Vol 4. Chapter 20: He Got Scared

That icy scent of roses mixed with the cold fragrance of red roses—so familiar it was absurd—settled onto Vinny’s shoulder, drifting as it lightly brushed past his ear, and in what felt like a blink, he was dragged into a domain covered in that perfume.

Vinny’s whole body stiffened for an instant, and even his shoulders couldn’t help trembling once, like he was overly sensitive.

He didn’t need to listen to the voice. That unbearably familiar scent already told him who it was.

Vinny’s pupils contracted. Even the hands holding the chocolate tightened a little, and there was a distinct look of being at a loss in his eyes.

Aesphyra—why did she come here?!

Wasn’t she confessing to that girl just now? And he’d kept a safe distance from her the whole time—he’d been hiding at the corner watching, and her back was to him. So how did she suddenly end up behind him??

Did she just happen to walk here, or had she noticed him a long time ago??

Come to think of it, he’d gotten 200 Virtue earlier—don’t tell me that was from Aesphyra??

So this jerk really noticed him already?! When the hell did it happen??

And why was she here anyway??

Vinny froze in place. His thoughts turned into a tangled mess, and his body stood there as if it had lost the ability to move.

“A—Aesphyra?!” Ferdi was also stunned that Aesphyra would appear here.

“This Ferdi fellow student, sorry about that—Vinnia already has an appointment with me~” Aesphyra lifted her heel slightly and stood behind Vinny, both hands lightly resting on his shoulders. Since Aesphyra was quite a bit shorter than Vinny, she could only barely keep her head from being blocked by his shoulder.

That clearly meant Vinnia and Aesphyra knew each other, and their relationship seemed pretty good—otherwise she wouldn’t be doing something this overly intimate.

“Ah... ah, so that’s how it is?” Ferdi scratched his head, looked at Aesphyra, then looked at the motionless, blank Vinny, his gaze landing on Vinny’s slightly stiff expression.

Vinny didn’t speak. He just kept up his wooden, mannequin-like posture, letting Aesphyra’s hands roam over his shoulders—pinching here, kneading there—like she was trying to loosen him up.

Vinny felt like a thousand ants were crawling all over him, especially the flesh on his shoulders. With Aesphyra’s special way of lightly pinching, it went numb and tingly, and goosebumps rose all over him.

“Ahaha, so, Vinnia, you actually know Aesphyra too?” Ferdi forced a laugh. “Sorry—my bad. I didn’t think it through. I didn’t know you two had already arranged to meet.”

“It’s nothing. Vinnia was just looking for me to keep our appointment, too. It’s on me—I was careless and delayed too long, kept him waiting.” Aesphyra chuckled softly and leaned in from behind like a cat, bringing her lips close to Vinny’s ear as she whispered.

Vinny instantly felt as if a cat’s paw—fluffy, soft pads—was lightly scratching at his earlobe. A wave of itchiness spread through him. He didn’t even know if it was his ear that was itching, or his heart.

Vinny pressed his lips together.

This bastard who loved playing with people’s hearts—she was holding chocolate to confess to someone, and she still came here to mess with him for what??

“Ah... is that so?” Ferdi looked extremely awkward. For some reason, he felt Aesphyra’s behavior toward Vinnia was way too intimate.

So their relationship was that good? Like... besties?

“Then next, we’re going on a date, so we’ll be taking our leave~?” As she spoke, Aesphyra even rested her chin up on Vinny’s shoulder and rubbed against his hair with a soft laugh.

Vinny was just about to speak up and deny it, then leave this place, but Aesphyra’s sudden move caught him completely off guard—like he’d been struck by lightning.

Th-this... what the hell is she doing?!

And what does she mean by “date”??

“A d-date?!” Ferdi heard that word and froze too.

“Yeah. Going to an appointment together—doesn’t that count as a date?~” Aesphyra explained with a smiling squint.

A classic Aesphyra-style explanation—exactly like that “term of endearment” thing last time—like she was deliberately trying to make people misunderstand.

“Huh?!” Ferdi’s brain short-circuited. Watching Aesphyra rub against Vinnia’s hair and sniff the scent on it, even a straight guy like him felt something was... off.

