Natasha suddenly felt someone's presence creep in from behind her. She couldn't help but be startled and instantly turned around.
But...
'Why is it him!?'
She didn't expect it would be the man that she least wanted to meet at the moment. The horoscope was right; this month was every Libra's worst nightmare.
Talk about bad luck, she groaned internally. The world must really hate me, darn it.
Standing in front of her was a handsome man with short black hair and powerful, deep green eyes. He had chiseled and sharp features.
He could easily pass off as the main lead from the romance novels she had read. But that was not the main point!
Bruce Ryker, or her first love, who cruelly rejected her confession yesterday stood in front of her with his apathetic gaze. And his gaze... he was staring at her eyes?
'... Huh?'
If she wasn't imagining things, Natasha even saw... a trace of admiration from those eyes? She doubted that!
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
'But what if...?'
However, as soon as the man got a good look at her, he immediately walked away. He didn't even bother to greet her good morning.
'Did I just get snubbed?'
At this moment, Natasha was left speechless. She covered her face with her hands—was she really that unattractive?
Did he forget me already?
Or has he decided to end our "friendly" relationship after what happened yesterday?
It's impossible he doesn't recognize me...
Either way, it's obvious he doesn't care about me anymore....
A pang in her heart erupted. She admits, maybe she was not the most beautiful or well-endowed in the academy...
But her appearance wasn't that forgettable nor plain!
Far from it, she was recognized by some stupid metrics made by the boys in the academy as one of the most beautiful girls in the academy!
To be frank, her appearance was her greatest source of confidence yesterday when she confessed to him.
Natasha was confident that he would accept, but...
'Ugh, stupid! stupid! I shouldn't have confessed!'
Her cheeks turned rosy, embarrassed. If she wasn't wrong, she even heard a muffled laugh coming from him as he walked away.
'He's laughing... he's laughing at me...'
Natasha puffed her cheeks in anger, restraining herself from stomping her feet angrily. Her hands slightly trembled from shame.
How dare he laugh at her pathetic, cowardly state!
If she could, she would've turned around and given the man a stern warning to not laugh at someone... someone... who was currently drowning in the greatest embarrassment of their life.
Unfortunately, a lot of people were watching her, the last thing she wanted was for a rumor to start about both of them.
She turned around and looked at Bruce hatefully. Since you want to ignore me, so be it! Let's wait and see who's going to be sorry!
Of course, while she turned around, that hateful glance was just in her imagination. She couldn't exactly... do something like that in real life.
No, more accurately—Natasha Raven—was a person who had no hating bone in her body.
"Damn you..."
She muttered under her breath, caressing her light hair softly. Feeling down, Natasha found her seat and sat on it in silence.
***
'I hope she gets the memo to not approach me anymore. I'm no longer the person she likes... I'm not as kind and forgiving as the previous soul in this body. I don't want to trick her.'
Bruce shook his head, walking to his seat. But he suddenly stopped — feeling unexplainable emotions course through him.
To his surprise, he was in the protagonist's seat.
The ol' familiar, completely "normal" seat placed beside the far back window of the room. His heart stirred, feeling amazed.
'Jackpot! Jackpot! Today is my luckiest day, I can feel it!'
Just by looking at it, he felt great honor. It was as if the seat contained limitless glory and power. He was prepared to accept such honor and responsibility.
'I'll accept the mantle, oh, lord of seats.'
Taking a seat, he rubbed his nose. Lord of seats was really comfortable... as expected of the protagonist seat!
Bruce shook his head, amused. He looked through the windows, seeing the clear blue sky that stretched almost infinitely.
He found it mesmerizing, utterly beautiful, to be exact. He admired beautiful and cute things that made his heart flutter.
"The sky of this world makes me feel so free... as opposed to the one from Earth. Maybe that's why I'm having fun more than usual. I feel... so great."
The taste of freedom was really addicting.
After a few minutes of waiting, their professor finally arrived.
Their professor was a gorgeous woman wearing a tight gray militant uniform. She had shoulder-length blue hair, paired with her deeply attractive blue eyes, she looked like a goddess.
She was Aisea Ensoul, a level-5 evolver and academy professor who specializes in teaching practical combat and strategic planning.
Despite her gentle appearance, she had a striking reputation among the people who knew her. On the battlefield, she was known by other evolvers as the demon of death herself.
And in class, she was the considerate and yet strict instructor who punished any student that she found that wasn't listening to her lessons.
To be frank, Aisea Ensoul was someone nobody would want to anger, so he would try not to get on her bad side, if possible.
"Good morning, everyone."
Everyone collectively stood up and bowed at her.
Aisea gave a curt nod, allowing them to take their seats again. She looked throughout the room and checked if there were any unvacated seats.
Upon seeing there were no absentees, she turned around and picked up a small orb.
Click!
The orb released a hologram.
It was a large list of text. Aisea tapped the desk, grabbing everyone's attention.
"I hope none of you have forgotten that today is our first practical combat assessment. I announced this during the first week so everyone can prepare themselves, therefore I won't be accepting any excuses nor reasons on why you cannot participate."
Hearing that, Bruce suddenly remembered. There was that... matter. It completely slipped his mind for some reason.
"I have here VR equipment for all of you," Aisea took out a bag filled with gadgets and pointed at one of them. "Get one and wear them. I'll be waiting for you in the VR space. There, I'll explain to all of you the rules and assign you to your teams afterwards. Now, get going."
It was already the third week of April.
The team-combat assessment has begun.