Chapter 25

"Oh, just get going already." Kotori waved casually, signaling that Shido could leave.

"Okay... Is there anything you want to eat?"

"Anything I want... Hamburg steak, I guess." Kotori thought for a moment, then added, "Oh, right. Tohka said she wants to have dinner with us tonight, so remember to buy extra ingredients."

"Tohka's coming over today? Okay, got it." Shido blinked, then nodded.

Ever since he had sealed Tohka a few days ago, she had been staying somewhere Ratatoskr had arranged, with all her meals and other needs taken care of. Her sudden visit for dinner caught him by surprise.

"I'm off, then." White light enveloped Shido. When he opened his eyes again, he was in an inconspicuous alley.

Shido entered the Department Store, picked up a plastic basket, and began shopping with practiced ease.

Before long, he had almost everything he needed for hamburg steak. Only the most important ingredient remained: meat.

As Shido headed toward the meat section, something weighed on his mind.

I'm supposed to ask Lingmeng on a date the next time I see her? Easy to say, hard to do.

Remembering Kotori's request, Shido sighed helplessly.

He had agreed to win Lingmeng over, but Tengu City was a city, not a single street. Running into her again would not be easy.

Besides, Lingmeng could go wherever she pleased. For all he knew, while he was searching desperately for her, she might already have gone to another city—or even another country.

"Man, talk about pressure." Shido frowned. But when he reached the meat section and spotted one last package in the refrigerated case, his worries vanished.

"One package left? Lucky me." Grinning, Shido reached for it.

Just as his fingers were about to touch the meat, another hand reached in beside his.

They both touched the package at the same time—

"Huh?" they exclaimed in unison.

The other person's hand was slender, and her voice was clear and pleasant. Unless Shido was mistaken, she was a girl.

When Shido turned to look at her, he froze.

The girl reaching for the same package was none other than Qian Lingmeng—the very person he had just been thinking about.

"Hey, Shido. What a coincidence, running into you here."

Lingmeng ignored his stunned expression and greeted him warmly. Shido quickly snapped out of it.

"H-hello, Lingmeng..." he said, forcing a smile.

Good grief, is the world really this small? Speak of the devil and she appears. Is Tengu City actually just one street?

Shido could only marvel at the timing. He had never expected to run into Lingmeng again so soon. For a moment, he even considered buying a lottery ticket.

"Are you shopping, Shido?" Lingmeng asked, glancing at the basket in his hand.

"Y-yeah. We didn't have enough ingredients for dinner tonight, so I came to pick some up. You too?"

Shido looked into Lingmeng's basket.

It held cucumbers, carrots, eggplants, corn... all discounted vegetables.

"You bought all those vegetables to...?"

"Ahem... Money's a little tight lately, so I bought these. Don't get the wrong idea."

Noticing him looking into her basket, Lingmeng coughed awkwardly.

After all, if someone saw a girl buying that many vegetables with those particular shapes, they would assume either that she loved eating them or that she had some other use in mind.

If her wallet had not been nearly empty these past few days, forcing her to scrape by on discounted ingredients, Lingmeng would never have bought anything so easy to misunderstand.

In that moment, Lingmeng felt that she was living a pitiful life for a Spirit. She even had to pinch pennies every day. If Xier Ya found out, she would never hear the end of it.

Xier Ya up in the sky, laughing: "Too late. I already know."

"I see... Then you should take this meat," Shido said after some hesitation. He felt bad for Kotori and Tohka waiting at home, but he decided to give it up.

"Forget it. You probably have people waiting at home, right? You take it."

With that, Lingmeng put the package in Shido's basket.

"Then... thanks." Shido thanked her, but still felt bad. "Um... if you don't mind, would you like to come to my place for dinner? We're having hamburg steak."

"Wait, really? ⊙ω⊙" Lingmeng looked surprised.

"Of course."

"I'm coming!" Lingmeng answered at once. She had been living so frugally that she had not eaten meat in ages. Why would she turn down a free meal now?

"All right. If you've got everything you need, let's pay and go."

"I'm done. Come on!" Lingmeng grabbed Shido and pulled him toward the checkout.

"Wow, so this is your house, Shido? It's... pretty ordinary, huh?"

"Sorry it's so ordinary! -_-||"

Shido and Lingmeng had paid for their groceries and arrived at his house with the ingredients.

It was a modest two-story house, the sort seen everywhere in Japan.

