50 50. A Cousin

With a wave of his hand, while controlling his spiritual energy, the little girl disappeared and turned back into a Mystery Amulet.

They chatted till 10 PM before everyone decided to end the video call. Izumi called Luffy before he ended the video call.

"Luffy!"

"What?"

"Would you like to swim in the water? There's a way, you know!"

"Eh, can I? However, isn't that impossible?"

Izumi smiled. Then he explained to Luffy that every day he would get shop coins. He will also get additional coins when carrying out a mission.

"When you have accumulated 100,000 shop coins, you can buy a potion to eliminate your weakness as a Devil Fruit user." Izumi explained.

"Wait a moment! Are you telling us there's something like that? If Luffy consumes the potion, Luffy will no longer weaken if he falls into the water and the sea stone will also be ineffective against him?"

As soon as Izumi finished speaking, Zoro, who was behind Luffy, asked Izumi with a face full of disbelief.

Izumi nodded.

"Yup. Great, isn't it?"

"Is that even possible? I mean, no one has ever been able to make a potion to eliminate the weaknesses of Devil Fruit users. How can you be sure the potion you mentioned will allow Luffy to swim again?" Nami replied with a frown.

Izumi just wiggled his index finger.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You can't depend on logical thinking all the time! There's a lot of unreasonable things in the world."

What Izumi said made Luffy and his group think that Izumi, who was from another world, already sounded absurd. So it wasn't surprising that there was something that could eliminate the weaknesses of Devil Fruit users.

After telling Luffy about the potion, Izumi hung up the video call and plopped down on the bed.

"Ah, I haven't felt the softness of the mattress in a long time."

Suddenly…

*Ding dong*

The doorbell rang. Izumi wondered who was coming at this late. It was already 10 PM. Izumi was called by his mother to open the door.

When he opened the door, he saw a young woman at the door with a gloomy face. She was a slender and beautiful woman with green eyes and pink hair.

In his heart, Izumi was surprised by the arrival of a beautiful woman in front of him. He didn't know that woman and didn't know what business she came into his house for. But to his surprise, the woman was carrying two large suitcases.

"Don't tell me she wants to stay the night? Judging from the color of her hair and eyes, she looks like a character in an anime. But who is she?" Izumi talked by himself.

"Are you Miyamura Izumi?" That woman suddenly asked. So Izumi replied.

"You know me? Sorry miss, I don't know you. If you have no business, then bye!"

Izumi wanted to close the door, but her foot caught the door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" That woman shouted.

"Shouldn't I be the one who asks?"

"I'm —"

Before the woman could finish speaking, Izumi heard his mother's voice from inside the house. Not long after, his mother walked toward him.

"What took you so long?"

"But, mother. She's —"

"She's your cousin. Let her in!"

"Haaa? Since when did I have a cousin like her?"

Certainly, his mother's words took him by surprise. He didn't remember having a cousin like a woman in front of him. But when he thought about it, even though he had participated in big family events, he never got along with anyone. In his childhood memories, he only remembered vague images, indicating that he didn't care at all or was not interested in the things around him.

"Humph!"

The woman walked past Izumi carrying her suitcase. It was clear that she was cynical about Izumi's behavior. Especially when the woman saw Izumi's appearance who looked like a delinquent.

Iori gave the woman a warm drink before telling her to rest since it was getting late.

Izumi himself went back to his room and tried to control his new ability. Because he was so excited about his new ability, he forgot the time that put him to bed at 3 am.

Izumi woke up at 8 am when the alarm went off. He washed his face and headed down for breakfast. Unlike usual when he only had breakfast with his mother, this time a new face appeared, which was his cousin.

After breakfast, Iori suggested Izumi and his cousin get to know each other.

Izumi didn't know for what reason the woman seemed to want to stay at his house. After all, he wasn't the owner of the house, so whatever happened, it was his parents' decision.

Izumi sighed.

"Since you already know my name, shouldn't you be the one to tell me yours? Besides, I've never met you."

"You really don't care about your surroundings, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

The woman did not immediately give an answer. But she turned to Iori who said,

"You met him when you were 10 years old, Izumi."

"I didn't remember." Izumi shook his head.

"I thought so." Iori just smiled. She understood him very well.

Then the young woman said,

"My name is Mafuyu, Kirisu Mafuyu."

Izumi glanced at her without interest. But, in his heart, he said. "Wait a moment! Kirisu Mafuyu?? Are you serious?"

Izumi didn't watch the anime series. He only knew that the woman in front of him, Kirisu Mafuyu, was a teacher in an anime series after watching an anime clip on YouTube.

"This woman reeks of trouble." Izumi said inwardly.

Suddenly, Mafuyu thoughtfully asked him.

"Last night I realized something, but I didn't get to ask. Why do you have so many piercing holes?"

"Speaking of the devil. The trouble really came." Izumi could only say in his heart.

"That's the past, okay? Or what? Do you want me to cover these piercing holes with something?" Izumi answered in a tone that he deliberately raised as if he was getting a little angry. Izumi just didn't want Mafuyu to talk about the reason why he had his ears pierced. For some reason, it also made him uncomfortable because he hadn't awakened the memories of his previous life back then.

He turned to his mother with a smile.

"I'll get ready to go to school first."

Then, Izumi rushed to his room to change into his school uniform.

Meanwhile…

"Mafuyu-chan, you shouldn't talk about that thing next time, okay!" Iori warned Mafuyu because she knew something happened to him when he started using piercings in middle school. When she asked that, Izumi's eyes became cold which scared her. As soon as she calmed Izumi's feelings, Izumi started to smile again, even though it was just for her that he could smile.

"Why?"

"You'll hurt him. If you want to know. You should ask him at the right time! Well, you should get ready too! It's your first day as a teacher, right?"

Mafuyu nodded and returned to her room.

— — — —

When Izumi was just passing through the front door, he was called by his mother. He stopped and turned back.

"What is it?"

He also saw Mafuyu standing beside his mother wearing a neat suit. Izumi guessed that he was asked by his mother to take Mafuyu to her workplace.

"But, what I know from her is her profession as a teacher. She didn't get a job at my school, did she?" Izumi asked himself.

"You two go together! Your destination is the same after all." Iori said to Izumi.

"Huh?" Izumi felt that he heard something wrong. "Fuck, did I raise a flag just now?" He screamed inwardly.

"Don't tell me, she's —" Izumi pointed at Mafuyu.

"Yes, from now on, she lives in our house and works as a teacher at your school. Her father has entrusted her to mother."

Izumi didn't know what to say. He could only sigh and leave with her in resignation.

While on the way, Mafuyu looked at Izumi.

"So this is your look at school. It looks better than I expected."

Izumi covered his piercing holes with his shoulder-length hair. He was also wearing glasses which made his appearance much different from what Mafuyu saw last night.

Izumi glanced at her.

"If I put my hair in a ponytail, many girls will approach me. As a result, I became popular."

Mafuyu twitched her cheek.

"Your self-confidence is too high."

"It's better than having no self-confidence, you know." Izumi shrugged his shoulders.

Then, the two of them talked about something unimportant while walking toward the school. Mafuyu also didn't bring up what she asked last night.

When Izumi and Mafuyu arrived in front of the school, many people started whispering and talking about the appearance of Mafuyu wearing a teacher's suit.

Coincidentally, Izumi saw Kyouko in the crowd. When their eyes met, time seemed to have stopped for a moment. She put on a sullen face which then hastened her way to class.

Izumi sighed. He looked at Mafuyu, then led her to the principal's office.