Time passed, and morning turned into noon.
Rowan had been holding Nero's little hand and wandering the streets all morning. They went out of one shop and into another mall. Just the clothes alone, they had bought several outfits.
There was gyaru style, JK style, proper young-lady style, and even a maid outfit…
Nero was born to be a clothes rack. No matter what she wore, she looked good.
Rowan had to admit this.
Near noon, Rowan suggested going to a restaurant for lunch, and Nero readily agreed.
However, this time, the two did not go to a restaurant run by a Totsuki Elite Ten graduate. Instead, they found a nearby restaurant with good reviews. After all, Totsuki's Elite Ten did not represent the entire culinary world.
There were no small number of experts in this world. Many chefs who had never gone to culinary school, or even chefs who had switched careers halfway through, were not at all inferior to Totsuki Elite Ten graduates by relying on talent alone.
For example, the restaurant Rowan found had very good overall reviews.
Incidentally, this was a Chinese restaurant.
After Rowan entered, he ordered very homestyle dishes such as mapo tofu, fish-fragrant shredded pork, fried mushrooms, dry-pot potatoes, cumin lamb, crispy eggplant, and dry-pot beef.
The flavors were quite good. Rowan ate until his mouth was full of oil, especially with the mapo tofu. It was numbing and spicy, extremely satisfying.
"Umu. Praetor, the food in this restaurant is truly excellent."
Even Nero could not help praising it again and again. She was just short of raising a thumb.
In short, Rowan and Nero were both satisfied and content with this lunch.
In the afternoon, Rowan took Nero to the cinema and picked a fresh, sweet movie with a bit of cloying romance. Nero smiled like an auntie the entire time, and even Rowan was drawn in.
Sometimes, he had to admit that when the Japanese were perverted, they were truly perverted, but when it came to pure love, they did a very good job.
Especially with these fresh, gentle movies. The emotions were so delicate that they made people want to fall in love.
After coming out of the cinema, Nero stretched, then hugged Rowan again and asked with a smile, "Praetor, where shall we go next?"
Rowan tilted his head and looked at Nero.
"I decided the whole day's schedule today. Why don't you decide one too? Is there anywhere you want to go?"
Nero thought for a moment and said, "I do have somewhere I want to go."
"Then let's go."
Rowan did not even ask where and decisively agreed. No matter where it was, they could go first.
Nero smiled brightly and hugged Rowan's arm tightly.
"I want to go to Tokyo Tower."
"Then we'll go."
Rowan and Nero took a bus all the way to Tokyo Tower and climbed to the highest floor. Standing there, they could overlook the whole of Tokyo.
Nero stood there, looking down over Tokyo, like an unparalleled king overlooking her own territory.
The afterglow of the setting sun fell on Nero's body, draping her in a sacred radiance.
At this moment, Nero was simply shining brilliantly. Every tourist around them was drawn to her.
Quite a few people blurted out things like "So beautiful" and "So sacred." Some even took photos of Nero.
Rowan did not stop any of this. But if someone came forward and tried to chat Nero up, Rowan would send a glance their way and scare them back.
Looking was fine. Taking photos was fine too.
But they could not disturb Nero.
After the last trace of the sunset disappeared, Rowan and Nero came down from Tokyo Tower.
By now, night had fallen. Stars dotted the sky, and a bright, clean moon hung high above, but beneath Tokyo's dazzling lights, it seemed somewhat dim.
"Hey, Praetor. Thank you."
"Thank me? For what?"
Rowan turned to look at Nero and asked in confusion.
Nero smiled faintly, her crisp and pleasant voice echoing beside Rowan's ears.
"Thank you for spending the whole day with me and always tolerating my willfulness. Truly, thank you."
Rowan could not help laughing and waved his hand.
"No need, no need. I was very happy being with you too, so there's really no need to thank me. If anyone should be thanking someone, it should be me thanking a charming beauty like you for spending the whole day with me."
Hearing this, Nero could not suppress the smile at the corner of her mouth at all.
After that, the two naturally returned home.
When they entered, they saw Medea sitting alone on the sofa, staring blankly out the window, unknown what she was thinking.
Rowan slapped his forehead.
Good grief. Today, he had been so focused on dating Nero that he had forgotten Medea.
"You're back."
Hearing the sound of footsteps entering the door, Medea turned her head. Her gaze swept over Rowan and Nero.
"It seems Master and Nero had quite a lot of fun."
When Nero saw Medea's gaze, for some reason, she suddenly felt guilty. She could not help shrinking her neck and saying, "I am a little tired. Praetor, I shall go sleep first."
After saying that, she quickly let go of Rowan's arm and went upstairs without looking back.
No, why did you run away by yourself? Wasn't this way too disloyal?
Rowan looked at Nero's fleeing back and was almost crooked with anger. You are truly guilty of a capital crime.
