Kiss, Yorikawa Nagisa, and the Smell of Something Fishy
“Virginity….” The girl lowered her head and replied bashfully.
“Oh! So, it’s virginity. It is indeed something that can’t be taken out.” After hearing the girl’s explanation, I nodded my head and replied. Then, I realized that something wasn’t quite right. “What?! Virginity? You…. Why the heck are you selling such a thing? You’re… You’re selling your body?”
“I… I didn’t want to… My dad’s an Earth Magician, but what can an Earth Magician do? They can only do work around construction sites…
“Oh, an Earth Magician, eh?” I sighed. In this world, one’s status in life is determined by one’s strength. I’m starting to understand the other Lin Xiang’s pain because of his lack of ability. Without any ability, there was no future…. “But what is this about?”
“He had been working in constructions for over ten years. A month ago, he couldn’t stop coughing, and eventually, he started coughing up blood. So, we went to the hospital for a check up. The check up result showed that Dad actually had Silicosis, a dust disease. It was at a very severe stage so he needed to be hospitalized and undergo surgery. Because of Dad’s illness, we had sold off everything that was worth selling, but…the money we’d got was only enough to cover his hospital fees. The operation itself requires an additional three million. Even though I understand that there are very few people who practise curative magic, but, but… It can’t be that expensive, right?” The girl explained.
“That’s really expensive.” In this magical world, whatever illness one gets, magic is medicine, and magic is good for what ails you. But, the so-called treatment, isn’t it just something that can done by a slightly more advanced curative magic? Why the heck would it be so costly? Just because the doctor thinks so highly of their magical skill?
“So, because of me not wanting to lose my dad, and with some advice from my cla.s.smates, I came here to sell myself. You said before that you don’t have parents, so you must understand the pain of losing one’s parents, right? The loss of my mom was already a blow to me, if I were to lose my dad too….“ The girl cried after she finished explaining.
“Very true. The pain of losing one’s parents – it was very difficult. And you are such a good person; you come out to find work so that you can make money to take care of your dad’s illness. Even though the way you went about doing it wasn’t right, you are still an obedient daughter.” I consoled her.
At this time, the girl lifted her head and looked at me. She wiped away her tears and said, “Now that you know, please receive the merchandise.”
“I never would have thought that I had bought a girl’s first night for three million. Since we are both our parent’s children and we both share that feeling of filial piety for them, let me just give you that money.”
“What? You really mean it?” The girl’s voice was a mixture of surprise and happiness, but right away, the gloominess resumed, “No, I cannot just simply take your money, I should only get my due.”
“Really, there is no need….” Yo Miss, you’re so adorable, and your body is also so…. Now that I knew the truth, if I were to go to the hotel with you, I might just faint from blood loss. Besides, it was not like we’re in a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship, how could we do something like this?
“No! It is important to keep one’s promise, this is what my dad has taught me. So, you have to see this through.” The girl’s expression showed her determination.
“Sss….“ I sucked in a mouthful of cold air and turned to Freed, who had been helping me out with difficult situations, for advice: ‘Freed, save me! What am I suppose to do now?’
‘Just do her. You’ve already paid, what are you afraid of?’ Black dragon Yalide replied with a lascivious laugh.
Really, this guy was just being facetious again.
‘You b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s swearing at me again and calling me facetious? Isn’t it simply a matter of course to receive the merchandise once you have paid for it?’
‘Just give her a kiss and be done with it.’ White dragon Freed finally spoke up.
‘A kiss?’ I can kiss a girl? My lips felt a bit tingly when I thought about this.
‘Hey! How could you two just ignore me like that?’
‘Yep, just kiss her. You saw how determined she looked. Her upbringing as well as her philosophy of life are both excellent. Just ask yourself this, would any other girls do this? More than likely, they would just take your money and run, right? Also, just earlier, she was brooding over that extra million you gave her and insisted on giving it back to you.’
‘Uhh… What you said makes sense but would she accept a kiss from me?’ Without saying a word to each other, Freed and I decided to ignore Yalide’s howling, from wherever he might be.
‘You brat, I am now seriously wondering if that brain of yours is ornamental. If I were to call you stupid, your dumba.s.sness can sometimes be quite clever; but if I were to call you smart, you can be quite foolish. Looks like, in this situation, I can only call you “brain dead”, that part of your brain that deals with feelings and emotion just doesn’t exist…. Sorry, don’t feel bad, what I mean is that, since this girl already decided to give you her first night, why would she mind getting a kiss from you?’
