After retirement I became a guardian of troubled youth

Hikari Ueno led Nakaya and sat across from Ranpo.

And the random step kid was tossing with a fork with his head down, only one third of the milk was left in the glass.

Zhong also moved his body a little awkwardly, and looked at his little brother who was older than him uneasily.

The fork touched the wall of the cup, Luanbu raised his head to look at Hikari Ueno, and asked each word, "Why can't I live with you?"

Hikaru Ueno looked at him expressionlessly.

Under the table, the hand that was holding Xiao Zhong also tightened a little.

Zhong also turned his head to look a little blankly, and heard him say, "It's not suitable."

Luanbu's hand holding the fork suddenly tightened.

Hikaru Ueno calmly explained: "Reaper and human beings cannot live together."

"The existence of the god of death will burden the human body and soul."

"But before—"

"That was a special case."

Ranbu was silent for a while, pointed his fork towards Zhongye, and asked, "Is he also in special circumstances?"

Xiaozhong also became nervous immediately, and grabbed Ueno Hikaru's hand tightly.

Hikaru Ueno glanced at him and nodded.

"Oh." The fork shook twice, "Then you must have encountered many special situations."

Shinigami may encounter all kinds of accidents at work, Ueno Hikaru thought for a moment and nodded.

Ranbu gritted his teeth angrily, leaned forward suddenly, and poked Chuya's shoulder with a fork.

Chuuya was startled, and subconsciously grabbed his wrist and pressed down.

"It hurts, it hurts!" Luanbu pulled his hand back, staring at the child opposite him resentfully.

Xiao Zhong immediately let go of his hands in a panic, and lowered his head: "...I'm sorry."

Ranbu stared at him for a while, then kicked Chuya's calf with the toe of his shoe, and said, "Hey, did you hear that just now?"

Xiaozhong also tilted his head blankly.

"A 'brother' like you," Luanbu pointed at him, "he still has much—— much—too."

"Eh?"

Xiaozhong was also still in a daze, looking at him puzzled.

Ranbu: "..."

He scratched his messy hair and muttered, "Aren't you a little fool?"

Xiao Zhong also blinked, and replied, "I, am I not?"

Luanbu: "..." You are.

Hikaru Ueno, who had been watching the two children communicate harmoniously, suddenly said, "No."

Luanbu looked over angrily: "You just said that there are many!"

Hikaru Ueno: "But this kind of special situation is only the two of you."

"Haven't you promised other people my request?"

Hikaru Ueno said bluntly: "You are very special."

Ranbu: "..."

As if being hit by these four words, the child suddenly fell silent, lowered his head and turned the fork in his hand, and muttered softly: "Then it can't be more special."

It was the same soft, coquettish tone as usual.

His voice is really quite small, but Mr. Death's hearing cannot be measured by the concept of normal people.

Ranpo himself knows this too.

So when he heard Hikaru Ueno say "no.", he was not surprised at all.

Just a little sad.

Only a little bit.

Luanbu sniffed.

"Staying with you for too long will be harmful to you." Ueno Hikaru paused, his tone became a little hesitant, "And you are alone now, and you seem to be doing well."

"No!"

Hikaru Ueno was slightly startled, frowned and asked, "Is it okay?"

"...No." Luanbu tugged at his clothes and said stubbornly, "Not bad."

Hikaru Ueno didn't feel another meaning in his words, nodded and said, "So, you don't need me now."

"If you want to see me, I will come to see you when I have time."

The child on the opposite side lowered his head and didn't respond.

Ueno Hikaru thought for a while, and added: "When you become an adult, I can also come back to you."

Luanbu suddenly looked up at him and asked, "Live with me?"

Ueno nodded.

Ranbu's eyes lit up a little: "Really?"

"real."

Ranbu smiled contentedly, then remembered something, turned into a fierce look, and pointed to the quiet Xiao Zhongya.

"Then, it's just you and me, you can't take him with you!"

Xiao Zhong didn't seem to understand what happened yet, seeing the little brother pointing at him again, he tilted his head, tentatively stretched out his own finger, and aligned it with the little brother's fingertips.

Xiaozhong also laughed happily at the novel touch.

Ranbu: "..."

He stared at the touching fingertips of the two people for a few seconds, and suddenly realized something, he took his hand back with a "swoosh", and hid it under the table.

Then he glared at the child ferociously: "What are you doing!"

Xiaozhong also retracted his hand, aggrieved and obedient, and looked like he was about to cry: "...I'm sorry."

"I..." Luanbu kicked the leg of the table, as if feeling a little...embarrassed, "I didn't do anything to you."

Xiaozhong also understood what he said, blinked, and stretched out his fingers tentatively.

Ranbu: "..."

The kid muttered and stretched out his hand, and quickly poked his fingertips.

"Is that all right?"

Xiaozhong also happily withdrew his hand: "En!"

Ranbu was also happy for a while, then glared at Hikaru Ueno again, and said the same sentence, but this time he didn't stretch his finger again.

"You can't take him!"

Before the smile in Ueno's eyebrows disappeared, he responded gently: "Okay, don't take him."

The kid in Zhongye whispered: "But... I also want to be with you."

Luanbu: "Then... you can take it with you for a while."

Hikaru Ueno: "Okay, then take a little."

Satisfied, Luanbu raised his head and drank the milk in the cup.

Before he left, he worriedly told Ueno Hikaru: "Remember to visit me often."

"Ah."

"Come as soon as you have time!"

"it is good."

Hikaru Ueno watched the little figure of Ranbu disappear into the twilight little by little, feeling his sleeve being tugged by the child next to him.

Xiaozhong also asked: "Didn't you say... together?"

Hikari Ueno rubbed his head and said, "We grew up together."

