To Live Again, For the First Time!

At that time, Rita seemed to have come to some kind of realization…

Xander always went to a private room, which means that if Liam had really come to collect information from the customers, he was likely to go home with absolutely nothing…

After all, Xander would barely show his face down here other than to greet the people at the counter before going up.

How savage!

Liam would have probably wasted a whole day or more here if not for him coming up with another, even trashier plan, which just somehow worked out for him.

For a second there Rita even pitied Liam for having such a bas-… person for a friend.

All in all, it had to be said that things kind of added up.

Except that Rita hadn't expected Xander to be such a character!

At this instance, Liam had already moved on from fuming to pitiful as his whole figure seemed to diminish.

His whole body language screamed, 'I didn't want to do this, I still don't want to do this, I don't even want to be here! If you help me, I'll leave right away! I really don't know what else I can do…'

Daisy, the young and naïve girl with the pigtails believed Liam's words straight away, not once questioning it.

In front of such people, as long as the stories didn't have any obvious loopholes, there wasn't much to question.

Still, she didn't say anything, looking at her trusted and respected Sister Riri for affirmation, as if she wouldn't trust anything other than what came out of this Big Sister's mouth.

Rita, on the other hand, was a little more cautious.

She paused for a moment to think about it.

"I see, well Sir, I'm sure you would have gotten something on this person if you asked around, but I thank you for doing your best not to affect our business establishment. Sir Xander does indeed come here quite a lot. Even so, I cannot provide you with the security footage for such a matter for security reasons. I hope you can understand our predicament!" Rita was still as polite as ever, even a little dismissive.

And even though she had her own thoughts on the matter, she would still voice out the thoughts that would bring her the least trouble.

This was the way of a true professional.

As for Liam, who should also be considered a professional in his own field, he knew exactly when to take a step back.

After all, the idea of negotiations is to put up a front and then ask for a high demand before getting what you want, is it not?

Liam gave a hesitant and troubled look.

"I really don't want to trouble you guys, but I'm a man of my words, and since I've already given my word to that piece of…" Liam's voice trailed off, but the two girls both got the idea.

Liam's words gained him some respect from Rita and some admiration from Daisy.

"Then… then what about the records?" Daisy was still clinging to Rita's side as she asked her in a soft whisper.

Normal people may not have heard it if they weren't paying attention, but Liam was both trained with heightened senses and paying attention.

'So, there are records, huh.'

Well, I guess that makes sense.

Margo's establishments were rather meticulous in some ways. At least more so in some respects compared to the other shops in the same industry.

Rita could tell that Daisy wanted to help Liam, but she was a little hesitant.

'If it's just the records, it should be fine, right?'

Rita was weak against Daisy's puppy eyes while Daisy was a little weak against mature… scratch that, um, handsome men.

Well truly, Liam acted by no means mature for the sake of the orders from his Boss Elijah, but if he just stood there without opening his mouth, he would definitely look like a mature handsome man.

As for his thinning hair… don't mention it.

'Fine,' Rita relented in her mind with a sigh.

She also wanted to get rid of this troublemaker before more people came in, or things would get even more annoying and troublesome.

With a small nod from Rita, Daisy's smile widened a little.

She ran off like a little girl… oh wait, um, well, yeah…

Anyways, she ran off and came back in a flash with something in her hands.

It was a clipboard.

She skimmed a little through it, and to Liam's surprise, she pulled out a paper that had all the dates in which Xander had been here.

He was a little stunned.

Surely, they didn't have one of these for all their customers, right?

The young lady didn't go print anything either and these were just papers with time stamps.

Liam was definitely not that lucky, so he just couldn't help being surprised.

Noticing Liam's surprise, Daisy happily explained.

"He's our VIP~! So of course we have records."

"Oh really? How does the VIP system work here?" Liam asked, acting as if it were just some passing curiosity.

"Our VIPs have private rooms on the floor above and they can especially ask for specific cats! They will all be in the room with you and no one else can come in and disturb your playtime. Not only that, but the VIP get to ascertain the number of cats in their room, within the limits of what is available of course," Daisy said, for once sounding like an employee at this establishment.

