章 33: A New Turn [1]
"Huff... huff..."
'I didn't get very far today, did I...?'
Lying down on the cold floor in my dorm room, I had spent several hours practicing the skill that I had thought of, unsure whether or not it would even work. Even if I had gotten a slight introduction to how skills worked from Ms. Lee, I still didn't quite know how to create one myself. But somehow, I sort of understood that I just had to keep on going and eventually I would find a way to make it work.
*Rumble!*
"I need some food..."
Taking a quick look at my phone to check the time, it was already past seven at night, meaning that if I wanted to make sure I got some dinner, I had to go now before the dining hall closed as it was only open until eight.
To me, eating at the cafeteria was probably the biggest highlight of any day, as they always had amazing food that all the students got to eat completely free of charge. It was also the time of the day when I didn't feel restless or anxious that time was moving slowly, as it was time spent doing something of utmost importance; Fueling my body with essential nutrients.
Therefore I pushed myself off the floor filled with excitement.
'I wonder what delicious food they are serving tonight!'
****
[Celine's POV]
"Yo! What's up?"
Both Jacob and Rose joined me and Cerus at the table, softly putting down their trays of food while taking a seat with Rose sitting next to me and Jacob sitting next to Cerus.
"So, what have you guys been up to?"
Just like always, Jacob had no issues taking the lead in the conversation with a bright smile, prompting Cerus with his gaze to answer first.
"Not a lot. Mostly training, I guess."
"Same for me, honestly."
Just like Cerus said, I hadn't done much this weekend either and it had gone by in what felt like the blink of an eye. All I had done was watch some shows and train a bit, and still, it was already over.
"Boring! Man, we are still young! Even if we are students at AH, it's not like we can't have fun!"
"Then, what did you do, Jacob?"
Flinching a bit, as he seemingly hadn't expected for Cerus to put him on the spot, Jacob shrunk in his seat.
"...I watched a couple of shows and slept a bunch."
Cerus and I both felt a bit guilty seeing the green-haired man fall, as I knew that Cerus didn't mean for his question to make him feel bad, but it was also a bit funny.
"Cough! So, what did you do this weekend, Rose?"
However, Cerus still didn't want to make him feel worse by staying on the topic, so he switched his focus to Rose who was quietly nibbling on some food. Looking up with very unmotivated eyes, she answered curtly.
"I was getting lessons from Ms. Lee."
Strangely enough, it wasn't just me and Cerus who were shocked that she was already getting private lessons from one of the teachers, Jacob also didn't appear to have heard of it before now.
"You are getting private lessons from Ms. Lee?!"
"Mm."
"That's crazy! But I guess healers are pretty rare, even in AH."
There were a lot of skillful individuals who could conjure healing spells, but there were very few individuals who had been blessed with classes that made it possible for them to learn healing skills. Most, if not all, of those people were more or less instantly accepted into the academy as long as they had shown even a bit of talent. Which, sadly, was also pretty rare as the requirements to use healing skills efficiently were apparently very strict.
"But man, look at all these people. It does make a huge difference now that most of the 2nd year and 3rd years have arrived."
Having more or less concluded our conversation about how we had spent our weekends, it didn't even take a minute for Jacob to find another topic to talk about. And the topic at hand was pretty interesting.
As there had only been freshmen in the academy for this first week, the whole campus had felt pretty empty, but now that the older students were going to start their term tomorrow, the whole dinner hall was filled with people.
'It also means that we have to be more careful now...'
Just like the unofficial rules regarding individuals who came from more prominent families, there were also unofficial rules concerning the hierarchy between younger and older students. Which made sense as the older students were generally more powerful than us freshmen due to having had more time to be trained by the extremely talented teachers at AH.
'Wait a minute...'
Then, out of nowhere, I suddenly had a very bad premonition as I remembered that there was someone who didn't seem to have the best grasp of social conduct among the freshmen.
'No, there's no way. Even he wouldn't be so stupid as to...!'
"Hey, isn't that Ray? He seems to be having some trouble finding a place to sit."
"Seems like it."
Cerus' eyes got a bit serious when Jacob pointed his finger at our black-haired classmates, and although it was flattering, I somehow also felt a bit guilty about it. Because I knew that at least a part of his contempt for Ray was because of me. Before the weekend, I didn't feel guilty about it at all, but after what happened at the gym... something had changed.
When I looked at Ray now, I no longer felt contempt. Naturally, I still didn't particularly like him, but somehow after having seen him at his weakest, I couldn't hate him anymore. The way he had continued to push himself even after already falling unconscious and the fact that his first thought after waking up was that he had to get back to training... it hurt just remember it.
I thought that I had been desperate to grow stronger, that I was giving it my all and more, but Ray had proved me deathly wrong. So knowing that, how could I hate him?
'But that still doesn't mean that he has anything to do with me...'
"Wouldn't it be funny if he does the same thing he has done before with Zoe? Just taking a seat at a random table without caring about who is sitting there? Like, what if he accidentally sits down next to that third-year who is rumored to have demolished someone after they looked at him funny to the point where they had to drop out of the academy?"
*Clench!*
My head was continuously telling me that it wasn't any of my business, but it still didn't stop me from getting a bit agitated.
"Or what if he sits down with..."
"Jacob, that's enough."
"...I'm sorry."
Rose had somehow noticed that something was off about me and in turn, quickly silenced our friend in the way that only she could.
However, there was also someone else who saw that my head was in turmoil.
"Celine, are you okay?"
From across the table, I got to see the worried face of my childhood friend, someone who I desperately wanted to think of me as something more in the future.
Yet, somehow, despite never having had any trouble talking with him about everything and anything, this time was different. A tinge of shame and guilt arose when I tried to talk with him about Ray, and I had no idea as to why. So instead, I did something to him that I very, very rarely did. I lied.
"It's nothing, Cerus. I just got a bit nervous now that the older students have arrived."
His eyes were a bit skeptical at first, but soon enough they got a bit softer.
"I see. But you don't have anything to worry about, Celine."
"...thank you."
As Cerus spoke with sincerity, I was still attacked by a wave of guilt, now due to lying to him instead.
I felt guilty about thinking about talking to him about Ray, and I felt guilty about lying to him... there was no way for me to win in this situation.
Worse yet was that I had lost sight of Ray, who by now had likely found somewhere to sit. And I now felt even more guilty as I didn't get up and tell him to sit with us to save him from a potential crisis.
'What's going on with me today?!'
I had never experienced something like this before and I didn't like it. In fact, I absolutely despised this unstoppable wave of emotions inside of me.
There was no reason at all for me to feel guilty about anything, but somehow I was now feeling guilty about everything.
Despite that, I forced some food into my mouth, trying to act as normal as possible to make sure that Cerus didn't get more worried.
Yet, at the same time, I could also not stop myself from thinking about someone else as well.
'I just hope he doesn't get into trouble...'
****
[Ray's POV]
'That was some good food! But man, there were a lot of people in the dinner hall tonight...'
After having enjoyed a good dinner, without any problems whatsoever, I just had one more thing to do before I was ready to finish the week. To do that, I held the small crystal ball that the goddess had gifted me while circulating my mana.
===Status===
Name: Ray
Level: 12
Class: Temporal Fighter
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Stamina: 11
Intelligence: 8
Mana: 32/32
Skills: [Flicker Step]
Talents: [Temporal Synapses]
Awakened elements: Null
==========
Looking at my new stats, I wasn't quite sure what they entailed other than the fact that 'bigger number = good'. My stats were still quite low for my level, but somehow they looked a lot more reasonable now.
'...this is good progress, right?'
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット