Chapter 91: But “malice” also follows like a shadow

[This performance was very successful. Parents, whether they liked you or hated you, could not deny that the music you played really touched them. They even followed your rhythm unconsciously, clapping the beat and humming the tune for you.]

[Parents who like you come with their children to congratulate you, and hope that you can take good care of their children, and at the same time ask their own children to learn more from you.]

[After today, your popularity in school has risen to a new level. After all, your performance has won the love of most parents. The rumors about you have also faded away silently, only flowing quietly in invisible places... but at least they will not appear in front of you.]

[After meeting Mother Teresa, you also gained a "relative". You also had free time every week to talk to Mother Teresa... To be honest, Mother Teresa's temperament is somewhat similar to Father Enrique, but she is more peaceful and gentle. In a vague way, she always gives people a motherly feeling...]

[No, no, what are you thinking about...]

[In short, you spent the following days in this situation. You worked harder and harder, whether in study or music, you tried to do your best and be a "good kid" who would only be envied but not jealous.]

[So, time flows slowly, you gradually grow into a teenager, and you have to leave this boarding school - you are admitted to a prestigious music high school with excellent grades.]

[On the day of graduation, you said goodbye to the teachers and classmates in the school one by one, and gave each teacher a hug to thank them for their care over the years... In return, you received a whole bag of candy. The male teacher even ran over with a backpack of snacks and candies, letting you choose by yourself. He would share the extra ones with other students.]

[Well... according to him, he wanted to make up for the gift he didn't give you, and also to celebrate the students' graduation, so he just bought a bunch of them for you to choose from.]

[You expressed your gratitude and gave him a gentle hug, then took only a few candies. The reason was...of course, because you received too much! You couldn't take that much!]

[And you can't finish all that sugar! Eating too much will cause tooth decay!]

[Finally, with everyone's blessings and laughter, you greeted Mother Teresa who came to pick you up, and received congratulations and notifications from the church from her.]

[Well... to put it simply, you have encountered a relatively... "realistic" problem - no money, or in other words, lack of money.]

[Although your grades are very good and the high school is willing to waive most of your tuition, the problem is... As a prestigious high school, their tuition is already very expensive. Add to that the beautiful campus environment and good on-campus dormitories, as well as some miscellaneous expenses, and the church has basically used up all the funding it can provide you...]

[To put it simply, your campus life after entering high school may be no different from your previous life. You can only stay in school for activities, and your food and accommodation are all in school... But this is obviously not possible, because interpersonal relationships in high school are completely different from before. In addition to friendship, you also need to pay some more... "practical" things.]

[For example, buying gifts, or going out with friends, so as to better maintain friendships, or even to establish initial friendships, but all of these require extra money, and the city where the school is located is expensive... So your life in high school, especially in daily life and interpersonal relationships... may be very difficult.]

[Of course, you don't care too much about these things now. After all, you have always lived in school, so it doesn't matter if you continue to live like this in high school. As for interpersonal relationships... you believe that as long as you show a friendly attitude and help others more, you will be able to handle it well and make many friends like before.]

[At worst, you can still attract others with your excellent grades, become a "good student", and become a role model for others.]

[If this is the case, then it's only natural that you can make friends with everyone like before...right?]

[But the answer is——No.]

[After entering high school, you can clearly feel that the students are divided into "circles" one after another, or even "classes".]

[The rich and powerful and the children of aristocratic families form one circle; those who come from ordinary families but insist on studying here form another circle; and then there are some students who are similar to you and are specially admitted because of their academic performance, which form another circle.]

[The former often show a slight contempt and some natural arrogance towards the latter two...at the very least they maintain a subtle "superior" feeling.]

[The latter two simply huddled together for warmth, and showed obvious disgust towards the former.]

[The entire school's students were vaguely divided into two relatively obvious "big groups" that were secretly fighting and targeting each other.]

[This makes you a little distressed, because if you show kindness to any party, it will cause the other party to hate you, but when faced with others' requests for help, you don't want to refuse... Helping others within your ability, isn't this a matter of course and worthy of praise? Why here, just helping to move things, just helping to carry a school bag... will be criticized and ridiculed by others?]

[You don't quite understand, so you can only ask questions to the teachers at school and seek help from Mother Teresa.]

[And the answers you get in the end are quite consistent - the most important thing is what kind of person you want to be, so... just be yourself.]

[You have some realization, so continue to act according to your original idea and spread your kindness as much as possible.]

[The effect can be said to be immediate, you are hated by both sides.]

