LSK – Side Stories: You owe me a favour!

*Disclaimer note: This is merely a translation of the original Chinese version. I do not claim any part in the creation of the original story.

 

Ceo Storm could never figure it out:

I owe you a favour, and you owe me another;

In the end, who the heck owes who?

Oh, who cares!!

 

There will always be fights between brothers. In the end, you will owe me and I will owe you, so what's one more favour?

 

"Ceo, seeing as today is such a warm and sunny day, could you help this Sun with a little problem?" asked Creus with a brilliant smile on his face and his hands clasped together in front of him, his posture one of that asking for a favour.

He had no problems with helping out. That is, was it any other time…… "But my teacher had instructed me to practice with my homework, and I'm not allowed to do anything else before I complete it," Ceo told him helplessly.

Creus turned to look to his left; Ceo followed him and looked to the left. Isn't it just the usual hallway? Creus then turned to look to his right, and again Ceo followed him and looked to the right. Still an ordinary hallway……? They were currently standing in the middle of a hallway, so no matter which direction they were to look in, they would only see a hallway.

'What is Creus looking at?' Ceo stared at him uncomprehendingly.

When Creus turned back to look at him, he said exasperatedly, "What kind of homework could you be practising here? If you were studying, even though you could study whilst standing, you don't have a single book with you right now. And if you're going to say sword practise, well, even if you weren't afraid of accidentally hurting someone with your sword, you don't have a sword on you either. Look, if you're just trying to find an excuse not to help me, shouldn't you at least try to come up with a better one?"

Ceo stared at him in surprise and was about to explain that he wasn't trying to find excuses, when the opportunity to practise appeared!

He hurriedly pushed Creus aside and stepped forward, when his eyes suddenly widened in shock and horror……

"It's the little Sun Knight and little Storm Knight! Oh, they look so cute!!"

So… so many women! Why are there so many of them?!

At the sight of a dozen female priests walking down the hallway in their direction, all giggles and whispers, Ceo couldn't stand it anymore and turned to hide behind Creus.

"Ah?" Creus twisted his head to look at him in puzzlement, wondering what the guy was trying to do, but one of the female priests at the head of the group had called out to him.

"Little Sun Knight, what are you using for your hair? It's so soft and smooth and shiny!"

Creus wasn't about to tell them about the secret hair serum he had invented, so he beamed up at them and said, "With the God of Light as this Sun's witness, my ladies' hair shines even more brilliantly than this Sun's!"

The female priests tittered at that, and only when the head priest hurried them on did they turn to leave, all still smiling a pleased little smile.

When the sounds of their laughter grew distant, Ceo quickly came out from behind Creus. He stood there facing the leaving priests, his eyes blinking nonstop.

"Do you have a cramp in your eyes?" asked Creus, unable to understand what the heck the blue-haired boy was trying to do.

"Of course not!" Ceo immediately refuted. "I'm practising winking at women!"

"…… does anyone even need to practise to wink?"

"Of course! It's so hard to wink! And the girls keep giggling, or else they'll keep staring at me with twinkles in their eyes, and they always smell so flowery, I hardly even dare to look at them……" as he said this, Ceo looked rather discouraged. "I'd thought there would only be one or two of them in the Holy Temple. That's why I chose to stand here and wait for them to pass by, but I never thought they would appear in such a big group……"

Creus scratched his face absent-mindedly. "I think only the Light Priest would come here on her own. The only other reason for priests to come over here would be when the holy knights are injured, and just one or two wouldn't have been enough, so it's natural that they would come in big groups!"

When he heard that, Ceo's face looked crestfallen, and he said dispiritedly, "I can't complete the homework teacher set for me. Winking at a hundred women is just too hard, it's impossible!"

As he said that, tears started welling in his eyes.

"H-hey, don't-don't cry! I'll help you, alright?" When he saw the other boy's eyes redden, Creus hastily comforted him. "You help me out first, then I'll help you with your problem, okay?"

"Can you really help me?" asked Ceo as he tried to blink away the moisture in his eyes. "Even my teacher hasn't been able to help me!"

"Don't worry! I'm the Sun Knight, remember?"

"You're not yet the Sun Knight……"

"Hmph, I'll be one soon! Anyway, let's go, let's go! Help me out with my problem first; it's more urgent!"

And with that, Creus grabbed Ceo's hand and dragged him off, not giving the latter the opportunity to refuse him.

~O~O~O~O~

Bam!

"What's all this?" asked Ceo as he watched Sun drop a mountain of papers onto the table, his eyes wide with incomprehension.

"Office documents," the other replied simply. At the same time, he placed two inkpots and several pens onto the table beside them.

"Office… documents?" Ceo tilted his head and asked, "Why do you have to go through office documents? We're still in training right now; we don't have to deal with the paperwork yet."

"Try telling that to my teacher," Creus snorted. "But let me tell you right now that no one in the whole of the Holy Temple would dare to say that to him."

