Volume 10 - CH 9

Chapter 9: The Gift Exchange

Location: Nymph  Time: 8:41 PM

The hot pot was currently boiling.

I seemed to have seen some sort of strange souls and weird cries also rolling around in there.

“Yang Yang, do you want to eat hot pot?” Standing next to me, Miao Miao asked with a super innocent smile that was so simple and naive, she looked like she wouldn’t even squash an ant. Behind that smile, I saw a dark Elysium…

“I, I’m full right now. I’ll eat it later.” I held up the toast with meat (Ran provided it), then continued to give a very apologetic smile.

I’m sorry Miao Miao. I really do want to eat your hot pot, but it’s too scary. The illusion I used to deceive myself with couldn’t overcome my rationality.

“That’s alright. We made a lot. Yang Yang, you can also pack it up and bring it back as dessert.” Senior Geng’s eyes flashed with a strange light, “Remember to, eat, a, lot, oh.”

I understand senior…looks like it’ll be hard not to die today.

“In fact, this isn’t half bad.” Chifuyu, who had been holding a bowl of soup in his hands at some point, glanced at Ryan beside him. Ryan’s bowl just happened to reveal the corner of an already-drowned rice ball, “The soup stock made from simmering big bones for two hundred years really isn’t bad.”

…I’m sure I probably didn’t mishear that.

How did those two hundred years come about!?

“Hmph hmph, this is our family’s ancestral soup stock that has been simmering nonstop for thousands of years. Since we’re just cooking hot pot, I specially chose a newer one to use.” Olivia folded her arms and smiled very strangely.

Your family’s ancestral…isn’t it said that your family is the whatchamacallit distinguished fairy clan that is feared by everyone!? Why did it turn into a soup stock expert?

It can’t be that your family used soup stock to conquer all the races and become the shadowy presence pulling all the strings behind the scenes, right!

“Sure enough, hot pot needs a good soup stock!” Nearby, the teacher, who was drinking alcohol and eating side dishes with the college students, said a famous classic sentence.

Then is it my fault for not drinking it?

“Chu, help me get a can of soda.” Beside me, Senior suddenly spoke, and it was only then that I noticed that the sodas were placed on the table in front of me.

“Oh, oh, okay.” I hurriedly passed a soda over to him.

In fact, if I don’t eat hot pot, I can just continue eating the barbecue.

Just when everyone had pretty much finished preparing the food and was about to sit down, subtle footsteps sounded. Turning my head, I saw two identical faces appear.

“Aih, you guys all finished cooking.” Leido and Yado, who arrived late, appeared almost simultaneously in everyone’s line of sight. And in between the two, they were supporting another person.

“Yido!”

I don’t know who was the first one to go up, but long story short, the few people who were still busy immediately put down their task at hand, rushing over to help clear out a relatively comfortable spot for Yido to sit.

“Is it alright for you to come out now?” Standing at the side, Senior asked.

Curving into a smile, Yido nodded at everyone, “I’ve made everyone worry. It’s no longer a serious problem…Thank you for coming here tonight. I hope everyone will be able to enjoy themselves to their heart’s content.” Although his voice was still a bit weak, it was a lot more spirited than just now when I visited him.

Everyone laughed with Yido, “We’re already happy enough to be able to come to this place.” Miao Miao broke into a cute smile, “This place really is so very beautiful. Miao Miao likes it a lot here.”

“Nn, then whenever you have time, please come visit us.” Lightly coughing, Yido was still smiling gently.

“Yeah~~is it almost ready yet?”

At the side, Leido’s voice interrupted the warm discussion over here. We turned and saw that at some point, his hand had already been holding onto some very familiar thing, known as a huge version of a lobster, “I originally wanted to tell you that I’m bringing shrimp to add to the food.”

That’s a lobster, I’m sure of it!

“That’s alright, for something like hot pot, it needs to be constantly boiling and having food added to it to be interesting!” Miao Miao very happily took the ultimate lobster that was almost half the size of her body. I reckon I’ll be able to see something called lobster soup later.

Yado wordlessly handed over an ultimate crab that was just as big…You two were late because you went to prepare seafood?

It can’t be that these are the Water Fairy Clan’s residents and the like that were captured by you two to become food?

After the people who were chatting with one another finished their greetings, they finally returned to their original seats.

I shifted my seat slightly, moving closer to Yido but not daring to get too close. In fact, I didn’t know what I wanted to do either…It could be that I felt more at ease like this…

“Yang Yang, did you have fun tonight?” Probably noticing my movements, Yido suddenly turned his head around, almost giving me a big scare.

