“You’re the one called peaked!” Peaked cap guy fumed, “My name isn’t actually peaked cap because I always wore a peaked cap!”
“Huh? So you weren’t called peaked cap? How unexpected!” I anxiously rubbed the non-existent stubble on my chin, “Then how about peak-tarou?”
Peaked cap guy roared: “What the f.u.c.k is that name! I told you my name doesn’t start with peaked!”
How difficult! That’s the only cartoon name I know!
Peaked cap guy patted his chest and said: “Remember! My surname is Tang! I’m called…”
“Tang peaked?” I blurted.
Peaked cap guy lost control and threw a punch at me, but for some reason, he stopped midway.
“I won’t lower myself to your level!” Peaked cap guy slowly retracted his fist, “My name is Tang Jiang! But it’s useless telling you since you’re about to die anyway!”
Tang… Jiang? As in the sweet syrup? No, if I think about it, Jiang would mean river in this case. Because the duck always knows when the spring river is warm…! So it does have to do with ducks and peaks! (TN: Okay, so yeah in this case when you split the character from peaked cap, peaked would mean duck… I couldn’t think of a really good way to integrate it, so left it like this)
Why did you say I was going to die? Are you still suspecting I have AIDS and won’t touch me because you’re afraid of contracting the disease?
I have the guts to touch you if you do not! I purposely took a step forward and forced peaked cap guy… no, let’s call him Tang Jiang, forced Tang Jiang to take a step back.
Some of Tang Jiang’s juniors didn’t recognize me, so they were planning on rushing forward but he stopped them.
“Don’t go! He’s a gay h.o.m.os.e.xual! He could have AIDS! Be careful!”
His juniors shuddered and froze on the spot.
“A wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him!” Tang Jiang calmed down and shouted to his juniors, “Let’s retreat for now! We can give him a beating when we get hazmat suits and show him the strength of our taekwondo!”
His juniors said yes in succession and all of them carefully walked out of the arcade following Tang Jiang and avoided me like I was a germ.
Xiong YaoYue was slightly stunned when she heard Tang Jiang call me a h.o.m.o, and she made an inquisitive expression.
“Eh? So you were gay? No wonder I thought you were different than normal!”
Shut up! You can’t call me gay simply because I don’t get along with others!
“Don’t be shy!” Xiong YaoYue patted my back, “I won’t discriminate against you because you’re gay! Let me tell you: It’s very fashionable right now! I always felt regret that we never had a h.o.m.o in our cla.s.s!”
Xiong YaoYue held her chest and made a comforting look:
“Now our 2-3 cla.s.s finally has some achievements because we have a h.o.m.o like you….”
Screw your achievements! Show me some proof that I’m gay!
When she saw I was unhappy, she clapped her hands together and apologized in a casual manner:
“Don’t be mad! I’ll definitely keep your secret if you don’t want to come out of the closet! From now on we’ll be sisters… no, I mean brothers! Come, play a game with me! You should take responsibility since you chased my opponent away!”
You’re not anyone’s older sister! Other than the cla.s.s leader who is only older than me by a day, no one else has the qualifications for me to call them older sister! No, even the cla.s.s leader doesn’t have the qualifications, I was only making an example!
Also, weren’t you the one who chased Tang Jiang away! He wouldn’t have been that unhappy if you acted a bit more modest after winning! You probably cause tons of troubles usually due to your tactlessness.
At this moment, I heard the ringing of a bell. Ai Mi who had a bell on her ankle walked towards us with a clean as new Hermes bag around her shoulders and holding a DQ oreo ice cream in each hand.
Huh? When did she go to buy ice cream? Why didn’t I notice? Was the waffle cone not enough? Do you have to eat another one because I ate some of yours earlier?
Um, since ice cream isn’t really healthy, it’s probably food that should be limited. But I only promised Peng TouSi on cola, so I won’t be reneging on our promise if I let her eat some more ice cream.
Ai Mi completely ignored Xiong YaoYue’s presence as she walked over and handed me the Oreo ice cream while saying indifferently:
“Manservant, a reward for you.”
She frowned when I didn’t immediately receive it: “Hurry up and take it! It’s tiring to hold it up! Why do you keep giving me trouble!”
I received the ice cream and the cold sensation dulled my senses a bit. Xiong YaoYue also saw Ai Mi and two sparkly rays immediately shot out of her eyes. Ai Mi covered her face with her left hand as if she was blocking the sun.
“Eh? Who’s kid is this? Ye Lin, do you know her? Hurry and introduce us! So cute! I want to touch her! Let me touch! Just once!”
