The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 39

Lin Jianyue sat in Kenji Hagiwara’s arms, stubbornly demanding a kiss. Her fingers were first tightly clutching his shirt collar, and then they turned into grabbing his shoulders, her fingertips pressing against his scorching-hot skin.

She had just hugged him yesterday, and today she was met with an even more intense embrace. Lin Jianyue clung to Kenji Hagiwara without a care, clearly feeling his heartbeat and body temperature, feeling the proof of his existence.

Her desire surged and swelled, as if she were going to melt in Kenji Hagiwara’s arms.

“Kiss me,” she looked up at him, her eyes misty and wet, but her expression was insistent and serious.

Kenji Hagiwara lowered his eyes to the person in his arms, his gaze darkening in the night. Lin Jianyue had hidden her emotions well, but the fear of losing him was hidden in her eyes, in little, fragmented bits.

He raised his hand, his thumb gently caressing her cheek, sliding from her eyelid to her jaw, and finally stopping on her lips.

“Okay,” Kenji Hagiwara stared at Lin Jianyue’s face, slowly leaned down, and kissed her lips.

The long kiss was meant to be comforting. He pried her teeth apart, kneading all of her unspoken unease into it.

Lin Jianyue’s fingers uncontrollably tightened their grip on the pillows on either side of her head. Her knuckles turned white, and even her fingertips were trembling.

A warm palm covered her hand. Kenji Hagiwara’s fingers were a bit longer than hers. They were distinct, with a gentleness that couldn’t be refused. He forcefully intertwined his fingers with hers, holding her hand firmly against the bed.

…

The price of indulgence was almost oversleeping the next day.

Lin Jianyue almost rolled out of bed, putting on her pants while hopping on one foot and rushing toward the bathroom.

There were messy marks all over her body. Even though Kenji Hagiwara had carried her to the bathroom to wash up last night, there were still marks on her chest and thighs that couldn’t be washed away with water.

By the time Lin Jianyue had finished washing up and came out of the bathroom with her slightly curled long hair, Kenji Hagiwara was already sitting on the sofa, waiting for her in his suit.

The sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows fell on him, outlining a warm aura. He was holding Lin Jianyue’s bag and was looking down, checking to see if she had forgotten anything.

When he heard her footsteps, Kenji Hagiwara looked up and smiled at her. His face was full of energy, and there was no sign of how much energy he had expended last night. “All ready?”

“Kenji, why didn’t you wake me up?” Lin Jianyue frantically looked through her bookshelf for the latest volume of the Detective Conan manga.

Kenji Hagiwara stood up and reached out to straighten her collar. “I did call you twice, you just didn’t wake up.”

“Huh?” Lin Jianyue was stunned. She frowned, trying to remember, but she could only recall a warm, tightly wrapped feeling.

“The first time I called you, you groggily grabbed my hand and said, ‘Five more minutes. ‘”

Kenji Hagiwara helped Lin Jianyue tuck her loose hair behind her ear. His eyes curved into crescent moons, and his smile had a subtle hint of fond recollection. “The second time I called you, you didn’t even open your eyes. You just hugged my waist, started to whine, and then snuggled into my arms and fell asleep again.”

He leaned closer to her ear and lowered his voice with a hint of a hypnotic tone. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault for making Jianyue-chan so tired.”

“I will take full responsibility.”

“Shouldn’t you be saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’ll be more restrained next time’?”

Kenji Hagiwara didn’t respond. He just smiled, took the manga book from Lin Jianyue’s hand, put it in her bag, and naturally took her hand, walking toward the door. “Let’s go. We’re really going to be late if we don’t leave now. I’ll take you to school and get some breakfast on the way.”

The car drove smoothly toward Tama Art University. Lin Jianyue leaned back in the passenger seat, her slightly puffed cheeks filled with a ham sandwich.

Last night’s indulgence felt like a brief escape. Lin Jianyue looked at the autumn scenery outside the window and gradually regained her usual composure.

With Conan here this time, no one would die, no matter what.

She believed in Conan.

Screech. The car came to a stop.

When Kenji Hagiwara dropped Lin Jianyue off at the school gate, he didn’t forget to get a carton of milk from the car to give to her. “I have to work overtime today. Should I have Jinpei pick you up this afternoon?”

“No need,” Lin Jianyue took the milk. “My brother said he’s taking me out for Japanese food today.”

Kenji Hagiwara nodded, leaned in, and gave Lin Jianyue a quick, light kiss on the corner of her mouth. “I’m leaving now.”

