Fourth day since Jogrin's arrival at the neighborhood. After some discussion between Proxer and Naytia, they decided that they should prohibit Suzannia from meeting with Jogrin for the time being.
They began so on the second day, but to their dismay, they couldn't find their daughter since she went straight to the abandoned house as soon as school was finished for the day. Proxer then headed for the house, only to find that Suzannia was having the time of her life.
Being a doting father that he was, he couldn't bear to tear her and Jogrin apart, so he hid behind a tall bush and waited until she was about to leave. In the meantime, he missed Naytia calls for a total of 25 times, which incurred her wrath when he returned home.
As for Jogrin's "emotional perception," Proxer stood just far enough that he managed to evade Jogrin's detection.
When Suzannia distanced herself from the house a fair bit, Proxer jumped out from the bush, which gave her a pleasant surprise, as she immediately hugged him.
All of that took place out of Jogrin's detection range so he didn't realize that happening at all.
Despite yearning to speak with Jogrin, Proxer had a daughter to escort home. He became especially in a hurry when he took out his phone and saw all the missed calls. Reluctantly, speaking with Jogrin had to be put on hold.
Of course, when he was back home, he was instantly told off by Naytia, because he returned so late, not to mention the missed calls.
On the third day, Proxer arrived at the school before the bell signaling the end of day even rang, so that he wouldn't miss his daughter again.
Fortunately, his effort came into fruition as he caught Suzannia running out of the gates excitedly.
When she first saw Proxer, she was all the more exhilarated, but then the news of her being forbidden to go to meet Jogrin struck her so hard that she burst into tears. Not even Naytia's scolding could do that.
"Pwease~ I wanna see my angel!" She repeated that several times while Proxer carried her in his arms.
"I'm really sorry, Suzannia. It'll be for a while that you can't go see him. Be a good girl and listen to me, OK?" Proxer wiped the tears on her face as he told her.
She stopped flailing and buried her face in Proxer's chest. She continued to sob, but didn't beg anymore. And so, with Proxer making a wry face, they went back home.
Today, the fourth day, the same thing was happening again, except Suzannia was crying even louder. All the onlookers scowled as they witnessed this scene because of the noise being made by Suzannia. There was no misunderstanding since the Maladin family was pretty well-known throughout the neighborhood.
It was painstaking just to pick her up since she was struggling so much.
The tears on her face were reflecting Proxer's sour face as they dropped onto his shirt and seeped into it. The little girl begged again and again to see her "angel."
It was at that moment that the doting father felt extremely conflicted.
On one hand, it really might not be a good idea to let Suzannia get too close to Jogrin, since he possessed unknown powers. Though he seemed to be a reasonable fellow, after hearing his past about him and his mother, both Naytia and he were having second thoughts.
On the other hand, he really didn't want to see another drop of tears coming out of Suzannia's eyes. The scene was too heart-wrenching for him.
'There's something I want to ask of him, actually.'
Then, he decided to accompany Suzannia to the abandoned house.
...
"... Why are you two together...?"
Got off-guard by Proxer and Suzannia appearing together in front of him, Jogrin stared blankly at them while the chair was making its typical creaks.
"Ahaha... Well, you know, coincidences." Proxer awkwardly replied. He was in his casual wear, which made him look more like "a father."
"Are you talking about the fact that you're carrying Suzannia, or that she, who's related to you, was the one to find out about me first?"
"Jogrin! Hehe!"
Suzannia hopped off from Proxer's arms and dashed towards Jogrin. She then quickly latched onto Jogrin's waist. Proxer was about to stop Suzannia, but seeing that she was fine touching the new clothes Jogrin was in, he held back.
"Be careful. I told you not to touch my tail at least."
"You sure have grown on her. Like a lot."
"I don't know why either. She also called me an "angel," whatever that means."
"An angel is an angel! Come on, Papa! Let's play together!!"
With Proxer and Jogrin present at the same time, Suzannia became overzealous as she grabbed the hands of the both of them.
Neither Proxer or Jogrin was unable to say no, since the former was too much of a doting father, while the latter knew it'd be pointless in doing so.
"Where did you get this outfit by the way?"
"I used my powers to create this. Don't worry, it's harmless."
"I know. Now then, let's play with this cute daughter of mine!"
Jogrin shrugged in response to Proxer.
All they played was a few games of tag, 3 to be exact, since when Jogrin was the one to catch, he couldn't catch up with either Proxer or Suzannia, who swiftly fled from him.
However, Jogrin wasn't even breaking a sweat or even panting.
Just like that, Jogrin's turn was dragged out until Suzannia was too exhausted to play anymore. She was in Proxer's arms, and this time, instead of tears, what appeared on Suzannia's sleeping face was a look of satisfaction.
"Were you even trying, Jogrin? You don't look drained of energy at all." Proxer wondered.
"I'm incapable of running because I don't have the muscle power to do so. If you're also wondering why I'm not short of breath like you two were, it's simply because I have no need for oxygen."
"Wow... I figured there was something more when I was asking about the vocabulary, but this much is unexpected..."
"You basically admitted that those questions were asked because you had ulterior motives." Jogrin quickly pointed out.
"Urgh... I mean, you should've figured out right from the beginning, right?"
"Yes, but you didn't seem like a bad guy, so I answered truthfully anyway."
Silence pervaded between Jogrin and Proxer as the former sat still on the chair, no creaks from it.
"Say... what did think when you first interacted with Suzannia?" Proxer suddenly posed such a question to Jogrin.
"That was out of nowhere."
"Ahaha... I'm just curious..."
"She invaded my personal space abruptly and dragged me along capriciously. I told her it's dangerous here but she never listened."
"That's Suzannia, alright. Hahaha!... Did you think about pushing her away?"
"Ideally, I want her to not get close to me, or even this house... Truth be told, I thought about scaring her away by using my powers, but I couldn't go through with it."
"Why is that?"
"I don't know. I just chose not to in the end."
"I see. I'm glad to know that you're a kind person."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, the fact that you refrained from scaring or hurting Suzannia just so she wouldn't return was proof enough. Don't you think?"
"That doesn't dismiss the fact that I'm a murderer."
"It might sound like I'm just trying to make excuses for you, but that wasn't intentional, right? Besides, let me ask you, have you ever attempted to hurt those who used to bully you?"
"No... I let them do what they want to me because I deserve it."
"..."
Proxer, having heard Jogrin's inner thoughts, didn't know what to say. From what Jogrin said, it wasn't kindness, it was self-deprecation.
"A murderer deserves all the horrible treatment" was no doubt a notion that most, if not all people had. No matter the reason, intentional or not, it was inexcusable.
"I know what you're trying, but you'd best give it up. I didn't want to hurt Suzannia because she didn't have any ill intentions. As for the Darkians with ill intentions toward me, as I've said, it's forgivable since the target was me."
As if attempting to make himself clearer Jogrin added, but he added something more that shocked Proxer greatly when he heard it.
"However, if the target was someone innocent, I'd make sure the bullies suffer through the worst pain they've ever experienced."
Somehow, in an unexpected way, Proxer found out about the mindset of the person with the name: Jogrin.