The Night Breeze Whispers Your Name

11. Us...?

One hundred times.

After writing the same sentence for one hundred times, we were exhausted. Unluckily, we couldn't manage to finish it before dinner time and now, we were back to the room for the night with empty stomachs.

Maybe because I still had some excitement left in me, the sleep didn't visit me. While the others' breathing steadied, I lay on my mattress, eyes wide open and the inner skin of my thumb and index finger itchy because of the brush. As it would heal in a short while, I rather wondered about Annoying's hand. His hands were much softer than my hard hands, so his skin must have been more damaged.

Turning my head towards him and saw he was sleeping with his right palm showing. Under the soft moonlight, I could see the terribly reddened and peeled skin of his index finger. Brimming with guilt as well as gratitude, I shifted on my mattress before biting my middle finger to draw out some blood and rubbing it gently on his skin. With the contact, Annoying stirred in his sleep, but didn't wake up. Then, I lay back on my mattress and this time sleep came faster.

As if the universe wanted me to take revenge from the pest trio, the very next day, the old guy II wanted us to fight one more time to see how much we improved. However, this time everyone would fight with anyone so that we would have a better perception about our talents.

I was delighted by the old guy II's words while I felt Annoying fidgeting uncomfortably next to me. From my peripheral vision, I saw he looked at his right hand, but seeing it was perfectly healed, he looked towards me as though he understood it was my doing. As I didn't want to give him an explanation, I took a step forward and declared that I wanted to be the first to fight.

The old guy II accepted with a proud smile and told Sly to be my match. Although Sly was the younger among us, he was smarter than the other two pests. The moment he came eye to eye with me, he felt my sinister intention and gulped visibly. He even attempted to create an excuse to withdraw, but I started to attack, preventing my prey from running away.

As a characteristic of Shui Clan, Sly's fighting style resembled tides. He was attacking and withdrawing immediately with good agility. However, his agility meant nothing to me. After the mess he caused, my heart was burning with revenge, so I showed no mercy. I hit his legs severely and when he was falling forward, I hit his chin with my knee, sending him backwards, unable to stand back and a thin line of blood trickling down from his vicious mouth.

Then Annoying and Noxious fought, and Annoying won beautifully, even without a drop of sweat. After them, Angry and Sly fought, and as I beated Sly hard, Angry won the round easily.

When it was Noxious and I, I took my time to humiliate him. Jin Clan was master in blades, so they were highly inefficient when it came to fighting with bare hands. After a few clashes, I plucked off the wooden stick from his hand. Grinning, I threw both sticks farther and beated him bare handed until the old guy II ended the fight.

From the fight between Annoying and Angry, Annoying won, making me amazed as I noticed he knew which move Angry would employ before he even started. Maybe he wasn't that hopeless and naive, ha? I didn't know why but this revelation made me satisfied.

The winner of Sly versus Noxious was Sly, maybe because I was harsher with Noxious. As a result, Noxious lost again when he fought with Angry.

When it was Annoying and I, I was super calm as I didn't have any negative feelings towards him. I believed he understood it because his demeanor wasn't nervous at all. As if he understood that I wouldn't hurt him...

Well, he was right. Although I didn't go easy on him, I avoided hurting him badly. On the other hand, Annoying wasn't a very easy target, moving around with an utmost elegance. Like he did with the others, he predicted my moves accurately. Therefore, I had to change my style and employed Huo Clan's which I had never done before. Though it was my longest fight, I was the winner and Annoying was still fine.

After Annoying handled Sly easily yet mildly, it was the most expected moment of the day; me versus Angry. As the pushed walnut was still in my mind, I had no intention of being easy on him. The moment we started, I didn't even let him breathe. Tu Clan was used to being defensive while holding their position; therefore, I kept pushing him backwards, showing him he was nothing more than a grain in the wind. As my demonic side appeared, my hits got harsher and the old guy II soon declared me as the ultimate winner of the day.

That night, Annoying and I were the only ones present in the main hall for dinner. As I planned, the pest trio were too tired after my good beating and they all missed dinner just like we missed breakfast and dinner because of them before. Don't get me wrong, Annoying had no part in my revenge story, he just happened to be with me both times when I missed the meals.

As my revenge was taken and the pest trio got the message of not messing around with me, my mood was incredibly good. I munched my food happily though my face was expressionless as ever.

"Shall we-"

"No," I cut Annoying's words and he flinched slightly.

"You don't even know what I was about to say," he grumbled as he tilted his head to look at my face.

"You want to take them food," I said, meeting his gaze with my daring one.

Annoying's mouth formed an 'O' with astonishment. Then he feigned a cough and said "so you don't want to."

"No. I prefer them to starve," I answered aloofly.

"So, it was also a part of your plan," he mumbled with his wide opened eyes as the realisation hit him.

"Indeed, they shouldn't mess around with us," I said unwittingly and Annoying heard it loud and clear. Unfortunately.

"Us?" he asked, but as if to himself. Then a smile painted on his lips and didn't disappear until the end of dinner.

As I knew that I screwed it up, I remained silent and Annoying didn't ask further.