The mont Syr opened the basket, a delicious aroma spread through the room.
"Huh?"
Syr stared at the food inside the basket and froze for a mont.
"What's wrong?"
Bell asked softly.
The dishes in the basket looked delicious, slled wonderful, and were beautifully arranged. It was hard to imagine they had co from Syr's own hands.
"I think I brought the wrong one..."
Syr replied gloomily.
Chloe flicked her tail and cut in.
"I grabbed the wrong one, nya! The food Syr made was definitely eaten by Anya and the others as their staff al, nya!"
"Hmm..."
Syr shot Chloe an annoyed look, then quickly composed herself.
"Well, if that's the case, then there's nothing we can do..."
"That's right, nya... It's the thought that matters most, nya..."
Chloe's tail kept swishing, and cold sweat had already ford on her forehead.
Bell smiled softly. He had already guessed what had happened.
This catgirl had definitely swapped out Syr's cooking for her own.
Silently offering his condolences to Anya and the others, Bell said, "I'm really happy Syr ca to see . Let's all eat together."
"Mm..."
Syr nodded with a smile.
"Bell, I want you to feed too."
Airmid said.
"What's that? Airmid-san is way too sneaky!"
"Syr... do you want that too? Of course you do."
Bell indulged his girlfriend's spoiled request.
"Yay. Wait, Chloe, don't rub Bell with your tail while we're not looking!"
"It can't be helped, nya. I definitely wasn't doing it on purpose, nya~"
Amid the laughter and teasing, the food was quickly wiped out.
"Thank you for the al, young man, nya."
"Ch—lo—e! Hmph, I'll settle this with you after we get back."
The two had only just left when another elf girl walked in.
"..."
Airmid let out a quiet sigh and silently left the room, giving Bell space to be alone with the others.
"Ryuu-san, why didn't you co with Syr and the others?"
Bell asked.
"Um... I had sothing to take care of, so I ended up coming at a different ti..."
Ryuu sounded unusually awkward.
Bell could tell at a glance that Ryuu had deliberately avoided Syr and hadn't wanted to co visit him with her.
This dignified elf girl really was terrible at lying.
Bell did not expose her and simply replied gently, "Thank you for the gift. Is this a bracelet?"
"Yes. Yesterday, Cranel-san gave an erald, and he even thoughtfully had soone deliver an Elixir to treat the injury on my hand, so I had to express my gratitude."
Rembering the boy's thoughtfulness, Ryuu honestly voiced her thanks.
"Ryuu-san's injury happened because of my instructions. This is only what I should do."
Bell answered frankly.
"That's not true. We only survived because of Cranel-san!"
Ryuu stepped forward emotionally, then imdiately lowered her head, her fair skin turning red.
"I'm sorry... I wanted to give you sothing more valuable, but I didn't have anything worthy enough, so..."
"Ryuu-san, I really like it."
Bell held the bracelet up between them. It was hard to tell whether he was looking at the handwoven red bracelet, or at the elf girl whose face was burning red.
"T-that's good, then... I'll be going now!"
The word like brushed past Ryuu's pointed ears, leaving a wave of scorching heat behind.
She could not bear it any longer and turned to leave.
Was Bell talking about her, or the bracelet?
Why was she even thinking about sothing like that?
Mm... Syr...
That excess suspicion tugged at her heart.
Ryuu burst into motion at full speed, dodged the two people approaching from the front, and fled in a fluster.
"Bell, we ca to see you..."
Ais blinked, paying no attention to the elf girl running off.
"D-don't get the wrong idea. I only ca with Ais-san because I was worried you might do sothing weird!"
Lefiya followed behind the blonde girl.
Before Bell could even greet them, Ais held out the bag in her hand.
"Ais-san, this is...?"
Bell asked softly as he looked at Ais, who still had food crumbs on her lips.
"The last fried potato ball... for you..."
Ais licked her lips.
"Thank you..."
Bell smiled as he accepted the still slightly warm paper bag.
"This isn't a thank you gift... I just happened to bring it along..."
"Wait, Ais-san, you can't say that!"
Lefiya hurriedly tried to stop the blunt blonde girl.
"Didn't Riveria-sama and the others co?"
Bell helped change the subject for Lefiya.
"You wanted Riveria-sama to co visit you?! You perpetually in-heat rabbit! If you hadn't just gotten injured, I definitely wouldn't let you off!"
Lefiya's face turned bright red.
She placed a basket of fruit on the bedside cabinet and said to the blonde girl, "Ais-san, let's go. I'll buy you fried potato balls!"
As the two turned to leave, Bell called after them.
"Lefiya-san, the money in this basket..."
Lefiya hurried off as if she had not heard a thing.
"..."
Bell picked up the apple in the basket. Underneath it was a considerable amount of money.
After that, more girls continued coming to visit one after another.
Lili, Mikoto, and the others brought homade baked sweets.
The heart-shaped pastries were made by Lili. The better-tasting cookies had been carefully baked by Mikoto.
When Daphne pointed that out, Mikoto's face turned bright red and she ran out of the room.
"It feels like a lot of girls have already been here..."
By the ti Eina ca in, fruit baskets of all sizes were piled up around the room.
Before her, Alicia from the Loki Familia had just been there.
Only then did Eina realize that this boy had encountered countless girls, and she was rely the least noticeable one among them.
She lowered her head in insecurity, then suddenly noticed a letter tucked beneath one of the baskets.
"Bell, what's this...?"
Eina pulled out the envelope in confusion.
"I don't know. Maybe soone deliberately left it behind."
From Bell's angle, he could not see the letter.
He took the envelope from Eina's hand. There was no na written on the outside, and there was no decoration at all. It looked extrely plain.
"Could it be a love letter soone gave you?!"
Eina looked at the boy nervously.
"..."
Bell opened the envelope, glanced inside once, and frowned.
"W-what's wrong?"
Eina thought her premonition had co true and panicked for a mont.
"Probably just soone's prank."
Bell smiled helplessly and put away the letter in his hand.
The paper was covered in tightly packed words.
[Scum, scum, scum, scum, scum...]
[Scum!!!]
The letter looked as though tears had soaked into it, and so parts were blurred beyond recognition.
Bell did not tell Eina what was written there. Instead, he quietly wondered who could have left behind such a letter.
Just then, Hestia ca running in.
Without noticing the strange atmosphere in the room, she said:
"Bell... Hephaestus wants to see you."
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