Vol 5. Chapter 39: Your Memory Isn’t Very Good, Hm~?

On the steps before the gates of Carillian Academy’s arena, a baffling scene had appeared.

With the Chosen One Granted by God Tournament approaching, basically everyone who came to the arena was there to train, and what they wore were training clothes. Only she was dressed beautifully and properly, bright and gorgeous. One look was enough to know she could not possibly be here to train. She looked more like she had arranged to meet someone at the arena for a date.

That attracted quite a lot of attention.

But right now, Vinny had no room to care about other people’s gazes at all. Even if he noticed them, he had no time to pay attention. His mind was entirely on something else, his gaze roaming back and forth through the crowd, as though he were intentionally or unintentionally searching for a certain figure.

He sat on the steps with both arms wrapped around his knees, acting very awkward. From time to time, he would raise his head and sweep his eyes over the shifting crowd, but he would soon withdraw his gaze again, as though worried people might notice that he was deliberately watching the crowd and searching for someone.

Yet in the end, he found nothing.

He did not know whether it was because his mood was too gloomy, but even the sky seemed to be affected. Black clouds gradually covered the heavens above, strip after strip like an airtight curtain. The dull rumble of thunder and the dampness in the air all foretold a torrential downpour.

He really was unlucky enough.

Vinny subconsciously reached out to catch it and sensed a trace of cold dampness.

Now, there was no staying outside the gate. It was about to rain, and looking at this situation, the rain would not be light either. Each drop was probably going to be as large as a bean.

Even if he ran home now, it probably would not be in time. He would most likely be drenched like a drowned rat halfway there.

What should he do now?

The hour was no longer early. Aesphyra seemed to have felt that she had been stood up and had already left. Right now, he was not sure whether she was on the road home or had already gotten home, but there was still a small chance that she remained inside the arena.

Vinny did not know whether he should keep waiting, go find Aesphyra and explain clearly, or go home right now.

But there was no time to go home now either, unless he wanted to get his newly bought clothes soaking wet.

He did not know whether continuing to wait had any meaning. What exactly should he do?

However, in truth, perhaps none of those were the main point.

The main point was that Vinny’s current mood was in complete disorder. His mind was not on thinking about these things at all, to the point that even going into the arena to take shelter from the rain was something he was not actively doing.

“That guy.” Vinny did not enter the arena. Instead, he muttered quietly in a volume only he could hear.

Just where had she gone?

Had she really thought he had deliberately stood her up and was toying with her, then gotten angry and gone home?

Ahhh, he really had not done it on purpose.

So what should he do now? Should he go find her and explain?

He probably should, right? But now, leaving aside the fact that he did not know where she was or where he should look for her, even if he found her, how was he supposed to explain??

He could not possibly tell her that he had not wanted to be too casual and perfunctory, so he had spent more than two hours choosing clothes in Huawo Clothiers, which was what caused him to be late, could he??

Putting aside how ridiculous that excuse was, Vinny could not say it!

A boy meeting a girl while dressing himself up as a girl was already funny enough. If this part was added too, it would simply make someone wish they could sink into the ground!

Even if other people could tell from his clothes, surely these words could not be something he personally said out loud, right??

This was really too—

Vinny hugged his knees with both arms, lowered his head, and pressed his lips together. The sky was clearly churning with black clouds and rain was about to fall, yet he showed no intention of taking shelter at all. It was as though [N O V E L I G H T] he were just going to keep hugging his knees like this and sit on the steps while the rain poured over his head.

Quite a few passersby, seeing that it was about to rain, had no choice but to take shelter inside the arena. When they saw the blue-haired girl sitting all alone on the steps beneath the coming wind and rain, they could not help going up and reminding her.

“This student, it’s about to rain. If you stay like this, you’ll get drenched,” a male student could not help saying.

“I know. Thank you.” Vinny’s voice was light and drifting, as though it would be covered over by the wind if the wind grew even slightly stronger.

Seeing this, the male student heard the stubbornness in the girl’s thankful tone. Knowing he could not persuade her, he could only helplessly leave.

Seeing this scene, quite a few people had already imagined a reasonable plot in their heads, silently sighing in their hearts: Hey, hey, what a good girl. Scumbags. Scumbags really deserve to die! He could actually bear to abandon a beautiful girl of this level? He really was eating from his bowl while thinking about what was in the pot. Did he not know how many people had nothing to eat at all??

