Chapter 795: NO.164: Which one will it be, after all?

NO. 164: Which one will it be, after all?

【Yuehuanshe: May I ask, is this website still operating?】

【E Ye: Certainly, Lord Aomo Lindun, although the annual Hei'an villain appearance selection is held once a year, it also places great importance on operational preparations during the off-season; usually there are six to seven long-term activities stationed to maintain the heat of the current term's champion.】

【Yuehuanshe:... I thought it would be an AI customer service reply.】

【E Ye: If it's an ordinary user, that would indeed be the case, but for a champion like Lord Aomo Lindun visiting, naturally feedback would be transferred to a human handler immediately... So... what brings you here?】

【Yuehuanshe: I want to confirm the progress of the previous merchandise production.】

【E Ye: Progress…? May I ask, have you been overly busy lately?】

【Yuehuanshe: Indeed, so does this mean the merchandise supply chain has been completed?】

【E Ye: Yes, as early as the beginning of August we had already finished negotiations with all manufacturers, officially commenced staggered promotion and sales; recently you should have received successive large-sum transfers, and if you haven't received an SMS notification, please check.】

【Yuehuanshe: Indeed there have been quite a few SMS notifications, but I'm asking about the progress.】

【E Ye: Ah, please wait, the project manager will speak with you next.】

——The customer service has been transferred to the account——

【An Ying: Lord Lindun, hello, I am the product manager of Jiyuan Company, belonging to the organizing committee of the Hei'an Annual Villain Selection; you wish to confirm the progress of the champion's merchandise production, correct?】

【Yuehuanshe: Hello, Manager An Ying, actually to be specific, I want to understand my current, uh... 'popularity'.】

【An Ying: Popularity... I see, you think the number of fan support clubs and the follower count on personal accounts contain some inflation, right?】

【Yuehuanshe: Exactly, so I want to start by converting from sales data channels.】

【An Ying: Then we also need to subtract the results brushed up during the hype period; please wait a moment.】

【Yuehuanshe: No problem, I want precision, so please also don't be impatient.】

Not shying away from mentioning one's own 'brushed results' is a good sign, proving the other party isn't overly maintaining a formalized distance.

Thus Aomo typed out that string of characters, then also leaned back slightly against the chair, and with a sufficiently relaxed posture lifted a finger to hover over the keyboard, typing another chapter note.

【Avoid missing necessary data】

Then he stood up and walked toward the outside of the bedroom.

He intended to make a cup of hot cocoa.

Although he doesn't particularly like sweet foods, he also has to admit that a working brain always needs a sugar supplement.

During the day, busy with investigation, he also had to pick out running shoes and horseshoes for the little girl, plus there was a troublesome sister originally recruited to help and for a long-overdue walk, but the result was as if he'd invited trouble himself—every now and then a few sentences thrown out could make him fall silent, or make his roommate silent, and finally could even make her herself silent.

What a silence mage.

He was somewhat mentally tired, and despite that, life had to go on as usual.

Everyone says to reward oneself one must have some sweets; his past self would scoff at this, but his present self……

……Does hot cocoa count as a sweet?

Aomo isn't too clear on the difference, just as he also doesn't understand why hot cocoa and hot chocolate need to be so strictly separated; anyway, Bourbon doesn't make that distinction, so the office fridge has both cocoa powder and specially preserved chocolate chips.

This sounds somewhat like a trainer stealing the feed of horse girl drinks, but that was also Bourbon's original intention when he started school and kept those raw materials.

Likewise, there are the coffee beans of Chazuo and the tea bags of Suzi.

All are convenient so that during holidays one can also drink what they want, and even when not on holiday they don't forget to often remind Aomo and Xi.

But in terms of results, they'd be better off just reminding Aomo.

After all, some people always want a drink but make their roommate brew it; after a month, they drink twice as often as their roommate, yet hardly ever brew it themselves.

But it doesn't really matter.

Although the brewing isn't done by oneself, the weight gain is one's own.

In the end, one will still be dragged by the roommate to go running, swimming, climbing stairs, planking, sit‑ups……

After all that, one's mood feels almost as unpleasant as smashing her monster model.

Of course, this is just an analogy.

So far no one has smashed her monster model; otherwise the unpleasantness wouldn't be just hers.

But having said that, this guy always won't shed a tear until he sees the coffin; he won't accept exercising unless forced into a cruel little hula hoop, so maybe we shouldn't prepare such high‑calorie drinks for her?

Looking at the second cup he unconsciously pulled out, Aomo felt a bit hesitant, thinking maybe he should put it back.

Supervising others' weight loss also takes one's own time; Xi has never been someone with enough perseverance in this regard, and not frequently watching her is truly ineffective.

Thus one can't really operate efficiently with multithreading.

Although listening to the screams of the female demon is also a nice life adjustment, being a bit slimmer just reduces one's workload; perhaps there's no need to craft one's own noose in every second of life——

——This month, feeling unusually busy, Aomo rarely begins to hesitate.

