Kei Karuizawa: Protection (Continued)

Many children rushed out of the school gate after school, Karuizawa Kei looked at their faces one by one, but she couldn't find anyone she recognized.

Among the older students, there seemed to be quite a few boys and girls around twelve or thirteen years old who were already suspected of dating. Karuizawa Kei often saw a "couple" walking together with blushing faces, secretly holding hands as they walked along the short stretch of road from the school building to the gate, concealed by their clothes and schoolbags.

Karuizawa Kei inexplicably began to wonder if Kitagawa Ryo had dated other people before without her knowledge, since Ryo seemed to be the type that girls liked.

She pouted, feeling a slight ache in her gums.

After waiting for several days, Karuizawa Kei finally stopped her futile behavior after the school discovered her truancy and reported it to her parents.

Perhaps it's not the right time to meet yet.

Karuizawa Kei comforted herself in this way, and as if deliberately shifting her focus, she began to center her life on the first problem.

To prevent future bullying at school.

Deliberately feigning weakness to gain sympathy versus deliberately being strong and intimidating.

The two flawed methods that had already been tried were quickly rejected by Karuizawa Kei.

Whether it's showing weakness or pretending to be strong, it all stems from one's own shortcomings. If one could be like Liang, one could probably avoid these pitfalls.

So Karuizawa Kei started with the most basic physical training. Her physical fitness level was rated D in the interview for Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School. Although Karuizawa Kei herself felt that this score was lower than her actual situation, it was not that much lower.

The student with the highest athletic ability in the class was Horikita Suzune, who received a B+. Karuizawa Kei had heard Kitagawa Ryo say that this was closely related to the student's highly self-disciplined lifestyle since childhood, and was the result of accumulated experience.

So, given the chance to start over, Karuizawa Kei began to seriously train herself again.

Learning, exercising, and interpersonal communication.

Four years passed in the blink of an eye. As Karuizawa Kei moved up to the upper grades, the bullying in her class finally began to show signs of happening.

Because she had prepared for a long time and made many friends, the initial bullying did not fall on Karuizawa Kei.

Karuizawa Kei knows this bullied girl because when she was bullied in her previous life, the other party didn't participate, but didn't offer any help either. This is actually the situation of most of the students in the class.

The student who was pushed to the corner was surrounded and verbally abused, while the other students were leisurely flipping through their textbooks or doing their homework, some even humming songs and tapping their feet under the table.

It was as if two worlds had suddenly separated within the same class, with everyone building walls around themselves, keeping all bullying and being bullied outside those walls.

Now, Karuizawa Kei pushed open the wall that marked the boundary line.

Karuizawa Kei knew very well that if she stood idly by, she would remain imprisoned in the past.

She was the one who knew best the consequences of bullying, and she was also the bad child who personally tasted the bitterness and then inflicted it on others.

Because human thought cannot transcend the limitations of the present, things from the past are always magnified infinitely.

That's why they yearn for a second chance, hoping to make up for their regrets.

Is this an attempt to show off?

Confusion, resentment, doubt, and questioning.

Karuizawa Kei felt the pressure of standing in front of others.

However, she knew very well that the pain Karuizawa Kei had felt in the past was far heavier than the suffering she was enduring now. The meaning of the irreversible past was to guide her to take action in the present.

Karuizawa Kei recalled the Matoba when she saw Kitagawa Ryo shield her from that Malice stab.

Even if Liang isn't standing behind her now, if she sees her again someday, she can probably proudly tell this story.

Not as the victim, nor as the perpetrator.

Instead--

"Guardians?"

Faced with Kitagawa Ryo's somewhat surprised question, Karuizawa Kei simply smiled nonchalantly and replied:

"Hmm, if I had to choose, I'd prefer the black and white guardian cat from the movie 'The Cat'."

As a musical with a fairytale-like quality, "Cats" naturally features a clash between good and evil. One plot point involves a bad cat named Macavity kidnapping the tribe's old leader, but his plot is thwarted with the help of the other cats. In this play, the guardian cat Munkustrap bravely fights the bad cat.

"But I don't recall this character having any solo singing parts."

Kitagawa Ryo frowned and pondered for a moment. One of the great features of <Cats> is that it has created a large number of cat characters with distinct personalities and lifelike appearances. The Guardian Cat is indeed an important character in the plot, but compared with other cats who have solo singing segments to showcase themselves, the Guardian Cat only appears in the chorus, and the scene where it fights the bad cat is just a simple action scene.

"But I just really like this character, Wu Ya."

Karuizawa Kei shook her restless little legs, even adding a deliberately cute interjection at the end of her sentence.

She stretched, and the nascent mountain range drew a graceful arc before Kitagawa Ryo's eyes.

"Although Liang is the director, Actor also have the right to choose their own roles, right?"

Karuizawa Kei tapped the table and teased, "That's a phrase Kitagawa Ryo used to use when he argued with the Theater Troupe leader."

"I was just doing it casually, I didn't intend for it to be anything formal."

Kitagawa Ryo twirled the pencil in his hand. He had only wanted Horikita Suzune to train the female lead of "Cat" so that Horikita Manabu could temporarily fill in for her. But as the rumor spread, it turned into a seemingly irrefutable statement that the Drama Club was planning to remake "Cat".

Furthermore, with confirmation from Student Council members that Drama Club President Kitagawa Ryo had submitted a related application, the credibility of the rumors increased even further. Kitagawa Ryo even received encouragement from the school's Chairman.

My initial intention was simply to find a legitimate reason to legally bring Hotaru to school and have someone take care of her.

