On the way back to Topia, everyone was sneaking a peek at Astra seemingly like it was nothing.
Their hearts were full of curiosity like a kitten's paws scratching.
Roux was very famous, but the adjectives related to him had always been about being strong and powerful, cruel and merciless; flowers, romantic, and passionate have never been linked to Roux.
However, what did they see in an impossible location?
Dov.ny flower! That flower's language was so corny that they couldn't even utter it right now!
Astra sat in the front row, and when the cleaning robot passed by him, he viciously threw the transparent-blue flower into the "garbage."
The delicate flower in full bloom was crushed into powder.
In Red Skull's spaceship, there were many extremely lethal plants and animals. In addition to those, who could've known that the space pirates has the leisure to raise even ornamental flowers.
And who could've known that Roux could leisurely find those bunch of flowers while killing, and even carefully pick out the most splendid Dov.ny flower.
Everyone's gossiping hearts were about to fly out, but the young man who had been gifted flowers by Roux had an impatient expression and was obviously on the verge of explosion.
Also—they thought sympathetically—no one would feel happy to be treated like a girl by a famous space pirate.
Marten sighed, hesitating if he should step forward to appease him or not.
For men, it was really shameful to be given a flower with such an ambiguous meaning by another man in public.
"What's the matter with your expression?" Wen, who walked out of the bathroom behind him, was wiping his wet hands. When he saw Astra, he realized what it was and said with a smile, "Please don't worry, we just had a talk earlier, he's fine."
"Really?" Marten was deeply worried. "He even pulverized the flower. He probably didn't want you all to worry so he hid his anger."
Wen paused, eyes lowered towards his already wiped hand. "The flower was thrown away?"
"It was."
Roux would never kill people gently and cautiously, so finding a clean, beautiful, and moving Dov.ny flower amidst a blood-stained flowerbed must've taken most of his time.
He smiled. "It's good that it was thrown it away, we don't have to see Astra get angry anymore."
Astra was actually not that angry, but rather his fighting spirit was ignited.
That guy deliberately embarrassed him in front of many people, so he had to look for a chance to return the gift. Whether it be the flowers or the kabedon, could the world's full-fledged straight be able to toy him around?
He had to let Roux know what it meant to play and what it meant to pay back.
Wen walked back to their seats with Marten after conversing. "Still angry?"
His eyes were both clear and deep. At this time, he was looking at Astra with a smile. Astra glanced at him with an unhappy expression. "Mn."
Wen found it interesting. Astra put his arm on the backrest behind Wen, inclined his head, and asked seriously, "Wen, am I not handsome?"
"Handsome." Wen scanned his face cooperatively. He first gave a basket of compliments, and then calmly said, "You aren't feeling inferior because of Roux's blows, are you?"
Astra didn't answer and only knitted his brows all of a sudden. It seemed like he smelled some scent as he leaned towards Wen's direction. "You smell so good."
Goosebumps exploded on Wen's body with these words. He stiffly replied, "Really? I can't smell anything."
He was so stiff that his muscles were tense, his back was rigidly straight, and he couldn't sit comfortably.
Wen's nose was extremely sensitive, and he had unconsciously sniffed all over several times, but he really didn't smell any scent.
Astra closed his eyes and his handsome face followed his nose. He incessantly lowered his head; he sniffed at Wen's chest before continuing downwards until the Wen couldn't stand it anymore and held his hand against his head. Right then, Astra paused in the palm of his hand. "It's here."
He opened his eyes, grasped Wen's hand, and looked it over, back and forth several times.
With amusement in his eyes, Wen was baffled. Following the other's words, he raised his hand and smelled it. There was indeed a faint fragrance.
"I ran into a lady earlier," he explained, "I didn't pay attention whether it was a beauty or not, I helped her pick up something."
Astra surveyed his surroundings, but his excellent sight did not let him see any lady in the crowd.
His reaction made Wen mistake it as him being very curious about women.
Right.
Boys of this age always seem to be full of fantasies about the opposite sex.
Wen appeared pensive.
...
The spaceship arrived at planet Topia, and the military personnel conveyed the message that the students who had returned to school would be sympathetically allowed to take a day off. Then, they would visit tomorrow to do some detailed interviews.
They returned to the school building they haven't seen for a long time. Meanwhile, the school held a meeting regarding the credit for "killing the entire Red Skull crew." No matter how much of a role Roux had played in it, these bunch of prejudiced old codgers acted like they haven't seen it. Each and every one of them struggled with the military department to fight for honor for their students as much as possible.
