The next day, Saiki Kusuo woke up early.
At 6:30 in the morning, what woke him wasn't the sunlight or his body clock, but a bodily instinct.
He was hungry, having skipped dinner yesterday.
Saiki Kusuo got out of bed and went into the bathroom, planning to wash his face and brush his teeth. However, just as he was about to turn on the faucet, he suddenly heard voices from the bathroom next door.
Generally speaking, there's usually good soundproofing between rooms. However, between bathrooms, it often feels like there's no wall at all. Even if a wall exists, you can always hear sounds from the bathroom next door. Sometimes, even if no one is in the bathroom next door, you can hear the neighbors' voices in their rooms through the poorly soundproofed bathroom.
That's what Saiki Kusuo was hearing now.
"Originally, I should be preparing my course materials today. There aren't many real doctoral and master's students, but the competition still exists."
"But there's something more important now, after all, that thing is still very important. Everyone has completely accepted him as a partner."
"Yeah, being hunted comes with the risk of being eaten. Similarly, being hunted also means clues will appear, making it easier for us to find him."
"Just need to grab him before anyone else does."
"Alright, everyone, wake up! Let's make a plan. There are brave fighters under the reward. Mimi is still in danger."
"Boss, who is Mimi?"
"Little Color's new name. Don't you think Little Color is too strange?"
"But Mimi is also strange, right?"
...
Saiki Kusuo, who had been holding the faucet for a long time without moving: I must be dreaming, running into the Phantom Troupe having a meeting.
"By the way, Feitan. Is there really no one next door here? I think this apartment building is simple overall, not the kind of place that would have good soundproofing."
After noticing, he immediately fell into an eavesdropping crisis. Hey, I'm not doing it on purpose. You guys are just talking so loudly on your own. Shouldn't the Troupe find a ruin or something to hold a meeting?
"Nope, I checked the other rooms yesterday afternoon. There's no one next door yet, but I already took the items from next door."
You're the one who stole them!
"Items? What items? These items are quite magical. Maybe they'll come in handy in unexpected places."
"It's a memory album, a notebook. It sounded boring, so I ignored it."
It's a boring thing, but give it back to me.
"Memory album, meaning it... can show the user's past photos from birth until 10 years ago."
"10 years? That's really useless."
What a useless thing. A psychic with clear memories from age 0 doesn't need it. If necessary, I can even create those childhood photos now with my powers, though I can't actually create them.
"Give it back to them, don't startle them."
It's too late to not startle them now. Don't give it to me, I also think it's useless, just keep it yourselves. Don't casually break into ordinary people's homes. Didn't your Meteor City nannies teach you that basic knowledge?
"Boss, if you're going to give it back, can I flip through it?"
That's a young female voice, it should be Shizuku.
"Sure, Shizuku. Are you curious about your past?"
I guessed right.
"No, but if I can find out their birthday, I can ask Miss Nostrade to write a prophecy poem."
First, think about whether Neon will even care about you.
"Shizuku... don't you know your own birthday?"
This time it's a calm voice, I don't know who it is.
"Huh? Do I know?"
While forgetting her birthday, she also forgot that she remembered her birthday. How bad is this kid's memory?
The room next door quieted down a little.
"Wow - is this Shizuku as a child? She's actually kind of cute!"
They opened it after all. That sentence is just being polite, right? Aren't babies on their first day always described as monkeys? And the voice seems to have changed again, it feels like there are quite a few people next door.
Another female voice: "Ah, really, I didn't expect her to be a bit dark at birth. Now she's snow-white. Babies born like that are rare."
If you go to the maternity ward of a hospital, you'll see a lot of human babies born like that.
"Haha, everyone is clean when they're first born."
Uvogin's voice is loud enough, the whole building can hear it.
"Actually, newborns are dirty, but the photos only show them after they've been cleaned."
Everyone is praising her, only one person is saying things that don't fit in.
"Is the second page the second day? Are these photos of every day from birth to now?"
"It doesn't seem like there are any changes. Let's flip through it more."
"The third page is one week later."
"The hair is a little longer. Judging from the surroundings, she should have already left the hospital."
