Su Yu and Kiana walked through the gates of Skyward Elementary School side by side.
Morning sunlight filtered through the clouds and spilled across the path, which was paved with colorful tiles.
The air carried the faint chill of early-morning damp and the light, bitter scent of crushed camphor leaves.
Parents crowded the grounds, leading their kids by the hand and lugging folding stools and little water bottles. The children's chatter wove together into a noisy sea.
The two of them threaded through the crowd to the huge camphor tree at the entrance to the sports field.
A girl in a tracksuit, hugging a small drawing board to her chest, stood quietly in the shade beside the trunk.
When Griseo spotted Su Yu and Kiana, her eyes lit up a little.
She set off on her short legs and ran toward them like a light-footed baby swallow.
Kiana watched the adorable blue-haired dumpling come pattering toward them. She had spent the whole car ride psyching herself up and had already slipped fully into her role as "Mom," and now her heart melted into mush.
She spread her arms wide, a slightly goofy, doting-mother smile on her face, ready to receive the little loli's warm, clingy hug.
A breeze drifted by.
The camphor leaves rustled softly.
Griseo pulled off a beautiful emergency-brake "drift" right in front of Kiana, dodging those open arms perfectly.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, the little girl dove headfirst into Su Yu's arms next to her.
Two small hands clamped around Su Yu's waist, and her little head rubbed happily back and forth against him.
Kiana stood there with her arms stretched out, frozen in place like a half-weathered stone statue.
A cold wind laden with dead leaves blew through her empty embrace. She could almost hear a few desolate caws from a passing crow.
A couple of parents walking by with their kids gave the white-haired girl with the oddly splayed arms puzzled looks.
Faint whispers drifted over: "Is that girl practicing tai chi here?"
…Huh?
Wait a second?
She just… skipped me?! Why?! Is this young lady's hug poisonous or something?!
"You came."
Ignoring the "temporary mom" beside her, who was about to petrify and crack apart, Griseo lifted her pure, flawless little face.
She didn't say the fitting word "Dad." Instead, she softly called out that other title.
"My… Knight."
Su Yu looked down at the little painter clinging tightly to his leg.
In his mind flashed those days in that dream space, twisted by malice and despair, where a trembling Little Red Riding Hood had looked at his blood-soaked self with this same frightened yet hopeful gaze.
That heavy sense of reliance had crossed the boundary between dream and reality.
Griseo didn't remember anything that happened in the dream, but the trust and the promise had remained.
She was going to paint a scroll for Su Yu with her own hands, titled "Tomorrow."
Su Yu bent down slightly, slipped one arm under Griseo's, and easily scooped the little girl up so her eyes were level with his.
"Of course. Your knight timed everything perfectly. How could he ever break a promise to his little princess?"
Su Yu ruffled Griseo's small head, his voice full of unconcealed indulgence.
"But today, at school, the knight has to change identities for a bit and be Griseo's 'Dad' for the day, okay? Do you think I can play the part well?"
Griseo nodded obediently.
She wrapped both arms around Su Yu's neck and pressed her soft little cheek against his shoulder.
Her expression was that of a kitten who had found the safest harbor in the whole world, eyes squinting contentedly.
Kiana stood barely half a meter from this picture of a doting father and devoted daughter, so warm it could be snapped up as a magazine cover.
She watched it.
For some reason, it felt as if someone had knocked over a whole jar of Mei's aged vinegar in her heart.
A powerful sourness surged up her throat.
It wasn't as if… it wasn't as if Griseo hadn't clung to Su Yu like this before.
After Griseo woke from that nightmare, she had stuck to Su Yu almost the entire time she was hospitalized for observation.
Rationally, Kiana knew perfectly well that it was only natural for Su Yu and Griseo to be close.
But!!
Look at the intimate way Griseo had her arms around Su Yu's neck!!
And look at the doting, old-father smile at the corner of Su Yu's mouth.
And that broad shoulder.
It wasn't as if… back then, on all those late nights when she'd been tormented nearly mad by nightmares and Sirin's will…
That spot was this young lady's private shelter and reserved seat!
Since when did just anyone get to come up and snuggle there?!
Not even a ten-year-old girl is allowed!
Why do I feel like my personal body pillow got snatched away in broad daylight, right in the middle of the street?!
No! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!
Kiana Kaslana! What dangerous nonsense is going on in that head of yours?!
She's just a kid, barely past ten.
You're jealous of a ten-year-old girl?! And on top of that, today she's nominally your "daughter," and you're her "mom"??
Getting your husband stolen by your own daughter at the school gate? What third-rate screenwriter wrote this melodramatic family soap while drunk on bootleg liquor?!
This young lady refuses to be a bitter, abandoned wife!
Kiana desperately talked herself down inside, roasting her own absurd thoughts without mercy.
She thrust out her right index finger, pointing straight at Su Yu, who held Griseo in one arm.
"Hey! Su Yu! What's with that weird look on your face?! Griseo is barely over ten, you know! You aren't harboring some unspeakable, criminal intentions toward a kid this young, are you?"
