I was covered in bruises and sore all over when morning practice was over, but I still had to drag this sore body to class.
When I came in, I found all three of the main characters sitting there in class, but my target was someone else.
There was another person in our class who was also related to the main characters.
A girl who quietly sat there in the back reading her book.
And without any hesitation, I approached this girl.
At first, the three main characters wanted to call out to me, but then they immediately narrowed their eyes when they saw who I was approaching.
At the same time, that girl who had been silently reading her book slowly looked up to see me coming over to her.
When she saw me coming over, she revealed a look of panic before lowering her head in hopes that I would go away.
But I didn't as I walked right up to her desk and said, "Good morning, Su Rou."
Su Rou, the second of Yan Ling's Four Sacred Beast Guardians.
She was the Vermilion Bird Guardian.
Su Rou visibly jolted when she heard me call out to her, but then she quickly lowered her book and gave me a polite nod without saying anything.
It wasn't that we didn't know each other since I had made sure to talk to her from time to time. She was one of Yan Ling's four guardians that I had seen fight with her before, so I had made sure to keep in contact with her.
Still, that didn't mean that we were close or anything, so it was hard for me to say anything.
At the same time, I could feel the three glares that were aimed at my back.
It would be fine if it was any other time for me to approach Su Rou, but after what happened this weekend…
It definitely made them angry to see me ignore them and approach another girl.
But I endured since I didn't want to be forced into the lover role.
I grabbed a chair and sat down beside her before saying, "Sorry, I need to use you as a shield for a bit."
Su Rou revealed a surprised look when she heard this before slowly peeking at the three who were glaring at me.
After a bit of silence, she asked, "Is something wrong?"
I revealed an awkward smile before saying, "It isn't that something is wrong per say, it's just that I've made them a bit angry over the weekend, so I'm trying to wait it out."
Su Rou gave a slow nod to show that she understood before turning to look at the three main characters again.
Specifically, it seemed that she was looking in the direction of Yan Ling…
As she did, her eyes started to light up for some reason as if she was seeing something exciting.
I didn't understand why she was looking at Yan Ling like this, but I couldn't help feeling that it was bad.
Normally I might feel that it was good for this since she would be considered one of the female leads for Yan Ling to fall in love with, but now…
At the same time, I could tell that the way that she was looking at Yan Ling wasn't that kind of gaze. From time to time, she also turned back to look at me, as if she saw something between me and Yan Ling.
I felt that this was bad, so I wanted to change the topic.
"So what book are you reading?"
The moment that I said this, Su Rou immediately revealed a look of panic and put the book that she had into her desk before saying, "Nothing, it's nothing at all."
I couldn't help being taken aback by her sudden action.
The way that she did this, it was almost as if she was trying to hide the book.
Just what kind of embarrassing thing was she reading that she needed to go this far to hide it?
I really couldn't hold back the curiosity, but there was no way for me to see what the book was about since she had already put it away.
But then to my surprise, Su Rou took the initiative to talk to me by saying, "Um, can you tell me about the relationship between you and Yan Huang?"
I looked at her with a surprised look when I heard this.
Su Rou was still looking down as she said this, but I could see that she was peeking at me from time to time out of the corner of her eyes. The way that she was looking at me…it was almost as if there was something that she expected from me.
I had to think for a bit before saying, "We're best friends, so there's nothing really to say. We're close as best friends could be."
I was surprised to see that she had a slightly disappointed look when she heard this.
It was almost as if she was unhappy with the answer that I gave her.
There was another awkward silence that followed after I said this, as if she didn't want to continue this conversation.
I couldn't help feeling strange about this, so I added, "Well, recently he's been getting a bit clingy, so I've been trying to put some distance between us. I've told him that if he doesn't put some distance between us, it'll be hard for him to get a girl…"
"What do you mean by he's been getting a bit clingy?" Su Rou cut me off by suddenly saying this. As she said this, she also looked right up at me with sparkling eyes that were filled with interest.
I couldn't help being taken aback when I saw this and even moved back a bit, but that didn't stop her as she suddenly came forward.
The way that she said this, I immediately felt a chill run down my spine.
Something was wrong…