"F…Father! W…we…uh, well…"

"We're just trying to see if there's anything we can help with," I blurted out.

"Oh." Nan Gong Jiao Shou chuckled and waved us away. "Don't bother. You'll only get in the way of my wife. Zhao Yan's already a handful…though I think you're actually going to be of more help than your sister, Yue Jian."

"Yes! I…"

"But Zhao Yan is determined to contribute to making the meal because she wants to thank her friend, so I think we should give in to her willfulness today. Yue Jian, go and entertain our guest."

"Uh, well…I don't need to be entertained, so please don't mind me…"

"I'm sure." Nan Gong placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed, silencing any protests I might have. "Shu Cong…was it? I'll be counting on you. Zhao Yan tends to be a little…socially awkward, so I hope you can forgive her deficiencies and remain her friend. Take care of her in school for me, okay?"

Deficiencies? That Zhao Yan? You've got to be kidding me!

"I'm sure she doesn't need me to take care of her. She's a strong and independent lady."

"While I'm flattered that you think so highly of my daughter, I would still like you to keep an eye on her for me. She might seem…perfect, but that's only because she's putting up a strong appearance. To the point where she pushes herself too hard sometimes. Don't be deceived by her hard, sh.e.l.l-like exterior. Even someone as remarkable as Zhao Yan needs someone to rely on."

Under Nan Gong's gaze, I could only nod dumbly. Now that I thought about it, when compared to Ji Yan, who was always surrounded by cla.s.smates and friends, I had only ever seen Zhao Yan alone. She always cut a solitary figure in campus, usually moving through the corridors by herself.

Huh…I had never realized it before, but I guess I was too blinkered by my perspective, which was influencd by manga, manhua, webnovel and anime tropes, to see Zhao Yan for who she really was. In a way, I was just as socially awkward as she was, but even I actually had friends who I could hang out with. Some of them might be a couple of years younger than me, but…yeah.

I kind of missed Dong Fang Yue Chu, Craig, Theodore and the others. I wondered how they were doing. And I was reminded that I had yet to make any real friends here, other than maybe Miura and Rossetti.

"Sure, I understand."

With a smile, Nan Gong left me and Yue Jian behind, heading for the study room to complete whatever research he was working on at the moment. s.h.i.+fting uncomfortably, probably embarra.s.sed because she was caught by her father, Yue Jian stared at me helplessly.

"What should we do now?"

"Um…watch television, I guess?"

Ah…television. The mighty piece of technology that saved anyone from painful experiences of awkwardness and boredom. I never watched it now because I tended to stream anime online, but it was the perfect excuse to escape this predicament.

As we made our way toward the living room, my eyes couldn't help but be drawn toward the stairs leading to the bas.e.m.e.nt. Pus.h.i.+ng my gla.s.ses up, I stopped and gazed curious into the darkness below. Once again, my overactive imagination went into overdrive.

"What's in the bas.e.m.e.nt?" I asked. For some reason, I was picturing a ma.s.sive secret laboratory underneath, filled with serum tanks – clones floating within them – and esoteric machinery. It was no coincidence that the professor's name was Nan Gong, and his daughters all had the same name as the three main heroines (also triplets) of an infamous vampire manhua.

"Huh? Nothing." Yue Jian looked at me, bewildered, but I was not convinced. Her reaction wasn't suspicious at all, but I was determined to unearth the secrets beneath the Nan Gong manor. Oh, of course. Yue Jian wouldn't know anything – there was no way her father would divulge the secrets of his illegal research to her. I bet even his wife didn't know anything about this. "Cleaning tools and stuff, I think. Some of Father's research equipment."

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Eh?" Yue Jian blinked in puzzlement, as if wondering why I would ever want to go down to the dark and dingy bas.e.m.e.nt and stare at stored equipment. "Uh, okay?"

Without paying much attention to her, I headed downstairs, flipping a switch to flood the bas.e.m.e.nt with light. The bas.e.m.e.nt looked the same as everywhere else, with a large s.p.a.ce and a couple of storerooms. I stepped into the storerooms and rummaged, much to Yue Jian's dismay.

"Um…what are you looking for?"

"A secret lever," I replied without any hesitation. "Something that will open up the secret pa.s.sageway to your father's laboratory."

"There's no such thing!" Yue Jian exclaimed, annoyed. "Father's laboratory is at the university! He doesn't have much stuff related to his research here!"

"That's what he would have you believe," I told her, and she grew even more infuriated.

"What are you even talking about?!"