"Oh, I get it now. So when you said you wanted to come to the gates of Skyward Elementary, you were serious!"
"I'm warning you, the police are on standby! Do you want to go in there and eat free prison meals?"
Under this barrage of "lolicon crime" accusations, Su Yu showed no irritation at all. He just calmly held Griseo in one arm.
"This is what's called the dependability of a mature man. It's a pure child's instinctive reliance on a trustworthy adult."
"It only proves that in Griseo's eyes, I'm more reliable than you, [Mom]. Haah~ Kids never lie, after all. Or are you jealous of Griseo?"
"I-I'm upholding justice! Preventing crime! You big pervert!"
Kiana retorted at the top of her voice, words tumbling over each other.
A few schoolkids with backpacks walking by turned to stare, casting curious glances at this pretty but apparently not-very-bright big sister.
Just as Kiana was about to split into two completely different people in the Abyss of self-shame and furious embarrassment, Griseo, who was draped over Su Yu's shoulder, finally turned her head.
In truth, Griseo really, truly adored her knight-brother. She'd have happily hung off him like a koala for twenty-four hours straight.
But.
As a well-behaved child with an outstanding memory, she clearly hadn't forgotten what happened last night in the studio at the Golden Courtyard.
Sister Elysia, always smiling, always smelling of sweet flowers, had leaned in close to her ear and solemnly handed down that [SSS-rank Ultimate Assist Mission].
"Griseo, do you want your knight-brother and that silly sister to stay happy together forever? If you do, say exactly what I taught you, okay? Remember, wear your most innocent face and throw the deadliest fastball~"
Elysia's smile from that moment replayed perfectly in little Griseo's mind.
So.
Still hugging Su Yu's neck, Griseo slowly freed one little hand.
Meeting Kiana's nearly smoking gaze head-on, Griseo gently reached the hand out.
"Kiana… Mom. Why are you standing over there by yourself in the wind? Your hair's all messy."
The little painter tilted her head, her big eyes full of confusion.
"Are you mad at [Dad]?"
That "Mom" rang out clear and loud.
It immediately drew sidelong looks from several parents dropping off their kids.
They seemed to be wondering how this girl, who looked barely of age, already had a child this big.
Under the strange stares of all those aunties, Kiana's face flushed even redder with a whoosh, all the way down to her collarbone.
"I-I'm not mad at all!"
Stubborn as a dead duck, she whipped her head away, refusing to look at the cozy "father and daughter."
Kiana crossed her arms over her chest and raised her chin high, trying to cover her embarrassment with arrogance.
"I just… I just think the wind this morning is really obnoxious! It's making my eyes hurt!"
Griseo blinked.
Then she began to recite, with perfect seriousness, the top-secret lines Elysia had personally taught her.
"But."
"The other night, Sister Elysia secretly told me."
"She said Dad Su Yu's face is just way too good at attracting bees and butterflies."
"Normally he'd be locked up in his studio and kept away from everyone, but today, at a sports day packed with people, he's as dangerous as a walking slab of fat meat."
Kiana, who had been pretending to admire the scenery, heard that opening line and went wide-eyed, her blue-and-gold heterochromatic eyes round as saucers.
Su Yu, still held up in the crook of Griseo's arm, felt the composed smile on his face jam. The corners of his eyes twitched hard, twice.
His throat even tightened, and he nearly inhaled a lungful of fresh northwest wind and choked to death.
"Walking slab of fat meat"? What the hell!
What on earth had that trouble-loving Miss Pink Elf Elysia been stuffing into Griseo's head in the Golden Courtyard? Where did she learn such outrageous lines?!
But Griseo's "recitation" performance was only just reaching its climax.
Her small body leaned forward in Su Yu's arms, and the little hand hanging in midair grabbed Kiana's stiff wrist.
"Sister Elysia also said."
"If Mom Kiana doesn't hold Dad Su Yu's hand tightly right now, today."
"Then once we're inside the field, all those single, boyfriend-less intern women teachers, and those divorced pretty aunties in heavy makeup…"
"They'll pounce from every direction like starving wolves that smell blood, tear poor Dad Su Yu apart, and drag him back to their dens to be their bandit-chief husband!"
"And then Griseo won't have a knight anymore, and you won't have… won't have anyone to cook for you and buy you snacks."
Silence.
Dead silence.
Within five meters, the parents who'd been gossiping a moment ago heard this earth-shattering declaration, and their jaws nearly hit the rubber track.
They turned in unison to look at Su Yu, holding the child, with a mix of shock, pity, and contempt.
As if he really were a scumbag playboy, ready to abandon his wife and child and hit on every woman teacher in the school.
Feeling the almost lethal weight of the stares around him, Su Yu felt his temples throbbing wildly.
His skin, normally thicker than a city wall, was struggling to hold up.
What a thoroughly unavoidable frame-up!
Elysia, you Pink Piggy-Cat, look at the mess you've made!!
And Kiana, who'd taken that "fastball" straight to the face.
She had completely crashed.
Her brain's CPU, overloaded and overheated, seemed to be sending up a faint puff of white smoke from the top of her head.
