<h4>Chapter 397: The Mystery Intensifies</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio


    Denen Satoshi was shocked, and was immediately thrown into bewilderment.


    “T-then why is your surname ‘Touki’? Only the Protoss can use that surname, right?” she asked.


    “I don’t think there’s aw saying that this surname is exclusively for the Protoss. I was born with the name, anyway.”


    “So, is your father’s and grandfather’s surname Touki as well?”


    “It should be, but my father died when I was very little. My mother raised me until age ten and also died of illness... I don’t know much about my own identity.”


    “Uh...? Y-your parents are no more?” Denen Satoshi quickly bowed and apologized. “I’m sorry, Touki, I shouldn’t have asked.”


    “It’s fine.” Li Dong waved his hands. “It has been so many years. I’m already used to being alone.”


    Looking at Li Dong who was bravely facing life with an optimistic smile, Denen Satoshi shed tears of empathy. “Touki, I am sorry, I am so, so sorry... I’m so bad with my words.”


    “I’m really fine.” Li Dong patted her head gently. “Satoshi, thanks for your concern.”


    “T-Touki...”


    Feeling the warmth from his palm on the top of her head, Denen Satoshi shyly lowered her head as ayer of red masked her face.


    “Alright now, we should be leaving, Satoshi. If you don’t have any more questions, let’s leave together.”


    “Y-yes. I still have a question...” Denen Satoshi said with a faint voice. “I would like to know: why do you skip two sses every day? The school rule is that too many absences may cause a student to be expelled. Touki, is your house so far away from school that you have to skip ss every day?”


    “Nope.” Li Dong exined: “I have to work to support myself. I asked the teachers in advance, back when I transferred, if I could skip two sses every day in exchange for keeping myself in the top five of the ss. They are very kind to have agreed to my request. This way, I could manage to earn enough to support myself. Correspondingly, to ensure that my academic performance stays on top, I use a lot of time after work to do review. As I frequently don’t have enough sleep, I often doze off in ss.


    “Satoshi, this is the real me, I hope you won’t mind that I’m poor,” Li Dong said with a sincere expression. The words he had prepared in advance had finallye in handy.


    “Touki...”


    Along with a loud cry, a soft object pounced into his embrace. “Touki, you are the strongest person I’ve ever met...” She wept. “Y-you... I-I’m so sad for you...”


    The youngdy sobbed out of sympathy.


    “Satoshi, I’m really fine now. Please stop crying.”


    It took quite a long time for Li Dong to calm the girl down. Using work as an excuse to leave, the two waved goodbye.


    ...


    On the second day.


    In Grade 2, ss F.


    “Just a poor transfer student.


    “Both of his parents are dead, and he lives alone. He needs to work until veryte to earn a living. He has a seriousck of sleep, and so he often dozes off in ss.”


    The girls received this information.


    In all honesty, Shangguan Feifei was slightly disappointed. The contrast with her expectations was too great. But she had to admit, “This could certainly exin everything unusual about Touki. But... why is his surname ‘Touki’? How can he use the surname of the Protoss?”


    “I don’t know, Feifei.” Denen Satoshi shook her head. “Even Touki himself was unsure. His parents didn’t tell him anything.”


    In the end... after going around a big circle, the most essential problem, “Touki’s real identity”, had yet to be demystified.


    “Feifei, the only thing we can confirm is that Touki has no family, he lives alone, and he’s poor. He might be a Protoss, but is rather unlikely to be so... the Protoss would never live that kind of life—they will never let their own kin slump to the bottom,” Nishihara Kaori said, waving her blue ponytail about. Touki had uncouth behavior. Although he was gentle and courteous, he possessed no aristocratic demeanor, and could, at most, be described as “down-to-earth.”


    Most certainly, Nishihara Kaori was not spiteful towards Touki for being this way. It was just that her curiosity toward and expectations of him were not as high as before.


    “But I still think that Touki is not that simple.”


    Ishinaka Mei, who had long, silky yellow hair, still had some doubts in her heart. “Touki Ryu was bestowed the surname ‘Touki,’ and was able to live in peace until 17 without changing his family name due to surrounding pressure. There is only one exnation for this, and that is: Touki is a descendant of the Protoss, and his paternal lineage allows him to legally use their surname... otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to survive past age six under the surrounding pressure.”


    From this, it was deduced that Touki was surely an offspring of the Protoss.


    But for various reasons, he was living his life in poverty.


    Since Touki carried the blood of the Protoss, why didn’t he return to his ancestry and go lean on his Protoss rtives, or seek help from the government? He could also go to some spective businessmen to regain the status to which he was entitled as a Protoss descendant, at the very least... shouldn’t these things be extremely easy to aplish?


    But...


    The more the girls thought about it, the more confused they became; and the more they analyzed it, the messier it got.


    Hence, there was no way for them to give Touki an uratebel, as they dared not rashly jump to conclusions.


    ...


    Back at school, Li Dong sat down in his seat.


    After ss.


    He was in a dozing state when he heard two voices in his ears.


    “Touki...”


    “Touki.”


    Li Dong opened his eyes and saw two girls within his range of vision: Denen Satoshi, whom he had met the day before, and Nishihara Kaori, who had a blue single ponytail that looked vibrant and cheerful.


    “Uhm, Satoshi, Kaori, do you girls... need something from me?”


    “Touki, it’s noon now—it’s time for lunch. Did you bring your bento box?” Nishihara Kaori asked with a smile.


    “Nope.” Li Dong shook his head. “I have no time to prepare a bento. I usually just grab some food from the cafeteria.”


    “Why don’t you eat with us, Touki? I brought an extra bento today... take this as an apology for yesterday’s abruptness.” Denen Satoshi said, grabbing two bento boxes out of her bag and blushing.


    Li Dong nced at the pink lunchbox she was holding, and said after some thought, “Okay, then. Thank you very much.”


    “Thanks, Touki.”


    Denen Satoshi handed over a bento box with an apologetic heart. Now, all the girls in the ss knew about the information she had asked him for yesterday. In a few days’ time, it would spread across the whole school. She didn’t know if whether Touki would get angry at her.


    “Can I join you for lunch, Touki? I want to know more about you,” Nishihara Kaori asked.


    “Sure.”


    Li Dong gave a vibrant smile.


    A few fierce eyes red at him.


    ...


    After school.


    In some bushes outside the schoolpound.


    “That bastard!”


    “That phony just came to our ss for a few days, and he got to taste a bento made by our adorable Satoshi and sit with my goddess Nishihara! That son of a b*tch! He cannot be forgiven!”


    “That little shithead will pass by hereter. Let’s gang up on him and let him have a taste of our fists.”


    “Outsiders should stay away from our baes!”


    The three boys mored and slipped masks onto their heads, waiting for the b*stard to arrive.