Love between Cucumber and Peach (2)

So I and Sakura met this Chan, the girl our big guy loved so much, and oh my god, this girl literally had a head of a peach cut in half, I meant, the way she styled her hair, and two ahoge on the top of her head looked like a leaf...

"What can I do to help?" Chan said with a polite tone, she expressed a noble's temperament very much. She also welcomed us with a good-mannered attitude, and she moved quite elegantly, no wonder Tokio fell for her, she was what you could call the standard princess.

Sakura looked at me, indicating to response her inquiry, I cleared my throat a little, sip the hot tea she prepared for us, then said, "Miss, we are here on the behalf of Tokio, son of the Cucumber's lord, first, let us apologize for his latest behavior, we hope Miss Chan didn't take offense from it."

"It's okay, he isn't the first to propose to me..." Chan nodded.

"Miss Chan, I am sorry if this a little personal, but may you answer a few of our questions?"

"You may ask me."

"At present, does Miss Chan currently single?"

"I do."

"Does Miss Chan have anyone you like?"

"I don't."

"Have you mentally and physically ready for marriage?"

"Although I have reached the age, I honestly don't, but if there is a man who manages to catch my heart, I am willing to be his wife, given appropriate time of course."

Her answer was understandable and proper, it seemed in terms of willingness, she didn't have the problem. That means one step to successfully ask her to a date with Tokio. I looked at Sakura to cue her part.

"Miss Chan, what you think of Tokio?"

"He is big, kind of goofy, his appearance rather common, and he speaks loud..." Chan slowly said.

"Does Miss Chan think Tokio as the potential of a love interest?"

"No."

Sakura went silent, then she remembered our plan before, the countermeasure in case Chan showed no interest in Tokio.

"What kind of a man does miss Chan prefer?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Like him," Chan pointed her finger to me, well, I was flattered, but sadly, I didn't want her, not that she was ugly... she just kind of weird.

"Is it purely because of my friend's appearance?"

"Yes," Chan said, although she had shown interest to me, I saw no change of tone or expression in her face, it's like she favored me simply because I was handsome, but it's nothing special to her, after all, people liked the beautiful and handsome thing.

"What about personality, what you look from a man?"

"Like him," Chan pointed her finger to me again, why do I felt a cold wind breeze from the back of my neck?

"Um, Miss Chan, have you met my friend before?" Sakura turned confused for a while.

"No, but the moment he walked in, he demonstrated confidence, and he blended quickly with the custom of nobility."

"In other words, Miss Chan, you like a man who is calm and good-mannered, have confidence when they act?" I said.

"Pretty much," Chan nodded.

"If Tokio can show you these kinds of traits, will you have the interest to go on a date with him?" Sakura said.

Chan thought for a while, then she looked at us again, then shook her head, "No."

"Why Miss Chan?" Sakura felt a little bitter, it seemed it would be going to be difficult to deal with this peach princess.

"I have seen Tokio, I know his behavior, he will not be able to change."

"Miss Chan, in your mind, do humans cannot change themselves for the better?" I said with wrinkled eyes.

"... Human is the product of society; the teaching since childhood and the influence of the neighborhood shaped the person into what they are now. Tokio is a grown man, no longer a kid who knows no wrong or right, he will not be able to change," Chan drunk her tea after she finished. I was rather astonished by her mindset, although she got it right that human was shaped base on what kind of society he had been growing up with, she was also rather hypocritical by saying human was a fixed creature.

"Miss Chan, let me ask you..." I said after a brief pause, said, "do you have a kitten? Or ever had?"

"No, I don't like having a pet, taking care of them is meddlesome..." Chan simply said.

"It doesn't matter, anyway, what I want to ask, do you know that a wild cat can warm up to the person who has always given them food?"

"And? Isn't that normal?" Chan wrinkled her eyebrows.

I smiled, said, "Miss Chan, do you know the concept of the wild animal? They are unfriendly, either will run away when a human approach or hiss at them to chase the human away, even if you give them food, the wild animal will not let you pet them, sometimes they will scratch and bite, it takes days, maybe even weeks for the wild animal to really warm up, maybe even let you hug them and become an official pet."

"I see..." Chan said with a little frown, perhaps she tried to figure out why I suddenly brought up this topic.

"Miss Chan, if the unfriendly wild cat can snuggle and meow intimately toward a person, you think a human can't do the same? One moment, he is a brute who only knows how to swing a sword, but the next moment, he can become a scholar who writes a book with his pen. Wild animal change is simply out of instinct, they warm up to a person but they might run away from other people, even if that person is its master's family. But human change is coming from here... and here..." I touched my chest spot, then my forehead.

"..." Chan went silent, but she didn't deny my words.

"Miss Chan, may I also speak?" Sakura, who had been silent, stared at me for a while, then looked at Chan, the latter gave a nod.

"When I graduated from the Ninja's academy, I thought simply being smart is enough to become a great ninja, but I realized how wrong I was... I have two friends, one starts off as a lousy Shinobi, the other starts off as a prodigy. Miss Chan, you may think that the lousy will never surpass the prodigy, right?" Sakura said with a smile.

Chan nodded after a long time of hesitation.

"But this lousy Shinobi, in fact, is one of the greatest ninjas I know, in fact, he's closing up with the prodigy. Through hard work and sheer willpower, he managed to defeat one of the shinobi who called to be the genius, he is from the Hyuga clan, although subsidiary, his ability, and talent are known to surpass even the main clan, he got defeated by this lousy shinobi."

Sakura took a deep breath, then said, "So, yes, Miss Chan, a human can change, whether the better... or the worse, you have to believe that, and Tokio can definitely change."