Novel Bin Chapter 26: Are Harumi Intentions Good or... Bad?
Chapter 26: Are Harumi Intentions Good or... Bad?
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"Eh? What guy?" asked Frank.
Harumi glanced around the train and noticed that most people were in their own worlds as well, listening to music in their headphones or talking with school mates or workmates.
With a low voice, Harumi murmured: "The one in the news. I haven\'t seen him in person, but he\'s part of the underworld" said Harumi.
"For real?" asked Frank in a loud voice.
"Low down your voice, idiot," muttered Harumi.
"Ah, sorry…" said Frank.
"Anyways, he should not be capable of doing anything to you or any of us whatsoever, or he would be messing with our families, and that might be his end… But if you ever run into him, do not try to stop him, or you\'re not getting out of there without a fight" said Harumi.
"…What? (Is the underworld such a crude world?! Is she telling me to stay away if I ever run into this guy… just killing people in front of me?! …But she is right, I am weak, I would not stand a chance, it is realistic to simply run away if I see him. He will not follow me knowing that I have the brand of the Monk Clan… But still, this really is… Sigh. So, this is the world I am living in now…)" said Frank as he thought about what Harumi had said to him.
Frank was not a psycho who enjoyed people being killed, nor he was an edgy kid that did not care about anyone but himself. He was a normal person with normal human values, but he was also realistic. He deep down knew that he couldn\'t do anything based on his strength alone. But he also could not help but feel bad for simply having the thought of considering letting someone die in front of him.
However, such things had not happened yet, so he felt like it was pointless to pursue the thought and make him ask himself if he was even a normal human anymore. Deciding to change the topic as he kept browsing on twitter until he and Harumi reached school.
After entering the classroom, Matsuo was sitting right in front of Frank\'s desk, greeting him and Harumi while waving his hand.
"Yo, Frank! Oh? You came with your girlfriend today as well!" said Matsuo teasingly.
"She\'s not my girlfriend…" muttered Frank with a tired expression.
Harumi approached Matsuo as she grabbed him from the neck, tightly gripping it.
"You better stop calling me his girlfriend or fifty percent of your blood will disappear whenever you\'re not paying attention. You heard me, Matsuo?" asked Harumi.
"Eeeepp! Okay, okay! Eek!" said Matsuo as he was freed from Harumi\'s herculean grasp.
Matsuo began to cough as he caught his breath back again… although he was a strong mage, Harumi\'s grip was strong enough to break his neck. And he did not want to use magic to defend himself at school either… There was also the factor on how he had received similar treatment from her since he met her a few years back in school. She had always been like this.
"Was that necessary?!" asked Frank to Harumi, as she sat down in her desk right behind him and opened her bag, giving Frank her math book.
"Quickly copy it before the teacher is here," she said with an expressionless face.
Frank gave Matsuo a pitying look, putting his hands over his shoulders for a few seconds until the pain on Matsuo\'s neck dissipated. Afterward, he sat down on his chair and grabbed Harumi\'s book, beginning to quickly copy everything down.
"Damn, you two are so close already. I\'ve never seen Harumi acting so nice before, is she planning something?" asked Matsuo with his usual fox-like face.
"She\'s just being nice, what\'s wrong with that?" asked Frank.
"Nice is not a word that goes with Harumi… but maybe she had a change of heart?" chuckled Matsuo as Harumi ignored him.
Harumi remained in silence as she glared at her phone, while Frank continued copying the homework until the language teacher entered the classroom, Frank had barely managed to copy everything and had given the book back to Harumi almost immediately. The teacher had barely noticed him, so Frank seemed to be safe for now.
Matsuo glanced at Frank as he finished everything with a precision that should not belong to a normal human that had just awakened some healing ability… He began to think that Matsuo might have been given more than one ability on his awakening.
The day went by as normal and as peaceful, after the language classes that lasted three hours, there was a short, twenty minutes break where the students finally could relax for a bit, being given some time to eat their bento or to go look for something to eat at the cafeteria.
Frank took out the bento that his mother carefully prepared for him as he recalled his memories from yesterday, where he had that delicious horned rabbit hotpot with Gwendolyn, Annabelle, and Cathyl.
"Haah… It still feels surreal that I was in another world yesterday…" he thought.
Harumi had left the classroom just as yesterday, and Matsuo remained at Frank\'s side while eating a Katsu Sando, a special sandwich sold in japan that had juicy and crispy pork cutlets between soft pillowy Japanese milk bread, often accompanied with a few leaves of lettuce and perhaps tomato. The cutlets are often coated in sweet soy sauce.
