Sweeter than Cake [MxM] [English Version]

07 / Threat

"Rui, Rui, Rui!"

Vanilla's voice, which should have been an alto voice, turned into a soprano when she called my name from the fence of the house which is about ten meters from my door.

I was locking the door of the house and Vanilla came over to me by jumping up and down while spreading her arms. Just as Vanilla was about to jump at me for a hug, I held her forehead with my right hand. Her cheerful face turned dull in an instant.

"Awww! It hurts...."

"Stop hugging me like that," I said, walking away from Vanilla, who was busy checking her forehead in front of my window.

"Luckily my foundation didn't smudge. Hey, don't leave me!" Vanilla shouted as she ran after my steps, which were already beside the back door of the car on the right.

I quickly got into the car and locked the door from the inside. Not long after that, Vanilla tried to open the back door of the car from the outside and then banged on the glass in the hope that I would open the door for her. I didn't budge at all for the purpose. And finally, the girl gave up and opened the front door of the car.

Due to his own fault, Vanilla did not manage to get a seat in the back seat, so she had to sit next to the driver's seat. Vanilla turned around and looked at me and Lynx in turn with annoyed faces. I looked at Lynx and he seemed to be smiling with satisfaction.

"Argh... you guys are really annoying."

"Pick me up like that often so you get the most comfortable seat in the front, okay?" I said and laughed at Vanilla as she looked at me through the car's front mirror.

"I won't."

Vanilla pretended to look like a child at the time she was nagging, but after that I could tell that she was taking every conversation I had with Lynx seriously. If I didn't know the purpose of Vanilla's appearance, I might assume that this girl had bipolar tendencies.

"Wow... you got someone else to do your homework," I said as I checked Lynx's chemistry notebook and couldn't find Lynx's writing on her last assignment.

"I had something to do yesterday," Lynx said casually.

Before putting the Lynx's book into my bag, I caught Vanilla looking at me. Then the girl pretended to continue adding powder to her face.

"Which flavor?" I asked when I saw Lynx having something in his mouth.

"Grape."

"You guys are really that close huh..," Vanilla said as she turned around and saw I was getting closer to Lynx. Then Lynx fed me a candy that had the same flavor variant as the candy he ate. "Ah, yeah. No need to ask anyway."

*****

During the shift subjects in class tenth-C, students were still curious about Vanilla by asking many questions. Vanilla answered one by one jokingly and with ambiguous answers. In accordance with what Lynx said yesterday, Vanilla was indeed smart enough to twist the facts. The girl was really good at leading the conversation in the direction she wanted.

I got up from my seat and couldn't help but pass by Vanilla's seat because the back door of Class tenth-C was closer to where I wanted to go. Vanilla turned to me, put her hand to her lips and seemed to be throwing a kiss at me through the air. All the students who were gathered at Vanilla's table cheered at Vanilla's behavior.

"Woooow, even Vi can seduce Rui, who only opened his heart to Lynx!"

"Someone saw the three of you getting out of the same car. It's true, you two are close to each other."

"How close is this relationship? Could it be..."

I walked past the crowd of students cheering me on without saying a word and stepped out of the classroom. I didn't have energy to reply to them. After all, replying to those trivial things was Vanilla's job here.

At the change of class, some tenth graders were noisy in this third floor corridor because the teachers had not yet entered the classroom. There were also students who left the classroom and walked towards the same destination as me: the toilets that were east of the Johnson High School building.

As I casually walked down the corridor, three male students I didn't recognize came down from the fourth floor and blocked my way. One of the three students was the one who once had bumped his shoulder against mine while walking and had given a suspicious smile when we looked at each other the previous week.

"What's the matter?"

I coldly asked the big man with short green hair named Gilbert. Gilbert and his two friends are tenth grade students who often skip class and fight with thugs outside the school environment.

"Hi, maid of the Olivine family. It seems that the maid is not with her master at the moment," Gilbert said in a slurred voice, and blurred my gender deliberately. I looked at Gilbert's face with a lazy look, then looked for another way to get past the three big creatures blocking my path. "Hey! Did you ignore what I said?" Gilbert shifted his body and didn't let me pass.

