Touko Aozaki, the Naive and Innocent Girl

Grandma Tang put away the photo and eyed Li Mo up and down suspiciously.

"How did you know her name?"

At first, she'd thought this kid was a good person. Could it be that he was after her granddaughter after all?

Li Mo gave an awkward laugh and waved his hands apologetically. "Just a coincidence, a coincidence. I heard the breakfast shop owner's son talking about it while I was eating across the street earlier."

So it really was her. Your granddaughter was the girl of my dreams in my past life—I'd seen her so many times in movies. Could I possibly say that?!

Well, now that he'd made his excuse airtight, Grandma Tang did not press the matter further. But neither did she bring up introducing her granddaughter again. After muttering a few words in her hometown dialect, she turned and went into the kitchen.

Li Mo had nothing to say. He could only force himself to swallow the food before him.

I really didn't mean to make a move on your granddaughter, Grandma!

Of course, if I could get an autograph and a photo together, that would be more than welcome...

Just then, a woman's voice suddenly came from behind Li Mo. "Grandma, the bill!"

Hearing someone call to pay, Grandma Tang came out of the kitchen. "Thirty-two yuan altogether. Just give me thirty, miss. If you think it tastes good, come again next time!"

After the exchange, Li Mo heard a rustling, fumbling sound.

Then... more fumbling...

And more...

Hm? Li Mo frowned. Had she run into someone trying to dine and dash?

Turning around, Li Mo looked toward the person at the table behind him.

If you look like a winter melon, let's see whether I beat you until you call me Daddy.

Hm. Dark reddish-brown long hair, a Clock Tower uniform, and a face that had originally been delicate and cool but was now pitifully aggrieved... Li Mo froze. Oh? Had he run into a fellow Clock Tower member?

"Um... Grandma, I forgot to bring money today. Could you let me go back and get it for you...?"

The owner of the voice seemed never to have encountered such a situation before. Her little face had already turned bright red as she looked at Grandma Tang with embarrassed restraint.

A ditzy, innocent girl?

No, a ditzy, innocent Magus?

Li Mo covered his face. This scene was really too hilarious...

Though it was a little immoral to put it that way, as a Magus, shouldn't she have plenty of ways to solve something like this?

For example, suggestion magecraft?

Sigh, somehow even the food in his mouth no longer tasted good!

Before Grandma Tang could speak, Li Mo cut in. "Grandma, since she says so, she probably can't help it. Put her bill on my tab. I'll settle it all together after I finish eating."

Tch, I've got money. I can do what I want!

And when something like this happened, it was best to help if he could. There were not many little sweethearts in the Clock Tower these days who would blush over something as trivial as meal money. Maybe she was a recent arrival?

Even newer than me?

Still, not every Magus was as easygoing as Brishisan. If it had been someone with a bad temper today, they would have waved both hands and walked off long ago. If they were even more sinister, they might have left behind a few nasty curses.

But Grandma Tang refused Li Mo's kindness. Shaking her head, she smiled. "That won't do. It's not worth much anyway, so Grandma won't charge you. Grandma went through something like this herself back then. If I hadn't met kind-hearted people too, you wouldn't be seeing Grandma now.

"Little girl, when you go out to eat next time, you can't be this careless. Remember to check your wallet properly."

Well, since she was not taking the money, Li Mo said no more and turned back to continue burying his head in the food on the table.

Still, this ditzy girl's face looked strangely familiar...

"Um, thank you for today. My name is Touko Aozaki. If you have time next time, I'll treat you to a meal."

Yet Li Mo had not intended to say anything else, but the girl directly sat down across from him, thanking him with utmost sincerity.

Think about it. Think carefully.

No wonder her face had seemed familiar. This ditzy innocent girl was Touko Aozaki?!

Touko Aozaki was actually a ditzy, expressionless girl now?

Well, Li Mo felt like he'd gone blind. He stared at Touko in a daze and confirmed, "I'm Li Mo. Touko, did you come over from Japan?"

Touko froze for a moment, then awkwardly touched a loose strand of hair with her fingers and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Yes, Li Mo.

"I've loved your country's culture since I was little, and I only came here recently. I'm still not used to the food here, so I asked around and came here to see if I could find something familiar."

Well, Li Mo was moved.

This was practically a kindred spirit. He wanted nothing more than to grab Touko tightly, cut their hands, and swear brotherhood in blood!

Chuckling, Li Mo smiled with immense pride. "How was the food? Have you fallen in love with our cuisine?"

Yet reality was the opposite of what Li Mo had expected. After hearing his words, Touko's expression became incredibly complicated, and she stammered without being able to say anything.

"Um... the mapo tofu I ordered was really delicious, but... I also ordered tiger-skin green peppers..."

Touko spoke embarrassedly, but Li Mo understood. He really understood!

This really was just a hilarious situation...

When Li Mo was in his senior year of high school, one of his childhood friends heard that he was having an extremely hard time and took him to a restaurant outside the school, telling him he could order anything he wanted.

Then he saw Tiger Skin Green Peppers on the menu...

What kind of tiger skin was that supposed to be, and what kind of green peppers were those?

Well, neither of them had ever seen the dish before. The two friends put their heads together and guessed for a while before deciding to order one and give it a try!

Then the dish arrived. What did it look like?

On a plate—oh wow—were exactly two large green peppers. They seemed to have been cooked, but there were no other ingredients in sight. They just lay there stiffly on the plate.

Li Mo was dumbfounded. So was his friend. The two of them stared fixedly at the peppers and voiced a question from the depths of their souls: "Didn't we order Tiger Skin Green Peppers? Where's our tiger skin?!"

Of course, buying a wife cake did not mean they would throw in a wife, and eating lion's head did not mean they would kill a Simba for you. Everyone knew that, so naturally the two friends would not ask something so stupid. Thus, as tactfully as possible...

"Boss, your Tiger Skin Green Peppers..."

Well, it still sounded pretty stupid. The way the two friends spoke in unison made the owner laugh. He snapped irritably, "Isn't this Tiger Skin Green Peppers? What did you think it was?"

What a tragedy! Two southerners who had barely ever eaten this sort of thing since childhood just stared at the dish, and even after they had eaten and drunk their fill, they had barely touched it...

Wasn't shredded pork with green peppers meant for eating the shredded pork? Green peppers could be eaten as a dish on their own?

The two friends felt that their worldview had been utterly overturned.

Back to the present. "Wait here a moment!"

Li Mo wolfed down his food. He felt that he could not let Eastern cuisine leave that sort of impression on someone. "There's a whole street of food stalls outside. I'll treat you—we'll eat our way from one end to the other!"

Touko: ???

But I'm already full!

And then...

This squirrel fish is so good! These sweet-and-sour pork ribs are so good! These braised noodles are so good!

So delicious!

In the end, the two of them really did eat all the way from one end of the street to the other, until Li Mo began questioning his life. Then he arrived at what he felt was the most correct truth of his entire life:

Never trust a woman's stomach!

They said you could tell whether a woman was full by whether she reapplied her lipstick, but for a girl Touko's age, who did not even use lipstick yet, there was simply no way to tell if she was full!

This was fucking ridiculous!

By the end, Touko felt a little embarrassed too. She stared at Li Mo with tearful eyes. "Mō-san, don't tell me... you have those kinds of feelings for me?"

You went from eating shyly to eating without restraint, then from eating without restraint back to being shy. You finally noticed that something was wrong?

But why did you think I meant that?!

Li Mo slapped the table. This was the Type-Moon World, not some ** world, okay?!