"So have you trained your gift yet?" asked Matsuo.
"Ah… a little bit, I think I\'ve managed to channel the power that can heal curses or other things," said Frank.
"Oh, that\'s nice… Have you felt anything else?" asked Matsuo.
"Anything… else?" asked Frank.
"Yeah, like some kind of another ability awakening with you. I think your overall capabilities had been sharpened, and your body is hard enough to take on Harumi\'s push yesterday… so you\'re already beyond a normal human" said Matsuo.
"Ah, I… Am not too sure yet… Err, Matsuo? Isn\'t it a bit risky to talk this in the middle of our classroom?" asked Frank.
"Don\'t worry, I got this thing" said Matsuo, showing Frank a silver ring in his left-hand index finger.
"A ring?" asked Frank.
"This ring is often named a \'Stealth Accessory\'. It has the passive effect of making me almost unnoticeable to the normal folk within three meters around the accessory. If I infuse Mana into it, the effect can strengthen a bit more. This also affects you as you are right near me, people here are not even thinking about us right now, they simply do not notify us. They are deep down aware of our existence, but simply cannot \'notice\' us beyond the recognition of our existence in here… You get it?" asked Matsuo with a smile.
"Woah, that\'s cheating… You can even use them in an exam? And that ring is like… a game item" said Frank.
"Yeah, I kind of can, but I have to take it out, so the teacher notices me and gives me the exam, to begin with… so it\'s hard to put it back if he\'s constantly glaring at us to not cheat. Anyways, this thing cost a small fortune, I think you could buy an entire house with the money I used to buy it, but that\'s around what you can make in a few months inside the Magic Domains where monsters spawn" said Matsuo.
"I see… I wonder if I will ever get to have a little fortune like that. Is it that easy to earn money by simply hunting monsters?" asked Frank.
"Kind of… but what I earn is simply nothing to the higher-ups in the underworld, I am a kid, after all, it\'s not like I can earn a fortune as some other underworld people can… and I have my own clan, so by accumulating merit, I can buy more things, but I am often busy at school. But this little thing helps a lot… However, there are more effective methods of earning money in the underworld than simply hunting monsters for their materials," said Matsuo.
"Damn, I am envious now… you bastard," said Frank.
"Haha! Don\'t worry, as long as you sit near me, you can enjoy the benefits! Harumi has a similar one, but when you\'re in places too crowded such as trains, it often has a lesser effect" said Matsuo.
"Oh… (So that is why she told me to talk low at the train despite having one of these accessories, I guess…)" said Frank.
"I see… well, I am still far too new into this, so I hope that you can introduce me more into everything, Matsuo-senpai," said Frank while slightly bowing his head.
"Haha! Don\'t be so humble, man! We are family now, we share the brand of our clan after all. No worries, I will guide you around the world and help you grow stronger. A healer like you is very precious so the Great Ancestor told me to help you as much as I could, I am even getting merits out of that!" said Matsuo.
"So you\'re getting paid to babysit me?" asked Frank.
"Kind of! Hahaha!" laughed Matsuo while finishing his sandwich.
The day went on, as usual, the classes continued through the day, and Frank managed to convince his teacher that he did not copy the math homework.
He was accompanied by Matsuo and Harumi outside of the school, and in the middle of the road, both separated as Matsuo told him that he could come to the clan at the end of the week for an introduction, as he was busy doing his own clan tasks at the moment.
Reaching his home, he was greeted by his family who had come back from work and school, and he had a nice dinner with everyone. It was a peaceful day despite being now part of the underworld…
After taking a bath, he rested over his bed…
"Should I go back to Terra… or take the day free? Time there is going by very slowly, so I should be fine, right? An hour there are two days in the world I am (Earth)…"
Frank honestly felt like taking sleeping now, but when he remembered the cute Ruby, and Gwendolyn, Annabelle, and Cathyl, he could not help but want to see them again.
"Well, I was currently resting over the bed there, so it should be fine to sleep there now?" said Frank, teleporting to the Worlds\' Gate, he decided to quickly do the daily quests there, acquiring a bit of experience (not enough to level up yet) and 10 App Points, and then he traveled back to Terra, suddenly appearing with different clothing atop the bed given to him by Gwendolyn.
"Ah… World Traveling is really so smooth… Well, I wonder how sleeping in another world will feel…" he said as he fell asleep.
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Thank you very much for reading!