"I know the truth," I informed her, my lenses gleaming as I pushed my gla.s.ses up knowingly. "Your father cloned the three of you in order to inherit the Mei Yue Min. I'm surprised that you didn't end up in an accident in the underground laboratory while cleaning it one day, trying to grab a bottle of bleach, only for the whole platform to collapse under you and dump you into burning chemicals."

"THAT NEVER HAPPENED!" Yue Jian shrieked, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "I have no idea what you're going on about since earlier!"

"Vampires," I replied.

"We have nothing to do with vampires!" Yue Jian snapped, and then she blinked. "Huh? Vampires? Why vampires? Aren't they legendary monsters or something?"

"Yeah…some rumors posit them as evil mages who mastered blood magic and drink the blood of other mages in order to extend their lifespan indefinitely. They have powereful regenerative magic and can summon familiars, as well as wield blood magic."

"That's terrifying." Yue Jian shuddered. Then she frowned. "What does that have to do with my family?! I'm pretty sure we are not vampires!"

"Oh, no. Your dad was probably a.s.signed by the Hunter's a.s.sociation to clone the ultimate vampire hunters…"

"That's quite the rich imagination you have, young man."

Both of us jumped, and we spun around to see Nan Gong Jiao Shou standing in the open s.p.a.ce of the bas.e.m.e.nt, his hands on his hips again. He was shaking his head, trying not to laugh.

"Look, I know you read the Vampire Sphere manhua, but this is reality. It has nothing to do with that story. I'm a biology professor, not a genecist. I do not have the license or facilities to clone anyone and anybody. And if you don't believe that these three are my daughters, you can do a DNA test at the hospital. h.e.l.l, I still have photographs of my wife after giving birth to them in the hospital."

He was conjuring a holographic picture to show me his wife cradling three infants, all of whom were newborn.

"Sorry," I muttered sheepishly. "I was just playing make-believe and trying to bring Yue Jian on an adventure."

"Ah!" Yue Jian brightened up. "So that was what it was!"

My G.o.d, this girl was so innocent and gullible. It was clear that she hadn't set foot out of her house almost her entire life, and probably grew up without anyone to play with.

"…really." On the other hand, Nan Gong looked extremely skeptical as he narrowed his eyes at me. "Playing make-believe at your age?"

"I was…bored." I scratched my head sheepishly.

"Well…" Nan Gong chuckled. "I don't mean to sound like I'm hiding anything and trying to shoo you out of here, but there really is nothing here in the bas.e.m.e.nt. You won't find any hidden pa.s.sageways or secret laboratories, I can guarantee that. Of course, if you don't believe me, you can continue searching."

He gestured toward the storeroom, where old equipment and tools were stored. I glanced at the dim s.p.a.ce, my gla.s.ses whirring and showing up nothing. No hollow s.p.a.ces, nothing on the radar or sensors. They were telling the truth.

There really was nothing behind the house, no concealed corridors, nothing. It was solid earth underneath. d.a.m.n it. And here I was, hoping to dig up some skeletons in their closet. Oh well.

"Uh, no need for that," I a.s.sured him as I raised both hands, feeling beads of sweat trickling down the back of my head.

We then went up the stairs and left the bas.e.m.e.nt. As we did so, Nan Gong leaned in close and whispered to my ear.

"But you're right about my family having links to the Hunter a.s.ssociation."

"Eh?"

I paused for a moment. Nan Gong hung back, allowing his daughter to get ahead of us, and then continued softly.

"While I certainly didn't get hired or requested to clone any so-called ultimate vampire hunter or have some weird Mei Yue Min serum or whatever you called it, my daughters – Zhao Yan and Ji Yan – have been trained by the Hunter a.s.sociation since young."

"What is this Hunter's a.s.sociation you're talking about?" Yue Jian asked, turning back to us. She glanced at me and then realization dawned on her. "Oh! An organization that hunts vampires?"

"Silly girl…of course not. They are a mercenary guild that hunts monsters." Nan Gong chuckled. "Even you should have heard of how many monsters there are rampaging our world, especially with all these Emergence events and all that." he turned back to me and shrugged. "But that's all we have, really. Nothing to be suspicious about. Are you from another mercenary guild, perhaps? That might explain why you're trying to dig up information regarding the Hunter a.s.sociation."

"Huh? Why?"

"Rivalry," Nan Gong explained to his perplexed daughter, placing a hand on her head.

I thought for a moment, and then shook my head. I had some affiliation with the Silver Wolves, and my father was a top mercenary, but ultimately I belonged to neither group.

