Acceptance (1)
Sonia, breaking news.
“What is it this time?”
“I’ve got nothing to do.”
Sonia let out a sigh and poked me repeatedly.
“Isn’t it about time?”
“Well, yeah….”
Until the acceptance results came out, Rustilla and I had decided to do some light exercise. Of course, Seti had given Rustilla a stern warning not to be alone with me… but that wasn’t my problem.
What mattered was that my relationship with Rustilla wasn’t bad. At the very least, she didn’t form prejudices the moment she heard my name. She didn’t scream and run away. She didn’t spit, curse, and bolt.
…She wasn’t that kind of person. Someone without preconceptions. How wonderful was that?
Even if I weren’t trying to recruit her as a colleague for the task force to prevent the universe’s destruction, she’d still be my top pick for a friend. Anyway, that was beside the point. After coming back from exercising, I’d still have nothing to do.
Graviton bomb research? I was making slow progress. But no matter what they called it, reading other people’s papers and jotting down thoughts didn’t magically produce a graviton bomb. The priority was joining the scientific community, running actual experiments, and tinkering with equipment. No matter how good an idea you had, if you couldn’t test it, it was nothing more than a delusion in your head.
Taking all that into account, I really was bored. And anxious, too.
Honestly, no matter how much of a tough-guy mindset I had, seeing the word “REJECTED” would probably make my eyes roll back. Anxiety over uncertainty is a human instinct. It was engraved in my DNA; I couldn’t shake it completely.
That was why I had no choice but to throw myself into something else. I changed into light clothes and headed to the meeting spot.
Even at Stellarium Academy, not the entire artificial planet was used for education. Some areas were commercial districts. Others were industrial zones. Still others were residential sectors. There were also places packed with military or medical facilities. So it wasn’t strange at all that there were parks everyone could freely use.
“…Idel!”
A voice calling my name came from somewhere. When I turned my head, my breath caught in my throat.
A girl in a white tracksuit stood there. Even though the top covered her completely, her figure was fully visible. It looked like she was wearing a size smaller than usual.
The bottoms were even worse. Tight-fitting light gray leggings that revealed every line of her legs. Elegant. Graceful. More than enough to stir the lust of any man.
Rustilla usually wore loose cardigans and baggy clothes, so I hadn’t noticed before, but among girls her age she was incredibly mature.
“Over here, over here!”
I couldn’t easily look at a girl waving her hand in that outfit. So I stared up at the sky instead. It felt like the Korean police might come flying in from beyond the universe at any second. Maybe then I could go back to Earth.
Pointless thoughts kept pouring out. I took a deep breath. Cleared my mind. Calmed my body and spirit. Water is water, fire is fire. Instead of the Heart Sutra I didn’t even know, I recited pi to cut myself off from the world.
— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ sighs.
Hoo.
That was when a pleasant scent washed over me like a tide.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
Her voice came from this side, then that side. Rustilla was circling around me with a worried expression. I shook my head and returned to normal.
She smiled. She looked unusually cheerful today. It was strange to see that Rustilla smiling.
Come to think of it, her dark circles were gone and her skin looked even better. She must have slept a lot after the entrance exam ended.
But there was a smile that couldn’t be explained by biology alone.
Curious, I asked.
“Thanks to you.”
Rustilla grinned as she said it.
“The interview went really well.”
“…Really?”
Apparently the android-smashing show had paid off.
“Yeah. How about you, Idel? Did yours go well?”
Rustilla asked back. I could only give a bitter smile.
“Let’s walk and talk.”
This was Rustilla we were talking about. The girl with Vega as her backing constellation. Lies wouldn’t work on her.
Better to tell the truth.
“It was a disaster.”
“A disaster? How bad?”
“Well, I ended up talking way too much in front of the interviewers.”
I briefly explained what had happened in the interview room. Even as I spoke, my face burned with embarrassment. It probably wasn’t because Rustilla looked pretty in her workout clothes.
“Ugh, that’s so embarrassing.”
“No need to feel embarrassed. Oh, by the way, there’s a famous pasta place up ahead….”
Rustilla smoothly changed the subject. She must have thought there was a chance I’d failed.
“…I heard there’s a really good pasta restaurant over there.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. And a nice steakhouse on that side. They say the side potatoes are perfectly fried.”
For the entire lap around the park, we talked almost exclusively about restaurants.
It made sense. If we passed, this whole area would become our turf. Even I could see there were plenty of delicious places.
I thought about bringing my little sister here later. To melt away the resentment Seti had built up, I’d have to start with small things like this.
So I went along with Rustilla’s words, one lap, two laps, three laps….
“…This is… getting… a bit hard.”
I panted. Rustilla, who had been walking casually beside me, tilted her head.
