Lord Demon is behind you

——It was an ordinary summer morning.

The soft sunlight shines on a small two-story building with an ordinary appearance.A window on the south side of the second floor was pushed open, and a blond young man in pajamas leaned out halfway through the window, yawned dimly, and stared blankly at the bird on the treetop outside for a while.

After waking up a little, he turned back to the room, neatly folded the scattered thin quilts on the bed, then washed and changed step by step, and changed into ordinary seasonal clothes.

On the wall calendar on the wall, the date of the day was marked with a big circle in red pen, and a line of "going out with Albert" was scrawled below.

Glancing at the mark on the calendar, the young man's face was a little tangled.After a moment, he still took off the plaid shirt on his body, and reopened the wardrobe instead.

■

"Ah, good morning Arthur! I got up so early today. It's a holiday now, so it's rare that I don't have to get up early—what's the matter, do you have something to go out? You're dressed quite formally."

When the young man walked down the stairs to the first floor, the girl who had buried her head in the kitchen immediately raised her head and greeted him cheerfully.

The girl is wearing a refreshing home dress and an apron, and uses a headband decorated with cat ears to gather her long hair, looking cute and neat.

"Well, I have an appointment with my classmates."

The young man named Arthur answered vaguely, and immediately changed the subject.

"But you're earlier than me, Olga. Aren't you also on summer vacation?"

"After all, if you don't start preparing earlier, you won't be able to prepare a delicious breakfast for everyone in time." The girl proudly puffed up her chest and said, "Well, since you're already here, please sit down quickly. What do you want this morning? Is there something to eat? Is it okay to have the same sandwich as usual? Or cook a bowl of noodles or something? Do you want milk or soy milk for the drink?"

"No, I'll just—"

The young man walked into the kitchen by himself, trying to reach out to open the refrigerator.

"--stop."

The girl warned very seriously.

"Didn't it be agreed before? I will handle all the housework this week, and none of you are allowed to interfere. This is my own battle."

"...No, you don't have to be so serious..."

The outstretched hand stopped in mid-air.Under the pressure of the other party's eyes, the young man had no choice but to sigh, turned around and walked to the dining table covered with elegant tablecloths to sit down.

Just two days ago, Olga made a bet with a friend at school on the issue of "women's power". The bet seemed to be the efficiency of handling housework within a week.From that day on, Olga insisted on doing all the housework by herself, and refused to let other family members handle even the smallest things.

Although she didn't understand what was going on with her persistence, after all, it was impossible for the friend she had agreed with to rush to the house to test her real situation... However, Arthur still chose to compromise.

"Okay. Then I'll leave it to you, it's still the same as yesterday...huh?"

It wasn't until this moment that he suddenly realized that the two chairs beside the dining table had been merged together at some point, and there was a petite figure lying on it.

"..."

She is a very slender girl.Her petite body is wrapped in a black home blanket, and her long white hair is in stark contrast to the blanket; holding a tablet computer with a black screen in her arms, she is sleeping soundly.

Arthur was a little surprised.He reached out and poked her cheek helplessly.

"Wake up, Stella. Did you stay up all night again?"

The girl whose face was poked muttered a few times, and hid her face in the blanket in her sleep, showing no intention of waking up.

"Eh? She fell asleep here again?" The cat-eared girl named Olga poked her head from behind him, also full of surprise, "I didn't even notice... It seems that before starting breakfast tomorrow morning, You have to check to see if there is anyone in the restaurant first."

"No, I hope she can wake up in the room well tomorrow morning....Did you hear Stella? Don't sleep here, be careful of catching a cold."

Arthur continued to poke the sleeping girl, who didn't respond.He had no choice but to sigh, and used the last resort-reached out and grabbed the tablet computer in the opponent's arms.

"Ugh...!"

Almost at the same time as the tablet left her hand, the girl immediately opened her eyes, looking like a small beast that had been robbed of its rations.But when she saw the other party, she calmed down again and blinked ignorantly.

"... Arthur?"

"You fell asleep in the restaurant again," Arthur returned the tablet to her, "same as yesterday."

"Well,... um."

