Chapter 68: Welcome Home

“Dad, let me get that.”

Ephnel took the initiative to take their suitcase from her father.

The case was heavy, but for Ephnel, who had been consistently training, it was nothing.

“This way.”

She led the way.

The middle-aged man watched in silence, a smile appearing at the corners of his eyes behind his glasses.

“Son, have you been well these past three years?”

“Thank you for your concern, Dad.”

“Yukina and I are both doing well.”

Ephnel squinted and smiled.

Looking closely, the man before her was not entirely unchanged.

Silver strands had appeared at his temples at some point, and his complexion was a bit more haggard than before, but the light in his eyes was still dark and clear.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch.”

“What kind of work are you doing these days?”

“I joined an agency to give it a try.”

“Oh, how is it?”

“It’s alright…”

“Naoto, come here!”

Just as Ephnel was wondering how to respond, her mother, Yanase Kaoru, suddenly ran over, raised her arm, chose an angle, and with a click, captured all four of them in the camera.

“Wait, that’s not a good one.”

“Again!”

Father Yanase showed a hint of helplessness, while Ephnel smiled and proactively put her arm around her father and Yukina.

Being photographed was a common occurrence for Ephnel.

She knew how to pose to look better in pictures.

Sure enough, after a few clicks, her mother smiled with satisfaction.

“This one’s nice~”

Then she moved closer to Yukina.

“Yukina really has grown taller…”

“What a big change.”

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Yanase Kaoru giggled, utterly fond of the pretty little girl before her.

“So beautiful!”

“Auntie…” Yukina, on the other hand, seemed a bit flustered.

“Let me carry the luggage!”

“Your brother hasn’t been bullying you, has he?”

“N-no… Onii-chan is very good to me…”

Yanase Kaoru held Yukina’s hand, asking after her well-being, and was more and more amazed by Yukina the more she looked at her.

When she and her husband left Seikyo City, Yukina was only thirteen.

A girl in her teens changes with the blink of an eye.

Compared to then, Yukina was much taller, had lost a bit of her childishness, and gained a hint of innocent youthfulness and the grace of a budding flower.

Elegant and delicate, a jade feather brushing a splendid branch, she was at the age when a beauty first comes into her own.

The difference in her temperament from the little girl of two years ago was indeed significant.

This was a change that couldn’t be accurately grasped through the photos Ephnel sent, which was why Yanase Kaoru truly hadn’t recognized Yukina at first.

She hadn’t even recognized Ephnel.

“Naoto too, you’ve really become more and more delicate.”

“You don’t take after your dad at all,” Yanase Kaoru covered her mouth and laughed.

“If I hadn’t made that call, I wouldn’t have known it was you.”

Just then, Father Yanase chimed in:

“Your mom even stared at you two for a bit and said, ‘Those two sisters are so pretty’.”

“Sisters…”

Ephnel glanced awkwardly at Yukina and saw her covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.

Yukina didn’t seem surprised at all.

At this point, how did Yukina truly see her, this “older sister”?

…

The setting sun outside the car window was gradually sinking below the horizon.

The dark clouds, dazzling lights, and bustling street scenes imprinted on the window, flashing by like a film strip.

Ephnel was driving, with her father, Yanase Takuma, in the passenger seat.

The father and son occasionally talked about work and life, while the back seat was left for Yukina and her mother, Yanase Kaoru.

“We’ve moved from the old place.”

“We’re in the West District now, a bit closer to the school.”

“It’s not big, but there’s no problem for the four of us to live there.”

Ephnel said to her parents as she drove.

“The old house was sold.”

“We used the money to buy some furniture, and there’s some left over.”

“There’s money left over?”

“I thought it would all be spent after buying the new house…”

Her mother, Yanase Kaoru, did a quick calculation.

“So this car was bought too?”

“It looks quite new.”

“Bought it.”

“Paid in full?”

“Mm.”

Yanase Kaoru was taken aback.

“Naoto, where did you get so much money?”

“The money you send every quarter is actually quite a lot.”

“There’s still a good amount left over after covering my and Yukina’s daily expenses.”

“But that’s not enough to buy this car, is it?”

“You… you haven’t done anything bad, have you?”

Her mother’s words also piqued her father’s curiosity.

Both of their gazes focused on Ephnel.

Raising children, the biggest fear was that they would go down the wrong path.

“That’s a secret.”

“It’s related to my current job.”

“I’ll tell you when we get back,” Ephnel kept them in suspense.

“Anyway, it’s definitely legal income.”

She couldn’t explain becoming an Agent and an Agent-idol to her parents in just a few words here.

Besides, the purchase of this car wasn’t entirely funded by Ephnel herself.

There were, of course, factors involving the organization.

In short, it was impossible to explain without revealing everything about her being an Agent.

“Alright then,” seeing that Ephnel didn’t intend to say more, Yanase Kaoru didn’t press the issue.

“As long as my son doesn’t go astray, anything else is fine.”

Her mother, Yanase Kaoru, had a very straightforward personality and didn’t fuss over such things.

