Seeing the state of the two people inside, Evelyn stood at the door for a moment, a little unsure of what to do.
She wasn't sure if it was better to go in and disturb them or to wait here for them to finish.
For some reason, Evelyn had the inexplicable feeling that the prized cabbage she had been guarding was about to be stolen.
But she clearly wasn't growing any plants.
Inside the room, after confirming there was no danger, Andrew finally let Astra Yao go from his embrace.
Having never been this close to a boy before, Astra Yao blushed, subconsciously twirling a strand of her hair, and for a moment, she didn't dare to look at Andrew's face.
Evelyn took this opportunity to quickly walk in and check on their injuries.
Andrew was completely unharmed due to his tough hide—his defense hadn't been breached.
As for Astra Yao, she was safe because Andrew had protected her so well. Under Andrew's meticulous protection, he had blocked all sources of harm with his own body, not letting her get so much as a scratch.
She was so safe it was as if she hadn't been at the epicenter at all, but rather outside the shockwave's range.
Seeing them both unharmed, Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.
Then, with her arms crossed, Evelyn looked at the two of them—at Astra Yao, who was smiling a little guiltily, and at Andrew, the instigator, who was scratching his head in embarrassment.
She said: "Alright, spill it. What kind of 'good deed' did you two get up to?"
Looking at the Hemiola, which was not only smoking but also sparking, clearly unusable, Evelyn clutched her head with a headache.
"The concert is tomorrow night, and the custom-made staff for the performance is in this state? What on earth did you do to make the Hemiola end up like this?"
Evelyn couldn't even fathom how a Hemiola, which could control large-scale equipment without any pressure, could be messed up to this extent.
She looked at the two people in the room who were clearly responsible for this situation, tilting her head slightly as she waited for their explanation.
"Sorry, a large part of this is my fault."
Andrew raised his hand, taking the blame upon himself. After all, Astra Yao had only been helping him from the start.
"I wanted to experiment with what kind of effect the music I recreated from my home would have when it resonated with Ether, and that's what caused this situation."
"No, no, no, Eve, it's mainly because I was the one who suggested trying it with the Hemiola, and then I couldn't control the resonance energy. That's why it ended up like this."
Hearing this, Astra Yao immediately retorted, looking like she was ready to face the trouble with Andrew.
Seeing them both trying to take the blame, Evelyn felt even more helpless.
"How did I end up looking like the bad guy here..."
Picking up the Hemiola, Evelyn looked at the two of them and said solemnly:
"Anyway, there was no experiment. We were just concerned, so while checking the performance equipment at home, the Hemiola had an unexpected malfunction and suddenly ended up like this. Got it?"
"Yay! Eve, you're the best!!!"
Hearing this, Astra Yao instantly understood that Evelyn was going to help her and Andrew cover up the real reason for the incident, and she immediately cheered and pounced over.
But faced with the pouncing Astra Yao, she didn't let her hug her directly with that usual mix of helplessness and doting affection. Instead, she held Astra Yao's head as she acted spoiled and sighed helplessly.
"This excuse should be enough to fool those old folks who don't understand the tech..."
Recalling the documents from when DGA Entertainment had the Hemiola custom-made, Evelyn said:
"If I remember correctly, when the Hemiola was being made, Master Melody prepared a set of replacement parts, but!"
As she said 'but', Evelyn put her hands on her hips, put on a fierce expression, and said with a serious face:
"Before tomorrow's concert is over, you are not allowed to use the Hemiola to experiment with new songs! Tomorrow is your first concert!"
"I know, Eve! I just underestimated the power of this piece before. I'll definitely be careful next time!"
Seeing Evelyn get serious, Astra Yao raised her hands to show that she understood her mistake.
Andrew, sighing in relief, also spoke up at the right moment:
"Thank you, Evelyn. Without you, I'm afraid I would have become the first person in history to pay for a commission they were hired for."
"It's not that exaggerated."
Hearing Andrew's half-joking words, Evelyn couldn't help but chuckle and say:
"After all, without you earlier, the Young Miss and I wouldn't have gotten through that ordeal so easily. This little thing is what I should do."
