Chapter Text
There were many strange students in Sage of Truth's classes, many. Most of them were fans of Eastern culture, or as he heard it, “anime.” Sage of Truth didn't judge that. In fact, he was curious about it. What kind of culture could attract the attention of 12-year-old cookies? He needed to know! He was a teacher, and knowing his students' interests was essential to the evolution of his classes.
-
On days off or holidays, most cookies would rest, have fun, or enjoy whatever hobby they had. And Sage of Truth had a hobby: studying silly things! It was common for the blue cookie to pick up books on topics such as extinct animals, fanfiction writing (or another word, which he was not yet aware of), etc. It was really fun; learning about something that wouldn't help him in his life was fun for Sage.
On that retreat day, the teacher sat on a wooden chair in front of a small table, but large enough to hold his books and notebooks. The cookie could finally take some time to learn about Asian pop culture, something that had interested him for a long time.
Sage of Truth didn't find many books on this subject in his library, but luckily he found one of the most interesting books on the subject: “Deres.” What was that? Incredibly, Sage had no idea, and that was what motivated him to observe and understand it.
After turning a few pages, it didn't take long to understand the basics of that word: Deres are different personalities of girls from Eastern media, each representing a character. To his slight surprise, there were several types, such as a psychopathic, obsessed “yandere” Dere, or a cheerful and outgoing “dere dere” Dere, but what genuinely caught his attention and held it firmly was one personality in particular, “tsundere.”
Sage of Truth read with greater attention and could only remember a blond cookie, Truthless Recluse! He was everything Sage read about: brave, cute, small, and always denying any kind of affection. The demigod smiled, his thoughts focusing on the blond, his eyes, the way his clothes covered his entire body, Truthless Recluse in general.
Looking at drawings of girls called “tsundere” was like looking at a truthless recluse with different appearances and extremely similar expressions. The eyes of the sage of truth turned to a paragraph titled “typical phrases of tsunderes.” There was a list with sentences such as: “It's not like I like you,” “Idiot!” and “I'm not cute.” Truthless recluse spoke phrases like these, perhaps in an aggressive way. The idea that Truthless recluse only denied that she liked him entered Sage's head, which made him smile even more.
For a moment, Sage just stops moving, thinking about Truthless Recluse once again. He really loved him, didn't he? Maybe tomorrow he should visit Truthless Recluse again. Night was already falling, and the blond probably wouldn't want the professor invading the peak of truth, not at this hour.
-
The weather in town square was perfect for an outdoor class! The sun was shining, the bluebirds were singing, and Sage of Truth spoke with a certain happiness to his listeners. As he explained, Sage turned his eyes to the audience, looking for any hooded cookies. Truthless recluse, as much as he insisted otherwise, loved going to his classes. Sage of Truth always found the cookie, watching what the teacher said and taught. Perhaps the sun-kissed cookie was seeing him again.
It took long enough for Sage of Truth to finally find his beloved, but what took the sage by surprise was that Truthless Recluse wasn't wearing hoods and everything else that could hide him. In fact, he was wearing his usual outfit, a long black tunic and a vest with golden ruffles and the shape of his souljam in the center. Recluse probably should have taken off his large hat to avoid attention, but his staff always gave away who he was. No matter how the lying cookie looked, Sage of Truth would know who he was, his beloved Recluse!
The moment class ended, the bespectacled cookie walked quickly, almost running, toward truthless recluse, who had already hunched over for the inevitable hug.
“Ah, recluse! You don't know how much I missed you!”
Exclaimed Sage of Truth, with a big smile on his face and arms squeezing Truthless recluse.
–“I was much better off without you,”
whispered Truthless Recluse. As Sage paid attention to every detail of his science project, he could see a darker shade on his cheeks. The monocle cookie, at that very moment, remembered the book he had read last night. He was right about Truthless Recluse being just a tsundere, constantly denying that he loved him.
“My dearest Truthless recluse, you are flushed!”
Exclaimed Sage of Truth, which made the blond man slap his face strangely weakly, as if he didn't really want to do it. Truthless recluse hugged his staff, practically squeezing it. Sage of Truth took pleasure in seeing him like this, embarrassed. He could only see a defensive cat, ready to bite at any sign of danger.
“What's gotten into you to make you so bold?”
Truthless recluse turned his face away from Sage of Truth, the dark tone on his cheeks never softening. This was so good! Sage had discovered a new hobby: teasing the cookie nonstop.
The bluish cookie approached the truthless recluse, grabbing his shoulder. Sage of truth had already sought to achieve his greatest goal of provoking the truthless recluse, perhaps to elicit some sounds that were classical violin music to his ears.
The brown-skinned cookie turned his attention to the floor; anything was fine for him to focus on, as long as it wasn't Sage of Truth. Sage smiled mischievously, trying to look into Recluse's eyes. It was so enjoyable, so good to study the cookie consumed by deceit; he was so interesting. Seeing how he reacted, how he acted, how he lived was just so much fun.
Truthless recluse then pulled the professor away. He didn't let go of his staff for a second, as if it were holding him from falling. Sage of truth chuckled softly, his smile piercing the silhouette of the cookie, who hit him on the head with his staff just as the smile became more obvious.
Sage flinched at the blow to his head and placed his hands on his forehead. He laughed once more, causing Truthless Recluse to contort his face in anger. In response to such a bold action, the beast passed by, searching for a way out of his humiliation. His staff hitting the ground synchronized with his angry footsteps.
“What's gotten into you? Did you miss me last night?” snorted Recluse, who turned his head toward the schoolboy. “If I let you, just this once, stay the night at the peak of truth with me, will you bother me less?”
Sage of Truth froze in that very spot, the main culprit being the thought and imagination of a scene where they both talked all night long, perhaps Truthless Recluse lying on his lap while he talked about random things. Sage was absolutely certain that he would listen to every second of his words.
And best of all, the supposedly “apathetic” cookie had offered him a choice: whether he wanted to indulge his fertile imagination. Truthless Recluse found the professor's silence strange and touched his cheek, which brought him back to reality. Sage of Truth nodded his head, his smile growing like a fool's, and Recluse held back his laughter, covering his mouth.
“I'd love to, my Truthless!”
He exclaimed, holding her cheek with one hand and reaching for the beast's blond hair with the other, who cringed. The blond gave him a light slap on the back and walked away. The blue cookie turned his body toward the path Recluse was walking, his eyes shining at the sight of the blond, his short hair swaying with each step, along with his black dress.
So Sage of Truth turned toward a bakery, thinking maybe he could even pick up some food for Recluse! He didn't eat much anyway, so Sage could feed him. What could Sage do for Truthless? His head was spinning with ideas, but he could clearly do anything!