As soon as we arrived back in the ARR, the students were all standing on the platform infront of the teachers, the test was officially over and everyone was waiting anxiously for the results.
"So how did you do?" I whispered to Mina, she was standing beside me.
"Hehe, I think I might be first or second, I did amazingly well!" she puffed out her chest and proudly said.
"The following are the results of the powerscaling test, please pay attention" the voice of Ms.Lana echoed throughout the entire room, "In the first place, Daemon with 223 points"
Nobody was surprised yet they still clapped, I think they were jealous but they didn't want to anger Daemon.
But...
"Second, Kaine with 214."
As soon she said that, all the gazes fell on me, there was no clapping this time, just whispers of confusion.
"Third, Mina with 137..."
The room almost exploded when she announced the third person's points, there was an almost 100 points difference between second and third place after all.
"Fourth, Kyle with..."
"Fifth, Lilia..."
"Sixth, Leon..."
...
I was second... it wasn't surprising as I got the goblin king's elimination points but just how many monsters had I eliminated?
As I thought about that, a screen appeared infront of me, and looking at everyone's reaction, it seems like they had gotten one too:
[Kaine]
[63 goblins killed, +57 points.]
[12 magic wolves killed, +27.]
[3 tree demons killed, +10.]
[Player eliminated, +20.]
[Goblin King killed, +100.]
"Good job everyone, you will now be free to rest for the day and have the weekend for yourselves, you better take rest, it will be needed."
And then, we were dismissed.
But the first thing people did after the goodbye announcement was regroup around me.
"How did you do it?"
"Was there a trick?"
"Aren't you the one who fought Daemon during the entrance exam?"
I didn't know how to answer these questions as I wasn't used to the fame, but I was thankfully saved by someone else.
"Kaine, let's go!"
Mina pulled me out of the group's grasp and took me away, she seemed angry.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"We will celebrate your victory, come on!" her voice didn't sound very cheerful though.
Still, I didn't protest and just followed her.
Mina then dragged me towards the cafeteria and ordered food for the both of us, and we then ate it while chatting, I swear even the food in this school was luxurious, the cafeteria looked like the interior of a castle and had everything served for free.
"By the way, how did you do so well?" she suddenly asked.
"Huh? Oh, I just encountered a lot of monsters..." I lied while scratching my head.
"Huh... well then if you say it..." she mumbled.
"You know, I like the food here but I still think I prefer yours" I said as I swallowed some dishes.
Mina's face turned bright red as she heard my words and almost choked on her plate.
"S-shut up!" she shouted while hiding her face, "b-but if you really think so, then maybe I'll cook for you later..."
***
"Thank god, I survived"
It was Sunday morning and I was laying on my bed after the eventful weekend.
It turns out being second in the beginning means a lot of opportunities.
During the weekend, a lot of students came to ask me to team up, but I kindly rejected them all.
Afterall, I had no intentions of involving myself too much into the novel matters, and would never have accepted their offers, especially when they were all just using me.
The worst thing that happened after that was the fact I heard Kyle, the assassin I killed during the test, was looking for me to "talk", sorry but I don't plan to talk to you.
And the best thing was my outing with Mina, she had noticed that I didn't have a phone so we went outside to pick one.
I had absolutely no money but she offered to pay one for me, I guess it helps to have a noble elf family...
"Well... thank you" I expressed my gratitude while holding my new Ephone Z in hand, it was the latest model and the most popular one as it had a lot of functions.
"Hehe~ no problem!" Mina scratched her cheek while blushing.
***
I am in my bed and it's sunday morning, but I can't go back to sleep as something has been lingering on my mind for a while.
And it's related to the next arc: the intruder arc, which will happen in two weeks from now.
The reason I tried not to get too close to Mina even though she tried to approach me and cook for me was because of the events of this arc.
In it, some villain would intrude the school as a student and take Mina hostage, then the main character Daemon would figure out the schemes of the villain and save Mina, thus making her fall in love with him and become an even bigger tsundere.
Which means... in around two weeks, Mina will stop being so nice to me to focus on the main character, that's why I don't wanna get too close to her.
Basically, I will be replaced.
But at the same time, I can't avoid her completely, or else she will realize and try to help, which would cause a plot hole.
"This is getting complicated..."
I have to be careful.
The problem is that the author gave the villain a fake name and he doesn't really describe the face either, the only thing that's mentioned is that the villain is a beastmen with brown hair.
Which means, I have to watch out for every single male student from this race.
I don't wanna get involved in the novel matters but I think it's good if the problem can get solved faster, after all the main character doesn't unlock any kind of new abilities while fighting the villain as he was pretty damn weak.
So the best option would be for me to find the villain and inform Daemon early so that he can save Mina fast and not let her be scared in the dark.
"That sounds like a plan" I was proud of my genius but..., "meh~ i'll do it later, I still have two weeks after all" it's sunday, the perfect day to procrastinate.
I spent the remainder of the day lazing around and using my new phone to discover all it's abilities.
Mina cooked pizza for us and I thoroughly enjoyed it, then we went for a walk outside.
It feels nice to have someone close to you in moments like these, but of course, I knew this was only temporary...
We returned to our dorm after that and ate some snacks while playing a game, and then it was time to sleep.
"Tomorrow is monday, the official start of the school year as the first week served as an introduction and to do the powerscaling test" I thought to myself.
And as I imagined all the different ways I could discover who the secret villain was, I fell asleep.