Meanwhile, Astra Yao, listening to the very distant interaction between Andrew and Evelyn, couldn't help but puff up her cheeks, and then said, a bit peeved:
"I've been wanting to say this for a while, Andrew, the way you address us is way too formal."
"For... formal?"
Astra Yao nodded seriously and said:
"That's right! Calling us by our full names sounds like you're strangers who just met! So from now on, you have to call me Astra, and when you call Eve, you have to do it like I do!"
Andrew hesitated and looked at Evelyn, since this kind of thing depended on whether the other person was willing to accept it.
Evelyn actually didn't care much about what she was called. In her eyes, a name was just a label; no matter how intimate it sounded, it wouldn't change the essence of their relationship.
However, seeing Astra Yao's expectant look, she didn't say these buzzkill words out loud.
Most importantly, compared to other men, Andrew was one of the few she not only didn't dislike but actually found quite pleasing to the eye.
So Evelyn nodded and said:
"I don't mind. As long as the Young Miss is happy."
"See! Andrew, Eve agreed too!"
No, that doesn't look like she's very pleased at all. It looks more like she reluctantly agreed because of Astra Yao!
Looking at the proud Astra Yao, Andrew hesitated for a moment before tentatively calling out:
"Well... Astra, Eve?"
Astra Yao nodded with great satisfaction, while Evelyn maintained a calm expression.
Although she had always thought this way and kept a straight face, the slight blush that unconsciously tinged her ears indicated that her feelings weren't as indifferent as they seemed.
But in the end, she didn't say anything to refute it.
Under the gaze of Astra Yao and Andrew, Evelyn finally gave a slight nod, accepting it.
"Mm."
And so, with Astra Yao's satisfied nod, Andrew's way of addressing them changed.
With the small talk over, Evelyn took the Hemiola and prepared to head to the technical department to replace the parts.
Before leaving, she reminded Astra Yao:
"It's getting late, and the concert is tomorrow. Remember to stay in good shape and don't stay up late."
"I know, Eve. How come you're becoming more and more like my mom lately?"
Astra Yao, who had been nodding obediently, mumbled under her breath after Evelyn had walked away. But it was clear that her mumbling was within Evelyn's hearing range.
"Isn't it because a certain someone is like a child when it comes to daily life, making people worry?"
Realizing her words had been heard, Astra Yao smiled sheepishly, cupped her cheeks with both hands, and put on a cute face to try and get away with it.
Looking at her like this, although she didn't know if her reminders had sunk in, Evelyn didn't have time to keep after her.
She nodded at Andrew, then left the room and headed to DGA Entertainment's technical department to get the Hemiola repaired.
Seeing Evelyn leave, Astra Yao, now free from supervision, immediately became lively again.
"Andrew, Andrew! It's not even twelve yet! Let's recreate one more song, just one!"
But Andrew didn't indulge her, nor was he in a rush.
He shook his head firmly and said:
"Tomorrow. You've been tired all day. Anyway, the concert rehearsal is done, and there's nothing scheduled for tomorrow during the day. There's no rush."
Looking at the clock, which showed it was just a dozen minutes before midnight, Andrew smiled and said:
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Even after the commission ends tomorrow, you can come find me whenever you have time. I have plenty of songs that can be recreated."
After all, among the songs Andrew had heard and was familiar with, those from the world of Monster Hunter were actually in the minority.
When it came to musical diversity, you had to look back to his first life as an ordinary person.
The golden age of music culture in a time of peace was something that the post-apocalyptic reconstructed world of Monster Hunter and the current world of a lone city in the apocalypse could never imagine.
However, in the world of Monster Hunter, whether it was the variety of instruments or the living environment, it was almost impossible to recreate the music he knew from his first life.
But here in New Eridu, it was different.
Almost all modern instruments could be found here. From electronic rock to classical music, everything could be recreated here.
At the same time, Astra Yao's promise to help Andrew with the recreations also gave him hope of hearing those familiar songs again.
