The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 22

The island’s morning light carried the damp chill of a post-rain day. The dark cloud of the murder case brought an abrupt end to the trip.

After a quick breakfast, the roar of an engine was heard from the dock. Wataru Date and a few police officers were docking the boat, their suits flapping loudly in the sea breeze.

The waves were calmer than when they arrived, but they still hadn’t completely settled down. The boat swayed back and forth on the water like a leaf being tossed around.

As soon as Lin Jianyue stepped onto the gangplank, she stumbled.

Kenji Hagiwara, with a quick reflex, reached out to wrap his arm around her waist and carry her onto the boat. But a deliberate cough suddenly came from behind, like a thin needle popping the bubble of intimacy that was about to form.

Matsuda,” Wataru Date said, his face stern, his gaze sweeping over the swaying deck. The waves are a little rough. Help your girlfriend out.

He knew that Jinpei Matsuda had become a public security collaborator, but he had no idea about the “mistress drama” that had unfolded on the island. He just assumed that Hagiwara, seeing Lin Jianyue about to fall, had forgotten to keep up the facade in his moment of panic.

Kenji Hagiwara froze. His arm was suspended in mid-air, and the expression on his face was as awkward as a paused cartoon. He raised his eyebrow and looked at Wataru Date with a suppressed hint of something he wanted to say.

Jinpei Matsuda didn’t have much of an expression. He just gave Hagiwara a sideways glance and then took a long stride toward Lin Jianyue.

He extended his arm, using his body and arm as a temporary handrail for Lin Jianyue, and held her steady as she stepped onto the boat. 

“Hold on tight.”

Kenji Hagiwara pouted and obediently followed behind Lin Jianyue, but his gaze was still fixed on the place where they had touched, with a hint of unwilling grievance.

Behind them, Conan pushed up his glasses, and a flicker of understanding passed through his eyes.

Kogoro Mouri and Ran, however, were dumbfounded.

They looked at each other, and they could both see the shock in the other’s eyes. Their lips moved as if to whisper, but since the people involved were right there, they had to hold it in.

Midway through the journey, the waves slapped against the boat with a dull sound.

Lin Jianyue sat between Hagiwara and Matsuda, wrapped in a dark blue blanket that was the same color as the police uniforms. The fluffy edges brushed against her chin, making her feel warm and sleepy.

Lin Jianyue’s head drooped. Her eyelids felt like they were weighed down with lead. She slowly drifted off to sleep, her head bobbing.

Kenji Hagiwara turned his head and watched her for two seconds, then he gently pulled her toward him, letting her lean against him.

The place where their clothes touched felt weighted and warm. Lin Jianyue’s long hair, with the subtle movements of her breathing, gently brushed against the back of Kenji Hagiwara’s hand.

However, the “official boyfriend” Jinpei Matsuda just propped his chin up with one hand, lazily glancing at them with a look that was somewhere between disdain and resignation.

Seeing this, Kogoro Mouri finally couldn’t hold back. He secretly leaned over to Wataru Date and asked in a low voice, “Officer Date, has the police department become this open-minded now?”

Wataru Date, who was counting evidence, was taken aback.

 “Huh?”

It’s just. Kogoro Mouri swallowed, his eyes darting toward Hagiwara, then he quickly looked away. Before I left the force, there were similar cases of people interfering in other people’s relationships, but at least they were secretive about it. Now, can they openly keep men?

 Conan, who was drinking juice given to him by another officer, spat out the liquid. He twitched his mouth and turned his back with a look of speechlessness on his face.

Wataru Date’s eyes widened. He looked at Kogoro Mouri in shock and confusion, then he suddenly turned and glared at Kenji Hagiwara. The shadows under his brow bones made his eyes look half-lit and half-dark, like a detective staring at a suspect in an interrogation room. Even the veins on his forehead were throbbing.

Kenji Hagiwara, however, exchanged a look with Jinpei Matsuda, then he suddenly let out a low laugh. A nostalgic light flashed in his eyes. Wow, leader, that look on your face. It’s giving off some serious Onizuka vibes.

Jinpei Matsuda curved his lips. I feel like he’s about to punish us by making us clean the showers again.

