Toyokawa Shoko doesn't want to become a witch

Page 234

"Have you taken a shower?"

Xiangzi smelled the fragrance emanating from Chuhua. Her cheek was pressed against Chuhua's still-damp hair, and she was embraced by her soft, steaming body. She even felt a little hot.

"Yes, I heard you taking out your keys as soon as I finished washing up," Chu Hua said reproachfully. "Why were you standing at the door for so long?"

Her hearing was excellent; she could hear Xiangzi's footsteps clearly as soon as they stopped at the door. She hurriedly dressed and came out, but Xiangzi hadn't even entered the room yet.

"I was spacing out," Xiangzi said honestly.

"You can go home and space out." Chu Hua hugged her a little tighter.

"Hmm...I understand..."

Xiangzi's muscles relaxed instantly, immersed in the fragrance of the shower gel and the warmth of the embrace.

He's still very stubborn.

“I’m all filthy,” Xiangzi said. “You’re just wasting your time taking a bath by holding me like this.”

“I don’t mind.” Chu Hua sniffed Xiangzi’s neck. “You smell very good like this, you have a very attractive pheromone.”

"What is that...?" Xiangzi felt that what Chuhua said seemed very ominous.

"Hmm~" Chu Hua stuck out her tongue, "I was just talking nonsense."

Even when she was a magical girl, Hatsuka had already mastered magic to a very high level, and was able to use it flexibly in her daily life.

However, after experiencing becoming a witch and being reborn as a familiar, Chu Hua's control over the Hundred Forms has become an instinct. Her organs that control her five senses will automatically transform into the most suitable form without even having to think about it.

What she said about being able to smell it is definitely true... cough cough.

"I just finished showering, and the hot water needs to boil for a while longer. You rest for a bit, and I'll make you something to drink." To hide her flushed face, Chu Hua turned and walked towards the semi-open kitchen. "Can Xiao Xiang handle alcohol?"

"We're only sixteen... You're talking about alcohol, are you planning to mix drinks?" Xiangzi sat at the table, looking at Chuhua, "You know how to do this?"

"I learned it a while ago, and..." Chu Hua's eyes darted around a few times.

Perhaps her soul was shattered into fragments when she died as a witch. After being resurrected by Xiangzi, she found that she had forgotten some small things. So far, there has not been a large-scale memory loss, but when recalling some small things, such as now, she has forgotten the name of the bartender who is very close to Miaomeng.

"Jill?" Xiangzi answered for her.

“Yes, yes, Miss Jill.” Chu Hua bent down and took out a few glass bottles and a cup from the cabinet. “Before I went to sea, I asked her for some ingredients and learned how to make a drink that doesn’t require alcohol.”

"Mojito?"

Generally speaking, this is probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of non-alcoholic cocktails.

Chu Hua shook her head, pulled a note off the top of the refrigerator, picked up a glass bottle from the table, and began to fiddle with it according to the instructions on the note.

"Let me think... First, lemon juice, I'll have one lemon."

Chu Hua hesitated for a moment, then cut open a lemon, reached over the shaker, and gave it a quick squeeze. The lemon gushed into the shaker as if it had been thrown into a juicer, becoming even drier than if it had been squeezed by a juicer.

"Then... add grenadine syrup and gin in the right proportions."

"No alcohol," Xiangzi emphasized.

"Then let's switch to herbal water made from birch sap." Chu Hua had already made preparations.

"what is that?"

“Miss Jill’s recommended alternative.”

Chu Hua opened a bottle of a clear, water-like liquid, poured some into a shaker, and then added pomegranate syrup, and of course, the most important thing: ice cubes.

"Okay~ then shake it~"

A clicking sound rang out inside the shaker, somewhat like a maracas, but with a crisper tone.

Soon, the mixture was evenly combined, and the orange-red liquid, cooled by ice, filled two-thirds of the glass. The remaining portion was replaced by grapefruit-flavored sparkling water by Chu Hua.

"Try it." Chu Hua placed the glass in front of Xiangzi.

