Chapter 20 – Normal School Life

Zhang Shaoyu was lying down on the sofa as he stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep, his mind full of everything that happened during the day.

A 10600 somersault, jumping to the roof of a four floor building, all sorts of things that a normal human shouldn’t be able to do. Zhang Shaoyu might be stupid, but even he knew there was something wrong. Without any backlash to his body, he was able to pull off feats that even the most hardcore secret agents should not be capable of.

Zhang Shaoyu whispered to himself, “But when did these things start to happen…? I don’t think anything extraordinary happened recently… All I remember is meeting with Lizz. Huh? Wait a sec… What if Lizz coming was the extraordinary thing!? Didn’t everything happen after I met Lizz?! ”

“Now that I think about it… Lizz has no family and lived in the countryside, so how has she never cooked? And even if she was too poor to prepare food with condiments and cooking utensils, there’s no reason she should never have seen a fridge…?”

Zhang Shaoyu began to think more. “If I remember correctly, when she introduced herself she said she had something to do with ‘Ma…’, but she cut herself off. What if she lied about it having to do with make up…? What was actually going to say…? Machine? Magnet? Mambo? Hm…”

Zhang Shaoyu tried to think of words that started with the sound ‘Ma’, but he couldn’t come up with anything that made sense.

Zhang Shaoyu sighed and rolled over. He saw various unwashed plates on the table and a DVD with ‘magical girl’ on it.

“Ma… Ma? MAGIC!?” Zhang Shaoyu sat up in surprise. He began to remember the night when he saw the fight between the red and white dot. He had dismissed that as a dream, but now that he thought about it, it might actually be real. Lizz and everything else that happened, it all started after that night.

“Does magic really exist in this world? Don’t tell me Lizz is really a magical girl?”

Immediately, Zhang Shaoyu cursed himself as a fool. “I’ve been watching too much anime and now I’m mixing up the 2D and the 3D world. I must be going crazy. In this era, with technology as advanced as it is, how could there be such a thing as real magic? Magic exists only in dreams, and of course there’s nothing magical about Lizz. When humans are cornered and at the end of their rope, they’re capable of reaching into powers they never knew they had.”

“Didn’t I see recently on the Internet that the Americans were doing a special study to explore the depth of human potential? With outside factors that can stimulate such potential, even a seemingly normal person can break the world record for sprinting when chased by a mad dog. These recent incidents must be the same kind of thing!”

Zhang Shaoyu became more convinced, and with that he calmed down and finally fell asleep.

The next day, after taking a shower, Zhang Shaoyu grabbed his bags, ready to go to school.

Lizz had just woke up and exited her room when she saw Zhang Shaoyu. She was still wearing Shaoyu’s pajamas, which fitted rather poorly on her. And it seemed she wore no bra at all, as seen from the twin peaks looming in front of Zhang Shaoyu’s eyes.

Fascinating.

Zhang Shaoyu stared at her for a while. He didn’t mind that Lizz took his clothes, but rather, he was very happy to see her like that.

Lizz yawned and asked him drowsily, “Shaoyu… You’re going to school again…?”

Zhang Shaoyu straightened up and said with a smile, “Yeah, I have breakfast prepared for you on the table. You can eat it, and when I get back I’ll cook you lunch, so wait for me, you gluttonous cat. ”

Lizz gave Shaoyu a sharp look with a ‘humph’. “I’m not a gluttonous cat! You just made your cooking so delicious in an attempt to seduce me! ”

Zhang Shaou sighed a bit at that. How could she come up with that kind of thinking…? He flicked Lizz’s tiny forehead softly. “You lil’ piggy, sooner or later you’ll eat too much and you won’t even be able to walk!”

Lizz wrinkled her brow and reached out to pinch Shaoyu’s nose and was just about to start yelling, ‘What did you say!?’, but Zhang Shaoyu was faster. He pinched her nose and covered her mouth with his other hand, leaving her unable to yell at him.

She immediately slapped his hands away and yelled, “You bully! I’m ignoring you from now on!”(1) before turning around and making for her room.

She failed to do so though, as Shaoyu pulled her back. “I’m just joking, don’t be so angry!”

The moment Lizz got pulled towards Zhang Shaoyu, she felt her heart rate increase, and when she heard his gentle words, her anger was blown away instantly. Still, she adopted a p.i.s.sed-off face with a wrinkled brow and mouth closed, as if saying, ‘Pamper me!’

Shaoyu saw that Lizz didn’t whack his hand away, and he felt glad. He told her, “When I get home, I’ll make it up to you by cooking your favorite sweet and sour pork. How’s that?”

The moment Lizz heard the words ‘sweet and sour pork’ she smiled and clapped her hands excitedly. “Okay then! When you get back, I’ll make you some broth!”

Zhang Shaoyu felt as if he had eaten something sweeter than honey, tricking all the way down to his heart. It was as if the apartment were his own home, with a wife waiting for him to come back. His shoulders became heavy, as if the burden of taking care of a family was suddenly thrust onto his shoulders. In his heart, he swore that he would redouble his efforts in everything, and let her know that picking him was not the wrong choice!

As Zhang Shaoyu exited, Lizz waved at him. “Shaoyu, take care!”

Zhang Shaoyu answered with a smile and a “Yeah, thanks.”

Lizz saw the figure of Shaoyu disappearing from the window. However, even though he’d already left, the palpitating of her heart didn’t. Lizz clutched her chest and spoke to herself, “It’s only been mere seconds since we separated, but I feel like seeing him again as soon as possible… What kind of feeling is this? ”

Lizz shook her head, and using both hands, slapped her own face, suppressing her throbbing heart. She tried to convince herself, as if in an act of self-hypnosis, “I can’t think about it. It’s impossible! I just want to drain his magic! Drain his magic! Drain his…”

After a few minutes of that, Lizz finally calmed down. After a long sigh, she brushed her teeth, washed her face, ate some breakfast, and went to prepare her ‘broth’.

