Chapter 507:

Breakdown Stare

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An intense stare had remained upon me for the last ten minutes, despite it feeling like two hours. I couldn’t be bothered to give her much acknowledgement anymore. My original plan had fallen through in an almost spectacular fashion. It would seem that it was unavoidable.

Making things worse because of my attempts, this woman, this child had a part of her wish play out for her. And such a thing only seemed to fuel her arrogance further. That stare she gave me was accompanied with a wide smirk, one that was condescending with a ‘told you so’ attitude that I wish I could just hang a curtain in front of.

If I stared back at her, they might have thought we were in some sort of contest, one that she would have easily won. The weight of her pride over this victory against me was nearly visible at this point. She was going to be impossible to deal with. And deal with her, I discovered I had to.

Despite my efforts to remove myself from this selection process by the Lord Kogamata, he still picked me. Or at least the forces that be, made it happen, not that either really mattered. The reality was that because I didn’t give an excellent performance as the parents of mine wanted, I’m in this current situation where I had to be paired up with her, Aya Izumi.

See since she got the highest marks or praise, I honestly don’t know how it worked, she got to pick who she’d be teamed up with. I didn’t have a full grasp of the curriculum, if there even is one, but I guessed since we’re still children they were giving us someone to have as company. Everyone’s parents were gone, though this was hardly like some sort of school or boarding program.

No, I’ve only been here for a few hours and they’ve been keeping a constant eye on me, both of us. I suspect that it is the same for everyone. They wanted to know which one of us was the right pick. Unfortunately, I think even if I lost she was going to use her power to keep me around just to make a point to me. It would seem that my mouth got me into this problem, one I didn’t know how to escape. I didn’t really see a valid option.

Losing meant I’d have to serve her until I’m freed from this world. Winning meant that I’d have to interact with this world more. Neither option felt like one I could pick.

A no win situation was the worst.

I could only sigh with such a thought.

Maximum annoyance level had finally been reached though and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Can you make a move? I know this isn’t timed, but it’s getting annoying.”

Between us was a table or block of wood that was finely polished by an expert craftsman. They were like the expensive Go boards I saw with everything hand crafted including the pieces that we played with. I was no expert of boards or even the game, but antidotal stories I heard that experts could know the quality from the clacking of a piece. Something I had no right evaluating myself, but in my completely amateurish opinion, there was a curiously satisfying sound when I placed a piece.

The little girl finally broke eye sight with him to look down at the board. I half expected her to know exactly where the piece was and move it blindly just as a show, but I guess she wasn’t that good. Her shoji piece clacked down on the window with a crisp ring. The two hours I’ve been playing her already told me how practiced she was, but each piece she placed reminded me of her trained talent. I knew the game well enough and they made me practice some in the months leading up to this, but my talent for the game severely lacked compared to her or even my predecessor.

“You’re not what the rumors make you up to be.” She tried to bait me into something of an emotional response. If I had been more invested in it, perhaps it would have worked.

Giving her an apathetic eye back I found the only move I could see that seemed safe and kept the game going. “Sorry if I’m not playing very well. It’s challenging to concentrate when I’m being stared at.”

She played a quick move, perhaps no longer interested in the mind games. “Some casual conversation then to wind your gears up.”

I internalized a groan trying not to give her anymore ammunition for her game. “Fine…”

“What do you think of the conflict with the Iwasaki Clan in the north?”

‘Really? Casual conversation…’ I played another move knowing that I was about to lose ground. She already out played me more than ten moves back from what I could see. I was mostly just playing the game out because I didn’t want to have to restart another match so soon against her. “I don’t have an opinion on it.”

“The unrest amongst the commoners then?”

‘She’s really stuck on poor conversation subjects…what’s her game here?’ I didn’t even give her a response this time. None of it was matters that I knew about, even if I wanted to engage with her. I just kept the game moving forward toward my eventual defeat.

Aya stared at me to see if there would be any sort of reply. The continued apathy should be enough for her to understand. She was if nothing observant, something that was also just as dangerous. “You have a habit of tripping?”

My eyebrow twitched a little at her remark, observation stabbing me in the gut. “When I get distracted.” I didn’t need her making some sort of pity remark about the bruises that were over my body. She must’ve seen them when I had to stretch over the board. The sleeves of my kimono were normally enough to hide them.

“You should be more careful. I need healthy subordinates.”

“I’ve been known to slip.”

“See that you keep your head in the game.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“Give it time.”

‘Damn this child…’

Chapter 507 – Breakdown Stare

There was only so much of it that I could take from the girl, not that anyone was letting me free of her. In her own way, she had managed to succeed since I had to be with her. After a week I thought I was going to lose my mind with it.

