Chapter 355: Return Fire (1/2)

“Yeah, you’d totally do that, Akiha.”

Aoba said with a pleasant smile after hearing Taiyou’s story all the way through. After everything had ended and Taiyou had returned home, he immediately went to Aoba’s room. Hugging her from behind in her pajamas, he had proceeded to sit on the bed and began talking to her about Akiha about how Akiha had fought alongside him as well as her wish.

“I agree.”

“So where is she now?”

“She went to Ruri’s room. Said she had a few more things to learn first.”

“Wow, really.”

“But that was a surprise, you know? I already knew that she probably had good reflexes, but dang! She knows how to fight, that girl.”

“I think this probably developed recently.”

“You mean her being able to fight?”

“Yeah.”

Aoba nodded. She leaned back against him.

“You see, Akiha was called the Wonder Child when she was little.”

“Wonder Child…ah, the same meaning as a prodigy.”

He didn’t typically hear such a word in his daily life, so it took Taiyou a moment.

“Yeah, it all started with an IQ test when she was a kid, and the results were crazy good.”

“Oh really now?”

Taiyou wasn’t entirely surprised. Akiha just felt like that kind of person.

“Still, up till now she’s been normal…ah, well, not normal exactly.”

“Yeah, she isn’t normal.”

Aoba giggled in agreement.

“She’s definitely not normal. No, it’s more like she hasn’t done anything up till now to make her look like a wonder child. Titles like ‘wonder child’ or ‘prodigy’ would better fit…Ruri, I’d say. Although Youran is also a bit like that…”

“But she’s more on the hard-working side, you know.”

“Yeah, it’s more like she feels like one because she’s doing her best to act like one. She knows when to change her mask, so to speak.”

“Yeah.”

She giggled again, knocking against his sternum with the back of her head as she responded.

“I think it’s possible that Akiha just didn’t have anything she could get serious about until now. She was smart and talented, but just didn’t have motivation, so she was just a normal—-ah, well not normal, right.”

Aoba accidentally said the same thing as Taiyou. He jokingly pinched her cheeks.

“So essentially, her talent is S Rank but everything’s a drag to her so she’s fine with staying at D Rank.”

“The heck are you talking about?”

“Just a manga reference.”

“Oh, okay.”

“But now she’s serious. That’s a good thing. Although I do feel a bit jealous at the fact that this is all for you.”

“No, shut up, you’re clearly not jealous.”

Aoba giggled.

“Nah, sure I am, just a bit.”

He put his hands in front of her eyes, making a ring with two of his fingers. He didn’t close the gap, instead just slightly opening his fingers a small millimeter.

Taiyou and Aoba flirted in her room, making him gradually feel the fatigue from a hard day’s work fade away. He always felt healed around her, never having to put up a bold front.

“Sniff sniff.”

“Yah! N-Natsuno-kun, what’re you doing?”