...
At the dining table, Lucia enthusiastically served dishes to the horse girls, while Lucian and Lu Fengzhou became the outsiders.
"Lucian, want to drink?" Lu Fengzhou asked.
Thinking of the times he blacked out from drinking and messed up... uh, succeeded, Lucian still waved his hand, "I won't drink today. I'll drink with you on New Year's Eve night."
"That works." Lu Fengzhou nodded, "By the way, the chairman of the horse girl events contacted me earlier. He said he wants to meet with you and talk."
"Meet with me?" Lucian vaguely knew the other party's intention.
"Yeah, I reckon he'll come find me too. You can meet him after the New Year. Whatever decision you make then, it's up to you."
"I'll see." Lucian looked at the horse girls in front of him; they were all attachments he couldn't let go of. At least he had to wait until he led them to graduate.
"Son, what are you spacing out about while eating?" Lucia asked.
The horse girls' heads all turned toward Lucian at once.
"Mom, you keep serving them dishes, how come you don't serve me any?"
Lucia: "Who are you?"
Lucian: "..."
Lucian buried his head and started eating by himself, but Rice Shower's voice came over, "Onii-sama, I can serve you some."
"No need, I can get it myself. Rice-chan, eat your own."
"Oh~"
...
Lucian finished eating first, rinsed his mouth, and then returned to his own room.
It had been so long since he came back, and everything in the room still felt very familiar to him, especially the curved screen specially for gaming (ad space available for rent).
Moreover, there was no dust in the room at all; it must be because his mom often cleaned it.
Although they could afford a nanny, Lucia still chose to do it personally and clean the house herself.
Tiring, but very fulfilling.
"In a few days, we'll probably have to clean the house again..." Lucian thought.
After putting away his luggage, he left the room again.
...
Lucian went downstairs and saw Lucia and the horse girls chatting and laughing in the living room. He slowly walked closer.
"You're wearing so little; don't you feel cold?" Lucia reached out and pinched the thickness of Silence Suzuka's clothes, surprised, "Did you bring thicker clothes? It'll be even colder during New Year."
"Auntie, we're horse girls; our physical constitution is much better."
How would Lucia know these things? She just believed that if it's cold, you wear more clothes, "No matter how good your physical constitution is, you can't be reckless. Tomorrow, I'll take you all to buy clothes."
Silence Suzuka was also a bit at a loss, "This, this... alright then."
"Mom, what about me? I'm cold." Lucian interjected.
"You're still saying that. Have you picked out New Year's clothes yet? You're so old, and I still have to urge you. I have to urge you to come back, and I have to urge you for New Year..."
This familiar nagging made Lucian cover his mouth; he shouldn't have said that.
"Just in time, you come with us to buy clothes tomorrow too." Lucia looked at him disdainfully, arms crossed as she said.
But when she turned to the horse girls, her attitude did another 180-degree turn for the better, "Buying new clothes can be considered the first gift Auntie gives you, and then Auntie has another gift for you."
Lucia guided the horse girls' gazes toward the handbag on the side, "Auntie didn't know what to give, so I got a set of cosmetics that basic girls would use."
After Lucia finished speaking, none of the horse girls present dared to move.
"Auntie, isn't this very expensive? Urara can't accept it..." Haru Urara clasped her hands together and retracted her longing gaze.
Rice Shower: "Auntie, I already have cosmetics."
Silence Suzuka, Seiun Sky, and a few others who often dressed up themselves also knew it was valuable and said they absolutely couldn't accept it.
Helplessly, Lucia could only cast a pleading gaze toward Lucian.
Lucian understood, "Accept it~ All of you accept it~ Since you've come here, just follow our family's customs. Besides, you've given gifts to my parents too, so of course we have to return the favor."
As he spoke, he distributed the gift bags to each horse girl.
"Looks like my son is the one whose words work." Lucia saw the horse girls all accept the gifts and nodded with a light laugh, "Then Auntie will take you to see the rooms. You pick yourselves."
Lucian followed behind the group and was about to go upstairs when a cat suddenly appeared from somewhere, waddling toward them on its short legs.
"Dango, so you're here." Lucian squatted down, first letting it sniff his scent, then petting its head.
"Oh oh oh oh ho—— Nya ku (＞ｙ＜)" Meishou Doto also squatted beside him, "Trainer, it's so cute!"
She thought Lucian was just teasing her, but there really was a cat at home.
Lucian thought the cat mouth next to him was even cuter, "Pet it. Dango is very well-behaved."
"It's called Dango (๑´∀`๑)." Meishou Doto slowly reached out, "Chubby and plump; it really looks like a dumpling. Is this a munchkin cat? The color is so pretty!"
The cat at Lucian's house had a calico pattern, with black, orange, and white fur, giving it an ethereal fairy-like aura.
"Trainer, didn't you say it can do backflips? Can you let it perform one for me? (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)" Meishou Doto stared with her big, innocent eyes.
"Uh, I was joking. If you really want to see it, I can manually make it do one."
With Dango's short little legs, backflips?
"Mo~ Trainer lied to me again. ╰(⇀‸↼)╯" Meishou Doto pouted her cat mouth.
The other horse girls also squatted down; they seemed to have little resistance to cute things.
Lucia saw this and didn't urge them, instead patiently waiting on the side.
Even the calm Dango, suddenly smelling so many unfamiliar scents, wanted to panic and flee.
At a loss, it leaned against Tokai Teio's leg and looked up at her.
"Kawaii~" Tokai Teio picked up Dango and placed it in the cradle formed by her arms.
Lucian blinked, suddenly excited, witnessing the collision between "Hachimi" cultures, "Teio, can I pet it?"
"Pet?" Tokai Teio subconsciously thought Lucian meant the Dango in her arms.
But doesn't Lucian pet it often? And this is his house; why would he ask her for something like this?
Though puzzled, Tokai Teio still nodded, "Go ahead and pet."
Lucian reached out, and just as he was about to touch Dango's head, that hand drifted in the air, took a big detour, and landed on Tokai Teio's face, pinching it.
"Tra-T-Trainer!?" Startled, Tokai Teio let Dango jump out of her arms.
"Pa" a light sound rang out as she swatted away the Trainer's hand, but immediately regretted if she had hit too hard.
But in this situation, with Auntie still here, how could he casually touch her face? If he really wanted to touch... he could tell her privately.
"Didn't Teio say I could pet?"
"That's because I thought Trainer wanted to pet Dango, so I agreed!" Tokai Teio looked at Lucian with shy anger, "Auntie, the Trainer is bullying people!"
"Auntie saw it. Teio, pinch him back. Auntie will back you up."
Tokai Teio glanced at Lucian's cheek, her own fingers poking at each other, "This this this... never mind."
...