"Little——snake——!"

Then he heard such a drawn‑out call, and even without getting an immediate reply, another loud, somewhat sharp shout came: "Little snake! Where are you!!"

"……Downstairs," Aomo replied helplessly, turning his head and raising his voice, "You sound like you need a cup of hot cocoa to soften your cardiovascular system."

"Eh! Is there hot cocoa?" Accompanied by the thumping of slippers on the small stairs growing louder, it was the person's unreservedly happy voice: "Please make me a cup too!"

"Sure~ sure~" He replied somewhat wearily, without turning back, operating the instant noodles and spoon, "But have you prepared for the end‑of‑month exercise?"

"Uh……

That hesitant voice, already jogging up to the side, made him speechlessly lift his head and roll his eyes.

This eye‑roll could not be noticed by Xin Tiao Xi, because the altitude difference between the two is like an unbridgeable chasm; only by jumping could one barely reach it, and since Miss Xi didn't jump, she still gave Aomo a vexed look as if it were a great intuitive success.

"What kind of reaction is this?! My period's coming soon, is that not allowed?!"

"……" Aomo, encountering this topic for the second time, simply raised both hands in surrender, then lowered them in invitation.

"Please, feel free."

Although this remark is shocking, the reasoning is actually sound: hot cocoa, carrying considerable calories and sugar, can both alleviate low mood and warm the stomach, but……

"Just be careful not to overdo it, or you won't be able to sleep."

He stepped to the side, standing there neither humble nor arrogant, and said, meeting the girl's push: "Xiao She, are you being completely merciless with me?"

"I think this is also proof of a good relationship."

"Mo~~~! You're using that kind of talk to brush me off! I clearly came specially to check on your situation!"

"That's somewhat unexpected; what kind of situation do I have that needs special attention?"

"It's not because of anything else!"

"Why? Xin Tiao Qian saw this doubt in Aomo's gaze, which made her hesitate for a moment."

"No matter what, she had never told Aomo that she held the title of president of the forum's fan club."

"The main reason she became president was her past effort of organizing help to solicit votes, and she also believed she had not exposed that in front of Aomo."

"So when contacted by official staff asking if she could provide recent trends of the fan club's topics, she immediately wondered whether something had happened to Xiao She."

"But she still wanted to be a bit indirect."

"This identity could be revealed, even openly, but not now."

"—She hasn't yet found the chance to really give Xiao She a hard time! Before being caught red‑handed, she at least needs to 'cause some trouble' to make it worthwhile, right?"

"But if she doesn't say it, how else can she make up a story?"

"Are we supposed to say we're worried just because we see him acting with Sai Luo and Jie De? That's weird, kimo‑like, and she's not the heroine of some shoujo manga; moreover, shouldn't acting together with Sai Luo and Jie De make her feel safer?"

"Those justice heroes of the Land of Light always pick a fight with one and end up stirring up a whole bunch; they might suffer a setback sometimes, but they always regain their standing."

"How should she make up a story?"

"She was thinking in a tangled mess, and even though she had never felt such anxiety and irritation in her school, which was almost being built into her own palace, she couldn't help but glance up instinctively."

"She knew that he only needed to confirm a few key details to infer others' thoughts, as if he could read minds, while her own obvious loss of composure would make him wonder what she was thinking."

"Holding such worry and even panic, her furtive glance only caught a glimpse of the side of his neck."

"As fair as a woman's skin lacking sun exposure, and compared to the noticeably thicker shoulder‑raising muscles, sternocleidomastoid, etc., seen when they first met, the outline of these neck muscles shows a subtle increase in overall muscle mass after a second growth spurt."

"It sounds like his neck has gotten much thicker, but the overall visual change isn't that big."

"Such a change is even hard to notice for many people, but for a model‑builder who hand‑assembles and paints models, it's certainly worth noticing those slight differences in the contours."

"The clearer her memory of the first meeting, the more clearly she notices that small difference now."

"But right now isn't the time to sneak a glance at her roommate's development; she is wholly surprised, surprised that he is not facing her but has instead turned his attention back to the desk."

"Then he pushed a cup of steaming hot cocoa toward the desk nearest her."

"Drink it soon and rest soon."

"After the roommate finished speaking, he patted her shoulder, took his own cup, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving her gazing at the kitchen door."

"She recalled his earlier gaze toward her."

"That smile, touched with a bit of care, was as calm as after the flustered first meeting, leaving her unable to fully understand it."

"But back then, what she didn't understand was only the speed of his psychological adjustment; now, what she doesn't understand is what's on his mind."

"Did she notice it or not?"

"If the former, her state of mind would crumble a bit, as if a dam she'd been repairing for months were suddenly struck by Grozam with a Mebius on top, then the night‑raid team dug out and sabotaged the base, and finally Masked Rider and monsters fought, kicking it hard from above."

"Next, it would be washed away by the waves."

"But if the latter, she would feel a certain emptiness in her heart, as if he no longer paid her that much attention."