"So those two are your uncle and dad, eh Nelly?" Kevin spoke with her a bit in front of us, "Sorry again for hitting your pops, but I'm glad they're chill enough to invite us for a fancy dinner after that."

"Don't be fooled, I'm sure they both have their own cunning ulterior motives behind such a play." Nelly groaned.

Damn, listening in on their conversation with Analyze is borderline cheating, isn't it? Seriously, since most people don't think about what they're gonna say next, I can't exactly utilize this Ability to the fullest, but since everyone in this University is a super genius, I basically get free reign to listen in on anyone and everyone, no matter their volume or distance! Heh, a cool new skill like this surely deserves an equally cool name!

"You agree, don't you Grim?" I turned to him with a smug smirk.

"Huh? Totally."

"I didn't even say what about, though..."

"It's an idea that came from you, Ed, so it can't possibly be bad."

"Aww, but also I seriously need your input." I explained, "Gimme a cool name for my new Iro Ability."

"Eh? So that's what's bugging you?" He tilted his head, "Alright. What does it do, then?"

"I get to listen in on smart people's conversations by using Analyze."

"That's just you using Analyze differently!"

"By that logic, reading is just using your brain for reading letters instead of numbers, brainiac! Why isn't everything just called reading then, huh!?"

"Alright, alright, geez..." He scratched his head before thinking something up on the spot, "Eavesdrop. Short n' simple, plus it's a verb so it's super easy to use in a sentence."

"Really, no pun, no nothing?"

"You're practically thirty, dude." He gave me an uncomfortably irked look, "It's cringe enough as it is to name your powers at our age. Seriously, grow up..."

"You!!!" I shouted, "You have no right to tell me that, you immature prick! And what's with that word again!?"

"I asked around and had its meaning explained to me properly." He chuckled with a shrug, "It's pretty fun."

"Whatever, in any case, I'll take Eavesdrop then. But only cause you came up with it."

What's up with that, though? Suddenly bringing our age into this, does he think we should be more mature by now? That's the last thing I could've ever expected to hear from him. Speaking of, he's acting all high and mighty, but I know for a fact that he plans on spending Meil's money for this outing. Granted, that's what Meil wants, but it'll still look scummy for someone who doesn't know the full story. Even with that, when we stopped in between two choices, a family restaurant and a super pricey high profile restaurant, he didn't even hesitate to take the first step towards the latter. Worst part is these guys are none the wiser, so they're cheering him on like he's some kind of superhero.

"You sure, monsieur Grimheart?" Kiria wavered, "This place is a bit..."

"I said it's fine, right?" He pointed, "Come on now, mister boyfriend, tell your dear lady friend that she shouldn't worry about it. It's my treat."

"Right Kiria, we should gracefully accept Nelly's dad's gift." He smiled when he got called her boyfriend, "That being said, I still don't see a reason why this prick should be invited with us."

"Cause I'm interested in the free food, plain and simple." Lemmy made no effort to hide his selfish reasoning, "Besides that, I'm interested in hearing more about Nel's dad."

"Oh, is that so?" Grim fell for it immediately, "What brought this on all of a sudden?"

You know very well what, dammit. If a guy is interested in speaking to his female friend's father, what else can it even be? Grim's not stupid too. Well, not completely... Okay, he's neck-and-neck with a rock in terms of intelligence at times, but even he should understand this little prick's intentions with his daughter.

"I was pretty young when it happened, so I don't exactly remember all the details, but..." Lemmy turned to him and smiled, "You were the reason my bandit friends turned on us and took my dad's Eye. I'd just like to hear it from you - The story, that is."

"Ah." Grim looked stunned, "That's...?"

"Lemmy, Lee told you it is alright." Meil got mad at him, "Besides that, had it not been for Lune burning your base down, then you would have never turned your back on that life of crime. I must say, instead of condemning him, I think it would be better if you had thanked him."

"No, wait..." Grim tried to get a word in, but to no avail.

"Lem, I do feel bad about what papa did all those years ago, but I'm not even sure if I was a year old back then." Nelly sighed, "Do you really have to make things awkward with this topic?"

"Awkward? Is that how you see it?" He frowned, "Cause for me, my entire way of life, my entire purpose, the thing I based myself on as a person - It all erupted into flames thanks to him. Tell me, would you ever forgive the person who burned your house down back in Cardina?"

"Guys, stop!" Grim shouted.

".....?"

"Hm?"

"...I'm real sorry guy, but..." Grim took a deep breath before explaining to Lemmy, "I'm really not following your story here at all. Have we met before?"

"Papa..."

"Lune, seriously..."

As I said, he's a fucking hypocrite and a half if he thinks he's got any chance of acting more mature than me. Look, screw this - The restaurant's owner has been waiting for us to enter at the entrance for a good few minutes now, so let's not keep him waiting any more than he already had to and enter. Damn, that really made him happy, he's so gonna ask for a fat tip because of this...

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"Alright, so if I understood your story correctly, guy..." Grim reclined in his chair, "I wronged you and your dad as a kid?"

"Yes, and I'm very hurt by it." Lemmy said indifferently.

