Ch.17Education Makes the Person (4)

It’s cold.

A dagger flies and pierces my chest.

Miss Hoshino, who became silent as a mouse when she saw me return with a face full of wounds.

I should have twisted the original story’s future by defeating the Sword Beast.

So why is the “Devastated Hoshino” from the original story standing before me now?

Crunch-crunch.

Wow, that teeth-grinding sound is no joke.

Her fox fangs were making that sound inside her mouth, as if hammering iron.

Then Miss Hoshino carefully placed both hands on my injured face, examining my wounds for a while.

“…I’ll kill them.”

“W-what?!”

“Whoever did this to you, I’ll definitely kill them.”

She had an extremely dangerous expression, her vertically slit beast-like pupils gleaming.

So.

“Miss.”

“What?”

“Just to be clear, I didn’t get these injuries from being hit.”

“H-huh?”

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

It shouldn’t have been… but I couldn’t turn Princess Hoshino into a murderer.

I had no choice but to tell her the lie I had prepared on the school bus ride home.

The so-called “white lie.”

“I slipped on the stairs and fell. All these wounds happened then.”

“You f-fell?! How do you get injuries like this from just falling?”

“Haha… well, I am a boy after all.”

At times like this, I was genuinely grateful for this female-dominant world.

A world where no matter how badly injured a boy gets, everyone just accepts “because he’s a boy” as an explanation without requiring elaborate excuses.

Perhaps because of that.

“Well, boys do have weaker bodies.”

A dark shadow had been hanging over her face for a while now.

But after my explanation, Miss Hoshino seemed to accept it and returned to her usual childlike expression.

“Still, you should have been more careful!”

“Haha… I can’t argue with that.”

“…Anyway, tell me what happened at school today.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve never been to elementary school. So I want to hear about it, like ‘living vicariously’ through you.”

Living vicariously…

It would be best if she said she wanted to attend school together.

“A boy like you shouldn’t speak to girls, Gosawa.”

…No, that’s not right.

Thinking about it, because of Carmilla, it might actually be better if she doesn’t come right now.

Just remembering what that brat did to me today, it would be healthier for both of them not to meet.

Besides, they were both “superhumans” with the greatest physical prowess among our peers.

‘One is already a hero… and Miss is just not a hero by title, but she has skills that rival most heroes.’

Two hero-class first graders fighting in elementary school?

The thought alone is terrifying.

No, if those two were to clash, what teacher could possibly stop them?

It would definitely be better to bring her to school later, when Carmilla and I are in different classes.

‘Since each grade has two classes, we’ll eventually be separated.’

To eventually enroll this hikikomori Miss in school, it’s important to stimulate her curiosity beforehand.

“Today we saw an aquarium.”

“An aquarium? They have something like that at school?”

“Yes, they do.”

I told Miss all about our Almighty Elementary School, carefully selecting topics that children would enjoy.

Dreaming of the day we would attend together.

Of course, I censored everything related to that vicious lady Carmilla.

…However.

“Janghoon… lied to me.”

That evening.

What am I, some kind of fool?

Hoshino had seen through Kang Janghoon’s white lie from the beginning.

From the moment he blamed his injuries on being a “boy.”

At least the Kang Janghoon that Hoshino knew wasn’t a weak child who would attribute his mistakes to his gender.

From the moment he uttered such nonsense, he had been completely exposed to his “owner.”

And that made it more vexing.

“Janghoon… I’m your ‘owner,’ aren’t I? So why lie to your owner? Or am I not a trustworthy enough owner for you?”

While her estate was being repaired.

In a hotel-quality private room specially provided by the D City Hero Association branch.

Inside that room with no lights on, Hoshino just kept muttering to herself while looking at her reflection in the mirror.

The me in the mirror.

Even receiving pity from a boy much weaker than me.

Unable to maintain the dignity of an employer and owner.

So when my man comes home beaten by someone, I can’t even be his support.

“…I’ll kill them both.”

Hoshino just silently kept staring at herself in the mirror.

In the dark room, until the brightness gradually increased from the sunlight leaking through the curtains.

***

“Miss Hoshino is sick?”

