Splashing water against her face Lucy looked into the mirror thinking back on everything that had happened over the past few days.
The events have honestly been a little... mindboggling.
Transmigration...
Lucy still couldn't help but think of it as absurd. The idea that going to the hidden dungeon had resulted in some sort of change in Noah was more believable, or maybe it was just some sort of elaborate ploy of his.
But deep down, she couldn't shake the instinctual feeling—it wasn't him. No matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise, something inside her just knew.
He looked so much like Noah. For days, she had been silently watching him, observing his every move, even going as far as using Julianna to gather more information. Julianna was the only one close to him, so by observing their interactions, Lucy hoped to see the differences between this version of Noah and the one she had known.
If he had been closer to anyone else, she would have used them too, but Noah had always kept his distance from people. He barely spoke to anyone in class, and that, in itself, was strange. Why did he make time for Julianna but ignore almost everyone else?
Still, she had noticed a few things, his actions and thought process resembled Noah's to a creepy degree. The worst thing was that whenever she looked at him, she felt something closer to protection as if she would be fine like she did when she used to look at Noah... it made her skin crawl.
This led her to realize—this was why she had poured out feelings she hadn't even known existed within herself. Things she had buried deep without realizing and then they came flooding out. He looked so much like Noah and made her feel the same, and in that moment, she spoke words she never thought she wanted to say.
But she had managed to stop herself halfway. There were a lot of things she wanted to say but they were for Noah and not him. And she would—someday. First, though, she needed to find out what had happened to Noah and his whereabouts.
Lucy had no idea where to begin though, so she just had to take his word that Noah most likely transmigrated into his body just like he did in Noah's.
Noah, herself, him, and his big sister he had told Lucy about, there was definitely a connection between them.
She didn't understand why it was the way it was but for now, she knew there was a connection, added that she also knew that the hidden dungeons had a different world within them, which could mean that maybe their worlds were connected.
But in the end, she couldn't just go into the hidden dungeon on the basis of her assumptions, she needed more clues and it wasn't like she knew which hidden dungeon would lead her to his world.
That's why, for now, she had more things to work on, questions that she needed to find the answer to.
One of them was the question about what changed, as far as she knew, Noah couldn't use the energy components, he understood all of them but he couldn't use them, not mana, aura, or anything.
But he had been able to use them, the energies from the get-go.
Even a newborn child takes around 2-3 years to finally be able to use it so effortlessly, hell he was doing mana sculpting just after spending a month in this world.
It made no sense.
If it was a transmigration then that means, the body is the same— one in which no energy component ever floated within, and he is no different than a newborn in this world, these factors alone should have stopped him from using the energies but he could.
Why?
She had an inkling. Noah's body was fine, there weren't any abnormalities that should stop him from using the energies but even so, none of the energies ever flowed in his body, disabling him from using them, it was a mystery why it happened with him. Was it the trade for him able to understand the energies that no one else couldn't?
But now she knew, it was because something was stopping him from doing so, and whatever it was, it no longer had any reason to, because Noah wasn't in that body.
So then, the question was who or what was it that was interfering with Noah and why.
And if it was related to their transmigration in some way.
Then, there's also the part about the novel that he had told her about. Did that mean her world was a world that existed within a novel? If that was the case, that would mean that his world was superior to hers but then her earlier assumption about their worlds being connected with the hidden dungeon wouldn't work.
After all, all the worlds were connected to this one through hidden dungeons, in that sense this world is the center of those worlds.
"Haa..." Lucy heaved out a heavy sigh and moved towards her bedroom, drying off her face with a towel.
There was no point in thinking about things when she lacked so much information. Her current worries should be focused on the Demon Lord, and as such she had already taken the measure to start looking into any information that she could find, she had been trying to hack into their system but hadn't been able to.
Someone was blocking her.
Someone who could match her skills.
According to him, there shouldn't be anyone better than her but this incident worked against that idea.
Didn't take long for Lucy to realize— someone who wasn't mentioned in the novel was making a move. The way he acts with disregard for everything, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to her that a lot of things would change.
This was one of the differences between them, Noah was careful in everything he did while he just did whatever he wanted to, he didn't follow rules, had no common sense, no care, no social clues, no damned idea of things.
She still had yet to find more about him, by closely watching him and using Julianna she could learn more about him, the things that differentiate them.
"I will wait until you are comfortable taking that mask off around me and I hope I won't break your trust when you do"
Lucy remembered the words she had told Julianna, the empty words that didn't mean anything. Truth was, all she cared about was just one thing, her usefulness.
And she was being useful.
