Previous Chapter | Project Page | Next Chapter
The Little Witch’s Sure-fire Techniques Vol01 Ch07
Night fell.
Outside Senya Kaoru’s villa, a red-haired girl sat on the curb, constantly looking at the direction of the door.
She had already been waiting for three hours.
But that didn’t matter, for waiting had always been an important part of her job and she had already gotten used to it. Looking at the sky, it seemed that it was about to rain soon. She didn’t have an umbrella with her, as she hadn’t realised that it would rain.
She looked down at the phone in her hands.
She had sent over twelve texts in a row to Kaoru, telling him that she would wait for him outside. Would he come to see her? Never mind, she couldn’t care about that, she just had to wait. She couldn’t allow herself to think that he’d never come out again.
She continued to think.
Thunder came from the sky.
The trees swayed violently in the wind.
She grimaced and hugged her cold arms. No way, what bad luck huh?
Rain had started to fall beside her, completely shattering her last shred of hope.
Should she go? Kaoru probably wouldn’t come anyway. She would probably get sick from waiting in the rain with a runny nose, high fever and headache…She grabbed her bag, covered her head and sighed. She had to wait. She had to wait until Kaoru came out to see her.
The rain fell, harder and harder.
Her dripping wet clothes clung to her body and she shivered.
She huddled and held onto her head. She looked like a puppy that had been dunked in soup. Her wet hair clung to her pale face.
So——damn——cold——gradually, she realised that her forehead felt hot and was feeling very uncomfortable.
Ah, the relentless rain.
Ruthless Kaoru…she snuffled, wanting to cry.
There was a ‘squelch’ sound in addition to the rain.
“Why haven’t you gone yet?!”
An angry voice by her side.
She thought that she had finally started to hear voices from waiting too long. She slowly raised her head and saw the once familiar, but now unfamiliar face. Tears spilled out from her eyes from her pent up sorrow and grief——“Uwah——Kaoru——”
She grabbed Kaoru’s waist and tightly hugged him, crying, “Uwah——I’ve been waiting for you for so long…”
Wind.
Rain.
Crying in pain.
The handsome boy holding an umbrella was tightly clasped against a crying red-haired girl…Koizumi felt a little dizzy, probably from crying so much.
She came out of Senya Kaoru’s bathroom. Her hair wasn’t dry yet and she sat down on the sofa. Ah, she really wanted to sleep, but she remembered why she was here. She forced herself to look at Senya Kaoru in the eye.
“Hey, long time no see.”
Kaoru wasn’t accustomed to the pale and weak Koizumi. Her lips were blue and her smile was very weak. She was usually waving her fists, always energetic.
Her being like that tore his heart.
He knew that she had been sitting on the curb, waiting for him, all along. He knew that she had waited for four or five hours, but he refused to go out and see her. He wanted her to leave as he didn’t know how to face her. He didn’t want to act like an idiot in front of her.
Only when she had been drenched in rain and still not left, had he gone out to see her.
He took a deep breath.
But that was just pity. He wouldn’t be cheated again.
Chilly drops of water trickled from Koizumi’s hair onto her neck.
She forced a smile towards the deadpan Kaoru. “You still care about me, right?” Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had come out. That thought made her feel warm.
Kaoru’s eyes were indifferent. “What do you need?”
His cold words made her stiffen.
She poked the sofa and muttered. “Oh, I just wanted to tell you that that incident with a car wasn’t an accident. It was a warning.”
“Warning?” What was she up to this time?
His untrusting eyes made her nose tinge. “I’m not lying to you. That driver has connections to the yakuza. The yakuza recently harassed you, right? I suspect the two might be connected.”
“How did you know that someone had harassed me?”
“I…”
“Are you still stalking me?” She really was great at that kind of stuff.
“No!” Koizumi leapt up. “I didn’t follow you, my friend told me…”
“You have friends?” He studied her.
“Sen. Ya. Kao. Ru!”
She was so angry that her hair began to puff up. “Do you have to talk to me like that? Am I really that bad in your eyes? Besides, I do have friends! Xiao Xi is my friend! You are my friend!”
Kaoru was as quiet as the night.
“I’ve told you before that you are no longer my friend.”
His words.
Seemed to push Koizumi into hell.
Tears slipped down her cheeks…She regretted it; she had long regretted her actions. If she’d known how he would react to that article, she would have never published it. But, even if she was wrong, why wouldn’t he give her a chance?
