Chapter 283 - I Just Ate My Cake And Enjoyed A Bit Of Peace- Peace I Knew Wouldn’t Last.

Once I was done showering, a bit of sizzling sound and the smell of fried fat nourished and evoked my love of meat. 

I never really had any fascination for meat. Of course, I did like steak dinners but, I was more a fan of milk than meat. Milk with chocolate to be more specific. 

I quickly put on some pants and started sniffing the air. 

The wonderful sound and smell drew me towards the kitchen: ah, what sweet aroma! I almost flew there like a certain fictional cat whose name rhymed with Bomb. 

Now, this was a new house but- even so, I couldn't help but be guided to the second floor and-

'The hell?'

The trance broke as I saw the Bunny girl slicing the meat with a machete and a smile. She had blood splattered on her hands. 

There was a massive chunk of meat by the counter. It was square in shape and the marbling was just amazing. The meat was mostly red in color but had streaks of fat going through it like crazy. 

But I knew where this meat came from, after all, just hours ago I saw similar stuff being cut right in front of me. 

"We're eating that?"

"Yes." The bunny maid said. "Since the meat is abundant, it should be good. Normally this meat is chewy but we're using a lot of vinegar and the bones shouldn't be a problem." She flashed a smile, ensuring me that the food would be great. 

But that wasn't the problem. 

The real problem was the thought- 'This guy was a person once.'

And was it me or was the bunny girl looking a bit too much like a manic serial killer. 

I gulped and backtracked. 

'Should I tell them?'

Or should I just have run?

"Um-" Before I could say a single word the geezer grabbed my collar, jumping up a little, and dragged me away. His towel threatened to be undone but still barely hung in there. 

Where the hell had he come from?

Probably from the spring. 

"Kid, food is food. You hunted it and brought it back, now to respect it, we'll eat it and use every part of it. that's how we respect the dead." 

Incidentally, he referred to the snake as it rather than he. I guess he was right.

I did kill it, so it was best I didn't say anything and just used every part of the snake. 

Still felt weird. 

***

Though I didn't want to eat, the food was actually good. 

Almost everything included meat in one way or the other. The fries, the curry, the steaks even the salad. Apparently, the meat was so pure that it could be eaten raw as long as it was thinly sliced. 

Now they did warn me that the pure part was only relevant to this snake and not others. 

The taste, however, was weirdly reminiscent of chicken. It wasn't quite exactly like chicken but it was almost there just with maybe a hint of chewiness. It felt more like eating fish than actual meat though. 

Oh well. 

I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either. I guess snake meat wasn't for me. 

Or was it that I just didn't want to eat this because of-

Yeah, I didn't want to think about it.

Anyway, somehow, I made it through lunch.

But now came the tricky part. 

What now?

I'd gone out of my way to distract myself but I still couldn't stop worrying about it all. 

I was so deep in thought, that I walked around the whole house and found myself on the roof without even realizing it. 

Sigh. 

Just staring out, staring at the debris and destruction was depressing enough but now I had to worry about my little sister too?

Actually, what if she just came out and said it?

What if I had to confront her?

What if-

More and more possibilities dangled in my mind. 

I guess things could have been worse. 'For now, let's focus on the aliens and the marriage.'

But, maybe, just maybe-

"Shouldn't you rest?" Marg walked up the stairs and stood beside me. 

The wind was blowing.

"Don't feel like it."

"Thanks for rescuing me."

"We're a team. Of course, I'd go after you. Wouldn't you have done the same?"

"Of course!" An instantaneous answer. 

Our eyes were locked on. 

The sun was still pretty intense. Standing out here probably wasn't a great idea. But the wind did help. 

"Then you don't need to thank me."

She hugged me. 

Most of the time, I hug her, but it was one of those rare times when she initiated the hugging. "Who cares if I need to or not, I'm thanking you because I'm grateful. I don't care about anything else."

Her voice was soft and I had a feeling she'd cry. Normally she was emotionless, but when the two of us were alone she'd show much more emotion… and sometimes, she'd act perhaps a bit too emotional. 

It was all for me, I was the one who was changing her. She was changing for me. 

