No Big Deal
Tragedies often come with some kind of premonition, but Baia couldn't figure out how all this happened. Perhaps it was the mysterious old lady she met at the supermarket last week who cursed her, or maybe it should have been a warning sign when she noticed that the chicken she bought was missing a claw, or when the tea leaves stood eerily upright.
A cold was nothing serious, but to maintain her dignity as a responsible adult, Selina strictly controlled Baia's schedule. Baia, who usually went to bed and woke up early, even managed to gain a little weight, but sometimes she couldn't get out of bed in the morning.
"If I'm guilty," Baia thought without expression, "I should be judged by the law, not have Holly open the door for Mr. Grayson."
By the time the unexpected happened, it was already ten in the morning. Holly, with her kind heart, bounced down from the third floor, first tidying up the kitchen and then going to water the roses in the front yard—today was Baia's big day! All the flowers had to be in high spirits to give them a dreamy start!
The start was indeed dreamy.
As Holly passed through the cozy porch and reached the front door, the doorbell rang crisply. Humming a tune, she opened the door with a cheerful mood, only to find a smiling black-haired young man standing outside. Well, he was quite handsome, but Holly's keen intuition, honed by years of probing the edges of crime, immediately identified the identity of this handsome guy—
Holly let out a loud "Oh!" and screamed, "Cops!" Then she slammed the door shut.
Not knowing what she had done wrong, Dick's smile stiffened as Holly's revelation sank in.
"I'm screwed," Holly thought as soon as she shut the door, "Baia is going to kill me, she really will. I'm so stupid, seriously, who else but a cop would be nice enough to bring her back from Blüdhaven?"
She remembered how diligently Baia had planned their outfits, menus, and even went to Selina to learn how to draw eyebrows last night.
Like a robot, Holly walked up to the third floor, changed into her pajamas, covered herself with a small blanket, and peacefully closed her eyes.
As long as I don't wake up, nothing happened.
Baia thought of many ways to greet each other when they met, but none of them ended up like this.
As she dashed out of the kitchen with a knife in hand, Baia heard the sound of the third-floor door closing. The system mercilessly informed her, even adding insult to injury: Holly had just opened the door, shouted "there's a cop," and then shut the door.
Baia wished she could disappear on the spot. "Can you turn back time? Please," she pleaded with the system.
System: Face reality; it's not good to always dream.
Anyway, Baia still tidied up her collar and hair slightly and ran over to open the door, trying to salvage the situation.
Dick had already been completely taken aback by the turn of events.
This time, the girl who opened the door didn't seem unfamiliar to him at all. Since the room was warmer and it was daytime, Baia didn't wrap herself up like a bird ball as usual. Instead, she wore a navy and white hoodie with a hood, tight jeans, and ankle boots, showing off her slender figure. Despite being short, her legs didn't appear short. After tying her long black hair up to her waist, a few strands of bangs still hung down on her forehead. She had lost the introverted feeling of being out of place in the world and instead appeared just like an ordinary high school girl.
And it felt like she had suddenly transformed from a naive grade school girl to a bit fierce and street-dancing big sister.
Of course, this was mainly because Baia's face looked a bit serious.
And she was holding a knife.
Is she trying to trick me into coming over to kill me? Dick thought in despair. How did the cute little girl I picked up after living next to Catwoman for a month suddenly change her style?
As soon as Baia saw him, she immediately pushed aside all those unpleasant thoughts. In her slightly widened green eyes, there seemed to be only one person—the black-haired blue-eyed young man. She joyfully exclaimed, "Mr. Grayson!" and wanted to rush over to hug him.
She just felt close to him, and didn't want to think about anything else.
Perhaps this was just a fledgling's sentimentality.
The system untimely screamed, "Knife!!"
Baia: Oh no!
Baia, holding the knife, pounced towards Dick as if she were about to stab him, which, combined with Holly's shout of "cop," was absolutely terrifying.
It was only Dick's superhero discipline that kept him standing still.
But his scattered thoughts quickly dissipated, because the girl was just softly pouncing on him and rubbing against him. Dick couldn't help but touch her soft hair, feeling that she was gradually becoming like the obedient girl in his memory.
"Just call me Dick," he said.
"Dick!" Baia immediately changed her tone.
They walked upstairs together, and Dick found that there was already a lot more vitality here—hair ties in front of the mirror, fresh daisies on the bookshelf, and a table with a new red and white checkered tablecloth—all tidied up.
She really did it.
A girl without a status, settling down successfully in Gotham on her own.
