6 Chapter 6- So It Was My Fault...

"I… I can't… I can't anymore!" My legs finally gave out and I dropped to my knees breathing heavy breaths.

"Reiré, hang in there, just one more lap," Lord Raphael encouraged.

I was wrong. I was so so wrong. Why would I think that Swordsmanship would be as easy as P.E class in my previous life?

"Is Reiré slacking again?!"

Ugh… Glancing over at the large bulky old man, I could only give him eyes of displeasure. Sir Rabade sure is tough. Giving us ten laps around the practice field right at the beginning of class.

"Put your back into it, Reiré!" He shouted.

Like hell I can! This petty body of mine is very fragile! Like I have the strength to continue!!

"Come on, Reiré, I'll run with you," Lord Raphael offered.

"Thanks, even though you already finished your laps."

Most of the male students in the class have finished their laps. It's only the females that are being waited on.

Pulling whatever little strength I have left, I began to do a slow jog with Lord Raphael beside me. After this, I'm going to start running every day, cause I definitely won't survive this class if I don't start training my body. Why the heck did I choose this class?!

Seeing Lady Claudia jogging ahead, I remembered. Right, it's because Lady Claudia took this class in the novel. What is wrong with me?

Once I finally finished my last lap, I completely crashed to the ground. I can barely feel my legs anymore. All the other girls were the same. Our outdoor uniforms were pretty much covered in sweat.

"Is that all you got! We haven't even started on the sit-ups!" Sir Rabade announced.

I cried, "There's more!?"

"Oh, this is nothing! If you're gonna complain why not just leave the academy. A commoner is not suited to be here."

I recognize that yappy voice anywhere. "Lady Claudia, thank you for worrying about me. But even if the courses here are extreme, I will do my best."

"Who said anything about me worrying about you!?!"

Lord Raphael chuckled, "I'm glad that you are making friends. Makes me jealous, I could barely make any in my first year."

I beamed, "Yes! Lady Claudia has been so sweet to me."

"I have not!" she denied. "And we are not friends!"

"Oh Lady Claudia, no need to be embarrassed," I teased.

Lady Claudia only growled and stomped away. Ah, even covered in sweat, Lady Claudia looks to be in top form.

"I understand you are fond of Lady Claudia, but please be careful when befriending others," Lord Raphael advised.

I pouted, "I understand that Lady Rium babies you, but you don't need to baby me."

Lord Raphael blushed, "I'm just worried about you. And Rium does not baby me!"

I smirked, "Ah huh. It's okay. I know you like it when all she does is pay attention to you."

He denied, "I-It's not like that."

"You don't think I notice how you blush whenever she feeds you grapes. Hiding behind a book and pretending to read doesn't help escape from my eyes. I'm surprised you two haven't gotten engaged yet."

Lord Raphael glanced away as he fiddled with his fingers. "I don't want to force her to be with me."

I sighed. "Must be nice to be loved."

Lord Raphael panicked, "W-What?! Love?! I don't know what you're talking about! Don't tease me!"

I laughed, "You're too easy, Lord Raphael. Ah, I wish Lady Claudia would feed me grapes."

Lord Raphael frowned. "Not judging, but you have a weird taste in friends."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you dissing Alex, Lady Rium, and yourself?"

"What?! No! It's just… Lady Claudia is a bit… How do I say it? Mean? And that's a nice way of putting it."

I can't help but chuckle, "Don't worry, I know. Lady Claudia may look like she's being mean, but she has yet to actually lay a hand on me." Unlike that snob of a noblewoman named Laura. "She's being mindful of the position she's in. And besides, we are dance partners, it would be bad if your dance partner is injured."

"That is true. Each year, we'll have to dance with our partner in honor of our graduating seniors," said Lord Raphael.

"Exactly."

"But that's only during your sophomore and junior year. Freshman are still too unskilled to dance for our seniors," Lord Raphael informed.

"Eh, whatever. I need to get a drink. Break will end soon and the hellish training Sir Rababe has for us will start again."

Lord Raphael agreed. "He's really tough. Apparently, he had no mercy on Prince Leonhardt either."

"Expected of the monster teacher."

"I think you'd end up running more laps if he heard you calling him a monster teacher," Lord Raphael murmured.

I felt my blood run cold at the thought of running more laps. Yeah, I'll just refer to him as a monster teacher in my head.

Swordsmanship class ended twenty minutes early. Why? It's so the students have time to shower and change out of their sweaty outdoors uniform. My red t-shirt and black shorts are literally covered in dirt and sweat. It's really gross. I'm gonna have to wash this twice if I want to use them again. It's a good thing the academy gave us spares.

