Everyone Else Has a System

"Well… she has fallen in love with you. What are you gonna do about that?" She dropped a bomb at me out of nowhere.

I saw Clair making a stupefied expression before slight horror became apparent on her face as she shifted her gaze between me and Emma. Emma, on the other hand, was waiting for my answer to her question.

For the next few seconds, a silence covered the entire house and after that I sighed with a little chuckle before speaking.

"I… don't know. My life is too complicated to have something like love in it," I spoke as I turned to Clair who looked like she was about to cry but I continued,"maybe after I am done with planning most of the things or maybe when I feel like I can give myself a break from all the work I need to do… I think we can work something out. Though that might take years, so I can't really say 'wait for me' either. It's up to you from here because honestly… even I don't know my take on love is right now."

Clair looked at me with a slightly complex expression before speaking,"I will wait… for as long as I can," and that made me smile a little. I nodded at her as I spoke,"sure."

I then began moving outside slowly cause I didn't have anything left to talk about or maybe I had, but talking in this situation will make things unnecessarily complicated.

"Is there… is there anything you like in a woman? Some quality or perhaps something that you find attractive?" She suddenly spoke in a fidgeting manner as she turned at me and I, hearing her question, pondered a bit.

'While boobs and booty won't be the wrong answer, I doubt it's what she is asking about,' I thought with a serious expression before speaking,"Strong ones who don't die easily."

Well, that way I won't need to worry about them all the time.

After that, I moved out of the house, leaving the sisters on their own, and going to the nearest park around. I kind of wanted to take in some fresh air and also plan my next move within the Academy.

Reaching the park, I sat on a bench as I observed people playing around with their kids and couples cheerfully laughing around. There were elders and also a few other men who were exercising. It was evening time and looking at the sun, there was still an hour before it sets.

For a few seconds, I closed my eyes and relaxed there, yawning and stretching a little. Then, all of a sudden, someone put their hands on my eyes from behind. It was a soft hand of a girl and since I detected no threat or killing intent; I guess it was someone who was playing with me… or perhaps someone who knew me?

"Clair?" I asked and the hand slowly moved back before a girl appeared in front of me from the back and sat on the bench beside me. It wasn't Clair, but… Lucy?

"What are you… doing here?" I was hella confused. How did she know about me? How did she come here? What is going on here? Did she figure out my identity that easily? Is it really that easy to figure out? Multiple questions consumed my mind as she chuckled a little before speaking,

"I have my secrets but don't worry, nobody knows about them," she spoke with a cheerful yet secretive manner. I kept looking at her and tried to recall if she had any fortune telling related ability, but no, I don't think she has anything like that.

"Well… I don't really mind sharing this if you tell me what exactly you are trying to do," she made a serious expression. Though for a 15-year-old, she was quite mature, wasn't she?

"Hmmmm… you go first then," I said, and she narrowed her eyes at me as she asked,"do I look like an idiot to you?"

"Kind of," I answered without any hesitation. To meet someone who had just beaten her older brother, when not even a day has passed and acting all familiar with him… if it wasn't idiotic, I don't know what was.

"Sigh… all right. I will tell you, I have a way of tracking people who have touched me. Though, only I know about it… and now you as well," she spoke with a slight discomfort. Maybe she didn't want to tell me about her secret… Then why tell?

"You are a complicated person, aren't you?" I asked directly, and she smiled at me as she answered,"not as much as you are."

A few moments later she continued,"beating my brother out of nowhere, warning him and the very next second telling his sister that you are going to help her out if there is any problem, as if you were looking out for his sister… if that wasn't complicated, I don't know what was."

I looked at her and pondered a little,'all right. It really was complicated when you look at it like that.'

She spoke once again,"you pique my interest, so I wanted to check who you are. Don't worry, brother isn't here, and neither is anyone else. In fact, my brother is right now training rigorously so that next time he will beat you to a pulp."

She chuckled a little on her last line, and I observed her carefully before speaking.

"Then you are an even bigger idiot. To meet someone like me all alone by yourself isn't really something anyone would do, you know?"

She immediately rejected,"I don't think so. I did research on you and character vise, you are way better than many I have known. You are 'that' person and anyone who knows about you or heard about you would never think of you as someone who will hurt the innocent… probably."

'She is too naive, isn't she?' I thought before stretching a bit more than I stood up and asked,"So what is it that you want from me? My identity? My secrets? My reasons? Which one is it?"

Watching me stand, she too stood up and spoke,"I want to say all of it but right now what I want to know the most is that look of yours that you gave me when you patted my head. That look didn't have affection but pity in it. It was filled with sadness and hope, and a relaxed and relieved smile that everything's still fine now. I saw determination too in it… just what is it that you know that made you look at me like that?"

I saw her face with a slight certainty as I didn't think she would be able to read my face to that extent with only one look that I gave her genuinely.

"I don't think I can tell right now. It's something that won't change that easily and telling you about it, might propel it in a direction that I can't handle so no, I don't think so that I will be telling about that right now," I spoke with a serious face and she, after listening everything attentively, nodded at me as she answered,

"All right. Then tell me one thing at least: are you a friend or a foe? To my brother, I mean. I think your stance towards me is already pretty clear."

"Foe probably. I am not gonna kill him or get in his way of becoming strong, but I am gonna make things difficult for him in other ways," I spoke out my heart and looking at her, she wasn't really happy with it.

"Is there anything I can do to change that?" She asked, and I pondered a little before coming to a conclusion as I spoke,"I don't think so you can."

After that I began walking away from there and asked one last thing to her," why don't you join the Academy this year?"

She was someone who could easily get into the Academy with her powers, but for some reason, she wasn't joining. So I thought, if she joins the Academy, it would be easier for me to protect her there.

"I don't think my family would agree, in fact they would strongly disagree," she spoke, and I scratched my head in confusion again as I spoke,"but you have me now, don't you? I think it is fine."

She looked at me with a confused gaze and I just spoke,"join the Academy. If someone from your family creates trouble for you, you can call me. While you don't want your brother to be in trouble, I think it would be fine if it was me, wouldn't it? Plus, I don't think I can be beaten down that easily, so that's fine as well."

Then, I vanished from there without much thought. While she still knew about my identity… I don't think she would tell anyone. The fact that she didn't even tell her brother about it, the only one close to her right now. I doubt she would tell anyone else about anything at all.

'If she really joined the Academy… it will be really a plus for me,' I thought as I reached the park just on the other side of the previous one and began calculating about the future once again.