'It must be my imagination.'
The pink-haired girl shook her head quickly, patiently looking at the chat.
[Okay, Mana.]
Kaito didn't have the habit of beating around the bush, and directly typed, [There's indeed something I want to ask you, about the recent rumors that sumimi is going to disband, is it true?]
This time, Mana was silent for a particularly long time.
At the top of the chat window, it kept showing "Mana is typing", but no reply came.
After a long time.
Finally a message popped up.
[About this... Kaito-kun, are you free today?]
[I'd like to talk to you about it in private.]
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining. You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y
Chapter 192: The Past
It was already dusk, the sunset gently spilled over the world, casting a hazy golden veil over this steel city.
"Going to meet Mana soon," On the way to RiNG, the girl with long pink hair had her hands behind her back, her steps light like a fawn. Those gray delicate pupils shimmered like jade in the warm yellow afterglow, full of watery brilliance.
"It's all thanks to you, Kaito-kun, for speaking up for me."
Mana originally intended to invite only Kaito for a private talk.
But the reason he sought out Mana to ask about Sumimi's news was entirely on Anon's behalf. He himself had no interest in this kind of entertainment gossip, so when faced with Mana's invitation, he straightforwardly asked, [Mind if I bring a friend? She's your fan.]
The donut lady on the other end of the screen seemed choked for a moment, only replying after a while, [Of course, no problem.]
So the matter was happily settled just like that.
Walking on the small road amidst misty clouds and glowing sunset, Anon couldn't help but secretly observe the beautiful boy beside her from the corner of her eye.
'Sure enough Kaito-kun, deep down, actually likes me, right?'
Although she had already had similar thoughts before, what happened today undoubtedly further confirmed her guess.
Otherwise, why would he be so enthusiastic, and when he saw her feeling embarrassed, even take the initiative to ask Mana about the inside story of Sumimi's upcoming disbandment?
Isn't this what they call irrefutable evidence? (tactical lean-back)
Yet in front of her, he still deliberately acted stern and serious, like a rigid old scholar
'Ehh~ A tsundere boy is steamed goose heart~', The pink cotton candy dragon giggled foolishly in her heart, her smiling face also became bright and silly. Kaito glanced at her twice, his expression looking a bit like he was looking at an idiot.
'Chihaya-san is fantasizing again.'
Although he didn't know exactly what she was fantasizing about, seeing her like this, it was clearly a textbook case of hysteria.
"Kaito-kun," After laughing to herself for a while, Anon suddenly leaned over, cleared her throat, and decided to do a little probing, "Can I ask you a question?"
'So what if he's a tsundere? Anon-chan, me, has always been a super considerate and invincible beautiful girl.'
'Since Kaito-kun is too shy to break that barrier, I might as well do it. After all, we're bound to be family in the future, what's the difference between you and me?'
Kaito glanced at her, "You already did."
Anon, who was still preparing her question, froze for a moment, "Then can I ask you two questions?"
"You already did."
Anon: "..."
Anon puffed her cheeks, 'Even if I am slow-witted, I should be catching on by now. Besides, anon-chan, me, has always been an ice-snow-smart and orchid-hearted extraordinary girl (in her own opinion).'
The girl snorted twice, "Then can I ask you four questions?"
'Thinking you can trouble this lady with just a bit of cleverness is simply wishful thinking.'
Just as she was full of confidence, slanting her eyes to see Kaito-kun's expression, sure to be stunned and awed by her extraordinary wisdom, the beautiful boy beside her kept walking and blandly said three words, "No, you can't."
Anon: "..."
Anon widened her eyes: "Why?"
Kaito glanced at her again, "Because you already did."
[Five Minutes Later]
Kaito continued walking forward, and Anon followed beside him angrily, her cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish.
The pink-haired girl was stabbing a straw doll in her heart, while viciously vowing that when Kaito confesses to her one day, she would definitely return today's humiliation a hundredfold. Make him understand that anon-chan, is not someone to be bullied.
'But, isn't a hundred times a bit much? Maybe ten times will do?'
'After all, boys have their pride too,' Anon hesitated a bit, thinking ten times might still be too much.