“Uh, I did.” I nodded, and had a feeling of not knowing what to do, “That, Yido, what do you want to eat? Chifuyu and senior Gasai’s barbecue taste very delicious….Ah! And also Ran’s…”

By the time I came to my senses and became aware of it, I had already started talking nonsense.

Yido was still smiling gently, “Then, please get some for me.”

I don’t know if my face was red, just that it felt hot. Then, after I took the small plate that Senior passed over, I picked a few very exquisite-looking barbecue and gave them to Yido.

“I want some too.” Yido, who came near us at some point, directly sat down in between us, reaching out with his bamboo fork to poke into a large meatball on the plate.

“Yah! Yado, how could you run over there and steal food by yourself!” Leido, who was originally watching the lobster get cooked, immediately rushed over.

And so, a battle over food broke out between the twin brothers.

The surroundings were just so lively.

I stealthily looked at Yido’s movements. They were a bit slow, but little by little, he ate the food on the plate, and drank the drink placed beside him. For a moment, I thought of a very old-fashioned sentence…

It’s good to be alive.

“What kind of nonsense are you thinking about again!?”

With a “pa” sound, a certain person villainously smacked me back to reality from my it’s-good-to-be-alive, “Don’t just keep on living inside your own illusionary world on a whim.” Senior coldly snorted, then stretched his hand toward me, “Drinks.”

Once he said that, I noticed that the sodas on the table were all empty, and that the carton containing soda was right by my feet.

Speaking of which, how come I remember that Senior hardly ever drinks carbonated drinks…What’s with him drinking so much tonight?

“Why do you care!?” Red eyes fiercely glared at me, and I immediately speeded up and handed the soda over.

Alright, I can’t manage/stop you, and to be honest, I don’t dare to stop you either…

“Yang Yang, do you want to eat seafood hot pot soup?” Holding a huge bowl that came from who knows where, Leido suddenly approached us and sat down.

Seafood hot pot?

Wait a minute, did I see that correctly? In your bowl, other than lobster meat, there’s also soup with cabbage and tofu; what’s with that!

Is that really hot pot!?

I suddenly turned to look at that witch cauldron that was so strange, you wouldn’t know how the food would turn out to be after using it. A large crab was even hanging on the mouth of the cauldron boiling.

Just how many changes can that pot thing still make? To be honest, I really am just a little curious. Would it become something else when it spoils at the end?

“This is pretty good. I didn’t expect that hot pot actually tastes like this.” Biting a piece of tofu, Leido said.

In fact, you’ve been misled. At most, this is just a lobster tofu soup. It still can’t be considered hot pot.

The space on the table got stacked full with food. The empty seats also gradually became seated with people. The empty grill idling at the side still had a small fire. In some areas, there were still corn-like things lying on top, waiting to be cooked.

“These are all mine. You can’t take them.” Bringing a large plate over, the five-colored rooster head’s words resembled some kind of farmer who had a big harvest in the countryside. Lying on his plate were all very strangely cooked guavas and meat slices. Apart from those, there was also a large-scale piece of meat that shouldn’t be part of what we prepared and had appeared from who knows where.

I really don’t want to know what that piece of meat is.

“Meat—” Xiao Ting, who was interested in that large-scale piece of meat, blinked her eyes as she stood by the side watching. If I remember correctly, this MeiMei (little sister), just now the first and second batch of food on the table seemed to have all entered your stomach, isn’t that right!?

“Shoo shoo shoo, these are all this uncle’s.” The five-colored rooster head used the standard gesture plus shooing sound for driving away cats, dogs and flies to drive away the little black snake MeiMei circling him.

“Meat—“

“Get lost!”

It was quite obvious that both of them were huge meat lovers.

Turning my head back, I really don’t want to see a clash between a feathered beast and a reptile happen over a piece of meat.

“Excuse me, excuse me!” A few shouts sounded. I saw Chifuyu and Ryan immediately dropping the things in their hands and clearing out a big space on the table. Carrying a smaller pot that they found somewhere and running toward here, Miao Miao and senior Geng put the pot on the table in one breath.

I saw a lobster and crab vegetable tofu soup.

Can those two things really be cooked together!?

“Everyone eat while it’s still hot. If there’s not enough, there’s more in the hot pot.” Miao Miao very eagerly told everyone. The witch cauldron in the back once again turned back into that swamp-like thing from just now. Are you sure this soup was really cooked in that…?

“We’re finally more or less finished.” The hardworking girls group respectively sat down in the surroundings. Only the nearby pot was still boiling nonstop. Once in a while, someone would even throw something in to cook.

After everything came to an end or so, I saw that the whole table was filled with either sodas or barbecue. A pot of seafood tofu vegetable soup even appeared paradoxically in the middle. Then the table was completely surrounded by people, and there was a big moon above.

This really is a…

Very terrifying scenery!

I actually barbecued, gazed at the moon and ate hot pot on a supernatural mountain!

Who can tell me that this was all just a dream; I didn’t do such weird things at all, alright!

“Hmph, want me to give you a slap so that you can really go back to dreaming?” Senior, who was currently drinking orange soda, glanced at me, and used a very sinister tone to break my trance.

No need, thank you. I sincerely feel that if I got slapped by you, it probably won’t be as simple as just fainting and going back to sleep.

And also, Senior, if you keep on drinking and not eating anything like this, it’ll be very easy to get high blood sugar oh.

“Stop nagging!” The whole can of soda was directly thrown over.

Already very experienced, I immediately caught that can of soda. You’re kidding me, if I get hit by this sort of family-sized thing, I would probably die! Correction, I really will die!

“Yang Yang, do you still want barbecue?” Still appearing whenever he wanted, Ran popped up beside me again, and then he stacked toast, meat slices, water bamboo, these sort of normal things, on the table.

“Oh, okay, thank you.” Taking the toast and barbecued meat, I had a feeling that I’d probably just be eating this until I get full tonight.

“There’s also shrimp.” Ran conjured up a second plate of normal seafood from behind.

“The original world’s shrimp are so small?” Leido came over, picking up a big tiger prawn that in my opinion, wasn’t small at all, and said.

“Otherwise, how big do you think they should be?” I looked at that tiger prawn, and had a feeling that it definitely costed a lot. It was much bigger than what my family usually eats. They must have gone to that sort of very high-class seafood store to buy them.

“Didn’t I bring them just now? They’re in the soup.” Pointing at the tofu vegetable soup, Leido said in a very matter-of-course tone.

“That’s a lobster, right!?” And a mutated one at that!

“That is a shrimp. Typical shrimps all look like that.” Pulling off the shrimp’s shell and throwing it into his mouth, Leido blinked as he told me this, “Ah, but this kind of little shrimp doesn’t taste that bad.”

Typical shrimps look like mutated lobsters, huh…

I suddenly felt that it’d be best if I don’t go too close to the water next time, or else I’d be killed by an unknown shrimp.

“Wait a minute, then your typical crab wouldn’t be that crab in the soup, right?” Based on this reasoning, I suddenly felt that it was very likely.

“Yeah, otherwise, how would a crab look like?” Leido very smoothly answered me.

“About the size of a hand…Two large king crabs together would be more or less the size of yours…” This isn’t the point; I have a question that I really want to ask you, “Leido, let me ask you this: in your world, have you ever heard of any incidents of people getting pinched to death by crabs?”

Leido actually nodded, “I did, there were people who didn’t hold the crab properly and got their necks snapped off or got their hands or legs broken. In the past, it was because of this that someone who was selling seafood and got his foot snapped off, later switched to selling something else.” He talked about an extremely horrifying event.

Was it really necessary to risk your life just to eat seafood!?

I suddenly felt that I was becoming more and more unable to understand how the thoughts and logic of the people of this world worked.

Turns out the products of our world are all so friendly and good. Humans really should properly cherish these resources…At the very least, you shouldn’t have to risk your life just to eat something! You better cherish them properly!

“Yido, this shrimp is delicious.” Whisking away half a plate of tiger prawns and heading toward his own brother, Leido, who clearly didn’t want to continue discussing incidents of seafood killing people, quickly ran off.

“Do you guys want some too? Chifuyu and the others bought a big box of them. There’s still a lot that can be barbecued.” Ran smilingly asked Senior and the others. I guess he probably got hooked on barbecuing.

“Then we’ll have to trouble you.” Already finished barbecuing, senior Gasai said with a smile, then sat down beside Senior.

Ran very happily went off to find his grill again.

“It seems like it’s been a long time since we were so relaxed.” Taking the drink that Senior handed him, I don’t know if he was lamenting or something, Gasai suddenly threw out a sentence like this. “Isn’t that right? Especially during the competition, we were particularly busy.”

I knew that he was talking to Senior, because senior Gasai almost never took the initiative to chat with other people.

“Nn.” Giving a faint response, Senior shook the cup of soda, not saying anything.

The surroundings was quiet for a moment. Only the moonlight sprinkled on the table was clear enough to leave a deep impression.