‘Oh yeah!!’ That was a eureka moment for me. Looks like I really am brain dead.
“Uhm, are you dissatisfied with me in some way?” The girl asked timidly.
Probably was because she saw me making that distressed expression, right?
“No, no, no, I am not dissatisfied with you in anyway, quite the opposite, I am very satisfied. You are very pretty, very adorable. You have a great body, and are a good person, but, I can’t take something like that from you….”
“Why not?” The girl’s eyes grew wide. She almost couldn’t believe I would make such a decision.
“Heh~~” I chuckled and patted her on her head. “Since ancient times, what was the most important thing for a girl? Money? Power? Those are not it. It is actually dignity, something that most girls have forgotten nowadays.” I felt sad just remembering the girls who were beckoning those men earlier.
“But… I already took your money….”
“How about this? I didn’t realize that you were selling yourself, so, let’s start our negotiation anew. Um, how about you let me kiss that adorable cheek of yours? I feel that it’s well worth the four, three million. “
“But….”
“But what? If you keep this up, I will have to cancel our deal. Listen, Miss, uh… fellow student, this kind of thing, a person can only do it with someone they like, understand?”
I was not sure if it was because she heard that I was going to renege on our deal or if it was because of some other reasons but she froze on the spot and looked me with a strange gaze… and then said, “Um, I’ll remember your teachings. Then… “ She then closed her eyes.
“Mn, here I come….“
I tried to calm down my heartbeat, as I slowly inched towards that incredibly adorable face. I thought I was going to faint when I was about 10 centimeters away from her.
Can I just not kiss her? Can’t I just run away? After all, she doesn’t know who I am. Ugh…. Forget it! She stood by her principles so I can’t just simply run away. Besides, I can just kiss her forehead. As I spoke, I closed my eyes too, and quickly moved towards the girl’s forehead…. It was very soft; that was strange – how could her forehead be that soft? And it was a bit wet, and warm….
As I opened my eyes and sneaked a peek, I saw the girls staring at me with her big, round eyes; and my eyes were at the same level as hers.
At the same level? If this is the case, then wouldn’t what I just kissed be….
“Sorry, sorry, I’m really really sorry! I don’t know what had happened; I didn’t do it on purpose.” I quickly took a few steps back and apologized to the girl as I was about to wipe my lips with my hand.
Freed immediately stopped me, ‘Kid, don’t do that! You would hurt the girl’s feelings if you were to wipe your lips with your hands.’
‘Uh…. Is it that serious?’ After hearing what Freed said, I decided against my initial impulse; instead, I licked my lips with my tongue…. Hey! Isn’t this even worse?
The girl’s face turned beet red, her eyes opened big and wide; she looked like she was in a state of shock – this made me a bit scared: I wouldn’t be called someone who couldn’t keep his promise and took advantage of others, right? Moreover, would people think that I was some sort of pervert by the way I licked my lips? Granted, even though I could say that I wasn’t going to keep my words, and planned to kiss her forehead instead of her face, I was pretty sure that I was aiming for her forehead when I planted my kiss, how did it end up being on her soft lips?
“No, it’s not a big deal, not a big deal…. Since you can still say that you have taken away my first time, I actually feel better about it….” The girl kept shaking her head as she replied.
Feeling embarra.s.sed, neither of us spoke, until the experienced Freed instructed me on how to break the silence, “You… what’s your name?”
“Yorikawa…Nagisa…. You?”
“Lin Xiang….“
“Y… you are the one whom everyone called trash Lin Xiang? Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”
“It’s a fact, so don’t worry about it.” Looks like my reputation precedes me, even people I don’t know have heard about me.
Because of the girl’s apologies, we fell into awkward silence again.
“Anyway, you… are a student? How did you even hear about me?”
“You and I are in the same year, but I am in the cla.s.s next to the cla.s.s next to you, cla.s.s A.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is. Anyway, it’s getting late, shall we head back? Also…, next time you run into trouble, you can come find me, just don’t come out here again.”
“Girls like me are no good, right?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Be… because of money, I even…”
I patted Nagisa on her head, “No, girls like you are very good. Oh… I’m referring to your dutifulness and respectfulness towards your parents. When you think about it, what you are doing, it was for your dad’s sake, so isn’t that extraordinary? Even though the way you went about it was wrong, I still really admire you.”