“We’re only on the fourth lap?”
“Wait… I think I’m going to die….”
“We have to do at least ten.”
Oh, damn it.
By the time we finished the fifth lap, sharp pain shot through my legs. Around the sixth lap, talking with Rustilla became completely impossible. By the seventh….
“Hey, is this how a guy is supposed to act?”
Rustilla pushed me from behind. I didn’t even have the energy to feel humiliated. It was just insanely hard.
“Eighth lap. Hang in there a little longer.”
This was weird. When I was smashing monster heads, it hadn’t been this exhausting.
“Ninth lap. Just one more.”
My head had gone completely blank. Sweat poured down like rain. I’d only jogged a bit and I was already completely drained.
In truth, this was the first time this body had ever done cardio.
“Ten laps!”
“Huff… huff… we’re done, right…?”
“Your stamina’s pretty good for a first try. Let’s do one more—no, two more laps.”
“……Ah.”
I was looking at a demon.
Right. Now that I thought about it. Rustilla’s true nature. Was that of a soldier.
And soldiers. When exercising. Treat people. Like recruits. And push them hard. Right?
Fuck… did I make a mistake…?
“Fifteen laps! You’re amazing! At this rate you could do twenty!”
One lap took about ten minutes. Fifteen of those meant two and a half hours of nonstop running at 8 km/h.
My heart felt like it would explode. My organs were twisting. A cold sensation filled my lungs. There wasn’t a single dry spot on my neck, back, or forearms.
Save me.
Maybe that thought reached someone, because—
“Hey, what the hell are you doing?”
A voice of salvation rang out.
It belonged to a woman jogging from the opposite direction.
She strode right up to us and stopped. Silver hair danced before my fading vision.
“What are you doing here like this?”
It was a familiar voice. Just hearing it carried a sharp, prickly tone. I slowly lifted my head from where I’d been staring at the ground.
There stood a girl in a sports tee and dolphin shorts.
She was on the short side, but her proportions were perfect. As if sculpted by a god. She gave off an air of nobility that was impossible to ignore.
Zernya von Adelbein.
I tried to say her name, but no sound came out. My vocal cords were parched. The inside of my throat tasted like iron.
“…Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
And just like that, the two girls began to stare each other down.
“You can’t possibly not know who I am, right?”
Zernya struck first.
“……Who are you, really?”
“Ah, you… right. That’s right. I know you. You’re the girl who was in the same exam room as this guy back then.”
She spoke to Rustilla—who she was meeting for the first time—in that same rude tone. Well, looking down on others was Zernya’s biggest personality trait.
But Zernya had no idea.
Who exactly she was picking a fight with right now.
“Anyway, I don’t need to explain who I am….”
“…….”
“…What? Why aren’t you answering?”
“…….”
“Wow, impressive. You don’t even look surprised after seeing this hair and these eyes.”
“…….”
“You really don’t know I’m a direct descendant of the Adelbein family?”
One second. Five seconds. Seven seconds.
The time it took for Rustilla to activate her ‘Inner Eye’ and ‘Mind’s Eye’ and completely analyze her opponent.
“You’re a bad kid.”
Rustilla counterattacked. A cold, heavy blow. Zernya’s face went blank as if she’d been hit with an uppercut.
“What?”
“Let’s go, Idel. I think we’ve jogged enough.”
Rustilla grabbed my arm and pulled me along. As expected, Rustilla had a habit of immediately leaving the scene whenever she encountered a villain.
“Hey, what—what is this? Are you ignoring me? Unbelievable…!”
The sound of quick footsteps chasing after us.
Zernya stuck close to my side and spoke in a provocative tone.
“Did you get yourself a girlfriend in the meantime? You haven’t even passed yet and you’re acting like you own the world!”
Girlfriend, huh.
I was so exhausted I couldn’t even muster the energy to argue. Besides, getting tangled up with Zernya never led to anything good.
Chapter boss, just go away.
I’ll rest for a bit….
“Hey, you. You do know the results are coming out soon, right?”
“Idel, should we get an early lunch?”
“Oh? Look at this. You’re completely ignoring me now?”
“The ‘Le Carbonara’ I mentioned earlier seems good.”
“That pasta place? It tastes like absolute garbage.”
“Since I’m all sweaty, it’d be better to wash up first and then eat.”
Zernya must have been stung, because she picked a fight with every single thing Rustilla said.
By this point my mind had cleared up a little. And I couldn’t help but feel something was off about Zernya being even more passionate and aggressive than her usual personality.
Yeah, it was strange.
Had she always been the type to cling this persistently?
Claim Quest Reward
📍 Objective: Receive the reward for the completed interview quest.
🎁 Reward: ???