Recently, there has been a strange rumor spreading around the university. This rumor has spread like wildfire, and nearly every student has heard of it.
No, it's not about Fade this time. Indeed, Fade often finds himself at the center of rumors due to his tendency to instigate strange events. He gets the most attention from all of the students.
But it is different this time; the rumor is not only about Fade but also has someone else in it:
"Hey, did you hear that the madwoman recently became silent?"
"Shhh, idiot, do you want both of us to be killed!? Don't use that name so brazenly; she is the daughter of an S rank; we will get killed if she hears it."
"Yeah, yeah, but what I wanted to say is, isn't she acting weird these days?"
"what's weird? To me, it seems she is still training like a crazy person."
"Oh, come on, I am not talking about training; it seems she has not been arguing with Ms. Kira recently; it's a relief she has stopped annoying our goddess."
"Yeah... that seems true; she seems to be busy with something recently; maybe she has some urgent thing to do."
"Whatever it is, I hope she just remains busy and stops pestering Ms. Kira... Ms. Kira is such a kind and good person; I don't like it when someone hurts her."
"You are right, Ms. Kira is an angel, but recently that trash Fade has been wagging around her too much; that bastard irritates me too much!"
"Should we go and give him a good beating this evening?"
"Heh, let's invite some of our friends too; we can enjoy beating him in peace." (The boy said with a devilish grin.)
Talks like that are going on everywhere in the academy; the only person who has been harmed by this rumor is our disaster magnet Fade.
Even though people were talking about someone else, they still found some reason to make trouble with Fade.
But only Rio knew these were just some small events to set up Fade's reputation by face-slapping the bullies.
As he passed by the talking students, Rio just shook his head after hearing their nonsense.
Recently, people have just focused on becoming cannon fodder for Fade.
"Endless face-slapping sessions... Such is the life of a protagonist, so troublesome."
But one thing caught his attention, and that is that these rumors seem to be talking about the villainess, the infamous Lia too.
'I wonder what's going on with her; according to the novel, she had been in great depression around this time due to her face being ruined, but now that outcome has been changed by me, I wonder what happened to her?'
'When I see her next time, let's ask her about it...'
In the end, Rio decided to talk with Lia once they met next time.
Unknown to Rio himself, he has started to develop concerns about someone for the first time.
As he was an orphan even in his first life and never had experience with such things, he was not aware of these subtle changes in his attitude.
...
On the other side.
Recently, Lia has been in great trouble; she can't understand what's going on with her.
She can still suppress her thoughts when training with her sword, but the problem is that when she is not training.
She always has the urge to see a certain someone's face, to meet that certain someone and talk to him for an endless amount of time.
She understands that all of this may seem absurd, but it has been happening to her recently.
She has been denying herself, believing that it could be the result of her body resisting the darkness that has been covering her heart.
Maybe seeing his face or maybe talking to him can help her recover from the dark clouds covering her mind.
'Yeah, that's it! Certainly there's nothing else!'
The reality has been betraying her, though; she has been taking photos of him secretly.
While training, while jogging, and while in the class too. But she is not immoral enough to sneak into his room, though.
Recently, she has even started to doubt that maybe she is becoming a stalker or something.
However, she dismissed these thoughts, stating that they were solely for her own self-healing purposes and did not involve any harmful intentions.
Even rumors about her strange behavior have started flying around the academy, but she never cared about rumors in the first place, and she does whatever she wants.
A conversation among girls did catch her attention, though:
"Hey, where did you buy that blue dress?"
"Eh, why would I tell you? Hmph, I want to look unique at the New Year party."
"Hah, I know you just want to show off yourself at the New Year party."
"Hmph, so what? There will be a dance that day; maybe I will have a chance to have some boys attracted to me~"
"You sh*tty b*tch! I can assure you! if you placed your evil eyes on my boyfriend! then I will gauge out those eyes of yours!!"
"Hmph, we will see who will do what! not to mention your boyfriend! I will charm everyone that day, just you see!"
The sparks of raging lighting seemed to be colliding with each other.
