I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad
Chapter 180: Dance with Alice (3)

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***

Just as we were enjoying the height of the festival, Sakuragi Renji suddenly made his presence known and barged in.

Because of that, the atmosphere, which had been peaceful just moments ago, shattered in an instant.

First off, Alice and Lily looked completely thrown off by their father’s sudden appearance.

Raven and Renji, the two men, fell into a heavy silence as they quietly studied one another.

Karen, an outsider to the family, looked around nervously, as if unsure how to react.

It was the kind of tense mood where it felt like something could break out at any moment.

I kept my head down between them all, doing my best to stay unnoticed as I continued thinking.

Sakuragi Renji, huh... One of the iconic first-generation otherworlders.

“Otherworlders” were, strictly speaking, those who had crossed over from another world in order to survive.

Because of that, many older otherworlders—especially the so-called first generation—had already made names for themselves back in their original world.

Take Tempest, who had been recognized as a Dragon King, or Vespera, known by the nickname “Crimson.” That sort of thing.

Sakuragi Renji was also one of those figures—renowned from the other world for his abilities.

His alias was Red Yaksha, a name that stuck thanks to the story of how he stood alone, drenched in blood, on a battlefield from the day he was born, with crimson hair like fire.

And he didn’t stop there—after crossing over to Earth, he kept defeating enemies left and right, forcing them to their knees.

At least within Japan, he was about as well-known and revered as Nighthaven’s Tempest.

If he were still an active Fixer... it wouldn't be a stretch to say he'd easily rank among the Single Number Fixers.

Mm... thinking about it like that really makes him feel like a burden. Is it even okay to let someone like this into the city?

Single Number... It was definitely a suffocating thought.

Even if all five of us here jumped him at once, there wouldn’t be much of a chance at winning.

His unmatched physical prowess, monstrous strength, and wide-area magic that rendered sheer numbers meaningless—

To even come close to matching that gap, I’d probably have to borrow the power of the Tesseract.

Of course, he wasn’t in his prime anymore. If we aimed for his weak spots, it wasn’t entirely hopeless.

But just thinking about how much we’d have to sacrifice in the process already gave me a headache.

Yeah, if a fight breaks out, I’ll need to open with something big.

While I was mentally laying out strategies, Raven, looking more serious than usual, seemed to have reached his own conclusion. He bowed slightly and opened his mouth to speak first.

“You must be Alice and Lily’s father. My name is Jin Crowley, and I run the Crowley Office. Your daughters have been a great help to us.”

Maybe he figured it wouldn’t do any good to antagonize the father of an important employee like Alice—

Lily was another matter, but Alice was still a valued subordinate, after all.

I felt a kind of quiet respect for Raven, seeing him act so maturely.

But Renji, clearly unimpressed, raised one eyebrow and replied in a flat voice.

“Hmph. So this is that office Alice’s been working at... I’m Sakuragi Renji. So, what exactly is your relationship with my daughters? Don’t tell me you’ve laid hands on either of them? Lily, maybe, but Alice’s still underage, you know.”

“...That is absolutely not the case.”

Flick. Raven’s eyelid twitched faintly, as if he couldn’t believe what he just heard.

How could anyone say something like that upon first meeting someone? That level of rudeness was honestly impressive.

Even I, listening from the side, felt a strong urge to shoot up and shout You’ve got to be kidding me.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Raven’s body temperature spiked a full degree from that line.

Alice, too, was glaring daggers at her father for being so crass with Raven, who had always looked out for her.

But clearly overwhelmed, she just moved her lips a few times before dropping her head in silent apology.

Whether he knew the mood had crashed or not—

Maybe he was satisfied just hearing they weren’t in that kind of relationship—Renji only looked at the shrinking Alice and continued bluntly.

“Good, then. I’ve got something to say to both of you, so this works out. I’ll get straight to the point. Alice, it’s time to quit and come home. I’ve arranged your engagement.”

“...What?”

Her voice came out hollow, like she couldn't even process what she’d just heard.

Alice blinked blankly, utterly stunned.

It was a bombshell—one no one saw coming. No one except me, maybe, who had vaguely expected something along these lines.

*

“I’ll be stepping out for a moment. You should all take this time to prepare yourselves.”

With that arbitrary announcement, Sakuragi Renji left—and silence immediately fell in his wake.

Well, what else could we expect? “I’ve arranged your engagement, so come home,” he said.

Even Lily, of all people, had no words to offer in response to such a bulldozing declaration.

But it was too personal to speak on carelessly.

As Raven furrowed his brow and Karen awkwardly scratched her cheek, Lily was the first to sigh loudly into the open air.

“You... are you actually going back home?”

“....”

“If you don’t want to, then just say you don’t. Why do you always act like a criminal whenever you're in front of Dad... Ugh, whatever. I don’t know why I’m even talking.”

