Awakening

I was thankful to Vincent.

He listened and gave me advice when I needed it the most. Thanks to him, I was able to make my decision to leave the Academy that I was attached to for the past month.

When we were in the third year of middle school, I had already met the other girls. It made me so attached to them that I hesitated to leave.

However, I was supposed to leave the Academy. I couldn't stay any longer if I wanted to save them. Vincent was correct. If I wanted to get stronger, I needed to raid dungeons and join a guild. It would also be good if I could get my hands on the Mana Breathing Method as fast as I could.

If I followed the story in the novel, the Mana Breathing Method would appear in a year or two. My memories were a bit blurry because it had been more than 17 years since I read the novel, but thankfully, I had written every arc in detail, except the last one.

I felt bad for my friends that I announced my decision to leave the Academy tonight. But, as I announced my decision, I felt refreshed. I was expecting some outburst, especially from Mirana, and she did. However, it quickly died down because Vincent helped me.

He probably understood my reason as I asked him about it a few days ago. Once again, he saved me. He was really cool, unlike me, who always hesitated. After my announcement, Lily and the others told me that they were waiting for me to tell them in the future, but they also said that I could take my time until I was ready.

I really didn't deserve them. I knew they loved me romantically, but I couldn't bring myself to love them back. For me, they were only friends. I was afraid to get closer to them, only to be left alone if I couldn't change their fate. So I purposely denied it. I denied their feelings toward me and pretended to be a dense guy.

The things that happened after my announcement was basically a mess; it was the so-called girls' talk. They were basically interrogating the girl who came with Vincent. Her name was apparently Chloe Dihart; she had the same family name as Vincent. However, she called herself Vincent's girlfriend, which made me wonder.

'Is he dating his own sister?!'

Vincent quickly solved the misunderstanding. He explained that Chloe came from the same orphanage as him, so their family name was the same. Apparently, they used their guardian's family name as theirs.

The interrogation lasted until midnight. Everyone was having fun, and I was enjoying chatting with Vincent as we were the only boys in this room. At that time, my heart was suddenly beating faster, and my body felt like it was changed from inside as a sudden pain assaulted me. I had a bad feeling about this.

'Could it be, I am about to Awaken?!'

I quickly stood up and made an excuse.

"Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom." I walked out of the room without waiting for their answer. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I ran toward the exit of my house and went to the empty beach.

The pain that assaulted my body increased, and I felt like I was about to burst. I really wanted to scream to release the pain that I felt.

'Please let me reach the beach first!'

***

Zaiden was acting strange. He suddenly stood up and ran with an expression that I was familiar with.

'He's experiencing terrible pain.'

It made me suspicious. I only explained an Awakening scene once; it was when a child suddenly Awakened when he was being protected by Zaiden.

I remembered that the Awakening process was painful enough to rival the body reformation's pain when one used the Mana Breathing Method at F-Rank.

'Is he going to Awaken?'

I couldn't miss it if he was going to Awaken. Chloe could serve as a diversion as the girls looked like they wanted to talk to her more. I gestured to her with my eyes that I wanted to get out for a while, and she nodded her head.

"I need to go to the bathroom too," I said as I stood up quietly.

"Oh? Are you going to compare your sword with Zaiden?" Lily giggled playfully as she glanced at me.

"Nah, no." I walked to the door. "I don't need to compare the obvious." I closed the door behind me and went downstairs.

From what I hear from Zaiden, it seemed like his parents would stay outside today. They had the night dates that they always did once a month. So, they wouldn't come home tonight.

That was why Zaiden invited the girls and talked about his plan to leave the Academy. Though he expected the girl to go home before midnight, they ended up staying late because they interrogated Chloe about her relationship with me.

Reaching outside the house, I looked around to find Zaiden. We were near the Santa Monica Pier and the beach, so there was a high chance that Zaiden would go to the beach to find a deserted place where no one was there.

Looking around, I could see a track that led to the beach from the house.

'So he went to the beach as expected.'

I didn't want to miss the moment he screamed out from his lungs, so I jumped through the roof to arrive at the beach as fast as I could.

Although it was midnight, there were still people on the beach. It was not strange, considering that today was Sunday. I landed on the beach and looked around to find a possible area to hide. Before long, I noticed a rock formation in the distance and heard a muffled scream from that direction.

I grinned widely when I heard the muffled scream, 'There he is.'

I leisurely walked to the rock formation with my hands inside my pocket. He would be suspicious of me if I suddenly appeared, so I planned to pretend to be walking around the beach and found him coincidentally.

Zaiden was a bit slow in the head, and he trusted someone easily. He would certainly believe me if I said that I was running away from the girls and went to the beach to find some air. After all, I always looked uncomfortable around Lily and the others, so it was not strange if I ran away when he was not there.