I got some freedom from her for a little while without needing to show up to the Lord’s court. We fortunately didn’t have to spend all of our time there, even though I was staying overnight in their care.

Lessons however continued the same as they had back at my usual residence. Nothing let me escape that and they were even more determined about it than before. My usual disinterest no longer seemed to be working. I wasn’t sure how much longer keeping a distance is going to work. Getting involved in this world wasn’t my goal. Finding and correcting my sister from her failed path was the only thing that I cared about.

A month passed by and gave me some relief from the arrogant child, Aya, though all good things didn’t last. And before long I was forced to return once more to living at the Lord’s court. Stepping back on the grounds, I felt some relief not to be greeted by her as my first sight. For now, it just seemed to be the adults, which were more manageable right now for some reason.

They put me in the back to watch the court and listen to them argue or debate politics, trade and deals. I only gave it enough attention so that if I had some sort of quiz after I could pass without trouble, but I didn’t have to worry about that thankfully.

After the meeting, I was left in what amounted to a modest library. Left with no direction, I just sat over by the open door holding a scroll in the act of reading, while not actually doing it. I managed I think an hour of quiet like this without interruption.

“There you are!” called out a somewhat familiar voice full of energy. I pondered ignoring them and pretending to read, but that didn’t seem like it was going to work. They specifically wanted me, so ignoring them was only going to make this last longer. Looking over to the voice, I recognized them as that nosy boy I met from before.

A frown immediately came over my face realizing it was him and guessing what he was going to do. ‘Why does he even care?’ Though to my surprise, he had someone else with him this time that I didn’t remember from before, likely because she looked to be a servant. “What did you want?”

The boy stopped about a meter short of me with the girl, who was roughly the same age, off to this left behind him. “Ok, you’re right.”

“See, what I tell you. You’d know the moment you saw.”

She sighed in a way that I understood all too well. “Yes, you don’t have to dwell on it.”

“And you doubted me.”

“I didn’t doubt you. I just pointed out that it’s not a certainty."

“That’s called doubt.”

“Just ask him already.”

‘What is this comedy routine? Did they even want me if they’re going to bicker with each other?’ None of it really made a lot of sense, though there was something oddly familiar about watching the two. It was like the first time I met him, something odd about him seemed like it was recognizable. But I was probably just seeing Yumi’s mind project things she knew into these characters. “Ask me what?”

“Yori, right?”

I paused when I thought I was ready to answer anything that he asked. That wasn’t what I expected. The scroll in my hands fell into my lap not prepared for this situation. In the months since I was dropped into this world, I kept an eye out for Yumi, but I never saw her or anyone else. Given that I had a different body, that meant everyone likely did and finding the others was going to be nearly impossible.

Such an impossibility, I largely gave up on the search. I just planned to wait things out until it ended and deal with my sister in the real world when things were normal again. There was no plan in my mind on what I’d do if they found me or I found one of them. In all reality, I hadn’t wanted to see any of them. But based on my guess, this wasn’t Yuki. So I could deal with that.

A few moments passed for me before I recovered enough to give any sort of reply. “Seiji and Nerine, that explains the arguing.”

“That’s the final confirmation I needed. What are you doing here?”

“Killing time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly as I said. This world is for my sister, right. Given how things are playing out, I’m just waiting until she is finished.”

“What the hell man?! We should be looking for the rest of our friends and solving this together!”

“Not something I’m interested in. If that’s all you have to say, leave.”

“What’s gotten into you? You’ve been different ever since we’ve gotten back from Atlantis.”

“You don’t know me. You’re an outsider and I’d kindly ask you to remain out of matters that don’t involve you.”

Seiji marched up and grabbed me off the floor, clearly his body here was well trained. Our ages were likely comparable, but he was putting that to a different, if not obvious, use than me. He had a care about what happened, that much was clear. I couldn’t see why he bothered knowing that finding the rest would be nearly impossible. You only get one miracle.

“The hell I’m some outsider! We’re friends however much you seem to be trying to destroy that! It doesn’t matter that I’ve only known you for a short time, that doesn’t change anything. I will find the others and you will be helping us. I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into you, but your sister’s out there with who knows what happening and her brother’s acting like it doesn’t even matter! So I’m making it my business!”

“Seiji, you need to calm down! You’re going to call attention to us!”

“I’m too angry to care about that right now, Nerine! He needs an attitude adjustment!”

“Punch me as much as you like, you’re not going to make me join you.” He ground his teeth at me bearing some of his whites. This sort of response wasn’t very surprising. It’s more annoying that I had to deal with his misguided ideas of friendship. “We were never friends. That is the reality. You’re forcing your ideals upon others. I want nothing to do with any of you.”

Sota
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Eytha
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