"Using me as a guinea pig?" Xiangzi joked.

"So Xiao Xiang doesn't trust me at all?" Chu Hua's purple and gold eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

A person can change all their organs, but the color of their iris cannot. Ever since Chu Hua became like this, she has had to wear a colored contact lens to school every day.

Xiangzi was almost captivated by those eerie yet beautiful eyes. He turned his head, cleared his throat, and quickly picked up his cup, taking a sip.

The sweet and sour taste danced on her taste buds with the bubbles, and the refreshing taste made her feel a little better. Apart from being too sweet, Xiangzi couldn't find any fault with it.

"It's delicious!" Xiangzi blinked in surprise. "What's it called?"

"Sugar Rush is Miss Jill's original drink." Chu Hua rested her chin on her hand, sat opposite Xiangzi, and looked at Xiangzi with a happy expression. "Do you like it? If you like it, I'll make it every day from now on."

"I'd rather not do it every day, it'll get boring."

"Then I'll learn a few different kinds and switch them up so I won't get tired of them."

"Um... don't overwork yourself."

“Xiao Xiang is the one.” Chu Hua blinked, her heterochromatic eyes looking intently at Xiangzi. “What happened today? Was there an accident?”

"Pretty much... Anyway, it's quite complicated."

Xiangzi nodded and started talking.

From the impromptu decision to tell the truth to Akari after school, to the sudden rise in status, and then to the encounter with the witch-like Sue at the tram station, Shoko spoke earnestly, and Chu Hua listened attentively, nodding occasionally to show that she was listening.

She is an excellent listener and doesn't offer too many of her own opinions.

The water level in the glass kept dropping until finally, Xiangzi shook the glass, and all that could be heard was the clanging of the ice cubes inside.

"Then, I missed my stop and took another ten or twenty minutes to get back," Xiangzi shrugged.

"Pfft, no wonder it's so late." Chu Hua grinned.

"You're laughing at me too." Xiangzi pouted and turned his head away, pretending to be angry.

Chu Hua stretched out her finger and poked Xiangzi's cheek.

boo——

Chu Hua poked the puffed-up cheeks with her fingers until they deflated, and looking at those soft cheeks, Chu Hua couldn't help but pinch them again.

“I’m angry,” Xiangzi mumbled.

Chu Hua went around to Xiangzi's back, squeezed her shoulder, and spoke softly and gently.

"Don't be angry. The water should be ready by now. Go take a shower, and I'll help you blow-dry your hair later."

The Tale of the Lost: Chapter 282 Rain Accompanied by Wind

Huhu——

The warm air from the hairdryer blew through the light blue hair, taking away the moisture clinging to it.

Chu Hua knelt on the soft mattress, holding Xiangzi's hair and carefully drying it with a hairdryer. Every now and then, her fingers would run through the still-dry hair, gently scratching his scalp with her nails. At these times, Xiangzi would close his eyes comfortably, looking like a cat sleeping in a dryer.

Xiangzi didn't speak, squinting as he enjoyed the warm breeze and the tickling.

Chu Hua didn't say anything, just smiled and enjoyed the feeling of the soft hair brushing against her palm and petting the cat.

The only sound in the large room was the whirring of the hairdryer, which made it seem unusually quiet.

The minute hand on the wall had turned nearly a quarter of the way before Xiangzi finally spoke, breaking the silence maintained by the hairdryer.

"Chu Hua, let me see your 'Soul Gem'."

"Here."

Chu Hua's hand reached out from behind Xiangzi, and in her palm lay a white soul gem.

When the fingertip touched the Soul Gem, the texture was not the smooth feel of crystal, but rather the feel of ivory. The white surface was opaque, making it impossible to see how much filth was inside.

Actually, there isn't one; it's just a fake Soul Gem.

"Has anyone noticed something's wrong?" Xiangzi asked.

She held the Soul Gem, looked up, and placed it under the light. The gem completely obscured the light above her head, like a lunar eclipse.

