Picking Up Yuuki

"Hey, the school bus broke down today, how are you guys getting home?"

At that moment, Yuuki was chatting with her little friends when a little girl with twin ponytails and glasses asked.

"Of course, I'm walking home myself!" a little boy proudly declared, puffing out his chest. "I've walked home alone before!"

For children of their age, being able to walk home alone was quite an accomplishment.

Whenever someone brought up this topic, this boy couldn't wait to show off his bravery in front of his friends.

Sure enough, some little girls and boys widened their eyes at him, looking at the boy as if he were a hero.

This only made the boy prouder.

A little girl in a pink dress noticed the boy's proud demeanor and couldn't help but pout. Her eyes gleamed as she thought of something. She tried to lower her voice to create a spooky atmosphere and whispered to her friends, "Have you heard? There's been a weird person hanging around our school gate recently!"

"Eh? What weird person?"

Children are naturally curious, and the girl's dramatic tone immediately piqued their interest.

"It's an adult who specifically targets kids walking to and from school. My dad told me about it. I'm telling you, this person is really scary! They like to delete our game accounts! They also like to steal our toys and snacks! And the worst part is, after doing all that, they like to eat children…"

The girl went on to embellish the story with all the frightening details she knew.

With each detail, the faces of the surrounding children grew more fearful.

"In short, it's too scary!" the little girl said with a shudder, patting her chest. "So definitely don't go alone!"

"Right, right! So scary!"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement, even the boy who initially boasted about going home alone hesitated and then went to find his teacher.

He had told his dad not to pick him up earlier, but now he definitely needed his dad to come!

His rank in the game "King of Glory" had just reached the Starlight tier!

Meanwhile, Yuuki breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, her dad was coming to pick her up from school today, so she didn't have to worry about the so-called weird person!

And so, as the school bell rang and the teachers stood at the gate to prevent any mishaps, little Yuuki and her friends said goodbye and waited at the school entrance with their backpacks.

...

Ren looked at the road ahead blocked with traffic and sighed lightly.

Indeed, the school gate was always crowded at dismissal time. He had arrived fifteen minutes early and still got stuck.

After finding a parking spot, Ren got out of the car and started walking toward the school, humming a song as he walked.

Life had been very comfortable lately.

Living off his wife Jada, who had even set up a room for him at home with top-of-the-line gaming equipment, was indeed comfortable. He no longer had to endure the exhausting daily meetings and criticisms from his boss as before.

Now, life was just perfect, being a house-husband was great.

As he approached the school gate, he suddenly stopped.

He spotted a little girl with a magical girl backpack, looking around as if searching for someone.

He decided to give her a little scare.

Lately, the girl had been getting too cheeky, jumping directly from the bed onto his stomach early in the morning, nearly crushing his kidneys.

So, he began to sneak around to the back.

At that moment, the girl's homeroom teacher, Ms. Liu Xu, noticed a sneaky figure and was about to scold him when she saw him gesture for silence.

Recognizing him as Yuuki's father, she covered her mouth and chuckled, nodding at Ren.

She found this parent quite amusing.

Seeing Ms. Liu Xu didn't expose him, Ren nodded in thanks and continued to sneak up on the little girl.

...

"Why hasn't Daddy come yet?"

Yuuki watched anxiously as the parents of her friends picked them up one by one.

She even wondered if her dad had run away from home again, if he didn't want Yueyue anymore!

"Bad Daddy! He still hasn't come!"

Determined, the little girl decided that if her dad didn't draw her several Pikachu poses tonight, she would never talk to him again!

But then, she shook her head, counted on her fingers, and muttered, "Ignoring him forever is too cruel, Daddy would be too sad. So, just one day, yes, I won't talk to Daddy for one day!" 

Nodding satisfactorily at her own decision, she felt that ignoring her dad was the biggest punishment.

However, just then.

A figure suddenly appeared behind her and scooped her up from behind, lifting her into the air.

The sensation

 of being lifted scared her, and she immediately thought of the "weird person" her kindergarten friend had mentioned.

Was it the weird person who had caught her!?

"Yaaah!" The little girl closed her eyes and flailed her limbs wildly. "Yueyue doesn't taste good! Don't steal Yueyue's snacks!! Daddy, come save Yueyue!!!"

Her loud cries immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding people, who looked on disapprovingly. If not for noticing that the teacher did not intervene, they might have mistaken Ren for a kidnapper and beaten him up.

Embarrassed for a moment, Ren put the little girl down, "Yueyue, it's me."

"Eh?"

Hearing the familiar voice, the little girl instinctively opened her eyes and looked around confusedly. "Eh, Daddy, you came to save Yueyue? Did you drive the weird person away?"

"??" Although Ren didn't understand what she meant by "weird person," he played along, patting his chest, "Of course, Daddy 'humph' punched and kicked the weird person away!"

"Wow!" Yuuki's eyes lit up. No wonder he was her daddy; he was so awesome!

Basking in his daughter's admiring gaze, Ren grew even prouder, forgetting that he had just frightened her.

However, just as Ren was enjoying his daughter's admiration, an ill-timed voice rang out: "Silly Yueyue! It was your Daddy who just scared you!"

Hey, who was ruining his moment?

This voice made Ren instinctively look around, only to see a little girl in a pink dress looking at him with disdain, as if she was scolding him for being a childish trickster!