Conquer the world, young man!

The birds will fly in tomorrow's sky.

The ship's horn sounded, signaling the start of the voyage.

As if guiding the way invisibly

The brief memories of spending time with you

It's unclear when it started to spread.

Come to me

Like the coral that adorns dreams

Swaying in the waves

In this season of slow appreciation

Continuing this journey

Thank you! Thanks to [Jing] for throwing the grenade, and to [Hua Shan Shi Si], [Yan Chen Zhi Mo], [Rong Rong], and [Chen Shui De Gao Yang] for the thunderous applause. *smack*

Chapter 56056 HOMRA Bar

Suoh Mikoto was only slightly taken aback upon hearing this, pursed his lips, and then pushed open the bar door.

Totsuka looked up and was surprised to find herself here. The bar was decorated in a completely European style, with a 'closed' sign indicating it wasn't open yet. The sign at the top of the bar bore the letters HOMRA; although it was the first time she'd seen it, it felt strangely familiar and welcoming.

Totsuka stepped onto the stairs and followed Suoh Mikoto directly into the bar.

"Zun, you're back so early?" Standing behind the bar was a handsome man with blond hair. He was wiping a wine glass in his hand when he looked up and waved to the red-haired boy.

Suoh Mikoto nodded, walked directly to the bar, sat down, and leaned lazily against the bar without saying a word.

"Huh?" The blond man only then noticed that there was a child who looked like a middle school student who had followed Suoh Mikoto in. "Who's this? Our bar isn't open yet."

Totsuka raised her head and smiled at the blond man. "Hello, I'm Totsuka Tatara. Nice to meet you!"

"Huh?" The blond man glanced at Suoh Mikoto, then at the boy, put down his wine glass, tilted his head, and asked, "What's going on?"

“This brat followed us here on his own.” Suoh Mikoto, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up, still looking impatient.

The blond man chuckled upon hearing this. If Zun were truly impatient, he wouldn't have let the boy follow. He carefully examined the boy, and from every angle, he was indeed someone one wouldn't dislike. "Hello, my name is Kusanagi Izumo. This guy..." He pointed at the red-haired boy, "Don't take his temper to heart."

Totsuka nodded. "I know, King is a good person."

"Pfft..." Kusanagi Izumo couldn't help but laugh when he heard the boy describe Suoh Mikoto like that. Seeing Suoh Mikoto turn his head away and remain silent, he found it even more amusing. "You call Mikoto 'King'?"

“Hmm.” Totsuka sat down next to Suoh Mikoto and continued to say to Kusanagi Izumo, “I want to follow King and become your comrade.”

Kusanagi Izumo's eyes widened, somewhat taken aback by the boy's words. Turning back to look at Mikoto, who remained silent, he chuckled softly, "Totsuka, you're still a middle school student, aren't you? Why are you following Mikoto?"

"I just wanted to follow along." Totsuka rested his chin on his hand, looking around the HOMRA bar. Apart from the bar counter being full of sanitary napkins, the rest of the place seemed a bit too empty. He felt that it should have more decorations.

"Master, don't you have anything to say?" Kusanagi Izumo asked, seeing the boy's completely relaxed demeanor. He had to admit, the boy blended in very naturally in this environment. Facing the silent Master, he showed no sign of frustration, but rather seemed quite enthusiastic—truly a strange person.

"Tsk, is there anything you want to say?" Suoh Mikoto glanced at Kusanagi Izumo, then turned back to look at the boy. Seeing that he was still smiling, he had no choice but to swallow his words.

Kusanagi shook his head and smiled helplessly. He hoped that the boy was just curious for a moment. After all, following Mikoto was no joke.

"Hey, Kusanagi-nii." Totsuka, addressing Kusanagi like this, looked at the deserted bar and asked curiously, "Do you run this bar all by yourself?"

“That’s right.” Kusanagi Izumo seemed quite excited when he mentioned his beloved bar. “Don’t you think this place is great?”

"Hmm, the bar is very clean too." Totsuka touched the bar, which was practically spotless.

Kusanagi Izumo immediately rubbed against the bar with delight, "Haha, that's right, we have to take good care of this bar to do justice to it."

Suoh Mikoto sighed helplessly as he watched the two men who had immediately become friends.

“This bar is really nice, but it’s missing some decorations.” Totsuka nodded and pointed to the leftmost bar counter. “Kusanagi-kun, don’t you think it would be better to put a potted plant there? I feel like this place is missing some green plants.”

