He looked at me with a gaze, as if provoking me. Then, he gave me a small eye-smile.
He whispered into Harun's ears and stared directly at me. That was a declaration of war. He was talking to Harun, but it felt like he was whispering into my ears.
Harun's eyes grew wide at Yves' words. Harun's body began to shake.
"Yvnes! You, how…..eugh, are you for real?!"
Harun grabbed Yves' collar and began to shake him back and forth, but Yves just threw out a, "I don't know, ask Shushu yourself." and just thrust the responsibility onto me.
I, I did ask him to sign the contract first....
It was my choice to have the orange slice tattoo on the butt, but...…..damn it.
My older brother looked at me and shouted.
"Shu-Shuraina!"
"You're wrong! Oppa, this is a misunderstanding! Eee, Yves!"
That, that, that…. It was obvious that he was doing this because I didn't take his side right before. Harun chased after me with frightening speed and I ran away. I peeked behind me to not get caught by my older brother. I saw Harun chasing after me with a funny expression on his face, and Yves was laughing joyfully behind him.
Intermission 3. The Merchant Leader's Son's Peaceful Days
I grabbed the fresh fruit juice that the school served for breakfast and headed to my classroom.
My eyes always opened early in the morning, so I always got to class early. Because of that, when I arrived to class drinking my juice, I was the only one there. I liked how quiet it was.
I wanted to go back to being a normal student, so I recently began studying again. My goal was to be a dutiful student. Most of the guild jobs were almost complete, and I didn't want to care too much about them so I paid someone decently trustworthy to do the work instead. Even when I wasn't doing much, money kept piling up. Now, all I had was time.
This was the first time in my life that I had so little work to do. That was why I was trying to get back to my studies. Honestly, I already knew what I needed to know. They were necessary for conversations with those in the upper classes, so I learned everything beforehand. I didn't need to study things like history or geography, but I needed to improve my knowledge in things like math and the basics of magic.
Well, I had enough time, so I could slowly study in my own time.
But I didn't take out my textbooks to study right away. I had a kind of 'ritual' that I did in the classroom all alone. It was how I began a fresh, good new day.
I took out the magical recorder and checked to see that nobody was in the classroom with me. I pressed play.
[ "Everybody make some noise and scream!"]
The video showed Shushu dancing. Shushu flailed her skinny arms and legs and danced to the rhythm. It was supposed to be a funny dance, but because she kept to the beat it looked strangely cool. It looked like she was dancing haphazardly, but there was a lot of power behind each move. People watched as she danced and cheered loudly.
I rested my chin on my hand and sipped at my juice. Then, I looked at Shushu's face in the video.
Her face was red from dancing. She looked like was on the verge of tears, but she tried her best to dance. She danced like a flag rippling in the air, then changed to some weird steps and danced. Shushu had an expression that looked like she wanted to be dragged into the void, but didn't stop dancing.
My daily schedule began with watching this video. It was a nightmare to find. There just happened to be a person who had recorded Shushu's dancing in video form, and I erased every other video that had been copied from the original file and made sure that I had the only video of this.
Anyway, this had been a real shock.
I unknowingly smiled as I watched Shushu dance. I began to think back to my recent past.
That was when my head was constantly aching because of the former leader. I hated smiling like a sleeze, marching to his tunes, and just wanted everything to end, and was just trying to reach the finish line.
The feelings that I felt towards the end of the 'Escape the Guild' plan was boredom more than hope. It was boredom that was anger, resignation, and absolute hate all balled into one.
The road to hell for the leader was paved, and he was going to lose to me no matter what. I was ready to get back up as many times as I needed to drag him down.
And right when I was sure that my plan was going to be successful, I felt like I was going to puke. Everything that I had suffered because of him swept through my head, and my head ached and I seemed to choke on my own breath.
I couldn't escape the thoughts of how my future would look when I left the guild and if I could even escape in the first place.
Then I met Shuraina.
My plan required a magician, but the well-known high-level magicians were all in the guild leader's pockets, so I couldn't find anyone to aid me. Then, the leader had asked me to find out more information about Shunivalen, and I had discovered the incredible fact that Shunivalen was a first year girl in my school.
And the first year kid was one that I had already taken notice of. There was a pretty pink-haired first-year girl named Hestia in school. She was pretty and seemed to be quiet, so I had liked her.
And right next to the pink-haired girl sat an expressionless orange-haired girl, and she had turned out to be Shunivalen.
A small girl with orange hair and absolutely zero cuteness.
Other than her dead eyes, there didn't seem to be any other defining characteristics for her. That was why I was awed the more I learned about Shuraina.
She didn't look it, but she had an incredible record. Not just as Shunivalen, but as Shuraina as well. Just. Everything was incredible.
