The talk between the two women kept going on and on. Unsurprisingly enough, I wasn’t feeling bored by this fact. Both Bella and the Lady in Black were people I enjoyed spending time with. Why would spending my time with both at the same time be any different?

I couldn’t say I was all that interested in the actual things they talked about, though.

Welp. You win some, you lose some.

Instead, I decided to use this time to think about...

Things.

The people who already had my interest. Bella, Helen, and Olivia.

What could be done? What should be done? How is it going to be?

Those questions, along with the endless number of little worries that my second life kept giving me, raced through my mind, creating an interconnected web of day-to-day decisions that had to be made.

Then in came Claire, whom I wasn’t about to give up on either. Yeah, it was quite obvious, even to myself, that I had developed enough interest in Counter Girl.

I left the questions I had about her unclear reasoning out of this particular brainstorming session. That wouldn’t change my mind anyway.

Then there were all those women I ‘knew’ were interesting but were inconvenient to pursue in the given moment. At best.

Nicole Roah.

Full disclosure—I had no fucking idea what to do with her.

I wasn’t romantically interested in her, and the twenty-five-year-long separation completely killed any inkling of familial feelings the younger me may have had once upon a time. And yet…

Oh, so much yet. Nicole, in a certain sense, was the person I wanted to get involved with the least. And the most. At the same time. Yeah, I wasn’t making much sense, even to myself.

I shook my head, preventing myself from going into a loop over this topic, and signaled to the shadow that I had spotted them.

Right, there was this strange game of hide-and-seek going on. The three bodyguards of the Lady in Black were taking turns to hide in the field of my vision. I took the time to find them. It was a fun little exercise for both sides.

The next woman in question was Su Yin.

Su clan’s first bitch, to be precise. The bane of my existence from the future that would never come.

Heaven’s see, the only reason I never quite tried to get a romance between the two of us going was her evident hatred towards me. And she almost succeeded in killing me so many times!

I pictured the protégé of the Lady in White in my head and fought down the animal grin.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Her current version, Su, my silly girl’s petite friend, had a long way to go to reach that level. Both mentally and physically. Oh, I couldn’t deny she was adorable when flustered, but I wasn’t into kids. And she looked like one.

Adding the fact that no matter which way I used to approach her, Yin wouldn’t be able to accept it at face value, and I could only place her in the ‘to be seen at a later date’ folder.

If there was meant to be something between the two of us, the way Kouzuki Maya had planned, it would need to wait. For me to get over my bias and for Yin to mature.

I signaled to both shadows that I had found them, adding a few signs in the Long clan’s secret code that they needed to try harder.

Which brought me to the third woman on the list.

Kon-Kon. And, yes, now that I thought about it, I had no idea what her name actually was.

I worked with her a bit toward the end of my first life, most likely the doing of my grandmother, and even had a brief fling together. But I was too far gone by that point, so I would love to redo it properly.

On the other hand, I barely knew anything about her except her appearance and solid skill set, and Michael Roah of the later years wasn’t someone I would trust with making a judgment in romantic pursuits.

I scanned the room, finding the fourth shadow—the only one who wasn’t playing our little game. Well, I also had to discern which shadow was hiding this time around, and she was the only unmasked one, so it made sense. Or maybe she was sulking about me playing with other shadows.

The ninja girl wasn’t the most stable person I ever knew, even in comparison with me. And that was saying something.

I took a few rounds to contemplate it.

Meh, she wasn’t here nor there in my list of priorities, and she was the one person who I could be sure to stick by my side for an indefinite time, so I decided to use her as a test.

How long will I be able to resist temptation?

I signaled to the shadow that three times was the charm, and they should give the other two a chance to play.

The last one, but not the least, was Anne-Marie Lumierre.

Anrie.

To put it lightly, my history with her was a complete mess.

We met by chance. There were many things good, bad, and ugly alike between the two of us. I saved her life twice. I tried to kill her twice.

And all of that in the span of five short years. I had a hard time even thinking about what a disaster our meeting would be at this stage.

Even worse, I already had her curiosity piqued. And that was a force of nature in its own right. On par with my interest.

Fuck.

Screw that. I affirmed my decision to focus on my current relationship for the next while.

“Do you think he still listens to us?” Bella’s phrase, which contained enough red flags, brought my attention back to the conversation.

“He is a Kouzuki. We always listen,” the Lady in Black responded. “He won’t necessarily remember the entire conversation, unless it’s something interesting to him, but he still hears, analyzes, and profiles.”

“No.” I decided to deny it. “I’m sorry, I was too lost in my thoughts.”

“See,” my grandmother ignored my words, “as soon as he picked up potentially troublesome words, he got back into the talk.”

“I see.” Bella nodded.

Judging by the expression on my special woman’s face, she will definitely remember this. Eh, not like I minded.

“So, what were you two, dear ladies, talking about?” I asked, not quite hoping to switch the topic.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, dear/Tian?” The chorus of two voices answered me.

If I had no idea who those two were, I would’ve been happy at how well they got along on such short notice. Alas. Well, it was all good as long as they had fun.

“I would,” I easily agreed.