[One party takes your help for granted and takes it for granted, and sometimes speaks to you in a commanding tone.]

[The other side sees you as a "traitor" and a "fence-sitter."]

[You really don't understand why people would criticize or even... hate you for doing something as ordinary as helping others.]

[But it's not all in vain. At least your actions have made the teachers like you very much. This is the only consolation...]

[Apart from all this, what really hit you was because of one person——Eden.]

[She does the same thing as you, is friendly to everyone, and helps wherever she can... coupled with her beautiful face, figure, and good background, almost everyone likes her.]

[The rich and powerful and the children of aristocratic families are very friendly to her because she is also from an aristocratic family.]

[People from ordinary families are also very friendly to her because she is very friendly to them. If they have any questions about music or even art, they can ask her. She can answer their questions with more popular and romantic sentences.]

[Even those students who were specially recruited based on their academic performance, she can still have a say.]

[Most importantly, her talent in music and art... is simply too amazing.]

["God's darling" – this is probably the only way to describe her. Everyone believes that she will shine in the art world in the future.]

[But that's why you're even more devastated… You and she are doing similar things, but the responses you get are completely opposite. More importantly, her musical talent and ability are obviously better than yours.]

[No matter how hard you try, you can only rank second in the end... You feel a little disappointed because you realize that you may not be able to fulfill your promise to the teacher... Because the person who will only be envied but not jealous has appeared in front of you.]

[What's worse is that as time goes by, your situation gets worse and worse… and you start hearing some "rumors" about you again.]

[You are too familiar with this kind of thing.]

[And I don't know if it's because they are in high school, everyone has grown up, learned more knowledge and their subjective initiative has greatly increased... This time their actions have become abnormally excessive, almost instantly evolving into a level close to "bullying."]

[Even your dormitory was not spared. You still remember that day when you returned to the dormitory, your room was so messy that it looked like it had been robbed once... What's worse is that even when you went to the practice room in your free time, someone would come to cause trouble just to prevent you from practicing... It's really disgusting.]

[You are a little irritated because the terrible current situation overlaps with past memories, and is even worse than before... All this makes your thoughts confused and your mood worse.]

[In addition to the severe blow to your talent and gifts, you don't even have the energy to prove yourself to others now—because Eden's existence makes your efforts seem very...boring.]

["It feels inferior to… Eden" - No matter how hard you try, this is the only evaluation you will get in the end. You may even be despised and laughed at in the end.]

[It really makes you feel...disgusted.]

[Obviously, they didn't do anything. Obviously, they all saw your efforts, but they can just use Eden to suppress you and bully you with words... It's really disgusting.]

[You are a little annoyed, and the darkness buried in your heart begins to surface]

[I kind of want to "solve" them all, in the physical sense... Anyway, it's very simple, pens, bows, etc.... As long as you find the right place, you can solve them directly... Wait, no, what are you thinking?!]

[You realize your terrible idea and quickly shake your head to get rid of it... Then you are confused again, why do you know this "one-hit-kill" method of killing? This is too scary.]

[You think that maybe you have encountered too many bad things recently, and you think you should avoid them for a while and let yourself relax. Otherwise, your thoughts may affect your music, and even cause some... not-so-good things to happen.]

[You asked the teacher and the school for help. After understanding your request and considering it for a while, the school found a place for you so that you can avoid being harassed by others and relax.]

————————

"Hey? Our runner-up is so impatient today? Where are you going?"

Her long silver hair swayed gently, and her scarlet pupils glanced at Nozomi who had packed up and stood up. The girl raised the corners of her mouth slightly and asked in a slightly strange tone.

"Even if you go early today, you won't be able to get a place in the piano room to practice, you know? If you want to practice... you have to wait until at night at least. With such a long free time... why don't you just go out with me? We have a party here and we need an accompanist. You can practice while performing, hehe..."

"…Thank you for your concern, Elga-san."

Nozomi paused for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, denying it softly.

"I'm not looking for a piano room."

Because I knew I would never find it.

"I have other things to do today. As for the invitation to the party..."

'The so-called party is just to drag me over to be a free performing labor, just to drag me over to be a ruthless performing machine... I can't choose the music according to my own wishes, I can only play the music you specify. This is not practice at all. You just want to drag me over to laugh at me and enjoy the process of directing me.'

"I'm sorry, but please allow me to decline your invitation. I do have something to do today."

'I've been through this many times, so I won't go there.'

"Really? What a pity."

Elga sighed as if she felt a little regretful, but her words unconsciously carried a hint of mockery... How strange.

