Chapter Sixteen: Trouble After Drinking

  Dear readers, the previous 2 chapters were updated incorrectly and have now been restored. Sorry about that.

  Yayoi became somewhat despondent after hearing that: "Sorry, Xiaocha, it's all my fault. I should have stopped them from using you as a prize. Don't ignore me, okay? If you ignore me, what am I supposed to do? Xiaocha, please open the door... It's all my fault, so please open the door, Xiaocha..."

  Miyabi, you idiot, when did you become so talkative? (Author's note: It seems like he has always been talkative though?) I suppressed the urge to go and slap him and opened my mouth to scold him, "I'm very tired today, I don't want to talk. Can't you just leave first?" I absolutely don't want to be seen in such a pathetic state... Absolutely not, absolutely not!

  It seemed like there was no sound outside, but then suddenly the sound of a key turning! I was really startled and when I turned my head around, I saw Mito standing outside the open door, already changed into his clothes. He had on one of those white dress shirts with black cuffs embroidered with purple flowers that reflected light... He looked like he should be standing on stage, under all those sparkling lights, how many girls would fall for him? But... why does this idiot always appear at my most miserable moments?! Dammit, every time I helped him deal with thugs and ended up getting hurt myself, he'd show up in front of me, seeing me like that... What a jerk! Why does my dignity always get ruined in such a pathetic way?!

  "Xiao Cha... what's wrong with you?" Yayoi seemed to have noticed my abnormality, her voice trembling as she asked: "Xiao Cha, what's wrong? Are you hurt? Or has someone bullied you?!"

  I gave him a white eye: "I'm fine now, where am I hurt? I'm just very tired and don't want to talk now."

  "Xiao Cha, every time you say you're tired, it's when you've been hurt or bullied," he walked to my side and sat down, his hand gently stroking my forehead: "Why didn't you tell me? When I'm hurt or in danger, you always protect me, why can't I protect you when you're hurt?"

  I'm really out of energy now, if it were usual, I would have hit that hand away long ago. This big fool: "What ability do you have to protect others? It's always like this, every time something happens, I have to help you clean up..." Paused for a moment, I felt that I really didn't have any supporting power left, so I made an effort to lift my hand and push him away: "Go away, I need to rest."

  When my palm touched his chest, I felt the intense beating of his heart! I asked gloomily: "Miyu? How come I've never heard... that you have congenital heart disease?"

  Mitsuru's face suddenly turned pale, then his warm palm grasped my hand: "Kocha... you're really an idiot. Because I... because I've always... liked you!"

  Completely, stunned...... He, he, he, he said he likes me?！！！ Ah, my mother, this kid actually said with a straight face that he likes me?！ Too, too, too scary, it's really too scary, I never thought that this kid was seriously liking me?！ He, he, he…… He must be joking, he must be joking！！！

  Seeing my complexion was not good, Yayoi's originally beautiful expression also changed. He muttered: "W-well... of course it's the kind of liking between friends... b-but... if Kotcha thinks it's okay, if Kotcha agrees to it... I-I... I can too..." (Author's note: Actually he wanted to say it was romantic liking between a man and a woman, but he was afraid of being rejected by Kotcha, so he held back)

  "I'm so exhausted that I don't even have the energy to twitch my mouth: 'Miyu, I warn you, if you don't leave this room now, from now on, every time I see you, I'll hit you once. Did you hear me?!"

  He finally pitifully got up: "Woo woo woo, Xiao Cha will scold me... Then I'll go first... Xiao Cha, are you coming to the school festival tomorrow (the school festival is held for two days)?"

  "It's possible that someone will come, now I'm going to rest, please close the door on your way out." After finishing speaking, I comfortably leaned against the edge of the bed and closed my eyes. Yayoi seemed to have let out a sigh, or maybe not, in any case she left.

  My head was originally dull, and I didn't wake up until after a long sleep. Perhaps it was because I slept too early, when I woke up, it was 2 am, the sky was still pitch black, my body seemed to be able to move already, but after struggling to turn over for a while, I finally sat up and found that my arms had gone numb from leaning on them for too long.

  I sat on the windowsill, gazing at a breathtakingly beautiful blackness in the sky. Suddenly, I realized that my master from the deep mountains was right all along - there's no such thing as light and darkness in this world, nor is there any need to eliminate one for the other... Look, only under such beautifully dark skies can radiant light become so stunningly beautiful, and only under such darkness can you see the silver river that flows alone in the sky.

  "Hey, you've been standing there for so long, if you have something to say, just come out and say it." I slowly turned my head to look at the silver-haired kid standing a few meters away on the carved flower balcony by the window. He seemed to have been standing there for a good while, with the moonlight pouring down on his shoulders like tears of the moon goddess, shining brightly as if about to drip.

  He looked at me and said in a soft tone: "Do you like midnight?"

