Two kids stood in front of each other, one had a stoic expression, his eyes tired and hollow as if he had given up on living and the other had a conflicted expression on her face, her eyes were filled with rage, pain, confusion but determined.
And so, she gripped the knife in her hand tightly as she spoke up
"I am sorry but ...I need to kill you," She said, her voice filled with pain.
"I want to die too" The boy replied as if tired as he closely kept the hold of the knife in his hand.
At those words, she bit her lip.
Before she had come here, she had so many questions she wanted to scream at him, so many things she wanted an answer to and so much rage and hatred it was impossible to quell but now that she was in front of him all she was left with was confusion, disbelief and ...sadness.
He looked terrible.
The dark circles beneath his eyes ran long and deep, his hair was a mess, his body was bruised all over, and he looked ready to die—no— he was begging to die.
"I don't know"
She didn't know.
"I don't fucking know!"She didn't know what was right or wrong.
She came for a job and she had to do it, she must, for all those who died.
Biting her lip she tightened the grip on her knife as she kicked off the ground, ready to kill the boy who looked like a 6 or 7-year-old.
The boy didn't move, he waited for the knife to be plunged into his heart but it never came. Instead, a sound of clang was what he heard, a sound of two metallic blades clashing against each other.
The girl stepped back as her eyes fell on the person who had blocked her strike.
She looked into her eyes, eyes that shone so brilliantly, so radiantly that she couldn't believe it.
How could a kid living in a place like this have such a pure look in her eyes?
She couldn't understand, but before she could say anything or do the kid spoke up.
"Hey, I will fucking mince you alive if you try to do something to him again, actually forget that. I will just mince you right here and now"The kid spoke up, her ruby-colored eyes glaring at her
None of them had any idea how close they would eventually become, nor did they know what trials awaited them.
This was the beginning of the story—the story of the last and final gamble.
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By the time I was done with everything I needed to do, it was already morning, and despite my best attempt to enter back to the academy without being noticed, I failed miserably.
"It's not what it looks like" I spoke first.
The girl in front of me gave me a smile, a mischievous one, clearly enjoying the situation.
She stepped closer, reaching out her hand toward me.
"I have a lot of things I want to say and things I want to ask but we can put all that on hold for now" She stopped and then scanned me from top to bottom "You look terrible, get some sleep in my room" Saying so, the hand she had stretched towards me shone and a magic contract appeared in front of me.
It wasn't a big-ass contract but a one-line contract.
I will not harm you during the time you are asleep nor will I let any harm come to you during that time.
Only applicable for 2 days upon the condition you sleep in my room~
With that, the contract ended.
Who the fuck is she?
And as if to answer that question of mine she brought out something from her pocket and then ...well, her appearance changed into an adult woman as she covered it with a mask and a hoodie and sunglasses.
And voila.
Now, I know this person.
It's the lady I went shopping with and all the other places, the one who came all the way to the academy to send me off.
Fucking hell...
Now it made sense why this kid offered a contract like that.
Still
"So, which one is your real appearance, the student or the lady?" I knew already but I still asked.
She gave me a laugh before returning her appearance to that of the student and removing the mask and sunglasses.
"I am a student in the academy, a 3rd-year student, and a member of the student council, my name is Cressida. It's nice to meet you. Sorry for deceiving you last time"
She replied, her eyes softening and looking at me tenderly and I have no fucking idea why.
"Umm... Why the "
Before I could finish, Cressida interrupted me and began to speak up.
"I told you, right? We can put a hold on your questions, for now, you need to go and rest. You don't look good, your clothes are covered in blood, and your hair is a mess, you don't have an injury on you though but... this is your blood, isn't it?" Cressida turned around and gestured me to follow her which I did and nodded at her question, it was indeed my blood.
"I don't know what you involved yourself in but I am guessing it's the matter related to Julianna?"
"You know about her"
"Of course, I do. The student council is aware of every student and their situation. Well... not all of them—we can't remember everyone. But I was interested in you, so I've been watching you closely, along with those connected to you."
Her voice was so soothing to hear like some sort of asmr that I fucking cannot believe what she said hit me a little late as I realized this bitch has been watching me, and if that's the case then...
I am fucked.
She turned towards me realizing that I stopped walking, looking at me standing still she tilted her head in confusion, and then as if realizing something she gave a smile and walked towards me.
