Wa Lui Qi had been staring at his phone for more than an hour but... the phone call from Ritsuko's school never came. Why? No matter how he took a look at this situation, the school first priority should be contacting him and finding her. Was he the weird one for thinking things that way?

While he was patiently waiting for the phone, he heard the door creaked and saw Ritsuko nonchalantly walked out from his bathroom. 

She should be using the same barely functional shower without any type of unnecessary comfort and used the same type of soap and shampoo as him, but there was something different from her aura. Once she sat near Lui Qi while drying her wet long black hair off,  he noticed what was different about her. His nose twitched as he couldn't help but to indulge himself in her fragrances, pastel and lavish at the same time. 

Imperfections on her skin would shine like a beacon even with her clothes on and Lui Qi had to try to not stare at her. If Lui Qi had to put it in his own words, he was now stuck in an awkward stage of age. It was inappropriate for him to see a high school girl as girlfriend material, even though just a year ago he was still in high school. On the other side, another woman that was at the same age or older than him only saw him as nothing but a brat and only interested at more... successful or manly man.

Lui Qi wouldn't call himself as unattractive but he fully aware of the fact that he lacked a manly charm... at least that was what his ex told him.

He glanced down to his shoulder and only sighed. Of course, he had some muscles on it but it barely appeared if he didn't curl his biceps. At the same time as he did that, he noticed already Ritsuko leaned toward him and poked his other shoulder. "Ready?" She asked with starry eyes.

Wa Lui Qi sighed inwardly and only replied her with a wry smile. He kinda knew it sucked to stuck in a small apartment while you already spent some shit load of your money on vacation, but at the very least he should also be responsible and not taking her to the outside without the permission from her school at his own accord.

So he made a bet with Ritsuko... if her school didn't contact him in an hour, he would accompany her strolling around n the city while also searching for her groups.

And he lost... he might not have the most muscular build but at the very least he would keep his words.

So he started taking her walking around. Much to his surprise, she was holding her hand... so was they on a date? Obviously not. Rather than going on a date, Wa Lui Qi couldn't help but felt like her private photographer. And rather than walking side by side, she was pulling him like a... dog only to stop for taking her pictures. Her favourite style? She pulled Lui Qi's hand while he took a picture of her back.

Not to mention her choices of background were kinda... unusual. Of course, it wasn't unusual to take a picture when your background was some kind of monumental status, a landmark like Brooklyn Bridge, Colombus Park or Musem at Eldrige Street but he just couldn't understand when she started asking him to take pictures of her with a random street sign, a tree, a bench.

When they already reached Broadway, his phone's memory was already full with her picture. "A teenage girl is amazing..." Lui Qi muttered as he scrolled through his phone gallery. At the same time, he was being pulled to the nearby food stall where a dozen meat skewers were grilled on top of the grilled pan. 

Before he was able to say 'no', without any hesitation Ritsuko had pointed her finger to each meat, ordering four pieces of meat skewer in total.

Skewers of veal liver, lamb leg, cow's meat and chicken heart lie inches above the coals, turning various shades of pink, tan, and brown. The cook twirled each kebab, or shashlik, six or seven times to ensure even cooking. He picked up a magenta hair dryer, slowly waving it past the white embers. The spurt of air speeded up the combustion process, akin to the oxygenating effect of a blacksmith’s bellow, only this comes courtesy of a plastic grooming device.

'This kid clearly doesn't know her place.' Lui Qi could only scowl at her behaviour, not only he lost money by producing less sandwich than the usual but now he must also spend money to feed her. 

Then again there was nothing he could do about it since she had already placed the order. As gravity multiplied by 100 when Lui Qi tried to open his wallet, he just couldn't help but widened his eyes when he saw the price. No, it wasn't because he didn't have enough money. Right now, he was sure he could buy a lot of them, but his eyes widened for some other reason.

It was because of the sudden realization of knowing the price for each skewer was 5 bucks for veal liver and chicken heart, 7 bucks for the other two. Not to mention from a glance alone he was sure enough to produce more meat if he used all meat formula for his sandwiches.

