- come here ren, we are about to play something.
"So, what are we going to play?
Ren said as he sat down, between Isabel and Kumiko.
- Does anyone have a memory they had with Ren?.
- I have one.
Aiko quickly raised her hand.
- go ahead Aiko, tell it.
Aiko took courage and began to count.
- step before ren's mission.
-I was walking towards a class, and at some point, a boy handed me a letter, he said it was from his friend while he smiled at me.
-When I went to class and read it, it was a love letter from a demon student, he wanted me to be his girlfriend and he asked me for an answer there at the exit.
- I was really worried because I didn't know how to reject it, Ren seeing my concern, I wonder what happened.
- I told him about the letter, to which he just replied, "If you don't want to, just reject it.
- I wanted to do it, but I wanted to do it without hurting him, as a fellow race and a fellow from the same school, I didn't want to hurt him, so I asked Ren to pretend to be my boyfriend so that the boy would give up.
- I remember well that ren just said to me, "are you an idiot?.
everyone looked at ren at that moment, Eira who was standing behind ren, really wanted to freeze his leg for a while.
- When I asked the reason, Ren told me.
"Why do you think only about the other party's feelings? Think about your own, if you want to say something do it, if you want to deny something do it, you don't need to hurt yourself just to avoid hurting someone who declared himself knowing they might reject it.
"so stop fooling around and find the right words to reject him, but make it direct, don't say things like, right now I'm thinking about myself, or right now I don't want any relationship.
" Be direct in saying no, if you are not interested, tell him directly, by saying those annoying things you are giving him a small path to opportunity, although, of course, it depends on you if you excite him for the future or not.
-I didn't want to go alone, Ren agreed to accompany me after I asked her, when she rejects the boy, at first she shed tears, but she thanked me for telling her directly.
- I must say I didn't think Ren would know about those things.
"Well, if you side with the one who proposed, it's pretty obvious you learn something.
-LOL.
everyone laughed, except kuroka, she continued with her calm look.
- someone else?.
- I have one.
- unexpected Kara, ren usually talks only to Aiko and Akane.
"If I talk to more people, okay?
- you do it only with the idiot kitchen staff, the other students began to believe that your mother is one of the cooks.
"They are the ones who feed us, right? Also, if I talk to students when I teach them some exercises in class.
- the others say that they only listen to you speak, the students have to rack their brains to be able to keep up with you.
"I help them get stronger mentally, they should thank me.
- ok, guys, we should let Kara continue.
-As she said, she recently passed in the training fields.
- I had to fight against a girl in practice, at the end of the match, she approached me and told me about my scars.
Kara showed her hands, they had scars and they were quite callused, different from the other girls in this room, who use creams to erase the scars, and despite having calluses, they did not have as much as Kara.
- They are the ones I got in my whole life when doing blacksmithing, I don't usually use any cream to erase my scars or my calluses, since for dwarfs it is a custom not to do it, plus I would get more scars the more I dedicate myself to the forge.
- but at some point, more girls came up to me laughing talking about how my calluses made me look like a girl from a borderland, and that I should take them off as it ruins my beauty.
- I could only laugh with them for their comments, I was thinking about doing it, but right then.
Kara started looking at Ren that she was looking at a black dot on the carpet thinking of nothing.
-ren what was happening while she drank water, with a rather bored voice she approached me.
"You shouldn't be ashamed of those scars.
- because ?.
"those scars were achieved by the experiences of your life, those calluses are the sign of effort that you dedicate yourself to, I disregarded those marks just because a few noble girls think it ruins your beauty, then you would have me believe that a review is missing in your head.
-...
some girls in this room looked at their hands, they didn't think about it, that a scar is one's life experience, and calluses are the result of one's effort.
Amerie, especially you could tell that she was thinking about the saying completely.
- someone else?.
- I have one.
Akane raised her hand, Ren wondered which of all the things she was going to tell, at this rate she was going to get sour with girls who told obvious things she said at some point.
-she was walking with ren, she wanted me to help her buy something, on the way ren entered a store.
-A lady approached me when she saw her, she looked like someone from the slums, she asked me for help and I asked her what she needed.
-she approached me with a piece of paper, she told me that she did not know how to read and that she wanted me to help her read the paper.
- It was a lottery ticket, which had the winning number.
-On the other side a man approached, he seemed like someone common, he came in a suit while he read a newspaper.
-I look at the ticket in my hand and he told me it was true, and he showed me his newspaper, it said the same lottery numbers, the man took me aside and offered to split the prize.
- I only had my savings, I was going to return the ticket to the lady, but the man took control of the conversation, and offered the lady that one of the 3 goes to the bank to claim the prize, but the lady said that he would give me the ticket in exchange for a few coins.
-The man also told me to give him some money and later when we claim the lottery at the bank, he would return my money with his part.
-at that moment, she didn't know what to do besides go with the flow, ren appeared behind the 2 when he saw the 2 he asked what was going on, and the 2 gave him the same story and showed him the newspaper.
-ren, I take out the phone from him, buy the newspaper online and show the screen while they said.
