I'll Follow You (7)
Zernya hummed a cheerful little tune as she looked around the booths. “Hm, hmmm.” Languages, natural sciences, social studies, arts, physical education—every major imaginable had been gathered in one place. Among them, the medical field reigned supreme. The swarm of students crowding the booth proved it.
“That’s Adelbein.”
“Shh, don’t make eye contact.”
“We’ll get picked on again.”
The students shrank back. Thanks to their retreat she didn’t have to wait in line, which suited her perfectly. A smug satisfaction bloomed in her chest. When you were talented and your grades were exceptional, everyone instinctively bowed their heads. In a world like that, why on earth would anyone bother learning humility? It was absurd.
Dismissing Eidel’s earlier warning with a casual shrug, she strode boldly into the booth.
“What can I try here?”
“We have CPR practice, ECG testing, and EEG scans. All from a physician’s perspective, of course.”
Following the guide’s instructions, Zernya stopped in front of the mannequin. CPR practice. Any doctor worth the title had to master it.
“First time, student?”
“Pretty much.”
She had received the training, but it wasn’t required for the entrance exam, so the knowledge existed only in her head. Doing it for real would be valuable experience.
“Press right here and compress about eighty times per minute. Yes, lace your fingers together like that…”
The trick was to use the weight of your upper body. Zernya summoned every scrap of safety-training knowledge from years ago and pressed down firmly on the mannequin’s solar plexus. An LED on the torso would light up if the compressions were correct.
No matter how hard she pushed, the light refused to come on.
“Try shifting more of your weight into it.”
Beep. Beep. Beep. Only the pathetic sound of escaping air answered her.
Her arms were weak—she stuck to lightweight plasma swords for a reason—but still! She glanced sideways. Everyone else was managing it just fine. The students watching from outside sent sharp, judgmental stares her way. Cold sweat prickled across her skin.
“Ugh…”
Zernya straightened her shoulders, lifted her hips high, and poured three-quarters of her body weight into the effort. Only then did the LED finally flicker to life.
“Well done.”
“Ha!”
As expected, I’m the type who succeeds when I actually try. Confidence surged through her as Zernya moved on to her next target: the ECG.
“At our booth we pair students of the same gender to learn how to operate the ECG device.”
A plain-looking girl stepped in front of Zernya.
“H-hello…”
“Yeah.”
The medical students explained the controls, then the real practice began. Zernya attached the leads to the girl first and pressed the button exactly as instructed. A graph representing the heartbeat appeared.
“This graph shows the heart’s electrical signals. Notice the repeating sharp peaks? That indicates a normal rhythm.”
“Oh…”
This was actually fun. She heard terms like PQRST complex and ventricular repolarization—words she barely understood—yet the whole thing still felt exciting.
After the girl, it was Zernya’s turn. “You’re normal too.”
No way that’s right.
“Can arrhythmia be diagnosed with an ECG?”
“Chronic cases show up immediately. Intermittent ones require a Holter monitor.”
“A Holter monitor?”
“Twenty-four-hour continuous ECG recording.”
“I… I think I need that test.”
The medical students exchanged blank looks. One finally answered with a grave expression.
“Arrhythmia at your age is a serious red flag. Please visit the nearest general hospital right away.”
“Gasp.”
She hadn’t even entered college yet; she had no intention of dying. Looked like she’d be heading to the hospital today.
Just then she noticed doctors rushing about beyond the booth.
“What’s going on?”
“Someone collapsed on the street!”
“Who?”
Zernya poked her head out.
“Not sure, but I heard it happened in front of the physics booth…”
Unfamiliar ceiling.
“Where… am I?”
“You’re in the hospital. Please rest easy.”
A gentle warmth enveloped my hand. Sonia was holding it, staring down at me with a thoroughly disgruntled expression. Plop. The katyusha she wore slid off and landed on my face. Retrieving her headband, Sonia spoke in a curt, formal tone.
“Where in the world is there a person who faints simply because a few professors spoke to them?”
“…I fainted?”
“The fact that you don’t remember suggests you received quite the shock.”
I sat there in a daze, groping for memories. Nothing came.
Then the professors burst in, wailing as if the world had ended.
“Student Eidel!”
What the hell was going on?
“We’re truly sorry, student! We wanted to send you to graduate school too, but there was simply no other way…”
“What did you just say?”
We wanted to send you, but there was no other way? No way.
“The nation would not permit it. The only available path is early admission to college, student.”
“That’s…”
“We’re deeply sorry. It seems we will be unable to keep the promise we exchanged by mail from Alcatraz.”
This couldn’t be happening. If I completed the graduate course here, becoming a professor at twenty-two wasn’t just possible—it was practically guaranteed. My ambition. My grand, soaring ambition…
“Ah… aaaaah.”
