"Women"

'Sagaki is Captain's father?!' Lin thought with a dumbfounded expression.

At first, she was just passing by, but then she happened to see Ragna and Kouro sitting side by side on a lonely park bench.

Her curiosity was immediately piqued and she ended up hiding while trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Even though she knew that this was a disgraceful act, in order to satisfy her curiosity and also because her gossip intuition told her that this conversation was very important.

So she finally hid behind the wall and then listened to their conversation, and as she thought the conversation was indeed important but she really didn't expect that she discovered this astonishing truth.

Sagaki is Kouro's father!

No! Wait, maybe they were talking about someone else...

Earlier, after she was saved by 'Sagaki', she asked her grandfather, Dr. Magi, to find information about the person who saved her.

But... Grandfather could only shake his head with a complicated expression, he only said that her savior had a such deep background that even her grandfather who was a special scientist directly authorized by Overseer Otto found it difficult to find.

She still remembered the expression her grandfather wore when he said that.

But even so, she did not give up, she wanted to meet 'Sagaki' again, she did not know why she wanted that, she just...

Lin held her racing chest when thinking of her savior 'Sagaki', sensing this she quickly calmed herself down without noticing her face had flushed slightly.

She then recalled 'Sagaki's' face, although she did not see his face fully at that time, she still remembered his bright purple eyes.

But at the same time, she subconsciously remembered Kouro's face and after remembering his face, Lin's eyes widened.

'CAPTAIN HAS THE EXACT SAME EYES AS HIM!'

Did that mean the person who saved her back then was really Kouro's father? But if it was really like that, why would Kouro's father fake his death?

Lin held her head, her eyes seemed to be spinning like a spiral, her brain was not enough to process this, she now regretted eavesdropping on her captain and leader's conversation.

But what else should she do? As the saying goes 'Rice has become Porridge', so now she has to think about whether she should tell Kouro that his father is actually alive or not...

Lin who was focused on thinking about this while walking back to her room then bumped into someone because she was not focused on the road.

"Ouch!"

*Thud!*

Lin fell on her butt before clutching her reddened forehead.

"It hurts..."

"Ah, sorry, are you alright?" a soft white hand stretched out in front of Lin who was holding her forehead.

Lin then held the hand before being helped up by the owner of the hand, she first patted the dust on her clothes before saying, "Ah! No, it's me who should apologize, I bumped into you because I wasn't paying attention."

She looked at the girl who had helped her who was in front of her, the girl had snow-white hair with bright purple eyes like gems.

Of course that girl was Shado-, Kurokami Nakuru.

Nakuru stared at Lin in front of him with a strange look, he realized that Lin was the girl who eavesdropped on Kouro and a woman who were sitting together.

Why did he realize that? It was because he was actually eavesdropping on their conversation as well, and he happened to see Lin doing the same thing.

He was not too surprised by the content of the conversation between the two of them, after all, he was someone who knew Kouro's background more than Kouro himself.

"Don't worry, by the way, my name is Kurokami Nakuru, B-rank Valkyrie."

"Oh, my name is Lin, A-rank Valkyrie, and a member of team 9." Lin then introduced herself.

(E/D: I am tempted to make it Team 7. Should I do it? Help me.)

"Uwah, Lin-senpai! Sorry for being rude!" Nakuru made a military salute to her.

"No, no, no, you don't have to do that, just call me by my name." Lin quickly explained.

Nakuru nodded enthusiastically, actually, his current acting was great.

"By the way, Lin-san, why were you following Hanagami-senpai?" Nakuru asked innocently.

He wanted to know Lin's purpose for eavesdropping on Kouro's conversation.

Hearing Nakuru's question, Lin had a surprised expression before quickly closing Nakuru's mouth and then looking left and right with a worried expression before looking back at Nakuru.

"Shhh!" Lin signaled silence, seeing this Nakuru quickly nodded in understanding.

She looked around again before leading Nakuru to a quieter place, after which she then whispered to him.

"Are... You did that too?"

What Lin meant was whether Nakuru also eavesdropped on Kouro and Ragna's conversation.

Nakuru only nodded slowly before whispering, "Can you tell me, Lin-san, why you eavesdropped on their conversation?"

Hearing this, Lin then seemed to have a thoughtful expression, should she tell him?

After thinking for a few seconds, she finally chose to tell him.

"Fine, but first you have to promise me that you will keep this a secret from others."

"Okay. I promise with all my soul that I will keep this secret until the end of my life." Nakuru said seriously.

"Eh?! You don't have to be that serious!" Lin felt bad about Nakuru's vow.

But thanks to this, she finally began to believe that Nakuru was a good girl.

