Ava huffed in frustration.
Today had been a strange day for her. Initially, her friend Wendy should have met her at the train station to come to the testing grounds for the Academy but instead, she was nowhere to be found.
Sending another text message, Ava hoped for a reply, but her patience was wearing thin. She knew Wendy was never the type to pay attention to phone notifications or texts, preferring to talk to others in person. However, on such a momentous occasion, Ava believed Wendy would take special care to notify her of her whereabouts.
'Is she still sleeping in?'
Overall, for the past three days, Wendy has been acting strangely. Just a few days ago, she had been looking forward to her admission test with excited eyes, yet she suddenly locked herself in her room, refusing to talk to anyone, even ignoring her father.
'I thought she was just nervous. Is there something more?'
But Wendy's disappearance wasn't the only thing that Ava had trouble with.
'Could he be any more obvious?'
In the corner of her vision, Ava saw a young man who seemed roughly the same age as her looking in her direction. He had black hair and lazy eyes, soft features, and pale skin.
He had been paying attention to Ava for quite a while now, his intention being fairly obvious.
'Sigh... Shouldn't he be more worried about the test rather than picking up chicks?'
Trying to ignore his gaze, Ave returned to looking at her phone, trying to get a reply out of Wendy.
That was until the man began to make his way towards her, playing with his hair as he walked, making Ava roll her eyes.
'Ugh... Gods.'
"Excuse me, is it alright if I take this seat?"
Ava furrowed her brows. It wasn't as though she found the man unattractive, but unwanted attention was unwanted attention. It was best to reject him outright in case he had any ideas.
"Not interested."
The man's expression froze as though he didn't understand what she meant. He scratched the back of his neck with a confused look before seemingly coming to a realization. Ava could almost see a light bulb pop up above his head.
His complexion turned slightly red as he coughed.
"Ahem... Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."
"Really? You've been giving me a good chunk of side-eye for a while now. What way did you mean it?" Ava chuckled slightly. He was being quite shameless, wasn't he?
"Y-you saw me? I, uh, I was paying attention to people who seemed to have talent, I wanted to know who might be notable applicants to the Academy you know? I didn't mean to stare, being honest." The slight red had turned into a complete crimson by now.
"And how exactly do I seem to have talent in your eyes?"
"I could tell by your appearance you must carry much of Lepos' essence..."
...
"So you're not hitting on me, is what you're saying."
The man's statement wasn't incorrect; in fact, Charisma was Ava's highest stat. She even had a trait associated with the God Lepos, but the lines "You must be blessed by Lepos" or "You have an abundance of his essence" were probably the most notorious and cheesiest pickup lines in Belmond.
The atmosphere between them came to a screeching halt. The young man bit down on his lip and stared at the ground. Ava had even begun to feel slightly sorry for the lad.
His poor pickup attempt had started to be noticed by their surroundings. Many of the applicants around them started to whisper or laugh at their situation. Taking note of the brazen young man who decided to try and hit on a girl in probably the worst place possible.
'Ugh, seriously? He's not leaving?'
Finally, as the two garnered more and more attention, Ava gave up and relented. It was better to have an awkward conversation than to have every person around her stare at her.
"Tsk. Just sit down."
Immediately, the man's face lit up, not expecting for Ava to say that. With a slight stammer in his movement, he took the seat next to her.
...
After roughly 5 minutes of silence, Ava couldn't take it anymore and yelled:
"Really?! I say yes, and you just sit there?! I'd pefer if you just kept trying to hit on me than this!"
"...I'm really not hitting on you. I meant what I said."
Ava couldn't help but laugh. Was this a new meta? Acting so awkward that the woman was forced to talk first instead?
"Right. I'm not even here to take the admission test; I'm only here for a friend. What talent?"
"For your friend? Where are they?"
Ava froze for a moment. She was by herself here and had no idea where Wendy was.
"I don't know... We were supposed to meet up, but they didn't show up. They haven't even been replying to my texts."
Ava hadn't noticed, but the man had a slight glint in his eyes as she said that.
"So, are you really not planning to take the test? You're already here."
"No... I wouldn't pass anyway. I'll just go home and try to figure out what happened with my friend later."
Ava never had aspirations of becoming a noble; she had seen what false hope and forcing oneself into a role they didn't fit could do a person; her brother was one such case. He threw himself into preparing for the academy admission tests when he was 18, only to fail and join a lesser school.
Ava still remembered her admirable big brother becoming a husk of who he once was after that, seeing the weight of his dreams meet the disparity of his talent. She promised herself she would never follow in his footsteps.
"So?"
Ava blinked, caught off guard at the frankness of his reply.
"What do you mean 'So'? What's the point in trying if I'm going to fail anyway?"
The man closed his lazy-looking eyes, seemingly in thought, before shrugging.
"Why not? What do you lose by taking the test? Just do it for fun."
"For... For fun?"
"Yeah, if you fail, so what? And if you pass, then it's a miracle."
He laughed, scratching the nape as he spoke.
"But! It's only a miracle for people that don't have talent. And I meant what I said: you have talent."
Ava's mouth went agape; he wasn't wrong. She didn't lose anything from taking the test, so was there truly any harm in taking it?
"For fun, huh..."
Perhaps she could take the test. She was already there, after all.
"So, are you still not going to take the test?"
"Maybe, I might..."
The man raised his lips into a smile, seemingly having accomplished something.
"That sounds like a yes to me. Alright, I'll see you at the academy if you pass then."
Before she even noticed, the man stood up, dusted his pants, and walked away.
Ava stared off at him, wondering what just happened.
'Was, he... Truly not hitting on me?'
Having almost forgotten about being ghosted by her friend, Ava's head was filled with the weirdest interaction she'd ever had and a slight intention of taking the admission test for the academy.
---
Having finished talking with Ava, I made my way away from the crown into a secluded hallway near the testing ground.
I felt my expression crack as I knelt down to the ground, covered my face and screamed.
"ARGHH!! I WANT TO DIE!"
I had done what I set out to do but at the cost of wanting to die a million times and hoping to shrink down to a microscopic level.