The thing I feared didn’t happen. Athena blushed and nodded lightly, saying, "Fine, I’ll accept you as my little brother."
With that, she closed her eyes and clasped her hands in front of her chest, chanting in a low voice.
Slowly, golden light began to emanate from her hands, but it wasn’t blinding. It was as if the light had been frozen in Athena’s hands.
The golden light gradually dimmed, and then an ancient-looking bracelet could be seen floating in the air, still emitting a faint golden glow.
At that moment, Athena opened her eyes and gracefully extended her hand. The bracelet obediently floated into Athena’s hand, resting there quietly, gradually ceasing to glow.
Athena smiled at me, standing there dumbfounded, and said, "You’re called Fuitsu, right? Come here."
I walked over, and Athena said to me, "Hold out your hand."
I quickly extended my hand. I watched as her fingers flexed and gave a light flick, and a drop of blood floated out from my hand, yet I felt no pain at all.
The blood floated in the air, slowly drifted toward the bracelet, and finally dripped onto it.
At that moment, the bracelet began to tremble violently, as if trying to break free from something, and once again emitted an extremely dazzling golden light.
I quickly covered my eyes with my arm. It seemed like a long time passed before the golden light dissipated.
When I lowered my arm, I found that the ancient-looking bracelet had somehow already been put on my left wrist, clinging tightly to my skin.
I examined the bracelet carefully. It didn’t look like any metal I knew. Its entire surface had a luster similar to bronze, and on it were full-body images of eight women, so detailed that even their eyebrows and the texture of their clothing were clearly visible. I even found a beauty mark on one of the women’s faces. It was incredibly lifelike.
Two of the faces were very familiar—one was clearly that Kavuri and the other was Athena in front of me.
I couldn’t find any weld seam on the bracelet, yet it was firmly attached to my wrist. I really didn’t know how it had been put on. It was truly magical!
While I was examining the bracelet, Athena spoke: "The images of these eight women are the people who live inside it. Kavuri and I also live inside. If you want to see me in the future, just silently recite in your mind ’Goddess of Wisdom, possess me,’ and that will do."
I looked at Athena, whose face was slightly red, and asked, "Are they all goddesses?"
"Except for that damned Kavuri, who is the Vampire Queen, the rest are all goddesses."
"Ah... Oh my god! There really are vampires? Seven goddesses including you? How did you all end up inside this thing?"
I was so startled that I looked at the bracelet on my left wrist and shrieked, my voice exceeding 100 decibels.
Athena covered her ears and looked at me with dissatisfaction: "What are you yelling about? What’s there to make such a fuss about? You don’t need to know these things. Just make sure to protect the bracelet. If it disappears, then we will completely disappear too! Alright, I won’t say more. I’m going back to sleep. Women age easily without enough sleep."
After saying that, she stretched lazily in a charming way and, just like Kavuri, vanished from the room without any warning.
I raised my hand and studied the bracelet carefully under the desk lamp.
I pinched myself hard. It hurt. Only then did I confirm I wasn’t dreaming.
After studying it for a long time without discovering anything new, I stopped thinking about it.
Turning to look at the pitch-black computer, I groaned in anguish as I imagined how furious my mom would be when she found out. I might not die from this, but I’d definitely lose a layer of skin.
Before I knew it, it was already past three in the morning outside. I quickly washed up and went to sleep!
Sigh, I woke up naturally after less than four hours of sleep.
This damn student life has made me forget what it feels like to sleep in!
Dad and Mom had already come home from work and were now sleeping.
I ate something and ran out. Just as I got downstairs, I saw the school bus slowly approaching.
Thank goodness, I almost missed it.
The direct consequence of sleep deprivation was that I basically slept through class.
"Smack..."
Half-asleep, I was suddenly hit on the head by something and jolted awake.
I looked and saw it was a blackboard eraser. I raised my head and saw the homeroom teacher glaring at me with a face full of anger: "Fuitsu, stand up!"
