Volume 10 - CH 4

Chapter 4: The Eve Before Going Home

Location: Atlantis  Time: 3:19 PM

That’s why I said, every time I’m with them, there wouldn’t be any normal good things happening.

“Yang Yang, you have to do your best to invite Senior.” Before parting, Miao Miao gave me this sentence.

In the afternoon, after I finished eating and doing class chores, I stood in front of a room door in the Black Dorm with the difficult mission that I was assigned. Of course, it was the door of the target of the mission that I was assigned to.

Why do I really need to go invite Senior? Obviously, you guys could just make a phone call or a short message and you’ll be able to immediately communicate, right? Why go through all this trouble?

If I was refused right to my face, wouldn’t that be very embarrassing? Moreover, at this time, I don’t know if Senior’s even in his room; when he has nothing to do, he often runs about or picks up a mission and wouldn’t be back for two or three days. If he still doesn’t come back, wouldn’t I have to stand here all the way until he comes back…

“Chu, what are you doing in front of my door!?”

Speak of the devil!

Just when I decided to turn back to my room to contact him by phone, a chilly voice appeared behind my head, and I had an illusion of turning into a popsicle on the spot. Then, I stiffly turned my head. Sure enough, I saw a chilly person standing behind me, “Uh…It’s nothing big…I just want to ask you…” If you want to go barbecue and eat hot pot.

I only said half of what I wanted to say, and then I froze.

Standing behind Senior was another person. Just now, my full attention was on Senior and I didn’t see her. Now that the person took two steps forward until she stood beside Senior, it became quite obvious.

It was a big beauty, the kind of sexy red-haired big sister with a foreigner’s facial features and…a rather voluminous figure; exactly the type of person that would cause an uproar among the male students in my previous school’s class if they saw her; it felt as if I saw some kind of movie star.

The red-haired big sister was wearing a black robe with the badge of our school on it.

That’s weird, this kind of person was in the Black Dorm? I didn’t have any impression of seeing her before.

Red eyes narrowed. He had obviously automatically read my thoughts already.

Basically, as long as Senior doesn’t have any expressions or movements, it’s difficult to guess what he’s currently thinking about.

“Wait a minute.” Unexpectedly, Senior’s tone wasn’t too bad. He turned his head to say something to that big sister. That big sister nodded and answered with a few words. Because I didn’t understand their language, there wasn’t any way for me to automatically translate it. I just foolishly stood on the same spot and waited.

After talking for about a while, that big sister curved her lips, and then she suddenly turned her head to look at me, “Hi, kid, I’m Nuelle from the room downstairs. I was previously out on a long term mission and just came back today. Please advise me in the future.” She greeted me in a very friendly way.

Looks like she’s a good person.

“He, hello.” I hurriedly greeted her back.

“Nuelle is the school’s administrative staff and is part of the administrative subdivision responsible for the school’s safety. If you encounter people similar to Andellar or some hostile things in the future, besides us, you can also look for her.” Senior introduced that big sister to me. Hearing him say this, it sounds like she’s a very strong expert. No wonder she would be out on missions.

“Kid, this is my phone number. You can contact me anytime.” That big sister blew me a kiss, and then I immediately turned to stone and became completely stupefied. She let out a chuckle and stuffed a paper with a row of numbers written on it into my uniform’s chest pocket, “Other than that, big sis would be more than happy to welcome a cute kid like you to come over and play. My room is just one floor below yours. Turn and the door you see with red decorations is the one; if you have time, you can come over to have tea, eat desserts and chat.” Her fingertips drew across my cheek, and her red fingernails even lightly hooked past. My hair immediately stood up on my skin.

There seems to be something wrong.

“Alright, alright, don’t harass the newcomer. You still need to return to the Guild to report your mission.” While pushing that big sister toward the stairs, it’s rare that Senior would issue the sounds of asking someone to leave.

“Aiya aiya, Icy Flame is also a very cute little kid. If you’re free, remember to bring your little junior over to play.” Nuelle smiled while walking down the stairs.

