A Sunday afternoon. Students and workers would cherish this remaining time to enjoy themselves before they put themselves back into schoolwork and job for five days straight respectively. For some students, however, this remaining free time wasn't so free, as they had to deal with the consequences of procrastination.
Zanphia and Zenover were examples of this. Nonetheless, it wasn't their fault that this was happening to them. After all, they were completely occupied yesterday. To make matters worse, they also suffered insomnia last night, so they found it hard to focus on their work the entire morning.
There was another reason for their lack of concentration. It was because they were conscious of Jogrin's presence, which was to be expected. Despite what went through together earlier this morning, it wasn't like they could be accustomed to him in such a short time. They'd glance at Jogrin from time to time.
They were sitting opposite to each other at the dining table, while Jogrin was sitting on the couch in the living room. There was no door to separate both rooms and the structure of the house made it seem as if the two rooms were actually one huge room, so Jogrin was easily spotted, especially with his imposing presence.
As for why they weren't working in their own rooms, that was because both of their desks were messy due to their prolonged procrastination in cleaning it up.
Even knowing that he could tell how they were feeling with "emotional perception," they couldn't just suppress their emotions with a snap of fingers. It was practically impossible for them.
As for Jogrin, while he could feel gazes being directed at him, there was nothing he could do. He wanted to head out so that he wouldn't be distracting Zanphia and Zenover, but Kapel rejected that. The reason was that he didn't want others who lived in the neighborhood to catch sight of Jogrin just yet. While this household was far from the town center, there were still pedestrians and cars passing by from time to time.
However, Jogrin found that reason redundant, since the campsite behind the household was plain for them to see already. Besides, he didn't really have to venture into somewhere with dense population. He was fine with going to the campsite and settle in there for the time being.
When he proposed that, Tyron told him that the Knights were currently convening a meeting, so it was best not to bother them. Meanwhile, he detected that Proxer was still feeling troubled from the matter last night, so he also didn't want to bother him. Therefore, Jogrin had no choice but to stay here.
"It's time to take a break, guys! Here, Suzannia and I made some snacks for you!" Naytia and Suzannia took out a couple of plates with pancakes on them.
"I helped Mama out!" Suzannia spoke with anticipation. It seemed she and Naytia had made up. Or perhaps Suzannia wasn't the type to hold grudges.
"Good job, Suzannia. I bet it'll taste really nice." Zenover showed a her a gentle smile.
"Nn!!" It was totally imaginable that Suzannia would be wagging her tail if she had one.
"Look at the favoritism! Big sister Zanphia is sad!"
"Zanphia also gets a pancake! I'll feed you!"
"Oh my! Little Suzannia's going to feed me!" Zanphia turned to look at Zenover.
"Why are you looking at me with that smug..."
"I'm the favored one here! Jealous? Hehehe!"
"Yeah, I'm soooo jealous."
"It's okay, Zenover! Let me feed you instead. Now, say 'ahh.'"
"Stop! Aren't you embarrassed?!"
"It's natural that as a big sister, I should take good care of my little brother!"
"I can feed myself!"
"Zenover's the one who's getting embarrassed!"
"Suzannia will feed Zenover!"
"I can feed myself!!!"
"They sure get along well." Jogrin, who was witnessing this scene playing out before him, muttered.
"Yes. It is always lively to have them around. I do hope that they can stay this way." Kapel, having heard Jogrin's comment, concurred with him.
While this was a happy and warm occurrence within a typical family, between siblings, there was something amiss about this. It was something subtle, but at the same time, Jogrin felt like it was something worth looking into.
It wasn't something that could really cause any issues, maybe.
Jogrin kept this in mind for now. If an opportunity arose, he would ask Zanphia and Zenover respectively about this.
In the next moment, Zenover's mouth was stuffed full of pancake. Combining with his look of resignation, Zanphia and Suzannia burst out laughing. Naytia, who was standing behind Suzannia, let out a chuckle as well.
"Jogrin! Eat this pancake!" Suzannia then ran towards Jogrin while holding the pancake with a fork.
'Eat... I remember I first heard this word from Proxer. It's an action that helps one's body to gain nutrition... So this is a piece of nutrition? And from what I saw just now, "eat" means putting the piece of nutrition in the mouth... Still, my body doesn't function on nutrition.'
"I don't eat." After that thought, Jogrin rejected Suzannia.
"But it's tasty! I made it for you!!" Suzannia tried to do the same thing to Jogrin as she did to Zenover.
"Ah, Suzannia..." Naytia grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back a little. "Jogrin doesn't eat, really. Give this to Mr. Tyron, okay?"
"But..." Suzannia was let down by the fact that Jogrin wasn't going to eat the pancake she helped to make.
"Oh, it's fine. Suzannia can have an extra one." Tyron, feeling bad about receiving goodwill out of the blue, declined the offer.
Suzannia didn't bat an eye at Tyron, however, which was quite hurtful to him, but he didn't let it get to him since this was just a child's tantrum. Speaking of which, Suzannia was still trying to force Jogrin to ingest the pancake.
Perhaps this was what would happen when a child was spoiled too much. In Suzannia's case, she was spoiled by at least four people. This was especially the case for the father who granted pretty much every single one of her wishes.
"Suzannia. Please understand that from time to time, there are those who would decline your goodwill. You need to understand that you cannot force it on them, against their will. Your goodwill may sully your relationship with the party otherwise."
Kapel attempted to speak some sense into her, which Jogrin believed to be the best of action, so he thought that Kapel made a good move. However, for a child to understand all that might be a tall story. Suzannia didn't seem to hear Kapel, as she kept the pancake glued to Jogrin's mouth, which he began to find annoying. He didn't make any expression to show it though.
One drop, two drops. They fell on Jogrin's knees.
"Do you hate me, Jogrin...?"
"I'll eat it."
Though a little bothered by Suzannia's persistence, Jorin still didn't want to see her cry, so he changed his mind and accepted the pancake. Well, now he had became one of the culprits to spoil Suzannia. Realizing this, Jogrin turned to Naytia, and gave her a look that said "you've had t rough."
Jogrin took the knife and stared at the pancake for a while.
"I've never... eated? Before in my life, so I don't know what'll happen once I put this in my mouth."
"Stop. You do not know what will happen?" Kapel immediately became alerted after he heard Jogrin.
"Well, I do know that it definitely won't activate my powers... If you're still skeptical, you can eat this instead."
Suzannia pouted and grabbed Jogrin's hand. She shoved it deep into Jogrin's mouth. Jogrin saw it coming, but he was overpowered by Suzannia, a little girl, so he let go of the fork, but the pancake still managed to make it into his mouth.
"Suzannia! That's rude!" Naytia reprimanded her. "Jogrin, are you alright?"
She carried Suzannia away as Jogrin took the pancake out of his mouth.
"Sorry, I don't know what to do after this piece of nutrition goes into my mouth, so forgive me for not being able to eat it."
It wasn't just about him having never eaten before, but also the fact that he lacked the swallowing reflex to achieve this action. He didn't choke either since he also lacked the related reflex.
"Suzannia! Apologize to Jogrin now!"
"I'm... sorry..."
Jogrin could sense that she felt regretful, and patted her head to show that he wasn't mad at her. Perhaps this experience would serve a lesson for Suzannia that she shouldn't force what she wanted to others.
'It tasted bland.' Jogrin thought to himself as Suzannia leaned toward himself while sobbing.