章 178: Would you mind?

Walking through the halls, I was once again surprised to notice that Stella still hadn't talked to me, even making me wonder if her visiting me and seeing the state I was in had been too much for that poor girl.

To be honest, it had just been bad timing. If she had visited a day later, she wouldn't have had to see me in so much pain. Unfortunately, there was also a little brat in me that felt so incredibly anxious that it made it hard to concentrate on walking.

It appeared that a part of me was genuinely scared that she didn't want to be around me anymore, that she didn't want to be my friend.

Of course, it was ridiculous. That wasn't the reason we were here in the first place, or at least not the James side of me. *Thud!*

"Ah..."

Suddenly, I accidentally walked into someone while my mind was running wild, making me fall on my butt. Looking up, I was met by a red-haired youth that was just about to raise his voice when he saw who it was that had walked into him.

Not interested in interacting with the young master right now, I quickly stood up and patted my uniform a bit, "I'm sorry about that. Please excuse me."

Still confused about the odd situation, I had even begun to walk before he finally opened his mouth, making me stop in my tracks, "It's okay, accidents happen. But, are you alright? I didn't think you would be back so soon, but does that mean your body is okay now?"

'Oh, what a difference there is when he is talking to someone he wants...'

In my eyes, Mike was very similar to Caroline in that regard. They didn't necessarily view others as people, instead opting to see them for their value to him. And making connections to Zero would no doubt be a big boon to his reputation.

But this wasn't how I thought he would go about things. In fact, in my head, this wasn't the efficient way of trying to get someone on your good side if you had a reputation yourself to uphold. Though Zero would never see his softness as a weakness, there were plenty of people who would.

'But that might mean that my little spectacle served one of its purposes... To try and instill an image of me being unperturbed by political games.'

Who would believe that the man who fought so hard that his every orifice bled could be bought with money or other material things? Still, that didn't mean I didn't feel incredibly uncomfortable seeing the usually haughty man attempting to portray himself as a nice guy.

Sadly, Saint Zero couldn't afford to act like he didn't appreciate his sentiment, "Haha, don't worry about it! I'm fine now! Thank you for worrying about me, but I have..."

"Oh, that's great! I mean, it looked quite scary, the way you just fell down... I'm Mike, by the way. Mike Denver. Nice to meet you, Zero."

'He is so annoying... Tip-toeing around the line...'

In some ways, even though I still thought he was pretty stupid, he was quite good at talking. Like right now, where he had accurately spotted what and what he couldn't say. If he had presented himself as Mike Denver from the Denver household, he would have already stepped over the line, as he would have presented himself as a representative for a guild.

Now, however, he was standing in front of me as just the student Mike Denver, meaning Zero should have no reason to push him away. However, I still had to get to class.

"Likewise. I'm sorry, but I have to go now, or I'll be late for class. I assume it's the same for you?"

"Ah, I guess that's true. I hope I get the chance to talk with you some more, Zero."

And finally, I was on my way again, after cheerfully nodding to Mike in agreement.

'Where was it again?'

Taking a look at the GPS on my smartwatch, I felt like I should have just checked where Gomerick went, as I had no doubts that he should also have picked the mana cultivation course that I was trying to get to.

Because, I knew who would probably soon show up, and if she did, things might get even more complicated. And sure enough...

"Hey, Zero. Do you need some help?"

Ms. Turner had caught up to me, and though she tried to act casually, she was walking a bit too fast for anyone to believe it wasn't on purpose. Now, I did suspect that as Mr. Abbas was still staying in the class that something was up, but I didn't want to believe that she took her work as my supervisor so seriously.

Turning around, I knew I had to make my stand right here, right now, if I didn't want to risk her allowing herself to follow me around for the entirety of the days at the academy. "Oh, I'm fine, just a bit of an issue with my GPS. But Ms. Turner, what are you doing here? Don't you have a class to teach as well?"

"Ah...! Oh, well you see. Uhm, it's like this..."

Bringing out my lethal weapon on my face, I didn't want there to be any way she could misinterpret my words, "Teacher, I understand that you want to keep your eyes on me, and that's fine. However, I don't think it's acceptable for a teacher to hold my hand just because of the circumstances. If you want to spectate me during my lessons, go ahead. But please don't follow me around in the corridors. I also want to have a chance to experience a somewhat normal life, after all."

To be fair, this was part of the reason why I felt uncomfortable with the notion that she would follow me around. Though the bigger reason was the fact that it was a slippery slope.

If she started acting like this now, and something did happen, it was only a matter of time before my entire life began to get surveilled. And I still had a lot of things I needed to do as James, for example, the little trip I was going to make this weekend.

Although she looked a bit disappointed, she had no way of arguing with me, as she most likely knew that Zero was right. "I understand, and... I'm sorry. I won't follow you around in the corridors on the academy grounds, but as you said, I will have to be present during your lessons. Because Dr. Smith said that's where you should have the highest risk of relapsing."

How strange it was, thinking about how quickly people could change how she acted just because of the surrounding circumstances.

If Ms. Turner hadn't met James, she would most likely have stayed the stone-cold woman she acted as before, but just the fact that she felt guilty about the possibility of James being innocent, she felt like she had to make a change.

It was interesting, but not something strange or absurd. In the end, everyone was shaped by their experiences and then their mind decided how to interpret them. For example, if Ms. Turner hadn't had a sweet spot for James, the incidents might not have made as large of an impact. In fact, it might even have reinforced her idea of James.

Increasing the affection you have for someone you like is easy, just like it is easy to start hating someone you disliked in the first place. Even a small trigger can exaggerate these feelings immensely, but the same couldn't be said about the opposite.

Now, even after I had softly berated her a bit, I still didn't want to make her sad. She had been suffering enough as it was. So I threw her a little bone.

"Thank you, Ms. Turner. Also... would you mind showing me the way to the classroom?"

"Sure!"

==========

"Welcome, everyone. Now, please do sit down."

It was pretty strange to see the small granny again, with her looking like she hadn't aged a day since I last saw her. Which, to be honest, would have been strange as she was so freaking old already.

Sitting down in a lotus position, I had to say it felt quite strange that there was only me and Gomerick here, with everyone else opting to pick other courses. 'No, I guess Ms. Turner is also here...'

Yes, Ms. Turner was also in the small dojo-like classroom, standing next to the entrance like some kind of bodyguard.

As Mrs. Bright took a second to check us out, she rubbed her chin a bit while seemingly deep in thought. "Hmm, I know from last week that Gomerick is already well acquainted with the idea of opening up mana channels, but it seems like you might be as well, Zero?"

To be honest, I had no idea how mana channels would work in this kind of body, it wasn't a surprise to hear the teacher insinuating that I had already opened at least some.

"Then, Gomerick, please go ahead with the meditation schedule we made last week. And Zero, if you wouldn't mind, could you show me the way you meditate?"