Gio continued checking the situation on Earth through the frames, searching for a human who could become his “new friend.”
In the end, Iser asked him a question.
“Why do you approach the humans you happen to notice and give them gifts instead of simply passing them by?”
Gio answered in a gentle yet confident voice.
“It would be one thing if they hadn’t seen me, but they did. You know how it is: if your eyes meet, it’s time for battle. I can’t help but speak to them.”
“To think one must settle a contest whenever gazes meet. Earthlings have more belligerent tendencies than I expected. Are there any specific rules?”
“The longer you stare at each other, the more likely it is to be taken as seduction or a challenge to a duel.”
“How astonishing. When I disguised myself as a child of Earth before, I was in such a hurry that I could not study properly. I had no idea such a culture existed.”
“Perhaps that is why Teacher cannot simply let someone go after our eyes meet, either.”
It was not that Gio failed to consider how startled the people he encountered might be, but surely there could exist someone perfectly compatible even with him. He would never know unless he spoke to them.
How long would it take him to stumble entirely by chance upon someone who would greet him cheerfully without being frightened by the name “Black Cloak”? Yet this young man from the mountain countryside of Gangwon Province—who had never dated even once by that age because he insisted on meeting someone naturally—possessed a peculiar sense of romance.
“If I keep wasting time recklessly like this, I will find a new connection someday.”
“Ah, yes.”
“And once I speak to someone, does it not naturally make me want to give them a gift?”
“I see…”
“It isn’t as though I own nothing, or have no time, or will receive complaints from parents just for handing out…