“Then, here’s to tonight’s party and everyone’s safety.”

Senior Geng raised her cup, smiling as she said.

“Cheers!”

“Now it’s time for the main event!”

After the toast, Miao Miao stood up, using a very excited tone to say, “It’s time now; everyone’s all here! Please place your gifts over here.” Miao Miao, who was in charge of hosting the gift-exchange, pulled out a big black garbage bag from somewhere. Bouncing two steps away, she pulled open the huge black opening, “Be careful not to let other people see~~”

Yado and Leido were the first ones to walk over to place their gifts. Then it was Senior and the others, followed by Nile; the class rep and the rest also walked over one by one to put in the things in their hands.

I carefully took out the thing that I chose. Fortunately, it was in a paper bag, or else they’ll be able to tell it was me who bought it just by looking at the packaging.

Clearly everyone had similar thoughts as me, as the gifts had all been disguised with bags.

After we were all roughly finished with putting the gifts in, Miao Miso tied up the big black garbage bag, “Alright! Then let’s start our first ever gift-exchange ceremony of our first barbecue and hot pot gathering in the Water Fairy Clan’s supernatural mountain/holy land!”

Miss, aren’t you a bit too excited?

After Miao Miao’s speech finished, the large garbage bag started to distort…Wait a minute, the gifts probably wouldn’t start distorting on their own, right!?

“Then please draw a number card first.” Throwing the bag off to the side, Miao Miao held out a jar. Contained inside was a pile of paper slips for everyone to draw. I opened mine and it was the number eight. Next to me, Senior’s paper slip had a number three on it.

“The person who drew number one can come and get a gift first!” Miao Miao, who, for some reason, was very happy, held the big bag and called out.

Raising his hand, the first one to step toward the gift bag was Ryan. All I could see was him standing in front of the gift bag, staring at it with a very serious expression. After thirty seconds or so had passed, he finally reached his hand in and took something out.

A gleaming bluish, sort of supernaturally packaged…no, a bluish-green glowing packaged box was taken out by him.

“I’m second.” Olivia very happily ran over there and carried out a large package.

Senior took out a very small box that looked like it wouldn’t take up any space at all.

When it was my turn, for some reason, that big black garbage bag was still so full. It’s probably inflated, I guess? Giving my slip of paper to Miao Miao, I reached my hand in and randomly grabbed something before immediately taking it out.

I don’t know if it was my illusion, but I think I was touched by something slippery and sticky just now…

I looked to the side, just in time to see Yado helping Yido get a green packaged box back.

After everyone had more or less finished drawing a gift, Miao Miao opened the black garbage bag, “It’s all empty. Later, let’s all open our gifts together.” She shook the garbage bag, and a blue octopus fell out of it.

You put that thing inside!?

Looking at the white gift-wrapped box in my hand, it felt quite normal. I think I probably wouldn’t be so unlucky as to draw something weird this time…maybe.

“Xiao Ting wants lots of desserts.” Looking at the large box in her hands, the little black snake MeiMei started to fantasize.

Nearby, senior Gasai was holding a moon-white package, and on the other side, for some reason, Chifuyu kept sneaking glances at him.

“Because the thing he drew was Chifuyu’s.” Sitting beside me, Senior abruptly threw out this sentence.

“Ah!?” Why do you know how other people’s gifts look like!?

His red eyes narrowed, and he looked at me with a very strange smile, “Because I’m a black robe.”

…Such a rotten answer.

I suddenly realized that, not only Senior, every time these people have something they don’t want to say, they always use very strange answers to fool me.

“It’s time to open the gifts! Come on, comrades, please put all your strength into opening the gifts in your hands!”

I think Miao Miao is being really strange tonight.

“Yah——” Ripping apart the packaging in a second, the little black snake MeiMei let out a scream, “It’s not desserts!” She held an exquisite teddy bear as she knelt down crying nearby.

Three seconds later, that teddy bear’s eyes suddenly emitted a red glow, and with its two feet on the ground, it murderously stood up on its own.

The little black snake MeiMei’s eyes emitted a golden light, “If you’re not a dessert, then die!”

Sensing that murderous aura, the teddy bear with the glowing red eyes turned around, and with a “ga,” it opened up its mouth. Sharp shark-like teeth appeared inside, then it opened its hands, and large female-ghostlike claws appeared.

[T/N: Female ghosts usually have long claw-like nails]

Is this really a teddy bear?

I turned my head; I really don’t want to accept the fact that this is a teddy bear.

