Aside from that, Lakis knew Yuri was working as a clerk in the nearby coffee shop, and although her age was unknown, he could guess she was younger than him and in her early twenties.
His source was Yuri's neighbors.
When he went out while she was gone, he unintentionally overheard a few things. Apparently, it had been a few years since Yuri moved to this Ferret street. As expected, it was unknown where she lived or what she did before that.
Judging from how she dealt with his considerably severe injuries, she might be someone who had dabbled in that area in the past…
But he couldn't help but tilt his head because she was quite clumsy with treatment for that to be true.
Clack..
Lakis stood in front of his destination and turned the door knob. But like always, the door was locked. He hadn't gone inside all this while, but he changed his mind today.
—You're going in?
Rattle. Click…
Lakis easily undid the lock on the door.
Creak.
"…!"
And the moment the scene in the room finally came into view, Lakis flinched.
—Oh sh*t, that surprised me…!
The parasite in his head was also startled and noisily pitched in.
—Ah, what the hell. It's a doll? I thought it was dead body!
There were human-size dolls on display in the room. Some of them were dressed up while some of them were just covered with cloth.
—Is collecting dolls that woman's hobby? Damn, her taste is something.
Lakis didn't enter the room but stood at the entrance and looked around. Then he suddenly realized something.
The clothes that the dolls in the room were wearing looked similar in size what he was wearing right now.
'They weren't the clothes of someone who used to live here but doll clothes?'
At that thought, Lakis somehow felt a little better, for no particular reason.
'Wait.'
Right then, Lakis' sharp gaze moved somewhere. A very thin thread attached to the door soon caught his eye.
'A spider web? Is it really just an ordinary spider web?'
Lakis stared at it with narrowed eyes. Then he quietly closed the door and locked it again.
* * *
"Hello, Ms. Yuri! It's another nice day!"
Today again, the man with a mop of brown hair greeted me with a grin.
"I'd like a strong cup of coffee please!"
"Yes, a moment please."
Ever since I saw the man who gave a similar feeling to Snow at the festival, I would secretly watch Snow when he came to the store.
The red-haired man in a frog mask that I met in the square on the day of the festival. I couldn't figure why I could sense both Snow and my favorite character from him at the same time.
So afterwards, I secretly tried to sound out Snow when he visited the coffeehouse. But I didn't feel anything particularly suspicious from him and could only tilted my head in confusion. After a while, I brought Snow the coffee he ordered.
"Hm? Today's coffee is different from usual. Did you change the coffee beans?"
"Yes, we changed to Brillia beans since yesterday."
"Oh, it was Brillia. Hmm, I see. When I first smelled it, I thought it was Corcana."
"Corcana is so expensive we can't obtain it with the store's income."
"Ah…right. Ahaha. I once had the chance to taste in the past, so I was confused by the similar smell."
Hm?
I looked at him, feeling slightly surprised. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he'd had Corcana coffee quite a lot.
The beans were so expensive that common people like me even called it the 'royal coffee'. Of course, he could just be bluffing but if so, he would have shown off more and acted like he knew it all when I just said that.
But instead, he naturally changed the topic.
This sight somehow made me feel like he didn't say it to brag but made a sudden slip of the tongue. Instantly, my gut feeling as Arachne activated.
…Like I thought, he wasn't your ordinary jobless bum.
I was suddenly curious about the face hidden under that bushy hair.
"Thanks again for the drink."
While I was staring at his face like that, Snow put down his coffee and looked up. Then he smiled foolishly as he said his thanks. But despite saying so, he still had half of his coffee left.
Anyways, except from this, the pattern was pretty much the same so I thought he would soon get up to leave.
"I'd like to give you something simple in return for the delicious coffee."
Snow spoke out of the blue with a bright smile on his face, but I coldly replied.
"I don't believe in religion. I won't buy anything strange."
"No, no. Not that, I've been bored these days, so I was studying a hobby myself."
So he says but he might claim he reads palms next…
"Actually, I know a little about reading palms…"
And I was right.
"Thank you for coming."
"Ack, wait!"
I collected the coffee cup in front of Snow and zoomed off.
"Ms. Yuri, I'd like another cup of coffee please!"
Snow didn't give up and ordered coffee, showing off his useless wit. Still, a customer was a customer so despite my annoyance, I brought him another coffee.
"To be honest, I can do simple fortune telling too."
"Ah, is that so."
The weak interest I had in Snow earlier cooled and I replied in a lukewarm manner. But when I heard the words he whispered in the very next moment, I froze as I was turning around.
"Be careful of birds, Ms. Yuri."
Unlike the light, cheerful voice so far, a deep, low vibrating voice penetrated my ears. But when I turned my head, all I saw was Snow smiling as brightly as usual.
"Ah, I got interested in fortune-telling lately, self-taught though and I saw the shape of a bird in Ms. Yuri's face. It's pretty rare but maybe you might be hit with bird poo? Ugh, I don't even want to imagine such a horrid thing happening to Ms. Yuri!"
"…"
After that, Snow gulped down the coffee in one shot, said his usual thanks with a smile and got up. I watched his back until he stepped out of the store.
Flap!
"Ack!"
But Snow was the one who needed to watch out for birds. Sure enough, a crow flew over his head once he left the coffeehouse. And it released droppings on him as if it had been waiting.
I clicked my tongue as I watched him let out a short scream. When I recalled Snow looking puzzled about being hit with bird poop only when he came to Ferret Street, I felt he was slightly pitiful.
However, Odin's bird was fair, and the bird poop was evenly distributed to everyone who bothered me, so Snow didn't have to be annoyed alone. When I looked at where Snow had just been sitting, the words he left behind flashed through my mind.
.
'Be careful of birds, Ms. Yuri.'
.
Snow was someone who made it difficult to know when he was joking and when he was serious. At a glance, it looked like just a meaningless joke as usual. But for some reason, I felt like he wanted to say that, so he deliberately brought up the staple nonsense and clumsily messed around.
I picked up the second cup that Snow emptied and turned around.
Be careful of birds, huh.
It was weird remark that sounded oddly like a prophecy.
* * *
As I washed the drinking glasses in the coffeehouse, I seriously pondered in my head.
'…Is he really my favorite character?'
If things were according to the novel, my favorite character's first appearance was in the novel's first case episode, 'The Disappearance of the Orphanage Children'. Not only that, it was also when the main male-lead, Kalian Crawford met Anne-Marie for the first time.
With the disappearance of orphanage children, the number of missing people gradually increased, and eventually, the Crawford family dispatches the popular Kalian to investigate.
Among the missing children in this case, was Hestia, the younger sister of Anne-Marie. Hence, the one who discovered the reason behind the disappearances and rescued Anne-Marie's sister was none other than the main male lead, Kalian Crawford. And the one who supported the male lead by his side was the sub-character, Genos Sheldon.
Thus, the male and female leads of the novel had their fateful first meeting. After that, they kept meeting coincidentally and the two men slowly fell for Anne-Marie.
In the novel, Hestia played the role of a cupid of love, connecting their love together. She would meddle now and then, lifting the mood, and also helped with many things that deepened the affection of the protagonists.
Actually, she was nicknamed 'troublemaker' among the readers. Because she kept getting dragged into accidents, causing Anne-Marie to keep getting involved with the male characters.
But frankly, ever since I entered into this novel world…
I realized: 'wasn't Hestia just the author's 'character-pass'?(A person used as an interventional pass between a writer's characters)