"Of course… it was a joke," Rain said while a playful grin slowly appeared on his face.
Sarah blankly stared at him for exactly one second.
"YOU BASTARD!!!"
Her entire face exploded red from embarrassment and anger as she instantly grabbed the nearest thing on the desk and threw it directly at him.
WHOOSH!
Rain barely raised his arm in time before a thick file smacked against it.
The next moment complete chaos started. Cups, pens, files, books, random office supplies— literally everything she could get her hands on started flying across the room nonstop like a storm.
"GET OUT!!!!"
Rain hurriedly blocked another incoming attack with both hands while stepping backward quickly.
"Don't act like a child! I still didn't even get the information I came for!" he complained while desperately protecting his face at the same time.
Honestly, this future handsome face absolutely could not be damaged here. Especially not by a woman throwing office supplies around like a angerd child.
"JUST GET OUT! I'LL SEND THE INFO THROUGH CHAT SO MOVE YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE, YOU BASTARD!" Sarah kept shouting while continuously throwing things without stopping even once.
At this point her embarrassment and anger had completely fused together into pure destruction.
Rain blocked another flying pen before quickly ducking under a cup that almost hit his forehead directly.
"Can't you calm down already! You're seriously trying to murder me over a misunderstanding!"
THUD!
A thick book instantly hit his face before he could even finish talking.
"…Okay maybe not misunderstanding."
"OUT!!!"
"Fine! Fine! I'm leaving!" Rain quickly shouted back before rushing toward the door while protecting his head and face at the same time.
Another file flew toward him at terrifying speed right before he escaped outside.
BANG!
The office door slammed shut immediately afterward and the surroundings finally became silent again.
Rain let out a deep breath of relief while leaning against the wall outside the room.
"…What the hell is her problem?" he muttered while fixing his messy clothes and hair.
Still, a dangerous grin slowly appeared across his face anyway.
No matter how you looked at it, Rain wasn't stupid enough to admit something like that so easily.
'I'm not a fool who admits things that easily.'
Especially when it came to relationships.
Rain was fully aware of certain things, and one of those things was the fact that attachments could absolutely become obstacles on the path of growing stronger. He refused to become some weak prey foolishly surrendering himself emotionally.
He was supposed to become the predator someday— the kind of existence even heavenly dragons would fear.
…At least that was what Rain kept telling himself for emotional support.
[Hubby are you okay!?] the screen hurriedly moved around him anxiously, checking him from top to bottom like an overprotective wife making sure her future husband hadn't gotten hurt anywhere.
She even carefully checked around his face several times as if genuinely worried something might have happened to his "future handsome appearance."
After confirming there weren't any serious scratches on him, she finally relaxed.
[That's good…] she replied while visibly relieved.
Rain quietly glanced toward the floating screen.
A faint warmth slowly appeared inside him.
Honestly, just knowing somebody genuinely cared whether he was hurt or not felt strangely reassuring.
Heartwarming even.
And the funny part was the person caring about him happened to be a floating talking system screen calling herself the "EMPRESS OF DOMINATION."
Ding!
A notification sound suddenly echoed from his phone.
The black screen inside his pocket lit up brightly as Rain casually pulled it out before opening the message immediately.
It was from Sarah.
'That was fast…' Rain thought quite surprised. Even with that horrible temper of hers, she still finished the work properly without delaying it.
Rain immediately opened the message containing the exact information he wanted all along, and as his eyes slowly moved across the contents—
"…Hmm."
A grin gradually appeared on his face while interest slowly filled his eyes more and more the further he kept reading.
"Pretty interesting."
---
"Bam Yellow…" Rain murmured while casually walking through the hallway, munching on spicy potato sticks.
'Damn… these are actually good too.'
His thoughts got briefly distracted by the taste because they genuinely tasted surprisingly good. Fresh potatoes pulled straight from fields, properly washed, peeled cleanly, sliced thinly into perfect shapes, fried in boiling oil at high temperature before finally being finished with salt and spicy seasoning— creating the perfect potato fries. Add ketchup beside it and honestly it becomes a masterpiece.
…Though what Rain was eating right now was just some cheap packed version instead of freshly made ones.
But honestly?
Still pretty good.
Crunch! Crunch!
Rain continued walking through the hallway while rereading the information Sarah sent him.
Apparently, Bam Yellow— Clytie Yellow's grandfather— is an absolute business shark tycoon. Surprisingly, the old man himself was just a normal human without anything special physically.
