Interlude I - 2. Summer Camp

Summer camp.

It was something that everyone in the school felt excited about. Well, almost everyone did.

"Hey Cartel, show a little more spirit, will you!?" The P.E. instructor yelled at the boy with a birdlike face, who proceeded to causally ignore him.

"Isn't that the guy from 9-F?"

"Yeah, why is he so down?"

"Don't know, isn't he always like that?"

"He's such a downer."

With those types of gossips from all around us, I could do nothing but sigh as I saw Cartel ignoring all of it and being lost in his own world.

We were in different classes. For each class, our school had 6 sections, from A to F. I was in 9-A while he was in 9-F. In other words, for two people in the same grade, the distance between us couldn't have been larger.

After that time in the principal's office, I hadn't talked to him at all. I had seen him quite a few times but never gotten the opportunity to say anything. Up until that summer camp, that is.

There, things changed, for better or for worse.

*****

We all were visiting a temple. It was more of a shrine than a temple though, but it was named the Red Temple or whatever.

When we visited that place, we saw quite a bit of other people visiting it as well. In order for none of us to get separated from the group, the teachers didn't take the entire class through the temple at the same time. They took groups of 10-12 at most while many teachers stayed behind with the remaining students.

As it turned out, I and Cartel got pushed back to the last group, for being the least enthusiastic people about it. While Cartel was usually like that, I wasn't very interested either because I had something much more interesting on my mind.

In any case, our group ended up going the last.

Inside the temple, as the teacher was trying to show the place to us,

"Isn't this pretty damn boring?" One of the students in our group said. The teacher, instead of rebuking him, stretched his back and nodded, seemingly tired because of repeatedly going through this process.

"Hey, don't you agree, Grimma?" One of the females in our group turned to me as she asked, "Isn't that why you are so down?"

No, it's because I found out just before coming here that magic exists. I replied with that in my head and imagined what kind of expression they would make to it. Of course, I didn't actually say that but just nodded to her.

"Right?" She, being one of the most talkative girls in the class, continued, "And you know, none of us have any interest in any fields associated with this anyway."

"I know, right? How can looking at these rocks help me become a programmer?" A boy popular by his nickname 'the nerd of 9-F' said so and everybody else started nodding to that.

Soon, it became a conversation about everybody's interests instead of what it originally was about. And so naturally, the conversation came to me as well.

"So, Grimma, what do you want to become?" The talkative girl asked.

"I �� I don't really know." I said, as I really didn't have any answer to that question. I mean, 2 years before that, I was living in an orphanage with my siblings and that even barely qualified as living. I was just so glad because of all the changes that happened in my life after being adopted. I never really gave much thought to what I'd become in the future.

"Ha! With your grades, you could become whatever you want to, couldn't you?" The nerd of 2-F said.

"Yeah, you sure have it easy, don't you?" The girl said. And so, everybody continued on the same train. They weren't trying to be mean or anything, at least, not on the surface; but since the time of their lives had come when these things became a daily thought for almost everyone, they were getting jealous of me and my grades.

"Pfft!" Hearing that though, Cartel muffled a laugh. He didn't say anything, he didn't even look at us but just him giving a reaction was something that surprised all of us.

"S-so, Cartel Hopkins, right? What do YOU want to become?" The nerd of 2-F asked. These two were in the same class so there might have been something between them I didn't know about but when he asked that question, his eyes were filled with disgust.

"I?" Cartel looked at him as he continues, "I guess, I want to be the king of the world."

"…" Silence permeated through us as we heard that. None of us had any idea what to make of that. And so, the nerd of 2-F started laughing.

"A king who doesn't do shit. Yeah, that does sound like something you'd be able to do." He sarcastically said to mock Cartel.

"I can't say the same about you wanting to become a programmer though." But got mocked instead.

"Why you!?"

"Hey!" The teacher stopped them from making a scene and seeing that, Cartel scoffed at all of us.

"You people act so high and mighty when you don't even know a single thing about mage-craft. It's almost laughable."

Hearing that, all of us made weird expressions. It's just that, my reason for making a weird expression was completely different than theirs. While their eyes showed disgust, my eyes showed surprise. And I think Cartel noticed that, as he become surprised too.

*****

When night had fallen and everyone had returned to their tents, I noticed a commotion among some girls, making me turn to them. And then I noticed that a particular person was standing there and saying something. It was Cartel Hopkins, of course.

As I saw that, I quickly got up and went there. As I closed the distance, I came to realize from their words that Cartel had been asking to meet with someone and the girls weren't complying with him and calling him a 'creep'. It was obvious who he wanted to meet with.

I made a deliberate "Mm?" to draw their attention. When Cartel looked at me, he asked,

"Could we talk, alone?"

I nodded, surprising everyone around me.

That incident later led to rumors about me and him dating spread around, which were the biggest the pain in the ass I ever had to deal with. But, if I could go back in time, I would still go talk to him that night.

*****