Not Very Pleasant Here [3]

Defeat.

It was something Dean was most familiar with.

He hated losing like many people would, but he eventually learned from Granny Judy that humility was the greatest teacher for development.

Still.

He hated losing.

Dean stood alone in the resting area of the large arena rewatching the footage of his team's mock battle with Mark's team. The footage was taken from drones flying above them and the cameras attached to their battlesuits. He studied every point of view of his teammates and even his own to see their mistakes.

The mistakes started happening in the rearguard which resulted in utter defeat for his group. Mark prompted for overwhelming them with a frontal attack using the artificial terrains. The full frontal attack prompted the rearguard to help out leaving the rear open for Ha-eun to sneak around and attack them causing chaos within. Since Dean and Melanie were paired with students whom only gave their bare minimum, almost everyone except the two panicked leaving the team in disarray and resulted in a easy win for Mark's team.

Utter bitter defeat. 

Sigh

Dean sighed as he saw how most of his teammates were panicking despite his attempts to fix the situation but Mark ordered the range attackers to go all-out, forcing Dean to focus more on repelling the rubber bullets and blunt arrows. Despite being allowed to carry their weapons around the academy, except for guns, the mock battles all had safety measures to decrease the risk of severe injuries despite the advance medical equipment. Their battlesuits were also designed to accurately register hits while protecting its users from blunt force. 

Still.

The rubber bullets and blunt arrows still hurt.

Even after 20 minutes since the battle, Dean could still feel sore spots on places where he was hit. It would take a few hours without any ointment for the wounds to heal. One of the perks of being an esper, faster healing.

Of course, he couldn't regrow a limb without an S rated healer or spending time with those very expensive medical equipment...luckily those were covered by his scholarships.

Anyway, Dean finished reviewing the footage and was about to head back to his apartment room, but as soon as he turned around, he noticed someone was leaning against the entrance dozing off.

It was Melanie Asato-Romanoff.

He pondered whether to ignore Melanie and walk past her, or get her attention. Dean didn't want to be involved with her more than necessary. Despite her constant apologies, he only spent time with her during class or other class-related activities such as group projects. 

Plus, Dean was still bitter about their defeat earlier so he decided the best course of action.

He walked very slowly as he neared the entrance. Dean's steps were silent and his breathing was quiet almost as if he wasn't alive. But just as he got past Melanie...

[Dean, you got a notification in your emails. Should I read it out for you?]

A monotone feminine voice spoke out loud, it was his virtual assistant, Kit. Dean frowned a little and silently wondered if the VI was secretly an AI after all because the timing was too convenient.

Alas he couldn't ponder on it as a soft melancholic Slavic voice resounded out.

"Four-eyes, were you going to ignore a sleeping beautiful lady?"

Melanie was wide awake, though at first she was mad that Dean ignored her, but quickly realized Kat was secretly helping her out so now she had a teasing smile on her face hoping to see Dean's panicked expression.

"Yes, I didn't want to interrupt your nap."

Dean's nonchalant reply caused Melanie's right eye to twitch briefly, but she quickly rebounded with a reply.

"But Dean, leaving a helpless lady to sleep while standing up. I thought we were classmates."

Her fake shocked expression could've earned Melanie an Oscar nomination at the very least, but Dean wasn't fooled by her attempt at acting.

"You're right. I'm sorry it was reckless to leave you like that-"

Melanie's fake expression suddenly turned to a happy one.

"-since the next person to wake you up or attempt something on you might end up in the medbay with severe burns."

Then her happy expression turned into a frown before her face could fully form a smile.

Dean then walked away, but Melanie stopped him when she said, "Look I know you blame me for causing us to lose, but we weren't going to win anyway. At least not with those lowborn morons in our team."

She was partially right on being the cause of their loss since Melanie insisted on being in the front where she could fight her ex-fiancé. But she was only partially right on being the cause.

"sigh...I know you have a low opinion on people in the lower class but can you at least not call us morons?"

Dean turned around to stare at Melanie, his mood was getting worse but he kept his tone steady and his face expressionless. The last thing he wanted was an argument with this prideful princess, but he couldn't help it when she insulted them.

"You saw how they acted when you handed out roles, and those two peasants in the rear blatantly ignored their roles to get in on the action on the frontline. If they had proper training or experience, then they'd known that Ha-eun was gonna charge from our rear and cause havoc within our lines. Heck they don't even apologize as their grades won't be too affected by it. Anyway I'm here to apologize for my actions and even willing to buy you a treat." 

There was a moment of silence.

Then.

"What kind of treat?"

"Well there's this spot on the edge of Pleasantville where they serve ice cream....well that's the only thing worth eating there...", Melanie mumbled the last part since most of the food places had awful food, according to her taste palate.

Dean ignored her mumbled words and weighed in on free ice cream or heading home. On one hand, the comfort of home was enticing, but on the other, free ice cream seems like the best treat after a bitter defeat.

So...

"Alright let's go."

His expression left Melanie finally forming a proper smile as she walked up to Dean then they walked away together side by side.

***

Present Day

"Dean I need help here!"

Bob called out from their rear since as an veteran, he kept to his post protecting Mary and watching out for any surprises that Ha-eun might've cooked up.