The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

Page 68

""

""

They looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Qingzi suddenly sighed, sat down, and cast a disdainful glance at Xinnv.

"Why do I feel like little Pandora is becoming more and more like you? What exactly have you been teaching her?"

“I teach the most basic survival skills, and weren’t you there the whole time I was teaching you?”

The believer shook her head to indicate that he wouldn't take the blame, and then changed the subject to ask a different question.

"By the way, why did you suddenly decide to become a theory teacher? I originally planned to hand the little girl over to you, but then I thought that would mess up the generational order, be too irresponsible, and I didn't want to cause you any trouble, so I gave up on that idea."

"Can't I just like little Pandora?"

"I may find you pleasing to the eye, but I've noticed a leap forward in your relationship ever since you two shared a room and slept together for one night. Good heavens, you didn't do anything monstrous, did you? She's still a child, Aoko," the woman teased habitually.

"You must have had a tough twelve years in that 'countryside' where 'lesbians' are everywhere." Aoko, unusually, wasn't provoked by his words and instead returned his gaze with pity.

"Ugh," the believer felt a sudden, sharp pain in her chest as she was swept by that pitying gaze.

The first encounter ended in Mr. Hearn's defeat.

"Anyway, stop with the nonsense and get down to business. I'll teach Pandora partly because the little girl is indeed likable, and partly because," Aoko pulled out a small blue notebook, flipped to a page and read aloud, "if this continues, this little girl will become his second copy. Aozaki, you have to keep a close eye on her and get your hands off her! If you dare to try to take her, I'll burn these pages!"

"There are still a few pages left?" The believer withdrew her hand dejectedly, looking shocked.

"Nonsense, do you think you're an easy-going baby? Shi gave me a whole bunch of rules and regulations, 99% of which are about you, and Pandora only has one." Qingzi rolled her eyes at him and said irritably.

""

Upon hearing this, the believer leaned back on the animal-skin sofa, placed the small notebook in her hand on her face, and her expression was unreadable.

"You've really grown these past two years. I was so naive to think you were still that prickly little hedgehog who didn't understand girls' hearts. I never imagined that in just half a year of university you'd hook up with 573 girls. I used to think you were just a stunningly beautiful actress, and if you didn't have the script for 'Hamlet,' you'd probably be causing all sorts of trouble. I never thought my words would come true. Now you've finished performing 'Hamlet' and thrown away the script. Looks like you're planning to start performing 'Don Juan,' right?"

"Horaceau, how can you slander Hamlet's innocence like this? You know perfectly well that Hamlet never entered those girls' bodies, only their lives; he was a passerby who never touched them."

With Ophelia watching him 24/7, Hamlet naturally only dared to be a passerby.

"Horaceau, as Hamlet's only true friend, why don't you be a little more considerate and deduce the hidden truth from the opposite perspective?"

"Horaceau has been so 'considerate' that he has angered Ophelia to the point of 'coming back from the dead,' is Hamlet still not satisfied?"

"On this point, Hamlet has reason to believe that Horatio's intimate gestures since their reunion have been deliberate, all in an attempt to lure Ophelia out."

Horatio saw that Hamlet was acting like nothing was wrong and flirting around all day, which didn't seem like the kind of sad prince who had lost his beloved. So he decided to give it a try and messed around for five days. Unexpectedly, Ophelia couldn't hold back and surfaced.

"Hamlet grieved in Gomorrah for a whole year, okay? Finally, after much difficulty, he got out of his slump and fought a fierce battle. Only when the battle was almost over did he realize that Ophelia had always lived in his heart."

"Shouldn't 'Hamlet' have come to an end after its happy ending? What's with the 'Hamlet and the 573 Maids' segment? Are you really planning to stage 'Don Juan'?"

"All 573 girls combined don't weigh as much as Horatio. You understand what I mean, right?"

The believer removed the small book from her face, stood up, and sat up straight, her gaze calm and deep.

"I understand. Shi is still angry with you for abandoning her and returning home alone to pay for your blood debt, so she doesn't want to talk to you at all. You've flirted with so many girls in the past six months, but you're only one step away from each of them. You're trying to provoke her into coming out."