"Let's go in." Shido took out his key, opened the door, and stepped inside first.

At the sound of the door opening, Kotori, wearing a white hair ribbon, and Tohka immediately ran out to greet them.

"Welcome home, big brother!" Kotori greeted him enthusiastically.

"Oh, Shido, you're finally back!" Tohka said with a nod.

"Wow, it's lively in here." Lingmeng stepped in behind Shido. "Sorry to intrude."

"Lingmeng! What are you doing here?" Tohka was delighted by her unexpected arrival.

Kotori fell silent for a moment, then smiled. "Welcome to our home, big sis Lingmeng!"

"Huh?" Lingmeng and Shido were both dumbfounded.

Cooking

What's going on? Three days ago, she was talking to me like a stern commander. How did she turn into an innocent little sister so quickly?

Lingmeng's mouth twitched. She could not make sense of it.

Shido looked much the same. In all his years as Kotori's older brother, this was the first time he had heard her call someone else "big sis."

"Um... little girl, you're not sick, are you?" Lingmeng asked uneasily.

"I'm not sick!" Kotori said with an innocent smile.

"Then could you talk to me the way you did three days ago? You're giving me the creeps like this."

Lingmeng hugged her shoulders and shuddered.

"What are you talking about, big sis Lingmeng? I don't understand."

Kotori tilted her little head, looking adorably puzzled.

"Hey, Shido," Lingmeng whispered into his ear. "What's up with your sister today? She wasn't like this three days ago."

"She's usually like this," Shido whispered back. "With a black ribbon, she's in her cool-headed Commander Mode. With a white one, she's the cute little sister."

"Right. So the ribbon is the real Kotori." Lingmeng glanced at the white ribbon on Kotori's head, speechless.

"Shido, Lingmeng, what were you two whispering about?" Tohka asked.

"N-nothing," Shido said hurriedly.

"Oh, okay." Tohka folded her arms and nodded.

"Haha! Big brother and big sis Lingmeng are so strange!" Kotori laughed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

Who's the strange one here? Shido and Lingmeng both thought.

They gave her matching deadpan stares.

"Big brother, big sis Lingmeng, come in! Don't stand in the doorway."

Kotori waved them inside.

"Coming in, then."

Shido and Lingmeng changed into indoor slippers and went to the living room with the others.

"I'll go make dinner. Lingmeng, you can watch TV with Kotori and Tohka."

"Go on, then."

"Okay, big brother!"

"Yeah, hurry up, Shido."

Shido gave a wry smile and carried the ingredients into the kitchen.

"I haven't watched TV in ages. Let's see what's on."

Realizing it had been years since she last watched TV, Lingmeng picked up the remote and turned it on.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Pe*. This is my little brother, Jo*—oink! This is my mommy—oink! This is my daddy—oink!..."

Lingmeng froze the instant the TV came on. The show seemed aimed at very young children.

Maybe I just picked the wrong channel. That must be it. Muttering to herself, Lingmeng switched channels.

But the next channel was much the same.

"There are all these channels. One of them has to have something I can watch!"

As if taking it as a challenge, Lingmeng started hammering the buttons. Several minutes passed...

"Okay, I give up. Why is every show like this?"

Lingmeng slumped onto the sofa, defeated. She had flipped through hundreds of channels, and not one had appealed to her.

How do people in this world sit through these shows?

"What's wrong, big sis Lingmeng? Don't you like TV?" Kotori asked curiously.

"It's not that I don't like it..."

Lingmeng studied Kotori's face. At first, she had disliked being called "big sis," but the more she heard it, the better it felt.

Kotori was a pretty girl, after all. Being addressed that way by her made Lingmeng feel as if her inner otaku was about to awaken.

If Kotori had called her "big brother" instead, Lingmeng was sure she would have had an unstoppable nosebleed on the spot.

Of course, she could only imagine it now. As much as she hated to admit it, Lingmeng was no longer a man. Sob.

"Is dinner ready yet, Shido?" Tohka called out. She lay limp across the sofa, her stomach rumbling loudly.

"Wait a little longer, Tohka. I've got my hands full."

Shido answered while scrambling to cook in the kitchen.

"Do you need a hand, Shido?" Lingmeng called over the back of the sofa.

"A little... but don't worry. Dinner shouldn't take much longer."

"Well, want me to help?" Lingmeng sprang up and hurried over to his side.

"You don't have to, Lingmeng. You're a guest. I can't ask a guest to help."