Chapter 29 The Leader of the Phantom Troupe in Meteor City (Revised, suspected...)
Farming is never an easy task.
Especially when tools are rudimentary and only the most primitive agricultural implements can be used for cultivation.
For convenience, the girl wore only a light blue short-sleeved shirt on her upper body and white shorts on her lower body.
The sun was scorching hot today. With the sun high in the sky, the group had only worked in the fields for a short while when they were already soaked in sweat, and Ayana was no exception.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, exhaled, and placed her hand on her head to shield herself from the sunlight. She raised her head, closed one eye tightly, and half-closed the other, looking at the sun overhead that was freely scattering its light to the sides. She looked like this for a while before lowering her head again and saying...
"Let's stop here for now and take a break."
As soon as Ayana finished speaking, the boy appeared as if he had deliberately timed it perfectly.
The black-haired boy was carrying several bottles of water, his face flushed from running, panting heavily. His eyes, though pure black, seemed to shine brightly, perhaps because of the sunlight.
"Oh!" Uvogin was very excited to see Kuroro running towards him with water in his arms.
After working in the fields for so long and being exposed to the sun for so long, Uvogin's mouth was incredibly dry and his throat was constantly throbbing with thirst, so he was really looking forward to seeing Chrollo. Phinks felt the same way, and both of them showed extreme joy on their expressions.
In stark contrast to them, Ayana was taken aback, her expression a mixture of embarrassment and confusion.
She avoided Kuroro's gaze, and without thinking twice, shoved the things in her hand into Uvogin's hand. Her body tensed, her whole being filled with tension and helplessness, and she said in a flustered manner.
"I suddenly remembered I have other things to do, so I'll be leaving now. You guys can go back after you finish your water. That's all for today!"
Before Uvogin could reply, Ayana vanished from their sight with lightning speed, running so fast that only her afterimage could be seen, as if some ferocious beast was desperately chasing after her.
Uvogin, usually oblivious to everything, was completely baffled. He put away the things Ayana had haphazardly stuffed into his hands, rubbed his head with the other, and asked Phinks and Kuroro, who had already walked over, "What's wrong with her? Didn't she just say we had a lot of things to do today? And then it just ended like that?"
"What urgent matter is urging her to complete it immediately?"
Phinks didn't reply. Although he was also a straight man, he was much better than Uvogin. He glanced at Kuroro and probably realized why Ayana was acting this way, so he didn't reply.
Kuroro, the culprit, chuckled twice, showing no remorse whatsoever. His gaze drifted slightly in the direction Ayana had left, and he uttered a reply that lingered in the air: "I don't know."
Uvogin felt something was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Seeing that neither of them answered him or tried to resolve his doubts, he had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being. He scratched his hair a few times and muttered to himself, "How strange."
...
Lunchtime.
Although the people living in this house are not exactly united, they all have an unspoken understanding that when it's time to eat, everyone gathers around the dining table.
But today, one person is missing.
The person in the very center of the dining table disappeared.
The empty seats seem to reflect the thoughts of the person who occupied them.
Now Phinks is almost certain that Ayana is running away from Chrollo.
His gaze returned to Kuroro, his lips twitched slightly, hesitating whether to speak.
"What exactly happened?" Uvogin was still confused, his thick eyebrows raised. "It seems like a very troublesome matter. Is she really okay on her own?"
Uvogin's expression suddenly turned serious, and his hands, which were constantly using utensils to "pour" food into his mouth, stopped. "Is she going to do those dangerous things alone again?"
That's probably not the case.
Phinks looked at Kuroro and silently replied in his mind.
"What are you talking about?" Feitan had been interrogating Adrian all morning, so he naturally didn't know what these people were talking about. This feeling of being excluded made him very uncomfortable.
He frowned, his eyes immediately catching sight of the person most closely connected to Ayana. A faint light shone from his dead fish eyes. Though he didn't speak, he subtly gave Kuroro a lot of pressure.
Perhaps because Ayana wasn't present, Chrollo didn't play the innocent victim this time. He smiled back at Feitan, and their eyes met in mid-air, creating a tense atmosphere in the silence.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and Uvogin was almost certain that something was wrong this time.