The second she turned around, I don’t know if it was my eyes having cramps or my brain having cramps that caused this hallucination, but I actually saw a…certain black tail swaying behind her as it followed her down the stairs.

Why does that tail look so familiar? It felt as if I had often seen it in some place before, especially in manhuas and games.

Senior walked back with his arms folded, “Don’t mind her, Nuelle is of the Demon Clan and likes to joke around.”

Demon…Demon Clan…

Is our Black Dorm a nest for demons and ghosts!? Why does it have everything, including a vampire and a demon! And why is an Angel also living here, this place that mixes both good and evil!?

In addition, why is a Demon responsible for the school’s safety!? What’s with your employment standards?

I suddenly felt that this school wasn’t safe at all.

“Where do you guys want to go to barbecue and eat hot pot?” Senior abruptly flung out a sentence, interrupting my thoughts. It was only then that I suddenly remembered what I originally came here for.

“Oh oh, I don’t know yet. Xiao Ting and Miao Miao said that they want to go to a mountain with spiritual energy to be able to see the moon, and to eat hot pot and barbecue while admiring the moon.” The more I said, the lower my voice became, because this sounds rather like some kind of rotten idea. Honestly, if someone suddenly asked me if I wanted to go to a supernatural mountain to barbecue and eat hot pot, I definitely would’ve thought that he had brain spasms.

“…” Senior was speechless.

“Uh…There should be quite a lot of people going. Senior, do you want to go have some fun, and relax a bit at the same time?” Otherwise, I feel like since your usual life is very intense, according to common sense, your nerves will probably snap before the age of twenty, and then you’ll become apathetic and lose the beautiful meaning of life.

With a “pa” sound, the back of my head was immediately smacked.

“Before mine snaps off, I’ll break yours first.” Senior gave a cold smile, “If it’s a high mountain with spiritual energy and can be used to see the moon, I do know a place.”

“Gah?” I froze for a moment. I didn’t expect that Senior would actually provide a location.

“The Water Fairies’ guardian holy land.” He used a very serious expression to tell me.

“…” That kind of place can be used for barbecue and hot pot!?

The Fairies’ holy land!

You can’t just turn your attention to other people’s holy land! What if we get caught?

…

Wait a minute, the Water Fairies’ guardian holy land?

Of the people that I know, there are three that are coincidentally Water Fairies, and even more coincidentally, I heard that they also seem to be the whatchamacallit XXX holy land’s messengers.

“Just notify Yado and the others and we’ll be able to go in.” Senior, who regarded other people’s holy land as nothing, didn’t feel that it was inappropriate at all and even said it as if it was only natural.

The problem is, that place doesn’t allow barbecue in the first place!

Have you ever heard of anyone barbecuing and making hot pot in a holy land? No, right!? There’s simply no one who would do this, right!?

“Relax, if I say it’s fine, it’s fine.” Senior took out his private cell phone in a second and called a number.

I really wanted to rush up to him and hang up his phone, but I didn’t dare.

Some kind of bad feeling filled my mind.

If Chifuyu and the others really do want to go to the holy land to barbecue…should I go or not…

Come on, don’t mess with me anymore.

***

“Yado and the others said they would very much welcome us to come.”

After a couple of seconds, Senior used a nonhuman speed to hang up, and issued this news that made black lines fall down my head.

Yado…That should be your holy land, right? Could it be that your holy land really is open for people to barbecue and hot pot? You’re not worried that your holy land’s environment would get destroyed at all?

I started to doubt whether they’re really the guardians.

“Leido said that because they want to stay together with Yido in the holy land, they won’t be able to go to their school’s Christmas event; so if we want to use their holy land for an outing, everyone has to bring gifts to exchange.” Senior added the smile-loving maniac’s requirement.

Great, now in addition to having barbecue and hot pot, there’s also a gift-exchange.

What the hell!

“Since this is the case, we can simply arrange to go over on Christmas Eve, and skip the Christmas activities in passing. The ones held at the school every year are always too troublesome. Not attending this year’s is fine.”