“Mana didn’t notice,” Hatsuka said. “Besides her, we’re the only ones who have seen it.”

"That's good. It seems easier to get away with it than I thought."

"When Xiao Xiang becomes an administrator, there should be even less to worry about."

"As long as Yuki isn't too wary of me, everything is negotiable."

"Yes, we've taken a big step forward now."

"Things will probably get better in the future."

“That’s what I think too,” Chu Hua said with a smile.

"I have to hand over my work with Kasumi-senpai tomorrow, so I'll probably be back very late."

"Are you coming back for dinner?"

"Probably, it won't be as late as it is today, no matter how late it gets."

"Then I'll have to give it a try. It's been a while since I've cooked, I wonder if I've gotten rusty."

“I’m really looking forward to you cooking, oh my god—” Xiangzi said, then suddenly gasped.

"Sorry, did I use too much force?" Chu Hua quickly scratched the scalp that had been pulled.

"It's alright, I didn't expect Chu Hua to have things she's not good at." Xiangzi squinted again, enjoying Chu Hua's head massage.

She didn't see that after hearing those words, Chu Hua suddenly widened her eyes and then lowered them.

"...I used to comb my mom's hair all the time, I shouldn't be bad at it, how could I have forgotten...?"

Her murmurs were drowned out by the sound of the hairdryer, and Xiangzi didn't hear them.

Lin's hair was long and beautiful, like a golden waterfall. When Chu Hua was little, she loved to play with her mother's hair under the guise of combing it. She loved combing her mother's hair, and she also loved blow-drying it. At first, her mother would often hiss because she pulled on the roots of the hair, just like Xiao Xiang did just now. But after a while, that never happened again.

"How could I not remember...?"

But now everything has to start all over again.

Just like forgetting the bartender's name, Chu Hua suddenly realized that she had also forgotten some things... things that usually seemed insignificant.

It may seem insignificant, but when you think about it, it comes back like waves, one after another.

"How could I not remember...?"

The hand that was holding her hair suddenly drooped, and Chu Hua touched the corner of her eye, which was wet.

Realizing that its own tears had become the last anthill before the dam broke, the floodwaters seeped through the anthill and soaked the dam from the inside out.

Xiangzi noticed that Chuhua's hands had stopped, but the hair dryer was still blowing, making a loud yet quiet sound.

"It was just combing my hair... how could I not remember...?"

"Chuhua?"

Xiangzi turned his head and saw a heartbroken face.

There was no wailing, no agonizing despair, just soft sobbing, so soft it was drowned out by the sound of the hairdryer, silently enduring it all, as if a dam had burst in her heart, yet she couldn't utter a sound.

Chu Hua's tears seemed not to belong to her; they slid down her cheeks for no reason, falling silently and leaving plum blossom-like spots on the sheets. Her unfocused eyes were oblivious to everything in front of her, and she murmured the same sentence over and over again.

Why can't I remember?

Xiangzi finally heard what Chuhua was saying and finally realized what was going on.

Since they emerged from the seabed over 3,000 meters deep, Chu Hua hadn't shown any sign of sadness. She laughed and joked with everyone at the victory celebration after surviving the ordeal, and apart from her increased dependence on Xiangzi, there was nothing abnormal about her.

Xiangzi thought she had come out.

People always have to move on. She had to move on in order to survive, and Hailing had to move on in order to survive. They both thought that as long as Chuhua stayed by their side, they could move on from losing their hometown, their parents, their best friends, and from that tsunami-like past.

Who would have thought that a simple act of combing one's hair would lead to this?

Xiangzi stared blankly at the distraught Chuhua.

"I'm sorry... Xiao Xiang... I shouldn't... have done this..." Chu Hua said haltingly, wiping away her tears. "...But... how could I forget... it was... so simple..."

Xiangzi turned around and embraced Chuhua.

"Cry if you want to..." Xiangzi's nose also felt sore. She placed her hand on the back of Chuhua's head and pressed her tightly against her chest.

She couldn't give Chu Hua anything except her company.