Chapter 49: Julian’s Curiosity
While Lavendina was fuming, Julian’s gaze accidentally fell on something under his eye. When he touched his cheek, he discovered it was a band-aid—something he had only just noticed. Meanwhile, Lavendina tried to calm herself by taking a deep breath.
"Haaa... Idiot Lia!" Lavendina muttered with a pout and annoyance.
After she calmed down, Lavendina turned to Julian and said,
"Okay, Julian—" Lavendina said.
When Lavendina turned to look at Julian, she found him holding his cheeks with a confused expression. When Julian touched the band-aid, he found it soft. He wanted to look in the mirror with his phone camera, but his phone was in his bag—about 12 meters away from him.
"Hm? What’s wrong, Julian?" Lavendina asked Julian.
Julian, who had been looking at his bag, started to look at Lavendina.
"I just want to look in the mirror on my phone, Ms. Lavendina" Julian replied.
Lavendina smiled, and with her left hand, she pulled her phone out of her skirt’s right pocket. Julian, looking at Lavendina’s phone, murmured.
"Wow... the accessories are so cute..." Julian muttered, looking at the purple case attached to the phone and the white cat keychain hanging from the top of Lavendina’s phone.
Lavendina, hearing Julian’s murmur, chuckled.
"Hehehe~, cute, isn’t it?" Lavendina asked softly.
Julian nodded.
"Was that a gift from your boyfriend?" Julian asked.
Lavendina shook her head, then replied.
"No, I got it from Lady Anindya when she was in junior high" Lavendina replied.
"Huh?! From Anindya?" asked Julian, shocked, as he hadn’t expected that.
"Yeah, but that was before... She’s changed now," Lavendina replied, suddenly sad.
"Sob!"
"Changed? What was she like back then?" asked Julian.
"Maybe I can get some information from Ms. Lavendina about Anindya’s past" Julian thought to himself.
Lavendina suddenly teasing smile, then placed her right index finger to the center of Julian’s lips, and replied.
"That’s a... S-E-C-R-E-T~" Lavendina replied with a teasing smile.
Julian’s expression suddenly softened.
"Haaa... another secret, huh?. Your family members really like keeping secrets, huh..." Julian said with a sigh.
Lavendina moved her index finger away, smiled, and then said
"This is your story, if I tell it... you won’t be able to understand each other, so let 1 Anindya tell you everything~" Lavendina said softly.
Julian was silent for a moment, slightly surprised by the gentle, meaningful tone. Shortly after, Lavendina turned on her phone, opened the camera, and pointed it at Julian’s face.
"Here, you said you wanted to look in the mirror, right?" Lavendina asked, holding her phone out to Julian.
Julian started to look at the camera, then he was shocked—he saw that not only were his cheeks bandaged, but there was also one on his forehead and one on his chin.
"W-wow... what am I going to tell my mom about this?!" Julian asked in shock, touching each of the bandages one by one.
"You can tell your mother, ’You fell down the school stairs.’" Lavendina replied, still holding her phone.
Julian stopped looking in the mirror and looked at his uniform.
"You’re right, that might convince my mom—with this dirty-looking uniform..." Julian said, staring at the front of his uniform.
Julian glanced at his left arm.
"...But the part of my arm where Sagara’s bullet hit still looks torn and there’s a bandage" Julian continued.
Lavendina turned off her phone and sat down on her knees.
"You just have to come up with an excuse, just like you do to your classmates" Lavendina said.
"That’s right!" Julian said with a sweet smile.
After saying that, Julian immediately stood up and said.
"Yosh!... then I’ll just go straight home" Julian said, glancing at Lavendina.
"Alright, you can go ahead. I want to tidy up my things first" Lavendina said gently.
"Okay!" Julian said.
Lavendina smiled, then Julian started walking to get his bag. Once Julian had grabbed his bag, he walked over to Lavendina, who was tidying up her first aid kit.
"Oh yeah, what did you ride here?" Julian asked.
"I rode my bike" Lavendina replied, tidying up her first aid kit.
"A bike?" Julian asked, confused.
