With Jin's circumstance healed, we packed up all our gear. Frosted Peaks is not so far away, at most six days of walking for us to get through.
Shen's storage magic was immensely handy, I had to praise it internally all the time. The year's worth of traveling made me loathe the novels and series I watched.
Having a storage magic skill was so handy it made lugging around things easier. With Shen here, it made so many things easier. Heck, it preserved the meat from that deer a while ago. Apparently nothing inside it decays and nothing inside it is even affected by time. As far as Shen knows at least.
Every time I saw something disappear in front of Shen, I wondered how big the space was. And what's in there…. It really has me curious.
But another thing had me curious, and gave me something to test—
"So… how was it?" When Shen and I were alone together, I had to ask curiously… I had to ask, y'know, I'm just tryna tease her. Wanted to see her reactions…
"Huh? How was what?"
"Oh, y'know. What happened with Jin." I replied, I could feel my lips turn into a smug smile. Haha….
Shen furrowed her eyebrows at me, the gears in her head were slowly turning. When it clicked, her face lightly turned red and immediately switched topics.
"How's your training going?" She asked quickly. The switch was so fast, I almost had her repeat it. I know what you're going at. I'll just play along.
"Better than you think, and quite possibly better than what happened between you and Jin."
"W-What are you trying to say?"
"Master Shen… you're not into women, right?"
This is fun…
Shen's face was turning red, it seems like a vampire lady can get embarrassed too, huh? Well and a former guy… hahahah!
"Y-Yukina, what are you even trying to get at?"
"Well~ Master Shen, I know you were the one that made Jin look drained."
"...?" Shen's facial expression basically confirmed every word I said, she didn't have her poker face today and I don't think she can pull that off now.
"And honestly, I wasn't expecting you to be into guys." I pointed at her now bright red face. "I thought you'd be into women.. I mean, you had a wife back then, I guess the five hundred years changed your preference."
There was an echo of silence after what I just said. Annnnddd here comes- …?
I felt Shen's hand hit my head— sure, it was weak, but the intentions hit hard. My head made a loud thunk inside, but nothing physically hurt.
Then, the stares caused us both to stop what was going on. Jin had a horrified look, his mouth was agape, and he stopped mid stride.
Verd was the first one to butt into our friendly argument; before he spoke, he turned to Jin then Shen. "You were the one to make Jin exhausted?"
"Verd, I don't think you should… Ahh whatever, Sage and honey cover the kids' ears…" James stood next to Jin whilst grabbing the ridge of his nose. "You poor man…"
Jin's body jolted when James slapped his hand onto his shoulder. He heard what I said…. Didn't he?
"But… she- she said she was a- she f-"
"Reincarnators are mysterious beings… Jin. Even if-"
"Can- can we not talk about this… please?" Shen blubbered out whilst covering her face. "There are-"
"In fact, Jin… she was a fourty-nine year old man." I leaned forward, feeling the intense smugness return. "Married, fourty-nine years old man…."
"Mathew! Stop it!" Shen yelled, her body was visibly shaking with embarrassment. "I've been a woman for five hundred years, compared to my old life it's changed me entirely!"
"Mathew?"
Oh fuck. No, why- NO, NO, NO! FUCK! Karma- it's biting me in my ass now…
I felt their stares transfer towards me— Welp… there goes my secret, I so desperately tried to protect…
"Wait, Yukina-? You mean Yukina, right-?" Shaun and Verd at once asked.
"No- Mathew, Yukina's old name is Mathew." Shen proclaimed… Fuck, fuck… Why? Why- it's-
"So…"
"Yukina…? You were a boy?"
"..."
"So, you two knew each other?" James, my savior changed the subject after seeing me turning red myself. "Was Shen your dad before?"
"No, no. If Mathew was my kid before, I'd disown him." To put it bluntly, shen's revenge was being enacted… that comment hurt. "I was his teacher, and advisor."