By the current incident, she had realized, he wasn't capable of manipulating anyone, he lacked the most essential things needed to manipulate— words. His vocabulary seemed limited, and he didn't know how to say things either, he didn't know how to speak words that could touch the other's hearts.
...But strangely enough, he had something about him, something that Noah lacked the most.
He is...
Lucy bit her lip, unable to say it even in her own thoughts, after all, if Noah had this thing to him then maybe, maybe, their relationship wouldn't have grown so distorted.
She shook her head, trying to leave those kinds of thoughts from her mind.
I wonder what he will do now...
Lucy couldn't help but wonder as she thought about the things that were about to begin. Julianna's problem had just begun; from tomorrow onward, she would have to come to class, and the worst part was the fact that because of him, and as someone who hung around him, Julianna was kinda popular too. With her wearing a mask all the time, she had been garnering attention to the point that people had been wanting to see her face.
Everyone was interested in knowing about the face of the girl that the most handsome freshman spends most of his free time with.
Will he protect her or will he just leave her be on her own?
Lucy wanted to know, she needed to know.
The difference between the Noah she had known and the Noah she had been with.
She wanted to know the difference in their essence.
.
.
.
.
I decided to go to the class for the simple reason—Julianna was dragging me there.
"Why must you torture me?" Sitting there listening to who knows what bullshit those professors spout was such a pain when you realize that maybe instead of sitting in this lecture there is more productive shit that you could probably do.
And I was someone who had reached this epiphany a long time ago.
"I am scared, shitless. Don't have the guts to go all by myself"
"Then don't. Let's skip together" I offered the most sensible and rational thing to do.
"This is how it begins, you skip one lecture then you skip another one and then you keep skipping because that's easier," Julianna said like she was some kind of a sage.
"And how do you know?"
"I did it in middle school" She shrugged and I just blinked my eyes before I spoke up.
"Because your friends were starting to ignore you?"
Julianna kicked me with all her might and then she barked at me "You fucking asshole, can't you at least bother to be a little considerate!"
"I don't know from what angle you look like someone who is scared shitless" I replied.
"I can't fucking believe that I had fallen so low that I am fucking relying on someone like you" She shook her head.
"That's the part I am confused about, you know? What exactly am I supposed to do here? What's the role? Am I a bodyguard? Should I beat those who are gonna try to bully you?" I replied.
"You will?" Julianna gave me a side-eye.
"You want me to?"
"Nah. Besides, what am I supposed to do if something happens when you aren't around? I need to deal with it on my own, just be there, that's all I want."
"Oh, so I am supposed to watch you getting bullied from the sidelines, gotcha." Julianna didn't waste a second throwing the pillow at my face from where she was standing, as the pillow fell after hitting my face, I bent over to pick it up as I continued speaking "What did you do when you were in middle school?"
I couldn't help but wonder, this shouldn't be her first time with such a situation so why is she freaking out this time.
"Ah well, I wasn't a girl who hogs a handsome-looking guy all to herself back in middle school"
Ah, the fucking stupid teenagers.
"So, I am the problem? Still, how the fuck do you know that's how people think about you?"
"School forums" her voice sounded a bit gloomy.
Yikes, now I knew why she was freaking out so much.
"Why did you even bother checking on that little shit of a place" I shook my head, there was no knowing the type of shit she might have read, on the internet, people run their mouths off without any worries about the social constraints.
And then they say shit they would never be able to in person.
Julianna probably came across some nasty comments but she should have also read about some good stuff being said as well.
"It shouldn't have been all bad, right?"
"Yeah, lots of pity there too"
I just rolled my eyes at her sarcastic remark and the scoff she just let out.
"So, just saying wouldn't going along with me bring more attention to you?"
"And not going along would be equivalent to being abandoned or some shit by you, at least your freaky monster army hunting keeps people away from trying to piss you off"
So, both ways work to just fuck her life up.
I truly am the problem here.
"Abandon is a weird word to use, I never adopted you or anything like that"
"I didn't say it because I like it either, I am just saying shit that I read people talking. I am the one who adopted you, I have been the one who... never mind" Julianna stopped mid-way as her voice trailed off.
Clearly, the effect of reading those messages was showing itself up.
I decided to ignore it, there was nothing I could come up with that would help her nor was there any need for me to, this was something she, herself, had to deal with.
"Let's go to the class" I sighed and Julianna stood up, putting on her mask and the hoody low over her head. She tried to act normal but there was little trembling that I couldn't help but notice.
.
.
.
.
Unexpectedly, nothing really happened. There were a lot more eyes than usual focusing on her and some people who were whispering but other than that nothing really happened, no calling names or messing with the seats or the usual sort of stuff that happens, you know?
But even so, Julianna seemed to be nervous, her body rigid.
