CHAPTER 61: CH 61: AI DOESN’T LIKE IT

’How long are you going to keep holding his hand for? And Cane...why is he not pulling back? Does he...like this Heera? And if so...then why is he looking at me like I am a problem here?’

Ai got mixed signals from Cane and she felt confused. Was she supposed to help him? Or sit back and watch as he flirted with Heera in front of her?

And even if that was something Cane wanted, Heera was not sure she had enough mental strength to watch him do that. So she gritted her teeth and endured watching Cane be all friendly with the female beside him.

Finally, Cane pulled back and Ai felt relief fill her mind.

"I will take your offer, Heera. I do want to have that collaborative stream going as well and getting some food is nice."

Cane told her, ignoring the messages popping up in his chat.

[HaremKingXXX: Now this is a true harem protagonist. You have both Ai and Heera in the bag.]

[Heerafan: That’s not the case, dude. This is just a collaborative stream, not a confession of love. Our Heera is much better when it comes to picking her lovers.]

[Shura:

Hey, do you think Ai will kill Heera? Her eyes look murderous enough.]

[WinWinWin: That is not the main issue here. The main issue is that Cane is betraying our good friend Ai here. Ai should take her revenge on him soon.]

There was not a single person on Cane’s side who was sane. They all talked about his ’harem’ and how he was seducing people with his charms.

Cane could not help but feel his eyes twitching as he watched these messages pass in front of his eyes faster than he could keep track of.

But since it was good for interaction, he decided to give up and let these people be. He had bigger fish to fry here after all.

Ai was still by his side, waiting for him to do something while Heera had already started to walk away. She looked back to check where Cane and Ai were before she pouted when she saw that they had not even started walking.

"What is wrong with you two? Are you not going to follow after me?"

She asked and Cane snapped out of his daze and followed after her.

"We are coming. Ai, let’s go."

He extended his hand toward Ai and Ai almost hesitated to take that hand before she grabbed Cane’s hand.

They entered the restaurant after Heera and Heera immediately headed toward the side table that was empty.

"Come here. This is my reserved table. I come here so often that these people know me better than my own family."

Heera joked as she sat down and picked up the menu. She sounded proud of the fact that she was not close to her family. Not that Cane was someone who could talk about it either. After all, he was running away from his family as well and lying to them about his job.

His silence over the matter told Heera that he did not want to talk about it, and she immediately turned toward Ai to ask her the important question.

"So Ai, what about your family? Do you have one?"

Ai was an NPC who did not have much of a background or information available. So anything related to her was in great demand by Cane’s viewers. But Cane did not want to pressure her or want her to feel uncomfortable, so he never asked.

But Heera seemed not to have a filter in her mouth and ended up asking the question Cane had been avoiding asking her.

Thankfully, Ai did not look offended. She just turned her head to the side, wondering how to answer that question.

Family was...a difficult question for her to answer because of who she was. Her people were not generally born from ’parents’ as they did on Earth.

They were formed by the caretakers on their planets, selecting the best features and resources needed for their specific type, and once they had finished their missions, their bodies would be recycled to form a new organism.

Even Ai knew that she would not live past this mission, nor did she have any hopes to do so either. But a part of her wondered...whether she would be allowed to live if she stayed back...

’Stop thinking of useless things. I need to head back, hand this report in and then allow someone else to be reborn using my resources. I cannot be greedy like this.’

Even if Ai’s heart wanted to be here, her brain tugged her back, causing her dilemma about what she should do next.

Outside, the others were still waiting for her to answer, and Ai felt her voice get stuck in her throat.

"I...this is...my family is rather ordinary? I mean, there is me and the temple...?"

She quickly recalled the ’cover’ story she had been fed by the system and her people and repeated that to the two in front of her. But the story must be somewhat sad because Heera looked uncomfortable.

"O-Oh, I see. It seems like you don’t have much of a family. But don’t worry! You have Cane now, right? You can consider him as your family."

Heera told her and she meant it in a familiar way, as in brother. But Ai chose to consider it in another light.

"You are right. I do have Cane with me now and I will make sure he does not leave me. If anyone does try to come between us, then I will...just have to get rid of them, right?"

Ai asked, and Heera had a sudden feeling that the smile on her face was not as innocent as she made it out to be. It felt dangerous, almost as if Ai wanted to devour her.

"I-I see. That’s a good joke...Cane, you are so lucky to have such a good person by your side. But don’t get too attached, alright? You are still going to be my partner."

Heera reminded Cane, causing Ai to frown.