A Lucky Day (3)
How the hell did things end up like this? Did I somehow give them the wrong idea? Did I make some mistake without even realizing it?
Let me think this through. Did I slip up and say something I shouldn’t have? Hmm… No matter how hard I rack my brain, I’ve got nothing. I didn’t do anything. I’m completely innocent here.
“Elin, just calm down. There’s clearly a misunderstanding. It’s not what you think. And Luna, stop saying weird stuff. You’re only making it worse.”
“M-misunderstanding…?”
“Yes, Elin. It’s a misunderstanding. Elisha and I were only together because of what happened last night.”
“Last night? What exactly did you two do…?”
“It’s a long story. Just know that there were circumstances, that’s all.”
“C-circumstances? Vern? What are you talking about…?”
Elin’s face twisted with obvious panic at my words. The shock was so strong her emotions were written all over her face. If she had animal ears, they’d be drooping right now. Either way, I couldn’t explain yesterday’s events right this second. First I had to put out the immediate fire. I’d give her the full story later.
As I tried to soothe Elin, Elisha suddenly exploded.
“Hey! Why would you explain it like that?!”
Huh? Did I say something wrong? I started to clarify, but Celia, standing beside me, piled on.
“Wow, the students are already doing things like that… How bold.”
She lightly covered her face with one hand, but I could still see the faint blush on her cheeks.
Whatever. I had to say what needed to be said.
“We’ll talk about that once this is all over. Right now we need to check the academy. The Requiem bastards might be inside.”
But they still weren’t listening. It was nice seeing familiar faces, sure, but the priority was figuring out what the hell was going on. I’d thought having the strong ones here would make things easier, yet the mood was only growing stranger.
When a situation got this tangled, there was only one move left. I really didn’t want to use it, but I had no choice.
“Sorry, but I’ll head in first and check. Anyone who wants to follow, do it on your own.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I broke away from them and sprinted toward the academy. When talking stopped working and everything kept twisting, running was the answer. You all should cool your heads. It’s raining anyway—use the time to calm down.
Sigh. I felt bad for Elin… but she’d understand once I explained everything later, right?
“Hey! Don’t go by yourself!”
“V-Vern? Are you avoiding me again?”
“Wow, he’s really just leaving. What a ridiculous guy.”
I ignored their voices fading behind me and kept running toward the academy.
....
Lucy wrung out her soaked clothes as she walked.
“Why is it raining again? My clothes are completely drenched. With weather like this, even laundry won’t dry properly.”
She had made it inside the academy, but every inch of her was wet. She’d dressed lightly but thrown on a coat just in case. If she hadn’t, she’d probably be freezing right now.
Still, what was going on? Strange noises outside, sudden rain from a clear sky—nothing was going right today. She let out a long sigh.
“Let’s just grab my notebook and get out of here. Why did I leave my notes behind like an idiot? This is such a pain.”
She’d planned to catch up on studying in the dorm since the academy was closed today, but she’d forgotten both her textbook and notes. The frustration made her want to punch something.
“Hoo… They said only the teachers were here, right?”
Normally the hallways would be packed with students at this hour, but the empty corridors felt strangely fresh. The gloomy weather and darkening sky gave the place an eerie atmosphere.
Step… step…
Walking through a completely deserted building was a little creepy, but… it wasn’t entirely bad. Her mind actually felt calmer.
As she continued down the hallway, wind and rain blew in through an open window.
Whoosh—
“If you’re going to close the windows, close all of them. Why leave just this one open?”
Click.
She shut the window and turned to head toward her classroom, but an odd sound from the far end of the corridor stopped her cold.
Step. Step.
W-what was that? The rain made it hard to tell.
Step. Step.
A person? Probably just footsteps. Maybe someone else who’d left something in their classroom, like her?
That thought triggered an old story her classmates had once told.
“It was a long time ago. It was raining that day too. This girl came to the academy in the middle of the night to get a notebook she’d left behind. She was walking down the hallway alone when suddenly she felt a presence behind her. She tried to ignore it and keep going, but the step, step sounds followed her. She knew she was the only one in the building, yet the footsteps kept coming. So she turned around and…!!”
“And…?”