Because nothing was for certain, the team that went to the rescue had zipped their mouths tight. But the time of Astra's group's return journey coincided with the news of the destruction of the Red Skull space pirate crew. The smart ones had already sneaked into their accounts to search. The first information they saw was a scene of the group telling stories to the mermaids in Ganymede.
In the video, more than a dozen mermaids intently floated on the surface of the dark blue sea, against the warm-colored scenery. They were very close to the Dream Team and were almost leaning on the shore.
Every mermaid in the scene was very beautiful. With flushed eye corners on their fair faces, they gazed at the Dream Team pitifully while wiping tears. The fairytale-like background of Ganymede made this scene resemble dreamland.
It was actually the mermaids of Ganymede?
The viewers smacked their tongues, their expressions distorted with jealousy.
They constantly clamored for the people who filmed the video to post more videos. Who could watch enough from such a tiny bit?
[They can be hooked?!]
[Wuwuwu, oh my goodness, the mermaid cub holding his chubby face in his chubby hands is so cute!]
Linus impatiently turned off the notifications and sneered at the comments telling him to post another video.
Astra lay paralyzed on the sofa, enjoying his teammates' soft whispers of comfort. "What's the matter?"
"A bunch of idiots." Linus, "All of them are asking me how to seduce a mermaid."
Astra stroked his chin, concealing his pride. "This depends on a person's charisma."
The others shot him a glance. Considering that he had just received a blow, he was probably embarrassed to say that it depends on being cunning and thick-skinned.
After a good day's rest, an old acquaintance came the next day. It was still Edmund. This time he took more people with him, and among them was a tall woman dressed as an officer.
"This is Sophia, my deputy." Edmund didn't say much. He sat down and went straight to the subject. "Roux is following you?"
Sophia, who stood silently behind him, smiled slightly when she met Wen's gaze, showing a mature flavor.
Whereas Wen smiled politely.
Astra casually shifted his line of sight. "But he doesn't admit to it."
Edmund scoffed. "Trash."
Astra couldn't help but laugh. He thought that this officer was really cute. It seemed that cursing Roux as trash could truly vent his anger, making him feel cheerful afterward.
Seeing him smile, Edmund's eyes flashed and there was a long period of silence. "My apologies."
"The army didn't protect your safety," he felt guilty. "and it didn't eliminate those notorious space pirates roaming the universe."
"At least we helped you wipe one out," Astra, "although we freeloaded on that Trash's light."
Wen gave him a vague look, which was caught by Astra. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Wen, is Roux trash or not?"
"…" Wen, "Trash."
Astra glanced at him appreciatively then continued to answer Edmund's questions.
Wen: "…"
Mixed emotions.
Sophia handed him a cup of hot water. "This is the second time we saw each other. Do you still remember the clumsy woman you helped on the spaceship yesterday?"
"Hello." Wen accepted the water. He who've experienced instances of being struck a conversation with naturally accepted this kind of courtesy and revealed a smile. "How can I forget? You are very beautiful."
But in fact, when this woman was mentioned, he could only remember the scene of Astra leaning on him and sniffing everywhere.
Whenever he lowered his head and held his hand, the scene would flash past his forehead.
Sophia smiled even more. She walked up to the Wen and sat beside him. The figure that she had been hiding while standing showed its curves. "I also can't forget you, it seems as if I were bewitched. I've always wanted to say my thanks to you in person."
Wen responded, "You exaggerate."
But he smiled softly, like shaken water in a cup which caused a ripple, stirring up others' state of mind.
Sophia's face was calm, but in reality, her palms had been sweating already. Tension that she hadn't experienced in a long time came upon her. It made her agitated, thinking whether her every word was reasonable. However, it was too late for her brain to process it as the words had already been blurted out.
As he looked at her with a smile, her eyes seemed to contain all her nervousness. Sophia had never thought that a man's eyes could be so enchanting.
Oh, no no no, he's not a man yet, he's only a boy.
Sophia thought sweetly, would her boy be willing to let her help him become a man?
"What are you thinking about?"
Wen curiously asked. Sophia felt ashamed by her thoughts regarding the big boy. Her hand shook and the water in the cup unexpectedly spilled towards Wen's body.
Wen's eyebrows jumped. But before he had time to dodge, a hand stretched out from behind him and wrapped around his waist before suddenly pulling him backward.
He fell into Astra's arms.