Her body felt chilled as she continued to cry. “Kaoru, just what do you want to do! I’ve already apologised over and over, so many times that your anger should have gone down! Yeah, I know I was wrong, it was all my fault. You can kick me and yell at me, just don’t ignore me. I really want to just die…uwah…”
The way she cried looked like a child.
Her face was a mess of tears and snot, while her nose was red and swollen.
Rain and thunder, outside the window.
The sounds of the waving branches seemed to indicate that their lives were coming to an end.
Kaoru’s hands clenched.
It took all of his strength to refrain from embracing her.
He felt like a moth. He knew that she was the source of the dangerous fire, yet he couldn’t help wanting to be close to her. He wanted to hug her and in turn, be hugged by her.
But the outcome would be tragic.
He would die in pain.
Cry…coldness swept over her…and she felt like being trapped in ice and snow!
Through the tears that blurred her vision and her grief and helplessness, she began to ramble. “Fine! Senya Kaoru, you won’t forgive me right?! You won’t ever talk to me again right?! Who do you think you are?!”
She wiped away the snot from her dripping noise and cried in pain. “I was worried that you’d get in trouble, wanted you to be more careful, so I waited outside…waited for you…kept on waiting…too afraid to leave when it started to rain…it was horrible being out in the rain…and you don’t care…you only know how to annoy me…I hate you…I really hate you…”
Her tears fell off her cheek as she continued to cry. “Fine…you’re going to ignore me…then I won’t annoy you…I won’t ever care about you again…never again…will you talk to me so harshly and I…I…I never want to see you again!”
Just like that, she rushed out the door like a burst of wind!
She went out so fast that even Kaoru hadn’t seen her stand up!
The door slammed close with a bang!
Like a hammer severely hitting Kaoru’s heart!
He shut his eyes in pain.
She had left, after saying those last words. She had finally gone.
Wasn’t this what he wanted?
But, it felt as if his heart had been dug out.
The sound of the rain diminished.
The sound of the wind gradually got weaker.
Night, it was still dark.
Kaoru leaned against the window, his limbs felt exhausted and he felt like his heart was replaced with a big hole.
If he had held out his hand.
Maybe she could have stayed a little longer.
If he had embraced her while she was still crying.
Maybe she wouldn’t have cried so much.
She was gone.
He had nothing.
Except for the hole in his chest.
And an icy chill.
His head leaned against the cold glass of the window and in his head, he heard——“…I won’t ever care about you again…never again…”
…As silent as death.
Time passed.
Time passed.
Then suddenly, soft sobs began to drift in.
Kaoru slowly stiffened.
He listened carefully.
Ecstasy lit up in his eyes.
On the stairs outside.
There was a red-haired girl clutching onto her head and sobbing.
She seemed to have been crying for her whole life.
Kaoru approached her.
He sat down.
Then he asked, “Why didn’t you go?”
She looked up, her red eyes swollen like two walnuts. She cried, “I was reluctant to go and I regretted leaving…I don’t want to ignore you…I wanna be with you…”
She flew into his arms and hugged him.
Her hot tears wet his chest.
“If you don’t want to be friends with me, then don’t…” She rubbed her face with his shirt and continued, “…Let me be your lover.”
Kaoru stared at her.
He forgot how to spoke.
Koizumi started to panic.
She tried to explain, “I-I’m serious. I don’t know when I started to like you, but I really do. I-I…”
Kaoru’s throat was too dry to talk.
Koizumi was anxious, she pulled him closer by the neck——and kissed him!
Her lips had the salty taste of tears while his lips were cold. She kissed him, kissed him hard, and it seemed like a burning flame.
The kiss only lasted a few seconds.
She let go of him.
Her eyes were as bright as stars.
His cheeks were as red as burning iron.
She smiled through her tears. “Let me be you lover, ok?”
She kissed him again.
This kiss was gentle, like a feather brushing across his lips, one that brushed across every inch of his lips.
This one lasted long, it waved away the wind and rain and brought back the glittering night sky.
She lightly broke it off and asked, “Let me be your lover, ok?”
The night wind gently blew in his violet eyes.
Her shy face was reflected in Kaoru’s eyes.
He embraced her tightly.
And kissed her, blushing.
Apparently——kissing and being kissed were just as sweet!
※※※
Koizumi was sick.