"I don't understand what you're saying, so you must have misunderstood," I said, looking back at Gilbert's irritated face. "Although the school rules regarding absenteeism are still too lax, the rules regarding beatings in school can get you expelled. I'm just reminding you."

Gilbert's face grew even more furious as he held back his right fist, but I was able to walk past the three without any further resistance. If I was outside the school in the same condition as before, I wouldn't be able to get past them all right.

"Calm down... calm down... nothing will happen," I mumbled to myself as I washed my face in the sink.

I looked at my own shaken face while making sure there were no other students in the toilet. It wasn't the attitude of Gilbert and his two friends that scared me, but...

I took out a sheet of HVS paper that had been folded to one eighth of its original size. After being widened to the initial size, it was seen that several articles from newspapers were pasted using glue on the paper. There are three photos there and those are all photos of someone committing suicide. On the blank space which was not pasted with newspaper articles was written in red ink: "Before this we were very loyal to the Olivine family."

After reading the most striking writing on the paper, I skimmed through the articles briefly. Not long after, I heard footsteps from outside the men's restroom and made me quickly fold the paper and put it back in my trouser pocket. I pretended to wash my face when a few students passed my back and walked out of the toilet.

I had found the paper when I took the book from my locker this morning. The threatening paper was wrapped in a white envelope with a striking red inscription: "Olivine's secret."

At first, I just thought Olivine's secret title was just a prank from the female students who wanted to get Lynx acquainted through me. I casually opened the envelope and cold sweat immediately dripped from my temples afterwards. At that time, I immediately folded the paper back and put it in my pants pocket before Lynx realized my unusual behavior.

I washed my hands and dried with the dryer slowly as my mind tried to understand what I had seen before. Three people were reported to have committed suicide because they could not pay their debts. But there was another article pasted on the paper and it was reported that the three had sufficient funds and that the police had covered up their real motive.

Was this threat also given to Reinhard Olivine? Why am I the one being threatened? It was as if the words: "Before this we were loyal to the Olivine family" were shown to me.

I tried to shake off all my negative thoughts that led to the Olivine family. While walking back to class, I put on my handphone and started typing on the screen: "Gilbert and his two friends are suspicious. Maybe you can find out more about them." While my eyes were still on the cellphone screen, the other corner of my vision caught a figure who was silent for a long time in front of class tenth-C.

"Hey ..," I greeted lightly a girl with long black hair who was observing the contents of class 10-C from behind the glass door.

"Oh, hi... Rui," said Manna, while trying to smile to hide her surprise. "I thought you skipped today... your seat was taken by someone else, didn't you?"

"Ah, yes. Vanilla takes my seat. Do you want to share something in my class?"

I asked, because looking at the pile of papers Manna was holding. Seeing that the thickness of the stack of paper is almost the same as two reams of paper, it means that the mass that Manna's hands bear will be more than five kilograms. "Give me the paper, I know that much paper is not light."

"Ah... actually I'm transferring documents from the student council room to the teacher's room. I just stopped by to see your class," said Manna while shaking her head.

"Then I'll take it all the way to the teacher's room."

I gave an offer as I extended my hands towards Manna. Manna looked at me for a while then handed a pile of papers into my hand. She thanked me with a slight bow and smile before we began to walk side to side.

"That vanilla really is Lynx's future wife?" Manna asked as we walked side by side towards the 2nd floor.

"Yeah... I think so. I don't really understand that stuff either."

"I thought you two were very close. But you also don't know the truth of the rumors circulating."

I just responded to Manna's words with a small laugh. Even though Manna questioned my response by her expression, I didn't intend to continue discussing that matter. It was too personal for me to share with anyone.

Arriving in front of the teacher's room, Manna opened the door for me and showed me an empty table so I could put a pile of papers there. Manna bowed respectfully to the teachers there and the teacher greeted Manna cordially. Apart from being the student council secretary, apparently Manna is also quite well known among the teachers.