I quickly shoved my dirty outdoors uniform into my bag and took out my official academy uniform from my locker. After a nice shower, I could feel myself being revived. It's like all my aching muscles have been healed. Of course, I'd expect myself to be completely sore by tomorrow.

Feeling slightly cold from only having a towel wrapped around me, I quickly moved towards the changing room. In the process, I bumped into Lady Claudia who had already got into the academy's red blazer and black skirt. She looked at me with hard cold eyes as she crossed her arms. Her black hair was also wet and straight. Hmm? What happened to her drills?

"Lady Claudia… Did you always have straight hair?"

"Is that what you say to me after rudely bumping into me?"

"Ah." I bowed my head and apologized, "My sincerest apologies for bumping into you. Now, what happened to your drills, I mean, curls?"

"It'll automatically curl once my hair dries," she answered.

Oh… She actually answered. And kindly too. Does her personality change when her hair is straight? "Is that so…" Straight-haired Claudia. I need to burn this image into the back of my head.

"Will you stop staring at me like that," she demanded. "A commoner like you has no right to gaze upon my beauty."

Nope. Still the same Lady Claudia.

"And don't you need to get changed? You'll be late for class," she warned.

"Ah!" Panicking, I moved past her to quickly get changed. One thing I understand about this academy was that being late was unacceptable. It's way more strict than the schools in my previous life. The anime and manga never mentioned this part about being in another world! I'm putting much more effort than my previous self ever did in high school!

By the time I finished changing, everyone was already gone. I should make haste like the other students and get to my next class. Luckily, it's cooking, one of my strong suits.

"Ah! Hey, Reire!"

As I made my way towards the Cooking class, Prince Clovis called to me. Yes, Prince Clovis is in the same Cooking class as me. Why would a prince want to learn to cook? Well, he's just here for the food. He's the only boy in the class and we female students treat him like a younger brother, because that's the vibe we get from him. He's so adorable and precious that many female students have been giving him snacks.

"Hello, Prince Clovis," I greeted.

"Your hair is wet."

"I had a shower after my Swordsmanship class," I informed him. "We had to run ten laps, do twenty sit ups, fifty sword swings and so on."

"Sounds exhausting."

"You could say that again. I'm eager to do some baking."

"Reire's baking is always good," said Prince Clovis.

"Thanks."

We both entered the class and sat down at our stations. The class consisted of six mini kitchen stations and four students were assigned to each station. Prince Clovis and I are at the same station with two other girls. They are of Baron rank, so they don't do anything outrageous to me like all those other snobby nobles. And also the fact that Prince Clovis and I are friends has something to do with it too.

"I wonder what we're gonna make," Prince Clovis voiced.

"It'll probably be something simple for first timers," I answered.

"Today, we will be learning how to make scrambled eggs," announced the teacher.

Excuse me? Isn't that a bit too simple? Even a nine-year-old knows how to make scrambled eggs. This will be easy.

Nope, this was not easy.

"Fire! Fire!"

"Hurry and put out the fire!"

"Prince Clovis! Put down that pan!"

How the heck did Prince Clovis set the eggs on fire? I only took my eyes off of him for one minute. ONE minute.

Prince Clovis whimpered, "Reiré, how do I unburn the eggs?"

This kid…

- - - - 0-0-0 - - - -

"Well, the game never mentioned him cooking before. He probably never cooked in his life," Alex said.

"Did you not hear what I said? He set the EGGS on FIRE! I was not exaggerating. He literally made the eggs go up in flames and I don't know how."

Once classes ended, I met up with Alex and we walked back to the dormitories together. I would have met up with Lady Rium, but she went to see Lord Raphael. It's better for me not to intervene with a girl's love. So as Alex and I were walking back, I explained my tragic quest of cooking eggs with Prince Clovis.

"If this was the twenty-first century, the fire alarm would have gone off and we would be evacuated from the building."

"I feel like your side is more interesting than my side," Alex voiced.

"Really? I would rather have a calm school life than this. It's only the second day as well," I complained.

"We're in another world. It's better to experience everything that's fun. Now, let's go get some dinner to cheer you up," Alex insisted.

"I rather be in a world where magic existed," I grumbled. "This was nothing like how the anime showed me!!!"

"Yes, yes, life just sucks that way." Alex gently pushed me towards the dining hall.

"Ugh, weekend, please hurry and come," I begged.

"We're only day two into the week and you're already wanting it to be the weekends?"

The calendar works similarly to the one in my previous life. There are twelve months in a year and seven days in a week. This world doesn't use the terms like Monday or Tuesday, instead, they would say first day of the week for Monday and second day of the week for Tuesday. It's honestly more work, but what am I to do? Not like I can suddenly change the way they call the days.

"Oh, by the way, Lady Rium is holding a gathering in the Pink Rose's courtyard on the sixth day of the week. She invited me to come, so I thought I'd extend the invitation to you as well."

"Sixth day of the week? Can't you just call it Saturday?"

"But people won't understand if we use terms from our previous life," I said.

"It can just be between us, it's easier that way."

"You have been Alexandra for fifteen years. Aren't you already accustomed to the way things are in this world?"

"But remembering how easy the dates are in my previous life has me thinking in the twenty-first century way."

"Well, fix your way of thinking or else you'll expose our identities," I warned.

Alex chuckled, "Don't worry. Those nobles will think it's just because we're commoners. They're too dumb compared to our twenty-first century knowledge."

"I can't disagree with you on that. But don't forget, we died young in our previous life. Compared to the adults in this world, we don't have enough experience and too little understanding of this world, especially you since you died at the age of thirteen, so we should move forward carefully."

Alex sighed, unable to go against my thinking. "Alright."

"So will that be a 'yes' on Saturday?"

Alex grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "Anything for my isekai comrade!"

"Great. I'll let Lady Rium know that I'm bringing a plus one."

"It'd be great if I could become her friend. She's my favorite rival after all. If I was reincarnated as a boy, I would totally steal her from Raphael," Alex voiced.

"LORD Raphael," I corrected.

"No one's gonna hear. You need to relax."

I only sighed, "People are gonna misunderstand your relationship with Lord Raphael."

Alex only chuckled, "It's fine, it's fine. Let's hurry to the dinning hall and get dinner."

"I feel like you only think about food…"

"Cut me some slack," she whined. "I just had Horseback Riding and taking care of the horses really pooped me out, mentally."

I gave her a questioning look. "Taking care of horses?"

"The teacher said we can't ride any horses until we bond with them. While horses are cool and magnificent, they are quite scary up close. One almost bit me."

"Isn't Alexandra good with animals though?"

Alex gave me an annoyed look. "She's the protagonist, do I look like the protagonist to you?"

I gave her a blank stare and replied, "Yes, Alexandra Bailey, protagonist of Fight for Love and Acceptance. You DO look like the protagonist and you ARE the protagonist," I emphasised.

"Ah…"

"Don't tell me you actually forgot?"

She burst out crying, "But I'm only a thirteen-year-old otaku from another world that's actually really bad with animals! Even though I love them so much, they always bark or hiss at me!"

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that," I replied with a monotone.

"Please act like you sympathize with me!"

"Even if you tell me, my family owned a dog and we even owned a horse as well. I did a lot of horseback riding back when I was ten in my past life."

"Eh! You rode horses before?"

"I did a lot of derby and I've even won a gold medal before," I informed her.

"Why do you sound like more of a protagonist than me?"

I only shrugged, "You tell me, Miss protagonist of Fight for Love and Acceptance."

Alex whimpered, "What kind of otaku are you?! The otakus I know were a bunch of shut-ins like me!"

"I may be an otaku, but I still had a life you know."

"I think our roles should be reversed."

"Oh, heck no," I protested. "I don't want to be caught up in all this love drama that's gonna be happening soon. I like my side character."

Alex grumbled, "More like a 'cheat' character."

I felt my right eye twitch from irritation and I pinched her cheek. "Say that again."

"It hursh… L-Lady Raeré, ish hurts! I'm sorry!"

"Thought so." I released her cheek and walked ahead.

"You are so mean," she whimpered as she rubbed her reddened cheek.

"I'm doing this out of love," I said.

"What love? That was not love from what I saw in your eyes."

I sweetly smiled at her. "No, that was certainly my love for the protagonist from my favorite novel. So I'm using this love of mine to correct you so you can act just like the protagonist."

"Gross."

I glared at her and asked, "What was that?"

She flinched and quickly said, "N-Nothing! I said nothing!"

I sighed, "Every time I talk to you, my impression of Alexandra is slowly fading away."

"It's not my fault I don't act like the cute maiden in love like Alexandra from the game. Her character is just impossible to match. She's super smart, likes animals, loves children, nice to everyone, selfless and is very good looking too. She's pretty much an angel. She's too perfect."

"Isn't she also the timid girl that has trouble speaking out confidently and can't stand up for herself? That doesn't sound perfect to me."

"Huh? Well, in the game she was very timid at first, but once she got closer to the male leads, she became very open, spoke her ideals and stood up to the rival characters as well."

"Hmm…?"

"Why? Was she different in the light novel?" Alex asked.

"No, it's not completely different. She does become somewhat open after befriending the male leads, but she was still very timid. She only stood up to the rival characters near the end of the book, so she was still pushed around a lot by the other characters even if she befriended the male leads."

"Okay, maybe not exactly perfect because a completely white washed character is unrelatable, but it's impossible for me to act like the saint that Alexandra is."

"I wouldn't call her a saint, but I get your point."

"And besides, I'm Alexandra now, so the game and the novel Alexandra don't apply to me anymore."

"That is true, but because of that, I'm worried about the story's progression."

"Come on, we were reincarnated! We don't have to follow the story exactly. I honestly just want to live my life to the fullest, after all I died at the age of thirteen! I want to fall in love naturally, not because of some plot device. Having the game or novel knowledge is just an advantage for us to survive during our rough academic years. Once we graduate, these plot lines won't affect us anymore."

"You're right, but I think you meant the plot lines won't affect 'you' anymore because, as a side character, it doesn't affect me in the first place."

Alex rolled her eyes. "My mistake."

I giggled at her expression. "Let's pick up the pace and get to the dinning hall. I still have untouched assignments to do."

"You and me both."

"I'm just happy that it's only Algebra, History and Language that gives out homework."

"Yeah, this world's academic system is so different. To think that we have to take seven classes every weekday. Don't they do rotations? I've only ever taken five out of seven classes in middle school and they change each day."

"High school is pretty similar like that too. This world has it tough on us teenagers."

"No kidding," Alex agreed. "And this academy is my first high school experience."

"I know what high school was like, so I have been managing. I was so close to graduating high school and even got into the college I wanted. But I just had to go and face Truck-kun! That bastard!" I cried.

Alex gave me a confused look. "Truck-kun?"

"You know, the isekai memes. I got hit by a truck, that's how I died."

"Eh? You too?"

"You mean, you got hit by Truck-kun too!"

"Yeah," Alex sighed as she got a pissed off look on her face. "Some girl stupidly walked out onto the crosswalk when the light was still red and a truck that was driving way past the speed limit was approaching too. I rushed out and pushed her, but I ended up getting slamed by the truck and dying in her place." Huffing, she cooled off and said, "While I'm upset that I died in her place, I do hope that girl is doing alright, even if she was stupid. She better be paying attention to her surroundings. I literally gave my life to a stranger."

Hmm… Hmm? I halted in my steps and froze. Alex stopped walking as well and turned to look at me, "Reiré?"

Hmm!? I was suddenly getting cold feet. "By any chance…" Please tell me it's not what I think it is. "Did you… Did you happen to be by Golden Street?"

"Huh?" Alex's expression became irritated as she remembered how she died. "Forget 'happen to be by,' it WAS Golden Street. That's where I saved that stupid tall girl and got run over by a truck."

"I… I see…" I was sweating. Why? Because I was that 'stupid tall girl' that walked out onto the crosswalk when the light was red. And I think I vaguely remember someone yelling out to me and pushing me too. What kind of development was this!? To think that we are both from the exact same area! I thought she'd be at least from a different country because she knows a different Fight for Love and Acceptance. Should I mention it? That the girl she thought she saved was actually standing right beside her and the cause of her death as well? Nah, let's just keep quiet about that.

"By the way, how did you know it was Golden street anyway?"

Crap!

Alex gave me a suspicious look. "Were you… perhaps…"

Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! "I… I…"

"Hmm?"

"I ah… I… I wonder what's for dinner!" I quickly walked ahead, avoiding Alex's eyes. God, I feel really guilty, but I just can't face her. It's fine anyways. We both died together and ended up in the same world. I'll just look after her until I no longer feel guilty for accidentally killing a thirteen-year-old. And besides, she thinks she saved me, I can't tell her that her death was in vain. This was a good thing I'm doing. A perfectly logical thing I'm doing. Let's not mention our deaths ever again.

"Reiré! Slow down! You're walking too fast!"

"Oh, I am so hungry. Dinner sounds so good right now, right Alex? I wonder what they are serving."

"You're suddenly acting strange, Reiré."

"What do you mean, Alex? This is just how I act when I'm hungry, so let's hurry it up."

Am I a cruel human being? No. Am I a selfish human being? Oh, most definitely yes. For my own safety, I shall keep this as a secret from Alex.