She lay dizzily in bed, an ice pack was placed on her forehead and her right hand constantly groped for a tissue to blow his noise. How tiring!
However, the sight of the Kaoru taking care of her, she felt happy.
A bowl of steaming fish porridge.
Kaoru helped her up and fed her with a spoon and his careful consideration made her feel grateful.
“Yummy. The fish has a nice texture and the porridge smells nice.”
Koizumi wasn’t very good at praising others, but she knew that fish porridge was very troublesome to make, as all of the fish bones had to be taken out prior cooking and careful control of temperature was needed.
She took his hand. “Kaoru, you’re so nice to me.”
Kaoru smiled and wiped his mouth with a paper towel to help her. “Do you want to eat anything else?” Seeing her happy was the best thing to him.
“I’ll eat a little later. I want to talk to you.” She leaned on him.
“What?”
He wrapped the blankets around her so that she could lean more comfortably.
Her fingers fiddled with his buttons. “Hm, say——why can you make such good porridge?”
He thought about it seriously. “I could cook from a very young age because if I cooked well, mom would praise that I was a good kid.” He chuckled, “I liked to be praised, so I was interested in cooking.”
“Hehe, so Kaoru was a good child.” She was curious though, why had he become so withdrawn after growing up?
“Then later at the orphanage, no one would take care of me, so I had to make simple meals so that I wouldn’t go hungry.” He smiled bitterly at this.
“Orphanage?”
She was shocked.
Had Kaoru grown up in an orphanage? No wonder his birth was such a mystery.
She stared at him “Kaoru, are you not afraid that I’ll tell other people?”
He gently lifted her chin. “Would you?”
His eyes were shining like an amethyst, honest and full of trust.
She bit her lip. “I betrayed you once before, so shouldn’t you be a little suspicious of me?” He smiled, “If I was suspicious of you, how could we be together?” Since he had accepted her and kissed her, he felt that he should wholeheartedly believe her.
Her fingers curled up.
He kissed her forehead. “Since I decided to love you, then I’ll give you my heart. It’s up to you to make it happy or to make it painful.”
He wanted to take the risk, despite the costs.
His feelings enveloped her heart like the sea and she hugged him tightly.
In that moment.
She realised.
She had feel in love with the man in her arms. She didn’t ever want to hurt him and would rather die than allowing anyone else to hurt him.
She didn’t want to the inspiring little witch, but the angel who guarded him.
The two stayed liked that for a long time when she finally murmured, “Kaoru, I really thought that you would never forgive me. When I rushed out of the room, I really thought that all hope was lost, but I just couldn’t leave you. It felt as if my heart had been dug out.”
He laid his chin on her red hair. “I didn’t want to forgive you. You know, my heart really broke when you started to threaten me with those stickers. You’re such a bad little witch and I really didn’t want to see you ever again…but when you held my hand, when you asked for my forgiveness, when you rushed in front of the car and hugged me…I also felt that as long as I was with you, there was nothing else I needed to worry about.”
She pouted, “But you gave me the cold shoulder instead.”
He gave her a childish smile. “Then, what do you suggest I do? You say ‘please forgive me’ and I say something like, ‘um sure’? Wouldn’t that be rather strange? Besides,” he paled, “you said that you’d give up on me in the hospital and left without looking back.”
She opened her mouth. “That…that was…shoot, I didn’t mean it, I…”
“So, you were the mean one.”
Kaoru concluded.
She chuckled, “And then?”
“Then…” Kaoru paused for a moment, thinking, “You must be nice to me.”
“How nice?”
“As nice as I am to you.”
“Then can I be even nicer than that?”
“Impossible.”
“…?”
“No one can be nicer than how nice I am to you.”
“Instead of saying ‘nice’ all the time, can we change the word?”
“To what?”
“…Love?”
“Or…?”
“I can’t hear you.” Koizumi inched closer.
Kaoru kissed her.
The kiss that tasted of fish porridge made the two feel light.
A long time passed.
Koizumi couldn’t help ask, “If I had really run away, what would you have done?”
Kaoru hugged her tightly.
He didn’t dare think about that, but even so, he was in heaven right now.
Koizumi hid a smile.
How could she give up so easily?
Fire Witch’s Super Sure-fire Technique——Persistence and Perseverance! People, who want to be successful, must keep this in mind!
※※※
Tangerine Company’s office building.
