After the incident, no one really objected when I told them that we should go ahead, grab groceries, and then leave as soon as possible without any detours. Well, no one except for Filo but no one really cared what she thought.

"Hey- I care what Filo thinks!" Melty said. No clue how she figured that out. Rather than ask that, I simply said-

"-hey Filo, what's on your mind right now?"

"Rubber duckies!"

I gave Melty a smug look as if that proved my case, and thankfully we got to the store without any issues.

"Anything we can help you with, Mr. Naofumi?" Eclair asked. I couldn't help but notice that behind her Melty was looking around like she hadn't been in a grocery store before, with Filo running around with her usual energy.

Come to think of it, had Melty ever been in a grocery store before? It sounded like a dumb question, but a family as rich as hers probably had no need to ever go to the supermarket on their own, with people ever at her beck and call to get her whatever she wanted.

"Uh, there are a few things that I think if you got things would be quicker," I read off a list of ingredients to her- though the ones that I need to be fresh or specific were things that I needed to buy myself.

It went without saying that Filo attracted a bit of attention based on her features alone- honestly I had to say that if I had to spend my life having people gawk over me in public, I'd quickly find it annoying. Perhaps it was for the best that i had never become that famous as a streamer- though to be fair- would people recognize streamers in public? I had always thought that streamer fame wasn't like 'real fame' with celebrities, though I guess if you got big enough...

"Is there anything I can help you out with, Mister Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked.

She had trailed behind me, leaving Eclair to try to control Melty who was running after Filo.

"No," I told her. I then paused. "Hey- if you could do that Sparrow Counter thing-"

"-Swallow Counter-"

"-yeah, that, then why didn't you beat those guys up back at the McWendy's?" I asked.

"Well," Raphtalia said suddenly nervous, "I didn't have a sword at the time... and plus, I was at work, and those were customers, and I wasn't sure what to..."

"...yeah, yeah, I get it," I told her. "Just surprised me is all... but in that case..."

"Eh?" she blinked as I handed her something- a small gray cylinder. "What's this?"

"Knockoff lightsaber," I told her, flicking a button on the hilt before revealing the long plastic blade. "Carry it in your pocket, young Padawan, and may the Force be with you!"

Raphtalia just gave me a confused look.

"Oh come on- that's Star Wars- from America! You have to know that right?" I asked. Come to think of it though, was Raphtalia even from America? I knew she was a foreigner but I wasn't sure where exactly she was supposed to be from-

"-I have a few weapons far better than that that in case you're looking for real self-defense tools in case more thugs decided to appear out of nowhere," Eclair said, approaching us after restraining Filo.

A picture of Eclair sleeping in bed (she was wearing pink pajamas with bunnies on them for some reason) next to a huge wall stacked with weapons ranging from a Kalashnikov to a medieval battle axe flashed in my mind- that was probably the kind of room that she slept in.

"You're thinking something rude again, aren't you?" Eclair, Melty, and Raphtalia all asked at once.

Darn them.

"Eh?!" Raphtalia exclaimed, as Filo plopped something on her head.

It was a pair of novelty racoon ears- or maybe tanuki ears? Whatever, they were brown and strangely seemed to meld with her hair flawlessly.

"FIlo though that the ears would look really pretty on you!" Filo said.

I had to admit- no matter how annoying I found Filo, she did have a point- the racoon ears strangely suited Raphtalia.

"Hey, don't do that without asking people first," Raphtalia said, taking it off.

Perhaps it would be possible to have her stream in a kitsune cosplay in the future- maybe that would be a hit with the viewers?

Anyway, we decided to leave before we drew any more strange stares from the other customers, or were thrown out of the store.

As we walked by to my apartment, with thankfully no more detours despite Filo's protest, to note another limousine parked out front.

A man, dressed up similar to Eclair but without the ridiculous pink hair walked up to us. "Ah, we have come here to deliver all of Melty-sama's personal belongings."

What looked like enough supplies to support a hiking trip to the Himalayas for a team of twelve men had been dumped outside the building.

"What's all this?!" Melty exclaimed, quite embarrassed by everything.

"I wanted a few things, not for you to bring Melty-sama's entire bedroom here," Eclair said, exasperated.

While Melty and Eclair tried to deal with this, someone else handed me a phone. "Are you the owner of this residence?"

"Well it's my apartment but-" I didn't get further as they said that someone wanted to talk to me. "Hello?"

"Ah, is this Mr. Naofumi Iwatani?" a male voice on the other end said. It sounded old.

"Why yes," I replied.

"Ah, pleased to meet you," the man said. "I am Melty's father. I understand that she wants to stay over at your place to be with your daughter-"

I tried telling him that Filo wasn't actually my daughter but he didn't give me a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"-and though I don't approve of her staying outside the house for a night, the fact remains that she is old enough now that I don't think it should be an issue." There was a pause for a moment. "I don't know exactly how to express this, but let me simply say that Melty has been the light of my life. I would keep her under my wing for all eternity, though I know that's impossible in the long run. I doubt that with Eclair any issues will ever arise, but I simply wanted to speak with you to make sure that everything would run smoothly."

"Ah, it will..." I said, unsure how to respond to this.

"Ah, good, well, I had some of her things sent over so that she would be comfortable- is it enough?"

"I actually think that you might've gone overboard with it," I told him. She was only staying a night! The only way that I could fit all that stuff in my apartment was if all of us decided to sleep outside!

A/N: Just letting you guys know that I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks- so the story will be on hiatus for that length of time. I don't like doing that, but I can't keep up this pace without taking a break once in a while. See y'all later!