"What about the Judge Knight?" Even though history's strongest Sun Knight is indeed an intimidating title, Ceo believed that the Judge Knight wasn't that bad either.

"My teacher told me elegantly that if I dared tell-tale on him to the Judge Knight, he will replace all the paperwork time with lessons on elegance."

"Elegance lessons?" Ceo couldn't understand his point. "What's wrong with them?"

"It's about as bad as your winking lessons……"

"Oh! I'd rather choose paperwork!"

"Exactly. So hurry up with it!" said Creus as he sat down whilst pushing a pen into Ceo's hand. "These documents have to be handed in by tomorrow!"

Ceo merely sat there with the pen in hand, staring at Creus and feeling a bit lost. However, as he watched the latter going through the paperwork in earnest, he felt a little bad sitting around doing nothing and so began going through his first (but certainly not his last) paperwork……

Bang!

The door banged open, and a loud voice could be heard booming, "Creus, where's your teacher?"

Ceo had jumped at the door banging open and had very nearly knocked over the tall stack of documents. The stack of documents that they weren't supposed to be touching in the first place! And now they've been discovered! What should they do?!

Creus, sitting calmly opposite the panicking Ceo merely looked up at his name and said, "Probably in the wine cellar…… cough! I mean, may I ask what the Captain Blaze Knight is looking for him for?"

'Oh dear, have we been discovered? This ominous silence……'

The Blaze Knight then sighed and said gruffly, "Still in the wine cellars at this late hour…… honestly! Find Neo and tell him to get to the main hall right away!"

"Yes, sir," said Creus, standing up. "Ceo, I'll be back soon. Remember to continue doing the paperwork!" The last part was directed to the blue-haired boy.

Ceo's mind had gone blank at the exchange between Creus and the Blaze Knight, and he merely responded with an "okay". By the time Creus and the Blaze Knight were long gone, he suddenly woke up from his daze and realised……

There was a mountain of paperwork awaiting his attention on the table!

~O~O~O~O~

"You actually finished the whole stack! You're amazing!" Creus was most impressed.

Ceo's only reaction to such praise was his deaden eyes becoming even less lively as he said faintly, "Didn't you say they had to be handed in today? I spent the whole night going through them all and didn't get a wink of sleep……"

"That's right! Today's the deadline!" agreed Creus. He then added in a quiet mutter, "But I'm always late, and besides, everyone knows that my teacher Neo always procrastinates with his paperwork."

"What was that?" asked Ceo, not hearing the last part.

"Nothing!" With the stack of documents in one hand, he grabbed Ceo with the other and said, "Let's go! You helped me with the paperwork, so now it's my turn to help you with your winking practise!"

"You still remember?" Ceo asked in faint disbelief. It had occurred to him more than once that Creus was merely using him to help with the paperwork and had no intentions of helping him with his winking practise, but it seems he was wrong.

"Of course!"

After dropping off the paperwork, Creus then dragged Ceo off to some place. When he finally stopped, he turned to Ceo and asked, "How do you feel right now?"

Ceo replied weakly, "Very tired. I haven't slept the whole of last night and even had to look continuously at all those documents. Even now I keep seeing all those words…… 'instructions', 'proposals', 'applications for budget allowance'……"

"Wink at that corner."

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Ceo didn't understand, but he did as he was told and winked.

"Ooh, how adorable!"

"What a handsome little knight!"

Ceo blinked blankly as he heard girly screaming from the direction in which he had just winked at. Were there…… girls there?

His eyes widened at that thought and he tried to peer closely at his surroundings, but his efforts were thwarted when Creus covered his eyes with his hands and dragged him off. He then took away his hand and instructed, "Wink to your right."

Ceo winked, and as soon as he was done his eyes were covered once more.

When he was released, he received another instruction, "Wink to your left."

"Wink to your right……"

And so they went around going through those motions repeatedly. When Creus finally released him for the last time, he clapped his hands and announced, "Winking at a hundred girls, done!"

'Huh?' Ceo blinked blankly at Creus's statement as he looked around. This is—the Hall of Light! The women-filled Hall of Light!! He immediately scurried to hide behind Creus.

Creus ignored his actions and dragged him away. Once they were back in the Holy Temple, he crossed his arms and said pompously, "I told you I'd help you! Remember, you owe me a favour now!"

…… huh?

~O~O~O~O~

In class.

"You've finally learned to wink at women without blushing!" The Storm Knight was extremely proud when he heard the report from his student. He clapped his student's shoulder and said approvingly, "I knew you could do it! I'm very, very proud (and thankful)!"

'Only because I had to go through office documents the whole night and couldn't see anything but words before me. I couldn't see at all if the person in front of me was male or female……

'It seems that, I really do owe Creus a favour?'

Ceo wasn't very sure about the matter. Why is it that he still owed Creus a favour after helping him with the office documents? But anyhow, it was thanks to Creus that he had finally learnt how to wink at women, so that means he really does owe him……. right?