By the way, why did she seem to trust the person she had just met?

There were a few reasons, such as Nakuru also being the one who eavesdropped on Kouro and Ragna's conversation, Nakuru also seemed like a nice girl, but more importantly...

She couldn't resist her gossiping about it!

As expected of women, they will always love gossiping...

'Just as I planned(keikaku doori)...' Nakuru's face wore a curious expression even though his inner expression was that of a certain anime character.

He had actually made a plan when he learned that Lin was a member of Team 9 led by Kouro...

He wanted to use Lin to get into Kouro's friend circle as 'Kurokami Nakuru' or better yet by using Lin, he could join team 9 so that he could watch Kouro closely and lower his guard without any effort.

And when his guard is down... He will...

Nakuru subconsciously displayed a sinister smile.

"Nakuru-chan? What's wrong with you? Your smile looks really creepy you know..."

Nakuru's smile made Lin feel goosebumps.

Hearing Lin's words, his expression quickly normalized, and then said, "No, it's fine, I just remembered something funny."

Lin looked at Nakuru with suspicious eyes, it seemed that this girl was a bit abnormal...

If Lin knew that Nakuru was not a girl, she would probably know why Nakuru had such a personality.

"Okay, so here goes... " Lin quickly explained that Kouro's father was still alive because she had met him a few months ago, he kept some things like experiments and so on a secret.

"Hee... No wonder you have a dumbfounded expression, this information is indeed very surprising, especially for Hanagami-senpai. Don't worry, Lin-san, my mouth is sealed." Nakuru made a gesture of zipping up his mouth.

The two of them then discussed whether to tell Kouro about this for a few minutes, they both argued fiercely before finally agreeing not to tell Kouro.

Lin reasoned that the rescuing 'Sagaki' could still be someone else, this reasoning made sense as she never knew what Kouro's father looked like.

Nakuru's reasoning was simpler, he just wanted to make Kouro suffer.

Finally, after the heated debate they both became good friends, they then said goodbye to each other because it would soon be late at night.

...

The next day, on a sunny morning.

Kouro seemed to have finished getting ready for the new day in his room.

He was eating breakfast while watching an entertainment video on his cell phone before hearing a knock on the door.

He stood up from his chair and opened the door.

Outside was Susannah who was wearing a happy smile with a positive aura, Kouro even saw the rays of summer behind her, so positive was her aura.

He then quickly invited Susannah inside and offered her hot chocolate.

Kouro looked at Susannah who was still wearing a happy expression before asking curiously, "Susannah-senpai, you seem to be happy right now."

"~Hehehe, is it that clearly displayed on my face?" Susannah asked while putting on an innocent smile.

Kouro nodded.

"~Hehehe, Kouro, I finally have my own team! And you know Kouro, I was invited to join the team instead of choosing my own!" Susannah smiled proudly.

As a B-rank Valkyrie, it was rare to be actively invited by a Valkyrie team.

"Hoo, congratulations!" Kouro said with a smile.

If he remembers correctly in the original plot, Susannah joined a team called 'Phosdjinns Squad', he didn't really know much but certainly, the members of the team were kind to Susannah.

"Oh, and wait a minute, I'll get a present for you as a congratulation." He then went to the kitchen and opened a drawer before taking out an object.

It was a pair of white cat palm-shaped gloves.

He then gave the gloves to Susannah.

"I heard you like cats, so I'm giving these to you."

"Woah... Thank you, Kouro!" Susannah smiled sweetly and then hugged him.

The embraced Kouro did not have the expression of a man being embraced by a beautiful woman in general.

He only had an awkward expression, that was because he made the gloves out of guilt for peeping at her without permission.

But coincidentally the day when he wanted to give it to Susannah was the day when Susannah was invited to join the team.

So Kouro ended up using the situation in his favor.

He who was currently still being hugged by Susannah scratched his head before muttering, "Um... It's good that you like it..."

Susannah who was hugging Kouro then realized that she was hugging him for too long, so she then stepped back with her face flushed with embarrassment.

Kouro's body felt comfortable and gave her a sense of security... 'No! Wake up, Susannah! He is your Kouhai!'

Susannah calmed her chest which was beating violently.

Because of this, the atmosphere became awkward.

"The weather looks nice today, how about we exercise now?" said Susannah with a stutter and a flushed face.

"Um. It does look nice today, let's go exercise now."

Kouro came out of his room together with Susannah.

Susannah was walking stiffly with Kouro who walking side by side with her.

Kouro patted his chest before thinking, 'Thankfully this is not seen by Mei and Ayame.'

Wait, why did this thought cross his mind?

He then shook his head not really thinking about this.

(E/D: I have a bad feeling about this.)