Thump, thump, thump... The loud sound of running echoed in the hallway. Sakaki Yumiko brandished the craft knife in her hand, swinging it at the back of Jhin, who appeared to be walking completely defenseless.
With all that noise, are you trying to assassinate me, or do you just think I'm too stupid to even dodge? Jhin didn't even bother to look back, simply sidestepping the craft knife coming at him from behind.
Sakaki Yumiko failed to control her momentum and nearly took a nasty fall... but seeing as she's a beautiful girl, let's just say she almost face-planted.
"How could you dodge that!" She was completely unaware that her attack was slow enough to only hit someone in a vegetative state; how could she possibly have hurt Jhin?
Making that much noise, my grandma could have dodged that.
Jhin was under no obligation to teach her how to stab him in the kidneys, so he casually remarked, "I have a one-hundred percent evasion ability."
"Eh? No way." Sakaki Yumiko looked surprised. She actually believed him.
"Just kidding."
"You jerk." Ashamed for having so easily believed him, Sakaki Yumiko put away her craft knife, swept her messy long hair back, and spat out through gritted teeth, "You'll remember this."
Remember what? That you're wearing pink panties today? Jhin retorted silently in his mind.
"Jhin, you really ran into trouble right at the start of the school year, huh?"
Suou Amane had naturally heard about him being ambushed by Sakaki Yumiko in the hallway this morning. She sat on the chair in front of Jhin's desk, teasing him.
"It's fine. That's about all she's capable of anyway." Jhin's words were filled with mockery for Sakaki Yumiko's clumsy skills.
"Oh? So confident. But aren't you a little too eager to get on good terms with her?" Suou Amane quietly slipped off her shoes, placing her bare feet on Jhin's legs under the desk. "Looking for a girlfriend?"
"Nothing like that. I was just greeting her, I didn't expect her to be so aggressive."
Jhin's expression remained calm, so Suou Amane grew bolder, rubbing her feet up and down his legs, grinning like a little fox that had stolen a chicken. But in her smugness, she bumped a desk leg, attracting the attention of Komine Sachi, who was standing nearby listening to their conversation.
Komine Sachi bent down to check on the noise coming from under the desk, but saw nothing besides their two pairs of legs, both placed innocently where they should be.
"How are you supposed to have a normal romance like this?"
"There's no need for that right now." Jhin was telling the truth. If he didn't resolve the emotional baggage of these problem children before trying to date, the outcome would be the world exploding, and everyone would be finished.
...
There were no classes in the afternoon, and Irisu Makina excitedly pulled Jhin along to have lunch together. Jhin curiously asked her why, if Suou Amane said she was shy around strangers, she wasn't afraid of him.
"Because... Brother always has a warm aura, and the way you look at me makes me feel safe." That was Irisu Makina's reply.
Jhin was a bit baffled by this answer. I have a warm feeling about me? Don't tell me the boss secretly gave me a 'Bishoujo Affection +1' aura?
As for his gaze, Jhin had a clue. Using the information he had obtained from Tachibana Chizuru and his remaining fragments of plot memory, he knew perfectly well the tragic experience of the girl before him.
When she was young, she watched her father die horribly in front of her. The attacker even played a video of her biological mother having an affair with her lover, and she learned from the attacker's own mouth that her mother had arranged the whole thing.
Because of what her father had done, she became an outcast in her family. Later, her biological mother even tried to forcibly harvest Irisu Makina's organs to save the daughter she'd had with her lover, who had been caught in an explosion.
Faced with such a girl, who could be heartless enough not to care for her?
After lunch, Jhin was led to lie down under the shade of a tree by Irisu Makina. She curled up in the crook of his arm like a little kitten and quietly fell asleep.
"Sleep well." Jhin gently picked a leaf that had fallen into her hair. Listening to her steady breathing, he felt a wave of drowsiness and closed his eyes, taking a short nap with Irisu Makina.
"Brother!" Irisu Makina hadn't slept so peacefully in a long time. Upon waking, she eagerly shook the sleeping Jhin awake.
"What is it?" Jhin asked, looking at her excited expression.
"There are crayfish in the pond! Help me catch one."
"Makina, do you have any meat snacks on you?" Jhin didn't mind. The moment crayfish were mentioned, he thought of garlic and spicy flavors, his mouth starting to water uncontrollably.
"Let me see... Ah, found it!" Irisu Makina took out a small bag of beef jerky and handed it to Jhin.
He tore off a small piece, found a stick and some thin string nearby, and tied the string to the stick on one end and the sliver of meat on the other, making a simple fishing rod. He then tossed the bait... or perhaps shrimp-bait, into the pond.
Before long, an unsuspecting crayfish was pulled up by Jhin. Irisu Makina clapped and cheered beside him.
"Brother, you're amazing! You really caught it."
"Be careful holding it, don't let it pinch you, or it'll hurt a lot." Jhin instructed Makina on how to hold the crayfish. "This one's a decent size. If you want to keep it, take it back and put it in a fish tank. If you don't feed it food containing carotene, it'll turn blue after a while."
"Really? I'll go put it in the fish tank right now!" Irisu Makina excitedly ran towards the dorms with the crayfish. Halfway there, she ran back, took the snacks out of her pocket, and offered them to Jhin. "Thank you for helping me catch the crayfish, Brother."
"You're welcome. Be careful not to get pinched on your way back."
"Mhm!"
Observing from the rooftop, Sakaki Yumiko watched Jhin part ways with Irisu Makina and sighed softly. Over this period, she had used her personal savings to investigate Jhin, but had come up with nothing. All she could find was publicly available information that anyone could look up.
An orphan, whose adoptive parents both died after taking him in, after which he was adopted by others... She refused to believe this information that seemed deliberately fabricated to create a tragic backstory. Anyone who could come to this academy was definitely not an ordinary person.
Even though the principal, Tachibana Chizuru, had assured her that Jhin wouldn't harm anyone at the school, Sakaki Yumiko couldn't rest easy. She was determined to uncover Jhin's true identity.
...
Another morning came, and Sakaki Yumiko, as persistent as ever, launched what she considered a flawless surprise attack on Jhin. Today was no exception.
"Don't you ever get tired of this?" Jhin retorted while dodging the craft knife. "You're lasting surprisingly long this time. Have I been training up a small fry's stamina?"
"Shut up!" Sakaki Yumiko shouted, pushed off with the tip of her toes, and finally took a magnificent face-plant, simultaneously showing everyone present the design of her underwear.
Still pink? No, wait, the style seems different from last time.
Realizing she had exposed herself, Sakaki Yumiko scrambled to her feet and shot a fierce glare at everyone present. She saw Jhin discussing homework with Komine Sachi, and Suou Amane pulling Irisu Makina aside to chat about hair. Only the clueless Michiru Matsushima failed to sense the danger and, unable to hold it in, burst out laughing.
Seeing Sakaki Yumiko's dangerous gaze locked firmly on her, Michiru Matsushima finally realized something was wrong. She noticed everyone around her was pretending they hadn't seen a thing. Panicking, she looked left and right, her blonde twintails standing straight up. "Eh? Eh!!!!"
"Hmph!" Leaving behind a huff that lacked any real menace, Sakaki Yumiko tossed her black hair and left.
"Michi-Michi, you're definitely going to face a bloody retribution later," Irisu Makina said teasingly.
"Don't scare me, Makina!"
"Look forward to it!"
"As if!"
The hallway was instantly filled with cheerful laughter.
_____
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