With a worried expression and a sigh, Kitagawa Ryo thought for a moment and then said:

"But the Guardian Cat's outfit is black and white, and Megumi's hair color is a bit too eye-catching."

"We can tie them up then."

Karuizawa Kei shook her head, and whether unintentionally or deliberately, her long ponytail swung directly onto Kitagawa Ryo's face.

"That works too."

Kitagawa Ryo rubbed his nose; there was a very distinct shampoo scent, probably citrus.

"Actually, I think the Actor's acting skills are more important than the costumes and props when it comes to this role."

As she spoke, Karuizawa Kei took off her hair tie, and her honey-colored long hair fell smoothly over her shoulders. It was just a simple change in hairstyle, but it seemed to give her an extra touch of gentle elegance.

"I really like this kind of character who is kind to their comrades, ruthless to their enemies, and willing to stand up for others in times of danger."

[This is the version of myself I used to aspire to be.]

She silently added a sentence in her heart.

That's why it's called the Guardian Cat.

Kitagawa Ryo quickly understood Karuizawa Kei's thoughts. In the first simulation, Karuizawa Kei was willing to fabricate and exaggerate the extent of her own bullying in order to keep him, hoping to gain complete parasitism, but in the end she chose to let go.

In the second simulation, Karuizawa Kei strives to grow into a powerful self through her own design, and even though she eventually wins, it doesn't mean that Karuizawa Kei's life has been completely changed as a result.

In both simulations, she essentially played a protected, puppet-like role, perhaps better than a completely useless parasite, but still quite limited.

"Does Hui remember the first time we met at the theater?"

Kitagawa Ryo's abrupt topic startled Karuizawa Kei, but she quickly nodded:

"Of course I remember!"

"Ha..."

The soft sigh miraculously reached the ears of every audience member.

"Although we are blood relatives, we are not the same kind of people."

[It's cool!]

After a brief moment of surprise upon seeing the familiar figure on stage, Karuizawa Kei suddenly burst into tears for no apparent reason.

Even with makeup, the familiar eyebrows, eyes, mouth, nose, tone of voice, and way of sighing remain.

She had an almost extreme urge to rush onto that stage immediately.

Fortunately, because the audience seating was dimly lit, her parents didn't notice anything unusual about her, Karuizawa Kei wiped away her tears with her hand.

Karuizawa Kei had previously wondered if Kitagawa Ryo didn't exist in this world at all, or if they would never meet again.

But she waited and saw it anyway.

Liang's eyes were still as dark and deep as they had been in countless previous encounters, like a deep pool of water.

But Karuizawa Kei could only find a sense of peace in it.

She suppressed her impulse and focused all her attention on him alone.

As the story reaches its climax, Hamlet, poisoned by the sword, is carrying out his final revenge. On stage, he forces the king to drink the poisoned wine, his eyes flashing with a chilling glint of resentment, completely obscuring his previous image as a charming prince. At this moment, he is nothing more than a vengeful ghost.

"Go away, you incestuous, murderous, and cruel Danish king!"

Those were eyes devoid of any emotion, nakedly belonging to a wild beast.

"What amazing acting skills."

The father beside her unconsciously uttered a word of praise, but Karuizawa Kei just stared blankly at Hamlet seemed to be going crazy.

"Follow my mother!"

His voice was hoarse as he roared.

Karuizawa Kei didn't know much about theater, but she could guess what kind of effort a child star had to put in to deliver such a performance on stage.

So after the play ended, she pestered her father to buy her bouquets to give to the Actor.

"Wow! Today's performance was outstanding!"

Karuizawa Kei had wiped away her tears, and she showed Kitagawa Ryo her brightest smile.

"Thank you for your praise, I will continue to work hard."

This was their first conversation this time. After a brief hesitation, Karuizawa Kei heard Kitagawa Ryo's next words.

"Thank you all for coming to see this play today. The next performance is scheduled to be Ancient Greece's tragedy, Sophocles Oedipus Rex."

"The oracle of Delphi Temple was mentioned in it, and I share it with you here, as well as with myself."

"γν θι ζεαυη ν--Know yourself."

It sounded like an advertisement, but Karuizawa Kei immediately realized it was a message from the other person.

Because Kitagawa Ryo's eyes were fixed on him.

He remembered.

At that moment Karuizawa Kei felt that she had truly been "reborn".

So she made her own choice:

"I want to become a theater Actor like Ryo!"

"Theater Troupe leader, Theater Troupe leader, do you still accept apprentices?"

"Actually, I really didn't expect Hui to join the Theater Troupe at that time, let alone that Hui would persist longer than me, a half-baked amateur."

"If Liang is only a half-baked actor, then there are probably very few professional theater Actor in the world."

Karuizawa Kei covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

"There's no rush to deal with the script and Actor tomorrow. Get some rest."

Looking at her phone, it was nearly 11 p. m., Karuizawa Kei gave her instructions as she changed her shoes and prepared to leave.

"Knew."

"I'll call to check at midnight."

"Was it really necessary to go this far?"

"Because sometimes the cold can be unsettling, like last time."

Karuizawa Kei waved her hand, just as she was about to close the Kitagawa Family's door and leave.

But Kitagawa Ryo walked over in his slippers, looking somewhat worried, and said:

"It's so late, why don't you stay here for the night? Hotaru's room is empty, just tell your parents you're staying at the Theater Troupe's place."

"All right."

Karuizawa Kei nodded and re-entered the Kitagawa Family.

Then...