"I have time, Kasumigaoka. Is there something you need?" Wu Shen nodded. He wasn't sure what Utaha was planning, so he could only wait and see.
"You're keeping my secret, and you're helping my friend read a novel. Since that's the case, I should offer some assistance in return. How about we go to a café or the city library after school tomorrow? If there's a character you don't recognize, I can immediately read it out for you. With the pronunciation, it'll be faster to look it up in a dictionary, right?"
"Eh..."
"What's wrong? Are you going to agree or not?"
"How could any guy refuse your invitation? Of course, I agree. I just find Kasumigaoka proactively inviting someone a bit out of character for a cool and elegant literary goddess," Wu Shen said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
"Cha-rac-ter? What does that mean?" Utaha turned sideways. Although she didn't understand the meaning of those two Chinese-sounding words, she still keenly sensed something.
"Ahem, it means nothing."
"It's definitely not a good thing, is it? So, in outsiders' eyes, my image is that of a noble and aloof literary girl?"
"Pretty much."
It was likely no one else in the school would guess Kasumigaoka Utaha's true nature, which was actually a slightly devious and sharp-tongued ACG enthusiast and light novel author.
"However, since your disguise has been seen through, I must ensure you can keep it a secret, wouldn't you agree, Wu Shen, the stocking fetishist?"
"Can we please not use that term?" Wu Shen's eyes welled up.
"Then, Wu Shen, the stalker?"
...Wu Shen stared at Utaha, his face filled with utter despair.
Oh, heavens, please let her change the subject.
"Speaking of which, Wu Shen. Was that little girl who appeared at the classroom door yesterday morning someone you know?" Wu Shen's wish actually came true. Utaha seemed to recall something interesting and changed the topic.
However, in some ways, this question was even worse!
"Huh? No, I don't know her! Absolutely not!" Wu Shen quickly denied it, but his actions were a bit of an overcompensation.
The matter with Xia Zhiqiu Wu Yi absolutely had to be kept secret from Utaha. If Utaha discovered the truth, Wu Shen could imagine how awkward that situation would be.
"Then why did you just pick her up and run off? Wu Shen, you're not a loli-con who traffics people, are you? I'm going to report you to the police uncle."
"Alright, actually, my little cousin from my relatives' house is staying with me for a while. She's a bit energetic and active, so she followed me directly to school."
"But I remember her calling you 'Daddy'?"
"She insisted on playing house with me, and I refused to yield, so she kept calling me that. Kids are mischievous, please bear with her." Wu Shen felt like he was running out of excuses.
"It's nothing, it's good for children to be lively and active. How about I meet her sometime?" Kasumigaoka Utaha asked.
..."Why do you want to see her?" Hearing Utaha's words, Wu Shen immediately became nervous.
Utaha and Wu Yi had only met once. Why would Utaha be interested in her? A woman's sixth sense is too terrifying, isn't it?
"I just felt a sense of familiarity with her, she seemed very cute, as if I had met her a long time ago. Is this what they call love at first sight?" Utaha lightly tapped her cherry lips with her pale fingers, considering how to phrase her thoughts.
Wow... I've been NTR'd by my daughter. What should I do? Online, waiting, urgent.
"If you really want to see her, contact me when you have time, and I'll bring her to see you."
Although there was a risk of exposure, how could Wu Shen easily give up on such an opportunity to increase intimacy?
"Contact you, speaking of which, I don't have your phone number or text message email yet. Let's exchange them now." Utaha pulled out her phone and showed it to Wu Shen.
Wu Shen also immediately pulled out his phone and directly exchanged phone numbers and text message emails via infrared.
Unlike China's phone services, Japan's communication and text message services are separate. Phone numbers are for calls, but for text messages, knowing only the phone number is useless; you must also know the other person's email address.
This was the advantage of having Wu Yi with him. Through this incident, Wu Shen naturally and easily obtained Utaha's contact information.
As the two walked along the path, chatting, they didn't know that around the corner of a nearby alley, a little loli poked her head out and cast resentful glances in Wu Shen and Utaha's direction.
If looks could kill, Wu Shen and Utaha would have been cut into a thousand pieces long ago.
"How annoying! Who is that vixen!? How dare she openly seduce Father! And Father, too, as a married man, how could he cheat so easily? Mother, you must teach Father a good lesson when you get back! Make him kneel on the washboard!" Although the little loli spoke Japanese, her words carried a strong Chinese accent.
Around the corner of the alley, behind the loli, stood a girl with long black hair, who was none other than Yukino Yukinoshita, who had been looking for Wu Shen at the classroom door earlier.
"I have no contact with him now. His interactions with any girl have nothing to do with me," Yukino Yukinoshita said indifferently, her voice surprisingly cold. But looking at the two in the distance, chatting and laughing, an unexplainable, subtle ripple still formed in her heart.
"Mother, do you still not believe what I'm saying?" The loli lowered her head, a little dejected.
"It's simply too surreal. At this point, I can only say I'm half-believing, half-doubting. If Yu Yin, you hadn't told me a few secrets only I knew, and then I saw your figure suddenly appear blurry, I might have already dismissed you as a fraud." Yukino shook her head, her gaze at Yu Yin filled with confusion.
"That's right, normal people wouldn't believe this kind of thing, would they?" Yu Yin gave a self-deprecating, helpless smile. "Even I occasionally think I'm dreaming."
Yu Yin shook her head, as if to drive away the confusion and weakness from her mind.
Perhaps because she had been educated and influenced by Yukino since childhood, Yu Yin was surprisingly strong. This small setback could not make her completely give up. Even if she felt pain and sadness inside, she would never show it outwardly. Although only seven or eight years old, Yukino Yu Yin was already like a mature little adult.
"Mother, whether you are half-believing or not believing at all, please, in any case, pay close attention to that woman. I suspect she might be the culprit who caused the historical changes in the past, leading to my disappearance."
No matter what happens in the future, I must make Father and Mother reconcile! Yu Yin clenched her small fists, silently vowing in her heart.