'Ugh..My back hurts...'
As l woke up, i could feel a nasty pain on my back, and i noticed that the two souls were still asleep at the moment on my desk meaning i could do anything i wanted without having them around me.
I put my long hair in a messy bun before heading to the kitchen to make myself breakfast.
Simple toasted bread with chocolate milk was all i quickly ate before scrolling on my phone for any news.
"...A few celebrities from this world fighting for no good reason...an update from Kanita High....Drama between content creators...A known youtuber being revealed to be a pedophile..."
Yeah, just normal internet stuff.
I was pleasantly surprised that the conflicts online where mainly the same as in the real world, which was probably one of the few details here that haven't made me go absolutely insane yet.
"Everyone isn't real...and they don't know that i'm the author of this world...."
Just that thought made me smile for no reason.
I could understand each character without any issues, I could predict anyone actions and as long as i didnt do anything to attract too much attention..
..The story will progress just as I predict, which will satisfy my need for control a bit.
While scrolling through my phone, i realized that I haven't trained yesterday at all.
I was too tired yesterday to even think about training..and also the fact it was dark out, its not really à good time to go train.
I stood up from my chair and immediately headed to the basement where the training grounds were.
Thankfully, it wasn't that hard to remember the way to the training area.
Arriving at the training grounds, i kept the same settings as i always did for my training.
,--------------------------------------------------------,
Would you like to commence training?
-> Yes
-> No
'--------------------------------------------------------'
After a few days of using this training room daily, i quickly got used to it, pressing "Yes".
Taking a few steps back, i put my guard up.
I activated "Weapon Transformer" to use an axe as i focused my eyes onto the target, making sure i could defend myself at the right moment.
From my past few experiences from using this training room, i learned that the hologram version of me will always use different techniques to beat me every use, making it almost impossible to predict the hologram's next actions.
It also taught me to be able to easily evolve to others different fighting styles.
As I glanced at the hologram version of me, I tried to predict their actions from the cold and bored look in their eyes.
They weren't real anyways so i didnt mind the fact they looked like they were dead or tired.
I suddenly noticed the hologram use the same skill as me to use a gun.
....Wait is she actually using a gun-
Bang bang bang-
"AH- WHAT THE FUCK-"
I barely managed to dodge the bullets, using my axe as a shield to stop any bullets from touching me.
"WHY ARE THEY USING A FUCKING GUN NOW??"
The hologram suddenly shot many more bullets at me.
As I tried to parry them, some of the bullets hit me, injuring me severely.
I could feel pain all over my body as I realized that the bullets used..were actually real bullets.
I decided to change my axe into a bulletproof shield.
Almost as soon as I wanted to change weapons, the axe was switching into different weapons for a split second before having a shield.
It was nice as this option would make my opponent not know what my next weapon would be.
As I prepared myself, a lot of bullets suddenly shot my way, my shield managing to hold up against the army of bullets.
I took advantage of this time to quickly absorb the mana around me to heal..Though it meant i was immobile for the moment.
Just as I thought I would have enough time to rest, the bullets suddenly flew towards me, defying gravity itself.
"Shit-"
Turning my shield into a axe back again, i decided to try tricking the bullets to hit the hologram instead of me.
I noticed the bullets took quite some time to follow me so I ran towards the hologram.
I put my axe up as I prepared to swing my edged weapon against them.
My plan was that incase my own attacks wouldnt work, i would use their bullets against them.
They instead ducked, but I quickly kicked their face before swinging my axe onto their face while they were on the ground.
Just as the bullets barely touched my skin, i had successfully killed the hologram.
There wasn't any blood, or even any liquid that came out of the hologram. It was like its was a soft doll.
Leaning against the wall, I took this opportunity to calm down and catch my breath.
"Hah.....We are both at E+ rank yet I still feel like they're stronger than me....It doesnt help that they keep changing tactics every time...."
I could feel my heart beat extremely hard, beads of sweat falling down my face as I walked over to the other side of the training room, wiping off my sweat from my face.
'I guess this is good enough for today...I keep getting better at fights now but if i'm struggling against E+ ranks, how am i going to survive with the students at Kanita High?'
They were all higher ranks than me, and I knew that.
It was the main reason I wanted to keep training daily as i wanted to get to D rank already before i got behind.
I remembered writing how people felt when breaking through to the next rank, and it was slightly painful but also had a great after-feeling.
Thats mainly how i knew the basics of the signs of breaking through the next rank.
I glanced at the time.
"....10 am.....Should i make dinner or is it too early..?"
After thinking about it, it was probably too early.
Actually, i haven't finished my drawing yet. I decided to take a quick shower to get rid of the sweat on myself.
I got some comfortable clothes and i headed back upstairs to the bathroom.
I removed everything before entering the shower, planning to shower for around 30 minutes.
Finally, i got out of the shower feeling extremely refreshed. It was a nice feeling.
Leaving the washroom, i quickly dried myself off as i dried my hair with a towel.