Stolen by all the women teachers in the school? Torn apart by pretty aunties?
What kind of nonsense is that! How could that possibly be…
But…
Kiana's gaze drifted to Su Yu without her permission.
The well-tailored black coat. The clean, neat short hair. The tall, lean frame. And just now, the steady gentleness of a mature man as he held Griseo.
Especially since he'd started working out, he'd become the type who looks slim in clothes and solid without them. She had personally verified how those abs felt.
Honestly… even in a crowd, he was the type girls would look at twice. Even if someone asked him for his contact info outright, it probably wouldn't be a surprise.
And with his game getting hotter by the day, his net worth had multiplied who knows how many times.
Young, handsome, and loaded. If that wasn't a walking fat sheep ripe for fleecing, what was?!
What if… what if some shameless woman really threw herself at him?
What if some big-chested, long-legged vixen really lured him away?
The moment she thought of that, all the shame and resentment over "being jealous of a little girl," which had been churning wildly inside her, was swept clean by a force-twelve typhoon.
In its place came.
An utterly unreasonable [food-guarding instinct]!
The guy who bought her fried chicken, who played games with her in the middle of the night, who held onto her hand for dear life when nightmares dragged her down.
This young lady found him first!
Nobody else is taking him!
Griseo watched Kiana's face flicker through a dizzying range of expressions and finally settle into a fierce glare.
Inwardly, she gave Elysia a big thumbs-up, then carried out the very last step of the script.
"Even though… Griseo really, really wants to keep Knight-brother all to herself."
The little girl's voice was as soft as a melting ball of cotton candy.
"But… Griseo wants even less for bad aunties to kidnap Knight-brother."
"So!"
"Mom Kiana, hurry up and hold Dad Su Yu's hand."
"Today, in this dangerous place, our family has to stay close together and protect him together. Okay?"
Before the words had fully left her mouth.
Griseo gave Kiana no time at all to think or refuse.
The little hand gripping Kiana's wrist slid smoothly down to take her fingers, and she laid Kiana's hand over Su Yu's.
Pat.
Palm to palm, their skin met with nothing in between.
"Eek?!"
An electric shiver shot from her fingertips through her whole body.
Kiana trembled violently, like a rabbit that had stepped on a live wire.
The warmth of Su Yu's palm was even hotter than she'd imagined.
His rough fingertips brushed the back of her hand. That direct contact made her already burning cheeks flush even deeper.
Instinctively, she tried to pull her hand back.
Her wrist had barely retreated a millimeter.
The horrifying scene Griseo had just painted played again in Kiana's mind: Su Yu hounded and cornered by dozens of single mothers with flame-red lips, forcibly dragged into a luxury car and carried off.
The food-guarding radar screamed wildly in her head.
The retreating hand froze in midair.
Not only did Kiana not pull away, she took the initiative.
She sucked in a sharp breath.
Then!
Her five fingers spread.
Interlaced with his! Locked on tight!
Her enormous grip made Su Yu's fingers ache a little.
Kiana raised her blood-red face and shouted at Su Yu as if staking a claim:
"Ho-hold hands! Fine, we'll hold hands! What's the big deal!"
"Don't worry, Griseo! Today I'll be—I'll be here!"
"As long as this hand isn't crippled! Not even a female mosquito will get within a meter of this guy in this school today!"
After bellowing out that heroic oath, Kiana felt her heart about to leap out of her throat.
She clenched her back teeth, turned her head away, and didn't dare look at the passersby or at Su Yu. She pretended to be absorbed in studying the texture of the rubber track.
Su Yu looked down.
In the crook of his left arm sat the well-behaved little painter, who even nuzzled her cheek against the hollow of his neck, hiding her merits and her fame.
And his right hand, hanging at his side.
It was clutched in a palm that trembled slightly from nerves.
Su Yu looked at Kiana's reddened ears and the ahoge twitching with mortification.
Any other day, he would have teased this "bossy on the outside, panicking like crazy on the inside" young lady without mercy.
But now.
He felt this hand, which half a year ago had coldly resisted him and now held on to him of its own accord, gripping hard.
Su Yu's heart skipped half a beat along with that faintly trembling hand.
He didn't laugh.
He didn't pull away.
He simply let Kiana squeeze.
Then.
His relaxed fingers slowly closed around hers.
He wrapped Kiana's hand, along with all its bared-claw bluster, in his warm, broad palm.
His thumb also stroked the back of her hand, tense from gripping, twice.
The small gesture made Kiana's taut body go soft all at once.
She still kept her head turned, but the strength in her grip on Su Yu's hand eased considerably.
"All right."
Su Yu's voice, tinged with a smile, sounded above her head.
"Now that the two ladies have formed a united front to 'protect me from being eaten'…"
"shouldn't our unbreakable temporary little family head over to the check-in station at the field?"
"Let's go, Kiana. Don't let first place get away today."
Led forward by the hand, Kiana said nothing.
She just pretended to look at the scenery and let out a soft "Mm" that only she could hear.
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