章 29: Forward [8]
Walking through the campus grounds, I was reenergized by the cool, night air.
'It still hurts... but I feel a lot better now.'
Having spent most of my Saturday in a hospital bed at the infirmary as a result of the nurse not allowing me to leave, my body had recovered quite a bit.
I did still have a bit of a headache but that was likely a result of the nurse's loud sermon which she gave me for overtraining more than anything else.
'I was pretty reckless, wasn't I?'
Having struggled through these last few days while giving it a lot more than everything I got, while every minute was seemingly stretched out to infinity, I knew that I had overdone it. Despite that, I also knew that I wasn't about to slow down either, though I would try my best to find efficient ways to change the way I approached training.
Just then and there, completely out of left field, I was struck by a sudden wave of embarrassment as I remembered the fact that it was Celine who had found me passed out at the gym.
'...fuck.'
Unable to bear it, I was forced down by the forces of the world into a squatting position, holding my head in shame. I took a lot of pride in the fact that I generally didn't care about what other people thought of me, but this was too much even for me.
She had even watched over me while I was unconscious in the infirmary, and although I didn't want to think about it, it also made sense that she was likely the one to carry me there as well.
'Did I get princess-carried by Celine... please say it ain't so...'
Emasculated was not even half of what I was feeling right now, it would be more accurate to say that I felt utterly neutered. These kinds of moments were also the moments where I hated my Temporal Synapses the most, as these short times became viciously visceral when they were dragged out for much longer than they were supposed to.
"Gah! Why couldn't it have been a dude at least?!"
"...what are you talking about?"
Behind me, a somewhat confused voice emerged, its tone being too deep for it to belong to a woman. Then again, I already recognized the voice to the point where even before I turned around, I already knew who it belonged to.
"Nothing."
With his flaming red hair, well-built body, and sharp face, there was no way I wouldn't know that the voice belonged to Cerus as I was fully intent on denying everything. His eyes were still investigative, but this time they were also filled with a bit of... weird suspicion?
"Nothing, huh? I guess I must've misheard then. About you saying something about 'It should have been a man'.
Cerus had just made a wild assumption about what I had said but it was difficult to dispel his supposition without telling him more in detail about what had happened yesterday. But I would still keep denying it.
"You must've misheard, just like you said."
"Alright."
It wasn't until now that I realized that Cerus wasn't dressed in his black uniform like he usually was. He would even wear that uniform during our CQC sessions, so seeing him now wearing a light-blue dress shirt and a pair of nice black, slacks, did make him feel a bit out of place.
"So, where are you doing all dressed up?"
When I asked him the question, I could see that his first instinct was something along the lines of not wanting to answer as his face scrunched up a bit, but after a second of contemplating, he sighed and changed his mind.
"Haaa... I'm going out to the city for a bit. I have some errands to do."
'Ah, that's right... we are free to do whatever we want on the weekends. But...'
"Isn't it a bit late to go out now? What's the time, like eight?"
For some reason, Cerus looked quite shocked as he heard my opinion on the matter.
"First of all, it's really not that late. Have you never visited the city central at night to... I don't know, have some fun? Secondly, why aren't you just checking your phone to see what time it is?"
Scratching my head, a small wave of embarrassment ran over me as I felt compelled to admit the truth about the matter.
"Well, no and...no."
"You don't have a phone?! How do you keep track of the schedule and what classrooms have been booked for the different courses then? Also, how do you keep in touch with frie... Ah. I'm sorry..."
His words stung like an arrow in my heart, but despite the aches, I still stood tall. (While trying really hard to keep a tear from forming)
'But I guess from his reaction it is pretty strange that I don't have a phone... Then again, I don't actually own anything, do I?'
Looking a bit guilty for putting me on the spot, Cerus scratched his chin a bit in embarrassment.
"Well, you can just buy one, right? Or is there a reason as to why you don't have one?"
Sadly, there was a reason. Well, there was a multitude of reasons, like the fact that I didn't know that they existed, but right now there was another reason that was a lot more impactful than that.
"..money."
"Hmm?"
"I can't afford one..."
Cerus' expression had gone for quite a ride during our short exchange of words. From suspicious to shocked and now it had turned into one of sadness, looking at me as if I was some kind of pitiful small animal.
"... let's go then."
"Hmm?
Turning his body around, showing me his broad back, Cerus suddenly said something very unexpected.
"Let's go to the city and I'll buy you a phone."
-------
After a small bus ride, we made it to the city center.
"Woah! This place is crazy!"
With neon lights all over the place, and the streets bustling with heaps of people, I wasn't sure if I had ever experienced something like this before. Though the sounds became quite overbearing due to their slowed-down format, it was still an amazing experience for me and I had no reason to be shy about it.
"Hey, Cerus! Look at that! That man is breathing fire! And look, over there they are selling some kind of weird candy that looks like mammoths!"
"...please. Please take it down a notch."
"But there's so much to look at!"
Even if Cerus found it a bit embarrassing to walk around with me, which I did feel a bit bad about, I was a bit too excited to calm down. Even during my life on Earth, I had never seen anything like this.
"Haaa... Well, this is the place."
It hadn't taken long before we found ourselves in front of the many stores that were all lined up on both sides of the wide streets, a store that had a neon sign that said 'Sumsang' on it.
Cerus took the lead and walked through the automatic doors, with me following closely behind. As the doors opened up I was yet again awestruck by the crazy sights. Inside the store, there were shelves upon shelves lined up, all of them displaying a multitude of different phones as well as other sorts of technology.
'What the fuck... how many different phones are there? Why are there so many?'
"What are you waiting for? Go and test some of them out and see what you like."
From the looks of it, I could see that Cerus was acting a bit impatiently, which in turn led me to believe that the matters he was going to attend to might be a bit time-sensitive. Although I would have liked nothing more but to play around in this store and look at every single item they had, I still had enough discipline to stop myself.
"Well, I don't even know what to look for. So, would you mind picking one out for me instead, something that you think is good?"
It wasn't a lie per se, but I could see that Cerus knew that it wasn't for my sake that I asked this of him. So, for the first time today, he let on a bit of a smile.
"Fine. Then, let's see...'
Before I knew it, I was holding a sleek, black machine in my hand, with everything that I needed already installed thanks to the very helpful assistant store managed. And with that, we were on our merry way again on the streets of Abas City with me completely absorbed in the new Sumsang phone in my hands.
That was until Cerus turned to me with a much more serious face than before.
"This is where I will have to leave you. Don't worry about the money for the phone, just see it as a gift."
"That was absolutely my intention. It's not like I have money to pay you back anyway."
Flinching a bit, it was clear that Cerus hadn't been ready for my response.
"Did you know that being too honest isn't a good thing...? Anyway, I'll see you tomo..."
Catching himself a bit, as if he finally remembered what his opinions of me were, he didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he simply walked away while waving one hand in the air, leaving me in the bustling streets all by myself.
'I wonder what kind of matters he has to attend to?'
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