He looked at Kuroro, then at Feitan, and finally patted the back of the person sitting next to him, even lowering his voice to ask.
What's going on between the two of them?
As luck would have it, Nobunaga was sitting next to Uvogin.
His back was already mangled and bloody from the sharp claws of the beast named "Bryce," and it hadn't fully healed yet. He had finally managed to get medicine and bandages applied when Uwojin slapped him, almost reopening his wounds.
A sharp pain shot through his back, and Nobunaga coughed violently twice, nearly vomiting up the food he had just swallowed.
He quickly grabbed two tissues to wipe his mouth, then looked up in disbelief, his face contorted with rage: "What are you doing?!"
The sound was so loud that it successfully attracted everyone's attention. Even Feitan and Chrollo, who were still in a silent standoff, looked towards Uvogin and Nobunaga.
The tense atmosphere that seemed about to erupt suddenly vanished, and now Uvogin became the visual focus of the scene.
His smile was incredibly awkward, and he apologized several times, but the anger in Nobunaga's eyes showed no sign of subsiding.
...
In fact, Ayana didn't go anywhere.
She stayed in her room pretending to be an ostrich.
Ayana hadn't sorted out her emotions and didn't know how to face Kuroro.
She buried herself in the pillow, covered her head with the blanket, and didn't even dare to think about Kuroro.
There is no other reason.
The moment Kuroro appears in Ayana's mind, her face burns as if on fire, turning scorching hot in an instant.
Worried that Uvogin would ask her again if she had a fever, and also worried that Kuroro would see through her thoughts, Ayana decisively chose to skip this lunch.
Anyway, she can buy whatever she wants to eat from the system store, so whether or not she participates in lunch is not that important to her.
As for... why you want to run away when you're facing Kuroro.
Ayyana declined to answer the question.
After all, she wouldn't tell anyone that whenever she saw Kuroro or made eye contact with him, her whole body would turn completely red and her mind would go blank.
This is infuriating!
[Kuroro's affection level detected at 40%.]
Only 40%!!
She's known Kuroro for so many days now, and he's made promises to her and said so many...heart-fluttering things.
Only 40%?!
When the system announced the result in its usual emotionless, mechanical voice, Ayana couldn't even believe it. She gritted her teeth and angrily demanded that the system check it again.
[Detection successful, [Kuroro]'s affection level is 40%.]
Are you kidding me?!
Ayana is angry. Ayana is extremely angry.
Ayana is almost becoming a stingy little thing.
Something's not right!
unless…
Unless Kuroro is lying to her.
Her body temperature turned icy cold in an instant, and Ayana's mind calmed down in a flash. She threw away the pillow, sat up in bed, and her light blue eyes no longer showed any signs of madness, but rather a sense of detachment.
She thought of what Feitan had once said, and her mind raced faster and faster.
Just then, there was a knock on Ayana's door.
"Ayana, are you there?"
The boy's sweet, childish voice drifted through the door and reached Ayana's ears.
He knocked on the door twice more, his voice filled with undisguised worry: "You haven't had lunch, I'm worried. If you're in your room, can you answer me?"
Ayyana did not respond.
"Is there something I didn't do well enough?" The boy's voice grew increasingly flustered. "Or is the food I've made no longer to your liking? Would you like to change chefs?"
He looked like he was about to cry: "You...don't you need me anymore?"
After saying that, the boy didn't say anything more.
But for some reason, Ayana was certain that the boy was still behind the door and had not left.
A moment later, the girl inside finally opened the door.
She changed her clothes into a soft, off-white long dress, her long blonde hair flowing naturally down, which made her look devoid of any hostility or aggression, but rather gave people a sense of comfort.
The smile was just right, Ayana's favorite expression: "You haven't eaten, so I left you some food. Do you want some...?"
How did you know I was in the room?
Beneath her long eyelashes, the girl's light blue eyes held a distant and indifferent look: "Since I came back, I have hardly made a sound. Even Feitan, who has been staying in the house the whole time, probably doesn't know I'm in the room."
"Then how did you know?"
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