'The

things

that keep happening whenever I 'm not around, honestly. '

'Then maybe this is a sign that you should stay longer around us, ' Shiki informs her cousin.

Satoru-niichan heaves a gusty sigh. 'Maybe I

should,

hmm? '

Yes, it certainly would be good for him to put his foot down on the matter. The higher ups aren 't subtle about expressing their dissatisfaction with him taking up a teaching post despite their protests, as evidenced by the recent influx of overseas missions.

However, both Shiki and Satoru-niichan knew that the reason

why

he hadn 't rejected any of these assignments was because those were also truly missions that necessitated his presence. Had these been missions that the higher ups assigned to Satoru-niichan 'just because, ' then he would 've paid them a visit in Kyoto a long time ago.

' But if this trend continued, then

Shiki