Aunt Xiangzi, how did you manage to live?

Standing behind the two, instead of surrounding Rakuna like they did, Banami took two or three steps back with lingering fear. After all, she had witnessed the whole process of how Suze came up with the plan to lure Rakuna here in three minutes and executed it perfectly—and in the end, Rakuna really fell for it.

Nagasaki Motoyo, terrifying indeed.

However, despite the three people's completely different attitudes, Miss Renai did not show much emotional fluctuation from beginning to end.

After silently watching the video Su Shi played for her, she casually stated her request—

"Parfait."

She moved her little mouth, and only two simple syllables came out.

"Su Shi, the parfait you promised."

Cats are indeed easy to trick, but they are also hard to fool.

Su Shi twitched the corners of her mouth, her smile still gentle and heartwarming.

"Taki-chan, a matcha parfait."

She called out to the long-haired black girl who was doing bookkeeping at the front desk in a sweet voice. Li Xi, who was busy with bookkeeping, looked up and glanced at them with a rather helpless expression.

"Alright, alright, I know—seriously, what are you all doing chasing after the stray cat? It's been like this ever since I came to relieve you on shift..."

"Shh—Riki! We have a very important deduction game to play, and Rakuna-chan is our key witness! Everything she says will be used against us in court!"

"Ha, are we just kids playing house?"

Despite Aine's earnest and repeated admonitions, Lixi didn't seem to take their ongoing activities that seriously.

She ignored Aine's gaze and turned to look at the only "parent" among the three—Nagasaki Motoyo.

"What's going on here?"

Li Xi hopes that Su Shi can give him an explanation.

"...That's how it is. Taki-chan, you come over too."

Su Shi's eyes darted away slightly, perhaps knowing that she couldn't hide it from Li Xi's eyes, so she simply played the video for Li Xi in its entirety.

Of course, Su Shi deliberately concealed from Li Xi the fact that the video was actually obtained from Banami's phone as key information—which was actually Banami's request.

"Um... someone actually sent me this video. Could you please keep it a secret between the three of us? It feels like it would be a hassle to explain if others find out... Please help me!"

The blue-haired girl clasped her hands together in a gesture of fear and trepidation and made a request. Aine nodded in agreement without much thought.

"Of course, no problem! No matter how you look at it, it's the private account that posted this video that's causing trouble, it has nothing to do with Xingcai-chan!"

She is indeed quite kind-hearted, but Su Shi agreed to Banami's request entirely based on her own considerations.

Just like with the previous photos, the fewer people who know the specific details of this video, the better.

Information asymmetry, representing secrecy, is something that can only be preserved if it is held tightly in the hands of a few.

So after deciding to lure Rana into RiNG, Suze forwarded the video to her own phone, using her own phone instead of Banami's phone to play the video for everyone.

"...Is this really not some kind of prank?"

Completely unaware of the cause and effect, Lixi gave the same reaction as Su Shi before after watching the video, without even thinking.

"Looks like you're still a normal person, Taki-chan."

"Is this tone really a compliment?"

Indeed, any normal person would question whether this video, which defies all logic and reality, was created using artificial intelligence.

"Then, what about Lena?"

Compared to Li Xi's unsurprising answer, Su Shi was actually more looking forward to Le Nai's answer.

If she remembered correctly, when she came across that photo, fragments of memory that she had never personally experienced yet seemed to have happened many years ago flooded her mind.

Since this video features Lena as the protagonist, could she have had a similar reaction to herself back then?

A memory suddenly flooded her mind, leading her to doubt whether this so-called reality was just a game... This was the mental journey Su Shi had once experienced.

Okay, actually, that's why she went to such lengths to lure the stray cat to the scene.

She wanted to see if this was just a coincidence unique to her, or a natural law that would happen to Lena as well.

"...I've finished reading it."

Maintaining a calm and composed expression, Lena turned her head to look at Su Shi with indifference.

"Parfait."

...Okay, I almost forgot about that.

"Here you are, your matcha parfait. Seriously, why are you being so insistent on finding out the details of something that's clearly AI-generated..."

Lixi handed the freshly made parfait to Lena, whose eyes lit up and she snatched it in front of her like a kitten, guarding it like a protective cat, and began to eat it in small bites.

"It's not synthetic."

However, she uttered words that caused Su Shilixi's expression to change.

Chapter Twenty: I'm your Aunt Lenai!

"This video is not a composite."

As Lena licked the specks of frosting mixed with matcha on the parfait in small sips, she casually uttered words that made Su Shi's expression change.

"Eh?"

"what?"

Su Shi stopped talking, but Li Xi and Ai Yin raised their eyebrows in confusion.

This kid... is quite something.

Although Banami remained silent, Rakuna's reply stirred up quite a bit of emotion within her.

"Rakuna-chan, why would you say that? Do you know something about it?"

Su Shi, trying to coax her, pressed on with more questions, but Le Nai remained focused on eating her matcha parfait the whole time, never looking up at anyone.

"do not know."

