Rito stares at the beautiful blue sky that he had never had the time to appreciate before, waiting for class to end. Stuff they teach in kindergarten really isn't much, just a few addition, subtraction and volcabulary, he fears his IQ would plummet instead if he continues to listen.
Even 'till this day, it's a mystery how similiar Japanese is to his own language. They're, of course, not completely identical, but have enough in common to make it so much easier for him.
Not that Rito would complain though. Despite being a very hard-working person, re-learning language is one of the few things he doesn't want to do.
Memories of the past when he was forced to learn languages of that universe still lurk at the back of his mind, haunting him in his dream.
Although he could be called a genius, that statement is to describe his fighting instinct more than anything. As for intellectual stuff, he is only barely better than normal people, perharps even a little worse compared to Ren. This is also the reason for his neglection towards alchemy.
Now this would normally mean he needs to put a lot of efforts into studying, fortunately, kindergarten stuff is, as said, much easier. Meaning he could afford to mostly laze around for the next few years.
"Yuuki-kun!" Seeing Rito immersed in his thoughts, Megumi calls out. Honestly in her heart, she doesn't feel mad or angry, suddenly taken away from home and thrown in a completely different enviroment, it's quite normal for kids to blank out occasionally. In fact, she has seen many cases like this throughout her years of teaching.
But she needs to be stern, it is her duty as their teacher. Even if the other party is a cute little kid. • She says inwardly, yet the apologetic smile coupled with that nature charm Rito unconciously releases make her feel bad. As if she was the one in the wrong instead of him.
"Is my teaching that boring to you?" Still, she continues. She can't let him off that easy else the others might follow his example. And that's the last thing she wants in her class.
"N-No. I'm sorry sensei, it won't happen again, I promise." Stutters Rito, seemingly both embarrassed and ashamed at the same time.
Faced with such reaction, Megumi herself doesn't know what to do. She doesn't want to appear petty, yet doesn't want to be seen as carefree and easygoing either. In the end, she lets loose a sigh, allowing Rito to sit while reminding him the importance of staying focused in class.
Forgiven, Rito's face brightens up considerably, his happy expression captivates all the girls, including Megumi, not only that, evem se boys in the class can't help but look at him. Inside, however, Rito snickers. It seems he hasn't gone rusty despite the years of peace.
This scene reminds him of his past, the time when he was still a wandering mercenary. In those days, his home plannet, now known as Deviluke was divided in two pieces. One ruled by the old aristocrats while the other was in control of the previous king, in other words, the father of his disicple.
Due to this, business was very good, everyday he'd get at least dozens of assassination missions, that was until he was captured by those fuckers, but that is a story for another day. Back to the topic, while it is true he was strong, incredibly so, but Rito dislikes the idea of storming the enemies' bases.
Unlike his fellow mercenaries, to him, treepassing into an unknown territories is something needs to be taken serious. That's why kicking down the door, gun blazing was a no-go for him.
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He prefers a more secretive, silent approach. And because over half of his targets were females, it was easy for him to finish his missions. Especially missions concerning female nobles of the aristocrats faction. You'd be surprised how twisted in the head someone you see everyday can be.
Over 60% of his targets were shotacon and sadists. Apparently something about torturing young boys just makes them horny. Back then, he had never been able to understand why, and he still doesn't now. Not that he cares, the reason he acted timid and shy is to test.
So far, at least to his eyes, humans and devilukeans aren't that different. In fact, they're pretty much the same as devilukeans, aside from the whole tail, superpower,... He wanted to check if acting timid and shy could arouse sympathy from others. And this little experiement shows that it does.
As for why he suddenly did this, it's for his future. If his parents still want him to stay even after everything they'd heard then all is fine-and-dandy, if they don't, it's okay. He will definitely be sad, but won't cry over it. What's more important is how he's going to survive.
This world seems to be peaceful so killing people is not an option, well, not a good one, it should be left as the last resort. Although this sounds kind of hypocritical but tealing and robbing are both against his conscience so that's out of the way too.
The only way left is to latch himself onto someone, at least until he's grown big enough to find a real job. And who's better to latch on beside rich women?! Huh? What? Pride? What's that? Can it be eaten? Will that help raise Rito? No? Then why care about it. Worse comes to worse, he'll just hunt down criminal and take their stuff.
Thus, the rest of class was spent thinking ways to make money. Megumi also saw how distracted Rito was, but thought back to his previous reaction and could only reluctantly give up. Inwardly, however, she decides she'll talk to his parents in their upcoming meeting.
•▪•▪•▪•
Not much happened after that and school ended without any issues. Ren and Rito occasionally talked, but with how absent-minded Rito was, the conversations seemed very one-sided.
Done with school, Rito immediately left alone, ignoring everyone else. At first, he thought he'd be fine even if he didn't have a family, he thought he could return to his old way of living. This train of thoughts was proven wrong the moment he reached the school gate.
Out there, standing in a brown coat was a woman, beautiful curly orange hair, brilliant yellow eyes that seemed to reflect everything they saw. Who else could this be other than his mother?
The distance between them was less than a hundred meters. Yet seeing that loving expression on her face, Rito froze, seemingly rooted in place.
"M-Mom..." He stuttered, not knowing how to react. While he expected his parents to do a lot of things, he certainly didn't expect this. "W-Why are you here?" He asks, trying his best to calm himself.
"What are you saying? Of course I'm here to get my son." Rito didn't know what it was, it could be this child body, after all kids aren't exactly known for control over their emotions, it could be the feeling of being loved and cared for, but he ran towards her embrace.
Although to outsiders, this is just a heart-warming scene of a mother hugging her child, to people involved, however, it's much more than a simple display of affection.