Unexpected Turn of Events, Kamiki Kuji’s Hostility, Engagement
“Freed, what do you say I should do when I am hated by a girl, no, hated by a girl for unknown reason?”
‘Are you talking about that human girl called Kamiki?’
‘That’s right. I really don’t understand. How did I offend her?’ I have no idea how to react to that glare that Kamiki gave me. She had never looked me straight in the face before….
‘Perhaps she already hated the ‘you’ in the past?’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘The impression that you have of everyone now is from the memories of the other ‘you’, right?’
‘Err…’
‘Since you know what kind of person the you from this world was, then why hasn’t it occurred to you that it could be because ‘you’ didn’t notice her hostility when looking at you, and hence, caused you to have the misconception that she didn’t notice you in the first place?’
After listening to Freed’s words, it suddenly came to me. That’s right, ‘my’ senses were pretty bad. It should be a given that ‘I’ wouldn’t be able to sense people who secretly gave me looks, right? Just like how I noticed that someone was staring at me moments ago. If it wasn’t for my senses being five to six times the norm, I doubt I would be able to tell that it was Kamiki who had been staring at me.
“You should more or less understand this, right? Here’s what I think: ’You’ couldn’t have purposefully went and offended that human called Kamiki. So, it should either be an environmental or a human factor that had caused it. As for the specific reason, I’m not sure why. Look, she glanced at you again. From the look in her eyes, I think she wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Really?” Kamiki Kuji had something that she wanted to talk to me about? Did something happen between us?
“Ring ring ring.” The bell rang at the end of the cla.s.s, as if it’s congratulating me for not paying attention in cla.s.s again today.
“Hey, stupid Lin Xiang, what were you thinking about just now?” Satsuki showed off her usual busybody skills. I was starting to feel that this world’s Satsuki was getting more and more similar to the previous world’s Satsuki.
“I was only wondering why Satsuki is so beautiful today.” I replied as I looked past Satsuki’s head and stared at Kamiki Kuji’s back.
“Really? You noticed?” Satsuki said something I didn’t quite understand. Then, she pulled out a black hairpin from her hair and said:” I thought you wouldn’t notice, since it was such a small hairpin.”
“What mom said was really true.” Satsuki’s expression was filled with happiness.
“What did your mom say?” Sorry, Satsuki, I didn’t notice that hairpin. I was looking at Kamiki Kuji. If you hadn’t taken it out, I really wouldn’t have noticed….
“My mom said that if you’re able to notice this hairpin, then you’ll be worthy as my…”
“Worthy as your what?” Satsuki suddenly stopped, and her face turned beet red. This made me all the more curious about what her mom told her.
“She said… she said… that you would be worthy as my precious sister… and she also told me to never let go of you, my good sister….” Satsuki lowered her head.
“Is that so? Don’t worry, I’ll never leave you.” I did promise nerdy Lin Xiang that I would take good care of you and never let you be harmed.
“Really?” Satsuki lifted her head, her eyes were actually sparkling with tears. She suddenly hugged me, completely ignoring all the other cla.s.smates in the room. “I knew it! I know it, I knew that you actually felt it. As I thought, you actually knew this whole time, right? You’re so mean. You actually had me come out and say it. You’re too mean.”
Satsuki leaned on me. Her arms firmly hung around my neck and pressed my face tightly against her creamy neck. Faced with such an event, my brain just went “bang”, and short circuited itself. But quickly enough, the murderous glare from all the boys in the room had awakened me from my stupor.
“Um… Satsuki?? What are you doing? Quick… quickly, let go, people are looking at us.” Seeing no reaction from Satsuki, I quickly tapped at the arms that she had tightly around my neck. “You’re strangling me.”
After hearing this, Satsuki finally responded. She moved to sit on my thighs, but her arms still hung around my neck and her beautiful face was only centimeters away from mine. I could clearly feel her breath:” Sorry, I got a little too excited, so I just….. Hehe.”
Why is she so happy? Just because I would be a good sister and never leave her?
Just when I was about to say this, Freed stopped me. ‘Brat, if you say this in front of all these people, do you believe me that this human girl will ignore you forever?’