“Okay.”

Lin Jianyue nodded. Just as she was about to get out of the car, she remembered something. Her gaze grew serious as she stared at Kenji Hagiwara. “You guys have to be safe.”

He curved his eyebrows, playfully winked at Lin Jianyue, and said with understanding, “Don’t worry, nothing will—”

Lin Jianyue suddenly raised her hand and put her index finger against Kenji Hagiwara’s lips, cutting off his unfinished sentence.

She frowned, her tone uncharacteristically serious and displeased. “In a manga, that’s called raising a death flag.”

Everyone knew that in the Police Academy manga, everyone who said “it’ll be fine” died.

Kenji Hagiwara was stunned for a moment, then let out a low laugh. He looked at his watch and waved goodbye to Lin Jianyue.

It was already evening when she got home.

The first thing Lin Jianyue did when she got home was pull out the chair in front of her desk and sit down, ready to add the final touches to the police’s recruitment illustration.

Lin Shuyun was sitting on the sofa watching TV, but he didn’t understand Japanese. He could only rest his chin in his hand, bored, and kept changing the channels. He finally stopped on a music variety show.

Suddenly, he glanced at the Tokyo Tower standing outside the window. As if he had remembered something, he sat up straight. “Jianyue, will you go to the Tokyo Tower with me? I didn’t get to explore much the first two times I was in Japan.”

Lin Jianyue’s hand, which was holding the pen, paused. Images of an explosion flashed through her mind.

She originally wanted to refuse directly, but seeing the hopeful look in her brother’s eyes and remembering that he rarely came to Japan, she ultimately softened.

“I have to rush to finish my draft in the next couple of days. The police’s deadline is coming up. Can we go after I’m done?”

As long as they avoided November 7th, they wouldn’t be in any danger.

Lin Shuyun was instantly overjoyed. “Alright, I’ll wait for you to finish.”

He said this and then happily carried his shopping bags back to the hotel.

After seeing off her brother, Lin Jianyue picked up her pen again and focused on adding the metallic highlights to the police’s emblem on her drawing.

After finishing the last stroke, she carefully zoomed in and out on the image to check it a few times before adding the #PoliceRecruitment tag and frantically posting it on Twitter.

As soon as she hit send, there was a knock on the door.

Kenji Hagiwara was standing at the door, pulling a suitcase. His expression was pitiful, as if he had been wronged. He stared at Lin Jianyue, his usual calm and composure nowhere to be found. Even the corners of his mouth were slightly downturned.

“Jianyue-chan, can you let me stay the night?” His voice was a little sad. He lightly shook his phone at her, showing her the unanswered calls.

“I was planning to move in with little Jinpei, but he got called in for overtime at the last minute and isn’t answering his phone. I can’t get in, and I don’t want to drag my suitcase back to the police dorms, it’s over ten kilometers away.”

Lin Jianyue looked at his pathetic appearance, and her heart softened completely. She only hesitated for two seconds before stepping aside to let him in.

“I knew Jianyue-chan loves me the most.”

Kenji Hagiwara immediately smiled, his eyes curving into beautiful crescent moons. As he dragged his suitcase into the bedroom, he didn’t forget to add, “I brought pajamas this time.”

Lin Jianyue mumbled “mhm” and didn’t think much of it.

In the middle of the night, she was gently pulled into a hug. The familiar orange-scented cologne mixed with the smell of eucalyptus lingered at the tip of her nose.

Lin Jianyue opened her eyes. Kenji Hagiwara’s breathing was even, and his chin was resting on the top of her head. He was probably too tired from working overtime. Kenji Hagiwara had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. His eyelashes would occasionally flutter, like a butterfly dancing in the wind.

The moonlight streamed through the gap in the curtains and fell on Kenji Hagiwara’s face, softening the aggressive nature that was usually hidden beneath his sweet smile.

Lin Jianyue stared blankly at his face, which was so close and so unguarded. She was suddenly lost in thought.

When did their relationship turn into this?

In the beginning, it was just a normal back-and-forth, but now they were spending almost every day together.

Behind Kenji Hagiwara was the closet where his suit was hanging. Now he had even brought his pajamas.

They…

This was considered living together, right?

No. Lin Jianyue secretly denied it, trying to convince herself.

There were only two sets of his spare clothes in the closet. And it was only when something came up for him or she suddenly wanted to rely on him that she would let him stay. It was not the same as really living together.

That being said, Lin Jianyue couldn’t ignore the faint strangeness in her heart.