"Well, isn't it going great for you, maybe you should loosen up a bit"
"I will when I get back to my room"
I shrugged at her response as I saw her looking at her phone for the nth time.
I looked at the school forums from my phone and found people still talking shit, but it was only a few, the entire topic seemed to be dying out, it was just some assholes who were talking but nothing really that bad which would make Julianna this down, and those assholes would probably stop soon too.
This was why I couldn't understand why she was fucking crying, of course, she was trying to hide it but she was fucking crying, she had an experience and this should be nothing compared to that but she was affected.
I guess it's one of those situations where the pain lessens just because you have experienced it once.
I looked towards the professor who was teaching the students, in this academy, even if the professors knew about the bullying and everything, they wouldn't interfere. Their reasoning was simple, the students here had come to become a hero if they succumbed to pressure and couldn't even protect themselves then they wouldn't be able to protect another person either.
Of course, it wasn't like the academy was some sort of complete jerk to its students, if the bullying crossed a certain point, they would intervene but until then they would turn a blind eye, not like it makes them less of a jerk.
In the novel, this is actually a plot point, where one of the main cast members hates bullying, but she doesn't do anything about it until she becomes friends with another person, one who was being bullied and when she finds out, all her trauma comes back.
Things she was trying to ignore couldn't be ignored any longer, she had to make a stand and so, she does. She decided she is going to fucking make sure she abolishes this stupid shitty little rule from the academy
It was a small arc with no relevance to the plot line but a main one focused on her as a character.
At the end of it, she manages to convince Regis Randolph, this academy's headmaster that this rule fucking sucks, she managed to get her emotions through to that stubborn bastard.
But... that moment has yet to happen, there's still a lot of time before it happens, so she will probably try to ignore what is currently going on, after all, Julianna isn't her friend.
What was I supposed to do in such a situation? That's right, nothing. All I could do is just fucking watch, so I will.
.
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.
.
A few days passed by and at some point, Julianna stopped coming to the classes even though I said I wouldn't mind going with her if she wanted to but she declined the offer.
As such I decided to just go back to the training like I used to before the entire drama began.
The school forums were now buzzing with new topics, hell, even Aleister apologized to Julianna and they talked and settled things. So, I have no idea why she is acting like this now. Aleister after hearing about Julianna not going to classes has been coming to check on her along with Emma.
Well, they were coming until Julianna was just tired and became sick of them and told them to fuck off and mind their own business, and as such they decided to stop bothering her though they still leave notes and shit on the door for Julianna and all.
I don't know with the two members from the main cast involved I had to say it was better to leave this shit to them.
What? I am an asshole?
Well, I sure am.
But I am not an idiot. It wasn't really that hard to understand what was happening.
Considering the fame that I have for obvious reasons, my treating Julianna like normal has caused everyone to not fuck with her, I mean from others pov— messing with an acquaintance of a guy who fights against a horde of monsters for his training would be a pretty dumb idea.
So then, the only other way to fuck with her would be by not doing anything in front of me but since I have been with her most of the time for the past few days, how could they hide it from me?
Well, it was easy to figure out when I remembered that Julainna has been looking at her phone a lot.
Not on the school forums but a personal group chat.
Obviously, I wasn't sure of it until just a few moments ago but I am now.
Why?
Because ...
"Um... I think she is in the group chat with a different name and this is clearly affecting her negatively. You are the only one who Julianna lets in her room, so please do something" It was the pony-tailed girl who on the first day of classes had asked if I wanted to join her in the karaoke but I had rejected the invitation.
Why doesn't Julianna just leave the group shitting on her?
"Thanks, I will see what I can" I replied to the pony-tailed girl for telling me but honestly, I had no fucking idea what she expected me to do.
Like, this is seriously just cyberbullying. They weren't doing anything to her physically or the sort.
Techincally this was Lucy's field but why the fuck was she not doing something, she even acted so chummy with her all this time.
Hell, I was willing to bet she already knew about this. If she wanted she coulda have done something so I didn't know why she didn't, then again I am not the one who should be saying shit considering how I am not doing anything either.
For the nth time again, the fuck am I supposed to do?
Hell nah, I didn't sign up for this drama.
That's why I solo shit. No one bothers you that way. But now I am somehow being asked to do something and I am not even being told what exactly, just that—do something.
Aleister, Emma, and Aqua had already contacted me a few times in the past few days but now even this girl is asking to do something.
Sure, I owe a little bit of things to Julianna but not to the level that I should involve myself with this.
To begin with, I have been the one who is cooking for her for the past few days so I had to say we were even now.
Heaving out a sigh, I decided to give Julianna a visit and just straight up talk about it with her.
Let's just ask what she wants.