"Don't think that because we are young we are ignorant, there is no ticket here.
- The 2 ran away, they almost cheated on me, I almost went to an ATM to withdraw my savings.
- sensei at that time while watching the 2 leave, he told me.
"Don't believe everything you see Akane, just because it looks like something doesn't mean it is.
- Since then, I haven't trusted the things I see on the street again.
while the others continued to tell things, ren approached Kumiko.
"Hey Kumiko, do we have an activity tomorrow?
- Why do you always ask me about school activities?
" Just tell me.
- there is one, but it is still at the end of the month, it is to go to church for the priest's blessing.
"Really, how boring.
- Don't you dare miss it, it's an important event, the parents of all students will come at the end.
" any way at all.
After the stories, it was time to go, much to Ren's relief.
---
I heard author
(Yes)
Can we visit any of the girls?
(it is rare that you want to separate from ren, but tell me, which one of all?)
kuroka
(seriously? what do you have?)
his look at ren was something strange, I want to know what happens.
(as you like, let's go with kuroka)
---
Kuroka after the party went straight to his mansion, he wanted to get an object out of there, something he heard from Ren made him want to do it.
Once inside the mansion, the servants bowed where he passed, he even saw a new maid trembling on her way to his room.
' I guess it will be like that for a while.
she already knew that with time, the servants got used to her cold attitude.
she remembered a bit of this house as he walked through the halls.
As a child, she grew up here with her brother.
after the death of their parents, her brother became an emotional pillar, since his grandfather, to face his pain, did his best to grow economically and politically, so that his enemies would be afraid to hear his last name.
She hired several Awakened to serve as butlers, as well as a secret elite team said to lurk in the shadows.
Kuroka's parents died in a curious accident, one could say, they were traveling to a certain destination, but on the way, they were ambushed and killed.
the police did not know who the attackers were, since they did not leave a single trace.
Thanks to that, Kuroka's grandfather became paranoid about the safety of his grandchildren.
for that very reason, as most of the awakened at home tend to be experienced, many were cold towards the 2 little kuroka and Kazuma.
After years, Kazuma wanted to be the next pillar of strength in the family, going through rigorous training and leaving his 6-year-old little sister alone most of the time.
Kuroka knew that despite not seeing them, her grandfather and brother did their best to protect the family they had left.
she also decided to make an effort trying not to make her grandfather worry, enduring her depression due to lack of love.
but she covered it up with study and training.
getting better grades, and making her brother congratulate her often.
She found out that a trip to the S rank dungeon had ended badly, there were many injured and among them her brother who lost his arm.
her heart nearly broke at the thought of her brother dying, so she became clingy with hers.
Kazuma knew the internal problems her little sister was facing, so he let her do what she wanted.
The day the boy attacked her brother, the doctors told her that the report had already been given to her grandfather.
She wanted to treat the boy before his grandfather finds him since she knew that his grandfather had done something radical regarding the health of his grandchildren.
her guy had also deceived him saying that it was in a moment of anger and jealousy, but that Kazuma had defended himself before he managed to pierce any organ.
something that Kuroka had believed because the doctors who gave her the news of the attack seemed calm, she didn't know that they were really almost desperate, they just didn't want to worry the girl with the news, or at least they didn't want to be witnesses when she breaks.
they had found her grandfather at the warehouse owned by Kazuma that she kuroka planned to use to hide him for a while.
Like I said a while ago, she was too nice.
The grandfather had locked the boy in a room and showed the actual medical report to his granddaughter.
Kuroka, upon receiving that her brother had entered a vegetative state, became desperate like never before.
a thread in her mind had broken, the pillar that helped her take care of her from her depression, maybe gone forever.
her grandfather had used the exact words to guide the strong emotions as to why this happened.
She knew that her granddaughter was naive, and she didn't want her to experience that, but she had no options left, and as a good 2x1 deal, she removed a plague and made sure that her granddaughter learned some things about life.
He knew that the elves produced a miraculous medicine called [ exile from the world tree ]
It was a powerful medicine that cured any disease.
what they did not expect was that just around this time, relations with the elves had turned hostile thanks to greedy and lustful nobles who demanded elf women as slaves and the hand of the elf princess for a political marriage.
After that, Kuroka had lost hope, as a great student, she knew that it was difficult and almost impossible for the 2 races to be friends just like that, unless, of course, a miracle happened.
her attitude became cold thinking that anyone could hurt one of her relatives again, she had already lost her parents who were going to do a charity action.
she lost her brother to a guy with whom she was as nice as possible, if she didn't understand the good ones, she only stayed with the bad ones.
When she met Ren on the first day of school, he proposed to her.
she felt not-so-pleasant memories of what happened a year ago.
She eventually saw Ren, someone secretive in her opinion.
she knew how to act, girls like Akane and Aiko, cute and kind people who didn't know much about the world at the time she couldn't see it.
but she did, she knew that ren was almost two-faced.
with the students who asked for her help it was always her friendly smile unless, of course, they interrupted her sleep.