After hearing my words, Nagisa looked a bit embarra.s.sed, “Thank you! If… If you don’t mind, would you like to have this?” As she spoke, she took out something that looked like a charm from her pocket.
“This is?”
“This is a charm that I made myself, for my dad; I made an extra one. Even though it isn’t worth much, I hope that… you’ll accept it.”
“A charm that you made yourself?” I took the charm from Nagisa, and noticed that it was rather intricate; and I can feel her tenderness and gentleness exuding from it, “This is really great. I like it; thank you. Then, it’s getting late, let me see you home.” Since I had come this far, I might as well make sure that she got home safe.
“Mn, thank you. You are really a good person.”
How can I be a good person? This girl’s first kiss….
————————
“So, next time, if you run into any trouble, you have to come find me.” On the way home, Nagisa and I chatted; I felt like we had grown closer, felt like she and I were like friends already.
“Will do….” Nagisa thanked me over and over again, before walking into her house.
I watched and made sure Nagisa went inside her house, before I turned around and headed home.
‘Pffft…. You brat, can’t believe that there are still humans like you in the world.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘What I am saying is that boys like you have already gone extinct; but it’s exactly because of this that those girls would be troubled in the future…’
‘Those girls? Who are you referring to? Satsuki? Little Silent?’
‘No… there are many more girls; if I tell you now, you’d probably won’t think much of it. I’ll tell you when you get so tangled up with girls that you are about to vomit blood.’
‘Your words… sound too philosophical; but, sorry, brain dead people like me don’t get it. Besides, I don’t know that many girls, so rest a.s.sured, I won’t get so tangled up that I would throw up blood.’
‘Doesn’t matter, you’ll know soon enough, you just take your time now and enjoy your freedom.’
‘Anyway, Freed, doesn’t she possess some sort of power from the G.o.ddess of fortune? Why would she be so unfortunate, having to go….‘
‘Who said she wasn’t fortunate? Didn’t she just get extremely lucky?’
‘How could she be lucky? Having to sell herself, then almost getting beaten up, and even let me take away…’
‘Err… You just keep on believing that she is unfortunate then.’
———————— Cla.s.sroom
”Stupid Lin Xiang!”
”What?” I lifted my head, and took a quick glance at Satsuki, who was leaning on my desk, just inches away from me.
”Did you do something bad yesterday? Why is it that you have such deep, dark circles under your eyes?”
”No… I didn’t, you…you are overthinking this.” To be honest, I was having trouble sleeping last night; I really couldn’t forget the touch of Nagisa’s lips. I had been thinking about it all night. Were all girls’ lips were that soft, that sweet?
“Something smells fishy here.” Satsuki leaned over, and sniffed around me with her nose. I could feel her breath on my ear, and that made me feel a bit strange; particularly with what had happened last night. Seeing those alluring lips on Satsuki’s tiny mouth, it even crossed my mind to wonder: what would Satsuki’s lips feel like?
”It’s all in your head, in your head. And don’t stand so close, don’t stand so close.”
Satsuki sized me up in a peculiar way, and whispered in my ear, “Your face is so red, were you thinking of doing something bad to me?”
“How did you…. No, I wasn’t.” Almost said the wrong thing.
“Oh, it’s not a big deal – we’re good sisters, after all; you can tell me what you were just thinking of doing to me, so I can think about it and if I think it’s alright, then, there won’t be any problems.”
c.r.a.p! After hearing what Satsuki said, I felt even more strongly about it. But, did Satsuki’s brain short circuit itself somewhere? Even she herself had said that it were something bad that I might be thinking about, how could she even say that?
“I was just thinking, can you please stop leaning so close to me. Even though we are sisters, we are still a boy and a girl, right?”
“Hmm? Bizarre? You finally realized that we are a boy and a girl? Very suspicious…. Quickly, tell me, did something happened yesterday?”
“Nothing happened, really, you’ve got to believe me.”
“Mmhmm~~~ It’s fine if you don’t wanna tell me. Tomorrow’s June 20 – I need to go get some books on spirits for my club activities. So, today, you need to come with me to buy some books.”
“Not a problem, not a problem; so long as you would stop leaning so close to me, I’ll do whatever you say.”
I couldn’t help but think that today, my feelings towards Satsuki was a bit out of whack….