Room 601 of an apartment building in an unknown location.
In the kitchen.
In everyday clothes, Talulah was rinsing bowls and chopsticks.
"Heh heh heh~"
Wearing a gray apron, the little deer Alina hummed a happy tune as her hands nimbly worked the spatula and wok, stir-frying.
Annie, in a white T-shirt, sat at the dining table with bright anticipation. "Smells amazing. What'd you make today, Alina?"
Alina glanced back, voice light. "I bought some beef brisket—."
"Huh. Smells great."
It was a male voice.
Talulah, who'd been tidying the dishes, stepped out of the kitchen and dipped her head with extreme respect. "Tatsuki-sama."
Annie also stood up fast. "Master."
"Tatsuki-san's here?!" Alina yelped from the kitchen.
Tatsuki, dressed in a cool short-sleeved shirt and baggy shorts, replied casually, "Alina, don't worry about me. Keep cooking."
He waved a hand. "No need to be so tense. Just relax."
He sat down on the couch like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Annie, come here. Let me take a look at you."
"Yes, Master."
Annie instantly walked over obediently, stopping in front of him and waiting—no next move without his instruction.
"No need to be so stiff. Sit. And don't call me 'Master'—just call me Tatsuki like Talulah and the others do." Tatsuki sighed.
"Mm. Tatsuki-sama."
Annie nodded and sat. Tatsuki reached up, pinched her chin, and turned her face left and right to check her.
"Yeah. You look pretty good. Your complexion's nice—your cheeks even filled out a bit."
When he pinched her now, she didn't feel as bony as before—soft, with a little more meat to her. Not bad.
Annie's ears warmed. "That's Alina's doing."
"Looks like it. Alina, mind adding a couple more sets of dishes?"
"Huh?! You're eating here, Tatsuki-san? Of course that's fine—just might take a little while, okay?"
"Sure. I'm not in a rush."
"I'll go help Alina."
Talulah glanced at the couch, where Tatsuki was thoroughly checking Annie from top to bottom, said that, then went back into the kitchen.
Tatsuki really was just doing a proper physical check on Annie.
He used the power of genetic control—looking from the genetic level to see whether Annie's perfect Titan transformation would put any strain on her body.
After his inspection, he said, "Your body's in great condition right now. No need to worry about the Titan power causing negative effects."
"And you've felt it too, right? Your Apostle body and the power of Time have gotten stronger."
Tatsuki was about to pull his hand back—when Annie grabbed it.
Her cheeks flushed red as she slipped his hand inside her shirt, pressing it right against her soft, warm breasts.
"..."
Tatsuki's eyelid twitched.
He'd noticed long ago that Annie wasn't wearing anything underneath.
The feel of her skin was, frankly, ridiculously smooth and warm.
"Tatsuki-sama, want some tea?" Annie lifted a teacup in her hand.
"Yeah."
The moment Tatsuki nodded, Annie climbed right onto his lap and started mixing the tea.
Tatsuki held her with one arm while the other hand kneaded and soothed her breasts, his face full of suspicion. "You're seriously—what is this...?"
Annie's face was crimson, her eyes darting away as she mumbled, "I... I learned it from Lady Echidna."
Whether she was telling the truth or not, Tatsuki didn't bother judging.
He only needed to know one thing: he was about to enjoy himself.
Next came the time to taste Annie's imported tea.
Under Annie's attentive service, Tatsuki drank the clear tea steeped from tea leaves.
He meant to savor it and swallow—but Annie suddenly tugged up, exposing her breasts more boldly.
Meeting her gaze, Tatsuki immediately understood: Annie was trying to make milk tea.
Milk tea.
As the name suggests, it's tea brewed from tea leaves mixed with sweet, delicious milk—blended into a drink that carries both the fresh fragrance of tea and the rich creaminess of milk.
...
Halfway through, Alina quietly leaned her head out to take a look and she saw Annie sitting straight and stretched out.
Her snow-white neck arched up, shamelessly bright.
Tatsuki was buried in that rolling softness, indulging freely.
Annie poured so much emotion and effort into "making" this milk tea—how could Tatsuki bear to waste it? His tongue carefully tasted every last trace, every tiny strand of milk-sweetness and tea-aftertaste that belonged to this "milk tea."
There wasn't any actual tasty milk used to make it, but it was still filled with a sweet, gentle flavor—like honey.
"Eek!"
Alina jumped, startled by what she was seeing.
Talulah only flicked her eyes over once, then calmly pulled Alina back. "Don't overthink it."
"Mm..."
Alina lowered her head, embarrassed, and kept cooking—but the scene from just now kept popping back into her mind.
Talulah watched Alina's flushed profile and made a decision in her heart.
I'll protect Alina's purity—no matter what, even if I have to use this sinful body.
Soon, Alina's dishes were finished.
And Tatsuki had also completed his appraisal of the pseudo imported milk tea.
At the dining table, the atmosphere was strangely delicate.
Annie shoveled food into her mouth without a care in the world.
As a warrior, she was always straightforward when it came to anything.
Talulah sat in silence, like she was thinking something through.
Alina was shy—her eyes kept drifting to the damp ring of wetness on Annie's T-shirt right over her chest.
Tatsuki, for his part, was perfectly calm.
So what if someone saw him "drinking milk tea."
He wasn't even afraid of being seen while doing the deed with Eriri.
Talulah and Alina were his own people too—letting them get used to it ahead of time wasn't exactly a problem.
After taking a bite of the tender, juicy beef, Tatsuki praised sincerely, "Alina, your cooking is really good. It's on par with Sayuri's."
"Mm... it's because Sister Sayuri taught me well." Alina smiled shyly.
Her cooking skills were learned from Sayuri.
Or rather, in that entire apartment building, Sayuri was a mentor to plenty of people.
You could even say proudly that there wasn't a single one who hadn't been taught by her.
"At least from what I see, Alina, you're really talented."
"Alina, Annie, Talulah—tell me how it feels living here."
When it came to his own people, of course he cared whether they could adapt to this world.
Like Nezuko and Tamayo—they'd adapted early on, and you could even say they genuinely liked this kind of life.
Annie's big-eating paused.
Her father's figure flashed through her mind—but only for an instant.
Just like Echidna had said, right now she only needed to focus on Tatsuki.
"It's good here. Alina and them are good. Kie and the others are good people too."
Three goods in a row—more than enough to show the highest praise in Annie's heart.
Talulah's expression was complicated. "It really is beautiful. Much better than life on the snowfield."
Alina, too, stopped being bashful.
Her eyes seemed to see the past—the Infected who died on the snowfield—and sadness welled up uncontrollably.
"Yeah. Compared to here, the snowfield was hell."
Tatsuki rubbed the heads of the two beside him and comforted softly, "At least now everything's changed. Stay here and enjoy life."
Everything about them had changed.
Their gazes gathered on Tatsuki.
It was the man in front of them who'd given them a new life—one without worry, suffering, and grief...