‘What’ I was shocked by Freed’s words. Satsuki would ignore me forever? I didn’t dare to imagine that.
“Afraid now? You’re such a dunce. You don’t understand a girl’s heart. Listen up and repeat after me.”
…….
“What? Your parents won the lottery? Isn’t this great? So they really won 100 billion yen?” I repeated the words exactly as they were said by Freed, and even followed his instructions to act all surprised.
Satsuki looked at me suspiciously. Then, after looking around her, Satsuki jumped up:” Aiya, seriously, I got a little too excited. It’s your fault. You’re clearly a good sister, so can’t you just let me hug for awhile? Why is your face so red?”
“…” Can you take a look at the mirror at yourself before talking about my face being red? “Ha~~ Even though I feel that 100 billion yen means nothing to your family, I’m only a commoner. To me, 100 billion yen is a lot, so I got too excited and, I don’t know why, but I just had the urge to want to hug you…..” Suddenly I felt like dying. Clearly, it was Satsuki who hugged me, but now I had to turn it around and say that I was the one who wanted Satsuki to hug me…..
—————————————
Unexpectedly, everyone accepted the rationale I gave. Although the girls had no reaction, the guys were giving me weird looks, with a mixture of hatred and relief. It seemed as though they were angry because Satsuki was on intimate terms with me. At the same time, they were also relieved because Satsuki only considered me as her good sister.
‘Whew! I’ll say, Freed, I really don’t understand girls. Why is it that they are so difficult to understand?’
‘I think it’s because you seldom interact with girls, and you pretty much dedicated half of your life to fighting, so that’s why you have such a low EQ.’
‘What does low EQ got to do with understanding girls?’
‘Forget it. If a human like yourself still don’t understand, I feel that I, as a dragon that has been dead for thousands of years without ever getting married, am ill qualified to teach you.’
‘I don’t understand what you’re saying. Anyway, what should I do now?’ When I saw the way Satsuki looked at me, and her elated expression, I couldn’t help but feel a deep and indescribable helplessness.
‘You can just think of it as that this human girl is happy because she has found her one and only good sister.’
‘Oh! So that’s it.’
‘……’ Freed was silent for a moment, then said, ‘Perhaps you haven’t noticed but when that human girl was hugging you, I noticed that happiness was written all over that human Kamiki’s face. It seemed as though that she really wanted you and Satsuki to get together. Then afterwards, she seemed to have thought of something and became angry again. The way she looked at you was even worse than usual.’
‘Oh? How come?’
‘How should I know? You think I’m G.o.d? Ack.. Even if I’m a dragon G.o.d, it’s not possible for me to know what people are thinking. Anyway, believe me, she’ll soon come and talk to you. Oh, the school bell rang, hey, look, she’s coming, get ready for a confrontation.’
‘Hey, what and what? I’m not ready yet.’
‘Then tell her yourself that you’re not ready.’
“Lin Xiang-kun, can you come with me for a bit?” Just as Freed had predicted, Kamiki Kuji really wanted to talk to me.
“Okay” I nodded. Even though I was not prepared, if I could figure out why she hated me, this would be an opportunity not to be missed.
Just like this, I left the cla.s.sroom with Kamiki as Satsuki glared at us with a gaze that brimmed with the smell of gunpowder…
———————— Rooftop
“You should know by now right?” Kamiki Kuji’s soft and tender hands were grabbing tightly onto the fence.
“What are you referring to?” What did she mean by that? Was she saying that I already knew why she hated me?
“You’re still playing dumb? Satsuki is obviously attracted to you, so why, why won’t you let me go?”
“…..” I won’t let you go? What? Weren’t you the one who hated me because of some reason?
“Why aren’t you saying anything? I hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? I don’t know what an outstanding girl like Satsuki-san sees in you, but Lin Xiang, couldn’t you have some self-awareness? Even though I’m your fiance, I really hate you.”