Saying that, Senior completely ignored the struggle in my heart that was about to be twisted into a fried dough twist, and with a very quick movement, he already made the next call, “Chifuyu? I can provide the location for where you guys want to go…”

He directly called the planner.

Wait a minute! I shouldn’t have said that Chifuyu is the planner, right!?

Where did you find this out from!

Ghost! You guys are all ghosts!

I took a step back, wanting to escape. Just as I’d stepped out, Senior, who was talking on the phone, immediately stretched out a hand and accurately grabbed my collar, making me unable to run away.

Soon, Senior hung up his second call. That kind of speed made one suspect that he had probably developed a habit of making his calls short in order to reduce phone bills before.

Speaking of phone bills, I seemed to have never paid for it before?

It should have been quite a long time since I got this phone that doesn’t need to be charged, right? Other than its not needing to be charged being a mystery, even its billing is a mystery. An unpaid cellphone should have been long since suspended, but up to now, it could still be dialed and picked up; it wasn’t affected at all.

“It doesn’t cost anything to use the phone, because it uses incantations to transmit. It only consumes a bit of the user’s mental strength.” Senior smacked the back of my head with a “pa” sound, and explained.

Mental strength? The phone absorbs mental strength?

Then isn’t that a phone that would cause brain failure if you use it for too long? Why would you guys dare to use such a dangerous phone!?

I saw Senior clenching his fist, and I immediately took a step back, “Pretend I didn’t think of anything, please pretend that I didn’t think of anything just now.” I didn’t want to have my head hit in a row within minutes.

Rolling his eyes at me, Senior continued his words from before: “The location has been determined to be the holy land. Apart from that, Chifuyu said if we have to prepare gifts, we have to get them ready soon, because two days later will be Christmas Eve.”

I, I…from start to finish, I didn’t say that I wanted to participate, right?

A feeling of driving a duck onto a perch rose up; I’m that duck and the holy land is that perch.

[T/N: Means to force someone to do something they can’t or put them in a difficult situation]

Woo, why does God do to me?

“Gifts…I don’t know where to buy gifts.” I didn’t really want to go to that supernatural shopping street either. Sometimes you would buy very strange stuff over there.

“Gifts can be bought everywhere. If you can’t of anything, you can also go back to your world.” Senior released his hand that was holding my collar, and gave a suggestion.

“Go back to buy?” Yeah, this does seem like a good suggestion.

If I go back to my original world, I’ll have a better idea of what I should buy instead, and based on the time, right now shopping streets everywhere should be promoting Christmas gifts, right?

“If you want to go back and buy, it’s better to do it in the present rather than choosing a day*, so let’s go now.”

[T/N: It’s about choosing an auspicious day to do something versus doing something today. I guess it’s similar to don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today.]

“Aih?” I froze.

Senior looked at me with a puzzled expression, “I’m also going along to buy to save trouble, can’t I do that?”

I suspect that if I say no, I’d get knocked on the head for the third time.

“You can, of course you can!”

Very cowardly, I immediately nodded.

***

The things in this world change very quickly.

Ever since I entered the school, I realized this even more. Just this morning at school, I was still fretting over whether or not I should go barbecue and eat hot pot, and now in just a few short minutes, I already need to go back home to buy gifts and prepare to go to the holy land’s barbecue feast.

“Chu, you’re still not going to get ready!?” Entering his room at some point and leaving me standing dazedly outside with a blank mind, when Senior reappeared, he’d already replaced his black robe with normal clothes.

But this time he actually didn’t wear any random clothes. Instead he wore that kind of visual kei clothes that’s said to be very popular. In a way, it’s very similar to the clothes Yido and the others usually wear. The whole set was black, with a fur collar coat, and long boots on his feet. Following the old rule, his hair had already turned black, casually tied into a simple ponytail behind his head, and then he had also prepared gloves.

Is it that cold?

The temperature inside the school can almost be said to be spring all year round. Seeing Senior dressed in such thick clothes, I felt very weird instead.