Xiao Zhong also nodded with a vague understanding: "Oh."

Hikaru Ueno got up and took him away, and bought some small cakes that Ranpo liked to eat for the children by the way.

On the way, Xiao Zhong, who had been silent all this time, suddenly tugged at his sleeve again.

Hikaru Ueno lowered his head in doubt.

Xiaozhong also stretched out a finger, and asked cautiously: "Can I... make a request?"

Hikaru Ueno: "?"

Xiaozhong also hesitated: "...don't...that Edogawa Ranpo, okay?"

"that?"

Xiaozhong also clenched his sleeves, and his voice became softer: "Then, that scoundrel is walking around."

Xiao Zhong also squeezed his small fists and mustered up his courage: "When you grow up, don't live with that villain Luanbu."

Hikaru Ueno was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

"Okay, not with him."

The little boy Nakaya nodded heavily, gave a happy "hmm" and shook Uenohitsu's arm.

"Brother!" The child's clear blue eyes curled up, "Go home!"

"Okay, go home."

……

Ramen for dinner, and cake as a small dessert.

Hikaru Ueno was packing up the tableware when he suddenly felt a child sneak up behind him and stood there quietly.

He turned around and looked at Zhong Ye: "?"

The kid in Zhongye tugged at his clothes: "Clothes..."

Hikaru Ueno knelt down, patted his head, and said, "I'll take you to buy it tomorrow."

Zhong Ye happily nodded his head twice, opened his arms towards him again, and looked at him eagerly.

"what happened?"

Xiao Zhong also had red ears, and whispered, "I need to take a bath."

Hikaru Ueno patted his head and immediately picked up the child: "Go take a bath."

"...and ducklings, let's wash them together."

"Well, wash with the ducklings."

Hikaru Ueno didn't know what happened that afternoon when Chuya and Shuji were alone, but the changes in Xiaozhongya were quite obvious.

He's more open than ever.

What do you want, what do you like, what do you hate.

He will tell Hikari Ueno.

It's extremely cute and well-behaved.

But obviously, the kid wasn't always so well-behaved.

In other words, a certain kid was probably only so well-behaved in front of him.

Ueno Hikaru took someone to buy some new clothes for the children during the day the next day. The children treasured them so much that they became cautious even walking along the way.

After moving here, Hikari Ueno no longer restricted his time to go out.

So within a few days, at dinner time, Xiao Zhong who pushed the door in also gave Ueno Hikaru a "surprise".

When I left, the clean clothes became dirty, the cuffs of the clothes and the knees of the trousers were stained with mud, and the clean white shoes became dusty.

The little hat he wore when he went out was also gone.

Hikaru Ueno stood at the door and stared at him for two seconds, then pulled the child into the door.

"what happened?"

The kid looked at him tearfully, bit his lip, and shook his head without saying a word.

"fall down?"

Xiaozhong also pinched his clothes, and said softly, "No...no."

"That--"

Before Hikaru Ueno could say the second sentence, the door that had just been closed was suddenly slammed with a "clang, clang, clang".

Xiaozhong was also startled by the sound, grabbed his clothes and hid behind him.

Hikaru Ueno patted his head, and stepped forward to open the door.

A woman who looked a little familiar stood at the door.

Xiaozhong also shrank back even more.

Hikaru Ueno frowned slightly and asked, "Who are you?"

"Me? Oh, I've been living here for so many days, and I don't see you when I look up every day." The woman pointed to herself, "I don't know you, do you?"

Ueno pursed his lips and shook his head.

"I'll live right across from you."

As the woman spoke, she suddenly pulled out a child from behind her.

The boy looked to be about Chung's age, wearing gaudy, equally dirty clothes.

This child was worse than Zhong Ye, his face and hair were stained with mud.

He looked very embarrassed.

Hikaru Ueno: "?"

The woman brought the child in front of him: "Look at how your child beat our child?!"

"Open your mouth!"

The little boy opened his mouth twitching.

The front teeth are empty.

"Let me tell you, you have to lose money, or..." The woman looked down at her child and tugged him, "What do you think?"

The little boy sobbed and said, "I, I want to knock out his teeth too."

Hikaru Ueno: "..."

He looked at a good boy hiding behind him.

Zhong Ye grabbed his clothes, looked up at him pitifully, and argued in a low voice: "He... hit my clothes with mud..."

"Also," Xiaozhong held back his tears, "and threw away the hat."

Hikaru Ueno nodded and looked at the woman.

"My brother hit your child, I'm sorry."

"But he's right.

"It was your child who started it."

He followed Mr. Tsushima and knew some legal knowledge more or less.

"My brother was just acting in self-defense."

"What? Self-defense?" The woman cursed.

"Your brother, right? How did you teach? Are you educated?"

"Where are your parents? Don't you want you too much?"

"It's just a hat, as for it? You can't just buy it again! Look at what he has done to my child?"

Ranpo and Xiuzhi had taught him how to quarrel with others before.

Ueno Hikaru remembered one of them very well.

He looked at the woman with a calm tone: "It's just two deciduous teeth. It won't grow any longer."

It's just a deciduous tooth, Xiu Zhi also lost it back then.

Mr. Tsushima's collection also includes his son's teeth.

But Xiu Zhi didn't have his hobby.

So that afternoon, the four of them went from dawn to dark at Tsushima house together.

Hikaru Ueno looked up at the aggressive woman at the door.

"His teeth can still grow back, but my brother's hat will never be found again."

"Besides, it was my younger brother who he provoked first."

"You tell him to get that hat back, and I'll make the two of them fight again."

The woman froze.

The little boy on the opposite side cried out with a "wow" when he heard this.

"No! I won't fight anymore!"

"Oh." Ueno nodded.

"Then just look for hats."