"Don't worry, I am not going to report you for interfering with the academy's security system and I am not going to ask you what kind of conversation you had with her"
"It wasn't me" I replied
"Yeah, it wasn't." She chuckled as she continued "It's Lucy, right? She really is quite a lot talented, you can't imagine the shock I had when I saw the entire video clip getting changed"
"Why?"
I asked unable to understand why she was overlooking the matter or helping me out.
"Well, I love you and this way I am making you owe me, and by doing so, I will finally be able to interfere with your life and be part of it"
She said it so casually that I was kinda surprised by her confession.
"Um... I am not—"
Before I could say another word, she closed the distance between us, placing her hand over my mouth, silencing me instantly.
"I don't want your answer now, and I don't plan on receiving one either, what I want is to spend time with you, and then have you confess to me one day"
....The fuck?
"Anyways, don't think too much, like I said you don't need to think right now, just focus on resting, we can have questions and answers later"
Honestly, if we ignore the weirdness of how this was happening, it is the most preferable option for me.
I don't think I have the capability of taking any more of the bullshit coming my way.
So, I finally signed the magic contract as we arrived in her dorm which was honestly, like a fucking white house.
Why would a single person need such a huge place?
I didn't know so I decided to just ignore everything and go to sleep.
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Cressida watched him as he slept, noting how every time she so much as made a little bit of motion, his body would tense, reacting to even the faintest noise.
He was like a beast or a monster. Never truly at rest and always ready to react as fast as possible.
A wave of sadness washed over her, she couldn't imagine, didn't want to imagine the kind of life one had to live to end up like this, unable to sleep soundly, never able to let their guard down.
It's such a burdening way to live...
She'd noticed these things about him during the two days they spent together, taking it all in. At first, it was simple curiosity—he was, after all, the one who had passed the entrance exam in such a horrifyingly brilliant way that it would make anyone watching it filled with fear and awe.
Fear of what he could do and the awe of how brilliantly he could do them.
But the more time she spent around him, the more she realized how different he was from what she had expected. He was mature, yet in some ways childlike. He didn't express his desires, almost as if he wasn't aware of them himself. He spoke without filtering his thoughts, awkward and funny, considerate but clueless, missing so much common sense. And always, always, looking around as if someone was ready to strike him down the moment he lowered his defenses.
Cressida stood up, quietly leaving the room, she felt her presence was just a bother to him. He needed to rest as much as he could, she still couldn't forget how blood-soaked his clothes looked or how horrible his condition was, he looked like a mess but there were no injuries visible, she could only imagine that he must have had used an Elixir to heal himself.
Stepping out of the room, she went ahead and laid down on the sofa of her living room.
It's wrong.
She knew.
Not reporting him for sneaking out of the academy which is a serious breach of rules was not right. There was no telling what he had done while he was outside.
Maybe he didn't do anything but that was just wishful thinking, she knew that much after she had seen his appearance, whatever he had done outside the academy was not something she could just shrug, as one of the members of the student council her responsibility was to assume the worst and act accordingly.
It was her duty to report him.
But she couldn't.
Somewhere along the line, Cressida had come to realize that she loved him, more deeply than she'd thought.
Maybe this was just another consequence of the academy's rigid structure. For three years, she'd been a member of the student council, always focused on duties, never once living like a normal student. She had lost out on so much, always working, always occupied.
It was like her teenage years had been snatched from her.
But she never complained about it, she just never had the time to realize those types of things but then she ended up spending some time with him, the time where she didn't care about the council or her responsibilities. Time when she just enjoyed herself, indulging in things she had missed out on for years without ever realizing.
She had watched other students but never understood those feelings until recently but now...
She didn't want to lose this feeling. She wanted to hold onto it for as long as possible, to keep experiencing it, to savor it.
She bit her lip.
Still feeling like neglecting her duty like this wasn't the right choice, feeling torn, so she decided to start working back, drowning herself in it, in times like these it seemed that being drowned in work wasn't that bad of an idea.
She will ask him things once he has rested and then make her decision.
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I woke up, feeling refreshed and shit at the same time but this helped me realize.
"I am not dead"
I have no idea how I managed to survive but I did.
I am awesome, am I not?
Jeez, oh well, just 10 days or so, and Julianna's problem would be off the map.
