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Chapter 21: Busujima Saeko is Also a Girl Who Gets Shy
"I'm home," Suyan said out of habit after pushing open his front door and stepping into the genkan.
It felt like an eternity had passed today. Busujima Saeko, Miyamoto Rei, and Komuro Takashi... But it was good to finally be back.
Pushing the trivial thoughts aside, Suyan turned to Saeko, who was still waiting outside. "Senior Saeko, come on in."
"Excuse me for intruding."
At Suyan's prompting, Saeko finally stepped into the genkan. Instead of immediately inspecting his home, a faint smile touched her lips, looking at him in mild surprise. She hadn't expected someone like Suyan to say something as mundane as 'I'm home' upon returning.
This unexpected duality didn't bother Saeko in the slightest; if anything, she found this side of him endearing.
Oblivious to her musings, Suyan crouched down and opened the shoe cabinet. The first thing he noticed was Shizuka's slippers sitting neatly inside, confirming his suspicion that Shizuka wasn't home yet.
Instead of offering those to Saeko, Suyan pulled out a brand-new pair of guest slippers. "Here, put these on."
"I didn't expect you to have spare women's slippers prepared at home. Junior Suyan, could it be you planned this—"
Seeing the slippers, Saeko felt a sudden urge to tease him. However, before she could even finish the sentence, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of two white blurs lunging at Suyan from behind.
Acting on instinct, she stepped forward to shield him. "Look out!"
Unexpectedly, Suyan merely sidestepped, dodging Saeko's protective push, casually catching the incoming fluffy dumplings. Naturally, these two fluffy white dumplings were the YukimiBotamon.
"Mi?"
"Mi?"
The two YukimiBotamon settled comfortably in his arms, blinking their beady little black eyes at Saeko. Their tiny eyes shone with immense confusion.
Look out? Look out for what? they seemed to be asking.
Seeing how affectionately the two white dumplings snuggled against Suyan, Saeko quickly realized her mistake—even if she had no idea what these strange creatures were. The girl lowered her head, her gaze darting away as her fingers unnaturally twirled a strand of her dark purple hair. She wanted the floor to swallow her whole.
"Senior Saeko, let me introduce you. These two little guys are called YukimiBotamon. They're my Nen Beasts, and also my family."
Seeing Saeko's utter mortification, Suyan found it highly amusing. Of course, he didn't actually laugh out loud. Instead, he introduced the two YukimiBotamon to help ease her social awkwardness.
"Nen Beasts?"
Thanks to Suyan's tactful shift in conversation, the awkwardness in Saeko's heart finally dispersed a little. Given the Nen training she received today, she was highly sensitive to the word 'Nen'. She figured that if these creatures were related to Nen and called Nen Beasts, their combat power had to be incredibly high, right?
Her head snapped up, staring curiously at the YukimiBotamon to study them.
They had perfectly round, dumpling-like bodies covered entirely in snow-white fluff. Their tiny eyes were as bright and agile as cat's-eye gems, and they sported two white ears on their heads resembling those of a polar bear. They looked completely harmless. She couldn't sense any aggressiveness from them at all; if anything, their adorable appearance meant they were guaranteed to be a hit with women.
Saeko highly doubted these little guys Suyan called YukimiBotamon actually possessed any combat capabilities.
"I'll explain that to you later. Let's head inside so we aren't just standing here."
Suyan noticed the doubt in Saeko's eyes, but he wasn't in a rush to explain. After all, Saeko had only just come into contact with Nen. She didn't even know the Six Types of Nen yet, let alone the concept of Nen Beasts derived from the Emission Type.
Saeko nodded. Picking up her bags, she followed Suyan into the living room. The luggage wasn't heavy; aside from a change of everyday clothes, it was mostly empty.
Suyan thought for a moment before suggesting, "Senior Saeko, let me show you to your room. We can put your luggage away while we're at it."
"Alright."
Saeko naturally had no objections. While she was indeed curious about the Nen Beasts, he had already promised to explain later, so she wasn't in a hurry.
More importantly, after spending nearly two hours practicing Nen this afternoon, she was covered in sweat. Her skin still felt sticky with sweat. She had quietly worried on the walk back whether he would smell anything unpleasant on her. Because of this, she was actually quite desperate to take a shower and change her clothes.
Suyan quickly led Saeko to a door, pushing it open. "Senior Saeko, this will be your room. The bedsheets and duvet covers are in the closet; you can just take them out and put them on."
"Of course, you can go take a shower in the bathroom first. If you trust me with your luggage, I can help unpack your things."
"I noticed you were constantly worrying about it on our way back, but I actually wanted to tell you that you don't have any strange smells on you, Senior Saeko."
"If anything, you smell wonderfully fragrant."
Hearing Suyan expose her insecurities, Saeko couldn't help but blush. She shyly replied, "S-Stop it... I'm a girl too, you know. I get shy."
The girl's flushed cheeks looked exactly like a perfectly ripe apple, so tender and alluring it practically begged to be bitten.
"So Senior Saeko can get shy too, huh?"
Suyan smoothly pulled Saeko into an embrace, showing no intention of letting her go. "But you were wrong about one thing. I've always viewed you as a girl."
"Senior Saeko, your eyes are so beautiful. They look like they're shining with stars."
"They aren't stars," Saeko suddenly retorted.
Suyan paused, instinctively asking, "What?"
"It's you, Junior Suyan," Saeko launched her counterattack.
"Senior Saeko, can I kiss you?"
Suyan decided she was playing entirely unfair.
Saeko lowered her head, softly replying, "Don't ask me, you idiot junior."
Question: What did Busujima Saeko mean by this?
A: Stop talking and kiss me.
B: Junior, you're not very smart.
C: Shut up.
The correct answer wasn't hard to guess, was it?
So, Suyan decisively went in for the kiss.
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