'How the hell that guy knows so much.
he would do favors and collect them when there was a stalker who was a noble most of the time and treated someone of a lower rank or different race badly.
he made sure to take secret photos, kuroka never knew how he does it.
he only knows that a few moments later some teacher arrives, and takes the guy somewhere else.
thanks to that, they knew there was a snitch, but they didn't know who, and since he seemed to eat only getting into his business, no one noticed.
when her brother engaged her, he freaked out.
her grandfather had become a radical and forbade her to have a boyfriend unless, of course, he is a great nobleman, she thought that her brother engaged her without talking to her grandfather first.
walking, she found a room that seemed old, but nobody touched it.
Kuroka entered and saw that it was a kitchen and a table.
the table was a small wooden table for 4 people, and beyond that was a bench for a 5th person.
This table was used by her parents to eat the 4, her grandfather sometimes came and ate what her daughter prepared, causing him to smile because he said that she looked like his wife.
it was rare to see a smile, but there was always a smile every time he ate something from her daughter, no matter if it was just plain chicken soup.
since her parents died, the color of her family faded.
the kitchen no longer tasted the same.
Hell, it didn't even seem like the relationships between the 3 was the same.
Entering her old room, she searched through her things for a chest.
he took it out of the drawer and put it in front of her.
he had to take a deep breath, thinking of ren.
She remembered a question Ren was asked.
- re, and your parents?.
" abroad.
- and you do not feel bad because they are not here?.
"I guess so.
-You don't seem to care.
"It's the truth, I can feel bad that my parents are not here with me, but I know that they strive to give me a better life than they had, that's why I can only use their memories to be calm, and every time I see them, I make them leave their job to spend time with family and store good memories.
Ren said thinking about her relationship with her sister from her past life.
- Is your family okay?
- That is not for us to ask Kara.
-excuse her.
...
She remembered Ren's look, there was no pain in those eyes.
there was no sorrow, no longing, nothing.
he was quite calm even though his parents aren't around him at any school activities so far.
Kuroka took out a heart-shaped locket.
inside were the photos of his parents, he stared at the photo.
memories of him came to her again.
first, all the bad memories came to her, the broken promises of him, her days of extreme solitude where she ate at a giant table with many servants around, but even so, she ate alone.
he remembered the food that he stopped having taste for her, having to pretend that he liked what the great chefs prepared for her for years so they wouldn't get fired.
having to watch her friends being embarrassed at her parents when they embarrassed them, she always thought.
' as I would like what she despises.
I take a deep breath, and she looks again at the smiling face of her father in her photo.
she began to try to remember being carried around her neck.
as she pulled her hair and her father endured the pain.
or as always, hidden from her mother, he would buy her ice cream and then receive a smiling look from her mother asking them to talk alone.
Like her father, he would arrive tired from the meetings, but he would always pull himself together and smile when he saw her.
how he took Kazuma to train in the courtyard, but since he wasn't an Awakened, he was slow even to load a sword.
he laughed next to his mother as they watched him to which he just smiled sheepishly.
then she looked at the photo of her mother.
she looked beautiful, with pearl earrings that matched her eyes.
she remembered how her mother lovingly combed her hair.
how her mother used to tell her love stories when she met her father when she was young.
how her mother's cooking made her smile so that later her mother would take a picture of her and stick it on the refrigerator.
as her mother chased her brother with a sandal so that in the end she hit him from a distance.
she laughed a little.
then he remembered the last stew he ate from her.
she had left a couple of plates for both brothers since they both had to go out for a charity activity.
Kazuma then heated the 2 stews.
that night was the night that she received the news that her parents died.
the next day they returned home, her grandfather had brought them home abruptly.
the 2 brothers remembered the food left by her mother.
Kuroka had wanted to taste what was left of her mother's stew, but the servants had already thrown it away.
She remembered how he had a fit of tears and anger against the servants, her brother trying to make her see reason, but still, he was hurt.
Since then, she has been looking for a kitchen that awakens her palate even a little.
She then thought of ren, like that simple raw meat stew in special machines, or vegetables brought in and washed from the area instead of the carefully cultivated ones that she usually eats.
or even the simple pot I use.
even though she only used the simplest for food.
It was the dish that reminded him of the taste of food.
after many years, she felt full.
she wanted to eat more.
but now, she will hardly receive anything from him.
hers should have a grudge against her for spouting words like that in front of the public.
When she went to her house last time, it was at the invitation of her friend.
She doesn't know that they told Amerie to pass the message to Kuroka because she was somewhere else and Kara, who was the messenger, was late for training, that's why she only managed to talk to Amerie.
she sighed at her stupidity of reacting like that, she shouldn't have done it, despite not knowing that ren would receive the title, she shouldn't have done it.
after sighing, he brought her box with her.
something that surprised the servants on the way, since he always avoided remembering things about her parents, according to rumors because they depress her.
although she kuroka would have to make an effort, she would make sure to remember her parents with love and wear the necklace with pride.
---
Meanwhile, the boy who had caused a change in Kuroka...