Beauty With a Brat (The Suzuhara Family 1) ✅

Chapter Four

July 25th, 2028

"Gāisǐ de, STOP!"

"Any students who go into the casino will be confined to their rooms tomorrow morning!"

"They're still going in."

"I know that, Maeda-sensei!"

Wataru sat at a table by himself in the hotel lobby, the chair ridiculously comfortable. He watched their four chaperoning teachers try (and fail) to prevent the students from entering the casino adjacent to the hotel they were all staying at. Yukinaga's Keisuke Okabe-sensei and Iori Maeda-sensei, and Shirahime's Jié Zhāng lǎoshī and Arata Fujiyama-sensei were standing near the entrance of the casino looking stressed and arguing amongst themselves and trying to block students from entering. Well, Okabe-sensei, Zhāng lǎoshī and Fujiyama-sensei looked stressed. Maeda-sensei looked stoic and downright bored like he always did.

Coming to Macao wasn't as fun as I thought it was. Wataru checked his phone. Homare hadn't answered his text yet. Ugh, why did Homare have to stay behind in Japan? Just because his shiny new girlfriend didn't want to come here?!

Wataru scoffed and leaned his head back against the back of the chair. Homare's absence from the trip was the least of his problems. The...discovery that he had made on Sunday made him feel sick all over again. He cursed under his breath and slammed a hand on the arm of the chair. Kuso! Why is it my fault?!

"Wataru Suzuhara."

The soft, unfamiliar girl's voice startled him and he quickly opened his eyes and sat up. A girl was standing over him; the definition of a Yamato Nadeshiko. Her black hair was worn loose and straight (despite the summer heat), her bangs were perfectly horizontal, and her smoky-blue eyes stared down at him with a wide-eyed peculiarity.

Blue eyes. Wataru sat up a little straighter as a chill hummed over his skin. Uh oh. Hoshiko Nimura. She's an onmyōji! Or—Or maybe not? I saw her using tarot cards yesterday, that's not part of the Onmyōdō, is it?

"You've been acting strangely, Suzuhara," Hoshiko said to him in a quiet tone, her eyes still wide. Wataru stared at her with a perturbed expression. Hoshiko sat down without being invited to. "I can help you if you like."

"I saw you charge 300 Patacas for a tarot reading yesterday," Wataru pointed out. "I'd rather keep my money."

"I won't read tarot cards to you," Hoshiko said. "They wouldn't help your predicament, anyway."

"...Really?" Wataru asked in a deadpan tone.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong, and I'll give you assistance?" Hoshiko asked him.

"You apparently know so much about me, why don't you guess?!" Wataru shot back.

"You don't believe me?"

"I know you—do stuff," Wataru said, gesturing to her. "But how do I know that you won't scam me like you scammed that girl with her love reading?!"

"I didn't scam Ryoko Arachi," Hoshiko said. "She sarcastically asked me if she would ever fall in love, and the cards showed that she was already in love."

Wataru rolled his eyes. "Show me then that you're not scamming me."

"Okay, Suzuhara," Hoshiko said. "I'll tell you a vision I saw related to you."

"Okay, what?" Wataru perked up against his will.

"Your Aniki is going to fall in love with a guy you know."