"Then can you tell me what you are going to do? Classmate Nozomi~ Hehe..."

Elga asked casually, and at the same time played a pun on Nozomi's name, and even laughed twice at the end of the sentence, the meaning of which was unclear.

"I don't think our relationship is that good yet..."

"Don't say that. After all, I'm the third one, right behind you. We're both suppressed by the first one, so our relationship should be closer, right?"

"…There shouldn't be any connection."

Nozomi shook his head, put on his backpack, and quickly left the classroom.

"Also, thank you for your concern and invitation, Elga."

"...."

Looking at Nozomi's quickly leaving back, the smile on Elga's face quickly faded, and she pouted in annoyance and unwillingness.

"Elga, you don't have to pay so much attention to him, right?"

The girl who seemed to be very close to Elga came a little closer and asked in a low voice with a hint of doubt.

"Even though he has good grades, you should know that he is not popular. If you come into contact with him, you will be disliked by others as well."

"...I hope you won't bring this up again, Elena."

Elga responded calmly.

"Are you attracted to him? Come to think of it, after all, if you think in this way, he is indeed a good person. He is good-looking, well-mannered, and has great grades and talents. The only problem is that he has a little [central air conditioning]..."

"Elena! Stop your love-brain!"

As if under pressure, Elga shouted sharply.

"I see... It seems that you do have some feelings for him. Is it because he tolerates your eccentric personality? Or is it because of the talent he has shown... But as the eldest daughter of [Hida Koro], you should have more candidates, right?"

"......"

Elga's eyes gradually turned cold.

"... Ahem, okay, okay, I had a brain seizure, I just said that nonsense, don't look at me like that, we are good friends, right... right?"

"Next time you say that, I will report to my aunt that you are serializing [18+] comics, and you bought them home without her knowledge."

"Stop! Do you want me to die?!"

"What does that have to do with me?!"

Elga pushed Elena away irritably. She really had no idea what to do with this best friend who was obviously very talented in art, but always thought about messy things and put all her energy on some "not so good" things... After all, their families were old friends.

"But it's hard to imagine... that you would fall in love with someone or something."

Elena started again.

"But if you want to win someone's favor... you'd better change your personality and behavior, otherwise you will scare them away, and... you'd better control your emotions."

"Who cares?!"

Elga glared at her best friend who was always thinking about all kinds of messes, frowned, and then emphasized it again.

"I've already said that I'm not in love with him, let alone have any good feelings towards him."

"I haven't said who it is yet~"

"I didn't say who it was."

"...Ahem, that was a mistake, but we all know who you're referring to, don't we? Just admit it a little bit... Hey, don't call me! You have no moral integrity! I... I was wrong!!!"

......

Knock knock——

"Sorry to bother you..."

There was a gentle knock on the door, followed by a soft questioning voice.

It was a very recognizable and beautiful female voice. Anyone who came to this school and had heard her voice would be able to recognize it at once.

Those who were still in the classroom looked up and saw her as expected.

Long burgundy hair, pupils as bright as gold, a figure that would make most girls feel ashamed, and a beautiful face... Well, it was indeed her, Eden.

"Excuse me...Nozomi...um...is that his name? Is he here?"

When she read this name, Eden couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth slightly.

Eden liked this name very much, because the meaning of the word [Nozomi/Hope]... was really beautiful, just like her [Eden].

"...You're late, that guy ran away first because of something."

When Elga saw Eden, a hint of displeasure flashed across her face. When she heard that she was looking for Nozomi, she couldn't help but frown, but then she still spoke.

"Is that so...thank you for letting me know."

"…What do you want to do with him?"

"Nothing, just some...little things."

Eden shook her head, indicating that she was not looking for Nozomi for anything important. However, when she realized that she was late, Eden couldn't help showing a look of regret, and turned around and prepared to leave.

"......"

Elga narrowed her eyes—she felt something was wrong.

"......"

Elena also narrowed her eyes—she felt that there would be a melon to eat soon.

Fast forward to the Shura Field, thank you! Then fast forward to two girls fighting for a husband, and then fast forward to two beautiful girls with different personalities tying up a cute boy in the basement to see who is more attractive, doing this and that, and then letting others judge who they like more...

Finally, fast forward to the moment when Elga is tied up in a corner, watching Eden doing this and that to others, but she can't do anything and can only stand there helplessly and furiously!!!

Ah, the shivering scene appeared unconsciously! Fast! Fast forward! Increase the intensity!

"Ah~ I can't take it anymore, I feel like inspiration is coming!"

"Elena! Put down your pen!!!"