But- I didn't want her to cry. I didn't want her to force herself either. After all, I fell in love with how she was. 

Maybe compromises were necessary, after all, compromise was just another consequence of love. But to me, she was fine the way she was. 

So, with one hand, I hugged her, with the other, I patted her head. "I didn't mean it that away." I proceeded to hug her fully. 

We just hugged and stayed silent for a few minutes. 

Our future was just starting. We couldn't afford to screw up at this point. 

"Also-" Marg looked up. "I think I'll start drawing."

I froze. "Drawing?"

***

I sparred with John in the afternoon. 

He was good.

Bam!

Shockwaves spread across. 

Use of powers wasn't allowed. 

So, it was just with fists. 

Even without his powers, his fists were heavy.

Very heavy. 

Just a single punch was enough to break bones. But I was faster than him and I dodged most of them. I was getting nicks and cuts everywhere though. 

And my punches or kicks weren't doing much damage. The guy was built like a tank. And he had martial arts training. 

"What's wrong." A flying kick!

I dodged. "Nothing." I also kicked him. I had just the basics which I learned from gramps, but it wasn't enough. 

He took it head-on, not even flinching. "You don't seem to be focused."

"Too many worries." I dodged a jab to my left and headed in for a punch. 

He came out of nowhere and asked for a bit of sparring. I hadn't done this in maybe two years?

And even back then, I never really won without my powers. Out of our 201 spars, I only like 7.

"Your concerns should be me!" He swiped at my legs and I crumbled to the ground in an instant. 

It happened in a split second but John got on top of me. "Or this would happen." He held his hand over my face. 

"And that makes John, the winner I guess?" Marcus declared his victory. 

John got off of me and started walking. "It's good that you're worrying but, try to keep yourself in the present. Who knows, if you're always unfocused, something might snatch your present away, meaning you won't have a future in the first place."

Marcus and John entered the house. 

'I know that!'

But he was right, I was worrying too much about the future and I was getting distracted way too easily. 

***

The house, the painting, the furniture, everything was good to go. Those people actually did a great job. And since we had an abundance of meat, we treated everyone. We even treated the neighbors. 

All in all, the afternoon was rather eventful. And yet, I still couldn't quite keep my head straight. The worries were still worrisome. 

But we still had meat leftover. And we had plenty of it. 

Dinner also included mostly meat but this time there was a vast range of salads and desserts. 

Apparently, Grandma made cake and pudding. Cake I loved, pudding, not to so much. 

"We're thinking of selling the fangs and the eyes should fetch quite the amount too," Dad said. 

"I'll be buying half of those," Uncle said. "Be sure to give a discount."

I gave him a rather dull stare but I didn't say anything. 

We ate normally. I mostly at the cake. Wasn't in the mood for meat. 

Strangely, dinner was kind of quiet. No one said anything. 

Everyone just ate. 

I guess no one really knew what to say in the first place. 

I hadn't seen grandma and mom argue all day. Maybe they were being a bit conservative and saving all that stuff for tomorrow. We'd have to eventually discuss what we'd do. 

Ring!

Aria and Raea came in. I thought they wouldn't actually come today, but I guess I was wrong. 

They had snow on their coats. 'It's snowing outside?'

"It's raining quite a lot outside. Very cold." Raea sat down on a seat by the fireplace and shivered. "Did-dn't think the hou-se would be-done so soon though." Her words were stutters. She couldn't talk easily. 

The bunny girl gave them both blankets and a glass of hot coffee. 

Raining?

In October?

Well, we were in the middle of the ocean, so I guess anything was possible. 

Raea's clothes didn't seem that wet. So, it was so cold that the rain froze?

I had a bad experience with hales, so I didn't really want to think about it. 

"Shouldn't you get changed first?" I said, a bit concerned. 

I was done eating. 

"Guess I'll do that." She still shivered and stood up, the coffee in hand. "Also, some guys in suits came and s-started taking over the academy."

"Wait, what? What's the headmaster doing?"

"Nothing. He's just letting them, or rather Madam Sylvia is running everything."

I didn't know why but I had a bad feeling about all that. 

For now, though, I just ate my cake and enjoyed a bit of peace- peace I knew wouldn't last.