“Isn’t that right~?”

“Ah, no, I just think, uh... yeah. If you explain it like that, I guess it works?” When Aesphyra asked him like that, Ferdi immediately felt suppressed by her aura and couldn’t help nodding in reflexive agreement.

To use an inappropriate metaphor, it was like lions fighting over a mate. Aesphyra’s halo was just too bright—looks, ability, grades—there wasn’t a single shortcoming.

To be honest, even having a conversation with someone like Aesphyra was beyond Ferdi’s imagination. A person like that was simply too far away for ordinary students.

“Then sorry to bother you.” As she spoke, Aesphyra already pulled back from Vinny’s shoulder, took his hand, and half-dragged him as she walked back.

“Uh... then, see you next time?” Ferdi stood there dumbly. Out of politeness, he instinctively wanted to wave goodbye, but after saying that, Aesphyra never looked at him again—she didn’t care whether he waved or not. As for Vinnia, she hadn’t moved since the start. Even being dragged away by Aesphyra, there was still no reaction.

That made it painfully awkward. Ferdi just stood there with his hand raised, not knowing what he was supposed to do next.

“Aesphyra and Vinnia... are they good friends?” A long time passed. Their figures had already disappeared, yet Ferdi still didn’t move. Only after a while did he mutter, like he was talking to himself.

But why did Vinnia have no reaction at all? Isn’t their relationship kind of... not normal?

The whole time, it was Aesphyra talking, leading. Vinnia just went along, half resisting, half yielding.

Wait.

Ferdi suddenly remembered that earlier conversation he’d had with Vinny.

‘Some girls—yeah—they don’t like guys. Do you get what I’m saying?’

‘What? They don’t like guys—so they like girls?’

‘Congratulations, you got it right. No prize.’

“Holy—?!” Ferdi’s whole body jolted. He felt like he’d found the blind spot, found a shocking secret. “N-no way, right??”

“Don’t tell me Vinny was actually right??”

“Vinnia... could she really be...??”

Ferdi felt his heart racing.

He’d never dated before, but the atmosphere between those two just now was way too—!

Way too abnormal!

That strange vibe—if you used a little imagination and treated it like the ambiguous tension between lovers, wouldn’t it suddenly make a lot more sense??

That’s it!

Ferdi had a sudden epiphany. He felt like in his entire life, his instincts had never been this accurate—or this convincing.

It was probably... nine times out of ten.

With that thought, he felt he should be disappointed. After all, he’d finally fallen for a girl, and that girl not only already had someone she liked—she liked a green-eyed one.

Meaning he, as a guy, lost to another girl.

But... but how do you put it??

Ferdi realized he still couldn’t suppress how fast his heart was beating.

If the other person was Aesphyra... then losing didn’t feel unfair at all, did it?

The number-one school beauty who had talent, strength, and background—who wouldn’t like her??

Being able to charm girls was completely normal, wasn’t it?

And that was Aesphyra—the unreachable Aesphyra. If even she liked Vinnia, didn’t that just prove his taste was right??

It felt like: see, the thing I like really is widely loved.

And besides... how do you put it—watching pretty girls interact with pretty girls was genuinely pleasing to the eye. Seeing their intimate actions, he didn’t feel disappointed at all. Instead, he felt happy—like the more he watched, the more he wanted to keep watching.

Ahhh, what do I do? Why am I actually looking forward to what happens next??

Ferdi sank into that complicated mess of emotions and headed for the card shop.

Since it’s come to this, he might as well crack a few card boxes.

This was exactly the kind of moment where the best thing to do was pull cards.

And at this very moment, on the other side.

At an empty street corner.

Vinny, being led by Aesphyra, looked at the back of the person in front of him and finally chose to shake off Aesphyra’s hand himself.

“Hm?” When Vinny shook her off, Aesphyra stopped too. Of course she could feel he’d used force, like he was venting.

“Aesphyra, you’ve played enough, haven’t you?” Vinny set his expression straight and spoke seriously.

“Played enough? What is Vinnia referring to?” Aesphyra tilted her head.