There was a slight expression change on the girl's soft face.

"……Feel sorry."

"Not a 'sorry' question..."

Arthur sighed again, and sat down opposite her, "Anyway, you'd better go back to your room and sleep."

"No," the girl shook her head slowly, sat up and spread the tablet on the table, "I won't sleep anymore. I don't have time to sleep. Ah, Olga—" She suddenly raised a hand and pointed at the girl in the kitchen. The child yelled, "Give me a cup of, uh, black coffee, please."

"Hey?" The girl with cat ears was startled, "Didn't you stay up late last night? Why did you drink coffee early in the morning? It's obviously a holiday now, why don't you get a good night's sleep?"

"because……"

Stella's fingers swipe across the tablet.

"Summer activities..."

"Hey?"

The two made doubtful voices at the same time.Stella held up the tablet and showed it to them; it opened up the interface of a recently popular mobile game.

"For games, summer activities..." she said slowly, "I want the ranking in the liver qualifying competition."

"Well... All in all, it's this game that has made you sleepless these two days, right?"

"Ah."

Seeing that she had lowered her head again to scroll up on the tablet, Arthur noticed her dark circles and felt very bad.

"Wait, wait a minute. Your body..."

"There are still three days." Stella raised her head slightly, "After three days, the event will be over."

Will the process of playing games all night long last for three days?No matter how you think about it, it's very bad.Arthur wanted to say something more, when Olga brought breakfast.

"Okay! Sandwiches and milk for Arthur, black coffee and fried egg toast for Stella. After eating, you will regain your energy, meow! Arthur doesn't have to worry, Stella is not a child anymore , I have reached the age where I can drink black coffee, so I should know what I should do."

She intentionally makes cute cat-like movements, which is a habit left over from working in a cat cafe.

"yes……"

Having said that, aren't the vast majority of adults who stay up late playing games also overdrawing their health?As a family, how could you not worry about it.

Arthur picked up the milk worriedly, and saw Stella paddling the game with one hand and picking up the fork with the other——

"--tasty."

Her eyes lit up, and then she put down the tablet temporarily and began to concentrate on cutting the fried egg.

"Right?" A small flower bloomed in the background behind Olga, "What does Arthur think? How does it taste?"

"Huh? Well, it's delicious as always."

He quickly replied, hearing the words, the other party finally laughed with satisfaction.

"By the way, where's your own breakfast?" Arthur looked at her empty hands.

"I ate it long before you woke up," she answered cheerfully, "with the same toast as Stella's—oh, good morning, Shelu!"

Following her greeting, Arthur's eyes drifted to the steps again - an elegant young woman was walking down the stairs over there.She looked a little older than them.

"Good morning." The girl named Xuelu returned a gentle smile, glanced at everyone at the table, and soon came to them.

She walked quickly and steadily, as if floating.

"So, what would you like to eat this morning?"

"Well, let me think about it..." She sat down beside Arthur, showing a distressed expression, "Is... the same as you? Then I will trouble you today, Olga. ——Speaking of it, Arthur, You are so formally dressed today," she suddenly sighed, "Are you going out to meet your girlfriend?"

"……cough!"

Shocked by her words, Arthur coughed in embarrassment.

"Suddenly, what did you say all of a sudden! Where did I come from... that... that... that..."

"Hey? Isn't it so?" Xuelu stretched out her hand to help him pat his back, and asked curiously, "But, you are wearing the casual suit we picked out for you when you went out with us last time. You usually wear this kind of clothes You don’t know how to wear it? When you bought it, you still thought it was too expensive.”

Unexpectedly, so many people would find out just by changing clothes, so Arthur, who was a little guilty, had to change the subject abruptly.

"Say, speaking of it...you also woke up very early. Aren't you on summer vacation?"

"I'm on duty at school today."

Xuelu shook her head lightly, her long hair falling like a waterfall from her shoulders.

Unlike the other three students who were still students, Xuelu had graduated from a well-known normal college two years ago, and is now teaching history in a certain elementary school.A beauty with a quiet temperament like her is undoubtedly very suitable to be a teacher, and she has become the goddess in the eyes of elementary school students almost as soon as she takes office.