Totsuka got down from the bar seat and pointed to a small sofa, "This is one too. One sofa is not enough. We should put another one."

"Hmm." Kusanagi Izumo listened and nodded. "What you said, Totsuka, seems to make sense."

"Next time I come, I'll bring something to decorate it." Totsuka clasped his hands together and immediately confirmed the plan.

Kusanagi Izumo didn't sense anything amiss and simply nodded, "Okay, then I'll buy another sofa. Totsuka, you can decide how to arrange it."

"Okay, then it's settled." Totsuka took out his phone from his pocket. "Kusanagi-nii, your phone number?"

“189XXXX…” Kusanagi Izumo recited the number directly and also reached out to take out his own phone.

"Then I'll call you, please save the number." After entering the number, Tokusuka pressed the dial button, put the phone to his ear, and it rang once before connecting.

Kusanagi Izumo hung up and gave an OK sign. "Okay, save it. It's Totsuka Tatara, right?"

Suoh Mikoto, who was standing to the side, stood up and prepared to go upstairs.

"King!" Totsuka quickly stepped forward and took out the strawberry milk he had brought with him before leaving. "I won't bother you today. As long as you don't agree, I will come to visit every day. Please accept my gift."

"A gift?" Kusanagi Izumo looked at the cutely packaged strawberry milk in the Totsuka boy's hand and didn't understand.

"King, please accept this." Totsuka smiled. "It tastes excellent!"

Seeing the boy's bright smile, Suoh Mikoto initially wanted to refuse, but involuntarily reached out and accepted it.

Seeing that Suoh Mikoto had accepted it, Totsuka breathed a sigh of relief and waved to Mikoto, "Then I'll be going now, see you tomorrow!"

"Goodbye, Kusanagi-nii." Totsuka nodded to Kusanagi Izumo behind the bar, put on his hat, pushed open the bar door, and walked out.

"Huh?" Kusanagi Izumo was about to say something when he saw that Mikoto had already gone upstairs. He couldn't help but shake his head. "Well, he really is an unbelievable person."

After leaving the HOMRA, Totsuka memorized the location of the bar so that he could easily find it next time.

Main Quest: Conquer the Red King, one of the Seven Kingdoms, Completion (10/100), keep it up!

System, why are you using Taobao style now?!

[Seeing how proactive and hardworking you are, I'm very happy too! The great god Tom Sue has high hopes for you. If you continue to maintain this enthusiasm, the great god will be very satisfied, dear.]

This wasn't because of a mission; he just wanted to do it. Totsuka, too lazy to listen to what the system was saying, simply hailed a taxi and headed home.

Only a few of the original little monsters remained in the house. When they saw Totsuka return, they hopped and skipped around him.

"Go, go, go do what you're supposed to do." Rain Girl A-tide waved her hand, sending the little demons away to do their work. When she saw Totsuka, she immediately came up to him. "Master, I sent those little demons who follow you directly to Mount Misumi. I heard there are quite a few demons there. Let them collect believers for you directly. What do you think, Master?"

Seeing the Rain Woman's expression, which clearly looked like she was asking for praise, Totsuka smiled and nodded, "Well done, Ashi."

Rain Woman blinked, touched her face with both hands, and smiled broadly, "I'm so happy that Master says so."

"I'll cook today." Tokusuke picked up an apron, tied it on, and turned to Ashi with a smile. "Ashi, why don't you go watch TV? You haven't been watching many dramas lately."

"Master, you're so wonderful, sob sob..." The Rain Woman pretended to sob a few times, then secretly looked up at Totsuka, "Master seems very happy today?"

"I'm quite happy every day." Totsuka took the vegetables out of the refrigerator, and when she saw a neatly arranged bag of strawberry milk, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up a little more.

"But Ah tide feels that Master is happier than usual today." Ah tide floated around Shishu once, "Master must have had something good happen!"

"Axi, you guessed right." Shishu nodded and walked into the kitchen. "Today I met someone I've been wanting to see for a long time. How should I put it, I was very happy."

"Who is it?" The Rain Woman's curiosity also piqued, and she lowered her voice to ask, "Is she prettier than Tsuruga Ren?"

“He’s completely different from Ren-senpai.” Totsuka shook his head, then chuckled as he thought of Suoh Mikoto’s lazy demeanor.