"I see." Lui Qi rubbed his chin as an idea crossed his mind. There was a risk for not eating the sandwiches right away, but if he pulled the meat and made them as a meat skewer, he then could lessen that kind of risk.

He handed 25 bucks to the owner of the stall with a warm grin on his face. Though, he wondered why people wanted to spend their money on ordinary street food like this rather than his usual premium sandwich.

'Is it because of this is lunchtime? or because of the atmosphere?' Lui Qi thought as his hand moving forward to grab one of the meat skewer but...

Ritsuko gracefully shifted her hands and avoided Lui Qi's grab before his finger was able to reach the skewer.

"...." Without saying any words, Lui Qi lips curled into a warm smile and he moved his hands forward. 

Lightning-quick, Ritsuko darted her hand to the side, a split-second ahead of Wa Lui Qi's thrown punch, which hit nothing but open air.

"...." Lui Qi silently glared at her straight in the eyes.

"...." Ritsuko stood to her ground, unfazed by his glare.

Lui Qi's hands took two more attempts to shove forward but again she avoided them- and fast. "My food." She said.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I'm the one who pays them, you ungrateful brat."

Lui Qi opened his palm and pulled it back to throw another attempt to grab the meat skewer. Just like a spring, the bouncing momentum had made his arms moved faster than before and there was no way an ordinary girl like Ritsuko could evade that unless...

Ritsuko bounced back just right at the right time before Lui Qi's hand was able to touch the bamboo skewer. Lui Qi could've stepped forward to extend his reach, but by doing that would risk the meat to get destroyed.

'My DEX is 11 and my AGI is 7, right?! Shouldn't that mean my hand coordination is twice than my usual self and my reflex 70% higher?!'

Lui Qi finally stopped and just concluded that he didn't have that much control of his body since the beginning.  

"Bweek." Ritsuko stuck her tongue out, sneering at him before she gluttonously ate the meat skewer.

A vein throbbed in Lui Qi's forehead. He wanted to just leave her right on where they were standing, but considering her parent already knew who their child last stayed with, he didn't have any choice except for playing along with her.

They continued walking down the street, only to stop for taking her picture and enjoying more street snacks. Before Lui Qi knew it they already reached Broadway though at the same time Ritsuko walking pace had become slower.

She slouched her shoulder and clutched her stomach, her face was pale and she hadn't opened her mouth nor taken another photo. Her palm was cold and sweaty at the same time.

Food poisoning? or maybe she was just eating too much? That latter was the most possible answer, considering she had omelette rice and sandwiches as her breakfast and still gluttonously eating the meat skewers, pretzel, hotdog, honey muffin, and the last one waffle ice cream.

 'Serve you right.' Lui Qi sneered in his mind but still showing some concern. "Let's take some rest."

Ritsuko replied with a weak nod.

As they sat on a bench, Wa Lui Qi started taking out one of his cigarettes and burned them down. Sitting on the other corner was Ritsuko, rummaging through her bag with one hand while the other one was holding her stomach.

Lui Qi inhaled slowly, his system responding to the smoke, and he felt his lungs being wrapped by a warm blanket. Taking small, slow draws of the cigarette, he felt delighted, like he had never felt before. His mind had somewhat become calmer and he glanced downward.

Except for her wallet and her phone, Wa Lui Qi could recognize everything on her bag as it more or less was the same as his sister and his exist. He didn't recognize the brand but most of them was clearly a makeup, after that some little stationery, a handkerchief, a power bank, a notebook, a water bottle and some candy.

"Huh?"

Maybe it was because of his high knowledge, but Lui Qi felt like Ritsuko's bag was lacking on more item. He blew the smoke to the side then rubbing his chin, pondering for a while as Ritsuko kept searching for something in her bag with a grim expression.

"Ah..."

Lui Qi flicked the burned ash away as he realized what was missing. It was sanitary napkins. Shrugging his shoulder, he didn't know what was the price nor was planning to buy her that so he nonchalantly opened his wallet and threw 50 bucks to her lap. 'Damn... throwing money like this really made me felt like a rich person.' Thought Lui Qi.