——In the same home, there are so many young men and women of similar ages, which is undoubtedly a very strange thing.

In fact, Arthur has no blood relationship with Olga, Stella and Xuelu.

Their legal parents, the heads of the house, were a wealthy and leisurely couple traveling the world.When traveling in the early years, every time they saw an orphan who had closed eyes, they would adopt them and send them back here——

The eleven family members currently living here, from junior high school students to social people, all have such backgrounds without exception.

Everyone grew up supporting each other like real brothers and sisters, and they have a deep affection for each other.

Olga served Xuelu the same fried egg toast.

"Well, being a teacher is really hard..."

"not bad."

Xuelu picked up the fork absently, her eyes still stayed on Arthur, as if she was studying the strangeness of his whole body.

When Xuelu was not paying attention, Stella stretched out her fork and tried to cut a piece of fried egg from her plate, but was accurately intercepted by the latter.

"Well, in fact, even if you really have a lover, it doesn't matter, right?" Xuelu said thoughtfully, while seemingly casually waving the fork in her hand, blocking Stella's attempts to attack from all directions , "You are already a college student, and you are not the age where you need to hide when you are in love."

"...So, there really isn't one."

Arthur looked down a little frustrated.

"However, I know it," Olga put the fruit salad on the table, and interjected at the same time, "Arthur is very popular in school, right? Even my department wants to send you a love letter girl."

"No,... how is this possible."

The young man hastily denied.

"A person with no outstanding qualifications like me... huh?"

A soft arm stretched out abruptly, covering his eyes with one hand.A girl's soft laughter came from behind.

"... Lana?"

As he guessed, he grabbed the hand and opened it downward.

At the moment of pulling away the other's arm, he happened to see the image of another snow-white palm taking the last sandwich from his plate.

"Wait--"

He stretched out his hand to grab it back, but the girl behind him turned gracefully and got rid of him in a dance-like gesture, bypassing the half wall of the restaurant, and at the same time quickly ate the sandwich in three or two bites.

"Lana!"

Another woman jumped down the stairs in a hurry, gasping for breath just in time to see her take her last bite of food.

"You—you're eating indiscriminately again!"

She ran over and grabbed the girl named Lana, "How many times do I have to say it before you remember, you are a dancer now, a dancer! You must strictly control your calorie intake.  … Sorry." Arthur, I put away all her hidden snacks, I didn't expect her to grab food from other people's plates."

She turned around apologetically.

"No, I don't care..."

Lana showed an aggrieved expression, her watery eyes looked at her companions accusingly, but she obediently followed Arthur and bowed her head.

"Wait a minute, Shaka," Olga interjected at the right time, "What do you want for breakfast?"

There was hope in Lana's eyes, but it was ruthlessly extinguished by Shaka.

"Oatmeal is fine, she and I are both. ——Don't make trouble," she warned sternly, "Your calorie intake has exceeded the limit today! Don't think I didn't notice that you were hiding in bed in the middle of the night and secretly nibbled on chocolate. "

Lana had to sit down sullenly, burying her face in her arms.Shaka walked towards the kitchen, as if she was going to help prepare breakfast, but was rejected by Olga.

"Don't be so depressed, Lana," Xuelu poked at the top of Lana's hair, and persuaded softly, "Although it feels painful to have to go on a diet, but in order to be able to stand on the stage, there is no other way. ——Lana also likes the feeling of performing in front of everyone, right?"

Lana moved slightly, raised her head and revealed a pair of eyes, but still stared angrily at Shaka's back not far away.

"Okay, don't be angry." Xuelu pushed the fruit salad in front of her, "Your next performance will be next week, right? Are the preparations going well?"

"..."

Lana slumped her shoulders in frustration and reached out to gesture.

Lana and Shaka—the two were children brought back by the owner of the family at the same time.

Lana's vocal cords seem to have a congenital problem, and she was unable to speak since she was a child, and she has been taken care of by Shaka who is by her side; but at the same time, she has a very good dance talent and is now a well-known dancer.

But even so, probably because Shaka shared all the trivial matters, until now, she is still full of childish temper.

