The trio brought their guard all the way back up and crouched down on the ground, flipping the sofa and making it into a makeshift barricade from the enemy beyond the wall.Crux peeked slightly over the "wall" and set his sights on the enemy.
But what he saw surprised him. The Devil incarnate lazily leaned against the stair rails while loosening his dark blue tie.
His eyebrows showed his boredom, further enhancing his dead eyes.
It made Crux feel that he wasn"t looking at the cause of his trauma, but a guy who just came home from work.
And when he looked closer, Crux started unconsciously observing Cole"s fine and handsome features.
His fair skin, his bony hands that were unloosening his tie...
"What the-- No, Crux! You"re not gay! You are as straight as an erect "sausage"! You have a fiancee for Christ"s sake!"
"Wait, who the f*ck is Christ?"
Leo and Altair stared in wonder at their leader that was once intently staring at the enemy behind the wall, started vigorously shaking his head with a flushed face and then put on a face of "Who is that?"
Leo and Altair wondered what exactly the enemy behind the wall had done to make their proud and glorious (yeah... nope.) Leader to do such things and peeked over the sofa as well.
And the same thing happened to them, with Altair"s reaction being more intense.
"Ah~ The beautiful sight of Cole loosening his tie... I"m so glad he changed his usual outfit..."
The one most satisfied though, was of course, the one and only Felicia.
"Papa, I"m going to get ice cream from the fridge and sulk."
All of their thoughts were then interrupted by a childish voice hiding behind Cole.
A Eva with her favorite bunny then appeared, trying to get past Cole"s long legs.
"Why? Is it because you couldn"t fly a kite even when you thought you got good at it?"
?
Hearing her father"s mocking voice and tone made Eva pop a vein on her forehead.
"I thought parents are supposed to comfort their sad children?"
"Are you crying and bawling around like a baby?
Eva then opened up the zipper located behind her bunny"s back and pulled out a small notebook and a little pencil and started drawing something with them.
A few seconds later, she put the notebook in front of her face, fully showcasing what she had just drawn.
It was a simple, sad face with a tear flowing out of one its eyes.
"Does this count?"
"No."
"Boo..."
Seeing that her genius plan had failed, Eva pouted and sulked once again.
Until Cole placed Eva on his shoulders and brought her in front of the fridge, lowering himself slightly so that Eva could just reach the freezer compartment.
"Get one for me too."
"What flavor?"
"Cookies n" Cream."
"Same."
After getting two small packs of cookies and cream flavored ice cream, Eva closed the freezer door, signaling Cole to move to the sofa and sit next to Felicia.
He placed Eva between the two of them and started digging into the delicious ice cream together with his daughter.
"You two, don"t eat too much. You"ll rot your teeth out."
"Hai~"
"Okay..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Crux, Altair, and Leo were rendered speechless at the normal family scene happening in front of them.
They even pinched each other"s cheek to make sure that they weren"t seeing things, in perfect sync too.
This lasted for a few minutes and a few more ice cream packs until they finally temporarily sealed away the devil from their minds.
『Memory 46789012 moved to〈Scary Things〉Folder』
『Memory 27789012 moved to〈Things I Don"t Want To Remember〉Folder』
『Memory 23789012 moved to〈nopenopenopenope... 〉Folder』
After moving that memory file in their brains to somewhere else, they finally gained the courage to ask the man in front of them...
"What is your goal?"
"How old are you?"
"W-what they said."
*SMACK*
"Ouch! What you do that for, Crux?"
"That hurt..."
Altair and Leo rubbed their swollen b.u.mps on their heads with Altaur glaring at Crux while Leo was on the verge of tears.
"Stop asking irrelevant questions! But first, may Felicia and the child leave the room first?"
"Me?"
"Hmm...?"
Felicia pointed to herself to confirm the question and Eva tilted her head in confusion.
"Felicia, go upstairs. Leave Eva here with me."
"Eh?"
Felicia couldn"t help but feel hurt when she heard Cole"s command.
"Why? Why can he let Eva stay with him while I have to--"
"Eva hasn"t had enough ice cream yet. I don"t want her interrupting midway through the conversation."
"Oh... okay."
Or she would have if it wasn"t for a stupid reason like that.
With Felicia upstairs and the little bunny only caring for her ice cream, the talks could finally begin.
"Well, I see that you can finally start explaining to me what this is actually about."
"*Gulp*"
Crux b.u.mped a bit before he mustered up the will to open his mouth.
"Do you know of〈S. T. E. L. L. A〉"