I quickly stood up, completely confused about what was going on!
"Bad grades, and you still sleep in class?"
The homeroom teacher looked like he was about to blow his top.
I stared at him in confusion. He’d never cared about me sleeping in class before. Basically, he never even treated me as existing. Why was today different?
"Hmph... No grades, no conduct. Tell me, what use are you? I called on you several times and you didn’t even respond. Is it because you’re about to graduate that you no longer see me as your teacher?"
"Reporting to teacher, student Fuitsu has been sleeping since he entered the classroom. When you called him just now, he was probably dreaming about eating—there was drool at the corner of his mouth."
My deskmate Kozuki immediately seized the chance to tattle on me.
Kozuki is the class beauty. She’s very pretty, and especially those eyes that seem like they can talk fascinate me.
But I’ve never seen appreciation in her eyes when she looks at me—only undisguised contempt.
The reason is that her grades are excellent, ranking among the top few in our entire city. Ever since she became my deskmate, I’ve never seen her smile again, and she never talks to me.
She also occasionally mocks me with other classmates, yet I just can’t bring myself to hate her.
Now hearing the homeroom teacher scold me, she immediately chimed in.
Hearing Kozuki say that, I quickly reached up to wipe my mouth, and the whole class burst into laughter. My face turned the red color from embarrassment. The homeroom teacher stopped everyone’s laughter and said to me with great disdain: "Didn’t you sleep at night? Or were you out stealing? Look at you—what use are you? Once you’re out in society, you’ll just be a menace. I’ll approve your leave. Go home right now. Don’t bother taking the college entrance exam—no need to make a fool of yourself."
So in the end, it was still about not letting me take the exam!
The homeroom teacher’s words made everyone laugh again. Kozuki looked at me sideways with an arrogant cold sneer!
My face flushed red, veins bulging on my hands. I was furious at myself for being so useless. Staring at the homeroom teacher’s hateful smile, I wished I could rush up and slap him twice, hard. But... but I didn’t have the guts.
"Want to hit him? I’ll help you."
A voice so enchanting it sank into my bones sounded beside my ear. I looked up and saw Kavuri sitting next to me. Today she’d changed into loose clothing, but it still couldn’t hide her devilish figure. At that moment, she was gazing at me seductively.
I opened my mouth wide in surprise and looked around, only to find that the other people in the classroom were still laughing, completely oblivious to Kavuri sitting beside me.
"Stop looking. They can’t see me. I can tell you’re quite interested in your pretty deskmate. As long as you give me your soul, I’ll help you win her over and make her your sex slave. How about it?"
Kavuri tempted me.
I looked at the mocking gaze of Kozuki sitting on my other side, and a wave of frustration rose in my heart.
I began fantasizing about what she’d look like as a slave. My body heated up, and I was a bit tempted.
"Kavuri, I’m warning you again. Fuitsu is my little brother now. Don’t you dare set your sights on him."
Just as my thoughts were running wild, my big sister Athena appeared again.
Today she had also changed clothes, making her look like a youthful girl of eighteen or nineteen!
"How rare. Of the seven women, you’re the most annoying."
Kavuri glared at Athena.
"Good little brother, you must not fall for her tricks. Whatever she can help you with, big sister can help you too."
Athena said to me with a smile, then turned to Kavuri and said, "You slut, you dare come out in broad daylight? Be careful the sunlight burns you to death."
Hearing Athena say that, Kavuri couldn’t help glancing at the clear sky outside. She frowned, shot Athena a fierce glare, and disappeared.
The homeroom teacher, seeing that I completely ignored his words and even turned my head away, as if I looked down on him, couldn’t help saying angrily: "If you can solve the problem on the blackboard, I’ll crawl three laps around the playground."
His tone was full of contempt for me.
"I..."
I stood at my seat, stammering, unable to say anything. Going up to solve it would be humiliating myself. Not going would leave me completely unable to save face in front of his words. I just stood there, face red, head lowered in silence.