Lena, her eyes glued to the parfait, stuck out her little tongue like a cat, licking and chewing the crumbs of cookies.

"Anyway, Su Shi's worries are unnecessary."

This guy, he didn't give a definite answer at all... but he easily denied Su Shi's thoughts.

Su Shi's brow twitched involuntarily, but even so, she continued to patiently guide Le Nai to provide more information.

"Then, why would Lena think that way?"

"Could it be that Rakuna's heterochromia is really a family trait, and that Kazama-sensei is actually closely related to your family?"

A burst of inspiration led Aine to unleash her boundless imagination, even though the reality was worlds apart from her guess.

Su Shi sighed and rubbed her forehead in exasperation, but just as she subconsciously rejected Aine's reasoning—

"Well, it is."

The girl, licking the parfait like a kitten, nodded, acknowledging that Aine's guess was not unfounded.

"Ha—that's really true!"

"Wait... huh?"

Ai Yin's eyes lit up with excitement, while Su Shi was a little at a loss.

"Huh? What... Kazama has some connection with Rakuna's family?"

Like Aine, Riki, who was completely unaware of the inside story, raised an eyebrow and revealed an expression with her eyes slightly different sizes. She seemed to be somewhat suspicious that what Lena said was just a fabricated lie.

Wait, wait... has Renai-chan really revealed the whole truth like this?

On the surface, Banami still appears calm and reliable, but in reality, alarm bells are ringing loudly in her mind.

Even a fool could guess that Kazama has some deep, intricate connection with these girls in the band in front of him, but if what Rakuna said is really true...

Once the truth is fully exposed to everyone, something bad will probably happen to her, right?

Almost unconsciously, a sense of anxiety and unease arose in Banami's heart.

Fortunately, she could always trust Lena's ability to express herself.

"Xiao is just as important as Baphi, she's family."

"………What."

The three girls were dumbfounded, and Banami also breathed a sigh of relief and felt somewhat fortunate.

Should I be happy or sad, Kazama? In Rakuna's heart, you're at the same table as Buffet.

"You wouldn't understand even if I explained."

Lena's attitude remained mild and calm, but she really couldn't offer any more information.

"Um... if that's the case, then if you had to choose between Xiaojun and Matcha Parfait—who would Rakuna-chan choose?"

Seeing that this tactic was not working, Su Shi, who knew how to counter any move, quickly changed direction and continued to probe Le Nai.

Lixi, standing to the side, pursed her lips. As a shop assistant working at RiNG, she certainly knew how important the matcha parfait was to Lena.

"........."

However, Li Xi, who thought Le Nai would blurt out the words "matcha parfait," was not so lucky.

"?"

Su Shi and Aine were in the same boat as Li Xi. The three of them looked at Le Nai's expression with some surprise. This eccentric wildcat girl, who never showed her feelings or emotions on her face, had fallen into an unusual silence for some reason.

When she looked up again, Le Nai's beautiful heterochromatic eyes held a hint of dissatisfaction and hostility in her gaze as she looked at Su Shi.

"Su Shi, this is not good."

"Eh?"

Su Shi, who had only intended to test the waters, was dumbfounded. She never expected that Le Nai, who was usually eccentric and unpredictable, would suddenly bar her fangs like a kitten being stroked against its natural fur.

"No fun. (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the previous sentences.)"

Lena glanced at the group dismissively, then jumped up from her seat, holding her matcha parfait, and left the place of trouble.

"...When did this child become such a mysterious and enigmatic person?"

Lixi watched the white-haired girl move to the corner bar, curled up like a hamster, focused on devouring her food, her face full of confusion and bewilderment.

"And the tone she used just now... it felt like she was offended by what Soyorin said."

Ai Yin hummed twice to make this deduction, and Su Shi, who was already in an awkward situation, looked even more displeased upon hearing this.

"I know this without you having to spell it out, Ai-yin."

"Hey~ But you can't really blame Rakuna for being too petty, after all, that kid's personality is quite different from ordinary people. Why don't you go apologize to her, Soyorin?"

"I would have done this even without you reminding me... I just don't quite understand..."

"That is indeed a bit strange."

Having grown accustomed to Aine and Sose's daily banter, Riki focused most of his attention on Lena's somewhat unusual behavior.

"Based on my understanding of Wildcat, although she has a somewhat eccentric personality, she wouldn't get so angry over a question that isn't even a joke."

Of course, she couldn't possibly have any preconceived prejudice against Su Shi herself, otherwise Su Shi wouldn't have been able to so easily lure her to RiNG with the matcha parfait.

"........."

The three of them fell silent at the same time, and it was at this moment that they all turned their attention to Banami, who neither spoke nor offered any opinion.

"Uh...do you want to hear my opinion?"

Originally intending to quietly disappear and not participate in the discussion, Banami pointed to herself with a guilty conscience.

"Uh-huh."

The other three nodded in unison with the same arc.

What bad luck! It seems her plan to play the victim won't be so easy to implement. Even if she doesn't say much, she still can't hide her presence.

"Hmm...is it possible that the answer is actually quite simple?"