With Raymond leading the way, he and Callisto entered the Megaverse book store.
And almost immediately, the young girl's jaw dropped in awe. "So many books..."
Callisto reckoned finding just one book would be quite a hurdle. Fortunately, her father had an idea how to narrow her options.
"Fantasy is your main genre, right," Raymond asked his daughter, to which she responded with a nod. "In that case, we'll go look only for fantasy books."
Luckily for the both of them, the store was very well organized. Each genre had its own section that could be easily recognized through the labels hanging from the ceiling.
"Follow me, Calli."
"Yes!"
In Raymond's case, however, he did not need any labels. He already knew his way in the Megaverse like the back of his hand.
Callisto and Raymond went further inside the book store.
"Hm?"
"Hey, look."
Along the way, the young girl noticed that there were a lot of people checking out books from each corner of the store.
"What's with that face?"
"Pretty..."
And they would all steal a glance everytime they caught the view of Callisto's pretty white face from the corner of their eyes.
Coming back to their hometown, both the father and daughter were well aware that drawing others' attention was something anyone could do even without them knowing or doing anything at all. However, they were also aware that unwanted attention, especially the kind that would put someone's life in danger, could be avoided.
With that in mind, Raymond and Callisto came up with a few ways to avoid unwanted attention.
*
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*
Before they left the hospital, Raymond handed an oversized hoodie to his daughter.
"This should cover the cat ears and your tail well," Raymond said to his daughter. "And since it's lightweight, it shouldn't pose a problem even if you're underneath the sun."
"Got it. I'll get changed."
Using a hoodie to cover up her cat ears and tail might seem too simple, considering just how problematic it would be for Callisto if people were to figure out everything about her was real. But taking the modern age into account, where most people only see what was in front of them or whatever was on their phone screen most of the time, the blue and white hoodie proved that simple is best.
*
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*
"We're here, Calli."
Just a moment of walking later, the two of them reached the fantasy section of the book store.
"Then, I'll go ahead and browse."
"I'll be right behind you."
As the young girl stood in front of one of the three shelves that were all lined up in a single row, her sky-blue marbles moved like a pair of lasers scanning each title she came across.
"There are so many promising ones in this shelf alone," said Callisto to herself out loud. "There's Aleria and there's also Christa Scarletblood: The Unetched History, but..."
Callisto found herself in a dilemma, not because she couldn't find anything interesting. Rather, because she wanted to take everything.
"Buying all of them can solve the problem, but that would make narrowing the option to fantasy stories pointless," said the girl in thought, groaning in frustration. "Guess I'll have to narrow down the options even more."
From getting a fantasy book that simply took her interest, to finding the one that she would really want to read right away. Callisto continued the search on the next shelf.
On the other hand, Raymond quietly stood behind his daughter. He noticed that the girl was seemingly having a hard time picking a book to take with them and thought about helping her out to speed up the process. But then, Raymond looked around them.
"I wonder if they already got the new issue."
"They should be."
From his left.
"Hey, how's the book I recommended to you the other day?"
"It was a good read. I'm actually looking forward for the next volume now."
"I see. I'm glad."
To his right.
Raymond noticed that more and more people are entering the book store.
And so, instead of following his initial thought, Raymond walked closer towards his daughter and extended a hand onto her hood and pulled it off her head.
Pull.
"Huh?"
Alarmed by what her father did, Callisto's cat ears perked up and looked at him in shock.
"Papa?"
"Just keep looking," Raymond responded in a whisper.
Before long, Callisto realized that the other method of keeping unwanted attention away from her was already being put to the test.
"Yes."
Keeping a natural facade, the young girl continued her search for a book.
Not far away from Raymond and Callisto, a group of teenagers, seemingly around the age as Callisto, took notice of her and her appearance.
"Hey, El, check it out," said one of the two boys in the group to the girl with red and medium-long hair.
"Huh?"
Soon after looking at the direction the boy was pointing at, the girl with red hair would lock her crimson gaze onto the silver-haired lady.
"A cosplayer?"
Following her guess, the rest of the group also made their comments.
"That silver hair and cat ears blends well with her pretty face."
"Right? It almost feels like she isn't cosplaying at all. Like, she looks naturally like that."
"Don't be silly, there's no way those cat ears are real."
"Hey, that man behind her looks kinda handsome, too!"
"A father and daughter cosplay?"
"He looks kinda familiar, though."
"Huh? You think so, El?"
Based on the reactions they got from a while ago, Raymond could say for certain that the hoodie he gave his daughter proved to be a rather useful way to keep people from being attracted by her cat ears and tail.
However, there would be days where Callisto wouldn't be able to cover herself with her hoodie. Helping his daughter get through such days was the purpose of another method of avoiding unwanted attention he came up with.
*
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*
Just moments since they left the Mandjet Medical Center, Raymond shared his idea with his daughter.
"Just go with the flow? Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Raymond said in reply to his daughter. "You see, Calli, people often fail to see what's in front of them because they cloud their minds with thoughts first instead of just looking with the naked eye. So as long as you trust me and just be yourself, there should be no problem, at all."
"I see. I understand."
*
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*
Having heard the gossips, Raymond thought to himself, "Just like I thought, they see Calli as nothing more than a random cosplayer looking to buy a book. I don't get why they thought I was doing the same, though."
Raymond continued tailing his daughter, unaware that she was still wearing his lab coat, the very reason why the group thought he was also cosplaying.
Averting her sneaky glance from the group, Callisto thought to herself, "It works just like Papa expected. Just be myself and go with the flow. That's all I gotta do."
As her search went on to the final shelf, one book finally took her notice.
"This is... Ezreal."