Such fights are rather common around this period in the academy, and since the academy doesn't ban relationships between the students, it's a common sight.
Just as the boys were preparing to impress a girl and secure a girlfriend, the girls were also preparing to defend themselves against potential enemies; this is a common and natural occurrence throughout the academy.
You may wonder why the academy is not banning this, but the main reason is also that the academy doesn't want to ban it.
The researchers have already proven that the chance of having a more talented individual born into a family based on love is much greater than that of a family with no love in it.
There are many other factors to it; this is just one of them. The maximum potential of the parents is still the biggest determining factor in it.
Like Rio, his mother was an ordinary person, thus his maximum potential got nerfed... Strange things do happen in this magical world.
There's no certainty in these things; even if the parents are both ordinary people, it is still possible that their child might be born with SSS rank potential.
Although the probability is too low, there's still theoretical possibility.
Since humanity itself is in great need of talented individuals, they never restrict the relations between anyone, but there's still restriction to the official marriage.
The legal age for marriage is 18. It's a solid and firm rule that can't be overlooked.
...
Leaving these matters aside, everyone was preparing for the dance party. Lia had to prepare too.
She had never interacted with any boy in the academy except Rio, so it was obvious who she would pair with at the dance party.
However, after overhearing the conversations between the girls, she began to view them as her competitors.
It's ironic. Ironically, the people who initially inspired her to prepare for the party could potentially become her rivals.
But she knew that she couldn't falter here; a newfound determination was raging in her mind, and she had a very bright flame of confidence burning in her eyes.
Until one familiar voice interrupted her thought process:
"Are you preparing for war or something?"
Lia looked behind her, and she was instantly surprised to see Rio sitting on the bench right behind her. The main reason for her surprise was that she never sensed him approaching her.
You must take into account the fact that Lia is already at the peak of her D rank and will be able to get to rank C in a few weeks.
The difference between a D rank peak and a rank C is not so huge that she couldn't even sense him approaching her.
Surprise appeared on Lia's beautiful face.
Seemingly as if reading her mind, Rio replied:
"Well, it's just that I am a little bit stronger, nothing else."
Rio didn't mention the fact that he is already near the peak of C rank himself. But who cares? No one will find out as long as he doesn't show it himself.
'Is he reading my mind?'
"No, I am not" (Rio said with a very innocent expression)
"Y-you liar!"
"No, I am not."
"You are! How can you read my mind without my permission!"
"Oh, come on! Obviously, I can't read your mind; it was just all written on your face. Why are you acting like a child in its rebellious phase?"
"I am not a child!"
"Yeah, yeah, I give up; women are really hard to understand."
Hearing his remarks, Lia became a little embarrassed, and a little blush appeared on her beautiful face.
Thinking back, she now understood that he was just messing with her, and she fell for his trick easily. This made her even more embarrassed.
She has always been treated respectfully by everyone else, for fear they might face the wrath of her S-rank father in any case of mistake. It was the first time someone was messing with her so much while seemingly enjoying her foolishness.
Thinking about this, an aggressive expression appeared on her face, and she started to stare at Rio as if looking at a sandbag, which needs a good beating.
"Oh, I am starting to get afraid."
Even though Rio said this, he was having trouble holding his laugh in.
He knew that if he laughed now, she may get angry with him. So, to stop this matter from escalating anymore, he decided to end it by changing the topic.
"So, what were you preparing for? Are you going to beat someone? Invite me too."
Well, this time Rio was thinking of taking part in beating someone too. He also wanted to experience what it felt like to act like a bully for once.
After all, it's always good to have a change of dishes in your dinner. It makes the food more delicious and prevents you from getting bored by eating the same food every single day.
He will not be surprised if Lia bullies someone since she is the villainess. Anyway, who cares as long as you do not go to excessive lengths... Just a little bit of bullying will not harm anyone.
Just as Rio was busy in his world, Lia broke the silence with a rather surprising offer:
"Why would I bully someone!? More importantly! I wanted to go buy some clothes for the coming New Year party. If you are free, then you ca-can accompany m-me too."
"But i-if y-you don't want t-to, then it's okay too; humph, I can go myself."