What made him truly dangerous were his schemes.
The kind of person who could destroy someone without even dirtying his own hands.
Rain's eyes narrowed slightly while continuing to read further.
Inside the Yellow family, males completely dominated over females, and their family had remained among the top since the very beginning.
But the most interesting part came afterward.
Once upon a time, another company had completely surpassed the Yellow family and pushed them down badly. But somehow, not long after that, the entire company mysteriously fell under Bam Yellow's control instead.
And the reason behind it turned out to be ridiculously absurd.
The female CEO of that company apparently fell deeply in love with Bam Yellow's son.
Eventually they got married, and the result of their "hard work" was Clytie Yellow herself.
But not long after Clytie's birth, her father suddenly died because of illness.
Then her mother disappeared soon afterward without leaving behind any traces at all.
Rain's hand instantly tightened around the pack of potato sticks.
"I'm telling you… that sly old bastard definitely did something," he muttered darkly.
[Hubby your fries!] she hurriedly warned him while looking completely horrified seeing the poor potato sticks getting crushed from his grip.
Rain immediately snapped out from his murderous thoughts toward Bam Yellow before quickly looking down at the fries.
"…My fries! What a waste…" he said sadly.
Without hesitating, he stuffed all the remaining fries into his mouth at once.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
After finishing them, he casually threw the empty package toward the garbage bin.
Swish!
Perfect shot. This time it entered properly without any problem as Rain lightly tapped his head afterward while continuing to walk through the hallway.
'Still… there are way too many plot holes here.'
'How exactly did Clytie's mother disappear?'
His eyes narrowed slightly.
'Don't tell me that old bastard had something to do with that too…'
Rain quietly continued thinking while both hands stayed inside his pockets.
'I only got one thing clear… that old man definitely has some serious backing behind him.'
'Whatever. It's none of my business.'
But after another moment of silence, his thoughts shifted again.
'…Though if my guess is right, then maybe it actually IS my business now.'
Rain honestly had zero interest in interfering in other people's family matters normally, but this situation somehow was slightly different to him.
And while Rain remained completely busy thinking deeply—
Bump!
Someone suddenly crashed directly into him.
…Or more accurately, Rain crashed into someone.
…Actually, to be perfectly precise, both of them crashed into each other at the exact same time.
Rain's eyes landed on the person in front of him.
Long green sea-kelp colored hair flowed behind her while the overall outfit she wore gave off a strange elegant feeling mixed with danger. A pair of curved horns rested near Rain's neck because of how close they currently were. Fortunately, when they lightly poked against him, they weren't actually sharp enough to pierce skin.
Behind her swayed a dragon-like tail with fin-like patterns resembling seaweed drifting underwater, moving slowly together with her body.
"Ah… it's you," Rain said completely aloof while staring at her calmly.
"Hm… yes. It's me," Kessi replied in the exact same tone while continuing to stare directly into his eyes.
Rain immediately placed both hands on her shoulders before gently pushing her backward slightly because their bodies were currently pressed way too close together, her chest practically sticking against his own chest.
"Can you take a step back?" he asked with a deadpan look.
"I got no problem with this," she answered immediately while keeping her gaze fixed on Rain.
Her emotions were honestly impossible to read.
'…But I got a problem!'
Rain could already feel countless gazes around them.
The surrounding students had completely misunderstood the situation already.
"Look at those two acting lovey-dovey openly in public." one guy from the crowd muttered while staring at Rain enviously.
'Bro luck is off the chart!'
"I bet he's intentionally showing off."
'The world is so unfair!'
"Yeah seriously, this bastard has no shame at all," another person cursed immediately afterward.
'Why not me instead!?'
Rain almost twitched hearing all those jealous voices around him.
He quickly coughed awkwardly before trying to change the topic.
"Anyway… were you looking for me?"
Kessi tilted her head slightly.
"How did you know?"
Rain's expression almost stiffened instantly.
'It would honestly be weirder if I DIDN'T know.'
Sweat slowly formed on Rain's forehead.
After all, she had literally been following him since morning. Rain deliberately kept avoiding her the entire day, because he got dragged into annoying situations one after another… and afterward got completely distracted having "great activities" together with a certain amazing partner.
Naturally, he absolutely could not say that part out loud.
"My sixth sense," Rain answered confidently while giving the most petty excuse possible.