He should be the type of person who’s not afraid of the cold, right? Moreover, I heard that among this boss’ individual powers is also something called “ice.”

“I heard that Taiwan is currently in a cold spell, so if you want to wear short sleeves and be pointed at, I won’t object.” Senior, who was very integrated with the normal world, coldly gave me a glance, “But I would like to trouble you not to walk next to me.”

“Uh…Please wait for me for five minutes.” Of course, I didn’t want to wear short sleeves to be pointed at by people and be called a crazy fool.

It was only after I’d slipped back to my room that I discovered a tragic matter.

Because the school was too warm, the clothes that I brought…were almost all summer clothes.

Long sleeves, coats and whatnot, I didn’t even have half of one, except for uniforms.

Because of the sports competition not too long ago, I didn’t return home either, and completely forgot that at this time, my original world should already be winter right now.

I wonder if it’s cold this winter.

Well, that’s just great, what am I going to wear to go back home?

I can’t actually wear the school’s uniform coat, right…Although our school’s uniform looks very nice, going back home in an uniform is weird!

There shouldn’t be any student who likes wearing uniforms to go shopping and buy Christmas gifts, right!?

Alright, maybe other people would like that, but I don’t like it.

“You’re so slow!” Senior, whose patience was equal to zero, leaned against the door and coldly glared.

I could only stiffly turn around, and prepare to die, “That…I don’t seem to have any winter long sleeves and coats to change into…” I said very embarrassedly. I had muddled along here until I’d even forgotten the four seasons and didn’t have any clothes to change into. I’m probably the only one in the entire school.

His eyes that had already turned black glared at me, and then Senior turned around to leave my room. When he came back, in his hands was another set of clothes, “Take it!”

With a “pa,” all the clothes accurately hit my head.

“Thank, thank you.” But if you could nicely put them in my hands, I’d definitely be more grateful…

“Hurry up and get ready!” Senior slammed my poor door.

The sound of footsteps left the doorway, as if he was walking down the stairs.

After I let out a sigh of relief, I spread the clothes out on the table one at a time. It was a whole set of clothes, blue and white, and looked very new…correction, they should be brand new. I saw that the clothes still had new creases, and the hang tags that I completely couldn’t read were still hanging on them. They’re brand new…

I suddenly had a feeling of not daring to wear them.

The top was a white casual hoodie, with a dark blue fish totem printed on it; it can be paired with jeans. The other was a large white plush coat, but compared to Senior’s just now, it’s a bit shorter, probably up to my thighs or so.

These clothes don’t seem to be what Senior would wear.

Forget it, who cares about him, I should change first; otherwise, if I put it off for too long, it won’t be the door that’s going to get slammed but me.

The clothes were about my size, but just a bit longer. I quickly finished dressing, and hastily picked up my backpack and ran out.

Thankfully only five minutes had passed.

***

As soon as I left the Black Dorm, Senior was standing at the Black Dorm’s doorway talking with a girl.

That girl looked rather unfamiliar. Her hair and eyes were all green, very much like the beautiful color of spring buds, and they were even faintly glowing. Her long hair had some curls at the ends, and her clothes was a simple, elegant slightly Gothic dress. It felt rather like a style that normal girls would like to wear. I also know someone who would be very suitable for this kind of clothes, and that person is called Miao Miao.

However, the girl in front of me had a different temperament from Miao Miao. Miao Miao is the cute type and she seems to belong to the more elegant type of girl.

“Student Chu, hello.” Facing me, that girl saw me coming out of the Black Dorm at a glance, and very politely bowed. I hurriedly nodded at her as a greeting.

“Ready?” Senior turned around, and gave me a glance.

“Uh, I’m ready.” I quickly nodded.

“You guys are going out. Then I won’t disturb you. See you next time.” The very polite girl nodded at us again, and then she leisurely left as if she was taking a stroll.

I curiously watched the back of her figure leave, before withdrawing my gaze.

Just who was that? It looks like she probably wasn’t a black robe.

“That was one of the school’s managers, Hou. I mentioned her to you before,” Senior said.

