บท 34: Another unusual monday [Part Four]
Yo, author here
Hey, I'm going to leave here the link to a song that I want you to see, it's nothing big, it's just a song that I thought was cool and wanted to share with you, and if you train like me, you can put it on your playlist, and it has subtitles in English if you want to understand what is being sung, that's it
And tell me what you thought of the song, I thought it was cool
Enjoy reading, rejoice and...
See you all on next time
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(...Continuing)
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Then, staring at him with half-closed eyes for a moment longer, she spoke again.
"You know that explanation you gave only makes what you did seem worse, right?"
Micael responded by shrugging his shoulders as he said.
"I'm just being honest, I want you to understand that even if I harassed you by accident, I still-"
"I already understand, there is no need to repeat it."
Interrupting before he continued, the girl continued to stare at the boy who just looked at her calmly.
Understanding that he was truly blameless in this case, Koneko sighed looking down as she began to explain herself.
"I understand what you mean, it's just...I don't know how to deal with this kind of situation."
The girl spoke in a weak tone, a frustrated expression appearing on her face with a slight pout and a frown.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Micael looked silently at Koneko as he pondered her words.
In the anime, if his memory is correct, Koneko had a very quiet and reserved behavior until her internal conflict was resolved by Issei, practically changing her behavior 180°, changing the way she treated him and actively throwing herself at him like an excited kitten.
The apparent issue is, in the beginning she had Issei to vent his anger every time he did something perverted, because it was his fault, in this situation, however, she didn't have that, which left her conflicted as she didn't know how to deal with this emotion, since the only method she knew was to beat the culprit.
This makes a bit of sense, after all her expressionless face and neutral personality were the result of trauma, not being able to correctly deal with emotions was expected.
In other words, her act of calling him a pervert and treating him dryly was her way of venting her emotions, but it resulted in this current situation where she didn't know how to handle it when he pointed out that he wasn't to blame, leading to internal conflicts because she doesn't want to treat him unfairly.
Believing that this could be the current situation, Micael decided to play therapist and help her with this.
"Listen Koneko, I know this must be difficult for you, but I recommend that you seek help from a professional since this seems to be something serious, maybe you should talk to Rias about this."
...He intended to act as a therapist, he said nothing about being qualified to do so.
And it's not like he could do much anyway, he wasn't close enough to the girl to ask her to talk about her problems or anything, so he could only recommend talking to someone close or a professional since this was not normal.
The girl raised her head upon hearing his words, regaining her expressionless face and looking at him.
If he guessed what she was thinking, it was that she was seriously considering doing what he said.
But she seemed to decide not to when she responded.
"No, it's okay, I'll just ignore it."
Shaking her head slightly, returning to her usual neutral look.
Micael didn't say anything about her decision, obviously it wasn't a healthy thing to do, but one could also speculate that she, on top of everything else, was feeling embarrassed for letting her emotional conflict come out in front of a stranger.
Perhaps the girl, unconsciously, considered him someone close, or at least trustworthy enough for her to let her guard down like that, even if she didn't realize it herself.
He noticed that she actually seemed more open to him than before after sparring, it wasn't just an impression he got.
'Maybe it has something to do with his Nekomata nature, animal instincts or something, like... the way a cat clings to a human? I guess?'
Feeling somewhat confused by this event, and believing that he would understand better what was happening as time went by, he decided for now to try to lighten the girl's mood.
"Try to see the positive side."
The girl looked at him silently, waiting for him to continue.
But Micael just stared at her in response without saying anything, a strange silence enveloped them.
"..."
"..."
With them staring at each other strangely amidst the awkward silence, until a bitter smile appeared on his face as he laughed awkwardly.
"Haha, okay, forget what I said, I can't think of any positives in this situation."
Scratching his head in embarrassment was what he did accompanied by his response
Koneko's eyes remained unaffected by this, her face still expressionless as she looked at him.
In the end, she just snorted lightly through her nose as she closed her eyes, responding.
"Nevermind."
She realized what he was trying to do, distract her from her state of internal conflict, but he obviously didn't have the ability to comfort someone, but his clumsiness and awkwardness worked just the same.
And for this small act of kindness and empathy, she was grateful, even if she didn't show it, much less tell him.
Then, deciding to end the matter here, she said.
"Come on, we've been too long already."
Turning around, she walked back towards the old building.
"Wait, that means we're fine, right? Without any kind of disagreement or anything."
Micael interrupted her before she walked away, touching her on the shoulder again.
She turned to him again, responding.
"Yeah, we're fine."
After responding, the girl intended to turn around to walk again, but then she thought of something, an idea appeared in her mind.
"I think there's a way you can help me, we can do more of these sparrings."
The girl asked, looking straight into his eyes.
Upon hearing this question and being looked at like that, he felt that although her face remained expressionless, she was definitely planning something.
And he didn't need to use his brain much to understand what she was planning.
"You just want to use sparring as an excuse to hit me, don't you?"
The question was asked accompanied by a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
And her response was a slight tilt of her head, her face unchanged, but he could almost see the shadow of a smirk on those lips.
Seeing her behavior, he realized that the girl wouldn't even try to give a plausible excuse, but there was a flaw in this plan that she apparently didn't notice.
