Blood Of Platinum
Chapter 51. Interconnected Yarn
At the family restaurant where Kino was, the gloomy atmosphere that initially felt heavy has now improved. But not for himself. Kino fell silent with her disappointed smile.
‘This is completely beyond my expectations. Who would have thought it would end like this”
Kino could not make his heart calm as if all the threads that had been tangled irregularly had been successfully changed by him.
Michaela who saw that asked Kino.
“Kino-niichan, do you want to try my food?”
“It's okay. Michaela-chan eat until you are full. After this the dessert will come”
“Assyc! The cake will come?” ask a child
“You have to finish the food quickly so that the cake can quickly come” while smiling Kino said that
Kino looked back at Stelani and Fabil who seemed to have lost his appetite. With a slight sigh to calm himself down, Kino asked the two of them with a smile.
“What food is not good?”
“No, the food is very good”
Stelani replied by looking at Kino's smiling face. Instantly his heart immediately felt like it had been pierced by a painful thorn.
‘It hurts to see Kino-niisan smile at us like that’
It was Stelani's murmur in his heart, but his face could represent it well. Kino who seemed to be able to guess it was silent for a while before speaking to the two children.
“I'm sorry I asked you to talk. I'm just trying to create a comfortable atmosphere so you don't feel sorry for me. If you two are uncomfortable with me, you better say it. I won't do anything bad to you guys”
“Ti–no! It's not! We don't think so at all!” Fabil quickly denied it
“Kino-niisan very good! You're the first person who would take us out to eat together like this, so don't say as if you're feeling guilty. We are the ones who should apologize to you, Kino-niisan” Stelani with a sad face talking looked into Kino's eyes
It's like a family drama scene where all the members blame each other, but the problem is not clear. They just don't understand each other's thoughts.
Tired of hearing the two of them blame each other, Kino could only smile cheerfully to make them excited.
“Then cheer up! I told you I won't talk to you again at meals so eat quietly. Cakes will be delivered if you eat quickly”
“……”
Seeing that smile, Stelani and Fabil slightly forgot Kino's previous question along with their guilt feelings.
As long as they all finished the rest of the food that was on the plate, Kino started talking to himself.
‘Now how do I get the most important part of this information? How do I find out where the pocket watch is now?’
The questioning mind made Kino's expression turn into a depressed look. For a moment, he had seen the two children before him looking at his face and their expressions almost returned like before. Kino quickly changed her expression back into a cheerful smile with the addition of a blushing color on her cheek making Stelani and Fabil not suspect her.
‘Now I just need to keep them from being distressed by my last question before this. I had to ignore it for a while and maintain this atmosphere’
Still not so visible the meaning of all the sentences Kino, whether he already knows something or still feel the information obtained. But for Kino now, he just needed to make this cozy atmosphere last until the end.
After a few minutes after their breakfast was up, the two maids came carrying trolleys with various cakes and a nice cold drink. All the children who had finished their breakfast immediately sparkled like they were looking at the thing they were most waiting for.
“Sorry to be waiting, dessert is ready. Please enjoy”
The two waitresses handed out the cookies and cold drinks they had ordered. Stelani and Fabil were no exception, all the children seemed so waiting for the moment.
“Kue!”
“Beauty~”
“Show is tasty~”
All those children could not stop showing such a sweet smiling face.
“Kino-niichan, can I eat this now?” with drool almost dripping, Michaela asked Kino
“Why not? Aren't you waiting for all these cookies? Make sure you spend it ya”
No need to cue, they immediately eat it quickly as if no longer need to comment on the taste.
“I want to add more chocolate!”
“I too!”
It was not until five minutes that all the cakes were barely left, even bravely they immediately asked Kino to order the cakes back.
“You're all disrespectful! You can't take advantage of the kindness of such a person! How about Kino-niisan money runs out to pay for all these food!” Stelani scolded all the children there
“But Kino-niichan said no problem, right?” one of the children answered confidently
“You all–” Fabil showed an angry look at the little ones
Without saying anything, Kino directly called the female servant earlier.
“Excuse”
“There can be helped?”
“I ordered all the same dessert menu as this again plus one portion of breakfast menu that I ordered to take home”
“Kino-niichan?” Fabil looked at wonder
“You can bring it to home. I've also ordered food for a kid named Theo so he doesn't feel left alone when you all eat well here” Kino smiled
Already could not say anything more unless one sentence in their minds was again spoken to describe the figure of Kino.
‘Dia angel’
Kino looked at his pocket watch and the time showed at 08:15.