Thud. Lily abruptly stood, her thoughts clearly tangled.

She turned her back on the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ table and stomped away with angry steps.

No one stopped her as she disappeared into the distance.

Maybe because there was something quietly sorrowful in the way her back looked as she left.

Maybe she was angry at herself for not being able to change her sister’s mind—helpless and frustrated all at once.

Once Lily had left for good, Alice, who had been sitting with her head low and face darkened, slowly raised her gaze.

“...I’m sorry, Mr. Jin. My father was terribly rude....”

“No, it’s fine. I’ve dealt with enough cranky old men that I’m used to it. I guess if a dad sees his daughter with some random guy, it’s natural to feel upset. Not that it makes it right.”

Raven didn’t seem all that offended by Renji’s attitude.

He really did seem used to this kind of thing—like he’d just gotten bitten by a mosquito or something.

Considering the kind of nonsensical otherworlders he usually dealt with on requests...

A bit of a sharp tongue probably wasn’t even worth blinking at.

Still, that didn’t make the gloom clouding over Alice’s heart disappear.

She bit her lip like it was hard to speak and then finally opened her mouth with some difficulty.

“...I’m sorry, but could I... be alone for a bit?”

“...Sure. It’s understandable. We’ll go grab something to drink. Yuria, Karen. Let’s go.”

“Ah, okay! We’ll be right back.”

“...Mm.”

I stood up from the table, following Raven and Karen.

Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to stay by Alice’s side, clinging to her like glue.

But she was probably just as overwhelmed right now.

Better to give her space to think. That was the conclusion I came to.

Once we’d left the park and Alice was completely out of sight, Karen, glancing back several times, murmured anxiously.

“Do you think Ms. Alice is really going back to Japan...?”

“Well... that’s up to her. It’s not something anyone else can decide for her. If she prefers Japan, then she’ll go, won’t she?”

“Hmm... I suppose you’re right.”

“....”

Even in a situation where Alice might actually leave Nighthaven, Raven stayed outwardly calm.

Like whether she left or not didn’t matter much to him.

But I knew how much Raven cared about Alice, so I could tell right away—it was all an act.

If she really did leave, he’d hole himself up in the office for a week and do nothing but drink.

He acted like it didn’t bother him at all, but I couldn’t help shaking my head secretly at the front he was putting up.

“Oh—what’s that...?”

“What’s she doing over there...?”

We all stopped in our tracks as we headed toward the nearby café.

Karen covered her mouth in surprise, Raven looked exasperated, and I... well, I was just stunned.

What we saw at the end of our gaze was Lily, pouting on a bench and chugging a drink with flower petals floating in it.

Wait, that’s not just a drink—that’s alcohol, isn’t it?

Even from a distance, we could see the redness creeping across her face.

Raven approached, clearly fed up, and called out to her.

“Lily. What are you doing there? Drinking in broad daylight?”

“...Darling. Did you come looking for me? That’s so sweet~”

“I wasn’t looking for you. You’re literally sitting right by the path out of the park—I couldn’t not see you.”

“Ahaha, even if that’s not true, it’d be nice if you just said it was.”

Come on, you could at least lie a little. So stingy.

Lily finished off the bottle and set it down beside her with a light thud.

Even if it was alcohol, it didn’t seem that strong.

Aside from her red face, she looked more or less the same.

She crossed her legs with an almost seductive air and patted the bench beside her.

“Darling, Yuria, Karen! Sit down for a bit! I’ve got something to say!”

“We were just on our way to get drinks, though...”

“You wanna know about Alice, right? I’ll tell you, so come hang out with me!”

“Hmm... Haa, fine.”

Even Raven, who would’ve usually brushed off someone else’s business in a heartbeat, sighed quietly and sat next to her.

I sat down as well, next to Karen, and only then did Lily lean onto Raven’s shoulder, as if her body had gone slack, and slowly began to speak.

“Mm... where should I start... Oh, right. These horns. Don’t you wonder why Alice doesn’t have any?”

“Well...”

She pointed with her hand at the long horns stretching up from her forehead—just above her eyes.

Undeniable proof that she wasn’t human.

Lily and Renji had them. But no matter how hard you looked, Alice didn’t.

Raven finally seemed to notice that and furrowed his brow slightly.

Come to think of it, Alice couldn’t use magic, and she didn’t have any of the distinctive features that otherworlders usually possessed.

Other than her loud hair and slightly abnormal physical abilities, she was basically human.

It was something you couldn’t help but notice once it was pointed out.

Lily, eyes tinged with something like sorrow, finally explained the reason.

“It’s simple. Alice was... born without horns. What they call a Cursed Oni.”

“Cursed Oni...?”

Raven frowned, as if the term itself left a bad taste in his mouth.

But Lily, expecting that reaction, just gave a powerless smile and continued softly.

What followed was a short—but not so short—story about Alice’s rather unfortunate past.