Aoko deduced this absurd yet somehow plausible truth through reverse reasoning, and immediately glared at him with annoyance.

"However, it all ended in failure." The believer shook her head with a wry smile. "After years of going through thick and thin together, we've all grown a lot. She's long since broken free of her mental blockade. You've already met, how did it go?"

"She's not as stubborn as before, talks more, and has become more open-minded about many things. When talking to her, I don't sense any obsession in her." Aoko recalled their earlier conversation and what she had seen and heard that day. "After you fainted in the morning, we went to visit Deedlit's family. In the afternoon, we met with Salome Reinhardt and gave her the black Rubik's Cube. After settling in at the Gozan Dragon's consulate, she went to sleep, and then you came out—in short, Shiki was impersonating you the whole time, and she handled everything very calmly, except..."

"Except what?"

"Except for not flirting with Miss Jiang Xue, which made that leopard-headed paladin ready to go berserk, he ended up punching nothing but thin air."

"Ah ha ha"

"You still have the nerve to laugh? With your explanation, all your past womanizing is now justified by your devotion. You'd be better off apologizing to Shi than flirting with 573 girls."

"Aoko, if apologies were enough, what would be the point of hell?"

"Believer, then go to hell! Wait, you've already been to hell, and it seems you're still no use. If you're going to hell, then go to hell, why are you dragging me into this?"

"I've told you several times that you'll go to hell with me because the connection between you and that comedian woman has been transferred to me, not because I did it on purpose."

"Is that comedian woman still alive? If she is, could you lend me a hand and take her out for me?"

"It's gone. It was formatted two years ago."

"Great, I'm going to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate!"

"Open, open, open!"

The believer acted swiftly, taking out all the monkey wine stored in the cellar from the subspace, and also grabbing two bottles of champagne and placing them on the coffee table in front of Qingzi.

After a few rounds of drinks, the two slumped onto the sofa and brought up business again.

"So what are you planning to do now? Honestly, the two of you being awake and asleep is not much different from being separated by life and death, especially since she is deliberately avoiding you now."

"I'm out of ideas. Let's take it slow. Didn't you just get off to a good start?"

"what?"

"Didn't I just say that you accomplished something that 573 girls combined couldn't do? This is the first time she's voluntarily surfaced for some fresh air. In other words, she values ​​you, her old friend, very, very much."

"That sounds reasonable, but something just doesn't feel right to me. You're getting better and better at pretending to be ignorant while still getting the better of me."

"Not at all, it's all thanks to your excellent teaching, teacher. Without the foundation you laid for me, I would have died long ago in that shady corner of the Far East countryside."

"Don't give me that. Do you know I was just a hair's breadth away from being hacked to death this morning?"

"Don't worry, I told Pandora beforehand, 'If we start fighting, remember to go and break it up immediately.' With a little girl around, she won't be able to be ruthless."

"Wait, did you realize that Shiki was about to wake up?"

"Nonsense, you've been testing the waters in various ways for days. The way you linked arms with me this morning sent her blood pressure soaring. Have you forgotten how we used to piss her off back in Eientei?"

"Ha, now that you mention it, I remember that. You also made up that 'Committee for the Healthy Development of Teenage Girls and Preventing Them from Being Kidnapped by Bad Men' speech without even consulting me."

"Even though we didn't tell each other, you answered pretty quickly back then, didn't you?"

"That's why we're in trouble now."

Aoko looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

"Yes, now we're in trouble."

The believer looked up at the ceiling and said with a headache.

Their gazes shifted downwards, and they exchanged a glance simultaneously.

"First of all, she's already graduated from her chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)."

"Secondly, now that she knows we've been in cahoots from the beginning, she'll probably only believe half of what I say from now on."

"In conclusion, it seems this hurdle is going to be difficult for me."

"Hey, cheer up, you silly apprentice. Do you remember what I said back then? You've already braved mountains of knives and seas of fire. All that's left is to use that shameless attitude you have in front of me to pester me relentlessly."

"It's too late. I gave her a heads-up back then—saying that if she encountered a persistent, clingy jerk, she shouldn't hesitate to chop him up and be done with it."