I could also say that I was looking for him because he was not in the bathroom when I went there.

'No matter what I say, I think he will believe me.'

I arrived near the rock formation and could hear his scream clearly.

"Ugh!! It hurts!! Is Awakening always this painful? Aaaarrgghh!! Why does the Author write such a thing!!" Even when he screamed, he could complain about what I wrote.

As expected of a reincarnator.

'It is. Congratulations, you have awakened. Also, I write such things to make Zaiden suffer. Which somehow involved me because I was transmigrated to this fucking world.' I thought while snickering.

He was still trying to be as quiet as possible by covering his mouth with his hand. Because the Awakening process usually lasted for a few minutes, I took it easy by leaning against one of the boulders in the rock formation.

Because I never specified when Zaiden Awakened, I thought I would need to stalk him all day to see his Awakening. But who would have thought he would Awaken right after midnight? Was it a blessing for me? Or was it because I only specified that he would be Awakened on 21st April?

However, it saved me. I didn't need to stalk a guy all day long only to see his suffering like this.

Tak! Thud!

"Ugh! H…How long will this last." Zaiden grunted as I heard the sound of rock being punched.

The pain must be unbearable for him. I was thankful that I didn't need to go through the Awakening process, though I felt the same amount of pain when I used the Mana Breathing Method for the first time.

"Arrgghh!!!" Finally, after three minutes, a beastly roar came from Zaiden's place.

People who walked near this rock information quickly turned away when they heard the scream. They were looking at me strangely, as if they thought that I was the cause of the scream. I glared at them, and they turned away while pretending they didn't see anything.

The area became empty, and I glanced at the rock on my right. Just beyond that rock, Zaiden was suffering in pain.

'It's almost done.'

The pain became stronger at the end of the process.

When I heard his scream of pain, a thought flashed in my mind.

'Am I secretly a sadist? I enjoyed seeing him suffer.'

I quickly shook my head, denying my idle thought.

'No, I am not. I only enjoy tormenting my main character in my novel.'

A few seconds passed after his last scream. The area suddenly became quiet. It was as if he had passed out from the pain. But I knew better than anyone that he was fine because I could hear him muttering to himself.

"I did it… I am now an Awakener! With this… I can save them… Including Vincent."

For some reason, he muttered my name, saying that he would save me. Was he crazy? I didn't need anyone to save me. Did he misunderstand that the fact Vincent didn't appear in the novel was because he died?

Well, I couldn't do anything if he misunderstood it. I could exploit it to lure him into a trap in the future.

"For now, I should go back. I bet they are worried about me."

It was time. I began to walk slowly to the beach, matching my timing with Zaiden. I stopped right at the place where the wave stopped and looked at the sea with longing eyes, the eyes of someone who had lost something.

My Trait helped me once again. Even though this Deceitful Trait couldn't make me stronger like Zaiden's Loving Trait or Chloe's Hero Trait, this Trait of mine has been useful several times. Not only that, it didn't have nasty side effects like their Traits where they couldn't hurt their loved ones, or they must help someone in need.

When I stopped on my track and looked at the sea, Zaiden stepped out from the rock formation. I noticed her surprised expression from the edge of my sight, but I purposely ignored him. Until…

"Vincent?" He called out to me.

"Huh?" I let out a fake surprised voice and looked at Zaiden. "Zaiden? What are you doing here? Did you take a piss behind the rocks?" I asked.

"Huh? Ah! N-no! I- am… More importantly, what are you doing here?" He was confused that he didn't even answer my question smoothly.

"Did you just dodge my question? Could it be that you are doing the big one? Behind that rock?! Outside? Zaiden… Are you… exhibitionist?" I raised my voice.

"I am not! I am just… Taking the small one!"

It seemed that he couldn't even think of any other excuses.

"Hahahaha. I was just joking. But… I don't think that you actually took a piss behind that rock."

"I have no other choice. The toilet in my house is clogged, so I went to this place. What about you?"

"I wanted to say that I am here to take a piss too. But, unfortunately, I only want to run away from the girls. It's awkward without you being there."

"Ha-hahaha, my bad. Then, should we go back already? I bet they are searching for us now."

"Well, yeah. Let's go back. I need to go home too. I am sleepy."

"Is that so? Sorry for the girls. They are curious about your companion."

"Nah, it's not a problem. Chloe also enjoyed herself, which I am thankful for."

I walked back first, and Zaiden followed afterward.

He was safely Awakened, the first step of the main story was done.

'Tomorrow, he will go to the Awakener Association for sure. It's time for him to meet Rai.'

And so, my plan also started. I will be busier in the future. However, I should do this. To save myself, and to save this world.