Duel
Even at Heros Academy, the morning classes covered the same things they’d teach in an ordinary high school.
In other words, they were boring enough to make you yawn.
History was at least interesting, since it didn’t quite match what I could infer from the original novel’s plot, but everything else was so dull it might as well have been a sleeping pill.
For a moment, I even had the absurd thought that maybe the teachers were hypnotists and we were training our mental resistance against psychic attacks. Of course, that wasn’t it at all. The classes were just boring.
The other students listened with fierce enthusiasm anyway.
That wasn’t strange, considering they were the sort who sat in the front row instead of the back.
Maybe they believed that only by putting everything they had into studying could they become truly exceptional. Probably something like that.
They were the kind of people who wanted to scrape together even one extra point on a quiz and stand above everyone else.
Of course, none of that applied to me.
I just needed to stay above the white-haired runt in front of me.
With that mindset, I spent the time at my own pace, and before I knew it, it was lunch.
Maybe it was because the semester had only just begun, but the students still seemed a little awkward around one another.
They didn’t seem especially eager to get close, as if they thought of each other more as competitors than friends.
Even so, there were a few groups roaming around together.
The so-called “victims” who’d come to pick a fight with me yesterday, the clique Yeonhwa had managed to build after making friends in a single day, and the lackeys orbiting Im Changwon were pretty much all there was.
Meanwhile, Minho was already trying to make progress with the heroine, asking the girl sitting beside him whether she wanted to eat together if she didn’t have anyone else to go with.
Her name was Seolhwa, right? Even I had to admit she was beautiful, with sky-blue hair and blue eyes.
I wanted to look at her up close, but that would be rude, so I settled for admiring her from a distance.
More than that, to think a group had already formed after just one day.
That was faster than I’d expected.
If I hadn’t forced some kind of connection with Minho yesterday, what would have happened?
Just imagining it made me dizzy.
I’d have to inch up to him, all hesitant and awkward, only to be met by the heroines’ cold stares.
Clear malice, as if to say, How dare some random bitch try to cling to him?
…Ugh. No more thinking about that. It made my stomach hurt.
Trying to put something into my sour stomach, I headed for the cafeteria when someone called out to me from behind.
It was Yeonhwa.
“Blanca, sorry! We were wrong yesterday. We apologized by text too, but it didn’t seem like enough, so…! I’m really sorry!”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I wasn’t supposed to butt in.”
They were apologizing to me for what happened yesterday.
Why the hell were they apologizing?
For a second I just stood there blankly, not sure how to respond, before I finally managed to open my mouth.
“Why are you apologizing? The ones who should be saying sorry are us.”
“But… you looked really angry…”
“I said it’s fine, didn’t I? I just got a little emotional at the time. Something unpleasant came back to me. I’m really fine now.”
“Y-you really are okay…?”
“I’m really fine. Worrying too much isn’t good for you, Yeonhwa.”
Forcing a breezy smile, I let her see that I was okay, and Yeonhwa laughed in obvious relief.
“Then do you want to eat with us? Actually, I wanted to eat together yesterday too, but you disappeared before I even had a chance to talk to you, so I couldn’t ask. If you don’t already have someone to eat with, then you can come with us…”
Yeah, that’s how it should be. That was the whole reason I’d come to the academy in the first place. I agreed without hesitation, and Yeonhwa practically bounced with delight.
So they really did think they’d been in the wrong.
Then… no need to buy her banana milk, I guess.
As I watched Yeonhwa hopping around in excitement, I suddenly felt a gaze on me and turned to the side.
It was Lapis, sitting beside me.
Her tail was tapping against the floor, an obvious sign that she wanted to say something but was hesitating.
And I already knew what she wanted.
She wanted to be friends with me.
But whether I should let her was another matter.
She was supposed to be alone.
In the original story, she longed for friendship.
But because of her strange appearance and background, she couldn’t fit in with anyone and always hovered on the edges by herself.
When Lapis was lonely like that, Minho reached out his hand to her, and when she took it, their connection began…
If I accepted her now, wouldn’t that erase the future where Minho and Lapis ended up together? That thought crossed my mind.
But after some hesitation, I decided to let her in.
Of course, not with the same sincerity as Minho. More like the way you’d share a bite of chicken skewers with a stray cat by the roadside.
I had no intention of genuinely reaching out to her. Nor should I.
That was Minho’s role.
Still, it seemed fine to play along as a friend until then.
If I carefully acted like I was warming up to her while keeping my distance, maybe Lapis would start longing for a real friend.
Then it would be easier for Minho to scoop her up.
After finishing my calculations, I asked Yeonhwa if it was okay for Lapis to join us too.
“Lapis? Oh, that girl who was plowing through the ground? Sure! The more people we have eating together, the better! But… are you two close?”
Yeonhwa looked at me with genuine curiosity.
“Not really, but she doesn’t seem to have anyone to eat with, just like me.”
Lapis’s eyes went wide, and she flashed a bright smile, only to realize a second later that her teeth showed when she did. She hurriedly covered her mouth.
Her teeth were less human and more like those of a carnivorous beast.