Because of the relationship with her since childhood, everyone in the family knows a little bit of sign language and can understand what she means.

"So that's what's going on...well, let's be considerate of her." Xuelu patted her head again, "Shaka seems to be very busy recently. When I came out to drink water this morning, Seeing that her room is always on, there must be a lot of performance-related matters that need to be dealt with?"

Having said that, Lana seemed to have thought of something, and puffed up her cheeks a little.

Olga walked around from the kitchen, put the newly prepared sandwiches on Arthur's plate, and then placed two deliciously cooked porridge on the table.

"Look, at least Shaka is also on a diet with you. Her recipes will always be the same as yours." She also comforted, "Do you remember when I lost weight in high school? At that time, Arthur's classmates gave him a A box of dim sum customized overseas, he took it back and shared it with you in front of me, but he bypassed me! In front of me!"

"……sorry."

Although it had been a long time, Arthur had to obediently apologize every time the other party mentioned the incident - after all, Olga's resentful eyes at that moment left a strong mark in his memory.

While talking, Shaka came over, holding a jar of sugar in her hand.

Lana's eyes immediately brightened.

Facing the expectant eyes of the other party, Shaka sat down opposite her.

Then she pulled a serving of oatmeal to her eyes, added enough sugar and stirred it evenly, then calmly took a spoonful—and sent it to her mouth.

"...!!!"

"This is punishment," Shaka said coldly, "Next time I find you stealing food, I will eat all your snacks in front of you."

■

A breakfast is very frustrating.After it was finally over, Arthur and Olga sent Shaka and Lana out of the house together, and the family finally got a little quiet.

"By the way, Arthur, are you going out today too?" Olga asked suddenly, standing at the door and stretching.

"Well, but it's still a little early."

Arthur looked at the time displayed on his phone.He made an appointment to meet at ten o'clock in the morning, and now it wasn't even nine o'clock; he was beginning to feel that he had woken up a little too early.

"I say, Arthur."

Olga suddenly leaned over mysteriously.

"Actually, I'm also skeptical. You probably dated a girl today, right? Generally speaking, the period when people pay more attention to how they dress - except for puberty, is when they are in love."

Arthur opened his mouth to explain but was stopped by her.

"Okay, I don't want to ask you. However, if there is someone I like, I... no, it's not just me, everyone must hope that you can bring it back so we can get to know each other. Of course it's okay if you don't do that. , but, well, anyway...can you understand?"

She showed a slightly playful smile and turned around lightly.

"--Yes, I know."

It is also a matter of course to introduce lovers to family members.

"If that day comes, I will definitely do it."

But is there really that day?After all, the person I have a crush on is——

Thinking of this, Arthur suddenly felt melancholy.

The two went back indoors.

Xuelu left after eating.In the restaurant, Stella was still busy with the liver mobile game, her fingers were dancing quickly on the screen, and the bottom of her hand made fierce sounds from time to time.She didn't know when a little girl who looked like a junior high school student sat on the opposite side of her, and she was lowering her head and fiddling with something.

In the kitchen, a slender figure was bending over in front of the counter, as if looking through something in the cabinet.

"——" Olga gasped, and ran over at full speed in an instant, "Stop Verka!"

"……Hey?"

The young woman who was stopped suddenly by her was obviously taken aback and turned around suddenly - a bowl of cup noodles slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

"I have said many times, you are not allowed to eat instant noodles casually, right?!"

Olga pushed her away involuntarily, "It doesn't matter when I'm not at home, since I'm here, I can definitely prepare more delicious breakfasts! Why do you have to eat instant noodles!"

"Huh? I just—" Wilka leaned against the half wall in a daze, "once in a while..."

"Not once!" Olga stretched out her hand and gestured with a big cross, "You've been fed too much fast food and your stomach hurts, haven't you?"

"—Good morning, Arthur." The little girl sitting at the table shook her legs and greeted the young man, "Are you going out on a date today? You are very handsome."

"..."

Arthur, who was used to this, sat down silently beside him, and sighed long.

"I just changed into a better dress... In your mind, am I usually so slovenly?"

