Chapter: 23
Ding-ding-ding~ Good morning~ Ding-ding-ding~ Ba-ba-ba ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba Good mo-
The loud alarm resonates in my head.
After fumbling around for a while, possibly because my hands were trembling slightly, I finally managed to locate my phone next to the pillow and turn off the alarm.
Thanks to that, I was starting my morning in the worst mood possible. Damn it.
I stumbled out of bed, threw my clothes around haphazardly, and shoved myself under the shower.
As the warm water flowed, I felt a little better after warming up for a moment.
But the uplifted mood faded back to square one the moment I opened the fridge without thinking.
Now that I think about it, I forgot to go grocery shopping yesterday…
Unconsciously tightening my grip, I slammed the refrigerator door shut with a bang.
Staying hungry seemed to have sharpened my nerves.
I felt like a watermelon wrapped tightly in rubber bands, ready to explode if someone so much as poked me.
I’ve never experienced it, but if I were cursed, I imagine this is what it would feel like.
At this point, I might be on par with Sylvia in her Magical Elf mode, or even above her…
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
After taking a few deep breaths to calm my spirit, I left the house.
*
I cleaned the classroom with the class president and greeted the students as they came in.
It was a morning just like any other until Sylvia opened the classroom door and stepped in.
She smiled while receiving the greetings from the other kids, looking like her nerves weren’t particularly frayed.
If she were in the same mood as yesterday, those kids wouldn’t even dare to greet her.
It was fascinating to see her apparently feeling okay in just one day.
Did she drink some kind of Anti-Magic Potion or something?
I quietly greeted Sylvia as she settled into her seat, “Hello…”
Sylvia glanced at me and accepted my greeting with a smile.
Seeing that smile made my hands start to tremble.
If she had ignored me or been cold to me, it wouldn’t have been as shocking.
The way Sylvia accepted my greeting as if nothing had happened yesterday was an extremely bad sign for me.
The smile she wore seemed like a programmed, reflexive action towards me.
Even if you placed a complete stranger in my seat, she would probably give them the same smile.
If her affection level had dropped, I could figure out a way to bring it back up.
However, right now, it felt like the affection gauge itself had completely vanished.
I sensed that Sylvia was consciously trying to treat me like I was someone irrelevant.
Considering what happened yesterday, to be honest, this was all too sudden.
There had to be a trigger; after all, no one would change their attitude so quickly without reason.
While I was lost in thought watching Sylvia, I noticed her expression slightly hardening.
Following her gaze, I saw Yoon Si-woo walking through the classroom door.
She instantly switched to a friendly demeanor, greeting Yoon Si-woo as if nothing had happened, but it was still different from her usual self.
Sylvia, who normally looked like a lovesick girl when dealing with Yoon Si-woo, showed no noticeable change in expression even when greeting him.
The chilly atmosphere between those two since yesterday morning came to mind.
Indeed, there must be something I was unaware of.
*
Lunchtime arrived.
Unlike yesterday, Sylvia was eating next to Yoon Si-woo as usual.
But it was still different from before.
She, who used to match her eating pace with Yoon Si-woo, was now just eating at her own pace.
As I observed Sylvia, thinking it was strange, I noticed her ears perk up before quickly finishing my meal and rushing to buy macarons from the snack bar.
After spending a few days like this, it seemed my body was reacting out of habit.
It only hit me after I bought the macarons that Sylvia had said she didn’t want any yesterday.
I figured I had to see her reaction anyway.
As I approached Sylvia, who was eating leisurely, holding the macarons, she paused her meal and asked me:
“Do you need something from me?”
“Well… this…”
As I subtly offered her the macarons, Sylvia smiled and said:
“As I mentioned yesterday, you don’t need to buy these for me anymore. We’re not anything to each other, right?”
She was smiling, but it was a resolute refusal.
I could sense her determination to not accept anything from me anymore.
Leaving her to resume her meal, I exited the dining hall.
I definitely had to find out what had happened.
With that thought, I returned to the classroom.
Yoon Si-woo was sitting at his desk.
I approached him and lightly tapped his shoulder.
Thinking back, this was the first time I initiated a conversation with him.
I didn’t really want to talk to this guy, but there was no helping it…
As I thought about it, I hesitantly turned my head towards Yoon Si-woo and quietly said,
“…I need to talk to you alone, so can you come outside for a bit?”
