This is not the date I wanted.

"Please cherish your family, Shouta."

"Well...I see."

Touching the key chain given by Mengyue in his pocket, Shota nodded silently.

……

"They...can reconcile?"

Rokuko watched the mother and son slowly leave with a slightly uneasy tone.

"It should be fine."

Meng Yue replied calmly.

"In fact, most of the 300,000 yen that Shota spent can be recovered. After all, he is only ten years old and obviously does not have the ability to manage such a large amount of spending. As long as the guardian provides sufficient proof, the money can be returned. When I called, I also asked Junai and the others to check it out. Basically, they can all be recovered."

"Is that right?"

Rokuko was a little surprised.

"Well, actually, this matter can't be said to be entirely Shouta's fault. His mother was also wrong for not paying attention to revealing her password. To go deeper, it can also be said that the convenience of mobile payment also has a negative impact. Compared with spending with banknotes one by one, the online payment method is just a row of numbers being deducted. There is an extreme lack of the sense of reality of spending money. Sometimes even adults can hardly control themselves, let alone children. If it was paper money, Shouta would have spent at most 10,000 or 20,000 and stopped."

Although Mengyue's words were too complicated and made Rokuko confused, she still understood that the problems between Shota and his family were not that serious, and she couldn't help but feel relieved.

But soon, Rokuko had another doubt.

"But if the property was not damaged, why would Shouta's mother be angry with Shouta?"

"It's simple. If Shota doesn't come back, he will definitely be beaten even worse." Meng Yue explained with a wry smile, "And no matter what the result is, Shota made a mistake after all. If you don't teach him a lesson and just keep pampering him, he will definitely make the same mistake in the future. He may even become an arrogant and unrepentant person."

"But... that's why... Shota ran away from home in a rage..."

"Well, after all, rebellious kids have strong self-esteem."

Meng Yue sighed and asked Rokuko,

"Rokuko, do you know why Shota knows he's wrong but still doesn't dare to go back and apologize to his mother?"

Rokuko thought for a moment and answered with a little hesitation.

"…Are you afraid of your mother's anger?"

"...No." Meng Yue shook her head silently and said with emotion, "I don't want to be looked down upon by my mother."

"...?!"

"Children nowadays are much more mature than before, but they are just precocious, not mature. Even if they know they are wrong, they don't want their image in the eyes of their family to be degraded. Instead of admitting their mistakes, they are more inclined to find ways to secretly make up for the mistakes and then pretend that nothing happened. However, they often don't know the correct way to make up for their mistakes, so in most cases, things get worse and worse."

"Forehead……"

After hearing Meng Yue's words, Liu Ku's expression became slightly complicated.

"So... Sister Mengyue deliberately stopped Rokuko and played the villain to scare Shouta?"

"Well, it's just the old trick of sticking a mallet and adding sugar. I just tried to scare him a little 'seriously' to make his mother look relatively amiable. After all, it's someone else's family affair, and it's not good to interfere too much."

Meng Yue shrugged and did not deny it.

(As a result... Liu'er is still a naive child.)

Hearing Mengyue's words, Liu Ku couldn't help but pursed his lips in self-blame.

If Mengyue had not stopped her at that time and let her favor Shota without asking the reason, not only would things not have ended peacefully, but would have become even more chaotic.

"I see... As expected of Sister Mengyue, Liu'er is deeply inspired."

Taking a deep breath, Rokuko adjusted his mood, took out his notebook and wrote down Meng Yue's teachings one by one.

The words were turned into clear characters in the outline of ink. Thinking about every word Meng Yue said, for some reason, Rokuko recalled his past self.

Afraid of losing contact with her family, afraid that her family would leave her - despite this anxiety, Rokuko did not open her heart to her family, but arrogantly cut off all contact between her family and the outside world, thinking that this way her parents and sister would always be by her side. In the end, she did not get what she wanted, but lost everything.

Perhaps somewhere in his heart, Rokuko overlapped Shota with his past self.

(If... the person who found Liu'er at that time was the mature and calm Sister Mengyue, or the frank and gentle official... then Liu'er...)

PS: The above content is the author’s personal opinion. I apologize if you find it offensive.

Six adult (five)

==============================

After seeing the little boy off, since there was still some time before six o'clock, Mengyue and Rokuko took a detour and went to the shopping street to kill time.

"Sister Mengyue is here to buy ingredients for dinner?"

Rokuko asked curiously.

"No. The food in the house is not yet at the point where it needs to be replenished, and Shidou is in charge of cooking today."

Meng Yue shook her head, and then asked as if she had thought of something.

"By the way, Rokuko, is there anything you want or like?"

"Huh? Something that Liu'er likes?"

Rokuko tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, I want to buy a gift as a welcome and celebration for you moving into the Elf Apartment."

"No, there's no need to go to so much trouble for Liu'er! I'm already grateful just for giving me a place to stay. How dare I ask for more!"

Hearing Meng Yue's words, Liu Kui waved his hands hurriedly.