Some people wanted to go up and persuade her again, but the heavy aura radiating from the girl made them hesitate and shrink back.

At a time like this, perhaps what she needed was not comfort. Perhaps she simply needed to be quiet for a while.

Vinny, as the person involved, did not know what the surrounding people were thinking, nor did he have the mood to pay attention. But at this moment, he really did not want to listen to anyone’s advice. He only wanted to calmly think by himself about what he should do.

But in this world, there were always those people who thought they understood others, possessed ** confidence, and believed themselves to be very charming and humorous. In reality, they could not read the atmosphere at all and behaved with absolutely no tact.

Sitting on the steps, Vinny suddenly felt an extra shadow appear at his feet, and the light over his head dimmed.

“??” Vinny hesitated for a moment. Even though he did not want to pay attention to the outside world, he had no choice but to lift his head and see what was going on.

“My noble young lady, the wind is strong. Be careful not to catch cold.” A rather greasy wind blew past his ear, greasy enough that it seemed as though an oil well had been drilled through.

“?” That tone made Vinny involuntarily shudder.

No, that sharp pitch—why did it feel a little familiar?? Did he hear it often??

Vinny looked over with a strange expression. Sure enough, it was an old acquaintance, the extremely familiar kind.

A pointy head, a pointy mouth, pointy ears, inverted-triangle eyes. He was not yet twenty, but he looked more mature than some uncles in their thirties, like an overripe rotten persimmon. His face was like a loofah, full of pits and bumps.

The strangest thing was that this person very clearly had no Herculean amount of self-awareness regarding what he looked like. Holding an umbrella, one hand in his pocket, he put on an expression that seemed considerate and meticulous, but was actually extremely self-intoxicated, as though he had completely immersed himself in his own performance art.

Crap. He really seemed to think he was handsome.

But with this appearance, other people who saw him only wanted to—

Urk!

If this had been a stranger he had never met before, Vinny would not have felt this way. The problem was that Vinny knew the person in front of him. He knew what kind of person the other party was.

That was right. He was Vinny’s classmate, that greasy old monkey whom rumors outside described as having skin thick enough to block a hundred thousand elite soldiers, greedy for money and lustful: Bopp.

What kind of nature did this guy have? Vinny had watched him for a year and a half. How could he not know? Among their classmates, who did not know what kind of person he was?

No, there was not even any need to be in the same class as him. He did not just look like a middle-aged man; even the way he spoke and his level of greasiness were exactly like someone of that age. Before the map had even fully unrolled and the dagger was revealed, that incomparably greasy tone and bearing had already sold out what kind of person he was completely.

Besides, setting aside what kind of person he was, just that earlier line—“my noble young lady, the wind is strong, be careful not to catch cold”—was already very absurd. It seemed quite lacking in boundaries, and it sounded cloying enough to make someone nauseous.

What person meeting someone for the first time would open their mouth and talk like that??

“Mm. Thank you for the reminder.” Honestly, Bopp’s appearance was not completely useless. Everything had two sides. At least, the moment this guy appeared, Vinny completely lost the desire to keep sitting on the steps and only wanted to hurry away from this man oozing oil from head to toe.

“As for that single-person umbrella, you don’t need to hold it for me.” Although his tone was rather tepid, Vinny still gave him plenty of courtesy. He stood up, picked up the towel, and walked toward the arena.

“My lady, what are you saying? Forget this one moment. If you wished me to hold an umbrella for you, I would be willing at every moment, at every hour.” Seeing Vinny step toward the arena, Bopp immediately closed his umbrella and followed, grinning at Vinny.

No, what was that smell??

Vinny covered his face in utter disgust.

Bopp had either eaten garlic or chives at dinner earlier, or perhaps simply did not pay much attention to oral hygiene. When he came close and spoke, there was a strange smell, a little like an unattended swill bucket by the street.

That smell was really!

Vinny was already forcing down his own disgust.

It was one thing for the person to be greasy, his tone to be greasy, and his behavior to be greasy, but when he spoke, he even carried that distinctive middle-aged man “breath.” Who could endure that??

No, this guy had not taken him as his next target for hitting on, had he??

The moment he connected it to that, Vinny felt a wave of chills.