Leaving Yoon Si-woo, who had a remarkably foolish expression, I stepped outside the classroom first.
He’d follow on his own.
As I strode down the stairs, the clattering sound of footsteps following closely came from behind.
Finding a suitably private spot to talk at the back of the school building, I waited for Yoon Si-woo to arrive.
“…Why did you want to talk to me?” Yoon Si-woo asked, his face slightly flushed as if he had run.
Despite having decent physical abilities, the fact that his face turned red after that short distance indicated poor stamina.
I felt a sense of disdain for him as I began to speak.
“It’s nothing significant; I just have something to ask.”
“Oh… is that so? What do you want to ask?”
His face quickly returned to normal due to his exceptional recovery. Speaking of which, he had one of those sacred swords that boosted physical abilities and recovery rates.
I think it was called the Undying Sacred Sword.
Suppressing my anger towards Yoon Si-woo for relying on his items, I spoke with a measure of disappointment.
“Yesterday, I was late. Did you say anything to Sylvia before I arrived?”
Yoon Si-woo’s face stiffened at my question.
I didn’t know what he was thinking, but he clearly looked very unsettled.
“…What did you say to Sylvia?”
It was me who asked the question, so why was he turning it back on me?
I shot him a disdainful glare and replied.
“What did you hear?”
Yoon Si-woo waved his hands dismissively as if to brush the matter away.
“I really didn’t say much! I just told Sylvia to stop accepting macarons from you!”
…What?
Thinking I might have misheard, I asked him again.
“…What did you just say?”
“I said to Sylvia to stop accepting macarons from you…”
A grinding sound came from my clenched jaw.
It was all because of this guy.
Realizing that Sylvia’s reaction was entirely due to Yoon Si-woo made my emotions boil inside me.
Don’t show it.
Hold on just like you’ve been doing.
I muttered that to myself, but something repressed surged forth, breaking free in the form of words.
“Why the hell… did you take it upon yourself to do something like that…?”
For some reason, my nerves were unusually frayed today, and I couldn’t hold back.
The expression I tried to keep blank twisted on its own.
“Buying macarons for Sylvia every day must be a burden for you.”
My anger soared at his audacious expression, indicating he didn’t realize what he had done.
What does he know to speak like that?
“So what gives you the right to make that judgment…?”
Do you even know what it means for me to give macarons to Sylvia?
You don’t know.
If you did, you wouldn’t say something like that.
I expelled words I couldn’t express within myself.
If I didn’t let it out, it felt like I would explode from holding it in.
“I just thought about you-!”
But seeing Yoon Si-woo, who looked like he was in the right, yelling at me with a victim’s expression,
the watermelon surrounded by rubber bands
finally burst.
“If you were really thinking about me-!!!!”
A loud voice erupted from the culmination of my repressed emotions.
The dam containing my feelings burst in a sound akin to a scream or a howl.
In my blurred vision, I caught a glimpse of Yoon Si-woo’s shocked face.
Tears flowed along my cheeks, remnants of my burst emotions.
As I gasped for breath,
I took a step closer to Yoon Si-woo and continued speaking.
“Please…”
One more step forward.
I must have looked completely distorted and pitiful.
I moved just a bit faster than Yoon Si-woo, who stepped back in confusion.
“Please…”
The final step.
I grabbed the collar of Yoon Si-woo’s shirt and begged.
Not a trick to deceive the Sword of Truth, but my genuine feelings.
“Don’t worry about me anymore…”
Once I unloaded everything, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I had made a mistake.
I released Yoon Si-woo’s collar and turned to flee.
Rushing to the bathroom, I turned on the cold water and washed my face for a long time, ultimately achieving a blank expression.
I poured all my nerves into that.
I didn’t quite remember how I finished school and made it back home.
*
As soon as I returned home, I buried my face into the pillow.
A promise made with a pinky must be kept.
I recalled the promise I made with my father.
To always live strong, no matter the difficulties.
I promised to live.
Yoon Si-woo was the protagonist.
The protagonist survives to the end, but always becomes the center of the events.
The people around the protagonist get caught up in those events and die.
To survive as long as possible, I had to stay close to the last person standing, excluding the protagonist.
Sylvia, who has survived until the end.
To stay close to her, I needed to become friends.
I had to befriend Sylvia.
Sylvia and
become
friends.
My hands trembled.
I clasped them together and closed my eyes.
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