Blood Of Platinum
Chapter 48. Bag Information Search. 4
Kino manages to persuade the little girl to forgive Stelani and Fabil even though she still hasn't let go of his embrace. But with the circumstances that remain in an awkward atmosphere, Kino still has to find a way to make the atmosphere improve again.
He could see the other children turning gloomy and the comfortable state that he had managed to build up by him vanishing instantly.
‘I have to do something with this all. But, how?’
Kino was really confused. While the confusion was still on his mind, Stelani spoke to him.
“I'm sorry, Kino-niisan. Again we got you in trouble”
“Stelani-chan, that's not true. I should be the one apologizing”
“It's not true. It's not your fault, Kino-niisan. It's all because of my mouth. I shouldn't have said a non-” thing
“.....” Kino was silent for a moment
He finally believes that the possibility of the wrong thing is in the word ‘Justin-sama’ that Stelani said some time ago and coupled with the description Michaela has proven it. It was just that there was no way he, the person they had only met for less than an hour could interfere in the children's personal affairs.
Not wanting to make the child feel guilty about what happened, Kino gave an answer.
“Stelani-chan, I won't ask you anything about what you don't want to say. I also don't know who Justin-sama you guys mean or whether what Michaela-chan said earlier was true or not. Therefore don't think too much about”
“.....” all children are silent
The atmosphere did not change alright even though the soul-soothing sentence from Kino had already been spoken. Kino's depressed face began to leave everything to the restaurant's waiter.
‘Please, please hurry between meals now so I can do something with this depressed atmosphere’
Just a few minutes after Kino prayed in his heart, two servants came with their orders.
“Sorry for waiting so long. This is an order of the opening and main menu, tuan”
“See that, food is coming!”
“Wah, food! There's meat too!”
Children who were moody and did not want to talk finally look happy again. Stelani and Fabil who some time ago looked worried also began to cheer up.
“See, Michaela-chan. Breakfast had come” Kino saw the little girl who still had not let go of her embrace at all
Hearing that, Michaela immediately looked at her food and turned cheerful as if nothing had ever happened.
“Kino-niichan, what is all the meat we ordered?!”
“True. You have to eat right so you can come back cheerful and strong. Therefore don't cry anymore and eat a lot, huh?”
“Umm!!” Michaela nodded happily
The two female servants distributed the food to all of them. Fabil even gulped his saliva because he could not bear the smell of food in front of his eyes. Everything looks delicious and of course the aroma is so tempting to taste.
“For the dessert will be delivered after this so please wait”
“Thank you so much”
After the maid left, Kino started to gain her confidence to start melting the atmosphere. Thank you for all the food at the table because thanks to all of you Kino was finally able to get back to the topic she needed.
“Well , please eat everything” Kino allow them to eat it
Without much ado, the children ate voraciously. Their happy faces were seen in every chew on his mouth. It was as if it was the first time they had eaten such delicious food, even Fabil could not hold back his tears.
Stelani who saw Fabil crying because she was happy to imagine how good the food was, but she fell silent as she looked ahead. Realizing that there was something strange before him, Stelani asked Kino before eating.
“Why doesn't Kino-niisan eat with us? Is the food not here yet?”
“I've had breakfast before and my stomach is still very full to eat again so don't think about me”
“So. Then we eat. Thank you very much Kino-niisan”
“……”
Kino smiled, but soon she began to notice all the food the children ate. He felt that something was troubling his mind seeing all that.
‘I really feel that I'm not human anymore now. So much delicious food in front of my eyes right now but none of that makes me hungry at all. It seems that the longer in this ‘world’ my body condition is getting weird. Are Ryou and Kaito-san also aware of that?’
The strange thought was immediately stored in his heart and he began to dig up other information.
“Regarding the thing I just heard, I'll assume I never heard of it. So, we're talking about the light thing ya”
“Good. Is there anything else Kino-niisan wants to know about this city?”
