Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: I Hate Exams (4)
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Suddenly, such a thought crossed my mind. Why should I feel embarrassed? I'd just caught a whiff of his scent. Even if it looked like something between a man and a woman from the outside. If there was no interest between us right now, there was no need to feel any shame, was there?
Slightly tapping my heated earlobes, I sank into contemplation.
...I hadn't interacted with the protagonist any more than necessary. There was no one beside Zenon right now anyway—stopping his fight, drawing close like waking him from sleep—it was all just part of what 'necessity' demanded.
But separately from that, the thoughts bubbling up in my head were so far removed from what I'd originally intended. No matter what I thought, it linked back to Zenon. No matter what I did or how I acted, it always circled back to him. Independent of my own will.
Oso-so. For a moment, goosebumps prickled across my entire body. I realized it then—from the very start, not a single thing had gone according to my plans. His fight, me stepping in to stop it and dragging him to the infirmary, everything up to this point. If someone looked back at my actions, who would ever think I'd been trying to keep my distance from Zenon?
One thing flashed through my mind: the original Aisha. The one who'd fallen head over heels for Zenon at first sight in the story, who'd guided his near-delinquent behavior, and who ultimately became his lover. The original Aisha.
This world fundamentally followed the original plot. Sure, there were people with their own wills—but events that were meant to happen still did. Villains destined to appear still showed up. If—even me coming to like Zenon—was part of that 'inevitability'...
"...Ha."
I couldn't let that happen. I had zero interest in playing the heroine.
What should I do? How could I put distance between us? Hide away in some corner like I'd thought at first? No chance of that working now. With all the unexpected points of contact we'd built up, suddenly pulling away might just create an excuse for him to draw closer.
Poke-poke.
I jabbed at the eraser slumped on my desk, cycling through countless ideas and discarding them one by one. Without even noticing someone had approached beside me.
"Aisha."
The one voice I least wanted to hear drifted in. Still thick with sleep, that familiar languid tone slipped right into my ear. This was the first real obstacle—no matter how hard I tried to stay away, he always came closer somehow. The guy who'd been utterly indifferent in the original story, the one who'd frustrated me to no end just watching him—why?
I turned my head slightly, and there was Zenon. Propped on his chin, staring right at me. I didn't like it one bit. If only he'd just... stayed normal.
"...Why'd you call me."
"Why? We're on the same team now."
"Same team...?"
The nonstop whirl of my thoughts ground to a halt. My furiously spinning brain froze, and my stiff neck creaked as it turned forward.
[Aisha Irian, Zenon]
"Ah..."
"...Let's do our best."
My vision blurred. Why—why of all people? Why was I teamed up with Zenon? Faced with this inescapable reality, I gritted my teeth.
#
"I've roughly decided the practical exam teams... So prepare well on your own for the test in three days. Being paired with someone you don't know well, rather than a close friend, is similar to forming temporary teams with other heroes in real combat situations. I hope you grasp that in this practical and make use of it later."
The moment the professor finished speaking and left the classroom, my head slammed onto the desk. My throbbing temples pressed hard under my fingers, I inwardly cursed this unbelievable stroke of probability. Out of 200 students, why him of all people?
Mocking my resolve, I cursed the heavens for handing me this team as I rose from my seat.
"Where are you going?"
"Doesn't matter to you."
I ignored Zenon's call and strode out of the classroom. I needed to figure out how to handle this from here.
What was the practical exam about again? I recalled it hadn't been announced separately yet—for the sake of fairness, given all the famous heroes' kids enrolling here.
That meant drawing on memories from the original. Rummaging through them for a bit, I finally recalled the exam's content.
Temporary dispatch. To experience a day in a hero's life, we'd skip school and head to another neighborhood for hero activities. I wished it had been something like fighting virtual villains. A sigh escaped me. Since it was a two-person team dispatched to another area, we'd have to stick together the whole time.
Of course, I didn't think just being stuck together would trigger any flags, but still... there was always the chance. I had no idea how I'd end up acting, contrary to what I thought or intended.
Frey's words came back to me. That to others' eyes, it looked like I was interested in Zenon.
...Honestly, I couldn't deny it. Thinking back now, I hadn't acted like that toward anyone besides Zenon or Frey. Now that I'd realized it, I had to be more careful.
My head ached. Pressing my temples or pacing didn't help. Maybe—instead, I should just clear my mind. With that thought, I headed for the rooftop.
Bang—
I flung open the rooftop door and leaned against the railing, gazing at the academy grounds below. The strong wind whipped my hair, and the fresh, grassy scent unique to spring filled the air.
Nice—
Spring, before summer arrived, brimmed with color. White, pink, yellow, green. The world that would soon drown in green was still vibrant and varied. My head, pounding from tangled thoughts, began to ease; my obstructed view cleared. Swishing my hand cut through undulating waves that didn't wet my skin. My mood... felt a little better.
The rooftop didn't hold only good memories, but right now, I was Aisha. It felt a bit awkward, but not bad. I'd come up here like this before too—frowning slightly as old memories surfaced. That's when I noticed someone else at the far end.
Blue—that was my first impression of her. Maybe because of the long blue hair cascading to her waist, fluttering in the breeze. Or perhaps the watery trails rippling behind her. Like glimpsing a fairy from a forest in a fairy tale, I stared blankly at the ethereal scene.
Green eyes curved into crescents as they met mine. Her gaze, like it had captured the lush blue-green of foliage, slid over my body, and the water trails beside her began slowly coiling around me.
"Oh, hello?"
"...Hello."
My greeting must've sounded odd, because she covered her mouth and let out a soft chuckle.
"Hello? Aren't you one of the new enrollees? Aisha... something like that, right? You should use polite speech."
What was this about polite speech between seniors and juniors? A bit annoyed, but I adjusted my tone as she wanted.
"Hello."
"Pfft, no need for polite speech. Anyway, nice to meet you."
"...Sigh."
Impossible to pin down. She told me to be polite, I was, and now she said no need. I started to shoot her a side-eye but just looked away instead. No point engaging.
"Hmm... Are you ignoring me?"
"No. We can talk without looking."
"So cold to your senior. I wasn't like that back in the day... Sigh, this is too sad."
...A strange feeling washed over me. More precisely, déjà vu. I'd heard this way of speaking somewhere before. This unpredictable behavior, the tone like she was lost in her own world.
"Ah, by the way, you're close to that guy?"
Her face smiled, but the water trails wrapping around me tightened as if to squeeze. If even a hint of a crack appeared in that smile, it felt like she'd drown me—inexplicable anxiety surged. Who was 'that guy'? Curiosity resolved easily. Not many people linked to me.
"Zenon Carmen."
The name slipped from her lips. My brows furrowed at the same time—not in annoyance, but confusion. I wasn't supposed to know the surname that followed Zenon's name yet.
"...Carmen? I've heard of Edwin Carmen."
"Guess you're not as close as I thought. If he hasn't told you his family name, did I just spoil it? Sorry about that."
She dipped her head with a smile, but I felt no warmth. This was cloying, visceral hostility. Not aimed at me. And the target... was probably Zenon.
"Don't get too close to him. It's dangerous."
"......."
She tossed out the warning like it was meant for me. As if I wanted to get close anyway. Suppressing a sigh, I slowly studied her face. Her name was starting to click now.
Hera Carmen.
The mid-boss of part 1.