“Enough. Stop pretending you don’t know. You recognized me ages ago, didn’t you?” Vinny’s face was calm—there was none of the usual emotional rise and fall from when he used to trade jabs with Aesphyra.

“Whether I recognized you or not aside—I really didn’t expect to see Vinnia here.” Aesphyra smiled with narrowed eyes.

Vinny fell silent for a moment. Normally, he would’ve snapped back at Aesphyra like he was triggered.

But now... he truly didn’t have any mood for it.

“I thought I wouldn’t see you this afternoon, but who would’ve guessed—Ainolin Festival. Vinnia came here to make chocolate too.”

“Who is it for?” As she spoke, Aesphyra looked at the chocolate in Vinnia’s hands.

“No need to care. Chocolate this ugly definitely isn’t for you, Aesphyra. It’s not worthy of you eating it.” Vinny’s voice didn’t fluctuate at all, as if his words carried some other implication.

Aesphyra didn’t speak.

She knew Vinny never belittled himself in front of her. In front of her, even when it wasn’t objectively true, he would still stubbornly talk back. He would never be like this—saying what he made was trash, saying it wasn’t worthy of her.

Aesphyra suddenly realized that even someone as glib as her... was actually choked by that line.

[Virtue +120]

[Current Virtue: 4057]

Virtue increased?

Whatever. It didn’t matter to him anyway.

Vinny looked at Aesphyra flatly, offered no explanation, and turned to leave.

“Where is Vinnia going?”

“See you tomorrow.” Vinny had no desire to answer that question. “Tomorrow, we’ll all go back to normal.”

As for what kind of “normal,” whose “normal”—that was his personal definition.

Click.

It was also then that Vinny realized he couldn’t leave.

No other reason.

Someone had grabbed his wrist.

“Let go.” Vinny turned back coldly, ice-blue eyes like they’d been coated in frost. “Aesphyra, has nobody ever told you that this is rude?”

“You should know I’m a man. What you did just now and what you’re doing now have already crossed the line. This isn’t something a person with a girlfriend should be doing.”

“Let go now, and we can still be friends. I don’t want a future where we can’t even be friends.”

Vinny’s voice was terrifyingly cold—he’d never been this cold with her before.

[Virtue +80]

[Current Virtue: 4137]

“Girlfriend? Vinnia, where would I get a girlfriend from?” Aesphyra’s smile faded.

“Aesphyra, I saw what happened just now. There’s nothing to hide. Since we’re friends, I sincerely congratulate you on getting out of being single. Mm—on this front, you really can laugh at me.” Vinny glanced at her.

“Don’t tell me that girl didn’t accept? That’s impossible, right? There are girls who can reject you?”

“Vinnia... are you talking about the Senior I asked for advice on how to wrap chocolate?” As Aesphyra spoke, she took out the piece of chocolate Vinny had seen earlier. Now it was wrapped with a very pretty ribbon, shaped like a heart.

“Look. My chocolate hasn’t been given away at all.”

“...Oh. Then that has nothing to do with me either, does it?” Vinny let out a dull sound, then said again. “At the end of the day, who you like is your freedom. Why are you reporting to me whether you gave someone chocolate or not?”

Thinking back to how Aesphyra treated him yesterday, Vinny’s gaze dimmed a little.

He was sick of this hot-and-cold attitude—turning him into someone who kept fearing loss and gain.

He was afraid of losing people, and even more afraid of being suddenly neglected and cut off by someone he had feelings for—ending up alone again.

At the root of it, maybe he was just a coward when it came to relationships.

With that thought, Vinny steeled his heart.

If he didn’t cut this off, in the end, it would definitely rip his heart to shreds.

So he shook off Aesphyra’s hand again, his eyes filled with hedgehog-like wariness—just like when she first met him and he stepped into the shadows.

Let’s end it here.

The blue-haired girl lowered her head, making it impossible to see her expression. It was unclear whether she still wasn’t used to the high-soled loafers, or her thoughts were too chaotic and she didn’t notice, or she stepped on something—

Only, with a single click, his vision spun violently as the world flipped upside down.