Stelani's tone has started to improve. The power of restaurant food is really like magic that is able to melt the heart of anyone who is hungry. It's a good opportunity for Kino and he won't miss all those opportunities.
“If I may know, where do you live? Ah, I happened to be staying around the residential area precisely at [Hergement Clarks]. If you want to see me again, you can stop by that place”
One of Kino's ways to get information about them is to mention where he lives first. That way, they will also tell you where they live now.
The success ratio is only about 51% because in fact it is very rare for anyone to be honest about such a thing, but the ratio is still better than nothing.
But the response was so positive.
“We live in an area in this city. Where we live almost never visited by the city residents because it is too foreign”
“Aforeign place? Where's it?”
“From the back of the altar, Kino-niichan can pass through it by walking straight. It was closer to where we lived. But if you pass through the residential area, Kino-niichan can pass through it by going down the stairs that are around there” Fabil answered all that smoothly without burden
Once again Kino matches her with Lily's statement.
[When I first came I asked them where they lived but no one answered any]
Second information that is no less important has been obtained.
‘This can be continued. I just need to calm down and restore the previous cozy atmosphere to get more information. I'm sure in the end, all those threads will be interconnected and I can convince my heart of my previous thoughts’
In the last sentence of Kino's heart still feels ambiguous and has not seen what it means, but he is sure all of these things will be interconnected.
Now Kino paused for a moment to think after recalling Fabil's reply.
‘Stair decline around residential areas?. I don't think I'm a stranger to that. Where do I know it–’
It did not take long, Kino immediately realized that the stairs in question were the stairs that Kaito found yesterday.
[Until yesterday, this staircase and the straight down road were not there at all]
[I've been there and it's not a pleasant place. The place was so humid, seedy, illumination lacking and full of unfriendly people. I don't think they even like being in touch with the townspeople]
Kino found a match with all of that. His face now turned pale.
‘These kids are from the place Kaito-san is referring to?! Why can they stay in such a dangerous place?’
Once again Kino noticed their details one by one starting from Michaela who was beside him and then continued until the last child.
‘Why didn't I realize it sooner? They wore old dirty clothes, tired faces and skinny bodies. Looking at the way they eat, it seems like they almost never eat a balanced meal and the most unusual of all.
‘Looking at their bodies like that, I will assume what Michaela-chan said was the truth. The person called Justin-sama is a bad person. They asked for donations at the altar not for orphanage donations but rather to be given to Justin-sama it was’
Unknowingly, Kino muttered softly.
“It seems that this problem thread will be very long”
The mutter was heard by Michaela who was sitting to her left.
“Kino-niichan, what's wrong? What's long?”
“Ah, it's nothing. Is the food good, Michaela-chan?” Kino tried to divert the conversation
“Nak! I like eating here. Thank you, Kino-niichan!”
“Sgratitude”
Customers who are there sometimes glance over to their place. It seemed that along with the good atmosphere there, the cynical and strange gazes had already begun to change with normal gazes and impressions.
Back again with Kino's feelings that actually turned to worry.
He finally saw the connection of these children with a foreign ladder that Kaito said. Do not rule out the possibility they are also ‘part’ created from the strange ‘world’.
Kino recalled something she had heard back from Lily at the altar.
[Usually there was one more boy who seemed to be the same age as the two older children outside]
“True too. I wonder, didn't Michaela-chan just say Theo-niichan. Is she not with you today?”
“Umm, today our friend is looking for another job in the city. He said he wanted to do it to earn more money to help with all of our donations. Though actually I also thought of doing something like he did”
Fabil spoke in a slightly sad tone and a facial expression that represented his tone. Stelani who heard that also stopped eating for a moment and looked towards Fabil. But only a few seconds later, Kino did not let the situation turn grim.
“But hasn't Fabil-kun done his best? It was outside just now that Fabil-kun convinced Stelani-chan to accept my offer to eat at this place, right? Look, you can keep them all unharmed and still take good care of their circumstances. Fabil-kun does everything that Fabil-kun can. That was really great. I'm proud of you”
Kino smiled and said the very thing Fabil had wanted to hear a long time ago. Hearing the words of praise from Kino made Fabil's face flushed red and almost cried with pleasure. Of course other children tease him so that the moment of crying should be canceled.