"Thanks for helping me, Rui. In exchange, I'll treat you to lunch later," Manna said as the two of us walked down the corridor leading to the stairs to the third floor.

"I only brought things. Why should I be treated?"

"Then... let's have lunch together. OK?" asked Manna while letting out a sweet smile that made it hard for me to refuse. "When you're in doubt it means you're considering it. Isn't that right?"

"Ah... okay," I said, unable to refute Manna's statement.

"I'll come to your class at lunchtime. Wait for me then," said Manna while waving her hand at me, then she walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

*****

"So I didn't see you having lunch with Lynx because Manna, the student council secretary, asked you to have lunch together?" Kai asked me while we were on the basketball court during physical education (PE) subject after recess.

"Yes.. that's it," I answered half-heartedly.

Kai was straightening his legs on the floor, bending his body with both hands parallel to the direction of his legs and body. As a partner in this stretching activity, I am tasked with pressing and holding Kai's shoulders so that his body becomes more flexible. Kai and I could discuss Lynx because the PE was one of those moments when Lynx and I weren't together. Lynx has never attended PE since childhood. Either he was in class or somewhere else right now.

"What are you guys talking about?" Kai asked in a voice that rose and fell as his focus was divided between stretching and talking to me.

"Just telling our respective lives," I answered simply.

"Come on.. tell me more. You should be proud of a sweet model student like Manna taking you out to lunch like that."

"Why should I be proud? A lunch like that is nothing special at all. Besides, you know how much she likes Lynx."

"Maybe she actually likes you, Rui. At first she pretended to be acquainted with Lynx, even though actually she wanted to approach you. It's good, isn't it? Aw..."

Kai straightened up while holding his head. I can't wait to smack Kai in the head after he utters that groundless theory.

"Priit..." The gym teacher's whistle sounded signaling it was time for Kai and I to switch roles in this stretching activity.

"You have to consider the opportunity, Rui. I... heard a strange rumor regarding the Olivine family," Kai said as he whispered in my ear as he was about to press my shoulder against the floor. Spontaneously, I held my body and turned to Kai who was behind me.

"Rumors?"

"Yes... last night someone sent an article links to teachers at school about the incident of a girl committing suicide several years ago. The article gave the opinion that the background of the suicide was linked to the Olivine family. Several students had gotten the link, but a few minutes later the link can't be accessed again," Kai said with a serious tone. "Maybe it's time you hooked up with the girl you like instead of running into Lynx all the time."

"You two! Once again you guys chat, get out of this field!" the PE teacher shouted at me and Kai from ten meters away.

"Forgive us!" Kai shouted at the PE teacher while clasping his hands together.

The suicide case linked to the Olivine family had been spread? What actually happened? I know for sure that there are many people who want to take down Reinhard Olivine's position at the top. But were the article that Kai said and the article that was shown to me really not just a threat?

I lowered my body towards the floor while still thinking. Lynx's secret. The secret of the Olivine family was shown to me in a paper containing an article. The article that disappeared in a flash last night. Are they connected to each other or are they just coincidences?

My thoughts stopped for a moment because suddenly the sound of the PE teacher's laughter boomed from another part of the basketball court, where the girls were doing the same stretching as the boys. The PE teacher seemed to be teasing Vanilla by giving her an example of stretching. It was clear that Vanilla was also looking for attention by wearing a tight-fitting tracksuit with flexible movements that caught the male students' -including PE teacher's- mischievous eyes.

"Argh.. that p*****t. His behavior is very different when he's with female students," said Kai, looking at the PE teacher with annoyance. "But her body is indeed attractive, isn't it? I didn't think a child our age could have a body like Vanilla."

While the boys were becoming unfocused about the arrival of a new student during practice time, I was busy wondering what the connection between the rumors and Vanilla's increasingly conspicuous appearance had to do with it. When I was questioning about Vanilla, she just looked innocently at me from a distance and waved her hand with a big smile.