Chapter 58

In the blink of the next school day has finished. Just like the previous, as Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao were heading to their dorm room, they were stopped by an individual. This time, however, it was someone they both knew, Ma Xiaotao.

"Good afternoon, Senior Sister Ma," They both said.

She smiled, "Good afternoon, Junior Brothers. I would like to talk with Huo, if you don't mind?"

They both nodded, Wang Dong somewhat nervously seeing a beauty such as their senior sister wanting to talk to her roommate alone.

As Wang Dong walked off, he mumbled, "Why does no one ever want to speak with me…"

With Wang Dong gone, Xiaotao turned back to Yuhao as she said, "Good afternoon, Yuhao. I hope I can call you Yuhao?"

He nodded, "That's fine...Xiaotao?"

She smiled back, "I have thought about what you told me. I feel that before I make my final decision, I would like to spend a bit more time getting to know you. With your talent, and you helping me out, I think we are going to be close friends no matter what solution we decide to follow through with."

"That is understandable," Yuhao said. "What did you have in mind?"

"Why don't we head into the city? There are so many things there to see." She offered, her head at a slight tilt at the idea.

Yuhao chuckled, "Sure."

With that, the 'new' duo left the Shrek Academy grounds and entered into the city. The academy only took up one-quarter of the entire city, and therefore, there were way more things to see and ground to cover than they could stroll through in a day.

As they walked from store to store, they talked about themselves, their goals, some of their past experiences and even silly things like favourite colours and animals. Eventually, time went on until they ended up at a small bakery. It was only a small shop, with them being the only customers there, however, even still, it had a great, warm atmosphere to it. They entered, ordered some water and food before they took a seat in the corner of the shop. Soon afterwards, a nervous expression came over Xiaotao's face.

"Hey, Yuhao?" She started, causing him to be confused at the sudden change in vibe.

Seeing his focus on her, she squirmed a little before taking a deep breath and saying, "There is something that I haven't told you yet. Well, I haven't even told anyone yet and I don't think anyone actually knows. It is related to the solutions you theorised."

Noticing her hesitation, Yuhao calmly and reassuringly said, "Don't worry Xiaotao. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I don't want to make you uncomfortable with anything. The past few hours have been great, and I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position that would ruin that."

She shook her head slightly, "No, no. You should know. Surprisingly, I don't really have any strong friendships with people. This isn't something that I could talk with Master Shaozhe about, and I don't really feel like talking with any of the other inner disciples about. However, I don't have that feeling with you. Maybe it is because of the past hours or for what may or may not happen in the future. But anyways, here goes...…I am attracted to women."

Yuhao sat there still for a moment before shaking himself out of his reverie, before awkwardly saying, "Oh, okay. That's cool…"

"That's cool?!" Xiaotao retorted before huffing and slouching in her seat.

"Hey, it wasn't meant to be disrespectful or anything. It was just kind of sudden and out of the blue," Yuhao said.

Xiaotao became confused, "Out of the blue?"

He chuckled, "Oh, it's just saying. It means something is a complete surprise."

"Oh," She said. "Is it a surprise though? If you were me, having men of all ages constantly leering and lecherously looking at me whenever I am in public, would you be able to keep yourself from disliking the gender as a whole?"

He took a moment to think, "Ok…I really do have to agree with you there. I can't really apologise on behalf of those people, but I, myself am sorry you had to deal with that throughout your life. But that kind of contradicts the fact that you approached Wang Dong and myself, and even non-hesitatingly brought me to your own private house to talk."

Xiaotao smiled and nodded understandingly, "Well you two are different. Wang Dong never looked at me as guys do. Funnily enough, his gaze reminded me of several of the female inner-court disciples who look at me as if I am their competition. You for one didn't for a second look at me lecherously. Not to be awkward, but I know you did check me out when we first met. However, it was more of appreciation then what other people's gazes hold."

Her eyes and smile turned mischievous as she continued, "Well, I guess it was the second time we met, since the first time you exhausted me so much that I fell unconscious, and then you did a runner, without even finding out my name first."

Hearing this shameless comment, Yuhao couldn't help but spit out the water he was drinking. Some of the water flew onto Xiaotao who flared her fire-oriented spirit power to dry herself, as she chuckled at his actions.

"Well, we kind of went off-topic. Anyways, I wanted to let you know that before I told you what I decided."

Yuhao nodded wordlessly, not drinking water anymore as he was now wary of Xiaotao's cheeky side.

"With that said, I do want to follow through with the third option you gave me."

Yuhao was shocked, with everything that she had told him, he was assured she was going to choose the second option. "Bu-But why? Does that not contradict with what you just said?"

She stared at him determinedly, "The goal that I have had since I was only a little girl is to ascend to godhood, just like my ancestor did all those years ago. If I didn't meet you, who knows what would have happened to me because of my spirit. I may have become some evil spirit master, trying to kill my old friends in my anger and mindlessness."

Yuhao shivered at how close she actually got to describing what happened to her in canon.

She continued passionately speaking, "Likewise, if it wasn't for you, who I was extremely comfortable with, who is extremely mature, even more so than I am, I wouldn't have even considered the third option. However, despite my interests being the same interests in women as yours is, I am willing to follow through with it. Just see it as me dipping my foot in the pond to see what I am missing out on. I do hope that even after the deed, we can still be good friends. Aside from my master who generally knows more about me due to how long he has been teaching me, you now know the most about me."

Yuhao smiled back, "I hope so too. Do you want to get out of here? Take a walk in the park as we make our way back?"

"Sure!" Xiaotao replied happily, before almost drooling at the next comment, "I want to grab some dessert before we go back as well. Maybe even some strawberry cake…"