Ritsuko only took a look at the money and tilted her head to the side.

"I'm thirsty." Said Lui Qi. "Go buy some drink for me on that convenience store." He continued and pointed his finger to the nearest convenience store. "Just keep the change for yourself."

She weakly nodded and wobbled her way toward the convenience store while holding onto her stomach.

Just as Lui Qi waited for Ritsuko to come back, he removed the cigarette from his pink lips, he blew the smoke in the air carefully to make smoke rings. And when he noticed that the cigarette between his fingers was almost short enough to burn him. With an effort, he leaned forward to crush it out and at the same time, Ritsuko already came back while waving a bottle of tea with a cheerful smile. There was a monkey-faced balloon floating right next to her head and the one who brought the balloon was... a crying little boy.

"..." Lui Qi scowled at the sight of the crying brat that kept shouting for his mother.

"He lost. Like me." Explained Ritsuko. The wind was pushing the balloon to cover her face when she said that.

Lui Qi exhaled a long sigh, combined with the last smoke that he hadn't blown out yet. "DO I look like a fucking saint in your eyes?" He said while cradling his ached head. Not like he could just abandon the little boy alone though.

Lui Qi squatted low to the ground and put his warm smile on, "Hey 'lil buddy, what's up?"

The child face buckled, tears falling thickly to his cherubic lips, "MOMMY!!!"

The scream was pain input into the air, writ large for anyone who cared to help end it. It was so high pitch Lui Qi thought his ears were going to rupture. Its got to be natures way of enabling kids to inflict enough torture on their elders to get whatever they want.

Well, he had the urge to cast Mute on that child just to stop him crying and shouting for his mommy for a while and gave him the time to think about their current situation. Though, using it in the middle of the city, not to mention with Ritsuko's eyes kept pinned to him wasn't a good choice.

Lui Qi sighed as he stared at the boy's face, red and wet with tears, terror in his eyes, crying himself as loud as he could. He shifted his face to Ritsuko and gave her a silent growl, only to see the wind once again blowing the monkey balloon to cover her face.

"...."

An Idea crossed Wa Lui Qi's mind.

He did a little warm up and stretched his body. He then curled his palm around the boy's body, forcefully took the balloon away from his hand and gave it to Ritsuko. He then nonchalantly threw the boy two meter up to the air, and not once, but over and over.

The boy screamed. His scream was primal. It had a raw intensity to it that told of urgency, of desperate need.

He wouldn't say this was the best idea he could think of, but at the very least, from Mini-Map, Lui Qi could tell everyone now had paid their attention toward his activity.

And that was good enough. He remembered about some video he watched telling him about human would go to the most crowded place when they looked for something.

Anyway, Lui Qi was just hoping the cops wouldn't come and arrest him for child abuse.

Though, he won the bet as the boy's mother already came before the cops. "What are you doing to my boy?!"  She shouted at Wa Lui Qi.

'Does she realize I'm still holding her child in my arms?!' Thought Lui Qi but he just stayed silent, ignored the mother and just gave the boy back to her arms.

Immediately after that, without saying more words the mother left with her boy, and before Lui Qi knew it, the crowds that gathered around them had flowed away to the wide avenue the same way the Thames always meets its banks. Leaving only him and Ritsuko.

Standing next to him, he could hear Ritsuko clapped her hand in amazement, the balloon was swaying to the left and right as she did that.

"..." The same idea crossed on Wa Lui Qi's mind as he stared at Ritsuko. Then again, he himself didn't have that much confidence that he had enough Strength to throw 'something' that gluttonous.

While wondering how long that he needed to find her teachers, Lui Qi turned his head when he saw four dots, one of them was green shrieking from the distance.

"Ritsuko!!!" Shouted all of the girls that wore the same kind of uniform as Ritsuko. Her friends were rushing forward and slamming her like rugby players.

"Hoo~" Lui Qi put his hand under his chin while nodding in amazement. It seemed the random video that he watched was true after all.