"No, Arthur has always been tidy," the little girl tilted her head, "but your clothes are too ordinary, completely below the average level of contemporary people. You should learn how to dress well, this It's your biggest shortcoming."

"..." I always feel that there is something wrong with being taught seriously by such a child.But the kid--named Rudy--had always been like that, so it didn't surprise him.

Ludi is the youngest in the family. She is just in the second grade of junior high school this year, which is the age when the second middle school disease occurs.

"By the way, what does Ludi want to eat?" Olga asked in a loud voice from the kitchen, "Can milk and egg yolk cake be okay?"

"Well, please—"

Ludi also responded with a prolonged voice.

Unhappily, Wilka came over and sat opposite, set up a laptop computer, her fingers danced on the keyboard, and sighed from time to time.

"...What's wrong? Is there something wrong with work?"

Her frown was too conspicuous, and Arthur couldn't help asking.

"No, I have nothing to do at work," Wilka sighed, "I worked overtime last night, and basically finished my work. But... how should I put it, I really want to eat cup noodles—"

"..."

"Olga is for your own good," Ludi on the side commented fairly. "After all, you just went to the emergency room because of a gastrointestinal disease not long ago."

"I know, but," she sighed again, "Sure enough... I still really want to eat cup noodles. The cup noodles after working all night are the most delicious, and they can swallow the accumulated fatigue in one bite."

——Lana is a little girl who has not grown up mentally. Why is Wilka, who has been working as an adult and has always been calm and reliable in official affairs, so obsessed with unhealthy food?

"After you recover from your illness," he comforted weakly, "Olga will definitely not stop you at that time. Did you work all night last night? Are you still going to work today?"

"No, I won't go. I asked for leave today. Irene and the others will definitely go-she is really a natural workaholic. But I don't want to be exhausted at work! I have been working since I came back The file was just finished ten minutes ago. When I send it to Sylvia's mailbox, I will leave it to them to do the rest. I went back to sleep after eating. Speaking of which, I am still a Patient!"

"Since you still have the consciousness of being a patient, you should eat less food that is not good for your stomach!"

Olga complained while serving pasta that was good for digestion.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll keep an eye on it in the future."

"Speaking of which, Irene and the others haven't come down by this time." Olga looked upstairs worriedly, "If you don't come for breakfast, you may be late for work."

"Well, in fact, they also stayed up late together yesterday, and we kept meeting until late at night... There is no way to sleep more."

Wilka yawned slightly.

The three oldest women in the family—Vilka, Elshirin, and Sylvia—founded together a few years ago a small Internet company that is now on the rise.

It is a bit strange to say that among the eleven members of the family, only Arthur is a male.It is said that the head of the household originally only intended to adopt girls, but accidentally picked up an abandoned boy from the side of the road. Feeling the fate, he took him in as well.

From childhood to adulthood, Arthur was often ridiculed by people about "cohabiting with ten beautiful women". After all, this development is very similar to the beginning of some harem comics; Of course, there will only be family affection - and other family members must think so too.

"Ah, that's right." Wilka seemed to think of something suddenly, "Arthur, don't you plan to come to our company for an internship during the summer vacation? It's time for you to look for a summer internship. It just so happens that you can match your major .”

"Shouldn't you be going this holiday? I've already agreed with the professor to help out in the lab."

"Is it... I don't think I've heard you say this before?"

"I said it," Arthur sighed again, "I said it before the summer vacation started, don't you remember?"

"Not at all.—Well, that's all."

Wilka pressed the enter key.Almost at the same time, there was a crisp "ding dong" sound of mail being received from the stairs on the second floor.

"Okay! You can directly confirm that she has received it." Wilka closed the computer with a satisfied snap.

The recipient of the email, Sylvia, happened to be at the top of the stairs, and was now stopping, taking out her phone to check.As soon as she stopped, the girl who was walking behind her bumped into her in a daze.

"Wake up, Erin. It's time to go to work soon."

Sylvia patted her cheek, then helped her down to the first floor and placed her on the sofa.

Olga promptly delivered a cup of hot coffee.For a moment, even Stella stopped playing and turned to look over.

