Chapter 9 The Enigmatic Bonds: Of Gods, Humans, and Youkai

At the Academy of Gods

"Wow, it's morning already! I, Kurogami Masayuki, am always the first god to wake up in this academy!" Kurogami Masayuki exclaimed. Then, he proceeded to do his usual task, waking up the sleeping princess, Mizuchi Haruka. However, when he glanced at Mizuchi Haruka's sleeping bed, he discovered that the sleeping princess had already awakened before him.

"Hey, Mizuchi Haruka..."

"Quiet, idiot! Don't call my name!" Mizuchi Haruka angrily replied. Then, from her eyes, flowed a stream of sparkling white tears. She cried and said, "Big brother, help me! It's not that I woke up early, but I couldn't sleep all night."

"What? You didn't sleep all night?" Kurogami Masayuki asked in surprise.

"It's that snow wolf! It treated me terribly! Big brother, please help me!" Mizuchi Haruka cried while speaking.

"Haizza, is the snow wolf seducing women again?" Kurogami Masayuki responded with a tone of boredom.

"That's right, big brother! That miserable snow wolf came to the human world to woo women. He doesn't care about the feelings I have for him! He disrespects me, and I hate him!" Mizuchi Haruka spoke while hugging a long pillow tightly.

Kurogami Masayuki gently shook his head and spoke in a very soft voice.

"This is quite normal in this academy; I thought it was something more horrible!"

"What on earth! Is this how you console me, big brother? If so, then just leave so I don't have to see you anymore!" Mizuchi Haruka angrily said.

Kurogami Masayuki hurriedly comforted this fiery princess.

"Oh! I made a mistake! Let me go find that snow wolf and give it a beating!"

"No! Don't do that! You'll kill him. You know very well that in terms of strength, he can't compare to you. If you kill him, I'll hate you too!" Mizuchi Haruka quickly stopped Kurogami Masayuki.

Suddenly, Snow Sky-Dog walked into the room amidst the fiery gaze of hatred from Mizuchi Haruka and the feigned look of anger from Kurogami Masayuki.

"What's all this noise about? Hey, you two, my ears are quite sensitive, even the smallest sound you make can't escape its detection. So, why are you making such loud noises to torture my ears?" Snow Sky Dog playfully said, as usual.

"Snow Sky Dog, you went to the human world to woo women. You kept Mizuchi Haruka awake all night because of this. Do you have anything to explain?" Kurogami Masayuki pretended to be angry with Snow Sky Dog to appease Mizuchi Haruka.

"Oh! If you two already know, then I don't need to hide anymore. To be honest, I only see Mizuchi Haruka as my little sister. Besides that, I have nothing to explain." Snow Sky-Dog said calmly with the calmness he always had, a calmness that had never been lost, even when facing the most dangerous situations.

Kurogami Masayuki and Mizuchi Haruka both were startled, and they looked intently at Snow Sky-Dog as if seeing something extraordinary from another world. The silence between them became heavy, and only Mizuchi Haruka's forced laughter broke the silent atmosphere.

"Are you kidding? My little sister?" Mizuchi Haruka asked with concern.

"Yes, Mizuchi Haruka is just my little sister. A little sister I always want to protect and take care of," Snow Sky-Dog spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"He's right! He only sees me as his little sister. He takes good care of me, and there's nothing romantic between us!" Mizuchi Haruka glanced at Kurogami Masayuki with dissatisfaction.

Kurogami Masayuki suppressed his emotions and said, "Well, that's good. I don't want anything special to happen between you two."

"But, thank you, Mizuchi Haruka, for caring about my affairs. You are indeed my good friend!" Snow Sky-Dog hugged Mizuchi Haruka and spoke as if nothing had happened.

Kurogami Masayuki sighed lightly, falling into the solitude of understanding and realizing that everything was just a misunderstanding. He turned and left the room, but before the door closed, Kurogami Masayuki whispered to Snow Sky Dog, "You're playing with fire, Snow Sky Dog. Be careful."

Snow Sky-Dog just laughed and nodded, paying no attention to the warning words. As the door closed, the room was left with only two people, Snow Sky Dog and Mizuchi Haruka.

"Why did you say that?" Mizuchi Haruka turned to look at Snow Sky Dog.

"Because that's the truth," Snow Sky-Dog replied with a comfortable smile.

Mizuchi Haruka pushed him away and looked intently at Snow Sky Dog, "Why don't you tell everyone the truth? Why create such misunderstandings?"

"Because sometimes, the truth is not something everyone wants to know, Mizuchi Haruka. In general, I just want to keep everything peaceful, especially when it comes to our relationship." Snow Sky Dog spoke gently.

Mizuchi Haruka contemplated in silence; she felt an emotion that she couldn't name. Suddenly, she said, "But you can't keep it peaceful. There's a contradiction, a tension in your heart, and I can feel it."

Snow Sky-Dog looked seriously at Mizuchi Haruka, "Do you think so?"

"Yes. And I want to know why." Mizuchi Haruka looked straight into Snow Sky Dog's eyes with a determination he couldn't ignore.

Snow Sky-Dog shook his head and said, "That's my battle, Mizuchi Haruka. A battle that I can't share with anyone else." He turned around and walked out of the room, his eyes filled with determination.

Mizuchi Haruka sat alone in the room, filled with loneliness and misunderstanding. The picture of the battle between the dark forces hidden behind normal faces became clearer, and the threads of conflict in Snow Sky Dog's heart suddenly became faint images.

Mizuchi Haruka felt that Snow Sky-Dog was hiding something very important from her, and perhaps this was related to their master, the Water Deity of the Gods. Mizuchi Haruka, being an intelligent goddess, used her intelligence to judge that the Water Deity of the Gods had assigned a secret and extremely important task to Snow Sky Dog. Perhaps he wanted to leverage Snow Sky Dog's handsome appearance and understanding abilities, grasping the emotions of women, in this task. In that case, should she be jealous or worried for Snow Sky-Dog? It was hard to say; who wouldn't be angry and jealous when the man they loved approached another woman, especially a woman, in this situation? But if Snow Sky Dog's approach to that human girl was only a mandatory aspect of the mission, then jealousy would be a punishment for Snow Sky-Dog for a crime he did not commit but was framed for. What the truth was, she didn't know! But she felt a little more reassured, hanging onto the hypothesis that Snow Sky-Dog wooed that human girl only because of a secret and important mission assigned by the Water Deity of the Gods. This little, scarce reassurance was enough for her to sleep soundly, as she hadn't slept all night.