“I went for a while to pay for this meal. If the food and the cake is finished wrapped, you can immediately receive it and get out of here to return” Kino standing and walking towards the cashier table
Stelani and Fabil who saw Kino from a distance looked at each other with feelings that were difficult to explain. The two of them started whispering unnoticed by the other children.
“I can't believe I met him in a city like this. Today is truly our lucky day. I only have one sentence for Kino-niichan, she is an angelic drop from heaven for poor children like us” Fabil takes her praise out of the heart
“I know. It's just that I feel bad for him. Besides that–”
“Stelani, don't tell me you thought about that question?”
“Umm”
Stelani nodded her head and continued her words
“Kino-niisan who had just come to this city two days had even heard rumors about a loss case that occurred at the altar. Doesn't that mean there's likely someone else who thinks we're the culprit? Even if they don't immediately think we're the perpetrators, surely they'll start to suspect we have something to do with all that”
“You're right. Moreover, only Theo who always entered the altar to steal it using the excuse of asking for donations to everyone who came. There must be one or two people who have recognized his characteristics. I'm afraid we won't be able to go to the altar again after this”
“Theo should know this. When we get back and meet him later, we have to tell him”
“I tau”
The woman's waiter came and brought her plastic-packed food and food bags. After the children received it, they immediately walked out of the place as Kino had said before. However, they did not leave immediately. They were waiting for Kino outside the door of the restaurant.
After Kino finished paying, she walked towards the exit.
‘It seems impossible for me to find out more about the previous one. Since they're home now, I hope that tomorrow I can meet them back at altar’
When he opened the door and came out, he was quite surprised when he found all the children were still waiting for him outside.
“Why are you still not home?”
“We are waiting for you, Kino-niichan” Michaela ran towards Kino
“Ah!”
With a happy smile and a strawberry red face, Michaela immediately embraced Kino's body. Kino who was shocked as the little girl ran towards him, stroked the child's hair with a smile.
“So. Thank you so much for waiting for me. Now you go home and rest”
“Kino-niisan..” Stelani calls Kino with flushed face.
“Ya?”
“What tomorrow we can all also meet you again like this?”
The eyes of all the children seemed to be hoping to meet him again. It was like answering Kino's true expectations as well as still wanting to be reunited with them. With a happy smile, Kino answered them.
“Of course you can. I'm also happy to meet you all and look forward to seeing you again. At any time if you need anything, you can go to the inn where I am and look for me”
How happy the children were to hear Kino's answer. Except for Stelani and Fabil who are embarrassed to do so, the other little ones embrace Kino as Michaela does. Kino could only laugh and stroke their heads and hair.
Kino parted with all of them and saw the eight children walking towards the back altar.
After all the children were already far enough away from where he was standing now, Kino took a breath and exhaled once.
“Haaa..”.
While taking his silver pocket watch back, he looked at the time the clock showed.
“Jam 08.25 yes. I think I should go look around the other city while remembering all the information I got today. Ryou and Kaito-san must have been surprised to hear what I got today”
Kino turned around and walked away from the restaurant while wondering to herself.
“If you recall, neither Ryou nor Kaito-san said where they would go looking for the clue of the pocket watch. They just said that we were gathered at the altar at five in the afternoon. With that much time left, where should I go now?”
Kino walked for a few minutes while continuing to look at his pocket watch that was still in his hand. After that he closed his pocket watch and stopped.
“I think it's best if I find them both and tell them all the information I get as soon as possible. Compared to having to wait for the gathering time at five in the afternoon, it would be faster if I searched for them like we did yesterday”
After entering his pocket watch, Kino did not step on his feet to walk but stopped and looked at what was in front of him with a slightly widened eye view. It was like seeing someone in front of him.
******
Ryou and Kaito had been trying to find the boy to all the places around the store area, but they found nothing related to the boy at all.
As if having missed something, Ryou could only sigh and ask Kaito who was speechless in the
beside him.
“Rush looking around here, Kaito?”
“……”
Kaito shut up and took out his pocket watch. He saw the time already showing at 08:27 by then. It had been more than twenty minutes since they decided to search for the child after coming out of the alley where they fought with the five men and the result was nil.
“How's Kaito? Give up or look at this road again? We can back off again if you want”
Ryou looked towards Kaito who still saw the pocket watch in his hand. Kaito just shut up and put his pocket watch back in. Then he looked around the place for a moment.
“Kurasa...we can go to city center only now”.
“Yosha, we go from here!”
They turned towards the city center. Along the way Kaito just kept quiet without saying anything, as if something was troubling his mind.
“You why? Didn't you say you weren't mad at me anymore?”
“No, I'm not mad at you. I was just thinking of something else”
“What is it?” Ryou asked with a curious face
“You remember when we beat all five just now?”