Though no prices were mentioned, which was a little strange.

Then again, it didn't look like Liam would care about such trivial things in his Arma** suit.

"Oh, that's quite nice," Liam said, cursing inwardly.

This was going to make reconnaissance a lot more troublesome.

This was a cat café for god's sake!

Why are you so professional and accommodating?

Couldn't you be a little more lax so that we can spy on your customers and so that I can get a holiday?

While Liam cursed inwardly with a grateful smile on his face, he didn't forget to take a picture of the paper with the timestamps.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! Beautiful ladies are indeed the saviors of the world!" Liam was proficient with rainbow farts.

Then he gave the two women a thankful bow before talking a little more like a human.

"I hope you won't tell Xander, I don't want him to know I had external help, or he'll really mock me for life for needing a woman's assistance," Liam said, somewhat melancholily.

This gave off the impression of him saying that Xander looked down on woman, making both Rita and Daisy feel a little indignant.

There were definitely not going to expose Liam or help Xander!

Hmph. 

After Liam thanked the two ladies profusely once more with some more rainbow farts in the mix, he left the shop with a happy smile on his face.

Only, the two ladies weren't able to see how that face turned serious in a split second the moment he was out the door.

'Well, it doesn't matter too much if I'm discovered as long as I get the information, but it would still be best if I can keep my tracks covered so as to not get exposed too soon.'

But Liam didn't dare stay any longer.

This was because, Xander had practically come to this shop every single day, at least once in these past weeks.

And he hadn't come once today.

Liam didn't think talking to the two ladies so that they wouldn't expose him later was worth the chance of being exposed immediately.

The moment Xander came walking in, there would practically be no way out without another good while of bullshitting.

And Liam was sure that his boss wouldn't like that, as much as he wouldn't either.

That's why he made his way out asap.

'Well, that went well,' he thought to himself as he opened the door to the car where Elijah was resting.

***

As a black car that had been momentarily parked around the front area of the cat café next to the front parking spot drove off, a young man in his mid-twenties crossed the street.

His gaze momentarily landed on the car that went off to the distance for no particular reason, and he didn't think much of it either as he had been in a daze since leaving his workspace in his apartment.

Xander didn't think he had the brainpower to think of anything else, much less why this or why that for something so trivial.

Xander finally forced himself to take a break after a long day of going through the new papers, and he had been so immersed that he had had to skip his morning trip here.

After a while, he had also gotten fond of cats, so even when Emilin was not here, he would still come to sit for a few hours.

Xander was the type that worked well even when changing workspaces as he would be too immersed to notice a big difference, other than needing to adjust the placement of his papers for an easier time reaching that is.

Luckily or unluckily for him, that car that had just driven off was the one with Elijah and Liam in it, and the two parties just so happened to miss each other by a hair.

Xander went into the cat café and the small bell near the door that sounded whenever it was opened signaled his arrival.

Even so, no one else in the shop took notice other than an instinctual glance as they were already accustomed to the sound.

Just as Xander was about to greet the employees at the counter so that he could go to a room, he realized that something was off.

Somehow, the two girls were looking at him a little strangely.

Or was he just imagining it??

No, they were definitely looking at him weirdly, with some hostility even.

"Can I-" Xander was about to ask for his usual room when he was suddenly interrupted.

"Why do you look down on women eh? Do you look down on young girls too?!" Daisy suddenly burst out.

It seemed like since she couldn't talk about anything else, or at least not the things that would give Liam away, she had gone for this point of entry in a moment of frustration.

The frustration that had just been formed after making a comparison between Liam and Xander.

To her, it really looked like Xander had been coming here wanting to look at Liam make a fool out of himself when he just so happened to miss him.

Xander was dumbfounded.

His dazed brain instantly woke up.

Xander: WTF???

Xander: But my master is a girl… and a young one at that! How the hell am I supposed to look down on young girls? Could you not slander me please?

Sadly, he couldn't actually say any of that.

Cold sweat dripped down the back of his neck.

Thankfully his master wasn't here, or she may misunderstand and think that I look down on her!