...
"Welcome, Trainer Lucian!"
Two rows of men dressed in black suits bowed in unison and shouted.
Lucian swallowed his saliva. What a huge fanfare; it completely threw him off. "Hello everyone, Happy New Year..."
"Trainer." Dextrous Bailey walked out. "Happy New Year."
"Bailey." Lucian looked around and lowered his voice. "Yakuza?"
"Of course not. My family does legitimate business." After Dextrous Bailey finished speaking, she waved her hand to dismiss these black-suited men.
Lucian was immediately speechless. It looked even more like a Yakuza hall.
...
Dextrous Bailey led Lucian to meet her parents, as well as her numerous uncles.
They were enthusiastically warm and hard to refuse, and Lucian didn't quite dare to refuse either.
The previous two families had served him tea, but at Dextrous Bailey's place, it was big bowls of alcohol and big bites of meat.
He finally understood where Dextrous Bailey's personality came from.
"Trainer, cheers~" Dextrous Bailey picked up a can of cocktail. "This kind of alcohol is allowed. The little tavern in the school has it too."
"I know... Cheers." Lucian rubbed his forehead; he was already feeling a little drunk. But Dextrous Bailey's relatives were too many.
Everyone toasted to him; he simply had no way to not drink.
Dextrous Bailey's hand was like a drumstick, rhythmically tapping the table lightly. "Trainer, drink slowly. I'll pour you a little more~"
"No, no need... I have to leave after eating." Lucian reached out to guard his empty cup.
"You have to leave after dinner?"
"Yeah, I already told the driver."
"Don't go~ I'll have someone entertain the driver. It's so late; driving is unsafe. Leave tomorrow. My family has plenty of rooms here."
Dextrous Bailey took the opportunity to take Lucian's cup and poured two-thirds full of alcohol again.
"Alright then... Sorry to trouble you, Bailey." Lucian also knew his current state wasn't great, and moreover, his driver was already caught up in the toasting, his face probably redder than his own.
"Trainer, don't just drink. Eat some food. These are all specialties from my hometown, different from the ones during the last training camp." Dextrous Bailey used her own chopsticks to pick some up, not placing it into Lucian's bowl, but directly delivering it to Lucian's mouth.
"Thank you." Lucian didn't hesitate and ate it from her chopsticks.
From this, Dextrous Bailey could judge exactly how drunk Lucian was.
She wanted Lucian to drink a bit more, but didn't want him to drink until he passed out.
"Trainer, you get drunk so easily, why drink so much... It's fine with our own people here, but if it's all strangers, what if you drink until you're unconscious?" Dextrous Bailey propped her head and asked.
She was usually carefree, fooling around with everyone, and acted very submissive in front of Lucian, but at times like this, she had an incredible aura.
Of course, she had to be a bit smarter; this was a great opportunity with everyone else not around.
"I don't drink outside. Didn't you say it too... With our own people here."
"Trainer considers me one of your own?"
"Of course... Bailey, we've been together for a long time, right." Lucian's eyelids drooped slightly, his brain clearly not working well, and the words he said sounded very ambiguous.
"Yeah, we've been together a long time, but not that kind of together."
"What... What do you mean?"
"I mean together."
Dextrous Bailey blinked her eyes, a mischievous smile curling at the corner of her mouth. Her forehead nearly touched Lucian's as she lowered her voice: "Trainer, in front of so many of my relatives right now, do you still dare to punish me?"
Drunk Lucian didn't care about this or that. As soon as Dextrous Bailey finished speaking, he turned sideways, grabbed Dextrous Bailey's tail behind her, and rubbed it up and down.
Dextrous Bailey jumped in fright, looked around left and right, and only relaxed after seeing no one paying attention to this side. "As expected, Trainer is the easiest to bully when drunk..."
She had missed the opportunity last time; she wouldn't miss it again this time.
"Yours is still the best..."
"Hm?" Dextrous Bailey keenly sensed there was something in his words. "What does Trainer mean? Have you touched others' too?"
"Yeah, Suzuka, Urara, Seiun Sky, Spe-chan."
Dextrous Bailey showed an "as expected" expression. She had already noticed many clues and shady dealings before. "Trainer, so you just said mine is the best?"
"Yeah, Bailey's fur is the most comfortable." Lucian continued playing with the tail regardless of others.
Dextrous Bailey was still mindful of the occasion and tucked away her tail, also grabbing Lucian's naughty hand. "Trainer, can I let you play with the tail later? The dinner hasn't ended yet."
"Okay." Lucian obediently withdrew his hand.
"Then as an exchange, Trainer's tail..."
"Tail? I'm not a Horse Girl. Bailey, are you drunk? Cocktails can get you drunk too? You... go to the kids' table."
"You're clearly the weakest one." Dextrous Bailey laughed and mocked him.
"Bailey, I've wanted to ask before: why do you wear an eyepatch covering half your eye?" Lucian scratched his temple. "Sealed some evil power or something?"
Dextrous Bailey also understood why Lucian asked this. "My eye is fine. As for whether it seals any power..."
She said mysteriously: "Does Trainer want to know?"
"Yeah, a bit... curious." With no one toasting him, Lucian drank another cup on his own.
"Then... can I show it to Trainer later?"
"Yeah."
"By the way, Trainer, why did you suddenly come to pay a New Year's visit? Did you only come to my place? Or did you go to others' too?" Dextrous Bailey continued to probe.
"Before you, let me think... I also went to Suzuka's house, Rice-chan's house... That's it for now." Lucian frowned as he said this. "They all offered me tea, but you guys are directly force-feeding me alcohol."
Dextrous Bailey looked at Lucian's annoyed expression and couldn't help laughing out loud. "Trainer is angry?"
"No, it's good intentions... I have no reason to be angry."
"It's fine. Even if Trainer is angry, it's okay. If Trainer has any dissatisfaction, I can compensate on their behalf... I'm right here."
Lucian nodded, then looked at Dextrous Bailey's tail again. "If the tail's fur all falls out, will Bailey be sad?"
"Trainer... I mean punishments besides the tail are fine too."
"Besides the tail?" Lucian's brows furrowed again. Then what was left was just the hair on his head; there couldn't be anywhere else.
"Hehe, Trainer will find out. Let's drink a bit more."
...