TPMITWON Chapter 7: I Am Foolish

After waiting for nearly three hours, Pakura finally opened her eyes slowly. As soon as Souta saw that Pakura was awake, he let out a sigh of relief. However, when Souta's eyes met Pakura's, his brows immediately furrowed.

There was something in the girl's gaze—unmasked anger.

Souta smiled wryly. He didn't know why Pakura looked so angry, but it was clearly not a good sign. Although a bit nervous, Souta steeled his resolve and decided to speak.

"Please! Teach me how to feel and manage Chakra!" Souta's voice was firm, but his body tensed slightly as he lowered his head.

Pakura stared at Souta in silence for a moment before finally responding in a cold voice. "Why should I do that?"

The cold tone surprised Souta. He didn't expect Pakura to be this harsh. From what he remembered in the anime, Pakura was quite friendly when talking to children, especially with her student, Maki. But now, the girl in front of Souta was clearly different—cold, indifferent, and seemingly reluctant to deal with him.

This situation was bad.

Souta was not the type of person who was good at talking to children, let alone someone who was completely unfamiliar to him. Even though Souta could speak fluently after steeling his resolve, he still lacked confidence in social interactions.

Souta felt more comfortable dealing with inanimate objects—robots, machines, something he could learn about without needing to understand human expressions and emotions. In fact, the only reason Souta was able to borrow money from the bank to start his business was that the bank employee was his friend.

So, facing a cold Pakura like this really left Souta at a loss for words.

"Why are you just silent?" Pakura's voice broke the silence, sounding a bit impatient.

"Ah! That... Uhm..." Souta swallowed hard, then spoke hurriedly. "Because I want to become someone great! That's why you should teach me how to feel and manage Chakra!"

Pakura was taken aback, staring at Souta with a strange expression.

"A great person..." Pakura murmured quietly, as if trying to understand Souta's meaning.

"Y-yes! That's right!" Souta tried to smile confidently, even though the smile felt stiff and forced.

Pakura let out a small sigh, then without saying anything else, she began to rise and prepare to leave. "... I don't care."

Seeing the girl about to leave just like that, Souta panicked. His muscles tensed, and his mind raced to find a way to stop her. Finally, Souta could only say, "... Wait! I... I... Uhm... Damn... I will pay you!"

Pakura stopped in her tracks. She then turned to look at Souta, her brows slightly furrowed. "Pay me?"

"Yes!" Souta replied immediately, although he himself was not sure about this idea.

Pakura stared at Souta for a few seconds before finally snorting softly.

"Do you have a lot of money?" Pakura asked, her voice sounding cynical. "Aren't you an orphan like me? The monthly allowance we get is very little, and you want to spend that money just to learn how to feel and manage Chakra? Are you foolish?"

Souta sighed, then smiled bitterly. "... Yes, I am foolish. So... will you teach me?"

Pakura looked at Souta for a long time, as if trying to assess how serious he was.

"You..." Pakura sighed, then suddenly asked, "Did you pass the Ninja Academy entrance exam?"

Souta frowned, confused by Pakura's question. "Uhm... Yes. Why?"

Pakura looked at Souta with an even stranger expression than before. "You passed... but you don't even know how to feel and manage Chakra?"

Souta was taken aback, his body tensing slightly as he exchanged glances with Pakura.

"That..." Souta was shocked and didn't know what to say.

Souta's heart raced faster than usual, as if his body had just realized that he was in a difficult situation.