Want to go visit him in a few days?

“Sure.”

Officer Takagi, who was sitting in the corner, looked baffled. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t dare. His eyes kept darting back and forth between the three of them, Kogoro-ojisan, and his senior, Wataru Date. His neck turned red from holding it in.

The way the two of them refused to cooperate made Wataru Date close his eyes due to a headache and pinch the bridge of his nose. He suddenly understood the agonizing pain that Instructor Onizuka must have felt back then wanting to beat them up but not being able to.

wanting to let them be but not being able to swallow his pride.

He was silent for two seconds, then he resignedly cut into their conversation. I’m coming with you when you go visit the instructor.

When the boat docked, it started to drizzle again.

Besides a few police cars that had been waiting for a long time on the riverbank, the red and blue police lights were blurry in the misty rain. In the farthest corner, a lone figure stood, holding a white umbrella. The brim of the umbrella was lowered, covering half of their face.

Lin Jianyue had just been helped off the gangplank by Matsuda when the person ran over through the puddles. They grabbed Lin Jianyue’s arm and looked her up and down, their fingers trembling like leaves in the autumn wind.

“Sensei, why are you here?”

“The travel company received a call from the police, and they called me. I…” The teacher pursed her lips, her eyes red as she looked at Lin Jianyue with a pained and guilty expression.

“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t given you my travel spot, you wouldn’t have gone through this.” The look of shame on her face made it seem like she was about to kneel in front of Lin Jianyue.

She repeatedly confirmed that Lin Jianyue was safe. Not until she saw her being helped into Kenji Hagiwara’s car by Matsuda did she say through a sob, “Jianyue, you need to rest. I’ll come see you in a few days.”

The sun was high in the sky. The sunlight passed through the thin clouds, casting hot spots on the asphalt road.

The car stopped in front of the apartment building. Lin Jianyue opened the car door, and just as the sole of her shoe touched the scorching ground, she heard the sound of a car door opening and closing behind her Matsuda had also gotten out of the car.

Kenji Hagiwara, in the driver’s seat, looked like he had been paused. His beautiful violet eyes were wide open, staring at Matsuda’s back. A few seconds later, he laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Why did you get out of the car?

Jinpei Matsuda lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. “To get Lin Jianyue’s exact address, of course. When she’s in danger, I can’t just rely on the address I got from that guy, can I?

That guy,  in his words, was Rei Furuya.

Jinpei Matsuda put on his sunglasses. “Jianyue, do you mind if I go up with you?”

Lin Jianyue was stunned for a moment, then slowly nodded.

Almost at the same time, Kenji Hagiwara also pushed the car door open with a bang, moving so fast he created a gust of wind.

He tilted his head and smiled at Lin Jianyue, his face full of docile sweetness. “It’s true. To ensure Jianyue-chan’s safety, it’s necessary to confirm her exact address.”

Lin Jianyue looked at him, then suddenly pursed her lips. Her eyelids gently lowered, and her long eyelashes cast a shallow shadow underneath her eyes, looking like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.

Noticing Lin Jianyue’s change, Kenji Hagiwara’s mouth drooped slightly. He moved a small step forward, his voice a little bit subtly wronged. “Jianyue-chan, you don’t want me to go?

Lin Jianyue hesitated for a few seconds and said honestly, “It feels a bit like… letting the wolf into the house.

Kenji Hagiwara blinked. The look on his face was so pitiful, like a large dog that had been neglected by its owner. “Jianyue-chan actually thinks I’m that kind of person. I thought you trusted me a lot.

He looked at Lin Jianyue with a pitiful expression that made her heart skip a beat, feeling inexplicably guilty.

Lin Jianyue’s heart leaped when he looked at her like that. Just as she was about to open her mouth to explain, her view was suddenly blocked by Jinpei Matsuda’s back.

Jinpei Matsuda gave Kenji Hagiwara a look that said, “Have you finished your act yet?” “Hagi, you’re starting to disgust me.”

With that, he ungentlemanly pushed Lin Jianyue’s back and walked into the apartment building. “Let’s go. Don’t mind him.”

Kenji Hagiwara showed a look of regret toward their backs, but his steps didn’t hesitate at all. He quickly followed them.

