"I'm back."
Su Yan reflexively said after pushing open his front door and stepping into the entryway.
He felt as though a lot had happened today.
Busujima Saeko, Miyamoto Rei, and Komuro Takashi...
But he was finally home.
Pushing those trivial thoughts aside, Su Yan turned to Saeko, who was standing outside the door, and said, "Saeko-senpai, please come in."
"Excuse me for the intrusion."
At Su Yan's invitation, Saeko finally stepped into the entryway.
She didn't immediately look around his home; instead, she watched him with a slight smile and a look of surprise in her eyes.
She hadn't expected someone like Su Yan to say 'I'm back' like an ordinary person when returning home.
She didn't dislike this unexpected side of him; rather, she found him quite cute like this.
Unaware of her thoughts, Su Yan crouched down to open the shoe cabinet in the entryway.
He immediately saw Marikawa Shizuka's slippers resting quietly inside.
This confirmed that Shizuka hadn't returned yet.
However, Su Yan didn't take out Shizuka's slippers for Saeko. Instead, he found a pair of unused spare slippers.
Su Yan said, "Saeko-senpai, put these on."
"I didn't expect you to have women's slippers ready, Su Yan-kun. You didn't plan this in adva—"
Seeing the slippers Su Yan brought out, Saeko couldn't help but tease him.
Before she could finish the word 'advance,' she saw two white shapes lunging at Su Yan from behind out of the corner of her eye.
Saeko instinctively tried to protect Su Yan. "Watch out!"
To her surprise, Su Yan sidestepped her shove and naturally caught the incoming white fluffballs.
These two white balls were, of course, the Snowball Beasts.
"Mi?" "Mi?"
The two Snowball Beasts sat in Su Yan's arms, one on each side, staring at Saeko with their tiny black eyes.
Their little eyes were wide with confusion.
They seemed to be asking: 'Watch out? Watch out for what?'
Seeing the two white fluffballs acting so close to Su Yan...
Even though Saeko didn't know what these strange, dumpling-like creatures were, she realized she had misunderstood the situation.
She lowered her head, her gaze wandering as she nervously twirled a strand of her dark purple hair. She felt a wave of sheer embarrassment.
"Saeko-senpai, let me introduce you. These two little guys are Snowball Beasts. They're my Nen beasts, and my family."
Seeing Saeko's embarrassed state, Su Yan couldn't help but feel amused.
He didn't actually laugh, however. Instead, he introduced the Snowball Beasts to her to help ease her awkwardness.
"Nen beasts?"
With Su Yan's help, the awkwardness in Saeko's heart finally began to dissipate.
Because of Su Yan's lessons on Nen today, she was particularly sensitive to the word.
She thought to herself, 'Since they're related to Nen and called Nen beasts, they must be very strong, right?'
So, the moment she heard the term, she looked up and began to inspect the Snowball Beasts with curiosity.
They were round like large dumplings and covered in snow-white fur. Their tiny eyes were as bright and lively as opals, and they had white ears like a polar bear's.
They looked completely harmless. She couldn't see any signs of aggression; instead, they were so cute that they would likely be very popular with women.
Saeko doubted whether these little things Su Yan called Snowball Beasts actually had any combat power.
"I'll tell you more about that later. Let's head inside for now instead of standing here in the entryway like idiots."
Su Yan could clearly see the doubt in Saeko's eyes, but he wasn't in a rush to explain.
After all, Saeko had only just started her Nen training. She didn't even know the six categories yet, let alone Nen beasts derived from the Emission type.
Saeko nodded, picked up her luggage, and followed Su Yan into the living room.
The luggage wasn't heavy; besides some daily clothes, there wasn't much else inside.
Su Yan thought for a moment and suggested, "Saeko-senpai, I'll show you to your room first so you can put your bags away."
"All right."
Saeko naturally had no objections.
Although she was curious about the Nen beasts, he'd said he would explain later, so it could wait.
Furthermore, she had spent nearly two hours practicing Nen this afternoon with Su Yan's help.
She had worked up quite a sweat and felt uncomfortably sticky.
On the way home, she had been secretly worried about whether he would smell something unpleasant on her.
So now, Saeko was actually quite eager to take a shower and change her clothes.
Soon, Su Yan led Saeko to a room and opened the door. "Saeko-senpai, this is it. The sheets and duvet covers are in the closet; you can just take them out and change them."
"Of course, you can go take a shower first. If you're okay with leaving your luggage with me, I can help you tidy up the room."
"I noticed you seemed preoccupied on the way back. I just wanted to say, there isn't actually any strange smell on you, Saeko-senpai."
"In fact, you smell quite sweet."
Seeing her hidden thoughts exposed by Su Yan, Saeko's face turned red. "St-Stop... I'm a girl too, you know. I get shy."
Her blushing face looked just like a ripe apple—vibrant and luscious, making one want to take a bite.
"So Saeko-senpai can actually get shy?"
Su Yan took the opportunity to pull Saeko into an embrace, but he had no intention of letting her go. "But you're wrong about one thing—I've always seen you as a girl, Senpai."
"Saeko-senpai, your eyes are so beautiful. It's like there are stars shining inside them."
"They aren't stars," Saeko suddenly countered.
Su Yan was stunned for a moment and reflexively asked, "What?"
"It's you, Su Yan-kun," Saeko said, launching her counterattack.
"Saeko-senpai, can I kiss you?"
Su Yan felt that this side of Saeko was just too unfair.
Saeko lowered her head and whispered, "Don't ask me, you dummy."
Question: What did Saeko mean by that?
A: Don't talk, just kiss me.
B: You're not very smart, Junior.
C: Snow leopard, shut up.
The correct answer isn't hard to guess, is it?
And so, Su Yan decisively chose Option A.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]