With thoughts already formed in his mind, he spoke calmly to her.
"You do realize that the same incident that happened before can happen again, right?"
The eyebrow was still raised, but the meaning of this gesture was different from before.
With the words he said being heard, Koneko realized that he was right, but there was also a point he didn't mention.
"Yes, but you said it was an accident, accidents like this are not common occurrences...or are they?"
With those words spoken in her carciteristic neutral tone, the slight squinting of her eyes was the action she took as she continued to stare at him.
With that look full of distrust, he just maintained the same calm expression without letting it affect him, thinking internally.
'Girl, you wouldn't think that if you had any idea what kind of world we live in.'
He may not have the perverted luck of To-love Ru's Yuuki Rito, but he still had something, it was much weaker, it almost never showed, but it was still there, and considering he would be in the presence of a heroine...yeah, what would happen was obvious.
But he couldn't even explain it to her, it would seem completely absurd, so he could just respond by pretending he had no idea about anything, and hoping internally that these accidents wouldn't become a frequent occurrence.
"No, they're not common, but that doesn't mean it can't happen again, don't you think?"
"Um...you're right, but if it happens again, we can solve it the same way."
The words that came out of her mouth were calm and soft, combined with the sideways smile she gave, angelic was the impression, but the feeling she gave was anything but that.
Looking at the girl who now had a small smile on her face, something strongly contrasting with her usual expression, along with the feeling she conveyed, her intention became clear to him.
Basically, she was saying that it was okay if there was another accident like the last one, she would just solve it by hitting him, after all they would be sparring.
The only thing Micael felt was the potential for a huge headache with this situation.
After all, he wasn't Issei, he wouldn't try to proactively harass the girl, which would justify him getting a beating if he did that, however, if incidents like the previous one happened again, and he was sure it would, and she ends up overcoming limit as she suggests, he won't be as tolerant.
So, when a situation like this happens again, and the girl tries to attack him more aggressively, his initial act will be to just dodge without fighting back, but if she insists and doesn't try to be rational, he will make her understand what equal rights mean.
Even if the anger she felt at that moment was justified, that doesn't mean he will accept being a punching bag, after all he would also be a victim.
A victim of the logic of this world.
Then, being fully certain that something that would make him sigh like an old man would happen in the near future, he responded calmly.
"That's fine with me, we can have another sparring session this Sunday, what do you say?"
He extended his hand for a shake after he finished speaking.
Looking at that outstretched hand for a moment, Koneko wondered why he accepted it so easily, she could guess that he was thinking about how it would help him get stronger, but she felt it wasn't that simple.
So although she now had some doubts, she thought that she would eventually find out what it was, and if he was planning something perverted...well, she was pretty good at dealing with perverts.
So, without much hesitation, she accepted the handshake.
The two then held hands for a moment, looking at each other in silence, until Micael spoke.
"Just a warning in advance, don't overdo it or exaggerate, and I won't retaliate in kind."
These words fell calmly between his lips, the meaning very clear.
The gesture of closing his eyelids a little, with no further change in expression, suggested that Koneko understood what he meant.
Thinking about this clearly threatening warning she just received, Koneko felt that he had a lot of nerve to say that directly to her face.
But also thinking that she had nothing to complain about since it would be unfair for her to act like that, so, accepting that warning, she snorted weakly through her nose without responding verbally, ending the handshake.
"Humph."
But that didn't mean she was going to leave like that, so, just before walking away and walking towards the building again, she punched Micael lightly in the stomach.
"Ugh."
A brief sound came out of his mouth upon receiving that punch, it wasn't strong but it still had enough force to be uncomfortable, especially since he was hit without contracting his stomach.
And he, of course, being who he was, wouldn't let it be cheap.
Then, quickly and silently approaching the girl who was already near the building, he raised his left hand in preparation.
As he approached her, he calmly lowered his hand to her head and, with force, rubbed quickly, messing up her hair and causing her head to tilt.
He did this for a brief moment before stopping, still with his hand on her head.
And with that done, the girl slowly raised her head, looking at him with a silent, empty look that promised pain if he didn't apologize.
Completely ignoring the intense gaze, Micael smiled slightly as he said.
"There's no point in looking at me like that, you started it and something else..."
Looking directly into her eyes, and without the slight smile on his face, conveying his seriousness when he said it.
"Remember that you are not alone, Koneko, if Rias and the others are busy, you can come to me, understand?"
Finishing saying, he patted her head twice before walking towards the building.
Looking at his back, she placed her hands on her head, a lost look on her face as she silently sank into her thoughts.
She felt a little strange, a mix of emotions that were difficult for her to describe, but if she gave an example it would be like...fraternity?
She imagined this would be a typical relationship between a younger sibling and an older sibling, something she thought about and questioned often.
She admitted...it wasn't a bad feeling, but she wouldn't say it outright, of course, so, regaining her expression, she fixed her hair as she approached the building.
Arriving next to him in front of the door, she saw how he had a slight smile as he looked at her, deciding to just ignore him, she opened the door and walked in, turning to him as she said.
"Come in."
Taking a step forward and passing by her, still with a slight smile on his face, Micael entered while saying.
"Excuse me."
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(Continue...)
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