“Student…?”
“How is young Rheinland doing?”
“He has completely stopped eating and drinking. He’s shut himself in the recovery room and refuses to do anything but research.”
Hearing the professors’ report, Zernya let out a disbelieving laugh.
“It’s just a hunger strike.”
This was the first time in her life she had seen an academia student cry over failing to enter graduate school. The professors probably felt the same. Rustilla, simply because Eidel was sad, had burst into tears herself and launched a full-scale unlimited-empathy campaign. Meanwhile Seti had laughed so hard she nearly died of hyperventilation. Zernya was experiencing both emotions at once and had no idea whose rhythm she was supposed to follow.
When she tried to peek into the recovery room, Rustilla blocked her path.
“Why are you here, you thieving cat?”
“Thieving cat?”
It was a bizarrely cute nickname. Zernya snorted.
“I haven’t stolen anything, yet I’m called a thief? How hilarious.”
“What about what you did with Eidel last time?”
“Is Eidel yours?”
“What?”
“I mean, are you dating or have you promised each other a future?”
“Th-that’s…”
Rustilla fidgeted, face turning scarlet. She was honest to a fault—zero ability to improvise. The perfect target for teasing. Zernya twisted her lips into a smirk.
“If not, shall I snatch him?”
“You will not!”
“Forget it. I wouldn’t take a guy like that even if you offered him on a silver platter.”
The moment the words left her mouth, Zernya felt a small sting in her chest. Arrhythmia again! She had to end this pointless quarrel and hurry to the hospital before—
Rustilla spat, “If you have no business here, leave. Eidel needs rest.”
“Who said I don’t have business?”
Zernya brushed past her and entered the room. She had already heard that Eidel had merely suffered a brief fainting spell with no physical complications. He was simply heartbroken about attending college instead of graduate school. For Zernya, that was excellent news.
“Hey. What are you going to do now?”
“…I’ll go.”
Eidel sat up.
“I’ll attend college. Graduation will be delayed, but… I’ll consider it an opportunity to reinforce my foundations and accept it humbly. Looking back, believing I could enter graduate school directly was nothing but self-deception. Pure arrogance.”
His shattered mental state was obvious. The way he looked ready to burst into tears was so pathetic that even Zernya, who couldn’t truly empathize, felt a pang of sadness.
“I have something to tell you,” she said.
“What?”
“I’m going to follow you.”
Zernya crossed her arms and looked up at him. Rustilla, who had been standing there blankly, jumped as if electrocuted.
“What the hell are you saying…!”
“Can’t you tell? I’m going to early-graduate and follow Eidel.”
Her decision was final. In the first semester the two of them had waged a fierce war for first and second place. Having fought him, she knew. If she didn’t compete with him—even in general education or shared major courses—she would never be able to relieve this crushing boredom. Therefore, if he was going, she had to go too.
“Everything else here is just too boring.”
Zernya openly sneered at Rustilla. Taking it as a declaration of war, Rustilla’s eyes flashed with hostility.
“You. Care to settle this with swords before you keep talking?”
“Gladly. If you lose even at swordsmanship when that’s your only talent, how pathetic would that be? You might as well quit the military and go plow fields on some southern planet.”
“Have you finished running your mouth?”
“I have. Why? Ugh, first argument in ages and my tongue already hurts. What kind of fate is this?”
“…”
“What? Want to grab each other’s hair and really go at it?”
Rustilla’s expression had grown truly dangerous—like a swordmaster staring down a cosmic beast. She was suppressing her fury, yet the killing intent still leaked out, pressing down on Zernya with her gaze alone.
“Huu.” Eidel sighed. “Rustilla.”
“…Yes? What?”
“You shouldn’t be emitting killing intent. You’re aiming to become a swordmaster, yet you harbor dark feelings toward Zernya, a fellow Federation citizen? What exactly are you thinking?”
“That’s…”
“And Zernya. Don’t say cruel things to a friend. How long are you going to keep acting like a child?”
“…”
Eidel’s words carried the weight of an adult scolding two quarreling children over something trivial. Still, they held a certain persuasive power. Zernya nodded reluctantly.
“I’d like the two of you to make up.”
“All right. I’m sorry.”
Rustilla apologized first.
“Now it’s your turn, Zernya. Say you’re sorry.”
Sorry. She had never uttered that word once in her entire life. It wasn’t as if she had committed some terrible crime—they had only bickered over something petty—yet apologizing wounded her pride.
So Zernya stammered, “Mi-mi-mi…”
“Come on, stop hesitating and say it.”
“…Meow.”
Then she quietly sidled up to Eidel’s side. It didn’t take long for Rustilla to explode.