“Yeah, Xiao Ting got the gift that I gave.” Ignoring the murderous snake and bear that were about to start fighting, Geng very happily opened the package in her hands, “Eh? A cursed candy jar?” She held up a glass jar in her hand. Contained inside the glass were colorful candy beans.

…Is that a gift?

“Nile, what did you get?” Shaking his wine glass, Randall asked his butler. On his table was a thick hardcover edition with large array diagrams, and next to it was even a limited edition certificate.

Opening the package in his hand at a steady pace, Nile, whose facial expression always has very little changes, suddenly froze. An animal that looked a lot like a rabbit, but also like a cat, as well as a dog, appeared on his hand, wagging its tail at him…Wait a minute! A live animal can also be wrapped up!? This is simply animal abuse, right?

“Oh oh, isn’t this the leave-at-home-or-bring-outside, beautiful, long-living and most popular family pet, Merola?” Sitting beside him, the teacher laughed, “There’s also a pedigree certificate.” He pointed to the paper tied around the pet’s neck.

The werewolf butler and that legendary leave-at-home-or-bring-outside, beautiful, long-living, and most popular family pet stared at each other, then grew silent.

“Teacher, what did you get?” Dragging a human-faced crocodile that was knocked unconscious as she walked over, Olivia asked curiously. Then after she stood still, she threw the crocodile in her hand, and with a crash, the human-faced crocodile was out cold on the ground. “It just so happens that I can bring this back to be made into a bag; it feels quite durable.”

I think the person who gave that crocodile probably didn’t intend for it to be turned into a bag…

The homeroom teacher opened the package in his hands, and inside was a very beautiful little box. The box was carved out of wood, and emitted a light fragrance. Even we could smell it over on our side. Several emerald decorations were on its exterior, and then the top of the box was inlaid with a beautiful bead, “This box is pretty high-class.” The homeroom teacher whistled, and slowly opened the box.

Right at that moment—!

With a “peng” sound, a big bundle of red roses burst out of the box, and a clown that jumped out was bouncing up and down on it.

…A jack-in-the-box…Who would be that bored…

“Were you scared, were you scared—” The clown let out a shrill laugh. Half a second later, it was pulled out by the teacher.

“Using this to put little things would be nice.” Casually plucking the flowers off, the teacher said after emptying the box.

“Yeah…this box is very beautiful…” Olivia took a fancy to that box.

“Hmph hmph, if you want it, then let’s make a bet. If you lose, then you hand over your crocodile. If I lose, then this box will be yours to take home!” The teacher, who has never even won once, very arrogantly made a bet.

“Sure.” The class rep, Olivia, smiled very brightly.

Two seconds later, the homeroom teacher was completely destroyed.

Coming to my senses, I heard something beside me. Senior, who had nothing to do and was bored, was also opening his gift. After a few seconds, the gift wrapping was ripped off. It was a strange black, little box, especially the paper charm seal that was emitting a sinister aura on it.

“Oh, so it’s this sort of thing.” Senior raised his eyebrows, and without any hesitation, he directly tore off the seal to open the box.

Lying inside was a finger’s…bone.

On the bone was a ring.

No matter how I look at it, it just looks like the kind of inconspicuous cursed present that someone harboring a grudge would secretly slide under a door in the middle of the night!

“Chu, do you want it?” Senior took out the finger bone and waved it at me twice.

“No need, Senior, you can keep it for yourself.” I hurriedly took two steps back and shook my head to refuse.

Who would want that damn thing!?

Wait a minute, it can’t be that it really was the five-colored rooster head who gave this! I suddenly remembered that he had talked about things like cursed bones and whatnot…

“Hehe…There’s a pretty good curse here. If you don’t want it, then I’ll take it to play around with it.” Senior tossed the bone in his hand up and down, and took off the ring.

In that instant, I saw a black fog rising up from the finger bone: a very typical phenomenon of a curse appearing!

“Get lost.” With a snap of his fingers, that black fog directly disappeared next to Senior.

Cough cough…All I can say is that black robes are indeed black robes.

That’s right, I wonder what kind of gift senior Gasai got.

Secretly glancing at the other side, senior Gasai, who was currently examining the thing, didn’t open the gift’s packaging yet. After looking at it for a long time, he left it unchanged as he put the thing into the backpack that he brought here.

Likewise secretly watching him, Chifuyu seemed a bit disappointed as he lowered his shoulders, and turned his head back to open his gift. Then at the very first second, he slapped the snake that flew out of the gift to the ground.

I guess, senior Gasai probably isn’t used to opening things in front of people.