Just as Kisho was holding back a bad idea in his heart, he heard footsteps slowly approaching the pavilion.
Reluctantly, he withdrew his attention from [Fixed Anchor], adjusted the confident expression on his face, stepped back half a pace, and stood straight with his eyes forward, trying to pretend nothing had happened.
The footsteps stopped. A small hand lifted the white curtain, and then a teenage girl stepped past the drape and entered the pavilion.
Kisho unobtrusively glanced at the girl in front of him—brown-black hair, dark green eyes, and a metal round earring on her right ear.
"So she's the person I'll have to circle around every day for the next while, huh."
Kisho hid his gaze and silently recited her name in his heart: "Anida Bankro."
"Hey, who are you?"
The little girl spoke up, curiosity in her eyes as she looked at Kisho, then turned her head toward Jitt, who was slowly walking up behind him.
"Hey, Jitt, this kid isn't another bodyguard sent by old dad, is he?"
She puffed out her cheeks and complained unhappily:
"How many times have I said it already? I don't want bodyguards. Bodyguards are the most annoying!"
"I'm not."
"Of course not."
Kisho and Jitt spoke in unison, then looked at each other.
"Ahem."
Jitt wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face showing a troubled and conflicted expression.
Coming up with a reasonable identity for Kisho in just a few seconds was really asking too much of him!
"Ah, it's like this. Actually, I'm a playmate sent by Lord Vervik for you."
Kisho lied smoothly, his expression unchanged.
"Eh?"
The little girl looked Kisho up and down, her face clearly saying you're lying to me.
"I don't believe it. Since when has Dad been so kind as to let outsiders get close to me?"
"You said it yourself—Lord Vervik wouldn't casually let strangers get near you."
As Kisho spoke, he extended his arm to show her his wrist.
"And besides, look at my arms. They're so thin—how could I possibly be a bodyguard? Right~?"
Behind Kisho, a black line appeared on Jitt's face.
Kisho smiled.
"Before I came, my lord mentioned that the young lady is skilled in many instruments. So, to be worthy of the glorious and great profession of being your playmate, I specially learned quite a few instruments myself."
Though it sounded like idle nonsense, Kisho wasn't speaking without basis.
The young lady's nails were trimmed very short and round, and her thumbs unconsciously curled inward—traits typical of someone who plays the piano.
At the same time, there was a deep red mark beneath her collarbone. And when she lifted the curtain earlier, Kisho noticed calluses on her right thumb and index finger—signs that almost certainly meant she had also studied the violin.
The red mark was from the violin pressing against her, and the calluses were left by bowing the strings.
Finally, adding in the guqin in front of them, it was only natural for Kisho to reach such a conclusion.
(T/N: The guqin is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument)
Well, even if he guessed wrong, at worst he'd just end up on the young lady's blacklist.
Anyway, if he couldn't be a bodyguard, he could always do other work—it wouldn't conflict with his plan.
So, just charge ahead.
"You say you've learned instruments? Then do you recognize this? Do you know how to play it? If you've got the ability, then play it for me to hear!"
The little girl's eyes darted around as she curiously examined Kisho.
"If you really can play it and make me satisfied, then… hmm…"
As she spoke, she glanced at Jitt again, trying to find some clues from the butler.
Although she didn't know why this butler—so trusted by her father—had been wiping sweat nonstop since earlier, she didn't pay it much attention and continued:
"I'll reluctantly let you stay."
Kisho, faced with the girl's triple-question interrogation, laughed lightly.
"Actually, whether the young lady agrees to let me stay or not, I don't really care."
"What—?"
Anida was completely thrown off by Kisho's answer, nearly losing her composure as a young lady.
Her eyes widened, and she was just short of sticking her face right up to Kisho's to demand an explanation.
This was completely different from the answer she had imagined.
Shouldn't this kid in front of her be overjoyed, eagerly agreeing, and then properly demonstrating how this strange instrument was played?
"Hmph, you just can't play it, can you!"
The little girl tried to provoke him, but Kisho simply stood there, smiling kindly at her.
"Fine then—if you really can play it…"
The girl showed an expression of being thoroughly annoyed. She thought for a moment, then said with a bit of reckless abandon:
"I'll agree to one request of yours."
"...Young lady."
Jitt's expression changed slightly. Before he could say anything to stop her, the girl shot him a fierce glare.
Left with no choice, he returned the glare to Kisho, as if warning him that even if he really could play, he'd better know what moderation meant.
—Don't do what you shouldn't, and absolutely don't ask for something you shouldn't even think about.
"Ah… that's not impossible. But… I don't really have anything I want."
Kisho ignored Jitt entirely, but his opportunistic answer made both Jitt's and the girl's faces darken at the same time.
He put on a thoughtful look, pondered for a long while, then reluctantly said:
"If I really can play it, then give this guqin to me."
Hearing this, Jitt froze slightly, and a sudden look of admiration appeared in his eyes.
Good kid. In just a few seconds of interaction, he'd already seen through the young lady's competitive personality, used a few words to get her to propose a bet, then first rejected her stake of "letting him stay," and instead asked for this seemingly useless guqin.
Without realizing it, the young lady had allowed him to naturally achieve his goal of staying.
If the young lady weren't present, Jitt would have applauded Kisho right then and there.
Kisho felt Jitt's blazing gaze and slowly formed a question mark on his forehead.
If he knew what Mr. Jitt was imagining, he'd probably burst out laughing.
"Fine, then it's settled."
The little girl stomped her foot.
"Hmph! I can't even play this instrument myself. I refuse to believe that a kid who knows who-knows-where he came from could be better than me."
"Don't keep calling me a kid."
Kisho smiled, walked over to the table with the guqin, and sat down.
"I'm actually a tiny bit older than you."
"Stop babbling."
The little girl went to sit on the other side and said impatiently:
"Hurry up and start!"
Kisho looked up at her with a slight smile, then gently raised his hands.
The puffed-up expression on Anida's face suddenly turned serious.
Because she felt that the boy who had been joking around with her just a second ago had completely changed the moment his gaze fell on the guqin.
"Ding~~"
As the strings were plucked, an indescribably melodious sound emerged, like a pebble falling into a pool of water, rippling outward in circles.
Everything around them resonated in response.
Anida had never heard music like this before. Even the teachers who taught her various instruments could never have played a melody like this.
She stared at Kisho's fingers dancing lightly across the strings. The music was majestic…
When Kisho's fingertips finally brushed past the last string and came to rest, the two people beside him only snapped out of his performance long after it had ended.
"Even though I've listened to 'High Mountains and Flowing Water' many times, this was actually my first time playing a real guqin. Thanks to [The Fantasizing Musician], I didn't embarrass myself."
"There were actually a few small flaws, but still~"
Kisho secretly glanced at the two of them—faces full of disbelief, yet completely captivated by the sound of the guqin. He narrowed his eyes slightly and laughed in his heart:
"Anyway, they've never heard the original version. What the original sounds like—hehe, I'll just say what I played is it!"