Capítulo 156: Mr. Brown's funhouse [1]

"Zero, what's wrong?! Did he do something to you?!"

"Calm down, Stella. Let's just talk to Ms. Turner, there's no way she would let such behavior go unpunished!"

"Y-y-yes... Let's do so..."

Coming back to my group of fellow freshmen, there was one thing I had forgotten as a result of my turbulent mind. All in all, I was quite happy with my performance with Arthur, who had just left the vicinity, but the fact that a few tears were left on my face was something I hadn't taken into account.

Needless to say, Akane, Thomas, Caroline, and Stella weren't too happy, most likely assuming that I had been abused or bullied. Though the Rue girl, the blue-haired Stella, the gentle giant had a much harsher reaction than Akane.

"Ahaha, there's no need for that... I wasn't crying because he did something bad to me, it was... something else. Something personal. Oh! He also apologized for accidentally releasing his pressure around us, it seems like he is having a problem with his mana control because of some rapid growth."

Though they looked a bit skeptical, they had no choice but to accept my explanation, mostly because of the 'personal' thing deterring them from digging deeper. Out of nowhere, Caroline seemed to remember something.

"Come to think of it, wasn't that Arthur? Arthur Luminary?"

Hearing what the petite girl was saying, the feminine tanker also appeared to connect the dots, "What?! That was Arthur?! The one who is rumored to be one of the strongest students while still only a sophomore?!"

'Seems like you have some fans, Arthur.'

Now with the girls distracted by the fact that they had somehow just met the number one idol of Ainu, I felt like I could finally relax again. There was just one thing that was bothering me.

'Why is Thomas still looking at me with such sad eyes?'

==========

Arriving at the giant stadium, we were met by the sight of two teachers and fifteen sophomores, all of which I remembered well. Or, most of them. Okay, some of them, I remember some of them clearly.

There were some of them that I just hadn't interacted with enough to remember that well. Like the burly, bald brothers Brad and Bradley. 'Come to think of it, aren't they the only ones I haven't properly spoken to?'

It might be an exaggeration to call talking to Suzan for a bit at the office for The Monastery a proper talk, but at least it was a conversation. 'No, there's another person I haven't spoken to either...'

When we arrived at our teacher's side, with the sophomores standing in a line behind Mr. Brown, I could clearly see the third person that I hadn't talked to. With his black hair hanging over one of his eyes, and him letting out a 'Kuku' sound, I instantly knew that he hadn't changed at all.

Actually, scratch that, he had, indeed, changed a bit. Even before I left the academy, he had been quite handsome, but now he seemed to be looking handsome enough to be more than enough to compete with Arthur and Zero. Or at least he would have been able to compete with us if it wasn't for the fact that women avoided him like the plague because of his personality.

Taking another look at the group of misfits, it was also clear that a lot had changed while I was gone. It didn't appear like Mike was one of the people running the house anymore, and as I had made Sebastian my little pet, it was natural that the one who would take a leading role would be Arthur.

By extension, the group he socialized with should also have had their social status' empowered, meaning they were now a group with considerable authority. 'Still, I do hope that Sebastian talked to Arthur like I wanted him to... I need the hero to become more curious about the state of the world, after all.'

"Welcome, freshmen! I am Oliver Brown, the teacher responsible for the sophomores! A pleasure to make your acquaintance! We have gathered you here together with my students as a means of bringing you closer together."

My former teacher was as energetic as always, his bald head resonating with two bald heads of his students, who seemed to be eyeing our gentle giant quite intensely. With that being said, it wasn't like I wasn't the focus of some as well...

Both Arthur and Sophie kept their eyes on me, with two very different expressions. Sophie looked at me like I was some little lamb or something that she needed to take care of, and Arthur had an incredibly complicated expression, most likely very divided about what he thought about me.

Funnily enough, in my eyes, he still felt like someone I didn't like, showing that my judgment was still clouded by the emotions of Zero. Not giving me the time to analyze my feelings and mind more, Mr. Brown continued to speak with his loud voice.

"Now, you might be wondering why I decided that your first meeting would be here. The reason for this is all the white circles that are spread around. These circles are exactly the same size as an official arena and are made for sparring."

'Wow. Who could have imagined that sparring would be part of our meeting? I'm so surprised.'

Still, I had to play along a bit. So I threw on a bit of a nervous expression as I looked around at the stadium that resembled the ones that used to hold the Olympics on earth, with the main difference being that there was nothing but dirt with white circles painted on it.

Crossing his arms, he seemed to be a bit conflicted as he uttered his next set of words, "Sadly, my original plan was to force you to spar with the sophomores as a learning experience, but Ms. Turner here made it quite clear that it was off the table."

'Way to go, Jessica!'

Although it might sound like a great plan, to ignite the fires in the freshmen by throwing them to the wolves, it was way too early for something like that. Even if some might be able to come out with their mental strength unscathed, the risk of crushing their spirits was too high.

However, he wasn't Mr. Brown for naught. Bringing out a huge grin, the burning fire that had been suppressed for a second was somehow back in full force.

"So instead, we made a compromise! The rules are simple. Before we leave this stadium, all of the freshmen will have to have dueled at least once, but if you choose to duel other freshmen, you will have to duel twice! Also, you are not allowed to surrender, I will decide when the duel is over!"

I could feel the tension rising in my group of freshmen, but as most of them knew what kind of place Ainu was, they kept it together nicely. At the same time, Ms. Turner turned around, speaking so only we could hear.

"I'm sorry, but this was the only way I could somehow deal with that man's impulses. At least you won't have to face off against the sophomores if you don't want to. Adding on to that, I also managed to convince him that only you are allowed to issue challenges."

'Oh, Ms. Turner, how soft-hearted have you become? Just last year you were a stone-cold killer, and now have been reduced to this?'

It was pretty sad to see just how much the woman I had somewhat looked up to had changed, though I suspected that she herself enjoyed her change. Even before, I didn't believe her to be the ice woman she had acted like, but this was a bit too much for me.

Concluding his instructions, the meathead teacher said some final words as the trigger to the event, "You will have ten minutes to speak amongst yourselves to decide if you want to run away with your tail between your legs and duel another freshman or if you are going to man up and challenge a sophomore! Of course, my students will not decline a challenge."

'They can't decline? Then... Can't I just challenge Sarah if I want an easy matchup while at the same time impressing my classmates by winning against a sophomore?'

For the first time since I arrived, I forced myself to look at the woman I believed myself to love. Somehow, when I set my sights on her, our eyes met. Seeing her piercing blue eyes framed by golden hair, I felt myself getting stressed and afraid of how I would react.

But there was nothing but a small increase in my heartbeat. There was no longing for what had been, no memories of us laughing together and teasing each other. Right now, she was just a very beautiful woman that looked like she was hiding an incredible sadness.

Behind that forced smile was a girl that had her view of the world shattered way too early, a girl that should have been allowed to be young for a lot longer than reality let her. A frail and weak woman who had no choice but to be strong for no other reason than a stupid title.

'Thinking about it, let's not challenge her...'

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