Chapter 98. Our True Feelings.

There was this aura of her… this righteous aura that keeps getting misunderstood by many people. It was an aura that of a hero who is believed to be the villain, I felt like I had done her a bad deed in the past for looking at her differently… in a rude way.

“I know what you are thinking…” she looked at me and squinted her eyes as she added, “You don’t have to blame yourself for hating me in the past… after all, it wasn’t something you could find out by yourself.”

Her smile looked a bit sad but at the same time, there was a slight bit of happiness leaking from that sad smile. A glimmer of light inside a dark tunnel was what I saw from her smile. I felt my heart ache to hear her words as she turned towards the girl with a gentle, warm look as she fed her a bit more.

I only stood still, watching her as she fed the girl at her own pace as people passed by looking at us as if we were weird people, but their odd gazes weren’t placed to my heart as I continued to monitor the girl’s health bar which was rising at a fast pace before several minutes passed by as a sudden realization came to mind.

“Say… what will you do to the girl after you finish feeding her? Would you leave her there and let the same fate she suffered continue further or,” I asked before she turned around and simply smiled as if telling me she knows what she wants to do.

“I know what my plans are, Ayu-chi… I won’t sit around and let someone I helped move towards the same fate as they were heading. It doesn’t sit well with my policies; you know that well right?” she said as I nodded.

“Then… what will you do?” I inquired as she swung her hand towards the alley before a small spatial crack appeared as she placed her hand onto the crack, retracting it as a bottle of milk appeared on her hand which surprised me as she opened it before handing it to the girl who was a bit confused but took it anyway, drinking it as her eyes softened.

“I will take her with me, what other options do you think I should do?” she answered while smiling as she looked at the girl. I was a bit surprised at first but regained myself quickly as the situation felt a bit similar to Flora’s but compared to Flora’s… this girl had it worse.

Flora was more like a wanderer being attacked by some weirdos, she wore clothes that were proper and clean and wasn’t malnourished at all while this girl was the exact opposite… she wasn’t being attacked nor was she a wanderer; she didn’t wear proper and clean clothes and she was extremely malnourished… a full contrast to Flora.

“I think you should do the same as you said,” I smiled before adding, “I will support your actions regardless to make up the misunderstanding we had before… after all… I still feel guilty of misunderstanding your actions all this time…”

All of a sudden, she stood up and looked at me straight into the eye before flicking my forehead as she giggled a bit, “You don’t have to be guilty… since it wasn’t your fault, how many times should I tell you that before you can understand.”

I felt a bit helpless as I looked at her smile before out of the blue, the bottle the girl held fell exploding into pieces as the girl hugged Kaori’s leg while looking up towards her as if she didn’t want to let Kaori go causing the two of us to be surprised as Kaori looked at her and patted the girl’s head.

“What’s wrong, was the milk spoilt? I could have sworn the expiry was around a month or two from now,” Kaori asked before the girl shook her head as she reached her hand towards Kaori without saying a single word almost as if she was deaf.

Kaori was naturally someone who has a high emotional quotient which is why she was able to perceive the girl’s request in an instant, picking her up as she carried her before looking at the girl’s clothes which were a bit dirty but that wasn’t the main part… the largest change was the girl no longer looked like a skeleton.

And all it took was a single meal and a bottle of milk which surprised me a bit though I understood that the effects mainly came from the fact that it was because of Kaori who was willing to reduce her mana points by a few thousand points permanently to bring the girl’s health points and base stats a bit to the normal ranges which is what the Exchange Magic spell does in essence.

“Err… do you mind if we buy her some new clothes first?” Kaori looked at me and asked, embarrassed as she looked at the girl who was confused.

“Sure, our appointment with Aurora is still a few hours from now. We still have plenty of time to buy some more essentials for her since she should be living with us from now right?” I said before she looked at me a bit surprised which confused me.

“I was thinking of living with her separately since I didn’t think you or the others would like to have another person freeload on your place…” Kaori responded which made me even more surprised… it was as if today was April’s Fool making me surprised nearly a million times today.

“The two of you can still stay at the house anytime, she can sleep together with Flora if she likes… it might also be time to upgrade our house a bit since the two former guest rooms we have are no longer enough to accommodate our guests after Leisha and you occupied them,” I said.

“Wouldn’t that cost you… how about I pay rent?” Kaori suggested before I knocked the offer down to the floor, smiling.

“You don’t have to since it is also another added benefit to having another child in the house since we need another person to play with Flora nowadays… not to mention… you also helped me a lot in the past and even now…” I said in a low voice, averting my gaze before looking back at her who was frozen.

All of a sudden, a loud chuckle left from her mouth as she rubbed her eyes with a smile which stunned me as I asked, “What’s funny?!”

“No… I wasn’t expecting to see that expression of yours, it’s amusing indeed,” she replied which made me even more embarrassed as both of my cheeks puffed up, causing me to unconsciously grab her hand as I dragged her out of the alleyway.

“Whatever… let’s just go buy the stuff we need now before our appointed time…” I said before a cute giggle responded from behind, causing both Kaori and I to be shocked as we looked at the girl who was giggling adorably.