༺ Fate Intertwined (4) ༻
“Anyways, I have to make myself stronger—“
For quite some time,
Her ears had stopped picking up his words.
Because of some unknown ticklish emotion inside, her mind couldn’t focus but her eyes in contrast were focused clearly on the abs that were faintly visible through the hems of the robe.
Something worth noting again, was that the two girls had no experience nor tolerance against men.
They, who were like blank sheets of paper when it came to relationships, were still aware of their emotion of love. Although one of them was vehemently in denial, the other one was way too proactive and passionate that the two of them were starting to be on the same page.
Lighting a fire on their emotions was the physical proximity that came from being in the same room as well as the lucky event.
Those two combined were far too stimulating for the teenage girls, and as a result…
“H, Hua?”
“Take it off.”
“What?”
“Take your clothes off.”
It led to a rampage due to a reason unbeknownst to even herself.
“H, hello? Hua Ran?”
Looking down at the boy being pressed down onto the bed below her flushed her cheeks. Her face turned steaming hot and her lower belly ached.
Even she had no idea why she was doing this. She didn’t know why she was grabbing onto the strings of the bathrobe, nor why she was feeling like she was running out of breath.
– Grip!
“Huh? W, wait!?”
With a swoop, she pulled the hems of the bathrobe wide apart, thus revealing his bare upper body. As if putting a stamp mark on his tough and distinct muscles, she placed her palm over numerous parts of his body.
It was warm. The heat rising from his skin after just leaving the shower warmed her palms up.
“Warm…”
“W, well. Because I just washed myself.”
Ignoring his words, Hua Ran played with his abs by pinching and pulling it. Like the miniature model city, there were ups and downs on his stomach. When she ran her nail up the path in the middle, it led her to a bulge that was small yet rigid.
– Gulp!
‘Hua, Hua! Hua! Me too! Me too! Me too!’
She continued bringing her finger up from below. While gulping and trying her best to collect her breath which was becoming shorter over time for some reason—
“This…”
Right above what would be the solar plexus, Hua spotted something and stopped her fingers.
“Is this… a scar?”
At the very center of Korin was a large scar. She knew very well who it was that had created that scar on his body.
“Is this… from back then?”
“Ahh. You mean this…?”
This was the part of his body that had been pierced by Tates Valtazar’s Spear of Light. The shock she felt when she saw that happen before her eyes was still weighing heavily on her mind.
“It hasn’t healed yet.”
“The Spear of Light is in a whole different league to other weapons, after all. It… should heal back up soon like nothing happened.”
Hua knew how he looked when injured. Even back then, he had been in tatters, bleeding from all parts of his body and yet had eventually healed back up.
“But… still.”
Hua Ran whispered while carefully caressing the scar on his chest. This one scar from the Spear of Light wasn’t the only one he had. She could still remember his dangling arms; his torn-out flesh and the trail of blood flowing down his forehead.
As if to ensure that they had indeed been recovered, she touched where he had been injured one by one as her heart ached time after time. It was painful, because it felt like it was all her fault.
“I told you… not to get hurt.”
She said while resting her cheek on his chest where he had been injured the most. It felt completely different compared to other parts of his body.
This rather small, yet rather big scar… was what had been inflicted on the boy’s body due to her inability to protect him.
“Don’t get hurt.”
As if to etch that feeling into her mind, Hua Ran rubbed her cheek. She knew about his tenacious regeneration ability, but it felt like the boy was not thinking about his own safety because of that very ability and that made her very sad.
“Please don’t.”
She wanted to be the one getting hurt instead, but her body did not even allow that to happen.
“It… hurts when you get hurt.”
“My heart… it aches.”
Hua Ran shared her honest thoughts, because she knew that this boy wouldn’t look after himself otherwise.
Suddenly, she felt a large hand gently caressing her hair.
“Thanks.”
With gratitude towards the girl who was relying deeply on him, the boy gave her a tight hug.
“And sorry.”
“Why…?”
Despite everything she told him, the boy was still implying ruthlessly that he would continue getting injured. Hua Ran tried to speak back to him, but quickly calmed down upon feeling his gentle fingers running down her neck.
“There are too many people and things that I love, and I’m just trying to keep all of that safe.”
It was already late at night. Resting on his warm and comfortable chest, her eyelids started to feel heavy. Inside the small yet most trustworthy nest in the entire world that belonged only to her,
Hua Ran slowly went to sleep.
****
“Haht…”
Hua opened her eyes.
The chirping voices of the birds and the bright, dazzling sun was the sign that it was already morning. It was something Hua Ran had already become used to.
Gently shaking her shoulders, he would wake her up, and she would head to the bathroom while rubbing her eyes. Brushing her teeth and washing her face, she would then head back to her room for a shower.
After changing clothes and meeting him again in the corridor, they would head down the stairs together to have breakfast.
For breakfast, it would be fish – her favorite dish. She would simply glare at the fish and upon noticing that, the boy would debone the fish and give it to her. Although swallowing the bones was nothing difficult for her, for some reason, that whole procedure started to feel cozy.
Hua and Ran. Their everyday life started together with Korin and ended with Korin.