Dick could smell the aroma of stewed beef as soon as he stood at the door. Baia pulled him to sit down and then went into the kitchen herself.
"Let me help?" Although he had zero talent in cooking, Dick felt uncomfortable letting a young girl do all the work, especially when she was still growing up.
Dick had barely stood up when the system screamed again, "Kitchen!!"
Right, the damage from the last kitchen fire hadn't been repaired yet. Baia's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly rushed to block the kitchen door with lightning speed.
"No need," Baia said dryly, "I can handle it myself, it'll be done soon."
She left the kitchen door slightly ajar just enough for her to squeeze through, then retreated inside.
"Alright." Dick said doubtfully. It was good that the girl was willing to let him stay alone for a while. It gave him the chance to set up Tim's surveillance device—he didn't want to use his own in case any Cat Family members came looking for him if things went south. I'm not spying on Baia, Dick thought calmly, I'm just Nightwing's messenger.
But he still felt something was off.
Not to mention the large black cat that had been staring at him with an oppressive gaze since he entered.
The cat had been following him around like a prisoner, and when he tossed a bug into Baia's vase, the cat's tail thudded heavily on the floor.
Dick felt like he was about to get hit.
Under pressure, Dick decided to go to the kitchen to help and to learn more about Baia's situation.
"Baia, let me..." Dick's words trailed off as he pushed open the door.
System: Oh no, screwed.
Baia felt utterly hopeless.
Dick felt even more hopeless, especially since the kitchen, which had been warm and delicate last time he visited, now resembled a bombed-out site. He had only seen such a spectacular scene when one person was cooking.
"Um... how about we skip cooking?" Dick smiled to hide his sadness. "I'm not picky, I can eat cereal."
Baia firmly refused Dick's suggestion and calmly attended to her pots and pans, like a witch brewing a potion. Despite this, it was the first time since her memory began that she genuinely wanted to smash someone's head.
System: No more futile rage, it can't get any worse anyway. See if you can turn things around with this meal.
Lunch was soon ready, especially since Baia had almost finished when Holly shouted downstairs.
A rich and fragrant French onion soup, crispy bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, and besides the tomato stewed beef, she also made pan-fried lamb chops. Although Baia wasn't a master chef, the dishes she made were indeed delicious. Dick's psychological expectations had dropped to about the same level as B.W.'s after seeing the kitchen's strange state, but this was exponentially beyond his imagination.
"Have you remembered anything recently?" Dick casually asked, not wanting to put too much pressure on her.
Baia shook her head, poking at the lamb chops on her plate with her fork. "You might not believe it, but I don't really care anymore if I can remember or not."
"It's not that I don't want to find my family," her voice lowered, "but I just have this feeling... it's impossible."
So it's better not to remember at all.
Uh-oh, the topic was flashing red. Dick immediately changed the subject, observing Baia's emotions with his ocean-blue eyes.
"How's Gotham feeling?"
"Not bad," Baia's voice became a bit clearer. "I've made new friends, and there are cats. And Gotham is anything but boring."
Her mentioning friends, could it be referring to those two gods upstairs?
And the statement "Gotham is anything but boring"...?
A red warning sign flashed in Dick's mind. He felt he couldn't let the girl continue to grow freely, but she seemed content, and after a month apart, Baia had gained a little weight, her eyes were clean and bright, unlike when he first met her, where a gust of wind could blow her away.
It should be fine, Dick reassured himself.
He knew that Baia held a high degree of affection towards him, perhaps because he was the first person she had met since her amnesia. Maybe he could continue to maintain this relationship until he found out something.
They chatted for a while about Gotham's recent situation, and Dick was surprised to find that this little girl already had some understanding of Gotham's history and current state. Then Baia pointed behind him, "That's the Great Detective, that's Carrie, that's White Gloves, and that's Ruth."
Dick turned around in horror and saw many pairs of eyes staring at him from outside the window, all belonging to black cats. The Great Detective, the one who had been openly monitoring him the whole time, was perched on the windowsill, squinting thoughtfully at him, its large body blocking a significant portion of sunlight.
Dick's expression began to subtly change.
"The Great Detective"? No thanks, from now on, I want no part in this.
Tim was wise, let Batman handle it himself.
After staying a little while longer, Dick bid farewell to Baia. Baia seemed happy, which was a good sign. At least there were some things that could capture her attention now, rather than looking as blank as she did during their first meeting.
"Well, how should I put it," Dick said during his conversation with Tim later that night. After Tim promptly patched him through to Batman, Dick briefly recounted the events of the day and then awkwardly summarized, "I can only say, it's not a big problem."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone