The dueling arena was covered in flames and ice.
Rena and Wendy exchanged gasping breaths, looking at each other. They were both exhausted, having used up all their mana.
Of course, there was still no conclusion today.
It had already been a week since the peak of the school changed, and they were still fighting.
But no matter what, they couldn’t defeat each other. Essentially, their talents and potential were equally matched.
When Rena grew stronger, Wendy did too. When Wendy surpassed a level and grew stronger, Rena’s skills increased similarly.
It was the positive influence of competition. When one side grows, the other is inspired to grow alongside.
However, they had a realistic reason to decide who was superior someday.
Regardless of the effects of competition, the stress they felt was beyond imagination. They focused on their training every day to surpass each other and worried that they might fall behind if they took just one day off.
So their skills grew at an unprecedented pace compared to others, but even so, it was still challenging to reach the peak of the school.
Celine was unbeatable, so they had to surpass each other.
“……Wait a minute.”
As usual, standing in the arena, Wendy opened her mouth.
It was about time this competition got tiring. She wanted to stop the fight that could go on indefinitely.
If it continued like this, even winning wouldn’t feel good at all. Wasn’t it just knocking down a friend she was close to?
“Why do we have to fight? It wouldn’t have mattered if she hadn’t shown up. Why do we have to go through this?”
“……”
“Thinking about it is ridiculous. We’re about to graduate, and a transfer student who just joined steals our positions? We should uphold some kind of ethics.”
In the end, wasn’t it just dissatisfaction that came from not being able to win based on skills?
Rena opened her mouth but soon stopped.
Wendy’s whisper was incredibly sweet to her, who was already exhausted.
It was easier to pull the person above down than to admit her own shortcomings.
It wasn’t her fault. It was all Celine’s fault.
Rena and Wendy had worked hard. But they couldn’t surpass Celine. While both of them were working hard, Celine did nothing. But she was still stronger than them.
Effort cannot surpass talent. She realized the meaning of that saying painfully.
Just as her classmates couldn’t reach Rena, she couldn’t reach Celine.
So it felt unfair.
Wasn’t it just being born well? She was born overflowing with talent.
Then suddenly, she appeared and tried to take away the dream position she’d always targeted.
Admiration turned into jealousy, and that turned into resentment.
She hated Celine. She wasn’t an evil person, but perhaps it was right to say that just her mere existence was resented.
“Listen. We don’t have to fight, okay? We just need her to go away. We could just make it like before Celine came.”
“……Is that even possible?”
“What’s impossible about it? We just have to make sure she can’t go to school anymore.”
Easier said than done.
Wendy laughed derisively. Did she really have a plan? Rena didn’t understand yet.
“Follow me.”
With those words, Wendy moved. She filled a bucket with water and headed somewhere.
In the direction where Celine was.
And then…
Splash!
She poured a substantial amount of water from the bucket onto Celine. It was a blatant act.
Celine’s green hair became heavy and matted with water. As her white school uniform soaked, her underwear became visible, and water droplets dripped from her body.
The cold water hitting in the chilly weather was more painful than expected. Celine shivered on the spot.
Seeing that, Wendy covered her smiling mouth with one hand and said,
“Sorry, it was an accident. You’re okay, right?”
“……”
Celine’s dark eyes turned toward Wendy.
Her gaze was murky, unreadable.
Is it okay to do that? She’s the top student after all. Rena, who was watching from the back, couldn’t step forward.
If Celine got mad and challenged her to a duel, it could get ugly.
But contrary to expectations, Celine’s reaction was calm.
She only nodded.
She seemed uninterested in Rena and Wendy. Maybe she was indifferent to the world.
After nodding once, Celine left the spot.
In that remaining space, Wendy turned to Rena and said,
“See? She’s not reacting at all.”
“Um……”
Celine was like a doll.
So how long could she remain a doll? Wendy suggested testing that boundary.
That Rena didn’t have to feel guilty, that Celine was the bad one by taking their places, and that ultimately, they were just the victims.
Wendy whispered to Rena. It was a temptation that was too sweet to ignore.
Rena felt the same way about hating Celine.
*
Even after that, Wendy’s bullying of Celine continued.
She started simply, like splashing water or bumping her shoulder, and took every opportunity to torment her.
It was behavior born from inferiority complex. Rationalizing that it was all Celine’s fault for suddenly coming in and taking their place.
She put sharp objects in the desk, injuring her hands and even tore her belongings.
Since Celine didn’t react at all, the bullying naturally escalated.
Rena didn’t stop Wendy.
To both of them, Celine was like the source of a disaster.
They turned a blind eye. Perhaps Rena was also rationalizing herself.
She wasn’t in the wrong. After all, unlike Wendy, she wasn’t directly tormenting her. She only slightly sympathized.
So she thought it was okay.
But that day was different. At least for Rena, it felt like a dream.
It was a day when Wendy bullied Celine like usual. After making her a rag doll, Wendy left early.
It was a rare moment where only Celine and Rena remained.
Rena glanced briefly at Celine. It was a severe sight.
Celine’s green hair was wet, and her clothes were half torn. Not to mention, her hands were filled with wounds, and none of her belongings were intact.
That made Rena curious.
Why hasn’t she dropped out of school yet? Why doesn’t she say anything?
If she wanted to, she could overpower both Wendy and Rena with force. But she didn’t.
Rena wondered what the reason was. So she waited.
Celine seemed to hope Rena would leave soon, but Rena lingered there for a long time.
As if under a spell. The heavy silence enveloped them.
“……Aren’t you leaving?”
The one to break the silence was Celine.
Her voice was cold yet delicate. Rena had never heard her speak. She had never shown any interest in anything.
It was all a first for Rena.
Time passed while the two remained in the empty classroom.
The sun was setting. The yellow light seeped in through the window, casting a dreamy atmosphere in the classroom.
Rena replied briefly.
“Not yet.”
In reality, she didn’t know if Celine could even speak.
She thought she couldn’t becuase Celine kept her mouth shut.
Celine asked,
“Are you going to stay here?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Just.”
At first, it was just curiosity. She was just curious if this mysteriously enchanting person was really a fellow human like her.
But what about now?
Celine was a human who could converse normally. Not a doll.
Rena found herself feeling emotions toward her that she couldn’t even name. Things she couldn’t express in words.
In the time before the sun set and it got dark, they exchanged a conversation that wasn’t short.
Neither was particularly chatty, so it wasn’t a lengthy dialogue. In fact, it was a bit of a mystery how the conversation even formed.
This time, Rena asked a question. The one part she was most curious about.
“Why don’t you react?”
“Should I?”
Celine responded to the question with another question. She seemed uninterested in what Rena had done.
Rena’s expression grew complex. Instead of her confusion being resolved, it seemed to increase.
“Well, because I bullied you. Wendy too, we… both did, right?”
“……”
“Don’t you dislike me?”
“Not really.”
“Wendy?”
“Not really.”
“……?”
“I’m satisfied with this life.”
The more their conversation continued, the less Rena could understand. It was as though Celine was living in a world different from her own.
While Rena was left stunned in that spot, Celine slowly continued to speak.
This was about a past no one had ever known before.
“If you have a place where you can eat, wear clothes, and close your eyes, isn’t that happiness? I lived in a place where I couldn’t have that.”
“……”
Celine’s definition of happiness was a bit different from everyone else’s.
What others saw as normal was not so for her.
Thus, she had no discontentment in her daily life. Wendy’s bullying didn’t even matter to her.
Rena, having heard this, couldn’t utter a word.
Until now, she had thought Celine was a blessed person who had everything.
But not at all. Perhaps the most unfortunate was Celine.
Seeing Rena, who remained silent, Celine turned her head.
It seemed like she still had no intention of leaving the spot, so Celine stepped outside first.
“I thought you’d be able to converse a bit more.”
That was the last thing Rena heard from Celine that day.
A day had passed.
Rena purposely didn’t tell Wendy about what happened the day before.
Because she knew Wendy wouldn’t listen anyway.
Her feelings were complex. Since that day they had talked, Rena couldn’t participate in bullying Celine.
“Huh? Aren’t you doing it today?”
“……”
“Fine. I guess I’ll do it alone then.”
But she couldn’t stop it.
She didn’t want to distance herself from Wendy either.
So she could only watch from afar. Time flowed, and the three of them drew closer to graduation.
As expected, Celine didn’t drop out of school despite Wendy’s bullying. Their plans were falling apart.
Now they had squeezed it all the way to just before graduation.
Rena didn’t know who would enroll from her and Wendy, but if she lost, she decided to accept the outcome.
Ultimately, it was her skills that lost, so there was no room for excuses.
Just as she was about to give up,
“Rena. Listen to me.”
Wendy came to her.
What was it? She might be suggesting to have the last duel.
But the words that came from her mouth were a bit different from what she expected.
“Have you heard of the Back Alley Monster?”
“……What’s that?”
“It’s the rumor going around lately. Remember the disaster a few months ago? Where a monster attacked the Empire and left everything in ruins.”
Of course, anyone from the Empire knew about it. The story of a single monster annihilating a Knights Order was well-known.
And the areas where this monster rampaged became filled with magical energy, causing people to stay away.
That terrain was called the Back Alley. It was known to have very poor security. There were even rumors that crime organizations had made it their base.
“Why’s that?”
“They say that the monster that destroyed the Empire is still lurking in the Back Alley, attacking anyone who passes through.”
“But didn’t they say the monster that attacked the Empire was eliminated?”
“That’s what they told the public. But what if it was intentionally hidden by them?”
That day’s incident had been so severe that a part of the Empire crumbled.
But for some reason, no one had a clear recollection of it. Strangely so.
Now, it was simply a place that remained in memory as a past incident.
What if someone deliberately suppressed that information?
What if some power was used to prevent confidential information from leaking out?
Wendy explained that.
“Doesn’t that sound a bit uneasy? There could still be monsters in the Back Alley.”
“Um…… It’s definitely uneasy, but why are you telling me this now?”
“Let’s send Celine over there today. I’m curious.”
That was the last act of rebellion from the two of them before graduation.
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