[32] Adorable Hoshino

Chapter 32: Adorable Hoshino

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Tsubasa was a fast learner, that's why her knowledge of everything was vast. Just like in her Monogatari counterpart, she was a human encyclopedia. She knew a lot.

So, it didn't even take her the entire day to learn the Bouchujutsu from her mother. It all happened in her head.

"Um, I learned it…"

She nudged my sleeves and told me while we were in a movie theater. Can anybody blame me for deciding to test out how it really worked right there?

After half an hour of testing in the theater, I dragged her back to the hotel. I knew just enough about the technique now to edit it and implement a Dual Cultivation Art into it.

That night, we stayed in the hotel until 10 PM. In this world, Touki had Nine Ranks, and from what Hanekawa told me, Tsubasa on her own had Rank 3 Touki, while when Hanekawa took charge of the body, their two accumulated Qi became Rank 6.

Tsubasa’s Rank 3 Qi amount was equal to my power system’s [Iron], but that’s just Energy Wise, her body wasn’t as tough – she didn’t have a Path either. The users of Qi in this world truly were amateurs, they used Qi in a very one-dimensional way.

In this world, the users of Qi were referred to as Senjutsu Practitioners. People could either use Qi to do spells like Bouchujutsu, Nature Energy blasts, etc. On the other hand, you could also wrap Qi around your body to make yourself stronger, faster, and more durable, and that application of Qi is called Touki.

The thing is, in the world I was born in my 9th life, even low-level Cultivators could do these, while in this world only the very strong users of Qi can do both Touki and Spells. This truly was a backwater world where people didn’t give Qi much focus. The applications were too limited.

I suppose I should give Tsubasa a Path in the near future, and then help her properly refine her body instead of just gathering Qi.

For now though, I only need her to gather Qi. The more Qi she’d have, the faster my own growth will be. By the time we finished tonight, Tsubasa had just enough Qi to be considered a 4th Rank, according to Hanekawa. She was pretty high on the 3rd rank before, but it was still an incredible speed, and it will only increase the stronger we get.

As for me, I was still in the True Gold rank, obviously. One night's activity wouldn't make me advance. But if we talk about progression in percentage, then I was at 3% of True Gold before, but now I stood at 11%.

So, if we retained this speed and did Dual Cultivation for multiple hours a day, I should be able to max out True Gold in just 11 days. Sadly, we won't be able to do it for multiple hours every day when we'll be at home, but it was still good.

“This one felt so much better than the last few times! I was filled with energy.”

Tsubasa shouted as she sat in front of me on the motorcycle, riding it while I held her waist from behind, ready to take control of the handles if she slipped. It was her first time driving.

At first, I feared that Tsubasa would be a little hurt emotionally; she might have worried if I only took her out on a date and slept with her for Cultivation. But thankfully, she only appeared happy to help; such a nice girl. She was so lovely, I wanted to bite her. Which I did, as she wiggled the motorcycle and nearly crashed.

Soon, our city ride time was cut short when our parents called again and this time we had no excuse but to return home right away.

* * *

"You brat, you dared to come back?"

I dodged a flying sandal with the accuracy of a sniper when the door opened faster than ever. Luckily Tsubasa wasn't beside me, she returned to her own house, otherwise she would have been hit by it.

"Hey, mom, what’s good?" I said, waving my hand while still on my motorcycle.

Ai stepped out of the door and paused, her eyes looking at me, and then at my bike. She did that for a minute, her eyes glistening every time she looked at the bike before she grabbed her other sandal and threw it at me. I had to deflect this one with my hand.

"You rebellious little shit," She ran to me with her hand raised and began to slap me on the back. They were love slaps. "I told you to not do anything dangerous with the money, but you went and bought this killing machine? Are you crazy?! Do you know how dangerous a motorcycle is?! Do you even have a driver's license?!"

It was cute how much she was attracted to the motorcycle, I could tell just from her eyes earlier, yet she was worried for me at the same time. Naturally, what I did next was to grab her by the waist and pull her down, putting her in front of me on the bike, and making her sit sideways on it.

"What are you doing now?" She said as she flickered a finger on my forehead, still frowning. "What places did you go with this thing?"

"I can take you everywhere I went to if you want," I told her, putting my hands on her waist. "Should I?"

"N-no? Why'd I want to ride something so dangerous? No less, behind such a little boy who still hugs his mother like this." She said, looking into my eyes even as she lied. "Listen, you’re not allowed to drive this anymore until you're 18. Erm… but you should take me somewhere with this sometimes before that restriction applies, I need to make sure how dangerously you drove for the past two days."

"Whatever my lady wishes," I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. "Can I put a kiss on your lip?"

"You want a beating?"

"Worth it for a kiss from you.”

She hit the side of my head as I laughed, though not actually making any moves to kiss her. Ai gave me a long frown before she leaned over and sniffed my clothes to search for any girl's smell.

"What’s this, Aqua? I only smell one girl," She said, "I thought you were with Mem-Cho and Tsubasa? So why do I smell just one girl?”

“What are you, a dog-? Auek.”

She hit my head as she explained, “Since Tsubasa wasn't home either and Mem-Cho was kind of suspicious when I called, it must have been Tsubasa you were with. Are you two dating? Just letting you know, even though she is your cousin in papers, neither I nor your uncle and aunt would mind if you two date. We had a talk about that before. Just remember to use protection."

Reminds me, I didn't use protection at all with Tsubasa. Well, I did fry my sperms with lightning, so it worked as a protection anyway.

"So are you two dating?" Ai asked me seriously, and obviously my answer was no.

"No."

"Tell me everything that happened in the past two days, then."

"You're crazy."

Was it wise to explain to my mother how I slept around with this girl and that? It would be surreal if I had to explain to her all of the days I slept with a girl. It's not like I was a virgin in this life before last night, I lost it a few months ago, and Ai has no idea about it. Which is for the better.

…Few months ago, when Ai, Ruby, and Ichigo were out in America, Aunty Miyako and I made a little drunken mistake. I'm reminded of it now since it's kind of funny how I fucked her daughter just a while ago.

Let’s make one thing clear though, I wouldn't do anything weird with Aunty Miyako ever again, I respect Uncle Ichigo as a man, he was a responsible husband and father, and he was always kind to my family too. What happened between Miyako and I was a small mistake, something she sees herself guilty for, she didn’t even look into my eyes until a few days ago. So no, it won't happen again.

The point was, even if I was quite open with Ai about many things, some things are better kept as secrets. This was one of them. I couldn't explain these things to her.

Luckily, I soon managed to push her off this topic when I said I was dying of hunger and she clicked her tongue and took me inside to serve dinner.

* * *

When Ruby found out about the bike, she ran out of the house and looked at the thing with the stars in her eyes glistening. "Crazy! You got yourself a bike?! Mama I need one too! Mama, mama, ma- ak!"

"Come inside for dinner, you are too young to ride a bike." Ai hit Ruby's head with a spoon, something she rarely did in contrast to the constant hitting of Aqua, which made her daughter pout.

"But he got one! He is the same age as me, why can't I get one too?" Ruby complained.

She continued complaining the entire night and even when morning came, she was still complaining on the breakfast table.

….

Tsubasa came to our house for breakfast that day and everyone ate while Ruby was complaining. After we were done eating and about to leave for school, Tsubasa stepped closer to me all of a sudden.

"Wait a moment," she reached out her hand and held my tie. She loosened it a little and began to fix its knot after she did my shirt's top button. "You should tie it properly, you know? It looks better this way."

"..."

I stared down at her just as Ai and Ruby paused in their spots to stare at the scene. Was she trying to get us caught?

Before anything could happen, my phone rang with a ping of notification. It was from Rias, our very first message. I lifted my phone to see what she wanted so early in the morning.

[Rias: Will you be coming to school today? Haven't seen you for the last few days. Is it acting related, or are you going through any trouble?]

That was a lovely message. She sounded as if she missed me, and maybe she really did. We met properly for the first time that day, and after that, I have been bunking school. She probably had plans to talk to me more but she couldn't find me in school anymore.

[Aqua: I'm getting ready right now, I'll be there soon. It's nothing acting-related, but not any trouble either. Don't worry about it.]

When I replied with a smile, I noticed Tsubasa's gaze falling on the screen briefly before she continued fixing my tie.

She didn't say anything and finished with my tie. Instead, to my surprise, it was Ai who spoke then.

I put the phone away when Ai cleared her throat and walked over, gently patting Tsubasa on the back and shoving her away. "Now now, Tsubasa, his mom's still here, she can do his tie. I appreciate it, but it's better you take care of him when you two aren't right in front of me." She said as she undid the button and loosened the tie again. "As for this look, it suits him better. He isn't really a super strict honor student, this one fits his charm more."

Tsubasa blushed. Her lips moved as she stuttered and started to apologize in a continuous chant, while I looked at Ai with a raised eyebrow.

"I- I am sorry…! Of course, you must have noticed his shirt by now, but since you never bothered to fix it, it must mean it was fine. S-sorry, I should have put more thought into it before acting." Naturally, Tsubasa didn't dare with the fashion sense of -Ai Hoshino-. She apologized again and again for trying to do Ai's job right in front of her.

I just stared at Ai the whole time, as she re-did my tie. What a troublesome woman; I didn't know she was the type of mother to get jealous of her son's girlfriend or wife. Not jealous in a romantic sense, obviously. This type of situation wasn't rare in any world, there's usually a rivalry between a wife and her mother-in-law, but it's amusing to see Ai as such a woman. I didn't expect this, but given everything, I really should have.

How does she keep becoming cuter every other time? I might give in to the urge if she keeps acting like this.

All this time, Ruby just stared at the scene, a frown of contemplation on her face that even I couldn't see through.

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