~O~O~O~O~

"Here! This is today's paperwork!" said Creus as he dumped the enormous stack of paperwork onto him. "After these are done, you'll be able to see words only and won't have to worry about winking, so you'll owe me another favour!"

Why would he owe Creus another favour? He was already helping him with his paperwork! Is there any logic in owing someone for getting more work?

"I've already helped you with the paperwork before!" Ceo was getting a little angry.

Creus tilted his head at him in puzzlement, before he sighed and said, "What am I to do with you? Very well, even if you don't owe me for this time, you still owe me one for last time's help!"

……why did he not feel like he was getting the better end of the deal? At all?

However, it seems that in order to stop blushing when winking, he had no other choice but to do paperwork?

How did things end up like this??

In his room, Ceo was still turning those thoughts over in his head as he went through the documents, but whilst he was contemplating his situation, he had already finished ten more documents.

"Ceo, what are you doing? We hardly see you around recently. You seem to be very busy these days?"

"Teacher," he greeted. A little dazed from all the paperwork he had been going through, Ceo's reaction was a little slow. He had merely looked up from the latest document to stare blankly at his guest, and when he saw that it was no other than his teacher, he merely stared at him, giving no further response.

"…… What were you looking at?"

The Storm Knight approached his desk and picked up one of the papers.

'Oh no! I'm not supposed to be doing those paperwork!' Ceo's belated reaction finally kicked in too late.

"You--" The Storm Knight's face turned ugly as he stared down at Ceo. "You've been helping Neo with his paperwork?!"

'Oh no! I'm doomed! What should I do? Creus—'

"You don't even help me with my paperwork, yet you are helping with Neo's?! Just who do you think your teacher is? Me or him?!"

'……huh?'

Ceo said timidly, "Creus gave me those. I'm helping Creus, not the Captain Sun Knight."

"I don't care!" The handsome and dashing Storm Knight pouted, throwing a tantrum. "If you're going to help Neo with his paperwork then you're doing mine too!"

It suddenly struck Ceo that since his interaction with Creus, he was discovering many of the Holy Temple's hidden true personalities. But he just nodded his head and said, "Alright, I'll help you with your paperwork, but I don't want any more winking lessons!"

"…… you've been corrupted by Creus, but it's a deal! Besides, seeing as you've already mastered winking, it'll be fine if we drop them from now onwards."

Huh. It seems like he now owed Creus another big favour. But hadn't he already helped Creus with so much paperwork? So who the heck owed who now?

And so Ceo's bewilderment continued.

~O~O~O~O~

"Silly-o! You owed me a favour, so help me with this!"

"Silly-o! Seeing as you owe me one, come and help me with this!"

'Call me Silly-o one more time and I'll knock you silly!'

"…… Storm! Help me! You still owe me, remember?"

Right up until they had officially became the Twelve Holy Knights, Ceo Storm still couldn't figure out why exactly he owed Creus a favour. And why, for god's sake, did this 'favour' seem to stretch on forever……?

After having gone three days without sleep, and finding another stack of paperwork thrown his way courtesy of one Creus Sun, Ceo Storm finally exploded. "Creus Sun!!"

He lashed out with a kick and sent the source of never-ending paperwork flying. He then went after him and continued kicking at him.

"Ah, ah ah!!" screamed Sun as he attempted to dodge Ceo's vicious kicks, but he was no match for his swift and powerful kicks. As he scrambled away from him, Creus cried out, "Why are you so angry all of a sudden? I don't understand! I haven't done anything recently…… I mean, I haven't done anything excessive to you, right? Aah! Don't kick my face!"

'That's right, you haven't done anything recently; you've only just been doing it continuously for the past eight years or so!'

Ceo swung his right foot at Creus' head, only stopping inches away from his face, the wind from his motion even stirring the locks of the latter's golden hair. He then asked unhurriedly, "Now, you have the choice of getting the beating of your life or doing your own paperwork from now onwards. Which do you choose? Hmm?"

"…… please, do kick me! Kick me with all your might! You need not show me any mercy. My holy aura is very strong, and I am the self-healing Sun Knight, so it's no problem! Come on!"

Just then, the door was pushed open and Leaf's head popped in. He asked worriedly, "What's happened? I heard shouting…… you shouldn't be fighting with each other!"

With a shoe mark still on his face, Sun let out a beaming smile and reassured, "Brother Leaf, I'm afraid you've misunderstood. As the saying goes, 'the hand that disciplines is from the loving heart'. Brother Storm and I were merely communicating our love and not a fight at all, so my brother may lay his concerns at rest."

"…… Sorry for interrupting your exchanges of love."

Leaf quickly drew back and closed the door.

Ceo stared at Creus, his right eye twitching, but the latter, on the other hand, beamed up at him and said, "Silly-o, as my subordinate, it is a serious offence for you to attack your direct supervisor! And Leaf can bear witness to it! But see how nicely I explained it away? You now owe me another big favour!"

"……"

 

'And I'll pay you back for it right now! By kicking you--!'

 

~ The End ~

 

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