And therefore, starting the morning like today was normal and nothing new, and yet…
“…”
Opening her eyes, Hua Ran noticed that something was blocking her sight, and the warmth around her body told her that she was in someone’s arms.
She realized that she had gone off to sleep last night on his chest.
“…”
Heavenly Yaksha.
Living jiangshi.
Unbreakable Vajra Body.
She was the epitome of unshakable invincibility and had an unbreakable body, but right now, her body was trembling. The shaking of her body was faint yet undoubtable.
The part of her body that was trembling the most was her eyes.
“Mhmm….”
It was rare for the boy to wake up after her. In his sleep, he gently pressed down on the back of her head which inevitably made her bury her head into his chest.
She couldn’t fight back.
Escaping from his arms, and fighting back against the arm pressing down on her head were simply impossible.
It was strange, and looking back, Hua realized that this had always been the case.
Even though she could easily overpower him with her strength, and even though she should be much stronger than the boy…
Whenever he held her by the hand and invited her out for a meal and whenever he ran her fingers through her hair… for some reason, she found it impossible to do anything.
It was touching, warm and comfortable. Why was that the case, even though his chest had nothing but these rigid and touch muscles?
Resting in his warm hug, Hua Ran reflected on the time she spent with the boy.
Looking back at the past, she realized that it had been a life of ostracization. No one ever wanted to be near her.
『Do you want some fish? I can buy you a meal.』
And yet from some point in time, the boy started intruding into her territory. He threw himself over the fence into her zone.
『You start from the small basics.』
He grabbed onto her hands without permission.
『I told you I’ll help you… until you can make a decision for yourself.』
Came closer, while suggesting he would help her,
『…Thank you, for responding to my trust. I knew it. You… are a very nice girl.』
And always poured her with compliments and consideration.
『We’ll look for ways together』
Nonchalantly, he started walking with her down the solitary path of loneliness. He held her by the hand, crumbled the castle walls she had forged around her mind and connected a path to his house.
From some point in time, she became intoxicated by that comfort. Whenever the two sisters chatted to each other about their future, they couldn’t help but imagine another person being with them.
『There you go again. I know you like him too.』
No.
That’s not it.
That can’t be it.
It just can’t be helped, right?
If Ran likes him and wants to be with him, I have no choice but to be near him as well, right?
This is out of my control.
Because we share the same body.
Constantly she said no to herself, oblivious to the fact that she had unconsciously rubbed her cheeks on his chest. But it was then. After suddenly remembering what happened the night before, she gasped for breath.
Ugh.
In a flash, her face turned crimson. It was scorching red, as if she had been exposed to the sun for far too long.
『There are too many people and things that I love, and I’m just trying to keep all of that safe.』
Love.
Love. Love.
That word rotated around her mind like a wheel. Her eyes were spinning while her face was still flushed in deep red. She had trouble coming back to herself.
A loud and rapid heartbeat stopped her trail of thought. Wondering if Korin was somehow sick, she brought her ears to his chest and… strangely enough, the sound was still there but it wasn’t coming from her ears.
It took her a few minutes of doubting her ears until she came up with a hypothesis about that sound.
Slowly taking her ears off of his chest, she gently rested her hand on her chest and—
– Thump!
In surprise, she pushed the boy away in fright. Seemingly in deep sleep, the boy didn’t wake up and the girl was the only one who stood up from the bed.
“Huh?”
Then, while gazing down at Korin with disbelief in her eyes… she slowly brought her hand back to her chest.
“Ah…”
Confusion and bewilderment filled her eyes, and her body trembled as if there was an earthquake.
“Mhmm… What… Did you wake up already?”
Suddenly a voice reached her ears. It was the same usual voice of the boy, but Hua was startled, as if a bomb had gone off right next to her ears.
“Huh? Huh?”
Even though she knew she had to say something in response, Hua Ran couldn’t say anything meaningful so she instead tried to distance herself from the cause.
“What? What’s wrong?”
When the boy stood up and approached her with a sleepy pair of eyes, Hua Ran increased her speed even more to go further back. Despite finding that strange, the boy still walked up and placed his forehead on top of hers.
“Nn? Doesn’t look like you have a cold though.”
“Ah… U, uhh.”
Like a goldfish, Hua mumbled inaudibly. Even the Unbreakable Vajra Body wasn’t helpful after she became conscious of such unknown emotions for the first time in her life,
………
……
…
“We should get going now that we had breakfast. Thank goodness we don’t have lessons today.”
“…Yeah.”
Although she had always been quiet and docile, Hua Ran was even quieter and more passive today, so Korin couldn’t hide his curiosity.
“What’s wrong? Your face’s been red for a while…”
Once again, he unreservedly tried to bring his hand to her cheeks, so Hua Ran quickly avoided it like a bomb that was seconds away from detonation.
“Umm…”
Unable to see through the complex emotions of a girl, the dense boy awkwardly scratched his head.
“What’s wrong?”
“Umm, uhh… Nothing.”
Korin’s questioning voice echoed heavily in her ears.
“Do you feel sick?”
“D, don’t touch me!”