"What's it like?" Axi stomped her foot and then followed Shishu around in circles.

“Hmm…” Totsuka thought for a moment, “He is a trustworthy and worthy person to follow, a person who will become a true king, a person who looks cold but has a heart as warm as a flame.”

"Wow, Master, now that you mention it, A-Xi really wants to meet that person too!" A-Xi's eyes sparkled, then her thoughts drifted off again. "Master still hasn't answered me, is he even prettier than Tsuruga Ren?"

"He's a really handsome guy!" Totsuka gave a thumbs up and winked.

"Really, I want to see Master too!" A-tide, the Rain Woman, was always very interested in handsome men, and when she heard Totsuka say this, she was also very interested.

"We'll have a chance to meet again in the future," Totsuka said, putting the vegetables into the pot and stir-frying them. "Okay, let's go out now."

Muttering to herself, "Why isn't Tsuruga Ren here?" Shio finally gave up asking and left the kitchen. Totsuka, thinking about seeing him again tomorrow, was already looking forward to it.

While eating dinner, A-tide watched TV. She switched the channel to entertainment news and, seeing the announcement of the Totsuka album release, danced with joy, exclaiming, "Master, look, you look absolutely stunning up there!"

"That's thanks to the makeup artist." The Shizuku on TV was indeed somewhat different; her face was more refined, and her smile had a perfect curve.

"Master is releasing an album, but not for A-tide?" A-tide asked, pointing at the TV with a hint of grievance.

"I won't listen to it at home." Totsuka felt it was a bit strange to play his own songs for himself, but he was still very happy that everyone liked them.

“But it seems the music radio station also plays Master’s songs.” As A-tide said this, she changed the TV channel again. “By the way, Master, there’s a TV series that someone made that’s pretty good.”

"Besides Senior Lian, has A-tide fallen for someone else?" Totsuka knows the taste of her own shikigami. Could it be that some actor with great acting skills has appeared again?

"The supernatural dramas he filmed are incredibly realistic." Ah tide changed the channel and looked at the person who was the main character on TV, saying, "I think it's really strange, he doesn't seem like an ordinary person at all."

Totsuka looked at the television. The person on the screen was a handsome blond man. And the movie he was filming was related to monsters?

"I feel like this TV series is very realistic, as if I've seen monsters with my own eyes," A-tide said, then shook her head and said, "But Mr. Natori really did a good job directing it."

Judging from his appearance, he certainly met A-tide's standards for a handsome man. Shi Shu glanced at him but didn't pay much attention.

The sound of a key clicking open the door made Totsuka look out immediately. Who could have come into the house?

"Tatara, I'm back." Standing outside the door was a middle-aged man who looked quite dejected. He scratched his head and chuckled dryly. "Tatara can cook now, huh?"

Even though he had never met this person before, he had already figured out who he was. Totsuka, holding his rice bowl, asked blankly, "Dad?"

"Hmm, haven't been back in a long time. Looks like things are going well at home." The man looked around the house, then at the food prepared by Totsuka Yaki. "Are you at school?"

"Yes, I go to Namimori Middle School." Totsuka went into the kitchen again and took out an extra pair of bowls and chopsticks. "Dad probably hasn't eaten yet, let's eat together."

"I'm glad you're doing well." The man sat down awkwardly and served himself a bowl of rice. "It's all my fault for having bad luck and losing money again. Otherwise, I wouldn't have left you to live here alone."

Totsuka knew that the man hadn't fulfilled his responsibilities as an adoptive father, but he still said, "It's okay, it's okay, there's always a way. I've found a job now, and life is a bit easier for me."

Hearing Shishu say this, the man silently ate his food and said nothing more.

Axi pouted sullenly to the side, somewhat displeased that someone was disturbing her and her master's life. She made all sorts of faces in front of the man, but unfortunately, Totsuka's adoptive father couldn't see them at all, so he could only sit aside sullenly.

After Totsuka cleared away the dishes, her adoptive father went into the room after taking a shower.

Looking at the closed door, Totsuka sighed softly.

"Master, that man really doesn't resemble your father." A-tide seemed to dislike the man particularly and was still muttering to herself.

“He’s my adoptive father,” Totsuka said, entering the room. “Ashi, go and rest.”

Tomorrow will be a new day.

Author's Note: Young Zun is actually quite adorable, especially with his normal hairstyle...