She felt that something wasn’t quite right, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it had started.

Just as she was thinking, a soft laugh came from above her head. Lin Jianyue looked up and saw that Kenji Hagiwara had woken up. He was looking at her, his eyes still heavy with sleep. His gaze was so gentle it looked like it was about to spill out.

Unlike Hiromitsu Morofushi’s gentle and calm demeanor, his gentleness was a sweet, clingy feeling, like candy coated in honey. It made people want to sink into it.

“What are you thinking about?” Kenji Hagiwara’s voice was raspy from just waking up.

He stared at Lin Jianyue’s bright eyes, which were reflecting his image, and subconsciously made his gaze even softer.

Lin Jianyue honestly said, “My brother was right. You’re a fox spirit.”

Kenji Hagiwara let out a low laugh and leaned in closer to her. “Can’t sleep?”

Lin Jianyue nodded.

The night was too quiet. The closer it got to November 7th, the more uneasy she felt. As soon as she closed her eyes, her mind would automatically replay the plot of the twelve million hostages from the anime. The more she thought, the more awake she became.

“Then I’ll tell you a bedtime story,” Kenji Hagiwara said, hugging Lin Jianyue even tighter.

He adjusted to a comfortable position and began to tell a Japanese fairytale in a calm tone.

Kenji Hagiwara’s stories were a bit old-fashioned to the Japanese, but his voice was as pleasant as a cello’s bass notes. His tone was especially gentle, like a soft evening breeze caressing her ear.

After emptying her mind, Lin Jianyue felt a sense of security, like listening to white noise.

She gradually relaxed, reached out to hug his waist, and buried her face in his chest, closing her eyes.

In a daze, Lin Jianyue seemed to hear him softly say, “Good night, Jianyue-chan,” in her ear, with a hint of a smile. It was like a drop of nourishing rain falling on the tip of her heart.

The next two days, it was as if Lin Jianyue was blessed by Lady Luck, and one good thing after another happened.

First, the official Twitter account for the police department retweeted her illustration and gave it high praise in the caption.

Although the police also retweeted other artists’ work, Lin Jianyue was so excited that the hand holding her phone was trembling slightly.

For the rest of the day, she would occasionally open Twitter to scroll, repeatedly savoring the police’s retweet and praise. The smile on her face was so wide it could have been used as a lever to move the Earth.

Then, her serialized manga on the manga platform, Police Academy Story, reached the top of the Newcomer Rankings. The data was double the second-place manga, leaving the other works in the dust.

The platform editor quickly contacted Lin Jianyue. His tone was so enthusiastic that it was as if he already saw her as the next money-making machine.

Lin Jianyue was overjoyed. She even took the time to draw a super cool, full-color illustration of Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara.

The illustration of Jinpei Matsuda was a half-body portrait of him in a black suit, with a cigarette in his mouth. The background was a street at sunset. He was leaning against a police car, his eyes rebellious. The illustration of Kenji Hagiwara was of him defusing a bomb. He was in a bomb disposal suit, holding pliers, his expression focused. The cold, white light from the scene outlined his handsome profile.

When Jinpei Matsuda received the illustration, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I’m really this handsome?”

Jinpei Matsuda had seen himself in Lin Jianyue’s manga as an elite police officer who was described by Conan as “very cool, but he looks very mean. When I first met him, I thought he was part of the Organization.”

He didn’t have many appearances, and they were all in black and white.

But Lin Jianyue’s illustration was a very powerful, full-color, low-angle shot. With just a few strokes, she had accurately captured the contours of his face and the rebellious look in his eyes.

“Of course, you’re handsome!” Lin Jianyue smiled at Jinpei Matsuda, her eyes as serious as if she were taking an oath.

“Any reader who followed the manga as it was released would fall in love with you first out of the five of you. It’s a love-at-first-sight kind of handsomeness! Your personality also has a lot of s3x appeal!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Kenji Hagiwara immediately pursed his lips and was about to start whining in a low voice.

However, before he could say a word, Lin Shuyun had already rushed over, pushing aside Kenji and Jinpei. He squeezed in front of Lin Jianyue.

He pointed at himself in disbelief. “What about me!?”

“Didn’t I draw enough for you?”

“I don’t care. I want one!”

Lin Jianyue couldn’t help but laugh at her brother’s jealous and exasperated expression. “Can you act more like an adult, Big Brother?”

“Are they kids?” Lin Shuyun retorted, pointing at the two men behind him.