Yeah, I can pretty much confirm it now. This part is Chrollo and Shizuku talking to each other.
Saiki Kusuo was standing in the bathroom. Continuing to wash now is definitely not possible, it will make noise. It's obvious that the amount of spiders gathered next door is much more than imagined. It's best not to be discovered. I might as well go back to bed. It's not interesting to eavesdrop on other people's past.
Shizuku: "The fourth page is in the trash can, two weeks after birth."
Why?
Chrollo: "Luckily, they knew to wrap her in cloth to keep her warm when they threw her away. Otherwise, it's hard to say if she could have survived to Meteor City. Maybe it was also to prevent you from crawling around and avoiding being exposed to the world, affecting their reputation. But, Shizuku has been a thin and quiet child since she was little. Would that have an impact?"
Shizuku: "I remember now, the nannies always told me to eat more."
"Hahahaha, in the end, you didn't gain any weight, Shizuku. You should eat more now!"
Who is that again? How many people are on the other side? Anyway, it must be another guy acting like a mom.
They are so cheerful. Shizuku was thrown in the trash can just two weeks after she was born. How can anyone still laugh? Shouldn't you comfort her at this time?
"Uvogin, why don't you take a look? You don't know your birthday."
"Sure, I'm also a little curious about what Uvogin looked like as a child. Hey Uvogin!"
Saiki Kusuo found the room next door getting lively and secretly turned on the faucet.
A half-open faucet can slowly draw water silently. He carefully filled it and began to slowly squeeze toothpaste.
He definitely wasn't trying to eavesdrop. He was just brushing his teeth, and the people next door were chatting to themselves, so he heard them.
"Hahaha!"
"Pfft! Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter!"
"Uvogin, Uvogin as a child!"
What's wrong, tell me about Uvogin as a child, say something, don't just laugh.
Chrollo: "I didn't expect Uvogin to be so big at birth, but why is there so much blood on the swaddling cloth? It's as if it was a birth with a major hemorrhage..."
There is still only one person saying depressing things.
Saiki Kusuo lowered his head and rinsed his mouth, suddenly finding that the room next door had returned to rare silence.
He carefully did not spit out the water in his mouth.
What's wrong? Why is it so quiet all of a sudden.
"They were thrown in the trash on the second day! Uvogin!"
Why? A child thrown away on the second day should be dead?!
"He was in Meteor City a week later, full of energy."
How amazing, a natural enhancer.
Uvogin was unhappy: "Hey, I'm still alive and well now, what kind of expressions are you making?"
"Although we know you'll definitely live well in the future, seeing you being thrown away on the second day makes us worry about this little ape's safety."
"Yeah..."
"Hey, who are you calling an ape! Nobunaga, you come too, let me see what kind of little monkey you used to be!"
"Tch, I don't want to, I know my birthday. How about Phinks?"
"I don't want a prophecy poem or a birthday, Feitan neither."
It's no longer related to birthdays, right? Also, the people who have seen it haven't been able to find out their own birthdays, right?
"Then let's see what kind of monkey the boss used to be like," Uvogin said.
Finally someone knows that your boss is also a monkey and not a god descending from heaven.
"Hey, why are you calling the boss a monkey!"
"Kids are very much like monkeys. In general, children are not good-looking in the normal sense of aesthetics when they are first born," Chrollo said calmly "But I know my birthday, Uvogin."
Shizuku: "I'm very curious about the boss's past. I feel like the boss wasn't born into an ordinary family."
Chrollo: "Usually only ordinary families throw away children."
"But there must have been unusual signs in the sky when the boss was born, lightning and thunder and stuff."
"I think the boss's head must have been big when he was first born."
"The boss... might have been able to speak from birth."
"That's too exaggerated, but the boss might have learned the language a few hours after birth by hearing people talking around him."
Saiki Kusuo: That's me with my telepathy. How could anyone possibly say every word of a language to a baby.
"Ah! Boss, you're willing to look!"
"Under these circumstances, I have to open the book to prove that I was an ordinary child in the past, right?" There was helplessness in Chrollo's voice.
The Troupe's room was quiet again.