  Uh... This idiot, didn't he just see me accidentally fall into Min Ye's arms? What a rich imagination this guy has. I muttered to myself: "I'm a boy, how could I possibly like boys, I'm not gay." Since Min Ye said that the silver-haired kid doesn't know he's one of my fiancés, I reckon he probably doesn't know I'm a girl either. Uh... Maybe he was originally gay anyway, if he finds out I'm a girl and gets deeply traumatized, wouldn't it be better for me to not have to deal with this trouble anymore? Although... He seems not too troublesome, at least compared to Mito.

  He seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then he stood still like a sculpture again. From afar, his body seemed to emit a faint glow, as if it were sprinkled with fluorescent powder. I'm telling you, if there were a few white mandalas around him, it would be even more dazzling. Of course, this is just my imagination - I don't think those flowers could still look so beautiful on such a dark and gloomy night.

  "Hey...... I'm saying...... is there anyone in this world you like, apart from family members?" The sculpture finally started talking again, and the question he asked seemed to be something I had never thought about before.

  I stood there speechless, and after a while, he finally let out a sigh: "Tomorrow's school festival has a fireworks display, at night, I hope you'll be there." Then he turned around and walked into his own room, leaving me sitting on the windowsill with my two feet dangling...

  Maybe I woke up too early, so when the sun rose, I started to feel sleepy again. So I fell back onto my bed and continued sleeping soundly. In my dream, I dreamed that Miyu, who always clings to me, was hung from a big tree in school as an exhibit. I laughed so hard it felt refreshing, haha... I laughed and laughed until saliva almost dripped out of my mouth, heh heh.

  I finally waited until I turned over and was really hungry, so I struggled to get up to find my toothbrush and cup. While brushing my teeth, I looked at my watch... wow, it's true! I actually slept until 1 pm! My youth, my time, all wasted like this! Sob...

  It took me twenty minutes to finish washing and dressing, and when I opened the door to go out, um, I know my hands and feet are a bit slow, but I think it's not my problem, the problem is that time passes too quickly. If time could pass a little slower, I might not need to spend so much time.

  One side tied a tie, one side ran out of the student union building... All the way, people came and went, many classes took out things they made or had extra in their dormitories to sell... There were also several who bought a full set of iron plate squid grill machines on the roadside of the campus street, roasting and selling while walking. There were all sorts of small things, ring toss, shooting, fishing, etc., in short, everything you can think of was there, the only thing missing was probably girls... This school... is all boys... except for parents, the only female compatriots that can be seen are teachers, but it seems that female teachers are also very few, even if they exist, they seem to be 70 or 80 years old, embarrassing.

  It's not easy to get out of the neighborhood, but I ran into those so-called beverage faction brothers (also known as the two factions that I recovered), and those guys grabbed me and said: "Boss, boss, we should have a good gathering, let's go for a walk, there's a small wine house in front, because it's only open on special occasions like the school festival, usually it's only open every Sunday, shall we go have a drink together?"

  "Uh... never mind, I'm not interested in drinking..." Actually, it's not that I'm not interested, but rather that when I drink, I seem to become... extremely fierce. Legend has it that one time during Chinese New Year at home, I had just a small sip of wine and then... according to my mom, I suddenly slammed my hand on the table, stood up and shouted: "I want to dance!"

  Next I flipped the table and jumped to the middle of the living room, beating my chest while singing: "Rise up! People who do not want to be slaves! Let our flesh and blood build a new Great Wall for China! The Chinese nation has reached... the most critical moment, everyone is forced to make their final roar! Rise up! Rise up! Rise up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are united as one, advancing forward under the enemy's artillery fire, advancing forward under the enemy's artillery fire! Advance! Advance! Advance!

  That's my painful memory (of course, it was after my mom finished telling me), but it seems that those little brothers of mine refused to let me go and dragged me to the tavern to drink, and on the way there they even dragged along Mitsuki who was shopping. Oh no, what should I do now? It's neither drinking nor not drinking!

  With great difficulty, they finally pressed me onto the chair and even poured a full cup of beer for me. The corners of my mouth started to twitch violently, and I repeatedly asked them in my mouth: "Are you sure you want me to drink? No regrets? Really no regrets? Absolutely no regrets? Definitely no regrets?"

  My little brothers looked at each other in surprise, then nodded, no regrets!

  Miyu, hiding to the side, trembled with fear: "Th-thousand... ten thousand... no, don't let her drink, she... she wants a single malt... and also... wants to flip the table... and also... 1P group!"

  Everyone regretted it after I had already drunk the wine... then... everyone fell silent.

  I slowly stood up, and with a loud slap on the table in front of me: "I stand in the fierce wind! I wish to dispel all my heartache... Gazing at the vast sky! The clouds are moving in all directions, sword in hand! Who is the hero under the heavens?... I stand in the fierce wind!!! I wish to dispel all my heartache!!! Gazing at the vast sky, the clouds are moving in all directions! Sword in hand! Who is the hero under the heavens?!?!?!?!?!?!?!