“Yes, when I went into her room this morning, she was all wrapped up in her blanket and said she wanted to rest for a day.”

It was the next day after getting a good night’s sleep.

While waiting for the school bus.

I received the unexpected news that Miss Hoshino was ill.

‘She seemed perfectly fine just yesterday… Did she suddenly catch a cold?’

Given her personality, she wouldn’t be faking illness, so maybe it was due to the sudden change in living environment?

With this sudden news, I considered skipping school today.

But.

“Young master, please go to school today.”

“Nanny…”

“Hohoho. I’m here, aren’t I? And if the princess learns that you missed school because of her, she’ll feel even worse.”

The nanny practically forced me onto the school bus.

I bowed deeply in gratitude and apology.

It was heartwarming.

To be honest, there was no reason for someone like me, who was merely the Miss’s playmate, to receive such treatment.

I wanted to repay her kindness with good grades.

Splash.

“?!”

“Pfft! Kuk, kukukuku…”

But that feeling of mine, just an hour later.

“Seriously, a boy who only arrives 10 minutes early. You’re quite uneducated, Gosawa.”

A bucket of water fell on my head as soon as I opened the classroom door.

Within minutes of arriving at school, I was downgraded to being completely soaked.

…Well, I expected this much, didn’t I?

Snicker.

“Still so childish.”

“…What did you say?”

Let me say it again, don’t underestimate a Korean man who’s worked at a crappy company.

Just a bucket of water? Please.

I’ve seen people in shipyard construction sites who splash lava when they’re angry.

Compared to those guys, Carmilla, you’re nothing.

“Your behavior is exactly what I’d expect from a vicious lady brat.”

“V-v-vicious lady brat?!”

“””Pfft.”””

No matter how well-educated or smart elementary school students are, they still laugh at words like poop.

In front of such kids, I gave Carmilla a new nickname combining high-class terms(?) like “vicious,” “lady,” and “brat.”

Vicious lady brat.

Immediately, the classroom atmosphere, which had been frozen due to yesterday’s incident and Carmilla’s oppressive aura, turned into a sea of laughter.

“D-don’t laugh, everyone!”

“Seriously, just yesterday you were saying you’d help me anytime because you’re two years older, and now what, are you trying to discipline me?”

“S-shut up, Gosawa!”

“Hey, vicious lady brat. You should have picked your targets more carefully~”

“…Pfft!”

“Kukukuku…”

“H-how dare a mere boy insult a girl?!”

Pitter-patter.

Looks like she’s shown her true colors again.

Unable to think of a comeback, Carmilla was charging at me with clenched fists, just like yesterday.

What a fool.

This is why kids shouldn’t try to play politics with their immature emotions.

If she hits me again today, how much further will hero Carmilla’s image fall?

Carmilla was no longer someone worthy of respect in our classroom.

From the moment she turned me into a bloody mess yesterday just because I’m a boy, our classmates began to fear her like a “villain.”

Yet she’s about to make the same mistake again.

‘Whatever, I’ll take the hits again.’

Carmilla, huffing and puffing, had already approached me.

With anger-filled blue eyes flashing, she looked ready to throw a punch at my face.

I responded with a mocking sneer.

“Die!”

Thwack.

And then.

“Gack?!”

“Huh?”

“”…?”””

I was fully prepared to have my eyes beaten to a pulp.

Crash… Bang!

But instead, Carmilla flew backward with a broken nose?

“…Huh?”

She bounced and tumbled to the back of the stepped classroom, hitting the wall before falling.

She seemed to be trying to get up, her body trembling.

But from her face.

Drip.

“?!”

A very proper nosebleed was flowing.

And.

Regardless.

“Y-you, what are you?!”

Carmilla shouted in an angry voice, pointing behind me.

Just then.

“Is it you?”

“…?! M-Miss?”

“Are you the one who touched my man?”

I don’t know when she started following me.

A fox-person princess with someone else’s blood on one fist emerged from behind me.

Miss Hoshino, with an expression far more “vicious” than any I’d seen on Carmilla, if I wasn’t mistaken.

“Come down here.”

“…Could you be that Okami Hoshino?”

“You’re someone I will definitely kill.”

For the first time in her life, she had the look of someone truly intent on killing.