Zhang Shaoyu was truly afraid of encountering another group of gangsters on the way to school, so he chose to choose to use the main road. No matter how stupid those gangsters were, they wouldn’t dare to wait in the middle of the main road, right?
Whenever Zhang Shaoyu pa.s.sed, the students would whisper amongst themselves, most likely talking about him. Despite feeling a little uncomfortable, Shaoyu knew that it was unavoidable after the incidents yesterday and thus he didn’t concern himself with them, arriving at his cla.s.s without incident.

When his cla.s.smates saw Zhang Shaoyu, they gave him various looks. There were ones of jealousy, anger, admiration, and some were indescribably complex expressions. Still, it brought the chatter to a complete halt and the cla.s.sroom went strangely silent.

Zhang Shaoyu didn’t care for any of them. He started looking for Wu Shao so that he could exact revenge, but for some reason he wasn’t in school today. Instead, he saw Ma Li and so he approached her.

Ma Li was frightened to see Shaoyu coming towards her and broke out in a cold sweat, while the surrounding students started whispering.

“Does he want to get revenge?”

“Most likely, if you got cheated and played for a fool, you would take revenge right?”

“Looks like we’re about to see something good!”

One girl with a rather rare sense of justice scolded them. “Hey! You boys, a girl is about to get bullied in front of you. Why don’t you guys help her? Don’t you have any self-awareness?”

The boys complained back, “It depends on who we are against! That guy is the incarnation of Kratos!(2) Don’t you know what will happen if we offend him? ”

“What will happen?”

One of the guys made exaggerated gestures with his hands and said excitedly,(3) “If you dare offend Kratos, your elder brother’s corpse will be tossed into the ocean, your younger brother’s soul will be trapped in Tartarus for all eternity, your son’s head will be hung on the ceiling, and you will be tacked on to your stepmother’s heart while both of you get blown to bits together.”(4)

The girl trembled after she heard what he said. “That horrible!?”

The other guys who were game freaks nodded together and agreed, “Yeah, it’s clear as day, history has proven it!”

Even the girls who liked history could not find any reference to such acts in their history books. But still, if it was true, how could there be such an evil person?
When she heard the ramblings of the boys, Ma Li was scared stiff. As Zhang Shaoyu drew closer, she felt as if her soul had left her body, leaving her a stiff husk.

“Hey! Zhang Shaoyu, hold it right there! No matter what, she’s still your cla.s.smate right?” Before Zhang Shaoyu even said anything, he heard a stern female voice calling for him from behind.

Everyone turned around to look at the source of the voice. The speaker had a dignified and elegant face, with her hair done in a ponytail. She wore her uniform perfectly according the rules, and she exuded a strict aura full of authority, reminiscent of the late Liu Hulan.(5)

The girl’s name was He Ying, and she was Zhang Shaoyu’s cla.s.s representative. With a strong sense of justice and a strict personality, people would not dare disturb her. Her results were also excellent and she regularly scored at the top of exams.

Combined with her elegant appearance, she was very popular and many boys fell for her and asked her out. Without exception though, every single one was rejected, including Shaoyu.

There had been rumors that her family was rich, but after her father’s business went bankrupt, everything was lost. Still, it was just a rumor, so no one really knew the truth.

He Ying asked Shaoyu, “Zhang Shaoyu, I know that Ma Li has done a little bit too much to you… But you already taught Wu Shao a lesson to vent your anger. Ma Li is a girl, could you not let her off?”

Seeing He Ying unafraid of Kratos, everyone in the cla.s.s looked at her in awe, and some of the girls even taunted the boys, “You guys should learn from her! She’s more manly than any of you!”

The boys helplessly retorted, “You girls are praising her now?”

Zhang Shaoyu scratched the back of his head while replying, “Why would I take my revenge on her? You think that Wu Shao would care if I did something to her?”

When Ma Li heard that, she couldn’t help but to feel as though she was saved. Zhang Shaoyu was not going to try and get even with her. She felt like a heavy burden had been removed from her shoulders. If only she knew what this guy was capable of beforehand; she would never have helped Wu Shao poke fun at him otherwise.

Just as Ma Li regretted her actions, He Ying’s anger subsided a little upon realizing Shaoyu wasn’t out to exact revenge on Ma Li. She then asked, “Then what do you want with Ma Li?”

Zhang Shaoyu was a bit of p.i.s.sed off as he responded, “I just want to settle things with Wu Shao, but he didn’t come to school today. I just wanted to ask her when that dog will come back.”

Hearing that, Ma Li immediately shook her head and responded timidly, “I-I don’t know.”

“That’s what I thought,” Zhang Shaoyu responded flatly and went back to his seat.
When Zhang Shaoyu’s barbarous cla.s.smates saw him just return to his seat, their expectations were immediately shot down.(6)

“What! That’s it? That can’t be right! I wanted to see Kratos burst some chrysanthemum!”(7)

“I even prepared a DV,(8) such a waste!”

When He Ying heard that, she glared at all of them. Faced with such a glare, the animals gasped and silently went back to their seats, defeated.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:

1. That’s cute.
2. G.o.d OF *MEEP*
3. Is that you Tamanawa…?
4. That’s meeping brutal.
5.  Those b.a.s.t.a.r.d cla.s.smates.
7. In my mind it was crudely ‘fisting’ someone.