After their short date, Joe and Clara both decided to retire to their dorm rooms. Despite having slept for over four whole days, Joe was still physically exhausted. With the number of injuries, he had sustained during his rampage into madness, his body was still working in overdrive to fully heal.
The moment his head laid itself on the bed, Joe drifted off to sleep yet again. His mind remained blank for the entire night because he could not physically or mentally afford the comfort of dreaming. When he awoke, he found himself in the exact position he had fallen into his bed.
With heavy steps, Joe went to his wardrobe and pulled out a new uniform for the day. Grabbing a clean towel, he left the room and headed towards the communal men's showers. Unlike his usual routine, Joe had woken up nearly two hours later than he'd have liked to.
His shower was rushed in order to allow himself time to stop at the cafeteria before class. Even with the time he thought he'd saved showering, Joe still had to take his meal to go and hastily ate on his way to the training field.
As Joe entered the courtyard with the rest of his class, he noticed that the usual chattering had abruptly ended. Looking across the entirety of his peers, all eyes could be seen transfix on his location. Ignoring the prying eyes, he patiently made his way to the side benches where he could finish his breakfast.
After a moment of silent eating, Joe was met by a shadow at his feet. Looking up to see whom had approached him, he was greeted by the loving smile that had bloomed across Clara's face.
"Some of them fear you after what you did."
"I lost control. Seeing you hurt...my mind snapped."
"I know. Most of the others realize that as well. Some are worried that was the real you. Most of which are in Jordan's squad."
"I don't particularly care what others think of me so long as you can see me as I am."
Blush began to creep across Clara's face. Partly from the words that had just reached her ears but mostly from the fact that every one of their classmates had heard their exchange.
"You realize that the others may view us differently now and you don't care?"
"They can believe whatever they want. They're all human after all. Nothing I say will make them see things differently than they chose to. Plus, I'm pretty sure most of them if not all of them understand the kind of relationship you and I have. What's there to be ashamed of?"
Joe's words sank deeply into the heart of the rather innocent girl. Until now, she had been under the assumption that their relationship was to remain hidden from prying eyes. Now she realized that it was only her that saw things that way.
With Shianne, Joe had to be extremely careful about what was said or done in the presence of others. After all, if it were found out and exposed both of their livelihoods would be at risk. With her, there was no rule against relationships amongst students. So long as neither was caught within the bounds of the other gender's dorms then no rules were broken.
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The rest of the day went by seemingly as any other would have. With Joe's return to class, the regular training had resumed. The biggest change was that all of Third Squad participated in Joe's training regimen with the exception of Jordan. Whether out of fear or thick-headedness, Jordan was resolved to train independently from the rest of the class.
At the end of the training day, Instructor Summers called the entire class to gather around her.
"With the return of the entire class, tomorrow will hold the announced results from the midterms. Now that we know that there were no casualties during the exam, we can properly grade every individual. With that in mind, go about the rest of your day."
Having informed the class of the proceedings of the following day, lessons concluded for the evening. Every student cleared out of the courtyard leaving only Joe and Shianne within its boundaries.
"Don't you have a girlfriend to see off? What are you just standing around for?"
"I spent most of the day beside her already. She was also present when I woke up yesterday evening. Now, my time will be spent with the other important person in my life."
"You seem to have changed after your rampage. You realize there's already rumors circulating the campus about you two and how you singlehandedly cleared an absurd area within the forest of all beasts, right?"
"I wouldn't say I changed; I merely see what's important to me more clearly now. When I realized I'd almost lost one of you, nothing else mattered to me other than removing any threat to the two of you."
"Despite that, you still had everybody else withdraw from the area so they wouldn't get harmed as well. That's admirable."
"There's something you're greatly misunderstanding. I didn't have them fall back for their safety. I had them fall back because they would have gotten in the way."
A cold aura began radiating out of Joe as he remembered the beginning of that exam. He had been holding back so the others could utilize all the training he had put them through. In the end, it meant nothing once his rampage began. Then would have only held him back and likely would have lost their lives had they followed him down that path.