"I hate having long and curly hair..if only i had a hair dryer.."
As i kept drying my hair with a towel, i realized how slow my hair was getting to dry, as it was still moist after completely drying it.
I quickly headed to my bedroom to finish my drawing, i've spend the entirety of yesterday afternoon to do it but i didn't finish it before sleeping.
I was basically forced by myself to finish it.
Entering my room, i noticed how the two souls were still asleep on my desk and i decided to just quickly observe how they looked.
Sora was wearing a pink short skirt with black shorts underneath, it literally looked like a black void underneath the skirt. She had a white shoulder-less shirt with pink ruffles on the hem of the shirt with light pink boots with heels.
She really did look feminine even though she was barely 14 years old.
Contrary to her, Soraya was instead wearing a cropped-sleeve dark beige hoodie, she also had black cargo pants and black and white converse shoes.
Her clothes seemed to have looked used, almost like it hasn't been cleaned in a while.
Reminded me of my first few years of college before i died and transmigrated here.
I was too busy to even think about cleaning my clothes and doing my laundry as i would go as far as to sleep in my own clothes day and night since i didn't have the time to actually change.
...I'm so glad i dropped out as my mental health back then really was terrible.
It was...hard. I remembered dealing with panic attacks back then from stress.
Shaking my head, i quickly decided to stop thinking about the past.
I didn't have any...good memories from those times that i wanted to remember.
Quickly, i opened my laptop and turned it on, grabbing my pen so i could start drawing.
I put on my headphones and started listening to the music on my phone.
----------------------------------------,
Bubble Pop Electric
-Gwen Stefani
----●-------------------------
◀️⏸️▶️
-----------------------------------------'
Atleast this song would make me somewhat forget about my past memories as i quickly started working on my drawing.
It was just a random drawing i made to see whether my art skills stuck with me or not.
Thankfully, I seemed to have gotten somewhat better as i noticed how good the anatomy was.
I was...Proud of it.
It was an emotion i haven't in quite some time.
It felt nice to be proud of something.
An unconscious smile appeared on my face as I felt happiness from simply getting better.
I liked it.
It was an Ena Shinonome fanart from the game Project Sekai that i enjoyed playing back in my past life in my free time.
I related to her on a truly deeper level, as if she could understand me.
A girl with her arms out, streaks of paint coming out of some cuts on her wrists.
A melancholic look on her face as she looked at what she was creating with her own blood.
It was to represent artists, their creativity and the pain of being an artist.
I liked it, I was proud of it. It was exactly how I felt.
I kept drawing on my laptop, using a tablet attached to my laptop to paint digitally.
I made sure the character looked more dull while the paint coming out of her wrists are extremely colorful.
I placed random streaks as I kept working and working.
I didn't even notice Soraya wake up and sit on my shoulder as i kept drawing Ena, thats how concentrated i was.
I could feel my surroundings blur as i kept painting non stop.
I had to finish this. I had to.
"S....e-..."
Drawing and painting, the sounds of my pen touching the tablet was the only sound i heard.
"S...S..What are you doing???"
"H-huh?"
I flinched as i finally heard Soraya speak to me.
She had an...envious look on her face as she looked at my drawing.
"Wait when did you wake up?"
Questioning her, I had a genuine look of confusion as I spoke.
"Oh...yeah i woke up recently..What are you drawing?"
...Fuck.
What excuse should i say since Project Sekai doesn't exist in this world...and Ena Shinonome doesn't exist in this world..
Uh-
"I just drew a random character just painting...."
The best excuse is say that it's a random character, coincidences happen all the time!
This is totally not suspicious at all!
"Ok....How...When did you start drawing?"
"When i was..uh..young? Why do you ask?"
Oh yeah...I forgot how jealous i could be at times back then.
The feeling of seeing someone younger draw much better than you'll ever be able to do.
The feeling of disappointment in yourself..
It was a horrible feeling, but i decided to try comforting Soraya in the best way i could since I knew her the best.
Well, she was my past life so i was quite literally her.
"Oh, well to be honest, im not actually 14..I'm actually 25 years old and just woke up in this body.."
It was somewhat the truth so it left my mouth like water.
Based on my past lifes souls face, she seemed to have believed my excuse.
"Oh! Oh i thought you- Oh alright!! I get it!"
..Thankfully she didnt notice how close both of our artstyles were..
..It would be awkward if she realized this.
As I kept drawing, i finally added the finishing touches and i flipped the canvas to better see if I had any mistakes.
"Seems good to me! Are you going to post it?"
"Yeah, i am actually!"
I replied back as I quickly saved the drawing and took some screenshots of different versions of the drawing without shading, the background, or the lineart to prove I really did draw this.
Finally, after a few minutes of taking screenshots, i posted my drawing online.
I was expecting likes and followers immediately just like in my past life's account..
..But instead i got at most 2 likes and 1 bot comment.
...
..It sucks to be a small artist in this world.