Eventually, Sanae and Risa took Butcher's cake out of the fridge and put it on the table. They added two candles to spell Butcher's age and lit them. We sang happy birthday for him before he blew out the candles. Somehow, Sanae and Risa were able to push his face into the cake.

They then served one slice to everyone at the party, along with the food they had prepared. It made me realize it was the first time I had eaten food prepared by them. It wasn't bad.

Once everyone was done eating, Butcher opened his gifts. It was hard choosing something to give him. A butchering knife was too obvious, as was any home appliance, since they had moved in not long ago. Knowing he didn't have many hobbies, I ended up picking something riskier.

"A flute," Butcher said as he took it out of the box. It looked even smaller in Butcher's hands.

I nodded. "I wanted to give you something you can use even when working."

"But won't the noise bother people?"

"You can use the integrated app to mute it and have the sound play on your glasses."

"I see. I actually used to play the flute in my school's band."

"Seriously?!" shouted Sanae.

Butcher nodded. "I liked it, but I wasn't the best at it. I didn't make it into the high school band, so I chose to listen to my parents and study Asteroid Economics, which had more of a future than music. It turns out I'm not smart either, so it wasn't the best decision."

The mood had become a little heavy, but he quickly fixed that by squeezing me again, to my ribs' misfortune.

"Thank you, young man."

"You're welcome…," I breathed.

He continued opening gifts and talking with everyone for a few hours until the party came to an end. Only a couple of hours of work were left for the day, so I asked everyone who wasn't on vacation to go home.

Aya, Astra, Miki, Satō, and Ceruty were the first ones to leave. Seeing people leaving made Sugioka stand up.

"I'm leaving too," she faltered. "Thank you for inviting me. It… was fun."

Butcher stared at her, speechless. Sanae wasn't nearby to elbow him, so she coughed instead.

"I'm happy," stuttered Butcher. "Thank you for coming."

Sugioka walked to the door and, hesitant, turned around to bow at us, still trembling. She then stepped out of the apartment.

As soon as the door closed, Sanae scolded Butcher.

"Why didn't you open the door for her?"

"Ah, sorry, I don't know why I froze."

Sanae sighed.

Everyone knew why.

Risa asked him, "Aren't you going to walk with her to make sure she's safe?"

"But she's as strong as me, if not more."

"And?" frowned Sanae. "It's still scary to walk alone in the Trading District."

"But we're in the limits—"

"Stop giving excuses and follow her!"

Confused and even scared, he stood up and rushed out of the apartment.

"Weren't you a bit too harsh?" I asked Sanae.

"He needs direct instructions sometimes," she answered. "And this is necessary for Operation Muscles."

The room had fallen so silent that the same question could be heard coming from everyone's minds.

Operation… Muscles?

Sanae's and Risa's plan was set in motion on their last day of vacation. Somehow, they convinced Butcher to invite Sugioka to come on the day trip the three of them had planned.

For some reason, I was part of it. They shared their location in real-time as they walked through the Trading District so that I could follow them. The only thing I worried about was being found out by Butcher or stopped by a fan, which was rare, but it had happened before.

Sanae and Risa asked me to wait until they were one street away from HQ to do my part of the plan. Once that requirement was met, I called Sanae. I could see her asking everyone to stop from around a corner a good distance away from her.

"They can't hear me, so I can say anything I want, right?" I asked.

Sanae replied, "Really? Is it that urgent?"

"This is weird. Don't you feel bad about it?"

"Okay, give me a second."

She didn't mute herself, so I was able to hear her talk with Butcher, Risa, and Sugioka.

"It's Kaito. He says he needs to discuss something urgent with Risa, me, and the girls."

I could see Butcher talking from far away, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

Sanae replied, "No, but he said it should be quick. …No! You two can keep going without us, we'll catch up as soon as we can. …Don't worry about that, I'm sure Kaito can walk with us. …Alright! We'll see you in a bit."

And just like that, they had convinced Butcher to stay alone with Sugioka. I still couldn't understand if they were using some kind of mind trick, or if Butcher simply was that susceptible to their requests.

As soon as Sanae and Risa turned around the corner, Sanae punched my arm.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"You distracted me during the call."

"Alright, I'm sorry. I just think what you're doing isn't very nice. Aren't you pushing them too hard?"

Risa shook her head. "They would've never taken the step if we didn't push them."

Sanae nodded.

I sighed. "So, now we follow them, right?"

"That's correct," Sanae answered and crossed her arms.

"We should get going, then. They are walking away already."

Sanae and Risa peeked out of the corner of the building to see Butcher and Sugioka about to cross the street. They rushed out from behind the building and I followed them.

We were wearing caps, hoodies, and tinted glasses to avoid being recognized as much as possible. We would've looked shady in any other district, but not in the Trading District, where half of the people already looked shady.

Not many people walked the streets near the limits of the district, which meant that we didn't struggle to keep sight of Butcher and Sugioka. We hid behind every parked car, post, and building possible as we tried not to lose them. People glanced weirdly at us, but the girls didn't seem to care.

Eventually, we reached one of the few parks in the district. It was tiny and it barely had any benches and trees, but it was enough for us to sit near them while hiding.

Butcher and Sugioka barely fit on the bench they sat down on, while Sanae, Risa, and I fit comfortably on the bench on the other side of the bushes. Now, we just had to remain silent and listen.

The silence lasted for an eternity. Butcher and Sugioka hadn't said a single word. Sanae's grip got stronger on her pants and her breathing became faster. I could almost see smoke coming out of her head. Not even Risa was able to calm her down.

"Plan B," whispered Sanae.

Plan B consisted of Risa sending a message to Butcher, telling him that the urgent meeting was going to take longer than anticipated. She did so and it didn't take long to hear a reaction.

"Did something happen?" asked Sugioka.

"Risa just told me that the meeting is going to take longer than they expected."

"Oh. Should we go home?"

"Well, she asked us to keep going."

They remained silent for a moment, then Sugioka continued.

"You really love them."

Butcher replied, "I do. They are my… I mean, I'm their guardian, after all."

"I know. I… read everything I found about the group and the company before taking the test you made us take to hire us. I… respect that you took care of them despite the possible consequences. I can only imagine what you had to go through."

Silence encompassed their bench once again. Even though we couldn't see them, Sanae and Risa grinning at each other was enough for me to know it had gone well.

Out of nowhere, Butcher stood up, making Sanae, Risa, and I straighten our backs to keep our faces from being seen.

"Let's go to the arcade, then," Bucher said.

"Okay."

As soon as they walked away, I turned toward Sanae and Risa to ask them,

"Go to an arcade on a date?"

Sanae counterattacked, "Haven't you taken Aki to an arcade?"

"How do you…? That's not the point."

"I know," she smirked. "We chose an arcade because he's really good at classic games, so he can show off."

"Are you sure you weren't the ones that were bad at them?"

Sanae punched the same spot in my arm. This time I only groaned and caressed the spot.

She continued, "The real reason we chose the arcade is that it is in the neighborhood where Gorō used to be the meat provider of many restaurants."

Risa added, "Many people still say hi to him and to us too. They respect him a lot, so Sugioka will be impressed by that."

Sanae nodded.

"That's actually a good idea," I said.

"And the rest weren't?"

Guessing it was a trap question, I decided not to answer.

"Wise choice. Let's go before we lose them."