[Sixth sense…..!] She barely held herself back from laughing after hearing that excuse.
'…What's wrong with it? Do YOU have any better one?' Rain complained internally while staring at the floating screen with annoyance.
Honestly, even he knew that lie sounded unbelievably pathetic. But he genuinely couldn't help it. That was literally the best thing his brain produced in that exact moment.
"Hm… I see," Kessi replied while nodding calmly in agreement like his excuse somehow made perfect sense.
'…She actually believed it?'
Rain looked at the innocent sea-green fairy in front of him with a complicated expression. For some reason he felt slightly guilty fooling someone like her. Still, there was no way he could honestly admit that he already knew she had been searching for him the entire day while he deliberately kept avoiding her.
"So why were you looking for me?" Rain asked once again.
"Did you forget?" she softly replied before suddenly pointing her sharp blade directly toward Rain without the slightest hesitation.
"…Forget what?" Rain blinked once before finally realizing it.
The moment his eyes landed on the pointed blade again, his gaze immediately sharpened slightly. Cold. Cautious. Focused.
"…Ah. You mean training."
Rain gently pushed the blade sideways away from himself.
"No. I didn't forget."
"That's good," she replied before calmly taking the blade back.
"But… can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead," Rain answered casually. Honestly, there wasn't really anything precious he possessed anyway.
"Then…"
She paused slightly before looking directly into his eyes.
"Can we be friends?"
Her eyes looked unbelievably innocent at that moment.
Rain stayed silent for a few seconds after hearing that before a smile slowly appeared across his face.
"Did you seriously need to ask that?" he said lightly. "We already are, aren't we?"
Her eyes instantly brightened for a moment. Even the usually expressionless face she carried gained a faint happy smile afterward.
"Really… are we?" she asked quietly like she still couldn't fully believe it herself.
"Yeah, of course we are friends," Rain answered naturally. "Do I seriously need to repeat it again?"
"No…" she replied while quietly clenching her fist happily.
Behind her back, she even gave herself a confident thumbs up like someone who had just accomplished something extremely important in life. At this point she practically looked surrounded by invisible sparkling stars from happiness alone.
In her back stood a hard working-looking woman wearing black glasses, white mask to cover her face and a communicator resting in her ears as she silently gave a proud thumbs up toward Kessi with a satisfied smile on her face.
Rain looked between the two with confusion clearly visible in his eyes.
"…What exactly is all this about?" he asked honestly not understanding a single thing happening right now.
Kessi immediately answered after noticing Rain's confusion.
"My caretaker told me to make friends," she explained straightforwardly. "But you are the only person I know… so who else can I become friends with?"
A slight uncertainty appeared on her face afterward like she was worried she had done something wrong somehow.
"Did… I do something wrong?" she asked quietly, sounding genuinely confused herself.
Rain immediately shook his head.
"Nope. Everything's perfectly fine," he replied while giving her a thumbs up back. "We are friends afterall."
Her eyes slightly brightened again hearing that.
"Then don't forget," she said seriously, "1'O clock in morning we are doing it."
Rain's expression immediately became awkward.
"…You mean training, right?" he quickly clarified just in case another misunderstanding happened again.
"Yes. Training." She tilted her head slightly. "What else?"
"…Nothing."
Rain quietly looked away afterward.
'Yeah… definitely too innocent.'
"Then I am going now. Don't forget," she reminded him once more before turning around and leaving while lightly waving her hand.
A faint trace of smile still remained on her usually calm face.
"Okay okay, take care," Rain replied while waving his hand back slightly.
As he watched her disappearing figure, Rain quietly scratched his cheek.
'Seriously… she's way too pure and innocent.'
But honestly, it actually felt kinda nice.
Rain's gaze slowly shifted toward the floating screen afterward.
[You made 4/4 friends]
[Congratulations Hubby! You finally made it through! I am so proud of you!]
She looked completely emotional with teary eyes while tiny fireworks exploded everywhere around the interface to celebrate the achievement dramatically.
'…No need to get THIS emotional over it.'
Still, Rain couldn't deny feeling relieved himself too.
One annoying burden was finally gone now, which meant he could properly focus on becoming stronger from this point onward.
A grin slowly appeared across Rain's face afterward, it looked far more excited than sinister.
"Now this…" he murmured while his eyes slightly sparkled with anticipation.
"…This is the real main course."
He cracked his fingers lightly before laughing under his breath.
"Reward time… heh."