“Kaoru, you don’t need to worry.”

“You know what kind of person Naoto is,” Father Yanase spoke up at this moment.

“Our son has grown up, has his own life and work.”

“If he couldn’t even manage a mere luxury car, I’d start to doubt if he was my biological son.”

A smile appeared on his serious face, his pride evident.

He looked at Ephnel.

“When I was young, though I wouldn’t say I was the absolute best, but…”

“Your dad was second in his grade when he was young,” Mother Yanase took over.

“Oh, by the way, the first in the grade was your mom.”

“I made a deal with your dad that if he beat me once, I’d go out with him.”

“But he never succeeded, not even once.”

“In the end, I had to be the one to pursue him.”

Yanase Kaoru laughed without a care in the world, and Yanase Takuma immediately fell silent.

In terms of grades during their school days, Yanase Kaoru was indeed the undisputed number one in their year.

Seeing the interaction between the Yanase couple, both Ephnel and Yukina smiled.

The couple bickering occasionally was a classic Yanase family program.

It had to be said, it was quite nostalgic.

…

It was late by the time they arrived at the apartment complex where Ephnel now lived.

Ephnel got indoor slippers for her parents, helped settle their luggage, and asked them to sit on the sofa and rest.

After a quick tidy-up, Ephnel and Yukina went to the kitchen.

“Mm, the conditions here are decent,” Yanase Kaoru said, sitting on the sofa and looking around.

The room was bright and spotless, with neatly arranged bookshelves and photo albums.

The sliding doors and storage cabinets were adorned with stickers of a Q-version girl idol.

From these details, one could get a glimpse of the daily lives of the two young masters of the house.

“They’ve grown up…”

“Yes…” Yanase Takuma also took a deep breath, leaned back, and sank into the soft cushions.

“But… why does it look… like only a girl lives here…”

“Are you talking about those stickers?”

“Yukina probably put them up.”

“I’m not talking about that.”

“How should I put it… it just gives me a feeling, a feeling, you know?”

“There’s the scent of a fairy here!”

“Definitely not a child of Yukina’s age.”

Yanase Kaoru said seriously.

A woman’s intuition is often quite accurate, especially when it comes to detecting the scent of a strange woman in a room.

“It’s just your imagination.”

Yanase Takuma was noncommittal.

Yanase Kaoru didn’t reply.

She hugged a cushion from behind her, leaned on the sofa, and sniffed.

“I just feel like…”

“Maybe it’s our son’s girlfriend.”

“Look, our son is already nineteen, almost twenty.”

“It’s not strange for him to have a girlfriend and occasionally bring her home, right?”

“Oh, right!”

Speaking of her son’s girlfriend, this mother suddenly perked up.

“This won’t do.”

“I have to go ask him!”

“We’ve finally come back.”

“I have to check her out for our son!”

Just then, she saw a fashion magazine lying beside the sofa.

The cover featured a dazzling idol girl.

“Magical Girl, Ephnel…?”

Yanase Kaoru tilted her head, subconsciously reading the printed words on it, then looked at her husband beside her.

“This name sounds familiar.”

“I think she’s a celebrity Agent from around here…”

“Mm, I’ve heard of her,” Yanase Takuma replied distractedly.

“One of my colleagues is a fan of hers.”

“I heard she’s very powerful.”

“This girl looks really cute.”

“Cuteness doesn’t put food on the table.”

“She’s an Agent, yet she’s all flashy like this.”

“It’s meaningless.”

“Don’t say that.”

“You’re too strict.”

“This era occasionally needs people like this,” Yanase Kaoru took the magazine and flipped through it, but after a while, she frowned.

“Hey, don’t you think this ‘Ephnel’ looks a bit familiar?”

“Does she?”

Yanase Takuma also glanced over, stared for a few seconds, and also raised his eyebrows subtly.

“She really does.”

“Could she be someone we know?”

“Should we call the organization to ask?”

“No need.”

“We don’t want to cause trouble.”

“Besides, this kind of thing happens sometimes, seeing someone and thinking they look familiar.”

“That’s true.”

The Yanase couple chatted idly.

Just then, Ephnel and Yukina came out of the kitchen.

“It must have been a long journey,” Ephnel brought hot water, and Yukina brought a platter of cut fruit.

They didn’t sit down, but instead, both smiled in unison.

“Dad, Mom, welcome home!”

“Uncle, Auntie, welcome home…”

The sudden scene made the Yanase couple freeze for a moment, then they looked at each other and laughed, opening their arms to hug the brother and sister.

For Ephnel, she hadn’t seen her parents for several years.

It would be a lie to say she didn’t miss them.

Moreover, having overcome so many obstacles and persevered through one perilous Erosion after another, this attachment to her family had long been deeply engraved in the bottom of Ephnel’s heart.

Compared to many who had lost their parents, Ephnel was lucky.

It was precisely because of this that she cherished this luck all the more.

This feeling was the same for Yukina.

And was it not the same for the Yanase couple?

…