Confession
Confession
"You orphan girl, if you have a problem with it, let's throw down right now."
Finally, I detonated the bombshell statement.
At that moment, everyone's gaze inside the auditorium focused.
Astonishment. Looks of disbelief, as if doubting their own ears. Everyone's eyes were wide open.
Regardless, I dryly spat out the remaining sentence, 'Thank you,' and descended from the podium.
"......"
A silence that hovered as if everyone's souls had left their bodies.
I nonchalantly returned to the E-class waiting area and sat down.
Glancing over, I saw the B-class top student glaring in my direction.
She looked dumbfounded on the podium, and it seemed she had grasped the situation only after a few seconds had passed.
"Hehe."
I lightly winked and waved my hand at her.
Of course, wearing a mask, the wink wouldn't have been conveyed.
Just as the silence was deepening, the professor in charge of the ceremony hurriedly wrapped things up.
[We- well, with this, we will conclude the ceremony.]
[All students may now return.]
The emcee cleaning up my mess.
I might have felt a bit of pity for them, but I decided not to think about it.
The current me was Villainy itself.
Villain Mode.
I was Viktor the Villain.
In this state, I often bite people without hesitation.
'Summoning tired people, and not even making the students watch their mouths...'
I tried to let it go, thinking 'just endure, endure,' but having that thought made my resolve twist.
I came out despite it being time to become one with the blanket, you know.
But, if this is the treatment I get for what I heard, it's only natural to be pissed.
'Serves you right.'
I wasn't actually angry or felt wronged or anything.
It just got on my nerves to a somewhat annoying degree.
There's no way I'd get caught up in such a basic provocation.
It was merely me acting a bit petty.
"Hmm hmm."
My mood cleared up a bit.
Afterwards, as the ceremony ended, students began filing out of the auditorium one by one.
Everyone glanced at me once as they passed by.
"......"
"......Hmm?"
Especially one person.
The A-class top student stared in this direction for quite a while.
Behind the flowing blue hair, pupils of a deep hue blinked.
'What? Why is she acting like that?'
Lin Glacia.
The girl currently reigning as the overwhelmingly top-ranked first-year.
"......"
"......"
Was my speech that impressive?
She looked at me from way over there.
So, I stared blankly back at her.
That eye-contact match ended soon after with Lin turning her back.
'Yes! I won.'
The receding back view of the blue hair.
I too stealthily moved my steps outside the auditorium.
While crossing the long corridor, two voices soon reached my ears.
"Sir Viktor!"
"M-mister Viktor..."
A blonde and a black-haired girl.
I smiled lightly and greeted the two.
"Miss Lanne. Miss Alice."
Had they both been waiting for me?
Scampering-. The two approached me.
Come to think of it, this was the first time I'd seen these two since being discharged from the infirmary.
I had a lot of business outside, and after returning to the academy, I had been lounging around the whole time.
'Well, it's only been a few days though...'
I pushed aside miscellaneous impressions and offered a greeting.
"Did you have a good break?"
"Yes! There were no problems."
"Me, me too..."
Still spirited Lanne, and Alice answering hesitantly.
We stopped for a while and chatted.
Then, a group of students pushed through the crowd and approached.
"Hey."
A voice that seemed to seethe with hostility.
Turning my head, a glaringly yellow head of hair came into view.
Just as I saw on the podium earlier, a delinquent-looking girl with tanned skin and a fierce expression.
"Fuck, what are you?"
It was the B-class top student.
I think her name was Caitlin, or maybe Gay Tilney or something like that.
The girl approached me, scattering a murderous aura.
I tilted my head at her imposing appearance.
'What is this? A public confession?'
A quite reasonable guess.
I skimmed through the girl's profile in my memory.
Well, her profile wasn't much different from her appearance anyway.
Name: Caitlin Retus, First-year B-class top student, Characteristic: Delinquent girl.
"I said, what are you, you son of a bitch."
The girl seemed pretty angry.
Today was the first time we properly faced each other, so why was she so hostile towards me?
I pondered as I rested my chin on my hand, but soon found the answer.
It seemed my provocation during the speech had gotten to her.
'I was a bit harsh, I suppose.'
I opened my mouth to apologize.
"B-class top student... Caitlin-yang, was it?"
"Yeah. That's me. Answer the question."
"I'm sorry. About what I said during my speech. I called you an orphan girl, right."
"Ha, this fucker's funny? What? Are you so scared you're trembling or something...?"
"I overlooked the fact that you really don't have one."
"......What?"
"No, honestly. That... I didn't know you really didn't have any."
"Wh-what..."
"Parents, I mean. Usually, everyone has at least one each... But I heard, Miss Caitlin is missing one. It's really a set menu, but with one missing, should I say it's defective goods...?"
Perhaps Caitlin had approached me to engage in a battle of wills.
If not a battle of wills, then she came to completely crush me outright.
Her menacing atmosphere was quite imposing.
Especially among the students, that kind of vibe works well, so she must have easily intimidated others until now.
'But.'
Caitlin overlooked one thing.
My origin.