James raised his hand to his chin, ready to ask more questions but was cut off before he could…
"Wait- So Yukina IS a reincarnator?"
"Yeah, duh? How didn't you know?"
"Isn't THAT a major thing to reveal? Plus, she was a he before?!"
"Shaun, what part are you not getting…?" James grumbled whilst covering his face. "For my family, it was pretty obvious, we've known about her status and gender for a year now…"
What…? How the heck did he know?! Wait. Wait. Wait, why hasn't he treated me as a boy?! Is he trying to mold me into some kind of daughter?!
Well… I guess it's slightly working… I mentally slapped myself, I shouldn't be thinking like this… I have to preserve some dignity as a former man. Well whatever is still remaining of it at least.
Although, that was true… I could tell I was changing. Which I disliked, but it was slowly changing me.
My choices in clothes are slightly deviating. Ugh… I really should be more aware….
Everyone went silent for a moment, then a loud slap was heard. Jin had face palmed, so loudly, that the barren grounds around us echoed for miles.
"It's okay, man…" James grabbed Jin's shoulder with a reassuring smile. "It was about time you found a partner."
"I thought she was a woman…"
"Well, she is now, you even hear-"
"It was a one-time thing."
"And… it looks like you disappointed her."
Oh thank god- Nope, I shouldn't be relieved after this! Now they know pretty much my only secret, how are they going to treat me?
As a result, I took a few steps back from this conversation; metaphorically and literally, plus they changed the topic immediately.
Poor Jin was heartbroken it seemed; his spine was hunched over as he stared at his hands. James was half supportive, patting his shoulder, on the other hand, his voice was the unsupportive half. He sounded like he was holding back a laugh..Hey, that's not nice!
Shaun was having a difficult time… well accepting my situation. He kept moving his head, staring at me, to James and everyone else.
It's really not that hard to think about it, Shaun. But it sure as hell is embarrassing. Especially now that everyone knows…
Verd turned to Jin to console him. And thus… did my time to leave this conversation occur.
I watched from afar, watching this chaos I created intensify. Jin was now on his knees, groveling on the floor. Deep in my heart I felt satisfied, the amount of times my head was bashed on needed revenge.
Shen covered her face, made distance from everyone and was shaking her head.
As I watched this happen curiously, I took a seat on the cool grass. My heart was calmer after that embarrassment now, is this satisfaction?
Sure… it had its downsides, my old life's gender was revealed. But James, Melinda and Allisa knew. Yet, they didn't- aside from pushing the girliness on me.
Before I could keep my thoughts together, I noticed Shen was suddenly next to me.
"Are you proud of yourself?"
"Sort of?"
Due to my response, she let out a sigh. Then, I felt something smack the top of my head.
"If things like that happen again, be quiet you idiot." Shen grumbled, retracting her head and watched the last bit of my chaos. "Those things are private…"
"Say, are you into men, or both?"
"...."
"C'mon, I won't say anything about it." I assured her with my hands raised. To be fair, I'd understand if she doesn't trust me now that I blew her secret wide open.
"...I don't have interest in women."
So…
"That's honestly a shocker… ahem, back to the previous topic; you two should be quiet next time."
"You know… you still could've kept it quiet. And there won't be a next time."
"You really didn't say your feelings." I pointed out with a bored look. Shen's feelings werrre pretty obvious with the sounds last night.
"You can shut your mouth!"
Ow… And I got hit a third time, in the same spot. I'm seriously going to die once she gets her strength back.
I watched as Shen walked away with her arms crossed.
Welp…
That was fun while it lasted… haa… After some time, Jin regained his composure. Once he was as fine as he can be, we started our journey again.
However, this time, it was far more awkward. Shen made some distance between us, my traveling partner for a small time was Shaun.
He kept asking questions; heck, excitedly too.
How was it when I was first awake in this body. How the heck was I supposed to answer him?
As he got to his third question, I completely phased it out. I had to stop him before my brain imploded.