“Remember. Why with that?”
“I'm sure you saw that I looked at the five of them when they were already helpless. I want to know, when you saw me that time what kind of face I made?”
“....” Ryou is silent
He remembered Kaito staring at them so cynically. Ryou thought inside Kaito, he seemed to have hidden emotions to the five people.
“If you can be honest when I see you staring at them, you stare at those five with a sharp look. Even though I have said many times that I will kill them, but in reality at that time I felt that it was you who intended to kill them all. What was with you then?”
“It turns out to be true apparently” Kaito smiled mirically
“What's right?”
“Remember what I said this morning? About last night I couldn't sleep because I felt like someone was calling me?. It even makes my chest feel tight and sore like there's a hate I can't explain?”
“Of course I remember. Did it have anything to do with your question to me just now?”
“When I looked at the five people up close, I suddenly felt the way I felt last night. The feeling of hatred towards all of them and I feel that hatred will not go away if it does not kill him. Therefore I decided to immediately leave the place before that strange feeling overwhelmed me”
Kaito even muttered in his heart.
‘But I was thinking of keeping an eye on Ryou for worrying about his humanity that might start to disappear due to being stuck here for too long. But it seems like I should keep an eye on my mentality as well’
Ryou only knows that Kaito is currently unable to think clearly. There's not much he can do. However, he tried everything he could to make Kaito not lose his way and stay focused on their goal now.
“Kaito, I don't know if my words are useful to calm you down or not, but you better not think about that strange feeling”
“.....” Kaito listens to Ryou who is still continuing his sentence
“You said it this morning that it likely came from the existence of your memory, remember? Think of it as a clue to you, but don't make that strange, obscure hatred a barrier to what we're doing now”
“……”
“Despite whether the feeling has anything to do with those five people or the location of your memory piece, it doesn't mean we won't know it. I am very 100% sure that all these are threads that are interconnected with each other, therefore sooner or later we will find out the truth”
“……”
Kaito listened well to what Ryou said. He started to cool his head again and tried to control his emotions. The pain and pain of hatred from out of nowhere made him almost forget his main purpose.
After sighing, Kaito smiled at Ryou.
“Thank you. Turns out you really are Kino's real sister. Sometimes I think that you and he are not real brothers, but it turns out that your way of thinking is reliable at times like this. Exactly the same as Kino”'s
“Oi, are you praising me or insinuating me?” ryou asked in a slightly annoyed tone
“You can take that as a compliment and satire at the same time”
Ryou looked at Kaito with a cynical look as he muttered inwardly.
‘I'm sorry I tried to cheer you up! If you know this at last, I'll ignore you, you ugly bastard!’
While walking a little faster, the two of them left the shopping area and headed towards the city center.
******
Theo just silently stared with widened eyes and an expression of disbelief.
“Why...could be here..”.
It was like seeing someone who was no stranger to him. That's right, it was the brother who gave him the bread yesterday. His face slightly showed a pleased expression yet he hesitated to approach her.
‘After what I did to him.I don't think I deserve to go near that brother again. But I really wanted to get to that big brother. I want to talk to him, I want to.thank him’.
Theo lowered his head with a sad face. As he raised his head back, who would have thought that he saw the elder brother smiling widely as if it was a pleasure to see him. He saw her approaching him and called out to him.
“You were the kid yesterday, right? I'm so glad to see you again”
“……”
Theo's face flushed with pleasure. He did not expect that the good brother who gave him the bread still recognized him. He was speechless thinking of the right sentence to be able to talk to the good brother.
“Se–good morning..” Theo greeted the older brother shyly.
“Good morning. I didn't expect to see you again. How's that wound on your face? The wound is still
blue, have you treated it?”
Seeing that big brother was worried about him, Theo felt very happy. He was too happy to meet that kind brother to the point of not being able to speak fluently.
“A...Wound...Ba...Eh...?”
Theo who could not say anything cursed himself inwardly.
‘Stupid basis! You humiliated yourself in front of this good brother! Wanna put where your face is, Theo!!’
Looking at his face that was reddened in embarrassment, the person before Theo chuckled.
“Ahahaha, don't be afraid, I won't do anything bad. I'm just anxious to see your wound still look blue like it”
“……”
Theo could say nothing but show his happy expression. Unwilling to miss this opportunity, Theo asked the kind brother in front of him.
“True too. Yesterday, we did not meet. I'm Theo. Do I...can you know your sister's name too?”
“Of course. Greetings Theo-kun, my name is Yuki Kino”
“Kino..Kino-nii..” Theo smilingly calls his name.
The unexpected threads had already started to connect bit by bit.
******
