Good news: Miyamoto Rei finally found someone she could talk to.
Bad news: this person seemed to be a fake human.
Rei was completely speechless.
'I'm already so pitiful. Shouldn't you comfort me under normal circumstances?'
Although Su Yan couldn't read minds, he could more or less guess what she was thinking based on her expression.
As for comforting her?
Su Yan felt she was asking too much.
He wasn't her father, and he wasn't even close to her. Why should he comfort her?
If it were a woman related to him, like Marikawa Shizuka or Busujima Saeko, who was in a bad mood, he would certainly offer his comfort.
But as for someone like Miyamoto Rei—someone he felt nothing for and barely knew...
Su Yan felt that he'd rather spend that spare time practicing his Nen.
Nice guys could go queue behind the dogs.
Miyamoto Rei gritted her teeth and answered him, "No!"
"Is that so? That's a shame," Su Yan said regretfully.
With that, he pushed the extra bento toward Miyamoto Rei, then rested his hands behind his head, lying down and closing his eyes to enter his meditative state.
Even though Rei knew she had no reason to blame him...
She was still so frustrated!
Thus, she could only secretly curse Su Yan in her heart: 'You'll never find a partner like this!'
At the thought of this, she suddenly felt much better.
After a brief moment of mental gymnastics, the girl grabbed the bento box Su Yan had pushed over.
She decided to turn her frustration into an appetite.
"By the way, Miyamoto-san, remember to wash the bento box before returning it to me."
Just as she was about to open the lid, that annoying voice reached her ears again.
"I don't need you to remind me!"
Faint green veins bulged on the back of her hand as she gripped her chopsticks tightly.
Rei took a deep breath and opened the lid. The food inside was cold, and besides the pork, the other vegetables looked completely foreign to her.
'I'll just make do with a few bites.'
The girl nonchalantly picked up a clump of rice and side dishes and put them in her mouth.
Her eyes instantly lit up.
'Eh? What is this?'
What was this magical flavor? It felt as if the food was exploding on her taste buds.
Even though it was cold, it was unexpectedly delicious.
Weren't these sliced strips green peppers—the vegetable Japanese people hated most?
How could green peppers be made into such a delicious dish?
And this? What kind of vegetable were these long, thin, solid-looking beans?
Everything was so good.
Dropping her reserved eating habits, Rei pressed her pink lips to the edge of the bento box and shoveled rice into her mouth with her chopsticks.
As she shoveled food down, she couldn't help but look up at Su Yan's handsome face.
'Does this annoying guy usually eat such good food?'
Before long, Rei finished the entire bento.
The girl stroked her now rounded belly, a look of distress on her face.
'Oh no. I ate so much at once; I'll have to increase my workout later.'
Since both Su Yan and Marikawa Shizuka were Nen users, their appetites were significantly larger than average.
Therefore, the portion Su Yan prepared for Shizuka was actually enough for two normal people.
In other words, Rei had unknowingly eaten more than twice her usual lunch portion.
'Whatever, let me just get fat. Nobody cares about me anyway.'
Rei thought self-destructively.
Soon, she followed Su Yan's example, finding a comfortable spot nearby to rest after eating.
Watching the azure sky, Rei let her thoughts drift and soon fell asleep.
After a while.
Su Yan, who was in the middle of his training, suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes to see Rei's flaxen-colored head.
'What the hell? Are you using me as a stand-in?'
Su Yan immediately spoke up, "Miyamoto-san."
Rei jolted awake from her deep sleep. Seeing Su Yan so close, she hurriedly scrambled back.
A crimson blush flooded her cheeks. She felt her face was as hot as if it had just been pulled out of lava.
She peeked up at Su Yan's position.
He hadn't moved at all; he was still in the same spot she remembered before falling asleep.
Which meant that she had unconsciously leaned toward him after falling asleep.
But how could this happen?
Even with her childhood friend, Komuro Takashi, her physical contact had been limited to simple gestures.
Resting her head on a boy's shoulder like that was something she hadn't even done in her dreams.
Yet for some reason, the feeling while she was asleep had been so comfortable.
It was as if she were in her mother's embrace—warm and filled with a sense of security.
All the negative emotions she had accumulated over the past few days seemed to have been swept away.
The more she thought about it, the weirder it felt.
However, she could never understand that it was actually because Su Yan was practicing his Nen.
Everyone in the world slowly emits a tiny amount of life energy over time.
This is something most people cannot control.
And "Nen" refers to the method of controlling this "Aura," the life energy that constantly leaks out of the body, through training.
Keeping the Aura within the body makes Nen users significantly healthier and stronger than ordinary people.
At the same time, the quality of their life continues to improve, allowing them to remain youthful.
In the Chimera Ant arc of Hunter x Hunter, the Ants reached a hellish conclusion.
The nutritional value of one Nen user is equivalent to that of 2,000 ordinary people.
Therefore, Rei's unconscious move toward Su Yan while sleeping was essentially a biological instinct—a craving for the evolution of life's essence.
"I know I'm handsome and it makes you lose control, but you don't have to go this far," Su Yan said with a strange expression.
"Just to be clear, if you want to sleep with me, I wouldn't necessarily say no. But if you're expecting me to fall in love with you, you're out of luck."
"Being casual partners to satisfy physical needs is fine since you're decent-looking, but as for being a couple... sorry, I'm not that kind of person."
"I did not! And who wants to sleep with you?! You jerk! Go to hell!!" Furious, Rei finally couldn't help but raise her leg and stomp toward him.
Although her strength couldn't possibly hurt him, Su Yan wasn't some masochist who liked being stepped on. Why would he let her stomp on him?
He reached out, caught her foot, and gave it a light push.
Thud.
Losing her balance, the girl immediately landed on her butt.
"Ow..."
Rei stood up and rubbed her rear.
This man was simply heartless.
She gave him a resentful look. Seeing that she couldn't win, she grabbed the bento box and turned to leave.
Su Yan ignored her and continued his training.
In the blink of an eye, school was over.
It was time to go to the Kendo Club to find Busujima Saeko.