A beautiful land surrounded by mountains and rivers and sea.
However, a place filled with gloom, where battles of wills are as good as everyday life.
Children born there originally hold a calling in their small hands.
'We...'
We received early education from a very young age.
In front of the idiot box reeking of cigarette smoke, years of war to protect honor.
And because the owners of that honor were not our own, but our parents', we fought even more desperately.
Sometimes with middle-aged uncles, with peers, with younger children, often with foreign invasions, and with Japanese, Chinese, Mongolians, barbarians, we fought while aiming guns, swords, and magic at each other.
We defended the frontlines with our voices and fingers.
The spirit and vigor our land and people protected was like that.
Yes.
In those days, we were all child soldiers.
Carrying guns to protect our fathers and mothers.
'And.'
Knowing how to defend also means knowing how to attack.
You who do not know the war within the 24-inch frame underground.
We have killed things you dare not even imagine.
Our threshold for killing rose with the rings of our lives, until at the end, there was nothing we couldn't kill.
And this is basic among those.
When touching an opponent, the first thing to kill.
'Parents'
Nation, Republic of Korea.
We were children raised in the land of padrip.
"Anyway, if I had known that beforehand, I wouldn't have committed such factual defamation damaging your honor... I'm really sorry, I don't know what to do..."
"You, you... Fuck, you son of a bitch, really...!"
Gwaak-.
Finally, Caitlin clenched her fist and charged.
Classmates stopped the girl.
"Caitlin, stop. The professors are watching."
"Ah, let go! The way that bastard was talking...!"
"You can do it next time. Formally."
"Fuck...!"
"You hold back. Rumors were already circulating that the E-class top student isn't normal anyway."
It took four B-class students clinging to her to barely make her retract her fist.
It seemed less that she was subdued, and more that she pulled back on her own.
Probably wary of the professors watching from a distance.
Caitlin forcibly swallowed her anger.
"Haa... E-class bug bastard scum like you."
Sparks were even flying among her glaringly yellow hair.
Her ability, Electric Shock, was unintentionally leaking.
The crackling sound of electricity rang in my ears.
Byu-ji-jit, byu-ji-jit-.
"You... just wait and see."
Caitlin shot me a murderous glare.
Then, leading her classmates, she strode briskly out of the auditorium.
'See, who told you to pick a fight?'
I shrugged my shoulders.
Afterwards, the auditorium ceremony concluded splendidly like that.
A few more days passed, and the roughly week-long break from classes came to an end.
It was time for academy life to resume its flow.
During that short period, nothing particular happened.
'Caitlin... I am a bit concerned about her side, but.'
Since she's B-class, it's a class I'd have to clash with eventually anyway.
In the original, she often played the villain and became an enemy, so...
It wouldn't be bad to set the discipline straight, like I did with C-class.
'I don't think I need to seek her out first.'
B-class top student, Caitlin Retus.
She possesses a considerably foul-tempered disposition.
Having been insulted like that and staying quiet wouldn't suit her nature.
'Earliest in two days, latest within a week.'
She will definitely come.
Educating B-class can be done when that time comes.
Having organized my thoughts like that, I decided to focus on what I needed to do first.
'Putting that aside for now...'
I peeked into the classroom entrance.
A few E-class students had already taken their seats.
In my mind, I recalled the promise I had received from Javert earlier.
-I also promise you compensation regarding this tailing incident.
-In the future, during your academy life, if you wish for anything, tell me one thing.
The wish ticket I received from her.
I planned to use it without any hesitation.
As I stepped into the classroom, a professor was organizing materials on the podium.
Softly tied red hair, and green pupils held like stems between flower petals.
"Professor Javert."
"......Ah. Student Viktor."
Her eyes were as inorganic and expressionless as usual.
I approached the woman with a silly grin.
Then, once close enough, I reached out my hand.
"......?"
"Professor."
Swoosh-.
With my outstretched hand, I gently enveloped Javert's two hands.
Professor Javert raised a question mark as if asking what this was about.
I asked the woman, whose point was her achromatic coloring, in a playful voice.
"You remember, right? That you said you would grant me one wish for anything."
"Of course. There's no way I would forget a promise after just a few days."
"Hmm hmm, I wanted to tell you about that wish right now."
"Right this instant?"
Javert tilted her head.
I tilted mine accordingly and asked.
"Can't I?"
"No. There's no reason you can't."
Javert inclined her ear as if to listen.
The gazes of my E-class classmates, who had been chatting among themselves, also turned this way.
They seemed curious about what was going on.
"Hehe, my wish is simple."
I gently moved my fingers.
My fingers interlocked within the gaps of the woman's rough hands.
A rose-like body scent settled on the bridge of my nose, if only for a moment.
Her always inorganic gaze wavered briefly.
Not missing that moment, I spoke while looking straight at her.
"Professor Javert."
"......"
"Would you go out with me?"
The classroom.
Moreover, a statement declared publicly, with all other E-class students watching.
"......?"
For an instant, everyone was stunned.
The next moment, the reaction inside the classroom couldn't help but be turned upside down.
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