“They’re my lovers,” Lin Jianyue smiled and used her brother’s own words against him. “But so far, they make more money than I do, so I can’t be their sugar mommy. So I have to give them enough emotional value to keep them hooked.”

“…” Lin Shuyun’s expression was one of being unable to argue. He shamefully lowered his finger.

Two days later, Lin Jianyue finally finished everything she had to do and took Lin Shuyun to the Tokyo Tower.

Autumn was in full swing in Tokyo in late October. The wind was wrapped in the coolness of fall, causing the ginkgo leaves on the side of the road to rustle and fall.

After their tickets were verified, Lin Jianyue accompanied her brother on the sightseeing elevator. In the crowded elevator car, Lin Jianyue keenly noticed a man in a black jacket.

He was wearing a baseball cap and had his head down. After getting out of the elevator, he immediately snuck into the rarely-used emergency exit. The man was carrying a black bag that looked heavy.

With just one look, Lin Jianyue recognized his identity—the bomber.

Lin Jianyue was about to follow him, but a familiar figure passed by her, stopping her from following the bomber.

Yuya Kazami.

He was wrapped in a beige trench coat, holding his phone, and seemed to be on a call with someone. His eyes were vigilant, and his footsteps were very light. He followed the man at a distance.

Lin Jianyue lowered her eyes without a word. She quietly followed her brother and got in line for the observation deck.

The city was painted a warm red by the setting sun. The glass on the buildings reflected the light, and the endless stream of traffic looked like a golden river under the sunset. Lin Shuyun was excitedly taking photos with his phone and even had Lin Jianyue take several solo pictures of him.

While Lin Shuyun was looking at the photos, Lin Jianyue also took out her phone. She was anxiously opening the police’s Twitter account, feeling both hopeful and nervous.

Tonight at eight o’clock, the police were going to announce the results of the recruitment.

On Twitter, the official account’s latest post had several illustrations from different artists. The first one was Lin Jianyue’s.

Lin Jianyue took a deep breath and clicked on the post. Her fingertips were a little cold from the tension.

The post started with a long, polite paragraph, thanking all the artists for their participation and praising their creative and respectful work. Then came the important part: the list of thank-yous.

Lin Jianyue’s name was prominently listed, followed by a note that said, “Thank you for your enthusiastic participation. Your work received widespread praise.”

When she saw that, Lin Jianyue’s heart sank. She already knew the result.

She scrolled down and, as expected, saw the name of the person who was actually chosen: Kenta Hirono.

The name on her retina felt like a silver needle, making her pupils ache.

She tightly clenched her phone, and her breathing became heavy.

Lin Jianyue knew Kenta Hirono.

He was a well-known, established manga artist in the manga world. His art style was delicate, and he was good at depicting hero themes. He had even drawn a recruitment poster for the police academy a year ago.

But Kenta Hirono had stated then that he wanted to try new things in the coming years and would no longer draw themes related to the police.

But she hated Kenta Hirono.

In the first month she came to Japan, Lin Jianyue had admired Kenta Hirono and thought that the police he drew were both handsome and heartwarming.

During that time, Kenta Hirono’s studio was looking for an assistant.

Lin Jianyue had specially prepared a thick portfolio and practiced her speaking in front of a mirror at home several times before nervously standing in front of Kenta Hirono.

But during the interview, Kenta Hirono had an expression of disdain when he saw her nationality on her resume.

“A Chinese person aspiring to draw good Japanese manga.”

“You Chinese people are like locusts, coming here and stealing our jobs.”

Lin Jianyue would never forget the fear and confusion she felt back then. She stood in front of Kenta Hirono like a clown under a spotlight.

Pulling her thoughts back from the memory, Lin Jianyue suppressed her anger and exited the post. She clicked on Kenta Hirono’s personal account and found that the illustration he had posted with the #PoliceRecruitment tag was a full day and a half later than hers.

She had posted hers the night before yesterday. He had posted his this afternoon.

Lin Jianyue frowned, feeling even more frustrated.

Although she had no evidence, she had a good reason to suspect that Kenta Hirono had seen that the police had retweeted her work and given it high praise, so he had deliberately submitted his.

He had intentionally submitted it just a few hours before the end of the event, stealing the spot that should have belonged to her.

A surge of grievance and anger rose in her heart. The setting sun in the distance ignited the flames of rage burning in Lin Jianyue’s eyes.

She was indeed not as skilled as she, but she wouldn’t always be.

Lin Jianyue shifted her gaze from the recruitment results on her phone to the sky. She curved her mouth into a smile.

It’s okay. She wasn’t going to give up.