I wonder how Regis would react after receiving my gift. After all that I went through to prepare it, I at least expect a strong reaction.
At any rate, I gotta go and check up on Lucy. I ended up doing something not so good of a thing.
Oh well, these things happen.
...
I still fucking can't ignore it.
I bit my lip as I rummaged through my clothes to look for Julianna's phone and once again I saw the picture on it.
The world really fucking wants me dead and at this point, it's not even pretending.
I shook my head, there was no point in trying to think about things that I had no way of getting the answers to, all I could do was wait until I got my answers, or maybe I would never get them.
How ridiculous.
It all felt so ridiculous, and so fucking tiring.
So tired, I didn't want to move, didn't want to do anything but that was the thing, tired was all I felt but my body wasn't physically exhausted nor did I have any injuries on my body.
And if my body was fine...
Then, there was no reason for me to stop.
So, move even if it comes at the cost of losing everything.
Because, honestly, what was left to lose? And that's why, I shouldn't stop.
Can't stop.
Can't...
Heaving out a sigh, I stood up, prepared to leave and give Lucy a visit, I also had to go and look for Julianna and then there was the matter with Creissda, not only that soon enough the first month of the academy would end and the next event of the novel would happen and with that things would finally start gearing into motion.
I also had the system check out on the Demon Lord to see what he was doing, and the result of that was simple, he had found a hidden dungeon, a red-colored one, I am damn sure he is gonna enter it, it was just a matter of when.
There were too many things I needed to focus on, I gripped the phone a little tighter, I couldn't get distracted this easily, somethings have to change but over all everything still remains the same.
The plan remains the same.
To get stronger, strong enough to beat the shit out of whoever brought me to this world and then go back to my own.
I wasn't interested in the fact that there was some sort of connection between Lucy and me nor should I have been interested in this picture.
There was no reason to, I didn't seek the answers, what I wanted was just one thing, just a room full of books and games and movies and just enjoying myself with them until the day I die of my age.
The end.
That's the only promise I made, who to? I don't remember. I just need to keep it, that's what matters.
That's all I wanted, I needed.
So, no need to stop.
I gotta move.
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Stepping out of the room, I found out that Cressida was passed out or more likely ended up sleeping buried under the work.
I heaved out a sigh.
Now, that my mind was a little clear I remembered stuff.
I knew about Cressida, of course I knew, I had read about her in the novel where she ends up falling for the protagonist for a simple reason, he spent time with her and she enjoyed that time.
But it wasn't a simple love or anything, Cressida was just realizing things she had given up on throughout her childhood, she came from one of those big families where unnecessary shit was more prioritized and what normal kids do their age was considered to be just straight up unmannerly.
You get the idea.
So yeah, she fit right in with the student council and the heavy workload she was given, but she watched the other kids all the time, you know? She had been watching them for a long time from a distance, the normal kids who live their normal lives and enjoy it.
She wanted to enjoy her life too, she wanted to try all that stuff herself too but she never had the time to, but how long could one suppress their desires? She finally caved to those feelings when she went out on an outing with the protagonist, enjoying herself to the fullest forgetting everything in the process and that feeling that was what she came in love with.
....
I looked at her sleeping face as I went inside the room and brought out a blanket to cover her up then taking a seat beside her, I started to look at all the paperwork that was lying around. I had experience with this stuff so while I wasn't sure if I could do it all properly, I could at least sort some stuff out.
I owed her that much.
Regis in the want to create an academy where he could raise heroes like he had imagined when he was a child had created this academy with such regulations that it robbed the kids of their teenage life.
Julianna's situation, Cressida's life, and many more, there were a lot more negatives that existed in the academy.
Adults are supposed to guide kids and protect them but in this academy, the kids were supposed to learn to protect themselves and how to be responsible, all on their own.
I silently did as much paperwork as I could and then left the place, Cressida had woken up but she pretended to sleep till the end just silently observing me and I just decided to play along.
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When I pressed Lucy's doorbell, within a matter of hours, the building I had collapsed on was back on its feet and the residents had already been treated, something that wouldn't have been possible in my world.
After a minute or so the door opened, Lucy stood in front of me with no injuries visible on her and that made me a little relieved to see it, her eyes were downcast, and she wasn't looking at me.