Why are so many people still able to remain silent, say something, what did you see, did you see a black-eyed baby who knows how to take apart a puzzle?
"Boss..."
What's wrong? It's not a good habit to take big breaths before speaking, speak quickly.
"The crib is actually made of high-quality wood!"
That kind of thing doesn't matter, right!
"The last time I saw this material, it seemed more expensive than jewelry?"
The value of something that this group of thieves cares about should indeed be high. Could it be that Chrollo was actually born into a wealthy family? Why would such a family abandon a child?
"On the second page, there's already a nanny!"
He won more than most humans from birth.
"The background is a floor-to-ceiling window, with a large flower garden outside? Was the boss born in a villa?"
"Could he be a prince?"
"How could a prince be thrown into Meteor City, but the boss is so smart..."
[At this moment, everyone thought of many melodramatic plots. For example, a prince and a slave exchanging identities, a switched baby, or a child being framed in a power struggle.]
I didn't expect Chrollo to have this kind of background. After becoming a top-level bad guy, he discovered that his parents accidentally lost him. What should he do now? Is he going to turn over a new leaf? Lead a team of powerful Nen users home to inherit the throne, eliminate dissidents with his mind, run a business, and start his life at the top.
What kind of protagonist's script is this.
"A week later, the nanny is still holding the boss. Is this the kitchen? Mom and Dad haven't appeared at all."
"Two weeks later, it's still the nanny, but the boss is in the study. He already likes books at such a young age, and his clothes are so gorgeous."
"Speaking of which, why does the boss even remember his last name? Lucilfer, Chrollo Lucilfer. If read formally, Lucilfer actually has Fru after it, but it's usually dropped because it's too long. A six-character name already takes up a lot of space."
"Some of us have names that we gave ourselves, some have names on their clothes when they were found, but I remember the boss said it himself, right? Many people have said that his name is too long and they can't remember it, so they asked him to change it."
"When I was little, I just called the boss Kuro, I didn't want to say one more word."
"The current name is also very good, with only two words."
The current name isn't "Boss", right.
The crowd's discussion led to this question.
——"Boss, how old were you when you were thrown away?"
Chrollo didn't say much. In the silent wait of the crowd, they only heard another page turning.
Saiki Kusuo finally slowly brushed his teeth but did not leave the bathroom. Yeah, the Troupe is carrying out a very terrible plan. As an ordinary person and the next-door neighbor, he needs to hear the other side's motives to ensure that he can explain the reason for the matter to the detective when a murder case occurs.
This is very important.
"At one year old, he's still being taken care of by the nanny, and he's actually wearing a golden cape! The embroidery on it is a dragon, right? The clothes don't seem to fit very well, they're a little big, but they're definitely expensive clothes!"
What's going on? He wouldn't really be a prince, right? There are so many countries in this world, so there are many princes.
"At two years old, he's still being taken care of by the nanny, but why did the nanny put the boss in a jar? And she made a shushing gesture, is she playing hide-and-seek?"
"At three years old, he's already in Meteor City, huh??"
What are you surprised at? Didn't you all grow up together? Shouldn't he be in Meteor City at this age?
But what exactly happened between the ages of two and three is indeed very concerning.
Chrollo: "Why the surprise? Isn't it a very ordinary story?"
A wealthy family's son falling into Meteor City is a very regrettable story. Otherwise, with your learning ability, you would have everything you have now.
Although the thief now also has everything he wants.
"Huh, has no one noticed? That nanny has always had a name on her chest, she has the same last name as me."
Huh?
"I'm the nanny's child. In that kind of environment, the master probably wouldn't allow the nanny to have children. For two years, she secretly raised me, and when someone came, she would put me in the trash can or tool bucket that she carried while cleaning. When there was no one around, she would let me play in the cleaning area on my own. But I grew up, and it was difficult to hide a two-year-old child anymore, so she put me in the trash can and abandoned me forever."
...
You've remembered things since you were a child? Then why are you looking at that album.
"Boss..."
"The boss has been living in trash cans since birth! He was born very Meteor City!"
"From a small trash can to a big trash can."
"A true leader is like the boss, starting from birth..."
Chrollo closed the book, and the book made a dull sound to end the topic.