“So you’re saying the magic within Big White’s body heard the call of the starry sky?” Aya Tone mumbled, her words garbled around the food she was chewing.
Big White’s explanation was far more palatable than any ancient secret art.
“Didn’t Master guide me to feel it?”
“Erm…” Aya Tone’s eating motions paused slightly. She feigned composure, swallowing the food in her mouth.
“That’s true, ha ha.”
Regardless, judging solely by the process and the outcome, it was indeed so.
Thus, Aya Tone naturally accepted this premise.
‘Hmph! So he was the invisible hand all along!’
Then again,
‘Big White’s magic originated from him, and if Big White could draw upon the blessings of starlight, then could he…’
‘…also achieve the same?’
Aya Tone pondered the feasibility of this question.
“Munch…” The eating machine restarted.
‘Couldn’t figure it out!’
‘He wouldn’t think about it anymore!’
Unable to come up with a clear answer, Aya Tone decided to give up.
His own strength was already beyond exceptional. While the amplification from starlight wasn’t entirely useless, it was merely icing on the cake.
It was dispensable, and overthinking it served no purpose. When the day truly came for it to be needed, he would naturally recall it.
More than that, Aya Tone was more curious if Big White had managed to get the names of those three juniors.
It wouldn’t matter if others claimed not to know them, but these three, in particular…
They had interacted with him, and now they had specifically come to visit him. If he still couldn’t recall their names next time, it would feel quite hurtful to them.
Moreover,
Aya Tone was quite curious if the three girls, also awakened magical girls, possessed abilities as ‘bugged’ as his own.
“Big White, was the task I gave you completed?”
“I already sent it to Master in a message this morning, didn’t Master see it?”
Big White stared intently at Aya Tone, his eyes seemingly asking a question, but in reality, he was confirming that Master had surely only glanced at the top and bottom of the messages, skipping over everything in between.
“Ah? Ah… oh… I suppose there was something like that. I was too busy looking at the photos to pay much attention.”
He strategically lowered his head, shoveling rice.
With his head down, Aya Tone decided he would thoroughly review those dozens of messages later.
‘To hide the information within photos to mislead others—Well played, Big White!’
He swiftly devoured the rice in his bowl, taking two mouthfuls as one.
‘While he still remembered this matter, he would finish eating and then retrieve the information!’
‘Hahahaha!’
“?”
Aya Jiu, holding her child’s cutlery, blinked her large eyes, curious why Papa was suddenly so jumpy.
‘Did Big White say something to Papa?’
‘Did he think of something fun? Aya Jiu wants in too!’
Aya Jiu’s eyes widened instantly, and the speed at which she shoveled her rice increased linearly.
‘Finish her meal quickly, and then she could ask Papa what fun things they could do!’
With both father and daughter racing to finish their food, dinner soon came to an end.
“Papa, why are you looking at pictures of pretty older sisters? Are you trying to find a mommy for Aya Jiu?” Aya Jiu sat on Aya Tone’s lap, leaning against his somewhat sturdy chest.
Together, they scrolled through the messages Big White had sent that morning.
To ensure Big White hadn’t hidden messages within the photos, Aya Tone had meticulously examined every single one.
However, from Aya Jiu’s perspective, it merely looked like Papa was admiring photos of beautiful women.
“Aya Jiu, do you want a mommy?” Aya Tone was a little surprised; it was the first time his daughter had spoken the word ‘mother’ with such subjective awareness.
“Mm-mm-mm…” She vigorously shook her little head from side to side.
“I just saw Papa looking at pretty older sisters, and I thought Papa wanted to find a wife.”
“Fire Finch-jiejie told me that when boys reach a certain age, they can’t help but want to be with a girl. Papa, why don’t you find one?”
Aya Jiu’s cognitive age was far greater than her outward appearance suggested, and coupled with Aya Tone’s gender education for her.
Thus, she understood quite a lot about the awareness of males and females.
“Don’t listen to your Fire Finch-jiejie’s nonsense.” Aya Tone dotingly stroked his daughter’s little head.
He patiently explained, “They are Papa’s students; they came to visit Papa during their holiday. Since Big White wasn’t home today, he went to meet them on Papa’s behalf.”
“Ah? Wouldn’t they be very disappointed if they didn’t see Papa?” Aya Jiu tried to put herself in their shoes.
If she came back from kindergarten, wanting to tell Papa about the fun things that happened there, but found that Papa wasn’t home, she would definitely be unhappy.
“It’s fine, Big White was there, wasn’t he?” ‘Aya Tone couldn’t help but chuckle, this child’s empathy is quite strong.’
“That’s not allowed!” Her small hands braced against Aya Tone’s belly, Aya Jiu flipped over and landed on the sofa.
As if realizing she couldn’t see Aya Tone’s eyes while sitting, she climbed back up, standing on the sofa, their eyes meeting.
Aya Tone was surprised to find that his daughter’s eyes held a hint of displeasure.
Aya Jiu pouted her little lips, and in a childish voice, lectured him, “When others come to play with Papa, and Papa knows about it but still sends Big White instead, that’s impolite!”
“Does Papa understand?!”
“…” ‘Aya Tone’s mouth fell open. He seemed to be getting lectured by his daughter.’
‘How novel.’
“But Papa needs to spend time with Aya Jiu, and they should have gone back by now.”
Just then,
Big White, who had been silently clearing the table nearby, spoke at an inopportune moment, “Master, Miss Fire Wushuang and the others said they have no classes on Monday morning, so they’re staying in Yan’an City to play tomorrow as well.”
‘Big White, you traitor!’
Aya Tone’s eyes suddenly widened, and he spun his head to glare furiously at Big White, who was wiping the tabletop.
Sure enough, the next second, he heard Aya Jiu’s delighted voice ring out.
“That’s great! Then Papa should go play with the older sisters tomorrow, and remember to apologize properly.”
Aya Jiu looked like a little adult, as if she were utterly worried for her ‘useless’ Papa.
“But…” Aya Tone still wanted to put up a bit of a struggle.
‘It’s the weekend, he didn’t want to go out.’
‘Not to mention the crowds, the weather was hot, with such a blazing sun overhead, and then going shopping with a group of young girls…’
‘Hiss… he’d die!’
‘He would absolutely die!!!’
“No ‘buts’!” Her small hands cupped Aya Tone’s cheeks, Aya Jiu stared at him with stern eyes, leaving him no room for rebuttal.
“Alright… But if Papa goes out, he can’t bring Aya Jiu along, okay?” He was still struggling.
‘Lin Ling and the others weren’t like the President, who knew his identity, so Aya Tone absolutely couldn’t bring Aya Jiu with him.’
‘If he said that, Aya Jiu would probably hesitate, and then give up.’
‘Hmph.’
‘Aya Tone felt he was truly a genius; to think of such a ‘besieging Wei to rescue Zhao’ strategy.’
“Mhm, mhm, then Aya Jiu will play with Big White tomorrow.”
“What?!” ‘How did things deviate so much from what he’d imagined?’
Watching his daughter throw herself into Big White’s embrace without a moment’s hesitation, Aya Tone was stunned.
‘Was he…’
‘…being rejected?’
“Aya Jiu! No!” He felt his vision blur, his head spinning, unwilling to believe this was reality.
‘How could this be!’
‘But…’
‘he also didn’t want to reject his daughter’s good intentions.’
‘Heh, the boomerang he had thrown that day had finally come back to hit him?’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake!’
They grow up so fast