Heart-to-Heart
With an umbrella in one hand and a bouquet of birds of paradise in another, the girl walked to her father's grave.
"Dad, I've come to visit you again," Lylia said with a soft smile as she gently placed the bouquet.
For Lylia, taking care of her father's grave wasn't a sad affair. She still enjoyed sharing her happiness with him.
"I had a pretty good year!"
"Fredrinn sent me to a private school. I thought it would be hard, but I haven't had any trouble with homework... I'm a smart girl!"
"But I still don't like it there... the kids are so childish! And I don't have anything in common with them at all. Well... except one..."
All of a sudden, a bunny that looked like a toy squeezed its way out of Lylia's backpack. Standing between Lylia and the tombstone, it glanced around curiously.
Lylia frowned, slightly annoyed that it interrupted her conversation. "This stupid thing is Mystic Bunny... The one I met when I was in kindergarten. Look at what she's turned into! She may look cute, but she's a maniac!"
"Fredrinn told me that Mystic Bunny and Wrath are actually Ethereals from the Otherside, and they can grant metashifting powers to their chosen hosts. I'm a Metashifter! Hehe... Can you believe it?"
"But Fredrinn said not to use Mystic Bunny's powers carelessly... And I'm not allowed to reveal her existence to anyone else. Hmph, he still treats me like a kid!"
Of course, she would also tell her father about things that made her unhappy.
"Speaking of Fredrinn... Dad, why did you ask him of all people to take care of me? I feel like I'm the one taking care of him!"
"He can't cook, he can't do housework, and he makes a mess wherever he goes! We said we would come to visit you together, but he's disappeared into the ether! You might as well just take him with you!"
The moment she finished her rant, thunder shook the sky.
Lylia grimaced and stuck out her tongue: "Don't take it too seriously, dad. It's not like Fredrinn is completely useless!"
"Last year he opened a detective agency... I named it the N.E.O. Detective Agency. Pretty cool name, right?"
"Even though I'm helping Fredrinn manage the agency, I'm still going to school, so don't worry! Hmph... If it wasn't for me, the agency wouldn't even last a month!"
"Well, even if Fredrinn didn't make much money this year, it was enough to pay the bills. I guess Fredrinn can be very reliable when he wants to... Just don't tell him I said that."
Lylia stayed by her father's grave for longer than usual. It was a busy year, so she had a lot to say. She hadn't even gotten to all the cases the agency had solved.
"Want some water, brat?" asked a voice from behind. Lylia turned her head to see Fredrinn standing not far behind with a smirk on his face. He seemed a little embarrassed, and his clothes were stained with mud.
She didn't notice, but the rain had stopped and the dark clouds had cleared away, revealing the sun.
"Sorry for being late. I just solved a tricky case. Taking down the culprit was more trouble than I expected. But the good news is the lollipops I got you are still in one piece!"
As Fredrinn explained the situation to Lylia, he pulled out a bag of lollipops and handed them to her eagerly, as if he was waiting for a surprised reaction.
As Lylia took the lollipops, she noticed some minor wounds on Fredrinn's hands. Fredrinn walked next to the tombstone and gently placed his hands on it.
"Hey bro, I've come to see you. I've been taking good care of Lylia, so don't you worry."
Lylia pouted, but said nothing to contradict him.
"We'll be heading back now, dad. I'll visit you again soon." Lylia waved at the tombstone and dragged Fredrinn out of the cemetery.
"Did you complain about me to your dad?" Fredrinn asked casually as he pulled another lollipop from his pocket and placed it in his mouth.
"Of course! It's your own fault for being so unreliable!" Lylia made a face at Fredrinn.
"Heartless brat, this is the last time I'll ever buy you lollipops!"
Lylia didn't respond, instead looking back at her father's tombstone. The sun had begun shining on the birds of paradise she left there. The raindrops on the petals gleamed brightly under the sunlight.
She muttered softly, "Goodbye, dad..."
Driven by a desire to uphold justice and punish evil since he was a child, Fredrinn has studied under many martial arts masters and taken upon the self-proclaimed mantle of "hero".
Upon coming of age, Fredrinn joined the military and was recruited into the special forces. For his reckless tendencies on the battlefield, he earned the nickname "Raging Tiger", a title which strikes fear in his foes.
During a failed operation in which Fredrinn and his squad were ambushed, he happened upon a stone tablet of the Ethereal called Wrath. He managed to make it out alive after awakening the power of Wrath, but he could not save his comrades, and chose to retire from the military.
Upon retirement, he adopted Lylia, the orphan of one of his fallen comrades, as his own. However, the tragedy continues to haunt him, and has completely changed him into an irritable and irresponsible man.
Dragged into creating a detective agency with Lylia and his junior, he reintegrated into society as a questionable detective. These days he spends his time extorting rich and shady clients while taking on commissions from the poor and helpless at no charge.
Disobedient and unruly since she was a child, Lylia awakened the power of the Mystic Bunny purely by accident while playing hide-and-seek one day. Despite being transported to the Otherside, she somehow managed to find her way back.
After her father died in the war, Lylia was rescued from the orphanage by Fredrinn and sent to an expensive private school to receive an education from the world's leading professors.
In class, she was bothered to no end by a teacher that was as young as she was. After being lectured, she went to great ends to try and get her revenge, but all her pranks were foiled before they could pan out.
Dissatisfied with the luxury of her school and the lackadaisical Fredrinn at home, Lylia got up to all kinds of mischief. Together with Fredrinn's junior, she formed a detective agency.
As the (self-proclaimed) "one and only boss" of the N.E.O. Detective Agency, she is the one who takes care of their living expenses and has become Fredrinn's unwilling caretaker.
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