“A ghost appeared and whooshed—dragged her away!”
“Hey, what kind of story is that? Then how do you even know it?”
“…Do I look like a ghost to you?”
“Ugh, stop it already. If you’re a ghost, I’m a god.”
“More like a dumbass god.”
“What? You little—!”
Why was that story popping into her head now? It gave her the chills. It wasn’t even night, and the teachers were here. The place was just a little dark because of the rain. That was all.
“……”
M-maybe she should just check who was there?
....
“Huu, I think I lost them.”
Or were they still following? I couldn’t see anyone. Elisha had said she would come, but it didn’t really matter if Elin or Celia stayed behind. After all, the Requiem guys might not have come to the academy at all.
Still, simply destroying the gate to draw aggro didn’t make sense, so I’d come to check. The worst-case scenario was that they’d already looted everything and left. I could only hope that wasn’t the case.
By the way, my clothes were completely soaked. The bandages on my face and the back of my hand were falling apart too. Might as well take them off.
Peel.
Whew. Much better. It stung a little, but anything was better than the constant irritation.
Was there really no one here? Even if the teachers were around, they were probably in the staff room. I should look for the path to the basement.
....
It wasn’t here. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find it. It was definitely around here before. Could I still not enter yet? That shouldn’t be the case.
I tried the incantation, but the secret door to the basement never appeared. Did I need to break something? No, breaking things wouldn’t solve this. I couldn’t force my way through the barrier.
Then what? The location I remembered was gone. Had it been moved? Damn it, this was getting complicated. Just as I suspected, that “Large-Scale Expansion Pack Added!” message I’d seen right before possessing this body had changed things.
After all, both the information about the Sage’s Book and the existence of the underground space had been datamined by players. It made sense that the expansion could have altered them. That explained why the things I knew were shifting little by little—from minor details to the larger flow.
Hmm. A new route I had no knowledge of. It was exciting, but also half worry and half anticipation. The idea of treading unknown ground was thrilling, yet the possibility of events I couldn’t predict was unsettling.
So far I’d managed using my foreknowledge, but one mistake could get the people around me killed or badly hurt. Still, what choice did I have? I had to overcome it. No matter what. Even without information, even if unknown events occurred, I had to win.
Only then could I survive—and keep my friends alive.
Anyway, there was no secret door here. So why had the gate exploded? Was it really just coincidence?
Hmm… For now, I should head back to the main entrance. Elisha should have arrived by now. Maybe this would end more simply than I expected. If it really wrapped up like this, that would be perfect.
If Naidus had come here personally… it would have been extremely dangerous. Unlike Shady, that guy was a genuine lunatic. On the outside he just looked like a handsome man with horns, but he was a psycho with twisted sexual tastes. The kind of bastard who killed people for fun.
I’d encountered someone like that yesterday and gotten off with relatively light injuries. I’d been lucky. Still, just leaving felt wrong.
“Maybe I should take one more look around the academy?”
....
Lucy was utterly terrified. An unidentified man had suddenly appeared and clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Mmph…!!”
“Shh. Quiet now.” He let out a long breath. “Really… nothing is going the way I want. I never expected something like that to be guarding the place. Thanks to it, all the others are dead.”
“Mmph!! Mmmph…!!”
“Haah… My patience has limits too. If you keep struggling, it becomes difficult for me. The more you resist, the more I want to take you. Why did you have to look at me like that…”
“Mmph…!!”
“Huu… Your resistance is truly adorable. I know I shouldn’t, but… I can’t seem to stop myself. If I’d known this would happen, perhaps I shouldn’t have discarded Shady?”
“Mmph…!!”
“Your face is quite beautiful. And that red hair—I like it very much. There’s a special pleasure in breaking a proud, strong-willed woman like you and then killing her. Ha… but I’m on a mission right now. So I must endure… for now…”
This guy’s insane…!!
She had only wanted to check who was there! Instead she’d been grabbed by a strange purple-haired man with horns sprouting from his head. The suddenness of it all left her unable to process what was happening. It was terrifying.
And what the hell was this man even saying?
Lucy couldn’t make sense of the situation or the man’s spine-chilling, bizarre words.
What… what the hell is this situation…? I’m scared…!