Julian looked around; he couldn’t see a bike anywhere.
"Is your bike outside the alley?" Julian asked.
"Yes" Lavendina replied.
"Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose your bike?" Julian asked.
Lavendina stopped folding her small rug, then looked up and replied.
"No need to worry, because Tia made an anti-theft padlock~" Lavendina replied with a smile.
"I see" Julian said, nodding his head.
"Then let’s walk together to the T-junction on G. Raya St." Julian continued.
"Alright, I’ll pack my things first, you can wait outside the alley" Lia said gently.
"Okay!" Julian replied.
Julian began to walk out of the alley. As he exited the alley, he looked to his right and saw a pink bike with a basket. He approached it and examined it.
"Hmm... is this Ms. Lavendina’s bike?" Julian asked, looking at the bike.
As he examined the bike, Julian’s gaze caught a hose tied to the trunk of an Averrhoa bilimbi L. tree. Julian noticed that the hose was connected to the bottom of the bike seat.
"Hmm... I see, this hose is wrapped around three times to make it tight" Julian muttered, examining the hose coiled under the bike seat.
While examining the coiled hose, Julian also noticed a padlock on the other side of the coiled hose. Wanting to examine the padlock, Julian crouched down and began analyzing it.
"This padlock is quite large and thick, huh..." Julian muttered, turning the padlock left and right.
Julian suddenly stopped turning the padlock when he found a hole in the center.
"Hmm... what’s this hole in the middle?" Julian asked curiously.
Julian removed the padlock from his grasp and took his phone from his bag. He then turned on the flashlight on his phone and held the padlock again. He shone the flashlight into the hole.
"Wow, there’s a fingerprint sensor in the middle of the padlock!" Julian said, staring at the padlock in awe.
"...Looking closely, the sensor is actually on the inside, huh?, Usually, the fingerprint sensor is on the outside" Julian continued, peering into the padlock hole with his right eye.
Because intrigued, Julian turned off his phone’s flashlight and put it in his right pants pocket. He then tried to open the padlock by inserting his right index finger into the hole. After inserting his right index finger and holding it for a few minutes, Julian suddenly felt a small shock.
"UGHH!!!" Julian shouted, quickly pulling his index finger away.
Julian immediately took a step back, shaking his hand, which felt like it was electrocuted.
"S-shit!, How could there be a shock?!" Julian muttered in annoyance.
"Pfftt!!!... AHAHAHAHAHA!!!" laughed Lavendina, emerging from a small alleyway carrying a first aid kit and a small, folded rug.
"Huh? Ms. Lavendina?!" Julian asked, glancing at Lavendina and holding his electrocuted finger.
Lavendina stopped laughing and wiped her tears with her right hand.
"W-what are you doing, Julian?!" Lavendina asked, wiping away her tears.
"I-i was just curious" Julian replied, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Sigh~, Teenagers’ curiosity is really high, isn’t it?" Lavendina asked with a sigh.
Lavendina walked to her bike. When she was in front of the basket, she began to put her carpet and first aid kit in the basket. Then she said to Julian:
"I told you earlier that the padlock was anti-theft" Lavendina said.
"Y-you didn’t tell me it would deliver an electric shock" Julian said softly.
"Then... I apologize for forgetting to tell you" Lavendina said immediately apologizing with slightly bowing her head in regret.
"A-alright!, It’s okay" Julian replied nervously.
Because of the awkward atmosphere, Julian tried to find another topic of conversation. He looked back at the padlock and asked.
"Why does the padlock emit an electric shock?" Julian asked.
Lavendina straightened her body and looked at the padlock.
"Because, when the fingerprint sensor detects a fingerprint that isn’t registered in the database, the system automatically triggers a mild electric shock as a security alarm. Don’t worry, it’s only a small shock—about six milliamps, it’s not dangerous" Lavendina replied gently.
"N-not dangerous, huh?, but the shock is really noticeableee" Julian thought to himself with a flat expression.
Julian asked again, still curious.
"So where does the electricity come from?" Julian asked.
~To be continued~