"Hah, so he actually wants to see me in person?"
I ask, my mouth stuffed full of steak that had belonged to some animal I honestly could not care less about. I had actually cooked it, so it didn't taste as well as restaurant made, but I was enjoying it nonetheless.
On the red table in front of me lies my plate, a glass of Bora juice, and various utensils for eating. There's also another plate in front of me, which belongs to Miss Kaen.
The room is actually lit by a few candles and is mostly in darkness. I think we're in her room actually. I usually clean around the mansion but I got explicit orders to never enter Ms. Kaen's room by any means, so this is really my first time.
To any romance brained idiot, this room would have seemed romantic, but in actuality it was merely dinner between a master and her student.
"Yep. El Sombra finds you strangely interesting for some reason. Don't know what spark he sees though. Couldn't find it for the life of me."
The lady, now with her hair let loose, and wearing slightly nicer apparel says.
"Are you not my teacher?!"
I sigh, cutting off a piece of my meat. With every thrust I do, juice pours out of its edges, bleeding onto the plate.
I personally like my meat well done, so I usually keep each side cooking for four minutes. I don't put a lot of spice, because I'm not yet too familiar with the spices of this world and don't want to potentially risk getting my head sliced off because I put too much spice or something.
Still this came out better than last time.
Ever since I got caught cooking a nice stir fry in the kitchen late at night, the denizens of the mansion found out I can cook and forced me to do it for nearly every meal.
I guess you could say I could hypothetically poison some of these guys and escape, but something primal at the back of my mind tells me they'd be able to tell from a mere sniff.
"Miss Kaen, what's the occasion for this dinner thing?" I ask before lifting the piece I was hacking away into my mouth.
She hasn't touched her meal by the way. Not sure how that makes me feel.
"Huh? What an odd question."
Miss Kaen hates when people ask questions that she perceives as stupid. She'll just play confused until the person gets the hint.
I say 'perceives' as stupid because she considers most, if not everything I say, stupid.
"I'm here to treat my student."
"I'm the one who cooked!"
"There's no restaurants around here, so I couldn't really take you anywhere unfortunately."
"Oh."
I decided to drop the whole: 'I was the one who cooked' thing.
"Besides, I got all dressed for you. You're basically having a date with a beautiful lady."
"Miss Kaen, don't try to make up for your lack of gifts with your appearance. Real beauty would never state it was beautiful." I say, my eyes closed as I enjoy this beautiful steak.
"...Alright smart mouth, let's play that game. What's your type?"
"Uh…"
I keep my fork in my mouth, my eyes angling towards the ceiling.
"Medium well, I like how it's slightly rougher in your mouth, but softens as you chew it."
Her eyebrow twitches.
"I'm talking about women. Your preference in women. Unless you swing for men. I've seen you and Kors eyeing each other in a special kind of way."
"That's because he's the only one that treats me like a human!!"
"Ah, so it's far beyond surface level love. It's true love." She leans forward, her face on her hand.
I hack into my meat once again, groaning.
"No. I am into girls. As for my specific type I'd say a nice quiet girl who likes picking flowers."
I glance up.
Kaelira Kaen looks as if she just saw a piece of dog crap spring to life.
"What's with that face!?"
"You're so creepy. I honestly thought you'd say big breasts or something. It'd be better than blatantly lying."
"I'm honest!"
"Look, I'd understand if you didn't want to say such a thing to a woman out of fear she'd find it disgusting, but believe it or not, we don't really find it that bad. Most of the time, when a woman is asking that, she's either interested in whether you like her or not, or she's just trying to converse."
"Oh okay, then I'm into shy girls that have big asses."
"Disgusting!"
"What is your problem?!"
The woman giggles, wiping away a tear. She then takes a swig of her glass, which contains—what I presume to be—wine.
She then picks up a knife and slices into her meat. The knife surprisingly went straight through it with little difficulty. She raises it into her mouth and takes a bite.
"Hm, this is really good. Good job."
I stare down at my plate for a moment, contemplating my ideal 'type'.
"A girl that would take time out of her day for me."
"Hm?"
"That's my ultimate type. She'd be with her friends, shopping, and would end it early just to hang out with me. She'd hurry up at work just to come home quicker. She'd always be around me, to the point where I'd never feel alone, ever."
Wait, did she hear that?
I quickly glance up, my face slowly turning warm.
"So, who is it?"
