Xingyue, is Xiaokai also considered Kai?

One person was lying on the ground, and the other was lying in someone's arms. It wasn't impossible that something was about to happen in the next second.

"Oh, Lord, you're awake."

Half-asleep, Metatron shook his drooping head and looked up expectantly at Eri Se by the door.

"Ah, it's Eri. You're back! Did you buy the cream puffs I asked you to buy?"

Upon recognizing that the person who had returned was Eri, whom he had asked to buy cream puffs, Metatron's always tired face immediately showed a weak, simple, and gentle smile.

It's like trying really hard to make yourself laugh.

"I bought it. By the way, can't this be delivered by food delivery service?"

"Because of your laziness, I think Eri Sei has excellent taste."

Metatron acted as if nothing had happened, getting off Novia with complete ease.

Seeing this, Eri still walked into the hall and handed the twenty cream puffs in the bag in her hand to the blonde angel who was eagerly waiting, but before that, she took out three of them and held them in her hand.

Erise didn't really like cream puffs; she only took three to give one to Kuonji, keeping one for herself in case Metatron came looking for her late at night asking for one. As for the last one...

"Here you go, no matter what, you are my elder."

She gave it to Novia.

Although Eri Se always felt that the man in front of her was a true playboy.

Not only is he entangled with his own Servant, but he also has a complicated relationship with the lone wolf Chitose. Now he's even targeting the angel who's clueless because she's too much of a shut-in. It's truly despicable. Moreover, he seems to have designs on her. Most importantly, Eri can't understand why Luce, who is such a 'little angel,' has such a high level of affection for him.

During the time Novia and Tiamat traveled to Tallahassee, Erise, who was idly performing her night watch duties, would sometimes be followed by Luce.

"The AIs say that the sea level is gradually dropping recently, and many marine animals that were thought to be extinct have reappeared. It's a biological explosion!"

"Yes."

"Even the sky seems much more normal now."

"Yes."

"Is this why Miss Yuzhu has been staying indoors lately?"

"That's it."

Servant and human dressed in casual clothes and swimwear came and went on the sidewalk, while Luce, wearing a yellow raincoat, and Eri, wearing a black leather jacket, stood out from the crowd.

However, compared to Kuonji Aratsu, who sometimes walks around in a penguin costume, the two might be slightly better.

"Erise, you must be tired. Would you like something to drink?"

"Mineral water... wait a minute."

After Eri said those words, Luce strode to the other end of the road and bought two bottles of mineral water from a vending machine on the other side.

"Luce, I'll buy you a drink."

Even in the sweltering heat of Akihabara, the blue-haired girl, still wearing a yellow raincoat, addressed the bewildered Erise with an attitude that seemed to say, "How about that? I'm being nice to you, aren't I? You'd better get along with me."

The two of them leaned against the roadside railing and opened their bottled water.

"Good ice."

After taking a sip, Luce muttered to himself, then brought the mineral water bottle to his lips again, making a 'glug glug' sound with great enjoyment.

It was just a simple drink of water, but he gulped it down like someone who had been thirsty for a long time in the desert...

Eri looked at Luce, who seemed quite happy, drinking water with a helpless gaze, and she also drank water in large gulps.

Normally, even though both of them are girls, they should find a coffee shop or bubble tea shop to sit and rest in this situation, but the blue-haired girl in front of them doesn't seem to have this idea.

But it seems I came here myself.

After finishing her water and wiping her mouth, Eri looked down casually.

The vast, unchanging blue sea.

The waves they churned up seemed distant, and sometimes they stirred up a melancholy homesickness...

Wait a minute, homesickness? Doesn't that make me sound just like that guy, Chitose?

Thinking of this, Eri's mood suddenly plummeted, and she became inexplicably melancholic.

"Speaking of which, Eri, you've been a night patrolman for so many years, have you always been working alone?"

"Pretty much, mostly it's just me alone."

"So it really is like that."

Ignoring Erise's melancholy appearance, Luce dipped her finger in water and placed it on Erise's forehead. Sensing something amiss, Erise couldn't help but frown, but Luce meant no harm, so she didn't stop her.

"Erise, don't you ever want to rely on someone else?"

"No, because I'm very strong. I can live well even if I'm all alone."

That's a lie, isn't it?

But actually, that's not quite right. While Eri was indeed not very good at living alone when she was young, she is now fourteen years old and perfectly capable of doing so.

"Hmm, I see. That makes sense, after all, it's Eri. Oh, I get it!" Luce gave Eri a V sign and laughed happily. "The reason she doesn't have a Servant is because no Servant thinks Eri needs to rely on others, right? Because Eri is strong on her own. How about that? I'm pretty smart, aren't I?"

"Smart my foot! What nonsense are you spouting?" Eri Se retorted mercilessly, but then muttered, "I did have a Servant who was once considered a Servant, but I was too strong, and now they can't keep up with me, so they abandoned him."

If the Demon King were to appear before Eri now and jokingly ask her a question, Eri would probably show an annoyed expression.

But after being missing for so long and not showing up, Eri felt she had nothing left to say to him.

What else could she say? Should she cry and beg him not to leave?

Erise Utsumi would never say such a thing.

Of course, this is on the premise that it never appears.

“Oh, I see. If it’s Eri, it makes sense.” Luce rested his chin on his hand on the railing. “But Eri, aren’t humans social animals?”

"...What's wrong? Why are you suddenly bringing this up?"

"Hehe, it's a secret." Luce then patted Eri Se on the shoulder. "Eri Se, do you have someone you like?"