Lin Jianyue’s room was so clean it looked like a perfectly managed show apartment, but some personal belongings were piled up in a few corners.

Bookshelves lined the wall, filled with books. Jinpei Matsuda stopped and looked.

He casually pulled out a copy of Detective Conan and flipped through it. He looked up at Lin Jianyue, his tone a mix of teasing and warning. “This is a dangerous tool. If someone finds out, it’ll be a big problem.”

Lin Jianyue nodded. “Luckily, besides you two, no one knows where I live, and I don’t have a habit of inviting friends over.”

To hide her secret, she had bought a bunch of custom book covers online. She took off the original covers of the manga that could expose her secret and replaced them with book covers printed in Chinese.

But the entire manga series was so large that Lin Jianyue had only managed to do a third of it. The rest still had their original covers, like a group of small animals that hadn’t hidden their tails properly.

Jinpei Matsuda put the book back on the shelf, naturally pulled a chair over, and sat down. He looked up and asked, “Where are the tools?”

“Huh?” Lin Jianyue was stunned for a moment. She didn’t get it.

Kenji Hagiwara was already squatting in front of the bookshelf, pulling out the unfinished manga books and stacking them into a neat pile.

He looked up and smiled at Lin Jianyue. He thoughtfully explained, “Where are the tools you have left for wrapping the books?”

“Little Jinpei and I will help you perfectly disguise the rest of the books,” he said, measuring the book cover with his hands. “No one will notice anything unless they open them.”

With that, he picked up a paper cutter and slowly separated the inner pages from the cover at the spine.

Unlike Jinpei Matsuda, who was focused and didn’t have much of an expression, Kenji Hagiwara’s mouth was always curved in a slight smile. He would occasionally hum a light, off-key tune. It was like he was playing a fun game. Even the clicking sound of the scissors seemed to be filled with a bit of cheer.

Lin Jianyue stood behind the two of them, staring at Kenji Hagiwara’s clean white T-shirt and suddenly feeling annoyed.

Back on the island, Kenji Hagiwara really didn’t have a change of clothes with him, but he could have borrowed some from Jinpei Matsuda, just like he would do now.

But he didn’t.

A strange anger surged up her throat.

Lin Jianyue was now completely, clearly, and certainly that Kenji Hagiwara had done it on purpose.

He deliberately wore a soaked white shirt at the island villa. He deliberately let the fabric cling to his skin, outlining the smooth lines of his muscles. He deliberately made her heart feel flustered.

What was even more infuriating…

She had shamelessly enjoyed it.

That secretive, slightly guilty sense of satisfaction was making her feel restless.

With a hint of defiance, Lin Jianyue walked to the other side, farther away from Kenji Hagiwara. She bent over, propped her hands on her knees, and focused all her attention on Jinpei Matsuda’s hands.

It was true, just as the rumors said, Jinpei Matsuda’s fingers were incredibly dexterous. After getting the hang of it, he could finish wrapping a book in just over ten seconds. The neat folds and tight edges were almost flawless. He was always one second faster than Kenji Hagiwara next to him.

Lin Jianyue was also a dexterous person, but she had never done any handiwork since she was a child. Her book-wrapping efficiency was far from Matsuda’s. She could only stare at his quick fingers, occasionally letting out a quiet gasp of “You’re so amazing.”

“If you learned to play the piano, Jinpei, you’d be a natural.” She suddenly said this, looking at the last row of unfinished manga on the bookshelf.

Kenji Hagiwara, who had just put a wrapped manga back on the shelf, immediately put the tools back in the box and stood up. “Jianyue-chan, I’m so thirsty. Do you have anything to drink?”

“Huh?” Lin Jianyue’s thoughts were drawn away. She blinked blankly and quickly got up and walked to the kitchen. “Do you want water or tea? I have some Coke in the fridge, but I don’t have the iced beer you guys like.”

“A glass of iced water.” Jinpei Matsuda didn’t even look up. His hands kept moving.

Kenji Hagiwara followed behind Lin Jianyue like a golden retriever, turning into the kitchen with her. “I want an iced Coke.”

