"I never tried to deceive you. Everything I said was the truth."
Uchiha Byakuya corrected her immediately.
"Oh? That makes it even worse! Saying those things to a little girl like me... Tsk, lolicons are disgusting."
Eto teased him with a playful smirk.
"No, no, that's not the case at all. If anything, you should call me an 'Eto-con,' not a lolicon."
Byakuya refuted her with a serious expression.
"You... You're getting bolder with your words."
Eto was momentarily taken aback.
This guy really dared to say anything; he was so straightforward.
But at the same time, she became even more certain that his feelings were genuine.
"So from now on, stop calling me a lolicon."
Byakuya said calmly.
"Hmph~ Well, that depends on your attitude and behavior."
Then, Eto suddenly suggested, "How about we go on a date tomorrow?"
"A date?"
Byakuya hadn't expected her to bring that up out of nowhere.
"Yeah. We haven't actually gone on a proper date before, have we? Even if we're only a couple in name, never having gone on a date just feels wrong."
Eto reasoned.
"That makes sense… I'll think about where we should go tomorrow."
Byakuya had never seriously considered dating before, nor had he ever gone on one. He had no idea what made for a good date.
A movie? A café? An amusement park?
Those were the few options that came to mind, but they all felt too cliché.
"No need to think so hard. Let's just go to the library tomorrow."
Eto decided for them.
"We'll read books, borrow books, maybe even buy a few. Doesn't that sound nice?"
As an author, she needed a vast amount of reading material.
In fact, the most successful writers tended to have the broadest reading habits, often spending most of their time either writing or reading.
"That does sound pretty nice."
Byakuya nodded in agreement.
He liked reading as well, so he found the idea quite appealing.
"Then it's settled. Actually, why don't we bring Mayu and Juuzou along? It's always good for kids to read more books."
Eto suggested.
The Next Day
Both Mayu and Juuzou agreed to go.
Together with Byakuya and Eto, they visited Tokyo's largest library.
The library was quite crowded, but it didn't have any RC detectors at the entrance.
First, they took Mayu and Juuzou to the children's section to pick out some books. Then, carrying the books, they moved to another area.
Eto picked out several literary classics, and Byakuya did the same.
Though they called it a date, the two of them simply sat together in silence, reading.
Occasionally, they would share interesting passages with each other or recommend books they liked.
Meanwhile, Mayu and Juuzou seemed to be getting along even better. The two of them sat on the same chair, reading the same children's book together.
Since neither of them was particularly literate, they had to help each other figure out unfamiliar words.
Mayu had learned some characters from her "mother," while Juuzou had attended kindergarten and was now receiving basic education at the CCG's orphanage.
To get through a single children's book, they had to work together, assisting each other in understanding the words they didn't recognize.
At that moment, Byakuya caught sight of two familiar figures out of the corner of his eye.
"What a coincidence… I didn't expect to run into them here."
He sounded slightly surprised.
Eto, who had been focused on her book, also lifted her head. Following Byakuya's gaze, she saw Arima Kishou and Uruka Minami engaged in an animated conversation.
"Oh? That really is quite the coincidence."
Meanwhile, Arima Kishou also noticed Uchiha Byakuya and Yoshimura Eto sitting a short distance away.
Uruka Minami, however, was still unaware, as she was facing Arima while speaking, with Byakuya and Eto outside her field of vision.
"We've run into some acquaintances," Arima informed her.
"Huh? Where?"
Minami glanced around and quickly spotted the two of them.
"You're right! Uchiha-kun and Eto-sensei are here too. Let's go sit with them!"
She kept her voice relatively low, mindful of the fact that they were in a library.
A moment later, Arima and Minami joined Byakuya and Eto at their table, greeting them as if they were close friends.
Minami, however, couldn't help but be curious about the two children sitting nearby; two little girls, she assumed.
They must be people Uchiha-kun and Eto-sensei knew; otherwise, they wouldn't be sitting together so naturally.
Eto noticed Minami's inquisitive gaze and introduced them.
"This is my younger sister, Mayu. Byakuya and I are taking care of her."
"And this is Juuzou Suzuya, a very adorable little boy. He was nearly auctioned off at a ghoul auction before."
As Eto spoke, Mayu politely greeted Arima and Minami.
Hearing this, Minami nodded in understanding.
She suddenly felt a bit awkward; she had almost mistaken Juuzou for a girl. Thankfully, she hadn't blurted it out, or that would have been quite rude.
"I see… But wait, there was an auction for humans?"
Minami had never heard of such a thing before.
The upper echelons of the ghoul world were completely beyond her reach.
"That's right. They specialized in auctioning off humans. But luckily, Byakuya and your boyfriend took care of it."
Eto smiled as she spoke.
"Mm-"
Minami responded reflexively, but it took her a moment to register what Eto had just said.
Her face immediately flushed red as she hurriedly denied it.
"No, no, no! I'm not in that kind of relationship with Arima-kun!"
Eto put a finger to her lips in a "shushing" gesture.
"Keep your voice down. Besides, Minami-chan, your panicked reaction totally gave you away~"
"It's really not like that…"
Minami lowered her head in embarrassment, too flustered to even look at Arima.
Though she did have feelings for him, their relationship wasn't like that; at least, not yet.
Arima, on the other hand, remained expressionless. Either he was tacitly acknowledging it, or he simply saw through Eto's teasing and didn't care.
"Oh? I thought you two were here on a date as well."
Eto continued to tease Minami, clearly amused.
"I mean, two high schoolers spending time together at the library; it doesn't look that simple, does it?"