"How should I put it, Irene's dazed look that hasn't woken up...it's really rare."

Usually Elshirin is the leading one among the three, and Wilka and Silvia are more like her deputies.Not only at work, but also in life, she has always been aggressive and decisive. It's rare to see such a fragile look.

For Arthur, this is probably also the one who awes him the most among the family members.

After taking a few sips of coffee, she seemed to wake up gradually.

"What time is it now?...It's still too late. Sylvia, our schedule for today...well." She glanced at the wall clock on the wall, and when she inadvertently glanced at Arthur sitting next to her, she suddenly pegged.

Sylvia flipped through the agenda plainly, and after reading a few items, she realized that she wasn't listening.

"what happened?"

Irene stared at Arthur, her eyes were bewildered and sharp.Seeing the latter, she instinctively tightened his back, took several steps back, and looked at his whole body at the same time.

There shouldn't be any taboo accessories on her body, and there shouldn't be any ugly eye-catching color schemes. There should be nothing worthy of criticism—why does the other party look at me with such scrutiny?

"I...do you have a problem?"

he asked cautiously.

"Arthur? Are you dressed formally today?" She tilted her head slightly, "Are you going out? Are you going to see—"

"No, I'm not going to meet a girlfriend or something. After all, I don't have a girlfriend at all." Arthur immediately interrupted by raising his hand.

Irene narrowed her eyes, and asked step by step after his voice fell to the ground.

"Are you going to meet your classmate named 'Albert'?"

"--Hey?"

Arthur was stunned.

"Wait, why—" Would she know the name?

"I answered the last time he called home," Eileen replied calmly. "The young man on the other end of the line claimed to be your best friend—so, was it really him?"

It was obviously a very simple question, but Arthur was suddenly a little embarrassed and felt difficult to answer for a while.

"It's not the best...it's just okay."

He scratched his hair and replied awkwardly, "Didn't you say that a few days ago? I'm going to work in the school's laboratory this holiday—this job was introduced to me by him."

"Why--??"

Olga, who was listening from a distance, made a dissatisfied voice, "If it is a new friend, why have I never heard about this 'friend' from you! Obviously all your friends since childhood will introduce you to me. our!"

"No, this, he is different..."

But what was the difference, Arthur couldn't tell.He vaguely understood in his heart, but this kind of thing must never be told to others; especially when it is still uncertain.

"'Not the same'? The so-called 'different' should mean—"

Eileen crossed her hands on her knees, looked at him with insightful eyes, and smiled meaningfully—this made him feel even more guilty.

At the critical moment, other voices suddenly intervened just to save Arthur.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!"

There was a scream on the second floor, followed by a chaotic crackling.The next moment, footsteps sounded, and a young girl rushed down straight, her blonde hair messed up.She quickly buttons her dress with one hand, a toothbrush in the other, and a towel over her arm.

"I overslept! It's almost time for my appointment!"

She screamed and rushed through the living room, into the bathroom on the first floor, and then rushed out quickly.At this time, all the things in her hands had disappeared, her clothes had been buttoned, and her hair had become very neat.

"Ah, good morning, Emily! Would you like something to eat?"

"No, no, I'm running out of time—"

With the attention of the whole family, Emily rushed all the way to the porch.

Olga seemed very used to this, and directly chased her to the door, handing her the freshly baked toast.

"Should I eat a little bit? Otherwise, you will be hungry on the way?"

"Well."

Emily took a bite of the bread, put on her going-out shoes, and ran out like a gust of wind.

"I, it's almost time for me to go out..."

Glancing at the wall clock, Arthur immediately found an excuse for himself to leave.He didn't dare to look at Irene any more, he lowered his head and picked up the backpack that had been prepared by the side, and left the house right after Emily.

"Ah, is Arthur going out too? Slow down on the road and be careful of the passing vehicles?" Olga at the door watched him leave, showing her usual energetic smile.

"Well, I'm going. See you tonight, Olga."

Arthur relaxed a little, waved to her, and trotted away down the street.

Watching his back disappearing beyond the horizon, Olga finally sighed softly.

"It feels...a little lonely."