“Oh.” Hou? Then isn’t she the companion of the purplish-silver haired Di that I met last time?

“Saying so would also be correct. Hou deals with foreign administrative matters. Apart from her, there’s Chen as well, who deals with all the internal expenditure matters within the school. They frequently visit campus to inspect the situation of the school, so you’ll probably see them very often in the future.” Senior folded his arms, and a huge teleportation array immediately appeared on the ground, slowly rotating, “Just now she happened to pass by, so I had a few words with her.”

Looks like all the school administrative staff seem to be very leisurely; you can bump into them everywhere.

Senior gave me a sideway glare, not saying anything.

In just a few seconds, the Black Dorm in front of us had already disappeared, and a very familiar place once again appeared.

Please return to the scene from a few months ago when I just met Senior not too long ago, to the large park that was blasted by me on a certain day in the afternoon, when I was chased by a ghost.

That empty-bellied elephant appeared in front of me.

The entire park was already rebuilt. It felt pretty much the same as before, but the playground equipment and public facilities had all changed, changed to become quite exquisite and beautiful, and the people in the park seem to have increased.

As soon as we left the school and returned to my original world, a cold wind immediately pasted itself to my face, and I fiercely shivered.

Sure enough, a cold spell came…there’s too much of a difference in temperature between both sides. In less than a second, my nose immediately started running.

“You’re so dirty.” Senior looked at me with an expression of contempt. Then he stepped forward and started heading out of the park, increasing the distance between us.

Who’s dirty!? This is an inborn natural reaction!

You aliens who don’t have this natural reaction can’t understand the pain of normal humans at all!

I took out a pack of tissues from my backpack, pulled out a piece and wiped my nose while catching up to him.

Sure enough, it’s just not the same when a cold spell comes. I was currently very glad that Senior had lent me these clothes just now. Otherwise, if I came here in short sleeves, even I myself would feel that I’m a lunatic.

“You don’t need to return those two clothes to me.” With his hands in his pockets, Senior, who was walking in front of me at a very leisurely pace, threw these words over.

“Aih?” These clothes don’t look cheap!

“That was a gift that someone sent last year, but I don’t wear them, so putting them there would be useless.” Senior’s reply was very straightforward.

Alright, I understand. But who would send this kind of gift to Senior? To be honest, I’m sort of curious. After all, the texture of the clothes that I’m wearing was pretty good; they’re probably not cheap.

“Why do you care who sent them!” An impatient voice came from the person walking in front.

As soon as we left the park, we could clearly feel that the Christmas spirit had arrived. The whole street was decorated with little yellow lights. Everywhere you look, you could see colored balls and ornaments hanging on trees, and many children were turning around the trees. It looked very peaceful.

Ah…sure enough, the human world is the most beautiful.

With a “pa,” the back of my head was once again smacked down.

“You want to go home first or go shopping first?” Senior, who had already walked next to me at some point, lazily threw over this question.

Go home first or go shopping first?

That’s a really good question.

If I go home now, my mom will definitely twist my ear again, because I forgot to call home again during the competition.

As soon as I thought of this matter, I felt terrified; my mom definitely won’t go easy on me…But if I go home after shopping, she might directly pick up a kitchen knife and chase me. The reason being that I actually only thought of shopping and didn’t think about going home, and is a heinous unworthy son.

Based on my mom’s personality, this kind of thing is very likely to happen.

“Then I’ll give you a suggestion: you can go shopping first, and then after you go home to get beaten half to death, tomorrow morning I’ll carry you to the medical team to be saved. Then you can just go back to class.” Senior gave me a very evil inhuman suggestion.

I decided to pretend I didn’t hear that.

“I guess I should go home first…”

Just as I was about to say that it’d be better if I go home first to be scolded, a certain voice interrupted my words.

“Ming Yang~~~~!”

From far away, came a very familiar shout.

Senior glanced behind me, and then turned back, “Your friend.”

My friend?

I turned my head, very surprised to see a certain person who should have gone to study abroad.

That lucky classmate.