"Thanks, sis."
Ren thanked his sister as he grabbed the lunchboxes off her hands, the two of them then slowly sat down on the floor while making sure they didn't drop their lunches.
Lauren had been observing the two gradient-coloured haired twins ever since she entered her class exactly 9:00a.m. to avoid suspicions of her acting strange with her observation. However, during her investigation...
"They came into class at nine, and there's others following behind, late with them. Ashen haired boy and girl, delinquent behaviours from their constant chatters and insults toward..."
She sighed as she decided to not call the Rirota twins by name, "Them. They're not allies but it seems like they made a deal between them."
Ren nodded, taking in the new information of their Rirota's, he then asked, "Anything new with our Rirotas?"
She shrugged as her expression was masking confusion over her Rirota's attitude, "It's just me but... my... Rirota is a bit more, studious, unlike how she used to be back in my world. Your Rirota might be the same, since he's not paying attention in class."
Ren nodded, "Because he didn't need to. He's an intelligent guy."
"...Right... and that's it, so far. They looked like genuine siblings.", she felt annoyed in her heart about Ren's half-assed answer.
"I see, it's the first day after all. They might be acting differently at home... I'll go over there and you stay at home after school.", he gave a plan he thought in his mind, "I have the gaps, so he won't see me come and go."
Lauren asked, "Do you even know where he's living at?"
Ren shrugged, "Don't know if this Rirota lived together with his family or not. But, I know their family house and I'll check if he's there or not. I'll be in the shadows, after all."
"... Be careful.", although her cringing expression didn't match her worried tone.
"Thanks, sis.", he forced out a chuckle to hide his embarrassing words.
After school.
"Well, I'm cooking tonight, what do you need, brother?", Lauren offered to cook for the night. As Ren volunteered to investigate on their Rirotas with his special powers, she felt the need to be at least helpful in the house while being siblings. He looked at her with confused expression.
"You can cook?", he was clearly sizing her up as her height might not... actually, she would find it rather difficult to chop ingredients or fry anything. She glared at him, angered from how he sounded, "Don't we have a step at the kitchen? I'm not that stupid to cook if I can't even reach the top cabinets!"
"Sorry."
"... I'll just burn your food if you doubt me ever again.", she threatened him, making him feel bad for thinking of her being unreliable with her petite size.
He watched her walk home by herself and waved his hand until she basically blended in with the background of the bustling sights of the town.
"Haa...", he sighed as he faced the direction of where he last spotted four people leaving the school together.
[Ashen haired twins... Warrior?], he remembered a detail that Rirota in his world had mentioned to him. The one who killed him in the first place.
"...I need to keep watch of those bastards... bastard.", he felt like the ashen haired girl had nothing to do with Rirota. However, he should keep his eyes on them for just in case.
Lauren might be interested in that girl herself if he didn't bother her.
Ren followed behind them and remembered another fact about his Rirota in the old world, to make him unable to find whoever was following or watching him, Ren will need to be at least three blocks away from their position and at least three bodies of random civilians to block out his senses.
This was because, the Rirota he knew had learned from the best assassin in the world, although forcibly, according to him. In any case, Ren was ready to make full use of his endurance relying ability, Paper Gaps to close the distance between them and disappear in thin air by ripping spaces to stay within the gaps' dimensions.
[Shit, Rirota's falling behind them all, did he notice me already? His situation awareness is too broken!], he thought as he froze while his entire person is inside the gap, only his sights are still present in the naked space. He chose to stick to the walls to keep people from suddenly brushing against his eyes, injuring him in the process.
[... He's thinking of something... he is aware of this world.]
He watched his company crossed the road over for the fastfood restaurant, [Great, that's a good spot to relax your feet and chatter. I'll eavesdrop under the table and quickly check on their family house in my memory.]
Ren kept himself cloaked and crossed the streets without worrying about the traffic. He can't be injured if he was completely hidden away with his magics. However, he needed to somehow make sure that his ear won't be spotted by anyone while he's eavesdropping on them without raising any suspicions.
He entered the restaurant when he took notice of one of them opening the door to enter inside the establishment. He waited patiently for either of them to find a seat and found Rirota strolled and sat down on the empty table near the windows facing the streets.
[...Cool as ever, this guy.], he opened a gap under the table and planted his ear after casually ripping the space of his ear, separating it from his head as he kept it concealed under the table.
[Fuhh, putting it under Rirota's side is the best option right now. He never really move much from his position so I'll be fine.]
Ren let out a sigh in his mind before creating a gap inside of his dimension to observe a place in his mind, Rirota's family home. However...
He found something unexpected, it was rather odd for him as he knew that his memories never failed him, yet, he found the living room of the family home is completely empty and lacked furnitures.
It looked abandoned on his first glance. He clicked his tongue inside of his dimension. Now, he needed a plan C.
Plan A was having Lauren observe the twin Rirotas, next... Plan B was about Ren's current investigation and observations. He now needed to scrap those plans away and replace it with a third one on the spot.
[Time to follow them home, this Rirota may not be the same one I know after all, but... they are...!], his ear perked up from catching Rirota's voice.
"I was thinking about who else is like us. Do you have someone like that, Virgil?"
[Nice... both Warrior and Rirota are aware twins!], he smiled as he closed off his unneeded gaps to keep on listening to their discussion.
However, they stopped talking about the situation immediately. Ren decided to take his ear back and kept himself cloaked while traversing around the four people by the table and 'sat down' on one of the empty seat on another table beside them. Although, it was funny to listen in on their banters regarding a pack of large fries.
He was more happy with witnessing Rirota's pleasant expression of drinking the strawberry milkshake, he had missed his faces in those... less than a month's worth of adventures together. He sighed audibly, although not a single soul could hear him. There was no other information he could receive from them, leaving Ren with one choice left.
To follow Rirota duos straight to their house.
Meanwhile...
Lauren appeared to be struggling to reach for something deep inside of the top cabinet of their kitchen set.
"Oh great... why is the pepper powder so far deep in there?!", she shouted quietly in annoyance as she couldn't help herself to fetch for it.
"...Argh! I'll just have to go buy a separate pepper powder in a bottle!", she turned off the stove and put the frying pan into the sink.
She then rinsed the pan, getting rid of the butter she had put in. She... was trying to cook fried eggs to be made as rice omelette. She grabbed a pen out of her school handbag and jotted on the notepad that was hanged nearby the refrigerator.
"Carton of eggs, bell peppers, onions, garlic, pepper powder... do we need more rice?", she had the butt of the pen poke herself in the cheek, "Hmmm... oh, cooking oil!"
She ripped the paper of the notepad and took her purse and a recyclable bag along with her before leaving the house locked, she hummed softly as she skipped her way to the nearest grocery stores...
"Hm-mhm-mhmmm~ Hm-mmmhm~" [In the shadows~ How cringy~], still mocking him for his words earlier that day.
(A/N: She was humming what was she thinking of. I'm no good at music, I'm illiterate as hell.)