I Have An Idiot Eldest Brother!

Once leaving the dorms, she changed into her student uniform and returned to the kitchen where she was preparing to barbeque some food in bamboo and make dinner. But, by the time she entered the kitchen, she had already seen that everyone had gone. Yet, the kitchen was still lit up."

With a raised brow, she entered the kitchen was saw three people inside busy around the stove. Seeing this, she raised a brow in confusion and walked inside. Upon hearing the door behind her squeak to a close, the three figures turned around in bewilderment.

"Oh my!" Jade cried out with a look of surprise, "Good evening, Lotus. It's a pleasant surprise to see you walking around this evening."

"Oh! Lotus! You're awake too?" Ruggie smiled at the sight of the guy.

"More people…" Azul grumbled in disbelief.

Lotus nodded with a soft smile, "I'm here to borrow the kitchen."

"Oh, you making a late night snack too?" Ruggie responded with a wide smile.

Lotus shook her head, "I'm actually preparing lunch boxes."

"Eh? Preparing lunch boxes?" Ruggie looked to the basket she was carrying with a look of confusion, "That's… bamboos? Will you be making dishes out of those?"

Azul look one out from her basket with a look of confusion, "They're not even bamboo shoots…"

Lotus nodded, "I'm preparing barbecue."

"Barbeque?!" Azul cried out in disbelief.

They looked to her in disbelief as she took out the bamboo by the sink and rinsed them out.

"That's right." She nodded and began preparing the ingredients, "It looks like you're making some stir-fry. Then, there's those bitter vegetables…"

"That's right." Ruggie wore a bright smile, "Looks like you know about wild vegetables too."

Lotus nodded, "When I was training, I was put into a cabin and left to learn how to survive on my own. Whether I get dinner or not depends solely on my knowledge and my luck. So, I had to go pick wild edible plants every day and steal eggs from nests to survive. If I were to be poisoned, I can only find the cure myself."

"Wait, did that seriously happen?! You're not pulling of prank on us or anything, right?" Ruggie cried out in disbelief.

"It's hard to believe that none of these aren't true."

"I seem to recall that you were born into a family of nomads when you were young." Jade added with a frown validating her experience.

"That's right." Lotus nodded, "They were a family known for their skills and knowledge in poison and medicine. Every children in the family are left in the forest at the age of five and tested for their luck and knowledge. It isn't uncommon for us to lose two or three siblings since I had a lot of half siblings apparently. Of course, I stayed for a while before I left."

Jade laughed, "They couldn't have imagined that you would pull an escape method like that or stolen their libraries."

"Escape? Stolen?" Lotus sighed sarcastically, "Why are you using such cruel words? I simply lost my way after my cabin was burnt down. As for those books, I am a biological child of that man. Why can't I borrow those books or even have access to them?"

"Ah, my apologies." Jade responded with a chuckle.

"I sense a scheme here…" Ruggie grumbled as he watched her finishing up cutting the ingredients, "Okay! So, about the barbecue."

"Right." Lotus nodded and began stuffing the meats and rice into the bamboo segments, "It's pretty simple really. As long as you have the ingredients and spices, you can always cover them in it and stuff the meats into the bamboos. Savory, sweet, or salty. They all work really. Even warm desserts."

"So, you cook the bamboo over the fire pit-?!" Ruggie pondered as he watched her take off her rubber gloves and cried out in horror, "B-b-blood!"

"Eh?" The Octavinelle looked to her in shock as they could see the crimson blood dripping from the two large gash in her hand.

Lotus looked down to find that her hand was indeed bleeding and the interior of her glove was covered in blood!

Could it have been when she held his blade in hand? But, she wasn't in pain…

Jade took her hand into his and looked upon it with a frown, "It's indeed blood… So much…"

"How can you be so calm?! I-I'll go fetch a first aid kit!" Ruggie hurried to the cabinet before recalling something once he saw that it was empty, "Ah, shit! It must've been taken to deal with that disaster today!"

As if remembering something, Azul took the keys and said, "Let Ruggie borrow the keys. Here. Hurry to the infirmary. I remember seeing the nurse return to the office with the first aid kit in hand. You'll have to see if he have any more bandages left."

"Thank you!" Ruggie took the keys and hurry out the door, "Keep watch over the soup, Jade! I'll be right back!"

Lotus was busy stopping the bleeding with a fresh handkerchief when Jade returned with a wet towel and helped her wash away the blood prints across her hand.

"Thanks." She responded with a wide smile.

Jade frowned, "Doesn't it hurt?"

Lotus shook her head, "It doesn't… I had been wearing gloves this entire time…"

Her eyes shifted to the black gloves placed next to the sink. Jade made a quickly glance over to the gloves as Azul put on a spare rubber glove and picked up the gloves. Sure enough, there was a ton of blood in it. Feeling a little nauseous, Azul grimaced, "This is too much blood… Jade, get him to rest for a while. You were lucky that you put on the safety glove immediately after taking these off. Otherwise, there would've been food contamination…"

Lotus nodded as Jade finished cleaning the wounds and had her apply pressure over them. Jade hesitated as Azul saw this and responded, "I'll go clean the glove. You two stay here."

Lotus nodded as they watched him leave. It was only after he left that Jade took out some ice from the freezer and put it into an ice pack for her to keep in her hands as he muttered, "You seem to be out of it today."

"Am I?" Lotus looked to him in surprise.

Jade nodded, "You would not space out when you're injured to this degree. I've also known you to be responsible as well. This is not like you…"

Lotus remained silent in confusion. Was it really that easy to read her? If so, she'll have to be more vigilant in the future.

Jade stirred the pot and kept the flame low as he responded, "Did something happen?"

Lotus laughed bitterly, "Haha… Normally, you're supposed to ask if I'm all right just so you don't give away your purpose. Looks like I interrupted your studies. Sorry."

Despite her light hearted words, Jade was hardly in the mood to go along with her tone. After all, those wounds were simply too sharp and large to have been made from even a kitchen knife. After a few minutes, she finally relented rather surprised by how persistent this generation of students are and stated bluntly, "An old friend stopped by today using the festival as an excuse."

"An old friend?" Jade raised a brow.

Lotus nodded, "A fellow refugee from the village."

Jade frowned, "They know you're here?"

"That's part of the reason." Lotus responded with a frown, "He only stopped by to give me some memento and knew of our friend's death."

Hearing this, Jade's eyes widen with a look of surprise, "I see… My condolences…"

Lotus nodded her head, "Those people finally found her and schemed against her. She died from madness many years ago. Our friend finally found her remains a few weeks ago and managed to get her belongings. After he told me that and left, they found me today and we got into a fight in the woods."

"So, that's how you got hurt…" Jade frowned, "Will they come back?"

"It'll be fine." Lotus shook her head, "Those guys are resting at the bottom of the ocean behind the school. Sorry about that. Looks like you won't be going to that place anytime soon."

Jade shook his head with a wide smile, "No worries. Not even my brother wants to go to that area. The waves there are too strong."

Lotus nodded, "With the school's barrier back up, they would think twice before attempting to enter the school. The headmaster also knows that my foster family aren't human either, so they would have to go through great lengths to wipe me off."

"Why would they be coming back after you now?" Jade muttered in confusion.

Lotus shook her head, "We don't know the exact reason. However, I suspect the main reason may have to do with the death with the family's eldest son. Our friend had been in an arranged marriage with him before birth. However, she ran away shortly after my mother passed. It was a part of the custom to bury the wife with the dead body of the husband when the husband dies, so the two could be reincarnated together in a new life and find each other again. Though both remained unmarried, they still took her life due to those arrangements."