Going Too Far

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

A delicate, petulant female voice rang out. Yuehua Ai looked up to see a girl around his own age glaring at him from the ground.

"Uh... sorry about that!"

Yuehua Ai scratched his head in embarrassment. He had been lost in thought while walking down the street and truly hadn't expected to bump into anyone. He reached out a hand, intending to help the girl up.

"Smack!"

The girl didn't appreciate the gesture at all, swatting his hand away. She pushed herself up, turned to brush the dust off her clothes, and then whipped her head around to fire a barrage at him.

"Do you even have eyes? I was standing here perfectly fine and you just come and crash into me. Did you do that on purpose? Don't think just because I'm a girl you can bully me!"

"Stop, stop, stop, stop!"

Yuehua Ai called out hurriedly, making a 'time-out' gesture with his hands.

"Hmph!" The girl ceased her aggressive tirade, though her gaze remained fixed on him, piercing and sharp.

Yuehua Ai's eye twitched. Seeing her retract the finger she had been pointing at his nose, he wiped some non-existent spit off his face and let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, even though it was his fault, her incessant, relentless nagging was starting to get on his nerves.

It was fortunate that she was a pretty little girl; if it had been some other brat, Yuehua Ai wouldn't have cared who was at fault first. If anyone dared to act so unruly in front of him, he would have taught them a lesson with his fists long ago!

"Alright, it's my fault. I apologize, I repent, I don't have eyes. But then again, you were walking this way too—didn't you see me? And what were you doing here in the first place?"

The girl had looked smug when Yuehua Ai first conceded, but when he asked his follow-up question, her face turned awkward.

"You... none of your business!" Her face flushed slightly as she huffed.

How bizarre!

Yuehua Ai muttered to himself. Even though the girl was cute, he didn't care for her unreasonable and clingy personality. Just as he was about to bid her farewell and leave, he caught sight of a sign on the shop next to them: 'Sticky Rice Dumpling Shop'.

"A dumpling shop?!"

Recalling the moment he bumped into her, Yuehua Ai suddenly understood. When he had been wandering down the street lost in thought, the girl had happened to be staring blankly at the shop's display window. With one of them daydreaming and the other lost in thought, it would have been strange if they hadn't collided.

Seeing him suddenly ignore her, the girl pouted with a sense of grievance. Just as she decided to walk away, she saw the handsome boy staring at the shop's sign with a look of sudden realization.

"Whoosh—" The girl's face turned bright red; clearly, she had remembered her own dazed state from earlier.

"Hey!"

"W-what?"

"Were you trying to buy sticky rice dumplings earlier?"

"...Hmph, as if..."

Thinking of her empty pockets, the girl forced the words out through gritted teeth.

"Oh!"

Yuehua Ai responded casually. Seeing her embarrassment, he cast a look of pity at her, as if she were a weakling.

"Hey, what kind of look is that? So arrogant! Didn't your parents teach you how to apologize to people? You ill-mannered brat!"

Yuehua Ai's look seemed to insult the girl to her core, and she instantly bristled.

Parents...

The girl's retort made Yuehua Ai frown inwardly. Although her words weren't particularly malicious, the mention of parents still made him feel very uncomfortable.

This foul temper, ready to bring up family at the slightest provocation, didn't match her adorable appearance at all!

Muttering to himself, Yuehua Ai thought about the girl's earlier behavior, and the blueprint for a prank began to form in his mind.

Children are only cute when they're well-behaved. A naughty little thing like you needs to be properly disciplined. Today, I'll teach you an unforgettable lesson in moral education!

He walked up to the shop window, tapped on the glass to summon the clerk, and pointed casually at several items.

"Give me four skewers of sticky rice dumplings, four pieces of this red bean cake, and this looks good too, give me some of that..."

Watching Yuehua Ai point and order with the air of a big spender, the girl stood behind him, filled with envy. Seeing her favorite dumplings and red bean cakes being packed into a bag, she swallowed hard, unable to help herself.

"Here, take it!" Yuehua Ai tossed the entire bag to the girl, though he said the word 'take' so softly it sounded like a mere filler.

"Ah... you're giving me... all of this?!"

The girl opened her mouth in surprise, but Yuehua Ai had already turned his back and didn't respond.

"He's actually so sincere; I guess he's not such a bad person after all!" the girl whispered to herself, her eyes curving into crescents as she looked at the bag.

Unable to resist her cravings, she carefully took a skewer of dumplings from the bag and bit into one.

She couldn't help but let out a soft hum of delight, looking like a cat being petted by its owner.

"Hey... what are you doing?"

Yuehua Ai turned around, feigning 'shock' and astonishment, and watched as the girl's body suddenly stiffened.

"T-this... this... no... you..."

"What with the 'this' and 'that'? I just asked you to hold my things for a second while I checked if the shopkeeper gave me the right change. I didn't expect you to just start eating my food... hmph!"

