Her Crumbling Dream (1)
"Hey, you. Who are you?"
Astria bellowed, striding straight toward me. I was completely cornered, like a rat in a trap.
Sigh. No clue why she wasn't holed up in the library like always and came all the way here instead. Especially when I was this close to slipping out. Guess this counted as rotten luck.
"You're right there, so come out already."
Even as I inwardly cursed my disastrously shitty luck today, Astria kept closing in. With our distance down to mere feet, I started racking my brain for a way out of this mess.
Hmm...
First off, a head-on fight with Astria was the last thing I wanted. Sure, in raw power, I outclassed her current unawakened self by a mile. But if I misjudged and hurt her, that'd be a disaster. Plus, I'd left my sword at home since it would've gotten in the way of stealth, so a straight clash felt dicey anyway.
Being strong comes with its headaches.
Magic control was tricky as hell too—not to mention the persistent numbness in my right arm.
"Last warning. Come out now."
Astria was right in my face now, chanting a spell and gearing up to blast me.
Whew.
She seemed extra on edge today. No need to come at me this hard. With just steps between us, I steeled myself. No choice but to go for broke.
Crash!
"What the—?!"
My only play was to bolt. I hurled the desk I'd been hiding behind straight at her.
Boom!
Astria reflexively cleaved it in half. Seizing that opening, I bolted for the door.
"Stop right there!"
Spotting my escape, she fired off spells at my back.
Thud!
"Take this—!"
Boom!
But this was a professor's lab—subconsciously wary of wrecking the place, her shots were weaker than usual. I just had to roll to dodge them easily.
"What the hell?!"
Astria gawked, incredulous that mere tumbling let me evade her magic.
Whew.
The moment her spells paused, I stood and faced her. Beautiful hair, white streaked with blue.
"What the hell are you...!"
Breathing hard after burning some mana—her blue streaks noticeably faded—she leveled her wand at me. Lucky break: the mask hid my identity. If she knew it was me standing here, she'd react way differently.
"..."
So I stayed dead silent.
—Something rattling over here?
—Isn't that where Senior Astria went?
Voices from the hallway outside. Plan was to bust through the door and sprint out of the Academy. But packed with students? Whole different story.
Suck in a breath.
I scrapped and revised on the fly, then charged straight at her.
"Gah!"
Thinking I was attacking, Astria threw up a shield. I blew past her and dove for the glass window behind.
Shatter!
I smashed through and leaped outside.
"What!?"
She stared in shock as I plummeted. Ignoring her, I barely snagged the railing one floor down. The impact wrecked my already-injured arm even more, but better than splatting on the ground.
Whoa.
Glancing down made my breath catch—way higher than I'd like. One slip, and I'd be paste.
Hngh!
Good call gritting it out. I hauled myself into the balcony with one hand and looked up.
"Don't move!"
Astria yelled from the window frame, glaring down. I paused to stare back, and she climbed onto the sill...
"Uh... ugh..."
But chickened out on jumping after me.
"..."
Snickering inwardly at the sight, I turned and kept moving. People were waiting for me, after all.
On the rooftop of some building, a sharply dressed man lowered his binoculars and addressed the woman beside him.
"Looks like he escaped successfully, miss."
"Yeah?"
She took the binoculars from him with a bored expression.
"Huh, slipped away clean."
Through the lenses: a guy dangling from a balcony railing. He swung inside, smashed a window, and vanished into the Academy.
"Send in the men?"
Another man standing by her glanced at her sour mood and ventured carefully.
"Nah."
She set the binoculars down, smoothing her wind-tossed hair.
Escaping a total encirclement without hesitation? What a guy. Damn entertaining.
—Wanna work with me?
—?
That's why I'd been eyeing him for years.
—No thanks.
—Why?
—Just 'cause.
Every time I propositioned, he shot me down cold. But now? Different story. All the pests around him were gone. A little sweet-talking, and he'd cave for sure.
"So, time to get your head straight."
The longer you wait, the more your neck's gonna burn.
Bang!Boom!
The racket outside jolted me awake. "Yawn... ahh."
I rubbed my eyes, sitting up.
"Who is it...?"
Sun wasn't even up—who the hell was making this much noise?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Y-yes... coming..."
The crashes grew louder; I tried to get up.
"Uwaaah—!"
But my legs wouldn't budge, no matter how hard I pushed.
Right, my legs are useless.
Remembering my condition, I called toward the door for help.
"Mr. Karl! Mr. Karl!"
"..."
Just icy silence.
Boom! Bang!
And then the shattering roar that broke it.
"Ugh..."
Where the heck was he? No response no matter how desperately I called. This was too weird. He'd promised to come if I called.
No way...
Mr. Karl wasn't a liar, so only one possibility left: he'd forgotten or lost his house key. Stuck outside, shivering in the cold, pounding on the door.
"Heehee."
That meant my chance to help him had finally come. Rare opportunity—I was getting excited.
—Thank you so much, Elia. I almost had a real problem there.
If I opened the door and let him in, I could already hear his grateful words.
"Hup!"
First, I had to get into the wheelchair. Dragging myself with my arms toward the one by the bed, I looked up at it.
So far.
Farther than I'd thought. Couldn't climb straight on—had to drop to the floor first.
"Careful... careful..."
Sliding slowly off the high bed...
"Kyaa!"
Boom!
I lost balance and crashed down.
"Ow ow ow..."
Tears welled from the searing pain.
"Hic!"
But I wiped them away, forcing no more out.
—And Elia, no more crying from now on.
—It'll ruin your pretty face.
Because of Mr. Karl's request.
"Gotta... hurry..."
Plus, he was out there waiting desperately for me.
"Nngh."
Snapping to, I crawled to the wheelchair and gathered every ounce of strength to haul myself up.
Legs useless, my weak arms barely holding my weight—it was no easy climb.
"Hah... hah."
But sheer willpower to help got me up.
"Good job, Elia. Good job!"
Praising myself, I wheeled frantically to the door.
Heehee.
Already rehearsing what to say to Mr. Karl waiting outside.
Creeeak—!
"Mr. Karl! You won't believe how late—"
I flung the door open with a grin.
But the man outside wasn't the Mr. Karl I'd been waiting for.
"There you are, Elia."
"D-Dad...?"
It was the last person I ever wanted to see again.