"Oh, I'm just…playing make-believe. I wasn't lying about that either. I know you guys probably had nothing to hide, but I was…bored."

"Ha ha, we'll switch the television on then…"

Nan Gong never got to finish his sentence. His wife b.u.t.t in, a ladle in her hand.

"There you guys are!" she fumed. "Where have you been? Dinner is about to be ready! Prepare the table!"

"Yes, Mother!"

"All right, dear."

I tagged along to help in whatever manner I could, and soon we were all seated at the table. Dinner, thanks to the heroic efforts of Zhao Yan's mother, proved to be a sumptuous affair, despite the daughter's ridiculously stubborn attempts to destroy it. For a homecooked meal, it wasn't bad, actually. Not as delicious or extravagant as the celebratory feasts served by Amelia and the rest of Melina's maids, but it was at least several times better than my paltry attempts to cook for myself and Dad at home.

After hearing all the horror stories of Zhao Yan's undying peserverance to "cook," I was glad that dinner turned out to be edible. Though, admittedly, all of the credit went to her mother – and deservedly so. The curry, thanks to Mrs. Nan Gong's determiation to keep it out of her daughter's hands, ended up being spicy and delicious, with a tinge of sweetness.

It was an enjoyable dinner.

Not one to outstay my welcome, particularly when there were no other guys my age around, and it was getting awkward to spend the night with two girls, I found an excuse to return home shortly after dinner. I tried prolong the process by offering to help wash the dishes, but Mrs. Nan Gong all but kicked me out of the kitchen.

"I can't let the guests do the housework."

So, with that route closed off to me, I decided to exit the stage after staring blankly at Yue Jian and Professor Nan Gong, the latter too busily watching television to return my challenging gaze. Oh well.

"I'll send you off," Zhao Yan offered. I nodded my thanks and we proceeded out of the house after I expressed my grat.i.tude to everyone in the house and bade them farewell. She followed me to the porch and bowed deeply.

"Thanks for the dinner," I told her, waving my hands.

"No, it's only a small token of appreciation, and nothing compared to what you did for Ji Yan. She might not be here tonight, but I'm sure she's grateful too."

Hah. No way in h.e.l.l. That b.i.t.c.h was only capable of feeling jealousy, not grat.i.tude. But obviously I couldn't say that to her sister's face, unless I wanted to get on her bad side.

"Actually, there's another thing I wanted to ask you too."

"Hmm?"

I paused for a moment. The train station wasn't too far away from Zhao Yan's home, so I didn't mind lingering for a few more minutes. It was a good thing that Zhao Yan didn't waste any time beating around the bush and instead addressed me frankly, though that bluntness might be the reason why she did not seem approachable. Nonetheless, I was grateful for it, especially since I had to sometimes deal with backstabbing b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

"Your skills are formidable, and you possess immense strength that will surely be an a.s.set to our team. You even have summoning magic, and we watched your matches in the national tournament, and we agreed that your magic is pretty impressive for someone of your age. I hope you will consider joining the Hunter's a.s.sociation."

Oh, so that was what this was about. I completely understood.

The Hunter a.s.sociation, as Nan Gong Jiao Shou mentioned earlier, was a mercenary guild that hunted monsters, just like the Silver Wolves. As appealing as it was to join them, they weren't as prestigious as the Silver Wolves, and moreover I preferred the autonomy and freedom that was afforded to independent freelance mercenaries like my father.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I already received an offer from elsewhere."

"I see." Zhao Yan didn't pursue it. "Are you already a part of the Silver Wolves? We did hear that you have close relations with them."

"Well, I am somewhat affiliated with them," I admitted. Zhao Yan nodded, but she didn't seem offended by the rejection.

"It's a pity, but I understand. The Silver Wovles are very lucky to have you…and admittedly, they are among the most prestigious mercenary guilds in the Global Federation. Feng Hai is an unparalleled prodigy who has earned the respect of many, including my leader." She suddenly smiled. "You guys are worthy rivals."

I doubted that the Silver Wolves even considered the Hunter's a.s.sociation rivals, but again, I was tactful enough not to mention that. So I just smiled and nodded.

"But I'll be happy to cooperate if we do encounter a mutual enemy again, like last week."

Zhao Yan returned the smile, her expression so dazzling that I was taken aback for a second. "That's good enough. Thank you."

"Sure."

I waved casually and turned to depart for the train station. She responded with a wave of her own and watched until I moved out of sight. Glancing up at the night sky, I stared at the moon.

Ah…Tsuki ga Kirei (the moon is beautiful).

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