I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad
Chapter 179: Dance with Alice (2)

Spring is often called the season when flowers bloom.

Because the seeds that had been dormant all winter begin to sprout as the temperature rises.

From the flower’s perspective, blooming in warm spring rather than the icy cold of winter is clearly more advantageous for survival.

The ones that couldn’t adapt probably disappeared long ago into the back alleyways of history.

So unless we’re talking about regions without winter at all, spring is, by climate, the season of flowers.

The sight of every kind of flower filling the streets—this was something you could only see now!

“Wow! The streets are full of flowers! Jin-shi, look at that!”

“Yeah... there really was nothing there just last night. They must’ve worked hard since dawn.”

“Looks like they were too busy trying to line everything up. If you look closely, some of it’s slightly off-center.”

“Come on, you two... Is that how you react to a view this gorgeous...?”

From top to bottom, that was Alice, Raven, Lily, and Alice again.

Maybe it was because Alice had always liked cute and pretty things.

She was extremely enthusiastic about the sight of the streets decked out in all kinds of colorful flowers.

But for Raven, who valued practicality over aesthetics, and Lily, who cared more about structural elegance...

Maybe the scene didn’t quite tug at their hearts the same way.

Alice’s eyes twitched as she looked at the two of them giving such lukewarm responses to a rare and beautiful sight.

...Yeah. Looks like it’s my turn to step in.

“F-f... fwowers...!”

“Fwo? Flowers...? Ah! That’s right, right?! It’s super pretty, huh?! I knew only Yuria would get it!”

Maybe because I tugged at her sleeve like I really liked it.

Alice perked right back up and hugged me tightly, like I was the cutest thing alive.

Well... Honestly, I felt pretty much the same way as Raven about the whole thing.

But if this made her feel better, that was good enough for me.

That aside... this festival’s more serious than I expected. And there’s way more people than I thought. Do they have some kind of event guide?

Still in Alice’s arms, I slowly moved my head to look around.

What I saw was far more people than I’d anticipated.

A massive festival like this, in such a politically shaky time with no acting mayor in Nighthaven?

It was hard to believe something like this even got approved.

Just as I started to wonder about the festival in more detail—

Karen came walking up, waving something in her hand.

“Everyone, they were handing these out nearby, so I grabbed some.”

“This is... like a guidebook?”

“That’s right. Instead of just wandering around, we should read this first, don’t you think?”

What she brought was none other than a guide booklet with info on the festival.

Looks like they were passing these out near the entrance.

Even in Alice’s arms, I got one of the booklets from Karen.

After flipping through a few pages, I quickly understood the mystery behind this festival.

Huh... So this festival isn’t hosted by Nighthaven itself, but by a partnership between the tourism foundation and private corporations. That explains why it’s going ahead even if the city’s kind of unstable internally.

And officially, Tempest stepping down as mayor was just a matter of health.

So Nighthaven probably didn’t have a big enough reason to cancel a festival they’d been planning for ages.

They were about to elect a new mayor soon anyway.

In that case, maybe this festival was actually serving to lift public morale within the city...

As I scanned the front of the booklet and drifted into thought—

Alice, still cradling me and flipping through the pages herself, suddenly lit up.

“Whoa... This festival is way bigger than I imagined! There’s a ton of participation booths—just walking around here could take all day!”

“Participation booths? Like making flower crowns or something?”

Raven stepped in close to peer over our shoulders.

Probably because we were one booklet short, he seemed eager to see what was inside too.

But even with Raven close enough for his breath to touch her, Alice didn’t seem the least bit bothered.

She stayed fixated on the booklet’s contents and shouted in a bright, excited voice like a kid:

“There’s that, and also stuff like cooking food with flowers in it, or seeing custom flowers that don’t exist anywhere else... There’s even a company booth using a 3D printer to create flowers in any shape or color!”

“Huh, she’s right. Bio-printers... must’ve cost a lot.”

“Being able to make flowers that aren’t even grown with magic... Science really is amazing.”

Lily and Karen chimed in after Alice.

Maybe because Lily’s a mechanic and Karen’s an artifact artisan—they’re total opposites in that field.

So even when looking at the same thing, their take on it was completely different.

“Okay, so... Where should we go first? Everything looks fun!”

“You and Yuria pick. I don’t really care either way.”

“Anything’s fine with me. I’ll leave the choice to you two.”

“I’m not really familiar with this kind of stuff...”

