Bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood (Please Vote!)

Bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood (Please Vote!)

Library.

"Is there a problem?"

Juno said casually as she read a hefty tome.

"Heh heh."

Adam, who had been sneaking glances at her, gave an embarrassed laugh. Though reason told him to ignore it, his emotions made him unable to curb his curiosity.

"Why are you reading a medical treatise?"

"Interest."

Juno looked up and smiled faintly. "Maybe we'll both become doctors someday."

"We?"

Adam's mouth twitched.

"Won't we?"

Juno's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Isn't your goal to become a doctor someday?"

"How did you know?"

Adam was utterly shocked. He had never told anyone about that dream.

"I guessed."

Juno blinked.

"..."

Adam's face darkened as he glared at her suspiciously.

"All right, I confess."

Tilting her head, Juno smiled. "Maybe I'm just good at observing people. You know~"

"What do I know?"

Adam had wanted to ask, but seeing the meaningful look in Juno's eyes and hearing her suggestive words, he swallowed the question. Someone like her really was good at observation and acted with considerable caution.

Before she had approached him, she had probably observed and studied him for quite some time. Though he had never told anyone about his future goals, he had looked up his target universities. It was hardly strange if she had secretly seen that.

Wasn't she studying medical treatises already...

Thinking of that, Adam felt a chill run through him. Reason completely suppressed emotion. He forced a smile at Juno, lowered his head, and went back to reading his textbook.

"Aren't you curious why I'm reading this already?"

Unfortunately, once he lost interest, Juno became interested instead. She shoved the massive medical book right in front of Adam.

"Fuck!"

Adam immediately saw an image that made his balls ache: a step-by-step diagram for the Sunflower Manual's introductory procedure.

"Your interests really are unusual. This isn't a beginner's medical book, is it?"

"I'm just browsing."

Juno smiled. "It isn't some advanced surgery. Farmers at countless livestock farms around the world can perform it skillfully. It's very simple. And don't you think this procedure is cool?"

"Cool?"

Adam felt wave after wave of chill creep over him.

"Of course."

With a grin, Juno said, "Compared to wilderness survival or selling cookies, this is the kind of skill Girl Scouts should learn. Oh, no—not just Girl Scouts. Boy Scouts too. After all, there are plenty of perverts in society. Boys need to know how to protect themselves when they're out as well!"

Scouts were a civilian organization open to children from six to twenty. They were somewhat like military training, but unlike the short-term physical conditioning of military training, Scouts could participate year-round and had dedicated instructors teaching all kinds of life skills.

The most iconic example was the groups of uniformed children often seen in American TV shows, going around selling homemade cookies.

When Sheldon and Leonard helped Penny retrieve her TV from her ex-boyfriend, they were stopped outside his apartment building before meeting him. They declared fiercely that, with their IQs and heights of 187 and 173 centimeters, they could definitely crack the code and get inside. Then a group of children easily entered the code and got in, allowing the two geniuses Sheldon and Leonard to enter—only for them to end up humiliated after having their pants pulled down. Those children were Scouts.

"We do need to protect ourselves."

Adam nodded in agreement, but his body unconsciously shifted farther away, trying to put some distance between himself and Juno.

If he were not still craving the Wisdom Points Juno could bring him, he would have hidden far, far away already.

Juno was too damn formidable. Better let her stand there with her hands on her hips by herself. His world had no room for someone that damn formidable.

When classes ended that afternoon, the regular curriculum was over, but all kinds of group activities began.

Football, basketball, and other sports were already in full swing on the field, while cheerleading, choir, and other activities gathered in their respective classrooms.

The four of them habitually prepared to head to Adam's basement to play in their band.

"Adam!"

A radiant devil stopped the four of them.

"Hi, Gretchen~"

Before Adam could speak, Emmett could no longer contain the primordial power within him. He struck a flirtatious pose and greeted her.

"Hi."

Gretchen glanced at him, frowned, then looked at Adam. She gave Emmett a perfunctory response before beaming at Adam. "Coming to my place?"

"You've come around?"

Adam smiled faintly.

Little Sheldon: ⊙▽⊙

Juno: ←_←

Emmett: -_-||

"Mm."

Gretchen nodded vigorously.

The night before, Adam had told Gretchen about his views on relationships. It had shocked and displeased her, since what she valued most was the vanity that came with being the girlfriend of the school's famous rock star.

But after one night, her thoughts had changed. She realized vanity was bad, and there were many other wonderful things in the world.

Studying could make people happy too!

"Later."

Adam glanced at Gretchen's sports car parked at the school gate and politely declined.

He did not want people to think he was a gigolo. How could he get into her car in full view of everyone?

"All right."

Gretchen's expression stiffened, but when she looked at Adam's utterly ordinary face, her negative emotions instantly vanished. She gave him an ambiguous smile, got into the sports car, left behind a sentence, and drove away with the engine roaring.

"I'll wait for you~"

"Shit!"

Watching the sports car disappear, Emmett complained, "This is your doing nothing? What does Gretchen want you to go over for? Don't tell me it's tutoring."

"Oh, you knew?"

Adam looked at Emmett in surprise, wearing an expression that said, How are you so clever? You guessed it right away.

"It really is tutoring?"

Emmett gaped. "A girl like Gretchen cares about studying? Stop kidding around!"

As the only daughter of the local richest man, she had been standing at most people's finish line from the moment she was born. Any prestigious university would welcome her with open arms if she wanted. The fact that she attended a public high school made it obvious that she had no desire to study at all.

"People can change."

Adam said solemnly, "I didn't like studying before either, but look at me now. Gretchen wants to improve herself. As her classmates, we should support her more!"

"Bullshit!"

Emmett said sourly, the Lemon Spirit in him flaring up. "She likes you. You two must be hooking up. Only a ghost would believe you're together to study!"

"I believe Adam!"

Juno smiled.

"See?"

Adam spread his hands at Emmett. "Looks like our band practice time will have to be shortened from now on. Let's hurry up."

With that, he pedaled his bicycle toward home.

"Juno, you don't actually believe him, do you?"

Emmett prattled on. "He's definitely going to..."

"There are many kinds of courses, you know~"

Juno said leisurely, instantly leaving Emmett choking on his words.

Indeed, American high schools offered all kinds of courses. Many were plain and boring, but someone was bound to like them.

"Bullshit!"

Having been enlightened, Emmett blurted out another classic curse.