I had no idea what she was thinking what she was imagining but she was clearly a little afraid.
I spoke up first.
"I am sorry"
I apologized.
"I am really sorry"
I apologized again.
"But Lucy, if you have something you want to know about me or ask me just ask, please. Please, don't use people around me as a toy for your own selfish reasons, at least not unless it's necessary" I requested.
I still didn't know what it was that made Lucy create the situation around Julianna to such an extreme degree, things should have died down but they didn't. If Lucy wanted she could have stopped the entire situation on her own but she didn't, I had been waiting to figure it out and that was why I wasn't interfering with Julianna's situation but that changed yesterday.
And so, I made the move.
"I am sorry"
I apologized again. What I did yesterday was by no means something I could just apologize for, it wasn't something that I deserved an apology for either.
But that was all I could do, so I did.
Of course, I should be apologizing to everyone who live in this building but it wasn't really a practical approach, and neither did their well-being concern me in the slightest though that didn't mean what I did was acceptable.
It was not like I could do anything, so I just gave an apology to Lucy.
That was all I could do after all.
How many more lives was I going to destroy? I didn't know.
But I had destroyed too many to ever be able to apologize for them now, there was nothing I could nor any way to repent for any of it.
That's why, there was no longer any way for me to stop nor any need to.
Because I had destroyed so many, because there was no way to go back, I could keep going forward.
Without waiting for a response from her, I left. Now, it was Julianna I needed to talk with.
I heaved out a sigh because the talk I planned to have with her might be brief but I knew better than anyone how much it was going to crumble her.
Maybe it was better to bring the topic with her on the alter date but she needed to know, she deserved to know, and hiding it or delaying it was not the right choice.
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Noah pressed Julianna's doorbell, not like he usually continuously rings it but just once. And then, he waited for her to open up. A minute passed and then another, he pressed the doorbell once more.
As he repeated the process four, or five times, Julianna finally opened up, she was about to say something before she noticed Noah.
"...You didn't press them repeatedly today?"
Julianna wasn't meeting anyone who came so she usually doesn't open the door either, that was why while annoying Noah's different way of pressing her doorbell was an indicator that he was there and she opened the door right away.
But since he acted like a normal person today, she was surprised by it, she thought it was someone else so ignored the first few doorbells, well until she finally opened it.
She was curious about why he acted different today but she wasn't interested in engaging with him right now
"Can you leave me alone for today?" Julianna still hadn't forgotten about yesterday, her brain was a mess and the last thing she wanted right now was to see Noah of all people.
"Your phone" Noah handed her the phone he had taken and Julianna little surprised took it back.
"Why did you have it," Julianna asked a little skeptical
"The wallpaper you use on your phone, it's you and your sister, right?"
"It is..?" Julianna didn't understand why he had asked such a question, it felt a little sudden.
"...You came to this academy so that you could search for your sister once you have graduated, right?" Noah shot another question and this time Julianna tensed up and glared at him.
"What if I did...?"
Every student who graduates from the Heroes Nurturing High School has much easier admittance into a higher official government position.
"It's not going to help you. Your sister is dead"
Noah with his blank expression and his void-like black eyes said it, and at those words, Julianna's mind for a second went completely blank.
Slap!
Julianna slapped him.
Her breathing was a little uneven.
"The fuck are you spouting now! How could say such a thing!"
Julianna shouted her ocean-colored blue eyes looking right into Noah's.
"Julianna, she is dead."
It pissed her off, just as his words brought many questions to her, she was angry, incredibly so.
"Just get the hell out of this place, now, I am not in the mood of listening to yo—" Before Julianna could finish saying anything Noah cut her off.
"She is dead" Noah repeated with his monotonous voice, it pissed her off once once.
How many people had told Julianna that her sister was dead? That there was no point in looking for her anymore. Julianna didn't want to hear that bullshit again and she had no idea why Noha was even bringing up this topic.
Julaiianna wanted to find her sister, who had been missing for a long time and she was damn well going to or at least she thought so until her world suddenly turned stopped and crumbled when Noah spoke up again.
"She is dead. I am the one who killed her"
Noah couldn't see her expression because of the hoody being low over her face and the mask she was wearing and maybe this was why he didn't press the doorbell like he usually did so that she would come out hiding her face so that he wouldn't be able to see it.