She's my friend

"Umm, why are you hugging me?" I asked as I slowly tried moving further away from her. However, I forgot that I was seated in a seat, so no matter how much I tried moving, I ended up in the same place.

Qiu Si thought for a while before answering. "Well… As a thank you sign, I guess?" She spoke, yet again with a bright smile on her face. Gosh, how could someone be so cute! Anyway, I was kinda thankful that she hugged me as a thank you gesture rather than a confession or something like with Zhangsun Shan. I was afraid that it might go on a Yuri route or something.... Which wouldn't be that bad… Like who can resist the charm of this person? How could I ever slap her face… well, that was for my survival. Of course! Why am I so engrossed in her beauty? I'm just here to survive. The people here are glaring darts at me for some reason. I should stop her advances before someone decides to burn our house or something.

"But, I didn't do something for you to thank me…" I replied, acting oblivious to it. Although, I would have been oblivious if Goldy never mentioned it to me.

"Ah, yes… You're right." It seemed like Qiu Si realized it too… I never gave out a pep talk to her. Rather, I did it to Zhangsun Shan. She peeped in and listened. However, she can't say that out in the open, right? Oh, goodness gracious, I'm such a genius! However, I saw that she wasn't backing down or anything; she was smiling crazy for some reason. "I was there when you said those words about me to Zhangsun Shan!" She whispered.

"What? About you being weak-minded?" I asked back.

"No, about me being strong and sweet and stuff." She replied.

"Well, I just stated the obvious. What's the big deal about it?" I asked.

"Ha… No one other than you thought that me being strong is an obvious fact. So, yea… Even if you don't think it's a big deal… It is. For me, at least." She replied as she slowly backed off. I don't think she was lying. Like I could tell from her face that she truly meant what she said. It shows how much she yearned to get appreciated. Well, she won't have to worry about that anymore. She's gonna get appreciated from left and right starting today and she'll gradually forget about this random mob here.

[Did she forget the appreciation that Zhangsun Shan gave her?]

{Well, that's because she loved him. That's different.}

[No. You spoke highly of her when she was nothing special. Even if she gets appreciated once she grows strong, that wouldn't match the one true appreciation that she got when no one batted an eye on her. And that's a fact.]

{I was just trying to stay optimistic about it, dude!}

[And I was trying to state a simple fact.]

I sighed. Thankfully, Qiu Si seemed to be retreating, so as long as I don't mess it up, it'll be fine… Or so I thought, because I forgot about the person sitting beside me. "So, you really are my daughter's friend, huh?" Dad spoke, just as she was about to turn away. Dang it!

"Huh? Friend? Yea… I am Hua's friend!" She emphasized on the term friend a few times over.

"Hmm, makes sense why Hua betted her money on you even though you weren't really the favorite to win. She did say that she placed her trust on you." Dad spoke. The old man really had to place my own words against me at a time like this.

"She betted on me?" Qiu Si looked surprised and then gave out somewhat of a sly smile, which made it seem like I was lying about a few things to her. It was her misunderstanding, of course. I simply knew about the efforts that she placed into winning this tournament. This wasn't my token of friendship, it was me recognizing her hard work along with all the people present here.

[Why don't you just accept her as your friend?]

{Ah, it's not like I don't want to! Do you know what happens to side characters who associate themselves with the protagonist and form a friendship with them? They die! They are offered as the sacrificial lambs who are gonna give the main characters their much needed drive! I will end up as that if I'm not careful.}

[Okay. First of all, we both know what their drive is gonna be. So you don't have to worry about that. Secondly, do you remember who the hell am I? I'm the one who's gonna teach you cultivation. I'm the ancient gold dragon, damn it! So, do you really have to worry about being a fodder character when I am around you?]

{Ha… It's fine if I have friends, right?}

[Yea, I don't see why not!]

I sighed. I never considered making any friends out in this world, because I am one who believes that the power of friendship is total bs when it comes around to saving your ass. I'd rather believe in myself than rely on someone else. However, having a friend without having to rely on them would be cool; a friendship for the sake of being friends. I would like to experience that for once. "Yea, I kinda wanted to bet on my friend because I trusted her efforts. I'm happy for you. Congratulations." I extended my hand.

Qiu looked extremely happy when I called her my friend. She smiled so hard as we shook hands that I was actually afraid that I'd get diabetes from all this sweetness.

By the time our little ordeal ended, I noticed that an entire horde of people were arriving to congratulate her. Before we could get out their way, they already reached near us. Some guy pushed me and dad aside to ask her out to which she ended up punching the guy. Poor guy shouldn't have messed up with Zhangsun Shan's future wife!

[You dunce! She punched him because he pushed you and your father aside!]

{Shoot. We should probably get out her way before she starts punching everyone else then.}

So, I grabbed my dad's hand and fled to the betting station and collected the prize money. Dad seemed flabbergasted upon seeing the amount of gold coins before me. Before exiting the arena, I glanced towards Qiu Si and it seemed like the crowd around her had still not subsided. However, I could still sense two people looking straight towards me from two different positions. Seems like my sensing capabilities just went through the roof after a lot of training and being near a literal ancient dragon.I didn't have to guess who the two were- it was Zhangsun Shan and Qiu Si. Damn… Grabbing the attention of the two protagonists for entirely different reasons is totally weird.

#

Back in my house; mom and Ao asked about the tournament and dad just went in to describe everything that happened in detail including the Qiu Si event. Hearing that, mom seemed really happy for me. Seems like Hua Liu from before never talked about her friends from school, which is understandable because she didn't really have any noteworthy friends. Sure, there were people who used her for their needs, but she never had someone whom she could call a friend. So, my decision to make a friend not only made me happy, it made my parents as well. I hope Qiu Si knows the weight of the friendship that she wanted with me.

After having a long talk about the tournament and stuff, I went for a bath and then we had a nice dinner. Ao seemed to be sulking because we couldn't attend the tournament as a family to which I told him to be a great warrior and take us all then, which he seemed very intent to do.

Anyway, after having my dinner, I went back to my room and jumped into my bed. "Whew! Feels good to speak with my mouth again." Goldy spoke as he tried jumping into the bed with me, thought otherwise and sat on the chair next to the bed.

"Yea! At least my mind isn't constantly interrupted now!" I sighed. It's really hard trying to maintain a conversation with somebody when this guy just randomly pops into my mind to chime in his two words of wisdom. It's not like I hate talking to him or something, it's just really weird when someone's conversing with me and my reply ends up having a ten second delay for no particular reason.

"I can't help it when you end up doing something stupid every time. Like, it won't be wrong to say that I'm the one helping you to maintain your rationale in certain situations." Goldy replied, to which I wholeheartedly agreed. He has not only been the voice of reasoning, but also helped me with my personal anxiety as well.

"Thank you, Goldy!" I smiled, to which I saw Goldy blushing for one random moment before he went back to normal.

"Hmm. Now, shall we talk about the important stuff here?" Goldy asked as he pointed towards the notebook I carried this entire day.

#