The moment Koizumi set foot in the building; she was immediately called to Shinyo Kane’s office.
Under the bright sunlight.
Shinyo Kane was wearing her dark-coloured qipao and was glaring at her.
She threw a few copies of the latest issues of Tangerine Weekly and sneered, “That sure was disappointing.”
Koizumi guiltily flipped through the magazine. “Hehe, the weekly sales weren’t that bad.”
Shinyo Kane gave her a cold look. “Are you pleased with just that? That was a live that featured many stars and what, you just wrote about some minor celebrities? I bet it was because they bribed you. Say, is this all you can do?”
Koizumi lowered her head, speechless.
How did she know that it was because they had bribed her? Amazing. The minor celebrities had wanted to become popular, so they had specifically worn seductive lace underwear and invited her to make an interesting article out of that. She recognised their efforts and had agreed to photograph them.
“Koizumi, you’ve been too soft recently.”
“No way, no way. Hehe, my heart is harder than rock.” She laughed drily.
“If that was true, you could have easily written an article that those stars were disgusting people to want entertainment reporters to take their photos. Why did you just let them go?”
“Hehe.” The palms of Koizumi’s hands were sweaty, “I didn’t think of that. B…besides it’s not good to stiffen our relationships too much. I am an entertainment reporter, so one day we will meet again, if they become popular enough.”
Shinyo Kane pondered over this. “Well, that’s true.”
Koizumi sighed in relief.
“Then how are you going to explain this?”
Shinyo Kane opened a drawer, took out an envelope and placed it on the table.
Koizumi took the contents out of the envelope.
She almost fainted from what she saw.
There were a dozen photos, all of Senya Kaoru and her. It was the usual Kaoru, with his violet eyes that shone in innocence. Crap, if those photos were published, Kaoru would no longer be able to walk unrecognised in a crowd.
Shinyo Kane eyed her. “I’ve been waiting for you to hand in photos of Kaoru. Why haven’t you though? Because you want to see him again?”
Koizumi stared at the photo, dazed.
“I gave you data, time and salary not because I wanted you to fall in love, but because I wanted you to dig out compelling news. You must live up to the expectations I have for you.”
Koizumi was still in a daze.
Shinyo Kane gathered up the photos. “You’ve missed your chance. I’m going to publish these photos and show Senya Kaoru’s other side, coupled with his mysterious lover. I’m sure the sales of Tangerine Weekly would be much better.”
“Wait a sec!”
Koizumi grabbed her hand.
Shinyo Kane sneered, “I have video clips too.”
“Hehe, no way?” Koizumi smiled flattering, “But, there must a reason why you haven’t published these.”
Shinyo Kane decided to listen to her.
“You see, if you published them, they’d only be popular for a while and its popularity will decrease over time.” Koizumi tried to analyse, “You trained me, Koizumi, the most talented reporter out of the newcomers, for a reason. However, if I were to get trapped and be unable to move freely, Tangerine Weekly would have lost a very valuable reporter and there will be no one else who can write top articles!”
Shinyo Kane coldly smiled.
“Even if you don’t care about me, even you know that if my identity is exposed, Senya Kaoru would no longer trust me. Inside information and news would no longer steadily appear in Tangerine Weekly.” Koizumi smiled, “You decided to step back and give me room for development.”
Shinyo Kane clapped her hands. “Good, wonderful deduction.”
“Hehe, thanks for the praise.” Koizumi broke out into a cold sweat.
“But,” Shinyo Kane leaned towards him, “I am a person who makes money and these photos of Senya Kaoru, will definitely be published on the front page no matter what you say.”
“Of course! Of course!” Koizumi repeated.
“Those photos of Senya Kaoru’s everyday life are so great and they’ll be wasted if they aren’t published! But,” the tone of her voice changed, “It doesn’t have to be a photo of us. I have a huge sticker of him which is even clearer, even prettier. Wouldn’t that be better to publish? Hehe, that can save me as well.”
Something flashed in Shinyo Kane’s eyes.
“Boss, give me three days! I’ll dig more interesting insider stories from Senya Kaoru, about his upbringing, coupled with coloured stickers. It’ll be a real scandal!”
Koizumi waved her fists in the air. “Give me three days! Believe me! It’ll be alright!”
Shinyo Kane’s pale scar lifted as she smiled, “Fine, three days it is.”
