Chapter 16: Gap

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It was dark enough at night, but the overgrown bushes made it even darker.

I've come to find Snaps, a tradesman who is notoriously difficult to deal with in the game since I wanted to sell the goods I took from Relial.

It was hard to sell them through normal channels, as it had been stolen by bandits.

Snaps leaned against his wagon, watching me patiently, puffing stiffly on his cigarette.

Now we were in the final stages of the transaction so I opened the pouch he'd handed me and checked the amount.

"Mr. Snaps…"

"Huh?"

"This is… It's not gold, it's coopers."

I pulled the coopers out of my pocket and held them in front of Mr. Snaps' eyes.

"I may be blind, but my sense of touch is thankfully intact, and gold has a smoother surface than this."

"What the hell, that's gold, you blind man."

Mr. Snaps heard me, and he reached for the cigarette he was smoking.

"Mr. Snaps, if you keep coming out like this, I'm going to…"

I reached for the sword at my waist.

"Hmph, you might as well try swinging it. It'd be fun to be killed by a blind man's sword."

I drew my sword and raised it shallowly. The next moment, Snaps' cigarette was neatly sliced in half.

"…"

I took the money pouch, pulled out the gold, felt it, and nodded.

I tossed the pouch up, picked it up, and repeated.

"What about the other ten gold?"

"Ah, come on."

Snaps muttered, then pulled a smaller pouch from his arm and threw it at me. He stomped loudly against the wagon and climbed into it.

After collecting the pouch of money, I watched Snaps drive away.

'He tried to take advantage of a poor blind man.'

He wasn't the only one. When I stopped by a regular general store and tried to buy something by running my hands over it, they would charge me much more than the price tag.

First impressions matter.

'Is it the clothes?'

I looked down to check my appearance.

Because I wore a large robe like a tramp every time I stepped outside the Academy it was understandable.

I earned 70 gold this time, that's enough to pay for the monster materials.

'When I hire the blacksmith to make the sword, I'll have to pay him 500 gold.'

Assuming I buy the materials as planned, I'll have about 20 gold left…It wasn't enough.

'I'll have to think of a way to make some money.'

Luckily, the trading place was near the Academy, and I was able to return to the Academy quickly.

Before entering the academy through a side street, I changed into the uniform I had hidden nearby. Then I crept along the path and headed for my dormitory.

Night had already fallen at the Innocence Academy but the scene was not unfamiliar. I've seen it many times before.

The streets were deserted, but since I had already changed into my uniform, I wouldn't look too suspicious.

On the way back to the dormitory, I crossed the familiar barrier and it seems that even the guards don't come around much at this hour.

'What good is a wall?'

I thought to myself, 'What good are walls when you can run over them with mana?'

I was about to enter my dormitory through the back door when out of the darkness a nimble newcomer leapt at me.

I didn't dodge because it was a human.

When I looked down I saw her flying into my chest. Her platinum hair glistened in the moonlight, and I could just make out her face.

'Why is she here?'

She had a smell I've smelled before.

'Blood…?'

I stammered out her name.

"Aizel…?"

I shook her shoulders, but there was still no response. I shake her harder, but still no response. Still holding onto her shoulders, I lift her up slightly to check her face, but she's already unconscious.

'What the hell is going on?'

***

My room is neatly organized, with a classy interior worthy of a class A room.

She finally opened her eyes from under the neatly arranged blankets.

"My… What…?"

"You're awake."

"Where am I…?"

"This is my room."

"Your room…?"

Aizel hid under the covers, trying to sort things out in her head. Only a few strands of her hair peeked out from under the covers.

Once she's back under the covers, she asks me in a shaky voice if she's embarrassed.

"Uh, but… I, I... why don't I… have… any… clothes…?"

"That's…"

My pause is enough to make Aizel feel embarrassed.

"…"

[Bam! Bang!]

"What…?"

Aizel, still under the covers, pounded on my bed, demanding an answer.

"Nehee...?"

She sobbed, almost on the verge of tears.

…I better stop teasing her.

"Miss Aizel," I said, "You took off your clothes while you were sleeping, and because I was next to you, I got hit by them."

At my answer, Aizel suddenly quieted down under the covers. Then she poked her head out.

"…And what about my clothes?"

"Maybe…Here."

I held out her clothes, which I'd been saving, to her under the covers. Of course, her clothes were covered in congealed blood.

I tried to wash them, but blood is thicker than water, and I didn't bother to wash off the blood that had already congealed.

"…"

Silence falls over Aizel as she takes the clothes from me. She must have seen the blood on her own clothes.

"…You're not asking…?"

"I thought you said everyone had secrets they wanted to keep hidden?"

"…"

"I'll give you another one, luckily I have a spare. They're men's clothes, so they're big, but… you can try this one on."

I said, and held out my spare set of clothes to Aizel. She took my clothes and thumped around in the bed. Perhaps she was changing under the covers.

Even though she knows I'm blind, she doesn't want to show her naked body in front of a man. Well, I think I would do the same thing if I were in that situation.

The noise from the bed stops, and Aizel's face pops out from under the covers. Her eyes are slightly red, as if she'd actually cried earlier.

"I'm sorry… I don't remember much from last night…"

"It's fine."

Aizel, who had pounced on me in the middle of the night in front of the boys' dormitory, was covered in blood.

I realized that I couldn't carry her to her room, so I rushed her to my room. Luckily, when I turned on the light, I realized it wasn't her blood but blood was blood.

I knew better than anyone what that blood meant.

On top of that, her body was a ball of fire. Luckily, the fever went down quickly once I got her to bed, but I'm sure she overexerted herself.

I don't know why she pushed herself so hard. My head was full of questions, but I didn't dare ask her what she was doing.

She's done it to me before and I knew it wasn't an answer she'd give me.

Aizel slid out of bed and swung her legs to the floor.

My clothes were big on her. Not so much that they were big, but that they were flowing slightly.

"…Did the clothes fit you well?"

"Yeah, just about. Until I get back to the dorm…I should be fine."

"Good."

Her arm looks like it's dripping…

Should I give her another set of clothes? Or should I rush outside and see if I can find some girls' clothes?

I look at Aizel and think of all the things that could go wrong, but then she gets out of bed and looks around the room.

"…Your room is cleaner than I thought."

"It's good to be organized…It's easier to remember where things are."

I say in response to Aizel's question. It was just that I rarely entered the room.

"…Anyway, thanks."

"No problem."

We didn't talk much more after that and when she was done looking around my room, she gathered her clothes and headed out the door.

"That… Forget about it. Today is…"

Aizel stuck her head through the crack in the door and said to me,

"I will."

I feel sorry for Aizel, but it's a memory I'll have a hard time forgetting.

When Aizel finished, she closed the door and left. But it still doesn't resolve the question of why she's pushing herself so hard.

In this case, the fact that she was not in her room raised even deeper suspicions.

She was a far cry from the Aizel I'd seen in the game, and she continued to make me feel nervous.

When this happens, it's hard not to care about her.

I know why she's covered in blood. It must have something to do with her death.

"Hmph…"

Even though I'm trying to get stronger as fast as I can, I keep thinking that it's not enough.

And…

'If she was on the verge of passing out, why did she come to the boys' dormitory…?'

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