Ah, she purposely avoided asking about my rant. Thank you, Miss Kaen.
"Who's who?"
"The girl you're interested in here? Arivia, Asakawa, Navi, maybe even me? We've got some real beauties in this mansion, that's for sure. And they're all mostly around your age too, it would be downright concerning for a boy to not be attracted to them."
She smiles, spinning the drink in her cup before taking a sip.
"I don't really see myself in the position to be seeking any romance right now."
She stops taking a sip, and raises her eyebrows.
"Like I find them cute and all, but I don't really feel… prepared to settle down with a girl. If I date someone, it'll be definite, and I'll hopefully stay with her until marriage."
"Wow. What a manly thing to say. You make an older woman like me sway side to side hearing that."
"Aren't you twenty-two?!"
Miss Kaen hands her cup over to me. The red liquid sloshes around for a moment, mimicking waves.
"Here. Once you drink this, I'll see you as a true man." She smiles.
I raise a hand, and push the drink back.
"Ah, sorry. I'm seventeen, though I'll be turning eighteen in about a month."
"Huh?! You're seventeen?!" She exclaims.
I think she's drunk. Wait, how do you get drunk from two sips of alcohol?! Is she drinking vodka?!
"Wow. You look really mature for your age
Maybe it's because you always slick your hair back like an old man." She grabs her bangs and pulls them back.
After a few moments, Ms. Kaen drops them.
"Well, I think it's your features, too. Despite having your eyes half closed the time, you do have sharp ones. I feel like you'd be a hit with girls more often if you let your hair down."
She sighs.
"Have you had any girlfriends, Kaito?"
"Huh?" I ask, caught in the middle of playing with a strand of my hair.
I let go of it, and place my hands on the table. Miss Kaen sure loves talking about romance, huh?
I glance at her.
It would be hard to believe that only ten minutes had passed between the Kaen then and the Kaen now. Appearance wise at least.
Her cheeks were a flushed pink, and her bangs seemed to be slightly more disorderly. She was actually swaying side to side, but in such a way where it was difficult to see.
At this point, we're both done with our food and only have our drinks in front of us.
"No, I've never really been romantically involved with anyone before. Although…"
For some reason, Miss Kaen looks suddenly sober.
"I did have a crush on a girl once, but apparently she liked a guy in my class and used me to get closer to him."
Yeah, that wasn't a pleasant memory. I can't remember her exact appearance, but I vividly remember that confused face when I confronted her.
'Eh? I thought we were good friends…' she had said.
"Was the guy your friend by any chance?"
"I didn't really have friends, so I think no. Well, actually, I did have friends, but I never really bonded with them or anything."
"Woah, you're such a loser, Kaitoo…"
She puts her arms in the air.
"Kaito's such a loser, Kaito's such a loser..!"
"Tch. You're the one who's drunk and flirting with a seventeen year old." I mutter.
"...Still. Maybe you didn't give it enough attention. You've ought to give relationships more attention, or else they slip in between your fingers."
She looks down at her cup.
"Humans will do the craziest things just for someone to look at them. They'll go bigger, better, just for someone to acknowledge what they've done. They'll serve in an army, and go for larger, stronger enemies. They'll push to the point their trauma overrides their sense of motivation, and render them unable to go any further. Then they'll turn to teaching. First student, gives up. Second student, gives up. They decide to keep pushing. Until… Until… one of them kills the other, looks them in her eyes, and says… Says…"
Miss Kaen's grip on the tablecloth tightens.
"It's your fault. You never cared."
Suddenly, her grip releases. She gazes back up at me.
"How's your training going?"
"..."
I can't ignore it. Ignoring it is so difficult, gnawing at my bones. Yet, I cannot care to ask. Do I want to know? Do I want to care?
I…
It's going to land in my hand. I can catch it.
Yet…
I let it drop.
"Well, pretty fine, actually. I can Gaze now. Though I get migraines if I do it for too long. I struggle with Koho though. I've been focusing on a specific Aeronis spell. It was the 2nd, slice. I know you've got to hurt yourself, and I do that, but it never seems to work."
I reveal my hands, which are chock-full of calluses, scratches, and bruises.
Her eyes widen, before she fixes her composure.
"Well you've got too—"
Our conversation continues, changing into the topic of Koho, spells, and power. Each subject was based on worldly desires of mine, and we never once discussed our feelings and thoughts. Every time she tried to throw something in the air, I merely dodged it.
It's all for the future.