Xiong YaoYue had non stop questions while seated on the stool. She was wondering if Ai Mi would let her touch or not. Her knees were tightly closed together like an elementary school girl waiting for her teacher to announce the grades of the last test.
“Her golden hair doesn’t seem to be dyed, she also has blue eyes… is she British?”
It seems Xiong YaoYue treats all foreign girls with blond hair as British after watching Harry Potter. I guess it was because of Hermione? That reminds me of how Eunuch Cao has a collection of nude Hermione cosplay photos and keeps asking if I want to see…
Ai Mi licked her ice cream with dissatisfaction and said: “England would have long become a colony of Germany if we Americans didn’t help them during WWII!”
“Eh??? She’s American! A real American! And her Chinese is excellent!”
Xiong YaoYue excitedly rocked the stool and turned to ask me: “What’s your relation with this loli?”
I wanted to tell the truth, but it would be an inconvenience, so I told a slight lie: “She’s a distant relative’s kid. Her name is Ai Mi and she’s a mixed-blood. Her temper’s not that good and always says weird stuff, so you shouldn’t bother her.”
Even though I spoke as quietly as possible, Ai Mi still heard. She stuck out her ice cream-colored tongue and chided me:
“Who’s your distant relative! A mere manservant wants to make familial ties with your master! How shameful!”
Hmph, you will know sooner or later. We are indeed not distant relatives, but actually close relatives! There will be a day where you will have to call me older brother!
“Um… Ai Mi, when did you go to buy ice cream, how come I didn’t see?” I changed the topic.
Ai Mi proudly licked the ice cream, “I didn’t go buy it! How could someone like me run errands? I gave the front desk lady ¥500 and told her to go buy it!”
I shot a glance towards the front desk and saw her huffing and puffing. It seems she abandoned her post for a short while and was currently happily and nervously holding onto the money.
Ah, as expected, you can do anything as long as you have money. The front desk lady doesn’t earn much anyway, I guess she’s pretty lucky to earn this much from running an errand?
“Ah, also —— ” Ai Mi suddenly remembered something, “She also helped me wipe my bag clean! It only cost ¥500, so cheap!”
Apparently, the front desk lady had a complicated expression when she saw the Hermes bag with footprints all over it.
Xiong YaoYue left her mouth agape when she heard there was a ¥500 errand running payment.
“Um, Ai Mi… no, Miss Ai Mi! Next time, you should call me! I’m great at running errands! I also want to earn money!”
Hey, hey, can you act a bit more reserved as a girl! You look like a loser when you’re desperately chasing after money!
Ai Mi loves to be respected, so it seems Xiong YaoYue left a good impression on her. Ai Mi didn’t seem to raise any objections when I pa.s.sed my ice cream to Xiong YaoYue because it was too cold.
Xiong YaoYue happily gnawed on the oreo ice cream (I’m sorry, I could only use gnawed to describe her ferocious eating manner) and devoured it in a split second. She let out a long sigh and said:
“Loud Mouth was right! Food tastes the best when it’s someone else’s treat!”
It seems she immediately forgot about her request to touch Ai Mi after she finished the ice cream and she patted the empty seat to her right.
“Come and play two rounds with me! I have coins if you don’t have any!”
She reached into her pockets and awkwardly pulled out something shiny. If I looked carefully, it was not an arcade coin, but a 50 cent coin.
“Ah d.a.m.n!” Xiong YaoYue grieved and waved her fist, “I used my last one with that d.a.m.n cough drop (TN: pun with Tang Jiang’s name)!”
She gazed at the coin between her fingers, “Do you think the machine can tell the difference if I throw this in?”
Arcade coins only cost a dollar! Are you trying to cheap out of 50 cents? It also definitely won’t work because I tried the same thing when I was a kid!
Since I still had a lot of arcade coins left, and I wanted to seem more generous in front of Ai Mi, so I tossed in two more coins and said softly:
“Don’t worry, it’s my treat.”
Xiong YaoYue expressionlessly reminded me: “You need to toss in two coins to play once. If you want to play together, you have to toss in two more.”
d.a.m.n, how shady! I used to know an extremely shady arcade shop owner. Not only did he set the default as two coins for every game, but he also set the game’s base difficulty to 8, which was double of all other stores. Later on, I heard he was beaten up by a hoodlum who lost at the first stage of one of the games, not sure if it was true.
Xiong YaoYue made an expression as if this was the first time she met me when she saw me toss in another two coins without restraint.
“Huh? Do you have feelings for me? —— I should tell you: You can’t flirt with me! I’m treating you as a brother, I won’t be able to make it up to the G.o.d of Wealth if you flirt with me!”