Kamiki turned around and said to me angrily:” I admit, my family does owe your family a very huge favor, and I admit that your father was a very strong battle technician. However, did you know? The sisters I grew up with were married off at the age of fourteen due to family relations and were abused by their husbands! Ever since then, I felt that they were pitiful, very pitiful. They gave up on their own happiness, all for the sake of their families. At the same time, I felt lucky to be part of an established family. Since my family wouldn’t have to suck up to others, I wouldn’t become a tool in these familial dealings.
But! Just when high school was about to start, my parents told me that I would be the fiancée to one of the boys in my cla.s.s. This was a big blow to me. They told me that the boy was the son of Lin Fan, the famous Battle Technician.
After hearing the news, I cried for a long time, and real hard too. I cried myself to sleep. When I woke up, I figured that it was not that big of a deal. My sisters were able to endure it, so why wouldn’t I? After all, this is common among n.o.ble families, and I am just another unlucky p.a.w.n in this gambit.
Finally, high school started, and I saw my fiance! The you who everyone called trashy Lin Xiang!!!
At first, I thought there were some reasons that you hid your true abilities. But after a week, I realised that you were utter trash!
Thinking about it, I figured that since you’re good for nothing and your parents are dead, then the engagement can be annulled, right? I told my father about it, but who knew that he was so old-fashioned, and insisted that we kept our promises and that I be betrothed to you….
Your uncle Lin Hao knew about my situation, and told my Dad: “Since your family’s princess is unwilling, then let’s not force her. We advocate freedom of love these days. How about this, let’s not interfere with their matters, and let them develop naturally. If they each find someone they like, then we can annul the engagement.”
What your uncle said was so nice and so reasonable. But my Dad said, “No, this isn’t fair to Lin Xiang. Lin Xiang still doesn’t know about the engagement. If he had known, he might have agreed to it. So, the freedom of love needs only be applied to Childe Lin Xiang, there is no need to worry about my daughter.”
And so, that was how the matter was settled. In these past two months, I’ve always seen you as an eyesore. I was thinking, how on earth could such a useless guy like you actually have the courage to live on? How would any girl ever be attracted to someone as incompetent as as you?
That day, when I saw you buying women underwear at the Meredith clothing store, I thought you were some kind of pervert who bought women’s underwear to make yourself feel better. But it never occurred to me that you actually hooked up with Satsuki.
Even though since two weeks ago, I had a feeling that you and Satsuki had grown closer, I never thought much of it. That is, until yesterday, when I saw you out shopping, and buying clothes with Satsuki. Have you any idea how happy I was at the time?
I went back and told my Dad about it, that you already had a girlfriend. After he heard it, he said something that really put my heart at ease, “If this is indeed the case, then we can annul the engagement.”
Then, who would have thought that that night, your uncle actually told my father that you didn’t actually have a girlfriend???
If it wasn’t because that you knew that you have such a pretty fiancée, would you have lied about being together with Satsuki? You were still pretending this morning. When Satsuki was hugging you, you were clearly very happy. But it was because of me that you came up with such a lie, right?”
After hearing Kamiki’s side of the story, I finally got it., I finally understood why Kamiki would look at me with such hostility, understood why Kamiki was so happy yesterday, understood what my uncle’s phone call yesterday night was all about, understood what Freed meant when he said Kamiki went from happy to disgusted when she saw Satsuki hugging me….
I took a deep breath, and said: “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I never knew about having such a pretty fiancée. Also, there’s really nothing going on between Satsuki and I. Plus, couldn’t you have just told me about this earlier, and have me talk to your dad about annulling this engagement?”
“Go ahead and keep pretending, I’ve seen through your games. Alright, let me tell you, even if you’re willing to annul the engagement, my Dad would definitely say that I manipulated you. That old-fashioned man definitely won’t agree to it. So, let me make it clear now. I don’t care whether you knew about it or not, all I ask is that you let me go. Just be satisfied and go out with that Satsuki, alright? I am not like her who has bad taste in men. I couldn’t possibly like you. As I said, we are not compatible.”
