Weird Stories: Gothic Lolita Begins

[Forced to Stay Home Clerk (Anthony): Groot's past? Why do you suddenly want to ask this?

Forever Gothic Lolita: Groot has been acting strange recently, as if he has a blood feud with the people who destroyed the bridge and the department store.

Forced to Stay Home Clerk: Groot... I remember his parents died in a car accident, and there were no mysterious traces at the scene, so it was eventually ruled an accident.

Forced to Stay Home Clerk: So... Hiss! Could it really be the same murderer?

Forever Gothic Lolita: What about his twin brother?

Forced to Stay Home Clerk: He's missing, since his parents died in a car accident.

Forced to Stay Home Clerk: But since no one reported him missing, the sheriff couldn't do anything about it... Do you suspect?

Forever Gothic Lolita: Groot's emotions are very complicated, and I don't quite understand the details, but it doesn't feel like simple hatred...

Forced to Stay Home Clerk: ... This is troublesome.

Forced to Stay Home Clerk: Wait a minute, I'll go retrieve the information. 】

A few minutes later, Lenari received a file from Anthony.

The file contained information about family members. Not to mention the parents, Groot's twin brother, Vincent Groot, looked like a younger version of Groot, without glasses, with a smile on his face that made Lenari uncomfortable.

How to describe it?

Lenari racked his brains and finally found a suitable description.

"Performance".

It was a realistic performance without any real feelings. Such a smile made the other person look like a "fake person" disguised by something.

No, no, no, I am much more "real" than him! Lenari said in his heart.

There are not many photos of Vincent Groot when he was young, and most of them have a fake gentle smile.

In short, it's easy to deal with it if you know his appearance.

Lenari comforted Lucia while starting work immediately.

At this time, Lenari's bedroom door was knocked, and Groot's voice sounded: "Lenari, are you free?"

Lucia's hair, which had just been smoothed, exploded again, and she jumped into the thin quilt on the bed and hid.

Lenari's mouth twitched, and he controlled the shadow hand to open the door in the air.

Outside the door, Groot was holding a tray with the logo of the coffee shop below. On the tray, there was a plate of snacks and a pot of milk coffee.

Groot entered the door, put the tray on the desk, and looked at Lenari who was groping in the thin quilt in confusion.

"Lucia is playing hide-and-seek with me." Lenari answered without changing his expression.

"Meow! (No!)" Lucia's muffled cat cry came from the quilt, and before Lenari could take the opportunity to catch her, she crawled out by herself.

After holding Lucia back on his lap, Lenari asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Groot was stunned for a moment, and then he smiled bitterly and said, "Sorry, I made you worry."

"You are my 'adoptive father'." Lenari emphasized the word "adoptive father".

"Yes! Vivian, you still have such a lovely daughter to raise, you can't do stupid things!" Lucia said anxiously.

"..." Lenari touched Lucia's head.

"..." Groot was silent for a moment, sighed, pulled out the chair in front of the desk and sat down.

"Sorry." Groot said again, his voice low, his hands folded, placed on his knees, and twisted tightly unconsciously.

"Vivian?" Lucia asked a little scared.

Lenari gently stroked her fur on the back of her head, comforting her silently.

"Vicente Grote, my twin brother." Grote said in a low voice, "I used to be proud of him, but..."

"All the kindness and gentleness of that guy are all pretended!" Grote lowered his head and couldn't see his expression clearly, but just by listening to his voice, he could understand his pain, "He killed his parents! Just because of the so-called 'tired of acting'!"

"That guy, that guy... I can't forgive him no matter what!"

Lucia suddenly jumped out of Lenari's arms, jumped directly from the ground to Grote's chest.

Groot was stunned and subconsciously caught Lucia and held her in his arms.

"Wuwuwu..." Lucia seemed to have foreseen something, and tears rolled down her emerald cat eyes, "I don't want it... Vivian... Wuwuwu..."

Groot was stunned for a long time and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, Lucia." Groot stroked Lucia's back and spoke in a slow tone, "But we have to separate, Lucia."

"You are a lady who stays young and immortal, and I am just a short-lived human. We have to separate, Lucia."

"Wuwu... But, but... Wuwu..." Lucia sobbed and tried to say something.

However, she lost this opportunity, and she will never have another chance.

Groot put down the concentrated enhanced "sleep aid" spray bottle in his hand, gently stroked Lucia's head, and whispered: "Sorry, Lucia... There is only this one thing, I must complete it anyway."

Lenari watched all this silently, a little confused, a little sad, but didn't know what he could do or what he should do.

Groot gently stroked Lucia's smooth fur on the back of his head, sighed, smiled bitterly and apologized to Lenari again: "Sorry."

Lenari shook his head gently and said sullenly: "What do you need me to do?"

"Find him." Groot said, with a light in his eyes that Lenari couldn't understand, "That person is extremely conceited and won't use cosmetic surgery or other means to cover up."

"Find him according to my appearance."

As he said, Groot took off his glasses and looked at Lenari with a sharp look.

He actually has good eyesight. He wears a pair of plain glasses all year round to pretend to be nearsighted, just to make his face look less hateful.

"What happens after we find him?" Lenari said calmly, "If I'm not mistaken, his ability is to control 'probability', and you are no match for him."

"That's right." Grote nodded, raised his hand and took out a scarlet envelope from the inside pocket of his shirt, "So I prepared this."

"This is..." Lenari looked at the scarlet envelope in surprise.

From the blank envelope, she sensed a strong, weird smell.

"The letter of challenge from the strange story 'Scarlet Arena'." Grote said calmly, "Once the letter of challenge is issued or received, both parties, no matter where they are, will be found by the Scarlet Arena and dragged into the arena inside until only one person survives."

... Or all are destroyed.

Even if Grote didn't say the latter words, Lenari could guess them.

Groot: "Vincent's ability 'Probability Bungee Jumping' can always ensure his safe escape from all kinds of incredible places. Only a place like the Scarlet Arena, which is completely closed in concept, can keep him completely."

"But you are not his opponent." Lenari pointed out the key again.

Groot smiled, winked playfully, and said: "So I also prepared a big killer, an absolute, no-holds-barred big killer."