Volume 2 Episode 40

Roger was in the middle of having his breakfast when he was interrupted by the arrival of an unwelcome guest.

"What do you want April? If you'll excuse me,I'm trying to have breakfast here. So better make it quick."

Roger gazed at his classmate who was pacing back and forth in his living room, as he tried to get back to eating. Suddenly, April turned around and grabbed Roger by the shoulders, catching him by surprise and shook him hard.

"W-What the h-hell are you doing?"

Roger, who couldn't comprehend what the crazy person inside his room was trying to do to him, asked while stammering due to being shaken too much.

"Nothing, I was just checking to see if there was actually someone inside this corpse of a body who actually had a desire to win, instead of wasting his time."

"This coming from a semi final loser? That's rich."

Countered Roger as he took a bite out of his toast and swallowed it, making a satisfied face, much to the displeasure of April.

"You know, I really hope you're just acting as if you aren't giving any importance to the tournament and are secretly training to win."

April came and sat near him, grabbing one of his toasts and eating before Roger had a chance to react.

Roger watched, dumbfounded as April ate the whole toast in one go. He gave her an angry glare, but she ignored it as she chewed the food slowly without a care.

"I am giving it my all, alright? Since when did you start worrying about me?"

Roger asked, clearly displeased at his guest's manners to which April shook her head. She then swallowed the toast, grabbed Roger's tea left on the table, and drank it hurriedly.

"Now don't get me wrong. I'm not here because of you, but rather because of your opponent."

Roger, who was puzzled at April's words, stopped eating and looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Well now, aren't you finally interested?"

April snorted lightly at Roger's sudden interest, to which he laughed bitterly. 

"In my defense, I was eating breakfast. I mean, most people would definitely be angry if someone were to intrude upon the sacred mealtime that was breakfast, so if you compare my anger to people would've usually reacted if they were ever interrupted during break, I'd say I let you off pretty easily. So, what I'm saying.."

April rolled her eyes at Roger's rambling, who was desperately trying to get on her good side while also trying to defend his words at the same time because he didn't want to admit defeat.

"Look, do you want to know what I Learned or not?"

"Yes, please."

Roger immediately shut up, stopping his rambling as soon as April interrupted him. She then sat down on his couch and Roger sat opposite of her, as he slowly sipped his tea.

"So you know that I do research on most of my opponents, right?"

"Of course. Everyone does that." Roger replied quickly, and motioned her to continue.

"Well, I actually watched the last few matches of the kid, and I figured out that he had always improved after each fight. Like really big improvements."

"Yes, I noticed that as well. The boy has improved a tremendous amount compared to his first match. If someone had told me that he would be fighting in the final before the tournament, I wouldn't have ever believed it."

April nodded at Roger's words, and continued.

"Well, he was improving really fast. Until the last fight, with me."

She then turned on her laptop which she had brought with her, and showed the clip of her fight with Lin, and Roger moved closer to view the video.

"In his fight with me, he actually did improve, but not in ways that he usually does. You see, in this specific fight, his reaction speed, reflexes, magic power all seemed to be exactly the same as the previous fight, if not lower in some cases. But his improvement came with his body, which was now able to even take most of my attacks head-on, which would've been hard to do even for someone like Christian."

April spoke, as Roger listened while watching the fight for finding more details.

She then grabbed the laptop, and paused at a specific spot in the video and zoomed in, and turned it back for Roger to view.

On the laptop screen, Lin was kneeling after April's crash landing maneuver.

"But he's kneeling probably because of being injured after suffering a crash as strong as that, right?"

Roger asked, and April shook her head, rewinding the video to a few seconds back. 

The video showed Lin getting up after the crash, almost completely fine without any problem at all, as if he wasn't a part of the large attack at all. He then walked a few metres before suddenly kneeling down for a few seconds, and got up after a while. Roger looked at the screen without speaking, until April grabbed the laptop from him and shut it down.

"The kid must be facing some sort of problems with his body. It might have something to do with his enhanced body strength, which seemed to be the only thing that improved greatly. That's what I think."

April spoke as she pushed her laptop into her backpack, getting ready to leave. Roger got up and refilled his tea and looked at her.

"Are you saying that he might be using some form of drugs to enhance his body?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that the tournament officials won't allow any use of illegal drugs. He wouldn't even get through the initial checking session. Unless he bribed them of course, but I don't think he is using drugs. If that was the case, then why would it only affect him now? Why not before, in his other matches?"

"Maybe he's using some other drugs instead of the usual? Or maybe the dose was too high or..."

April sighed at the enthusiastic Roger, who was getting really excited about the whole situation.

"Look at the end of the day it wouldn't matter. If he took any drugs and wasn't caught, then that means there wouldn't be any chance for us to prove it to anyone either. I just wanted to let you know that, if he doesn't get cured of this problem, then you might have a chance if you're faster than him. Or if he actually did heal, then you better not underestimate him, because he might be even better than his match with me."

After she finished speaking, she walked towards the door, which Roger came and opened for her. She stood at the entrance, but didn't move for a while. Suddenly, she turned and looked at Roger, who seemed surprised by her actions. She started fidgeting a bit before she focused herself, and opened her mouth.

"Laura told me that she misses you, and that she forgives you. We both know why you did what you did, so we can let bygones be bygones."

She then took a deep breath and continued while looking at him.

"So what we wanted to say, was that we would like it if you came back."

She looked at Roger for a response, who stood in front of her in silence. He wasn't responding for a while, which made the atmosphere become more awkward as the silence went on. He then finally opened his mouth and spoke.

"Is that why you came here with this information today? To get me to come back?"

April didn't answer Roger's question, looking down at the ground without answering. Roger saw her reaction, and sighed.

"I am not joining you guys again."

"But we-"

"And just to be clear, it's not because of what you guys think."

Roger cut off her words before she could say anything, basically telling her that he had made up his mind. April bit her lips, and angrily stormed off after receiving his response, leaving Roger alone at the doorway. He smiled bitterly, and closed the door as he walked back towards the dining table to finish up his breakfast.

After eating the rest of his toast, he cleaned the table and washed the dishes, arranging them perfectly in his cupboard. Satisfied with his breakfast, he then grabbed his phone and dialled a number, and walked into his training room as it was still ringing, closing the door on his way.

He stated in the training room for half an hour, before he opened the door and walked out. He then switched on the television and jumped on to the couch as he ate some snacks. He thought about April's invitation, and sighed once more.

"Sorry April, but I really can't join you and Laura again. Sooner or later, you would also know that it's the right choice."

He then got back to watching the television, munching on his snacks once again.