She hated that about herself to a crippling degree.
Before long, Yeonhwa had gone over to her and was tugging her along, saying she should eat with us too.
Lapis looked at me, her brown cheeks flushing red, and mouthed a silent thank-you.
I’m not even really trying to be friends with you, though.
Still, you really are pitiable.
That was all I thought as I watched her.
---
Unlike the morning, the afternoon at the academy was devoted entirely to improving our abilities and learning how to become heroes.
In other words, it was time to move our bodies.
“Since it’s the first day, there won’t be any serious training. After you each receive feedback from me on yesterday’s test, you may do as you like. However, if you leave the training grounds, please let me know before you go.”
After saying that, Yustitia began calling students up in the order they’d taken the test, giving each of them feedback.
In the game, this was when the enhancement system unlocked, and Yeonhwa explained how to use it…
But here, none of that happened. I was just doing stretches with Jinhyun like a normal person.
So this world really wasn’t exactly the same as the game.
Then what was I doing, you ask?
I was lying flat on my back in a nice sunny spot, enjoying the sun.
I wasn’t being lazy.
Right now, lying still and letting my body absorb the materials it needed was a very important process for turning them into a form I could use my abilities with.
Not a nap.
Just as the warm sunlight started dragging me toward sleep, someone approached and cast a shadow over me.
It was Lapis. I’d assumed she’d come to pick a fight about the whole “We’ll see” business from earlier, but I was wrong.
“Um… n-ngh. So, you’re Blanca… right?”
Even while she fidgeted, she still worked up the courage to talk to me.
If I hadn’t made a connection with Minho yesterday, would I have spoken to him with exactly that same expression?
“Yeah. So why are you looking for me?”
“I-I was… um. During lunch, I wanted to say thanks for including me…”
By the time she got that out, she couldn’t hold back her embarrassment anymore and covered her face with her hands.
“It’s nothing worth that. I just thought you looked lonely, so I let you join.”
Apparently a little stunned by being called lonely, she gave a small shiver, but then she seemed to decide to take even that in a good way and started thanking me all over again.
“S-so, if it’s okay, could I… eat with you again later…?!”
Lapis asked whether she could eat with me again later, sounding as though she was requesting something she shouldn’t dare ask for.
“Sure.”
When I answered without much interest, she reacted very differently from Yeonhwa and looked as though she might jump out of her skin with happiness.
In her excitement, she failed to notice the cluster of students approaching behind her.
“If you’re done here, could you move? I’ve got business too.”
“Huh, wha…?”
“Are you really here because you want to become a hero?”
“H-hey, you guys…? W-why are you being so…”
It was those same idiots from yesterday. Yeah, somehow they’d gone quiet. Too quiet.
As if there was any chance that would last.
They were the type to pick fights with the protagonist from the start in the original story too, so I wasn’t remotely surprised.
Maybe they were only clinging to me because I stood out the most.
“Because I’ve got an apology to collect.”
An apology to collect, huh. That wouldn’t be easy.
I smiled as I rose to my feet.
“The idiot’s right for once. Step back for a second, Lapis. I don’t want you dragged into this too.”
“B-but, Blanca…”
Lapis started to move forward as if she couldn’t just stand by and watch her first friend get cornered.
But she was being crushed under the hostile energy radiating off the victims I’d provoked, unable to do anything.
“Oh? Have you finally grown a conscience and come to apologize? Good, good. Since you’re so admirable, I’ll even accept a full bow—”
“Shut up. All of you, come at me. Seriously.”
I cut off the loudmouthed punk, grinned, and crooked my finger in a taunt.
“…Your arrogance is sky-high. Are you serious?”
The girl who would later become a heroine frowned at me in disbelief.
“Dead serious.”
The others were no different.
Among them, the punk in particular looked properly triggered, veins standing out on his forehead as he glared at me.
“We’ll see if you still say that when you’re crying and begging.”
“Scary.”
He had the kind of face and personality that screamed delinquent.
A blond tanned punk with enough gold jewelry on him to sink a small ship.
His ability suited him too.
He’d come around eventually, but that wasn’t a reason not to beat him down now.
Honestly, he was annoying all the way up through the middle of the story.
I wasn’t stupid enough to throw away a chance to pound someone like that.
“What’s all this commotion? And Student Agatha. I’m sure I called for you earlier. What exactly are you doing here instead of coming when I asked?”
But then Yustitia stepped in.
“Ah, Teacher. It’s just that…”
The ones who’d been protesting against me lost their nerve the moment they saw Yustitia.
Even the girl called Agatha, who’d been leading the charge, and the punk were no exception.
Lapis, on the other hand, rushed straight to Yustitia as if she’d been rescued, and explained the whole ugly situation.
“So that’s what’s happening right now. Please stop them…!”
“I see. Then, regarding the entrance exam…”
After listening to Lapis, Yustitia folded her arms and thought it over, then finally spoke.
“Very well. I approve. However, we’ll restrict it to the format of a duel. There are no objections, I trust?”
“None.”
“None.”
“Teacherrr?!”
And just like that, an unplanned duel began.