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"...Servant, hurry up and purify my magic power!"
At dusk, the blonde girl came running in from outside, then naturally grabbed Blake's right hand without hesitation.
Blake looked at her helplessly. "You went out invisible again, didn't you?"
"It was research!" Yamada Elf raised her cute little chin and immediately corrected him. "Writers' business doesn't count as playing around!"
Unlike Kuroneko and Mahiru, Yamada Elf was a pure chaos gremlin who loved having fun. Every day she'd use her invisibility ability to go outside for "research," enjoying herself to the fullest. Then in the evening, she'd come find Blake to "purify her magic power." It had practically become a daily routine.
The fairy already had very little sense of embarrassment to begin with. These days, she'd even come over and hold his hand on her own. Forget blushing, her face wouldn't change color at all.
"Elf, have some tea."
The angel set a cup of barley tea in front of her.
"Thanks, Mahiru."
Elf gulped down half the cup in one go, then immediately started chattering excitedly about the interesting things she'd seen today.
"I ran into quintuplets while I was out today. The five girls looked exactly the same except for their hairstyles."
"Didn't you just say you were out playing?"
"I-I never said that..." Yamada Elf hurriedly denied it. "Anyway, their mom is amazing. I saw pictures online before of women pregnant with twins, and their stomachs already looked terrifyingly huge. I can't even imagine carrying quintuplets. Her stomach would explode, wouldn't it?"
"There are always extraordinary people in the world," Blake replied casually.
Yamada Elf covered her own flat little stomach with one hand. "Anyway, I definitely don't want that many kids in the future..."
Enough already. Your hair hasn't even grown out yet, stop thinking that far ahead!
As they talked, Anna Yanami came out of the kitchen carrying dishes, her voice bright and cheerful.
"Everyone, wash your hands. Dinner's ready!"
…
Besides rice and miso soup, the entire dinner consisted of horse mackerel prepared in different ways: charcoal grilled, sashimi, kabayaki, and more. Under the Angel's max-level cooking skills, every single dish tasted incredible.
And with glutton girl Yanami around, all the food was wiped out clean without leftovers. Truly a happy ending.
Several days passed in the blink of an eye.
Once May arrived, Golden Week officially began.
It was Japan's massive holiday season. If weekends lined up in the middle, they were included directly, and best of all, there were no makeup workdays afterward. This year, everyone got a full nine-day break, so plenty of people chose to travel during the holiday.
Blake, however, stayed home the entire time, seriously focusing on making the game.
During that period, Goko Ruri came over every day to help code. The two even took bounty requests together and went out searching for lost cats to earn reward money.
Yamada Elf continued going out daily for "research" as always.
Yanami traveled with her parents.
And the Angel quietly took care of everyone.
By the time Golden Week was nearing its end, the game was almost complete.
The second-to-last day of the holiday.
Evening.
Blake sat on the sofa waiting for dinner, feeling like something was missing today.
Then Mahiru Shiina suddenly pointed it out.
"Why hasn't Elf come over yet?"
"Right…"
Blake finally realized it. It was already dinnertime, yet the blonde girl who normally showed up like clockwork was nowhere to be seen today.
"Maybe she's having too much fun outside and lost track of time?" Blake took out his phone. "I'll message her."
…
Ten minutes later.
The messages still showed unread.
"Maybe Elf got delayed by something," Mahiru softly comforted him. "Don't worry too much yet, Mr. Blake. Let's wait a little longer."
Before they knew it, it was already seven in the evening.
Outside, the sky had gone completely dark.
The messages remained unread, and her phone still wasn't answering.
Blake could no longer sit still. He got up and walked to the window, looking toward Yamada Elf's house. The inside was pitch black, impossible to tell whether anyone was there.
"Mr. Blake, wait here a moment." Mahiru stood up. "Elf gave me a spare key before. I'll go get it and check her house."
Yamada Elf was the careless type and occasionally forgot her keys when going out, so she'd left a spare at Mahiru's place.
"Big bro… do you think Elf ran into danger?"
After hearing Elf had gone missing, Sagiri had finally come out of her room. Right now, her eyes were filled with worry.
"It's probably not danger." Blake kept his voice steady. "Elf is already a teenager, and she can turn invisible. She's not some helpless girl… Anyway, I'll go check first. Maybe she just fell asleep at home and hasn't woken up."
"Big bro, tell me immediately if you learn anything." Sagiri still didn't dare leave the house and could only seriously remind him from the entryway. "Don't forget."
Blake reached out and rubbed her head gently.
"I'll keep you updated."
He stepped outside.
A bright moon had quietly risen into the night sky, but with so much on his mind, Blake had no mood to appreciate the scenery.
"Mr. Blake, I got the key."
Mahiru quickly returned from next door.
The two arrived at Elf's house and unlocked the front door.
"Elf, are you home?"
…
The house was completely silent.
No response whatsoever.
Blake and Mahiru entered and checked every room one by one.
A short while later—
"We searched everywhere. Elf isn't home." Blake's expression turned serious. "At this hour, with no messages or contact… there's a high chance something happened."
Mahiru bit her lip lightly. "Should we call the police?"
"We're not her guardians." Blake shook his head. "They won't accept the report."
In Japan, ordinary friends reporting someone missing usually accomplished nothing. Only parents, teachers, or someone with legal responsibility could officially file a report that the police would seriously process.
And everyone knew how efficient Japanese police could be.
Blake remembered a neighbor's child once running away from home. The parents went to the local police box, only to be told the station was too small and the case needed to be escalated. They spent the whole day running around before the report was finally accepted… and by then the kid had already gone home on their own.
"I don't know what happened to Elf, but we can't just sit here waiting." Blake exhaled softly and quickly pulled out his phone to call Goko Ruri. "...We'll solve this our own way."
The call connected quickly.
"Blake, what's wrong?"
Ruri's confused voice came from the phone.
"Elf's missing…"
Without wasting time, Blake briefly explained the situation.
"Wait for me," Ruri said immediately. "I'm heading over now. I'll mobilize the cats and dogs to help search."
"....."