While Lin Jianyue was bending down to check the fridge, Kenji Hagiwara casually pulled the sliding glass door shut. When Lin Jianyue turned around with two cold drinks, he was already standing about two steps away from her. It was intimate, but not overly intimate.

He took the iced Coke. His fingertips accidentally brushed hers. Then he slightly bent down, his downturned eyes filled with a pitiful expression. “Jianyue-chan was only looking at little Jinpei just now. You didn’t even look at me.”

The similar look of grievance instantly brought back the memory from a few hours ago. Lin Jianyue’s ears immediately turned red. “Yeah, you were great, too.”

“Then…”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Lin Jianyue quickly cut him off.

Kenji Hagiwara was stunned for a moment, then he let out a low laugh. “I have next week off. Do you want to go out and have some fun?”

He curved his eyebrows. The light in his eyes was even more cheerful than the bubbles in the Coke. “Little Hagi, the tour guide will take you to eat some delicious food.”

“Huh?” Lin Jianyue was surprised by the intimate nickname.

She had never used the nickname “Little Hagi” in front of Kenji Hagiwara before, not even in her dreams.

As far as she could remember, no one in the original manga had ever used the name “Little Hagi.”

Lin Jianyue stared blankly at Kenji Hagiwara’s smiling face. Her mind was a blank slate. “You’ve seen my Twitter account?”

Her banned Twitter account was called “A-yue eats Little Hagi.” It was the only place where she had referred to Kenji Hagiwara as “Little Hagi.”

The account was filled with her unspoken love for Kenji Hagiwara. Not only were there drawings, but there were also crazy things she had written and deleted about him.

Kenji Hagiwara didn’t answer. He just gave her a vague smile. Of course, he hadn’t seen it himself. Rei Furuya had only described the account to him.

“Little Hagi,” a slightly offensive nickname for most Japanese men, made Kenji Hagiwara feel so cute it was like kittens were crawling around in his heart.

But judging by Lin Jianyue’s reaction, the thoughts hidden in that account were probably more passionate than he had imagined.

I want to see.

Kenji Hagiwara squinted, thinking about finding some time to run over to Rei Furuya’s place again.

“What are you two doing?”

The kitchen door was suddenly pulled open from the outside. Jinpei Matsuda stood there, his eyebrows raised high. “Can you two choose a place to have a date that’s a little farther away from me?”

He gestured with his chin toward Lin Jianyue. “The books are all wrapped.”

“Little Jinpei is always like this, constantly interrupting my date with Jianyue-chan,” Kenji Hagiwara said, pretending to complain, but his feet were already honestly moving toward the door.

Jinpei Matsuda scoffed and rolled his eyes at Kenji Hagiwara. He took the iced water Lin Jianyue had prepared for him, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one go, then turned and left.

Kenji Hagiwara also tilted his head back and drank the Coke in his hand, then slowly followed him.

“What do you want for lunch? I’ll order takeout.”

Lin Jianyue chased after them from the kitchen, but what she saw was the two of them, holding bags of sorted trash, standing in the entryway, about to put on their shoes.

“No, thank you.” Kenji Hagiwara straightened up and turned to smile at her, the gentle moonlight melting in his eyes. “I just wanted to make sure you were doing well in Tokyo. Now I can rest assured.”

A person’s mental state can be clearly seen from their room.

He paused, then added, “You should get some rest, Jianyue-chan. Little Jinpei and I are heading back.”

“You’re not staying for lunch?”

Jinpei Matsuda took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth without lighting it. “No, you should rest.”

Kenji Hagiwara suddenly took a step forward. He gently brushed the loose strands of hair from her forehead, then gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. His voice was very low. “If you get scared tonight, just call me. I’ll always be here.”

The two of them turned and left. Kenji Hagiwara walked behind and gently closed the door for her. The door hinge made a faint sound, as if it was afraid of waking her from a dream she shouldn’t wake up from.

Outside the room.

Kenji Hagiwara threw the trash into the designated spot and pulled out his phone.

He tapped the screen a few times and opened a strange app with no name. The app’s interface was so simple it was almost messy, with only a few lines of text:

World Fusion: 52 (+1)

Achieved: Deep Kiss (x) on x day

Fusion: +1

Will be settled at 24:00 today.