Facing Medea's cool gaze, Rowan laughed dryly a few times, braced himself, walked over, and sat beside Medea.
"Sorry, Medea. I forgot about you today. How about I take you out tomorrow?"
At this point, Rowan paused, then emphasized, "Just the two of us. How about it?"
Medea rolled her eyes.
"I am not an immature child like Nero who needs you to coax me. Besides, I am not angry."
"Really?"
Rowan carefully glanced at Medea.
Medea calmly nodded.
"Really. Besides, Master, you are far too fickle. You are not within my consideration at all."
What she wanted was a love between two people for a lifetime. Unfortunately, Rowan could not give her that.
Souichirou Kuzuki might have suited her very well, but missing him meant missing him.
Medea did not mind either. Perhaps the next one would be better.
Rowan looked at Medea a few times. After confirming that she was not lying, he let out a long sigh of relief.
"That's good, that's good. I thought you were angry with me, Medea."
Medea: "…That really is just you flattering yourself, Master."
Rowan laughed dryly.
Medea said, "I sat here waiting for you to come back because there is something I want to ask of you, Master."
"Go ahead."
"I want to find Serie and work with her to research yokai and modify the fantasy crystals."
Medea had researched the fantasy crystals all day today. Her progress could not be called zero, but it could only be called standing still.
This made her realize that perhaps she was not omnipotent. Sometimes, she also needed the help of others.
Serie and she both studied magic. Perhaps Serie could provide her with new ideas.
"No problem."
Rowan agreed readily and, without thinking, pushed open the door to the world of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.
Behind the door was still Serie's study.
At this moment, Serie was sitting in a chair, boredly reading the magic book in her hand.
When she saw the air door and Rowan, Serie's bored expression immediately turned into a brilliant smile.
"Oh? Isn't this Rowan? It's only been a few days, and you're already missing me?"
As she spoke, she jumped down from the chair and walked up to Rowan.
Rowan said, "Actually, I'm not the one looking for you. Medea is. She wants to research yokai with you."
"Yokai? What are those?" Serie asked.
"A type of lifeform born from human fear that can absorb human fear to grow stronger."
Hearing Rowan's explanation, Serie's eyes lit up. This thing sounded extremely rare, as if it were something she had never seen before.
"Wait for me first."
This time, Serie did not leave without saying goodbye. Instead, she left a letter for her disciple.
Only then did she pass through the air door and enter the crossover anime world.
"Where is that thing called a yokai?" she asked impatiently.
Medea said, "Please follow me."
The two entered the magecraft workshop Medea had created, leaving Rowan alone in the living room.
Rowan: "…"
Forget it. Time to sleep.
He then closed the air door, took a bath, lay down on the sofa, and fell into a deep sleep.
…
On the other side,
after a day of traveling, Natsume finally arrived at Ukiyoe Town and stood at the gate of the Nura Clan.
Logically speaking, he should have arrived here several hours earlier. Unfortunately, among the masses, there were bad people who deliberately pointed him in the wrong direction, causing Natsume to take a huge detour. Only now had he finally found the Nura Clan.
People in Tokyo really were not friendly at all.
While complaining inwardly, Natsume, urged on by Nyanko-sensei, raised his hand and heavily knocked on the gate.
The Nura Clan's gate was large, and the knocking echoed through the air.
"Coming, coming."
Before long, a gentle female voice came from inside. With a creak, the Nura Clan's gate opened.
A beautiful woman stuck her head out and looked Natsume up and down. After confirming with her eyes, she realized he was someone she had never seen before.
And he was a genuine human.
What was going on? Why would a human come here? If she remembered correctly, the Nura Clan should be protected by a barrier. Ordinary people should subconsciously ignore this place.
"Excuse me, who are you looking for?"
The beauty's mind spun rapidly as she asked curiously.
Just as Natsume was about to speak, Nyanko-sensei, whom he was holding in his arms, spoke first.
"Open the door. I'm looking for Nurarihyon."
Hearing the cat speak, the beauty finally noticed the animal in Natsume's arms and looked at it uncertainly a few times.
"Is this a pig-cat?"
Her voice was full of uncertainty. Calling it a cat was difficult, because it was far too fat. Calling it a pig was also difficult, because it looked far too much like a cat.
What exactly was this thing, and where had it come from? Could it be a new-era yokai?
"What did you say, you damn woman…"
Nyanko-sensei hated being called that more than anything and immediately wanted to pounce over and scratch her face. Fortunately, Natsume reacted in time and held Nyanko-sensei tightly, preventing him from breaking free from his arms.
"Calm down! Please calm down, Nyanko-sensei!"
"Huh? How could I possibly calm down? This woman is far too rude."
Just as the two were arguing and struggling, an aged voice came from inside.
"What happened, Kejoro?"