'Forget it, forget it, didn't I already say anon-chan, me, is a considerate beautiful girl'
'Better jot it down in the little notebook first, next time he annoys this lady, the crimes will be punished all at once.'
Thinking that way, Anon became happy again, feeling like she held great power. Her steps once more became light, and she even smugly glanced at Kaito, like a proud queen giving her favored courtier a sideways look.
Kaito ignored her gaze.
In fact, the reason he helped Anon wasn't that complicated. It was simply a habit left from the past.
Courting Death Sect was a place where strength mattered, not seniority. The capable were teachers.
Kaito started his cultivation late, but with overwhelming talent, in many disciples' hearts, he was the undisputed senior brother.
Not only because he was strong, but also because he was reliable.
Senior brother cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness. Although he seemed cold, wasting a face that made junior brothers and sisters scream, and was quiet and reserved, he was truly dependable.
The junior disciples usually didn't dare to bother senior brother's cultivation, but whenever they faced problems they couldn't solve, they instinctively wanted to look for senior brother.
Kaito also got used to helping his juniors settle things. As long as it wasn't something outrageous, he never hesitated to unsheathe his sword.
Occasionally he did hit walls, encountering old monsters he couldn't defeat, unable to protect his juniors. At that point, it was the master's turn to step in.
Although the master had no image in front of him, she always presented herself as a lofty flower to the outside world. Most importantly, she could really fight.
So usually, those old monsters who wanted to bully the young ended up dying peacefully.
Every time afterward, the master would bring him back to the cave and say earnestly, ("My dear disciple, see how dangerous the outside world is? It's safest to stay by Master's side. If you lack anything, this fairy will just snatch it back for you.")
She repeated these words for hundreds of years. Every time, Kaito just listened silently, his handsome face expressionless, as if covered by a cold iron mask.
Later, his cultivation broke through repeatedly, mastering the Path of Ruthlessness deeper and deeper. Even the sect leader, who had been in closed cultivation for years, was astonished, never imagining that a sect-less Path of Ruthlessness, silent for thousands of years, would produce a deity-level cultivator. Truly a monstrous talent.
Then the sect leader regretfully patted his shoulder, sighed, and said, ("Such a good seedling, why did you have to cultivate the Path of Ruthlessness? You were such a good person, now you've become like a block of wood. I'll talk to your master about this.")
Kaito silently listened to the sect leader's lament, said nothing, merely removed his hand and turned back to the cave.
At that point, his master was no longer his match, could no longer support her disciple. So those words she repeated for hundreds of years were never spoken again.
Only during full moons, when she was drunk and dazed, she would sometimes look at his increasingly cold and lonely back, without a trace of human emotion, and say, ("If I'd known earlier, I wouldn't have let you cultivate that damned book.")
Kaito didn't look back, just stood on the cliff, watching the moonlight, not missing her extremely soft whisper of "Sorry."
Actually, it was he who should apologize to his master. He wasn't a good disciple, unable to warm the bed, fan the pillow, or act filial.
He wanted to thank his master for taking him into the sect, teaching him cultivation, and giving him a home. But every time his lips moved for a while, he could never utter a single syllable.
A sword without emotion, how could it speak?
All he could do was stand up for his master and protect her.
But she didn't need him to do that. She didn't need him to stand up for her. She didn't need anything. She just looked at him and scolded him as a rotten log, a dumb log, a big log.
She didn't know how to scold people. Her vocabulary was pitifully limited. So these few phrases were repeated over and over.
The more she scolded, the angrier she got. The angrier she got, the more she scolded. When she got really mad, she would even kick him with her tiny unshod feet.
Each time her strength wasn't much, so Kaito never dodged.
Even if she used more force, he still wouldn't dodge. But she always held back, perhaps for fear of hurting him.
Even though she could no longer defeat him, even if she used all her means, she couldn't scratch even a layer of his skin. Yet she still instinctively held back. In her eyes, he always remained the child who had just started cultivating.
That person who used to scold and kick him was gone. Perhaps they would never meet again.
Kaito pulled himself from his thoughts and looked deeply at the pink-haired girl beside him, her mood once again high and carefree. She was humming a tune, looking very happy.