"Okay, okay, we're all family, why be polite? Just accept it. I'm not planning on giving you anything too expensive, so don't worry."

Meng Yue patted Rokuko's shoulder and said generously.

"but……"

Rokuko was still a little hesitant.

"By the way, I've already made up my mind. It's useless for you to refuse, okay?"

"Well……"

Although a little confused, seeing Mengyue's tough attitude, Liu Ku was silent for a moment, and then spoke reluctantly.

"If you ask Liu Er what he likes... a comb."

"Oh, a comb..."

Meng Yue nodded suddenly and clapped her hands.

"Okay, then choose something other than a comb as a gift!"

"Eh?"

Hearing Meng Yue's words, Rokuko's eyes widened in surprise.

"Sister Mengyue asked about Liu'er's favorite things, wasn't it to buy them?"

"Well, isn't it boring to ask and then buy something as a gift? There's no sense of surprise at all. And—"

Meng Yue shrugged, stretched out her finger and flicked Rokuko's forehead, and said with a smirk,

"From your expression, I understand. Although you like combs, the person you hope to be given a comb to is not me, right?"

"Why, why do you say that? Sister Mengyue, you are overthinking it."

Rokuko's cheeks turned red and he turned his face away and spoke perfunctorily in embarrassment.

"You're so cute too."

Seeing Rokuko's reaction, Mengyue chuckled and shrugged.

Afterwards, Mengyue walked around the shopping street for a few rounds and stopped in front of a jewelry boutique.

"Well, let's go in here."

"Liu'er wants to go too."

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I let you see what I bought." Meng Yue shook her head with a wry smile and said, "Wait here for a while. I'll be back after I finish shopping."

"Uh-huh... Liu'er knows."

"No peeking."

"Six, Six would never do such a rude thing!"

"That's good."

Hearing Rokuko's answer, Mengyue chuckled, turned and walked into the store.

(Has Liu Er's thoughts been seen through? She is truly worthy of being called Sister Meng Yue.)

Rokuko sighed silently in her heart. Just like Mengyue said, for Rokuko who cherishes her hair, the comb has a very special meaning to her. Although she would gladly accept the comb if Mengyue gave it to her, she would prefer to receive the comb from Shidou if possible.

(If the lady's heart belongs to Sister Mengyue, then Liu'er may not have any chance of winning.)

Taking out a pen and paper to take notes, Rokuko sighed with a hint of uneasiness.

Mengyue didn't let Rokuko wait for long. About ten minutes later, she walked out of the store with a shopping bag.

"Here, this is my gift to you, Rokuko."

"Thank you, Sister Mengyue."

Taking the shopping bag from Mengyue, Rokuko looked down and saw that the bag contained a beautifully wrapped square gift box.

"What is this?"

Rokuko asked curiously.

"Well, you'll know when you get home and open it. I chose it based on the impression I had of you, so I hope you like it."

"What's Liu'er's impression?"

As if Mengyue's words had whetted his appetite, Rokuko, who originally didn't care about the gift, now felt a little bit of anticipation in his heart.

(What is in the box? Sister Mengyue said it’s not a comb—a bracelet? A necklace? Or a hairpin or a hairband? No, maybe the previous words were just a trick? Is it actually a comb?)

Along the way, Rokuko kept guessing about the contents of the gift in the bag. He suppressed his curiosity and returned to the Gokawa family with Mengyue.

Then--

—Snap! —Snap! —Snap!

"Welcome to the Elf Apartment! Rokuko!!"

"……Eh?"

At the entrance, looking at the colorful paper streamers floating in front of him, and Shidou and others holding salutes, Rokuko was stunned for a long time before reacting and uttered a confused voice.

"How is this going?"

Seeing Rokuko's amazing performance, the Yami sisters nodded with great satisfaction.

"Kuku - judging by the reaction of the Key Priestess, our operation was not noticed at all. As expected of my compatriot, she has a devilishly cunning acting skill, and she has passed through the sky and the sea so perfectly."

"Praise. Meng Yue is indeed very good at this kind of concealment mission."

"Why do I feel like you two aren't complimenting me..."

Meng Yue looked at the Yami sisters speechlessly.

fight?

Rokuko turned his gaze to Mengyue.

"Well, we've been quietly preparing for a few days. Originally, we planned to have Shidou ask you out today, and we prepared at home. But I didn't expect you to come to me, so I notified Kotori and handed the task of taking you out to me."

“I see… I didn’t notice that at all.”

After hearing Mengyue's explanation, Rokuko finally realized Mengyue's real intention of calling Kotori.

"Oh, a welcome party? Why didn't I get such good treatment when I joined? Bili-chan, I feel like you don't love me enough."

"That's great, Rokuko-chan~ I also want to go on a date with Honey and act like a spoiled child to my heart's content."

Niya and Miku said with envy.

"You two don't even live in the Elf Apartment."

Meng Yue complained expressionlessly.