1.9: The Gray Household

After I explained the location of Arthur’s shop, the officer looked at me weirdly.

“Isn’t that a restaurant?”

“Y-yes, well, it’s dark out, so I don’t really know the way to our home…”

Feigning being this dumb is hard. I mean, who doesn’t know their way around a town in this day and age?

After making it to the restaurant, Arthur looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

“I-I assure you, officer, this child did nothing wrong.”

Choosing to protect me even when you could’ve just said “I don’t know him” and leaving it at that? This is why you’re my gramps, gramps!

“Oh, so you really are his guardian. I see, well then, I apologize for keeping him, I had jumped to conclusions and confused him for someone else.”

With a deep bow, he gave his most heartfelt apology to us and left.

“So,” Arthur looked at me, “you went with Rule 4?”

We laughed like a bunch of idiots at that exchange.

***

After explaining the situation, he asked why I didn’t just come clean to the officer, since my motives were of good intent.

Now that I think about it, that might’ve actually just been simpler, but I digress.

I had decided to use this situation to ask Arthur about three things.

Where is Harper’s clinic?Can Ed and I help him with the shop?Can I sleep here, since a bench is uncomfortable?

He obliged to the last two with a chuckle, then said he’ll take me to Harper’s tomorrow.

With that, he also said that sleeping in the shop is a bad idea, so he’ll let me stay the night at his place. I felt bad for using his goodwill this much, but was thankful nonetheless.

His house was quite well-off, a bit larger than our’s back at the village, but that’s mostly because of the very much vertical roof he had.

“Your house is very beautiful, grandpa.”

“Grandpa? Well, I guess that’s fine, calling me by my name would be a bit inappropriate. Thank you for the compliment.”

He seemed happy when I complimented the house, but he seemed happier when I called him grandpa.

“By the way, do you have any family living with you?”

“Well…”

“GRAMMMPAAAA!”

She came running as soon as she heard the front doors open. With tranquil blue irises, wearing a cute pair of pajamas with animals drawn on it, she sprinted to hug her dear grandpa, stopping dead in her tracks as soon as she saw the unexpected visitor in front of her.

“Who’re you?!”

At the mere sight of me, she did a complete 180 turn and ran back to her room, presumably to put on a bit more appropriate clothing.

To be honest, she left sooner than I could even process the whole situation.

“That’s…my granddaughter, Anna.”

***

After taking a shower and changing into the spare pajamas from my bag, we all sat around the table to eat dinner together.

“So”, she huffed “this boy is someone who will be helping you with the restaurant, and will be temporarily lodging here, correct?”

“This “boy”, whom you speak of, already saw how you act normally, so you don’t have to sound overly formal. You can’t re-illusion a disillusioned person.”

She seemed a bit ticked off at my remark. To be fair, I probably shouldn’t insult my benefactor’s granddaughter, so I’ll stop for now.

“Now, now, get along, you two. I know it may be sudden, but Lune here is still our guest, Annie.”

“Hmph! I don’t care who you are, just stay away from me and my room!”

…That just makes me wanna mess with her even more.

“So anyways, Arthur…”

“Yes?”

“I was thinking up ways to improve the business…”

“Wha-! Ignoring me are you? You must think you’re so cool doing that to a girl.”

I made sure to look at her for a few seconds before averting my gaze and continuing the conversation with Arthur.

“If possible, I’d like Ed to take cleaning duties, he’s really good at that.”

Ignoring her really set her off, because she suddenly snapped.

“Youuu! You men only think about money! I don’t have to listen to this! I’m going to bed!”

Arthur noticed what I did and gave me a pat on the back.

“I understand it’s fun to tease, but please don’t overdo it with her. She is quite sensitive to words.”

“I see, I’ll make sure to do it in moderation.”

After getting lightly reprimanded by Arthur, I tried to actually explain my plan of returning his shop to it’s former glory, but he waved his hand with a “Eeh” motion.

“It’s getting quite late, we can continue the conversation tomorrow.”

“Oh…I see. Well then, good night.”