Since Astra Yao saw that Andrew's mind was made up and knew she couldn't persuade him, she stopped trying and obediently returned to her room to wash up.
But as Andrew turned to leave, he didn't notice Astra Yao secretly watching his movements from behind, or the calculating look on her face.
Because he wasn't wary of Astra Yao, an unsuspecting Andrew went to the guest room assigned to him to rest.
Even though it was a guest room, the space was about the same size as his own room in his shop. Andrew could only sigh at how rich the high-level executives in TOPS really were.
However, to wake up early tomorrow, Andrew didn't delay after a simple wash-up and went straight to rest.
In the empty living room, the faint ticking of the second hand on the clock was clearly audible, but this quiet didn't last long.
Just over half an hour later, a faint sound of a door opening broke the silence.
"Creaak~"
Astra Yao's door quietly opened a crack.
In the pitch-black living room, barefoot and carrying her slippers in her hand, Astra Yao tiptoed quietly to the door of the music room.
The door was reopened, the turned-off lights came on again, and Astra Yao picked up a scattered piece of paper from the floor that had been used for notes, looking a bit smug.
Another song Andrew had mentioned earlier was clearly written on it.
"Grammeowster Chef's Warm Soup!"
Translated into Chinese, it's Grandma Meow Chef's Warm Stew!
And besides that, another sheet of paper recorded several different songs, and the name at the very top was clearly "Scorching Blade."
Astra Yao giggled, looking at the songs that she had made Andrew describe in detail under the pretext of needing them as references.
The super musician was about to start working hard in secret!
Although she had to avoid using normal instruments to not make too much noise, there were still electronic instruments that were almost silent with headphones on!
By tomorrow, she would definitely give Andrew a big surprise!
In a flash, it was the next morning.
Andrew, who had woken up early, felt that something was off the moment he opened his door.
He had checked before going to sleep last night, but Astra Yao's tightly closed bedroom door was now open, and the slight gap indicated that someone had entered or left her room after she went to rest.
The problem was, Andrew hadn't sensed the slightest hint of hostility.
And unless it was someone Andrew subconsciously trusted, he wouldn't have been completely unaware, no matter how faint the movement was.
In that case, if it really was an intruder, that person must be an expert.
But after getting closer and seeing the footprints marked by the Scoutflies on the ground, Andrew immediately realized something was wrong.
The girl's delicate footprints, of a familiar size, formed by a perfect foot shape and five round, small, and exquisite toes, were glowing with a faint green light under the Scoutflies' marking.
Exquisite enough to make any gacha game connoisseur cry out in appreciation upon seeing them.
Looking at this trail of marks, Andrew felt as if a new prompt had appeared in the bottom right corner of his vision.
"Research Subject Collected—Old Tracks."
"[Guild Points +10.]"
The familiar footprints made Andrew realize this wasn't an enemy as he had previously thought, but someone he trusted.
With his old cat-man experience, Andrew could even perfectly reconstruct the girl's tiptoeing movements from this line of footprints.
There were only two people in this house yesterday, and with the music room straight at the end of the trail, Andrew didn't even have to guess who the tracks belonged to.
Pushing open the music room door, the owner of the tracks appeared right before Andrew's eyes.
Astra Yao was completely absorbed, wearing headphones and constantly pressing the keys on an electronic piano.
But because she was wearing headphones, Andrew, who couldn't hear what she was playing, could only watch her constantly pressing a few keys, making a series of low clicking sounds.
The glass that had been shattered earlier had been cleaned up, and a large piece of soundproof cotton padding had been stuffed in its place, perfectly replacing the original glass's soundproofing.
The excellent noise-reducing renovation, coupled with the specially designed layout, meant that unless there was an explosion, the person in the guest room wouldn't hear any movement.
Furthermore, since Astra Yao was using an electronic instrument with no external speakers, the sound was reduced to an extreme, so it was no wonder that even Andrew didn't notice anything.
The unique design here could be said to have played a huge role in all of this.
And looking at Astra Yao's practiced movements, it felt as if this wasn't the first time she had done something like this.
____
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