I Am Not Great Cook

"Thank you so much!"

After the crowd had dispersed and Meguro's matter was dealt with, in private, Dojima Gin bowed deeply to Mutou Judai.

"Ah, it's nothing..."

Seeing Dojima Gin like this, Mutou Judai looked at him with eyes that still had faint dark circles.

"After all, I didn't act for Totsuki Resort's sake, so it doesn't matter."

Hearing Mutou Judai say this, Dojima Gin slowly smiled.

"That's different, Mutou. You're Erina's friend, so for our Totsuki Resort... no, for all of Totsuki, you're a guest after setting aside student status."

"Regardless of the reason, having a guest fight dangerous enemies for our sake is our negligence."

"Theoretically, when you come to Totsuki Resort, we should guarantee your safety, but in reality we were helped greatly by you instead. It's truly inexcusable."

So...

"You don't need to worry too much about what happens next. Although we Totsuki aren't a particularly huge enterprise compared to Toyo Electric, with careful vigilance, we can at least prevent them from harming people around you."

Hearing Dojima Gin say this, Mutou Judai also showed a light smile.

"In that case, I'll trouble you then."

He said this verbally, but was actually thinking about other things in his mind.

Last night he had acted on impulse—but now hearing Dojima Gin say this, it seemed Toyo Electric would still target people around him...

Although this life had no parents and he was an orphan... what if Toyo Electric's people targeted the orphanage...

Tch—

Maybe he should take time to use curses to wipe out Toyo Electric's upper management entirely!

"Well then, I still have some cleanup work to handle, and having me here would make people uncomfortable, haha. I'll leave things to you young people now."

Although Dojima Gin said this, he gave Alice and Hisako a look.

Alice didn't understand, but Hisako seemed to grasp something. She first looked at Mutou Judai with an examining gaze, then pulled Alice, who was reaching out her hand toward Mutou Judai, and left with Dojima Gin.

Now only Mutou Judai and Erina remained here.

Noticing Dojima Gin and the others' subtle actions made Erina's face turn red.

Mutou Judai also felt the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

But before he could say anything, Erina spoke up.

"Judai, thank you so much for this incident, and also... sorry, because you disrupted Toyo Electric's plan this time, I might have accidentally dragged you into this..."

Mutou Judai looked at Erina, who after calming her emotions had an increasingly unpleasant expression, keeping her head down and not even daring to make eye contact with him. He slowly reached out his hand and placed it on Erina's head.

Feeling Mutou Judai's hand fall on her head, Erina was obviously stunned.

"Rather than saying you dragged me into this, it's more that I was too reckless—but if you asked me to do it again, I would still do the same..."

—Though I'd be cleaner about it next time!

"So, don't be like this, Erina... Moreover, didn't Dojima-san just say that your Totsuki is already doing its best to look after people around me? So don't apologize... you didn't do anything wrong, did you?"

Hearing Mutou Judai's words, Erina kept her head down with her ears turning red. After a long while, she finally let out a soft sound like a small animal:

"Mm..."

After saying this, Mutou Judai slowly withdrew his hand.

Although he was very clear that at this time, with Erina in her current state, he should probably stay with her longer, but...

Mutou Judai actually couldn't settle down.

He wanted to return to Mutou Orphanage to take a look.

He was now paying for his lack of experience—clearly he had skills like curse, clearly he had stronger power.

—So if earlier, when no one had noticed, he had directly used curse combined with attacks to instantly kill that Meguro, then taken Erina and the others away, maybe he wouldn't need to worry so much now.

And afterward, he even forgot to place a curse on that Toyama Hirataka from Toyo Electric.

Looking at it this way, he really was too inexperienced...

His methods were also very immature.

While Mutou Judai was feeling regretful about his previous lack of experience, he noticed Erina lift her head, then with a red face, she also reached out both hands and grabbed Mutou Judai's hand that was being withdrawn.

It was currently nighttime.

The two of them were in the courtyard connected to Totsuki Resort's back gate.

Although the night breeze couldn't make Mutou Judai feel cold, compared to the warmth coming from Erina's hands, it was much cooler, making Erina's act of holding his hand even more noticeable.

This...

Just as Mutou Judai was about to say something, Erina lifted her head to make eye contact with him and spoke directly.

"Judai, you must be very worried about the family member you call 'old man' who sent you that letter earlier... Be careful, and go back to check quickly."

Just as Mutou Judai was very clear that Erina had just been frightened and actually needed him by her side, Erina was also clear that Mutou Judai was definitely worried about the orphanage.

Mutou Judai wanted to help Erina feel at ease, while Erina didn't want Mutou Judai to continue agonizing.

So she smiled.

"I have Hisako and Alice here... and after what happened earlier, Totsuki will definitely strengthen security. You don't need to worry about my side. Instead, regarding your family, you should go back and check—but definitely be careful."

Hearing Erina say this, looking at her eyes and slightly red face, feeling the warmth from her hands, Mutou Judai was stunned for a while before nodding.

Just like Erina who had been comforted by him earlier, he also responded softly.

"Mm..."

"Alright, in that case you should go back first. If you don't go back quickly, you won't be at ease, right?"

"Mm..."

Mutou Judai responded again, then he and Erina looked at each other, they both nodded to each other, and then Mutou Judai left through Totsuki Resort's back gate.

Erina watched Mutou Judai leave, then covered her face with both hands and slowly crouched down.

At this time, the silver moonlight shone on her, making her ears that had turned red very obvious. In the shadows behind her, Alice sighed and slowly walked to her side.

"If you're that embarrassed, then don't say such things..."

Alice bent down, while Erina turned her head, and with her red face, she looked at Alice fiercely like an angry cat.

"Don't you worry about it!"

Having said somewhat embarrassing words and being seen by someone—right now even if there were a crack in the ground, Erina would probably crawl into it.

But just as Mutou Judai had said earlier...

If she had to do it again, if she had known this feeling beforehand... Erina would still say the same words.

Because...

—He looked like he needed those words just now.