Returning to the topic, Kino continued his question.
“So, today a boy named Theo is not with you because he wants to work in the city huh. Did he always do it before?”
“Normally Theo with us at altar” Stelani answers Kino's questions
“So. Today I heard from someone while I was at the altar that the child who often went inside to ask for donations did not come. Is that the boy named Theo who was with you guys?”
- Deg
Stelani and Fabil immediately felt like they had an attack right in their heart.
Inwardly, they began to panic and their clear minds turned into a no-no prejudice on Kino. Starting from Stelani who pecked with all his thoughts.
‘Why can Kino-niisan ask like that?! Do I have to answer that question? No, this is impossible! There's no way Kino-niisan is looking into Theo. It was not at all like Kino-niisan knew what Theo was doing at the altar. Moreover, he had only been in this city for two days, there was no strange news on the altar heard by Kino-niisan’
No less frantic than Stelani, Fabil also seemed to think of many prejudices and possibilities.
“Is there any bad news about Theo that Kino-niichan heard? I'm sure Stelani's just as panicked as I am right now? I can't say that Theo always goes inside the altar to steal, can I?! It could be dangerous for all of us if it gets known to others, including by Kino-niichan! I have to do something to divert this conversation!’
The two of them looked at Kino who seemed to be still waiting for an answer from them. Stelani glanced at Fabil and gave him a chance to divert this conversation.
“Be–so. Oh right, Kino-niichan said you came to this town with your sister and your friend. Where are they now?”
“They? They had other business and we split up. Last time my friend also asked me to go shopping because I intended to cook dinner today”
“So after this Kino-niichan will go shopping?”
“True. I think I should go around this place to know all the ins and outs of the city. After all, this city is so vast so I feel I can find many things during my time here”
“So. Hope you like this city, Kino-niichan”
“I hope so”
‘Diversion completed. In this way, the discussion about Theo will not come out of the mouth of Kino-niichan’
That is what Fabil thought. But it seemed that the minds of a child like them would not be able to defeat a genius like Kino. Kino easily turned the topic back.
“So, the point today is that a boy named Theo is not with you. I want to know, there are also strange rumors that I heard. It seems that there were some worshippers and townspeople who lost their belongings while at the altar. Do you know anything about that?”
- Deg
“Uhuk...uhuk...uhuk....!”.
“You two why? Quickly drink your water!”
Hearing Kino's question just now was like mentally pressing them all the way to the bottom. The two children immediately choked and coughed loudly. The other children who saw him instantly fell silent, including Michaela. Kino immediately asked them to drink to make them better.
After drinking the water and no longer coughing, they looked as pale as corpses.
“What's up? Is the water lacking? I'll order again. Excuse me..”
Kino called the waiter and asked each child for water. Not long after the water came, they immediately drank it back.
“It's better?” Kino looked at them with a worried look
“Su–. Sorry for being disrespectful and making a shock” Stelani said
“I'm the one who should be sorry for asking you to talk while eating. I'm not gonna have you guys chat anymore. Finish the food and after that leave room for dessert ya”
“.....” both people were silent for a moment before continuing to eat
Kino notices their movements and the way they eat and deduces things.
One by one the memories of everything Ryou said yesterday and Lily's statement this morning have been connected to a truth.
[You're the kid that hit us this morning at the altar, right?]
[I remember clearly. He hit us and you helped him stand up this morning]
[He and his friends were standing in front of the altar this morning]
[The boy often wears a brown hat, he is a child who often asks for donations inside this altar]
[The boy was wearing an orange shirt and had very good black hair. Did you meet him yesterday?]
‘The child who often entered the altar was Theo, the child who accidentally hit me and Ryou yesterday. Also...’
Kino was speechless with a disappointed smile on her face.
‘This is really beyond my expectations’
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