Since the topic suddenly shifted to this, Eri was momentarily at a loss for words.

"...Of course not. I rarely interact with others. My life is basically a straight line between two points all day long. Besides, I don't need to like anyone."

"Hmm, but that expression you just had was quite lonely."

"lonely........"

Why should I answer a question from someone I'm not that close to?

A sense of rebellion surged within Erise, and then, as if she had nothing to lose, she retorted, "You're asking me? Luce, do you have someone you like?"

"Yes, I have."

“…Huh?”

After letting out a surprised exclamation, Eri couldn't help but blink.

A sense of defeat suddenly welled up in my mind. It was really strange. No matter what, Luce couldn't possibly like the Demon King.

But the name that Luce then uttered made Erise roll her eyes.

"Novia, I like her very much."

Scumbag.

This was Eri's first reaction when she heard Luce say those words.

then,

Time returns to the present.

"Cream puffs don't keep well and need to be eaten quickly. Instant noodles can be stored for a long time, but they get cloying after a while. Compressed biscuits make me want to drink water, and I don't want to take out takeout every day..."

While eating a cream puff, Metatron began to comment on his thoughts on food made at home.

"Isn't it me who takes out the trash?"

Eri rolled her eyes at the otaku-like angel.

To be honest, she thought that being lazy would anger Kuonji Yuzu, but recently, for some reason, not only was she not angry, but she was also holed up in another room doing... something that looked like witch potion research, not coming out for 24 hours a day.

Although magicians are indeed like that, Eri couldn't help but admire them in her heart; they were truly dedicated to their craft.

A few minutes later, just as Erise was thinking, "It's about time I left, to leave the two of them in a good environment," Metatron spoke up in his usual lazy tone:

"You just took away what was most important to me, Novia."

Back when they met at the Kuonji residence, Novia had asked Metatron to address her by her name when others were present, but to do so freely when they were alone.

Therefore, since Eri was present, Metatron did not call himself the host.

That makes sense, after all, if Eri heard this, she might think to herself that the two of them are really going all out, getting into a master-servant relationship so quickly... Wait a minute, isn't Sloth an angel? The God of the Bible would be furious... She might actually think that.

Because of the words "something very important," "lost," and "just now," which evoked a lot of thoughts, coupled with what she had just seen, Eri hesitated for a moment, wondering whether she should sit back down on the sofa, even though she was already preparing to get up and leave.

"What do you mean by 'important things'?"

Would I really harm Metatron? Not even while I'm sleeping.

This was Novia's idea.

In his view, even if Metatron became lazy, he didn't really want to have much contact with him.

"Uh, well, let's just say it's very important, but for you... it's not that important."

"Doesn't that mean it's completely unimportant?" Eri couldn't help but retort.

“What you say doesn’t matter… that’s not true at all!” Metatron squeezed the cream puff in his hand, accidentally crushing it, and then put his fingers in his mouth to lick the cream. “That’s something extremely, incredibly, super important to me. I could hardly live without it.”

If you put down your fifteenth cream puff first, you might be more convincing.

Novia and Eri had the same idea at the same time.

"Let me think... the important thing you mentioned that I took away..." Novia shrugged, recalling the instant noodle smell she'd caught earlier. "Could it be the instant noodles you made?"

"Of course! I really can't give up instant noodles anymore. What could be more important than instant noodles? I can't think of anything..."

Upon hearing this, Novia wanted to both laugh and ignore Metatron's changed state.

Therefore, he rarely had the urge to tease her.

"I see. Then let me be your important possession."

Metatron, with a half-eaten cream puff in his mouth, looked up in confusion with a "Huh?" and blinked, revealing an incredulous expression.

Novia found her reaction quite amusing; in fact, he found it rather interesting to see Metatron so surprised.

"This kind of thing doesn't require much effort, right? It's just greeting each other when we meet, chatting occasionally, having meals together, isn't that all? But then again, it's already like that, isn't it? Because you've already done all that."

Novia continued speaking as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and as he expected, Metatron's eyes widened in surprise.

“You really are, Lord…”

A slight blush crept onto her fair cheeks. The lazy Secretary of Heaven was completely unaware that the cream puff in her mouth had fallen onto her body. Her expression, movements, tone of voice, and even the aura emanating from her body had changed. She even broke the rule that she should not call out "Lord" in front of outsiders. Fortunately, she spoke very softly, so Eri Se did not hear it.

Seeing Metatron become like this, Eri was completely stunned, and she couldn't suppress her urge to make sarcastic remarks.

Damn it, this is obviously a complete success!

What's so great about this scumbag named Novia?

Could there be some hidden story in this conversation that I don't know about? But isn't this just a simple conversation? Are the angels from the Bible so easy to win over? They were won over in just a few words!?

Metatron's eyebrows drooped shyly, his eyes blinked several times, his lips pursed slightly, and he blinked repeatedly in a flustered manner. After his gaze wandered left and right for a while, he finally raised his eyes slightly to look at the two people present.

"I'm so tired, I'm going to rest."

After saying that, Metatron squinted and lay down on the fully automated massage throne like a dead fish, returning to his room at an extremely fast speed.

So, only Eri and Novia remained in the hall.

"I must say, your methods are truly extraordinary."

"I'm very strong."

Eri felt like she'd heard that phrase somewhere before, but she maintained a nonchalant expression: "So it means you're good at flirting with the opposite sex, which does fit your image."

"Since you, Eri, think that's what I am, then so be it."

Please don't misunderstand—