Being attacked by a creep was not frightening. What was frightening was being attacked by a “middle-aged uncle” type creep who was this sloppy, unkempt, utterly careless about personal hygiene, and yet still carried ** confidence in himself.

Too terrifying!

Vinny now finally knew what kind of psychological pressure those girls who were hit on by Bopp had to bear.

Bro, if you want to hit on someone, at least pay attention to personal hygiene, all right? At least brush your teeth properly, pay attention after eating, spray some breath freshener into your mouth before speaking to someone, right?

When talking to others, having such heavy “breath” was very disrespectful, did you know that? Other people would become disgusted even by conversing with you.

It could only be said that some people were unpopular for a reason. And for a large portion of them, it was not that they did not know the reason. It was simply that they insisted on doing things their own way, refused to change, and still expected strangers to show them more tolerance.

“My noble young lady, were you waiting for someone earlier?” However, Bopp clearly did not realize Vinny’s disgust. Instead, he even thought the other party was being shy.

No, even after someone showed resistance, you still chased up and kept attacking, huh? Did the other person have to openly say, “Excuse me, sir, before you speak, could you blend some sweet-aftertaste grass into juice and use it to rinse your mouth?”

No wonder he was known as having skin thick enough to block a hundred thousand elite soldiers. Just in this one area, he really was unmatched under the heavens.

Besides, why hit on him? He was a grown man. What was there to hit on? Was that not disgusting??

Had Bopp hit on him, Camella Royal Capital’s notorious young master, now??

After this guy had been rejected by girls too many times, had he simply retreated to the next best thing and chosen to pursue boys instead??

The previous one was Shicodale, and this time it was him??

“My apologies, student. I’m in a hurry,” Vinny refused.

“In a hurry? Truly? My lady, forgive me for speaking frankly, but the person you were waiting for doesn’t seem very punctual. As a man, how can he not have even this much sense of time? Isn’t that just completely not taking you seriously?”

I really—

It was hard. His fist was hard.

A huge tic-tac-toe vein popped out on Vinny’s head as he listened.

If not for the fact that his image was wrong right now, Vinny felt he might have been unable to resist smacking Bopp on the head and leaving a turn signal on his skull, so that his brain’s incomplete development would not leave him unable to tell directions.

“Don’t be sad. For that kind of person, it isn’t worth it.” Bopp had completely failed to notice Vinny’s attitude and was still pretending to offer commentary as a pure passerby.

No good. Looking at this situation, if he did not give this guy a clear rejection, he would not understand.

Just as Vinny turned around, a pair of hands suddenly wrapped around his waist from behind, and his whole body fell into a fragrant, soft “cushion.”

“It looks like Bopp didn’t take in a single word from last time.”

“Eh??” The sudden change did not only make Bopp freeze. Vinny also froze.

“I think I still need to explain things clearly to Bopp. First, this was not a matter of failing to be punctual. Second, I am not a man.” The silver-haired girl, beautiful beyond reason, held the caught-off-guard blue-haired girl from behind, rested her head on his shoulder, and spoke word by word in a lukewarm tone.

“Ah, ah??” After realizing who the person before him was, Bopp widened his eyes.

“Aesphyra, you—you, how are you here??”

“Although Bopp’s family is wealthy and powerful, surely it isn’t so wealthy and powerful that even the academy’s arena is run by your family, is it?” Aesphyra teased with a smiling expression.

“Uh, uh.” The corner of Bopp’s mouth twitched. He looked at the blue-haired girl, whose face had turned flushed for some reason, then looked at Aesphyra, and in an instant, realization struck him.

Ahhh??

No way. The person this unfamiliar blue-haired beauty had been waiting for was Aesphyra??

This—surely not?

Was there such a person among Aesphyra’s friends? How had he never seen her before?

Were these two best friends?

Were they only best friends??

Bopp, who had not watched the beauty contest last year, nevertheless sharply sensed that the relationship between these two did not seem that simple.

Earlier, the expression and behavior shown by this blue-haired girl had clearly not been that of someone waiting for a certain friend.

Bopp was very certain of that.

“Bopp, how should I put this? Is the pressure of your studies lately too high, causing your memory to be not very good? Or do you simply treat advice as wind passing by your ears~?” Aesphyra held the bashful Vinny, who could not get out a single word, and smiled as she stared at Bopp.

“Last time, I said something to you along the lines of ‘don’t gossip behind other people’s backs,’ didn’t I?”