"You'll have to bear the consequences of your own actions."

Chapter 126 Night Talks at Shihai (Part 1)

As night deepened, all was quiet.

Aoko woke up from a light sleep, took out Cangyin's pocket watch, and saw that the hour hand had just passed midnight.

She could faintly hear the sound of a boy snoring softly, and instinctively shifted her gaze to see the boy's gentle sleeping face.

The lush green furnishings and comfortable sofas set the scene for what was once again a lively drinking session, with two people sound asleep on the plush sofas.

Admittedly, the deep sleep of the physiological side has lost its meaning for the two who have detached themselves from the material world, but thanks to their innate nature, sleep is still a kind of mental relaxation and enjoyment, just like the slight intoxication after drinking.

An invisible mist of time permeated the atmosphere, making him invincible even in his slumber.

In a slightly tipsy daze, Aoko silently gazed at the sleeping Nobunaga, subconsciously comparing the gentle sleeping face before her with the stubborn little hedgehog in her memory.

Fourteen years have passed in the blink of an eye. Judging from his current achievements, even with the utmost arrogance, he would only be described as shocking.

However, setting aside the superficial appearances and returning to the core of "son of man," he has ultimately grown into a remarkable adult.

As Aoko admired that innocent sleeping face, her memories kept turning back, and with the rhythm of his breathing, a mischievous thought quietly arose.

Aoko quietly reached out her hand, her fingertips slowly probing towards his nostrils.

Contact was successful, then a little force was applied, and finally the breathing seal was successfully completed.

This is a matter of reciprocity.

Then it will be a few seconds.

ten seconds...

Twenty seconds...

Forty seconds...

One minute……

Two minutes...

three minutes……

Four……

The sleeping boy slowly opened his tightly closed eyes.

Their eyes met, and Aoko revealed a mischievous, slightly wicked smile, releasing her grip on her fingertips at just the right moment.

There was no unexpected counterattack. In a daze, Qingzi vaguely noticed that in those hazy, sleepy eyes, besides the pure blue, there was also a rainbow as dazzling as a myriad of flowers.

The last vestiges of intoxication vanished.

Aoko withdrew her hand as if she had been electrocuted, then gave an embarrassed but polite smile.

Good evening, Shi.

Good evening, Aozaki.

His gaze swept over the wine set on the table, and Shiki frowned slightly, his eyes gradually darkening with displeasure as he looked at Aoko.

"Drinking again? Can't you teach him something good?"

"Uh, we're celebrating something happy."

Knowing she was in the wrong, Qingzi immediately made up an excuse.

"Oh? Tell me what's making you happy so I can share in your joy."

"..."

"Aozaki, speak."

"...We are celebrating that comedic woman being formatted when everything is unified."

"..."

"..."

"That is indeed something to celebrate. I'll let you off this time, but don't let it happen again."

After a moment of silence, Shi slowed his pace and then reached out to fiddle with the drinks on the table.

Aoko quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but when she noticed Shiki casually tossing the remaining champagne on the table into the dark blue rift as if it were trash, then placing two wine glasses in front of the two of them and picking up the wine jug containing monkey wine to start pouring wine into the glasses, her calmed mood instantly turned into a raging storm again.

"Speaking of which, this is only our second meeting, Aozaki. Actually, I've always wanted to talk to you, but the time was wrong two years ago due to the crisis, and today there are too many people around. Now is the perfect time... What's the meaning of you sitting so far away?"

As Shi poured the wine, he brought up the past again. When he looked up, he saw that Qingzi had quietly slipped to a corner of the sofa, and he couldn't help but look suspicious.

Aoko, as if facing a formidable enemy, crouched in a corner of the sofa, staring at Shiki, who was pouring wine for himself, with a look of surprise and uncertainty on her face.

"Did you two plan this all along?"

"It has nothing to do with him."

"I understand, so you wanted to harm me."

“Aozaki, I now vaguely understand where Nobunaga learned her crazy, erratic logic from.”

Shi put down the wine pot and simply smiled upon hearing this.

"Can you blame me?"

Seeing that the atmosphere wasn't so tense anymore, Aoko pointed to herself and asked back irritably.