yours stole quite a lot too."

Oh, was that so? Then this would be easy to handle.

Yoshikage Kira had still been troubled over how to protect Pardo without disrupting his peaceful life, but upon hearing this, he smiled.

"Then, Miss Padoru Felice, you wouldn't want the gang boss to find out that you stole his child's things, would you?"

As he spoke, he took out a camera. Inside was a photo of Pardo picking the lock.

Pardo shrank back and let out a cute whimper. "Th-then what do you want to do?" she asked nervously.

Yoshikage Kira pushed the camera forward.

"It's simple. First, take pictures of the teacher stealing. Second, stop stealing things from the classroom," Yoshikage Kira said calmly.

"Is it really that simple?" Pardo said in disbelief.

"It's that simple. Once you get the pictures, put them and the camera in my desk."

After saying that, he stared seriously into Pardo's sky-blue eyes.

"Can you do it?"

"Th-then you won't report me?"

Yoshikage Kira shook his head, picked up his schoolbag, and went home.

Pardo looked at the expensive-looking camera before her and muttered, "What the heck? He really is a good person, isn't he?"

Three days later, after the photos of the teacher stealing were shown to the class, the teacher vanished without a trace. The school that should not have existed in Twilight Town naturally disbanded as well, having no teacher left.

How very delightful.

"Boss, please let me follow you!"

Yoshikage Kira flipped through his book, frowned, and looked at the girl before him.

Had she latched onto him?