The school records for Shuraina were almost perfect. She made a mock habitat for the Augran Mountains for her club project, and began writing reports about their movements. That idea was brilliant, and she was ranked first in her year and was learning magic as well as swordsmanship.
She was brimming with talent, and she was smart to boot.
She was even more incredible as Shunivalen. It was already incredible that she had made the leader so miserable in the first place, but she had also ensured her safe escape after. She was clean with her jobs and was almost perfection. I wondered why she was earning money like that when she was young and from a pretty respectable noble family, but it was because she didn't want her family to go bankrupt.
The West family was keeping their positive image thanks to Shushu. She was really a mature kid. So I began to think that Shuraina would be the best fit for my plans.
Shuraina was, as expected, sharp. She didn't fall for any of the traps that I had set up. Even when I gave her a good deal, she didn't waver and kept calm.
I watched as everything unfolded, and began wanting to get Shuraina on my side, even if I had to show her my real self. Although she still had her guard up against me regardless of my efforts.
Anyway, Shushu was that kind of kid. Smart, sharp, kind of expressionless but a perfect kid.
She did as much as she was paid, and she was easy to work with. A good employee. That was all she was. It didn't matter how young she was.
At first, I had just wanted to make her work. I didn't think of giving her my trust as well.
'If you go against the contract, then you're gonna get hit on your butt.'
No, maybe I had began to trust her the moment we had written up the contract. I was desperate, so I just wanted someone who wouldn't question me and work for me.
Of course, I had always just created a shallow trusted relationship with others so I was struggling to figure out what I needed to do. So when she brought her own contract because she didn't believe me, I was incredibly grateful. The moment our penalty was chosen to be something so embarrassing, there was a sort of 'trust' that stemmed from it that was different from other people.
I began to trust her more as I began to see the cracks in her perfect appearance.
That day was when I had asked Shushu to get the attention of the crowd. I had just assumed that Shushu would just pretend to trip around me or just talk to someone and grab their attention that way.
But who would've known that she would jump onto stage and dance? She even happened to be a good dancer with that face. It didn't seem like her first performance. Even though it was hilarious.
Her expressionless face that never seemed to have any emotions on it turned dark red. I was amazed at the expressions that I saw. I didn't realize that she would immerse herself so much for my request.
It was even more hilarious to watch her after she had finished dancing.
She had, funnily enough, lost all of strength, and couldn't seem to get back up on her feet. I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to help her, but she refused and tried to walk alone before tripping and spraining her ankle.
It was funny to watch Shushu throw a mini tantrum with such an irritated expression on her face. Shushu must have felt incredibly displeased at the situation, but it was the first time I had so much fun and excitement in my life before.
That was the first time I had found something funny. It felt like the ache that always resided in my head subsided somewhat. It was also funny to feel how she was trying to avoid touching any part of my back as she was on my back. When she gave up and just hugged me from behind, it felt weird. Shushu felt warm behind my back and I wanted to keep carrying her there.
When I thought she had passed out, I bought her some chicken skewers. She ate all of it while making a mess on my back. I thought she had used all of her strength on dancing so I didn't ask her to clean my clothes, but she apologized to me the next day and cleaned it for me. It felt like Shushu was making mistakes just like others her age. I thought it was cute.
It was the first time that I had tried to work with someone without wanting profit, but I began to enjoy that feeling.
Shushu lowered her guard by the day. As she did so, she began to show her real personality. She was incredibly skilled, but she was also prone to mistakes at times and incredibly trusting. It was incredible to see how such a small head could do so many big things. It was awe-inspiring and lovely at the same time.
Then, that girl began to take care of me too. She had, from some unknown moment, decided to bring things for my health. She began bringing lots of different things for my, but I told her not to because something felt itchy in the beginning.
This entire thing was unfamiliar: I had lived my entire life receiving hate and distrust. Everything felt off-kilter as it went against everything I knew.
Shushu pouted at my reaction. Then, she began listing all of the things I had done for her out of kindness.
I was shocked at Shushu's words. I had only known myself as a coward who stepped over others to get what I wanted. But even I was able to care for somebody other than myself. Just like normal people.
And just like that, I was able to briefly forget the things that hurt me in front of Shushu.
Choking the brothers that I trusted with my bare hands, being forced to do things I didn't want to for survival…whenever I could hear my victims' voices taunting, cursing me and bothering me, I went to hug Shushu.
Those days, when I was drowning in betrayal and just chasing after another day.
The days that I could do nothing but hold onto my loathing so I wouldn't drown in my misery and let go.
Whenever she gently patted my back, it felt like warmth spread through my cold body. It felt like every cold, hateful moment of my life was melting away.