"You're up to something again." Kevin too saw right through him, "You never cared about that at all before, but now you're telling everyone how hurt you are by Nelly's dad's actions?"

Good one, Kev! Haha, glad to hear there are still some decent human beings out in the world! Now Grim can kick this tyke out and we can properly discuss about actually important topics like adults. Lemmy, sorry to say this, but you're out-!

"I am so, so sorry for that occurrence, Lem." Grim shook his hand across the table repeatedly, "I ruined something precious of yours, and I never even knew all this time (granted, I still have no idea that even happened even now)."

"Oh brother..." I facepalmed.

"Go on, you name it. I'll give you anything you want in return."

"Anything?" Lemmy went to whisper over in his ear, "Even... pspspspss..."

"Bro, don't worry about it." Eleanor quietly calmed my nerves down a bit, "This guy's a total idiot, so I doubt Lune would ever just hand him his daughter, even with this stupid guilt-trip strategy."

"H-Huh? Oh, yeah, totally!" I nodded, "I have faith in Grim not messing this badl-"

"Really!?" Grim shouted as the waiter gave everyone our food, "Please do!"

"Eh?" Lemmy jolted.

"Huh?" Everyone else stood flabbergasted.

"HM!?" I jumped from my seat, "What the hell did he ask for!?"

"Dude, I found a solution to our problem!" He turned his star-filled Rainbow Eyes over to meet mine, "This kid's our savior, seriously!"

In utter disbelief of the situation laid out in front of me, I'll admit I let fear get the better of me as I anxiously peeked into this idiot's head. Indeed what happened was more stupid than anything I could have ever expected. Namely, Lemmy actually did ask Grim for his blessing to date Nelly, and it seems that Grim doesn't actually mind one bit. "Now I don't have to worry about her going after Meil anymore!" being his primary motive, his mind also heavily bolded and underlined the part where he'd rather a good kid like Lemmy who's just a few years younger than Nelly to date her instead of anyone older. Again, there's an issue here that needs to be addressed...

"Did you Analyze me?" Grim asked just as I finished, "You get what I mean, right?"

"You're a fucking idiot." I growled, "No, I'm insulting the numerous population of all the fucking idiots in this world if I bestowed upon you such an epithet. Grim, trust me, this guy is worse than the alternative."

"Hate you too." Lemmy added.

"Shut up for a sec." Grim had him stop talking, "Ed, did I just hear that correctly? You DID read my mind, didn't you?"

"I did, and I stand by what I said." I crossed my arms calmly, "This kid is the worst type of poison you can imagine. With the other guy, the one whose name must not be said in this current moment, he at least will have a guaranteed positive effect on her."

"The guy who... What is happening?" Meil coughed, "I apologize, you two, but would it be alright to share with the rest of us the topic of your discussion? After all, we did come here to chat as a group, no?"

"Absolutely not!" Lemmy, Grim and I all shouted in unison.

"Why are you answering like you know what we're talking about?" I shoved the gremlin.

"Oof, because..." He recovered to reply ASAP, "I understand your problem perfectly. Trust me, sir, I'm the key that'll open the door to an answer. And besides, you'd rather a young and brand new key than a rusty old one, am I right?"

As he said all this, he fiddled with two keys tied to his necklace which I can only assume are his house and shed keys or something. The "brand new" key was a pure golden Yellow, whereas the "rusty old one" was darkened from age. Dammit, he's using the situation to leverage favor from Grim! He knows about Nelly's love for Meil, and used his common sense to figure out that Grim doesn't really appreciate it! That cunning, conniving cuck!

"And who exactly is the keyhole in this example?" I groaned, "Seriously, there's no use in trying to convince just one of us at a time, so you best give up."

"Who asked you, jackass!?"

"OI!" Kevin shouted all of a sudden before quietly sitting down and taking a sip of his milk, "We are in a public space. You're all adults here, so please act your age a bit."

"...Pff!" Nelly cackled, "Phahaha! You guys got told off by Kevin of all people! What a joke!"

"I-I'm an adult too, y'know!" He bashfully retorted, "Kiria, you stop laughing too."

"B-Bueh?! N-No, I'm not...! Pfft!"

As to be expected, we caused a scene yet again and disturbed the peace. I said I'll be giving the waiter a pretty nice tip, but at this point I gotta wonder if it's alright to pay double. After all, if we're using Meil's money, then...

"Hold on a sec." Grim noticed a tiny detail in Kevin's words and finally thought to double-check with Lemmy, "Hold old did you say you were again?"

"...Fourteen." He said after a long pause.

"He's 19!" Everyone who knew his real age shouted annoyedly at Grim.

It's like I could physically see Grim's face revert back to a troubled one all over again. He finally caught a glimpse of "the perfect future" where his son-in-law is actually around Nelly's age, only to get his hopes and dreams crushed yet again when he realized the "brand new key" in question is just an oxidized bronze key painted over. Yeah, I neither need to use Analyze nor Eavesdrop to guess all the obscenities Grim must be shouting at top volume in his mind. And if you're wondering why, it's cause he's swearing at Lemmy at top volume with his actual voice anyways.