She shouted, strongly rejecting his touch. The boy might feel sad but Hua Ran had no other option either.
Her heartbeat had been warning her several times that she could not possibly allow her heart to beat any faster. A few more hammer strikes to her heart, which was already starting to malfunction, might not change much but she still did not want any more confusion.
“Tell me straight away if you’re feeling sick. It will become worse if you just keep it to yourself.”
That was what the boy said, but there was no way that the girl could tell him.
She could not tell him her feelings; the heartwarming identity of her emotions… How would she ever be able to convey the heavy chunk of emotions lying in her heart?
『Don’t get hurt.』
『It… hurts when you get hurt.』
『My heart… it aches.』
Unconsciously, she recalled the words she herself said the night before, and her face turned even hotter. That was something she said before being conscious of her feelings – like a child, she had innocently shared her honest feelings without any hint of secrecy.
Until now, she had been nonchalantly going to sleep on the same bed; rubbing her face on his tough chest; holding hands whenever possible and using his lap as a pillow.
At first, it was simply because it felt good;
Because she wanted to;
Because it felt warm.
In terms of a romantic relationship between a male and a female, one could say they had done everything there was to be done. Despite lacking general knowledge in that regard, even she felt blood rushing to her head when recalling everything she used to do.
Now that she had finally become conscious of her warm, ticklish yet thumping heart, everything that she had been doing came back, attacking her ruthlessly like throwing daggers.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
Again, Korin closed the gap in the blink of an eye as his breath sneaked into her ears. Her heart threatening to stop was too much to handle for the girl who had only experienced 4 years herself.
“Uaht?!”
“What?”
What happened as a result was like an expulsion of consciousness or a forced shift.
“Uht? O, oppa?”
“Why is it you all of a sudden, Ran?”
“M, mhmm…! I think Hua must be fairly tired.”
Fortunately, Ran had enough social skills to react rather normally to what was going on.
“Like, wasn’t she sleeping just fine…? I mean, if that’s what she’s saying…”
“Hehe. Please understand. Hua is feeling a bit confused right now. She seriously has trouble being honest to herself.”
“???”
Due to seeing Hua do that all morning, Ran wasn’t startled even though she was suddenly forced to control the body. Instead, she let out a sneaky smile and hugged his arm.
“More importantly, oppa. We are in the city anyway, so how about we go on a date?”
‘No! Don’t!’
Even though she had forced her outside, Hua was still watching everything span out, and immediately raised her voice after seeing Ran nonchalantly asking him out for a date.
A date? What in the world was wrong with her ‘roommate’?
Being next to him was already making it impossible for her heart to relax. Using a kinky word like that and staying next to him for a long time… Hua was sure that even her Unbreakable Vajra Body wouldn’t be able to leave unscathed.
“I would love to but I have a few things to do today.”
“Ah~ right. You said you had things to do related to the Guardians Guild, right?”
‘Haah…’
Hua let out a sigh of relief. It was fortunate, to say the least. Now was the time to soothe the sudden torrent of emotions. She needed some time off.
“There’s that too, but more importantly, I need to visit Alicia and see how she’s doing.”
“I see~”
Alicia – the name wasn’t the important bit. Hua unconsciously reacted to the fact that the person he was visiting was a ‘female’.
“Huh?”
Suddenly grabbing onto the hems of his shirt, Hua looked up into his eyes with confusion that was beyond what she herself could control or decipher.
“L, let’s go together.”
The girl who just became conscious of love, wasn’t experienced enough to be conscious of jealousy.
At least not yet.
****
How unfair.
Alicia swallowed her complaints, despite having tons to grumble about how the state she was in was completely different from that of others.
“Ughhh…”
The bruises and wounds that covered her body did not go away even after a week’s time. Drinking an elixir would be wasteful; it wasn’t like her injuries were beyond cure and she was therefore taking a rest in her own room but…
“But still, isn’t this… way too unfair?”
Hua Ran was the one who got punched and yet she, who had been underneath her, was the only one who was in tatters.
Seeing Korin made her feel even more miserable. Even though his chest had been pierced by a spear, he was back on his feet after one day.
Absolute defense and regeneration… Having to face the unfairness of reality, the girl, who still couldn’t move properly even after a week, couldn’t help but lament.
The only thing that she was slightly fond of was that…
“Does it still hurt?”
“Ahh. It’s there. There… Please be more gentle with rolling the egg.”
“Oh wow. Dude, your bruises still look terrible. By the way, did you want some chocolates? It’s about time that you can stop having porridge all the time, right?”
Korin frequently visited her room and took care of her.
“Maybe if you feed me.”
“Are you a baby?”
Despite saying that, Korin ripped apart the packet of chocolates.
“Open your mouth.”
“Ahh~”
It was when she was bringing her mouth closer to the appetizing chocolate bar.
– Munch! Crunch!
Suddenly an uninvited guest appeared in the middle. A girl wearing nun clothes swallowed the entire chocolate bar from the side.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Korin and Alicia blankly looked at her at the same time. With her mouth filled with chocolate, Hua Ran brazenly said in response to their gazes.
“What? What’s wrong?”