"I... I didn't... I thought you were giving it to me... I asked you earlier..."

The girl's frame trembled slightly. She felt a sour ache in her heart and bit her lip hard, struggling to stammer out a response. The dumpling she hadn't yet swallowed now felt like a burning coal in her mouth.

"What did you expect? Heh!"

Yuehua Ai reached out and snatched the bag from the girl, then pulled the skewer of dango she had bitten into right out of her hand.

"Here."

The girl stood there, stunned and motionless. Yuehua Ai pulled her hand over, flattened her palm, and casually fished a banknote from his pocket, slapping it into her hand.

"This is payment for helping me carry my things. Now you don't have to eat my food; you can go buy your own!"

No sooner had the words left Yuehua Ai's lips than the girl trembled violently.

Large, heavy tears fell like glass beads, pattering down as the girl's face blurred in an instant.

"I didn't do it on purpose! I don't want your money!"

She threw the banknote to the ground, glaring at Yuehua Ai with stubborn defiance while tears streamed down her face.

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other in silence, but the sense of grievance and resentment in the girl's eyes was so piercing that even though Yuehua Ai tried to keep his expression indifferent, he was in the wrong and felt his resolve crumbling.

"Hey, don't cry! I was just joking with you..."

Looking at the girl's aggrieved, stubborn, and innocent expression, Yuehua Ai felt a sudden tightness in his chest; the urge to tease her had vanished. He really had taken the joke too far. Seeing her act so headstrong and willful, he had only wanted to mess with her a little!

He cursed himself inwardly, thinking about how he had actually stooped to bickering with a little girl over a trifle, and then committed such a malicious act to tease her. In an instant, Yuehua Ai felt like he was lower than a beast.

"Don't cry, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have teased you..."

Seeing Yuehua Ai apologize, the girl's defiance and stubbornness vanished, replaced by an overwhelming sense of grievance that made her tears flow even more fiercely.

"Jerk! Bad person!"

She spat the words at Yuehua Ai, wiped her eyes bitterly, and turned to run away.

Yuehua Ai was consumed by self-reproach. Seeing her turn to leave, he grabbed her arm.

"Let go of me! You jerk!" The girl struggled, but she felt his hand clamped onto her wrist like a pair of iron shackles.

"You..." The girl's tears stopped, her grievance transforming into a burst of rage.

"Go to hell!"

The girl turned sideways and delivered a fierce kick toward Yuehua Ai.

"Ah!"

With a startled cry, the girl's leg was blocked by Yuehua Ai's knee. He then twisted and pulled her arm while hooking his leg behind her knee.

The girl was pressed back against Yuehua Ai. One of his hands reached around her front to easily pin her wrists, while his legs blocked hers, leaving her unable to exert any force.

"What exactly do you want?"

Her struggles were in vain, and tears began to well up in her eyes again.

"I'm sorry. I saw how cute you were and couldn't help but want to tease you. Anyone would want to get to know a pretty girl like you, so I thought I'd use a joke to break the ice. Who knew my brain would short-circuit and I'd go too far, forgetting to consider your feelings..."

After the girl calmed down, Yuehua Ai whispered softly in her ear. In truth, whether it was a girl or a woman, praising and complimenting them was always the best way to make them happy or shift their focus.

If she were older, he would have talked about liking or loving her. That was the female psyche; even if they didn't accept your feelings, they were often tolerant of those who showed interest in them.

"..."

Hearing him call her cute and say he wanted to get to know her, the girl felt incredibly shy, and her face began to heat up again...

"You... let go of me first... I... I won't leave..."

The girl lowered her head and pleaded.

"Mm!"

Seeing that the girl had calmed down, Yuehua Ai responded and released her. Watching her make no further attempt to run, instead standing in place, shyly lowering her head and twisting her fingers, Yuehua Ai couldn't help but mock himself internally.

It was worth it to say such nauseating things against my own conscience...

"By the way, what's your name?" Following the principle of seeing his act through to the end, Yuehua Ai asked the girl with a smile.

"Shouldn't you state your own name before asking someone else's?"

Her tone was slightly resentful; she was still holding a grudge over his earlier malicious behavior!

"Fine, fine, fine. My name is Yuehua Ai. You can call me Ai, Ai-kun, Ai-chan, whatever you like."

"Ai?!"

Good heavens, the nicknames he suggested are so intimate! We don't even know each other, and he's asking me to call him that. What a thick-skinned...

Yuehua Ai had no idea that his attempt to appear friendly had earned him a reputation for being thick-skinned. Truth be told, due to the disconnect between his mind and body, he really didn't know how to interact with children. When he first met Yahiko and the others, he hadn't spoken much, and it wasn't until he met Jiraiya and found common ground in training that their communication had increased.

"Now it's your turn to tell me your name!"

"...Mm."

"My name is Anko. Mitarashi... Anko..."

The girl bit her lip, acting coy, and replied in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.