Guess this kind of setup—three adults, one minor, and one actual kid—made the adults want to leave it up to us.

Though Alice was still technically a high schooler, so a minor.

In their eyes, she probably looked like a green little fledgling.

And I wasn’t really dying to do anything in particular either.

I looked up at Alice and gave her a signal that anything was fine by me...

“Then let’s start from the east! There’s more stuff over there that looks fun!”

Our first destination: the eastern section of the festival, filled with interactive booths.

As expected of someone like Alice who loves being active—this place seemed perfect for her.

We followed Alice as she took the lead, heading toward the east side.

According to the guidebook, this area mostly had booths run by companies offering hands-on experiences.

And sure enough, when we entered, the entire area was filled with incredible sights—just brimming with cutting-edge tech.

Stuff like a VR system that let you feel the scent and texture of flowers.

Or a device that reads your brainwaves and generates unique colors and scents based on them.

Even hologram petals that gave off a tingling sensation when they brushed your skin.

This was truly the ultimate site for festival experience.

No wonder they charged an admission fee on the way in.

“I had so much fun! Coming here was the right call, huh?”

“Yeah. At the very least, it was worth the price.”

After ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) running around like maniacs checking out booth after booth, it was already around lunchtime.

We left the east zone and each picked something to eat from the food trucks, heading to the park.

The place we were told to eat was an open-air table surrounded by flowers in full bloom.

With the high sky and the breeze just cool enough—it had a strong picnic vibe.

Coming out today was the right choice. Spending time with people I like is really the best.

My lunch was a burrito bowl packed with Mexican-style meat and veggies.

Scooping up a chunk of saucy meat with my fork, I smiled goofily.

Looking back, saying yes to Alice’s suggestion yesterday really was a good call.

Sure, going out was nice, but what was even better was being out together.

The weather was perfect, the vibe was amazing—

I couldn’t stop myself from kicking my legs beneath the bench out of pure joy.

As I kept happily munching on salad and meat—

Lily, who looked strangely unfamiliar today, rested her chin on her hand and muttered while staring off into the distance.

“Sometimes getting outside like this isn’t so bad. It really clears your head.”

“You need to get out more. At this rate, you’re going to wither into a bean sprout.”

“Oh my. My sweet little sister knows that mung bean sprouts are worth more when grown in darkness?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“....”

Bicker, bicker.

Sitting on either side of me, Alice and Lily started raising their voices at each other again.

Total classic sibling moment—always ready to bite at the slightest provocation.

I mean... if they’re gonna do this, couldn’t they have let me sit over there instead?

This distance is exhausting—I was swaying like a reed caught in a storm.

Sigh... I’ll just tune them out and chew.

But as I chomped away on my meat, I suddenly froze.

For one reason only—something massive had appeared in the space where nothing had been. It was so unnaturally overwhelming that I couldn't ignore it.

It was the same kind of pressure as when Sirocco had revealed her horns and tail the other day—but several times stronger.

“Looks like you’re all having quite the pleasant time.”

“...Hhuh?!”

“What the—?!”

Rumble rumble rumble!

My body trembled as if an earthquake had hit the area.

But the drink on the table didn’t so much as ripple.

Which meant the trembling was just me.

I quickly turned toward the source of the presence—and saw a middle-aged man standing there.

A face I almost recognized, but couldn’t quite place.

But judging from Alice and Lily’s faces—both of which were practically frozen in shock—

They definitely knew him.

“...Um, who are you, exactly?”

An awkward silence, like time itself had stopped.

The one to break it was Raven, sitting across from us.

As expected of the most solid adult among us.

The fork he’d just been using for his noodles looked oddly reliable.

But to the middle-aged man, he was probably nothing but a brat.

The man wrinkled his brow slightly and gave a casual reply.

“Who am I? Don’t you know it’s proper to introduce yourself to an elder first? Tsk. You’re far too uncouth to be hanging around my daughters.”

“...Daughters?”

Oh.

It clicked immediately. My eyes went wide, and I nodded.

I had seen him somewhere before—he was a character from the original.

So then, think about it.

Who here could he possibly be referring to as his daughters?

Simple process of elimination.

Raven’s male. Karen and I don’t have anyone who would call themselves our parent. Which means—

“F-Father!”

“Dad?!”

Head of the famous Japanese Sakuragi family, and the father of Alice and Lily—

Sakuragi Renji, the man known as a legendary mercenary.

Of course it was him.