Laughing foolishly again, and who knows exactly what she was happy about.
But she reminded him of his master, the one who used to fiercely say, ("I'm your master, you're my disciple. Disciples must obey their master, or else I'll have to use the family rules.") and then, after breaking character, laugh until rolling on the bed.
'The past, after all, cannot be pursued.'
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining. You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y
Chapter 193: Gagaga Massacre
"Two cups of hot Earl Grey tea, one cup of iced Americano, a small portion of donuts, thank you."
Kaito handed the menu to the black-haired, tear-moled female clerk beside him and said politely.
Ten minutes later, it was still the familiar RiNG, still the familiar corner window seat, still the familiar drum team member helping to place the order.
Even the items ordered were not much different from last time, only missing three matcha parfaits.
The female clerk named "Shiina Taki" took the menu. Her pretty face looked somewhat absent-minded, but she quickly came to her senses, coughed once, and covered up her disordered breathing, "Do you need anything else?"
"Please bring two more portions of baked cheesecake," Chihaya Anon beside him raised her hand and, after thinking, added, "Small portions."
"...Understood," Shiina Taki lowered her eyes, avoiding looking at that face as if it had been carefully sculpted by the gods, a face of pure beauty, while inwardly telling herself that so-called love at first sight was nothing but lust at first sight, extremely shallow. She silently recited the name of Takamatsu Tomori in her heart, thinking of that innocent, naive, lovable girl who was like a small animal, and her tone barely regained its calmness, for now, at least.
"Please wait a moment. I'll be at the bar. If there's anything else, you can call me directly."
"Mhm! Mhm!", Chihaya Anon nodded vigorously, thinking to herself that the staff at this livehouse were really quite considerate. Though she had a cool beauty's face, could she be the type who's cold on the outside and warm on the inside?
Kaito didn't care about the departing figure of the store clerk. He only glanced at the pink-haired girl beside him, "Two portions of cake, aren't you afraid of getting fat?"
Nowadays, young girls all seemed to have the habit of maintaining their figure. Even Soyo would occasionally complain on chat apps that she seemed to have gained some weight lately, although Kaito really couldn't see where she had gained any. Still, she would intentionally diet.
But this kind of worry didn't exist at all with classmate Chihaya. She ate and drank as she pleased, didn't let things weigh on her heart, a kind of carefree spirit like a heroine.
"Humph humph~", Anon wrinkled her little nose, her face full of "hopeless child" expression, "Beautiful girls don't get fat. That's just common sense, right?"
"What kind of common sense is that?"
"It just is!", Chihaya Anon started counting on her fingers and gave him examples one by one, "There are lots of common sense things like that. For example, beautiful girls don't get hit by bullets. For example, beautiful girls can do anything. And also, beautiful girls are..."
"What you're talking about isn't a beautiful girl. It's a magical girl warrior," Kaito chatted with her casually like this. Sumita Mana hadn't arrived yet, so they had to find something to kill the time.
However, this idle chat didn't last long. After a short wait, the bell on the door rang again. A long brown-haired idol girl walked in, the hem of her skirt fluttering.
"Sorry, I'm a little late," Mana took off her sunglasses, her smile tinged with a bit of apology. Her outfit was very plain, just a simple white dress, clear water face without makeup, yet she looked beautiful like a lotus blooming on a quiet mountain top. No wonder she was one of the most popular idol girls right now, simply cute to the point of breaking the rules.
But to Kaito, this was just fleeting scenery. He never judged friends by looks, so he simply nodded and bluntly got to the point, "So the rumor about Sumimi disbanding, is it true?"
Mana sat opposite him and was silent for a while, as if she didn't know how to answer.
Anon nervously watched the girl's every move, afraid to hear a bad conclusion from her mouth.
Fortunately, that conclusion didn't come. After a long silence, Mana still shook her head and showed a smile as gentle as spring water, "Sumimi is not disbanding."
"But, the rumors outside are spreading so widely...", Anon still looked a little worried. She was a very perceptive girl. Although Mana smiled gently, there was still sorrow left between her brows. Obviously, things were far from simple.