“Hey! Watch what you’re saying, what’s with Satsuki having bad taste in men and all? Let me tell you, there’s nothing going on between me and Satsuki. It doesn’t matter whether I know about the engagement or not, what I do know is that I’ll never f–king go out with you!!!” I shouted my last sentence in Chinese. After that, I stormed back downstairs, not giving a hoot whether this woman understood me or not. I was angry, for real. This woman was simply too full of herself.
The bell rang just when I stepped into the cla.s.sroom….
–‘What did you Kamiki-san talk about?’ Satsuki pa.s.sed a little note over.
Should I tell her? I was a little hesitant about whether I should tell her.
‘Don’t tell her.’ Just as I was troubled by this, Freed came to my rescue.
‘Why not?’
‘Just my gut feeling. Anyway, just don’t tell her. It’s not like you have any relationship with that human, so what good is it if you tell that human Satsuki girl about such trifle matters?’
“Then, what should I say?”
‘Just write – That human asked me, what did your parents buy to win that 100 billion yen lottery? She wants to get it too.’
‘But… If I write this, will she really believe it?’
‘She will, she will. The way she is now, she will believe you, unconditionally.’
‘Really?’ Satsuki will believe me unconditionally? For real? But, I don’t doubt Freed’s words. After all, we share the same body. He wouldn’t do something that would mean us harm. If it were that frivolous Yalide…. I would feel a little….
I jotted down what Freed said, word for word and when the teacher wasn’t looking, I pa.s.sed the note back to Satsuki.
Not even a minute had pa.s.sed when Satsuki sent me another note. — ‘Is that so? Um, you should just say that even you don’t know. By the way, you’re being weird here. That human? Aren’t you one yourself?’
When I saw how Satsuki had circled the two words “that human” in my note, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. Wasn’t I too stupid? I actually jotted down everything Freed had said word for word…
‘Don’t worry about such minor details. Pay attention during cla.s.s, pay attention during cla.s.s.’
I pa.s.sed the note back to Satsuki. After she had a look at it, she looked at me, and went back to paying attention to the lecture.
—————————————— Lunch Break
During lunch, Satsuki nestled her body against me. Then, she opened up my lunchbox and wanted to feed me?
“Stop stop stop, stop it Satsuki, there’s no need to feed me. I can eat by myself.”
“Why? We’re already… Hold on… will wood become timber without getting chopped? The answer is no… don’t tell me…” Satsuki looked a little scared as she whispered to herself. All of a sudden, she looked me and asked: “Hey, stupid Lin Xiang, what’s our relationship now?”
“What relationship? Aren’t we really close sisters?” After hearing my reply, Satsuki made a face like she had expected this, and thump me on my chest with her fist. The body that was leaning against me then moved away, and Satsuki returned to her seat. As she stared at her bento, Satsuki mumbled, “Wait a minute, really close sisters? So I’ve progressed a tiny step. No matter. Yup, that’s right, it’s perfectly normal for sisters who are really close to have body contact, right?” After Satsuki was done talking to herself, she looked at me for a while, then leaned on me again, “All of a sudden, I feel dead tired. So, be a good sister and lend me your huge body to rest for a bit.”
“Um… I don’t have a problem with that.” Even though Satsuki’s body wasn’t soft like Silent Water’s, it still felt pretty perky.
“Quick, feed me.” Satsuki actually demanded while acting like a spoiled child.
“Everyone’s looking.”
“What’s there to be afraid of when we’re close sisters?”
Finally, I gave in. Under the gaze of the boys in cla.s.s that sent shivers down my spine, I fed Satsuki her lunch.
“Just a moment ago, a piece of rice fell into my school uniform. Hurry up and help me get it out.”
“This. . . Just let it go, please?” My heart started to beat really fast when I first heard her request. After thinking about it for a bit, I decided that we should just let it go.
Having Satsuki lean on me, and me feeding Satsuki her lunch, with just these two events, I was beginning to worry whether I could come to school tomorrow. Now, she even asked me to reach into her uniform to get a piece of rice out? Forget if I would be killed on the spot, I was a bit worried as to what kind of person Satsuki would become. How could she be so oblivious of boys? Or is she just too trusting of me? No matter how you slice it, aren’t I a boy? Or was it that, in her eyes, I was just another girl, her good sister?