CHAPTER 306: THIS WHOLE TIME.

On most days, the Bowl of Fortune opens up around nine in the morning and remained open until nine at night. Though it wasn’t that big of a window, considering there are restaurant open 24/7, it still meant that anyone could stop by to enjoy a bowl of noodles at any point during that time.

Today, however, there was a "CLOSED" sign hanging on the door despite it being only a little past noon, to the dismay of the few patrons hoping to see the rumored beauty working at the noodle shop.

"Ouch..."

"Shut up! I don’t want to hear a single sound from you!!!"

Inside, Nobara was in the process of stitching Dante’s wounded hand, being a lot more aggressive than usual. That one strike from her naginata was able to cut through 8-3’s armor, almost severing his hand. Fortunately, the old cook held back a little, despite being absolutely enraged.

"Damn it, boy!" She clicked her tongue. "I almost killed you back there."

"You almost did," Dante replied. He was about to sigh, but a smack on the head.

"Of course I did!" Smacking him again, the old cook continued cooking him. "You almost killed my granddaughter! What in the world were you thinking!?"

"Hey! Cut it out already!" He tried to block, so he got hit on the side.

"Cut it out? CUT IT OUT!!?"

Nobara held her pipe high, about to strike him again, but she managed to rein in her anger and went back to sewing his wound.

"You’d better have a good reason." She grumbled.

Feeling the sting of her needle, Dante pursed his lips and remained silent. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the blue-haired girl glaring at him from behind the shop’s counter, her expression eerily similar to that of her grandmother. Meeting her eyes reminded him of why he had done what he had done in the first place, and so his anger spiked.

"Are you sure she’s really your granddaughter?" He asked.

"What are you going on about, boy?"

"She has one of those chameleon implants on, you know?" He said. "Last time we met, she was an entirely different person. This might as well be another face she’s wearing."

Nobara stared at him for a moment, her expression blank.

"... I knew you were an idiot, but not to this extent."

"Wha-"

Another strike from the pipe almost caused him to bite his tongue.

"You think I wouldn’t recognize my own flesh and blood!!?"

"And how am I supposed to know that, you old hag!!?

"Use that head of yours a little!"

With how many times she had smacked he had received, he was currently in no state to use his mind. Even if he was perfectly fine, what was there to understand?

"It’s alright, Grandma. He has a point." Said Suzuka, surprising both him and Nobara. "He only knows that I have a Persona Mask, but he doesn’t know this is how I originally look."

Though she still seemed angry, her expression had softened a little.

"So that’s what you call it?" Dante asked.

"I made it myself." The girl replied. "It’s a unique implant, so there is nothing like it on the market."

"Even if that’s the case, why would you think she’s a fake from the get-go?" Nobara said.

"Were you even listening?" Dante sighed.

"Did it never occur to you that this might be her original face?"

"It did, but how was I supposed to know if that’s the truth!!?"

Dante understood that he could have approached the situation more delicately, but there was a lot of risk. Back then, he thought that he needed to take care of the fake fast before she could hurt anyone, especially the old cook.

"Speaking of the truth." His brows drew together as he glared at the old woman. "You were a Sorcerer this whole time?"

"You think I became one minutes ago?" Nobara replied. "Of course I was one this whole time!"

Dante almost asked why she hadn’t said anything about it, but then he remembered that most people didn’t even know that Sorcery was real. He himself didn’t know about it until a little over a month ago, when he met the Shiroganes for the first time.

"Wait..." A light bulb lit up in his head as he realized something. "You’re from the Star Federation!"

"And what of it?"

"Does that mean you belong to-"

"No." The old cook shut him right away. "We... I am an independent Sorceress. I don’t belong to any clan or family."

"But..."

Dante glanced at the granddaughter, prompting the old cook to answer his question without him asking.

"Neither she nor her mother inherited my mana." Sighing, Nobara finished stitching the wound then went about bandaging it. "Enough about us. C’mon, spit it out already."

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Although the visor of 8-3’s helmet was similar to that of an astronaut, it didn’t actually provide a look at what’s inside. That should have made it impossible for anyone to figure out who he was just by looking, but the old cook still managed it somehow.

"Ouch!"

Nobara tightened the bandage a little too much, causing the wound to sting. Seeing that he was glaring at him, he averted his gaze, but it didn’t seem like she intended to leave it at that.

"You think you can get away with staying silent after almost killing my little girl, twice!"

Grimacing, Dante pulled his hands away and stood up.

"Boy, where do you think you’re going!!?"

He ignored the shouts, placing both hands into the pockets of his jacket before walking away. He didn’t look back even as he closed the door behind him. Watching him go, Nobara clicked her tongue and went about organizing the first aid kit.

"... are you sure about this?" Suzuka asked. "Letting him go like that..."

"Just leave him be. He’ll come back when he’s hungry."

The old cook still sounded annoyed, but she seemed confident in her words. Suzuka gazed at her for a moment, then she turned to the door. As she dove back into her thought, she began rubbing her neck without noticing.

"I wonder... what was that..."

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