A New Turn [6]

Walking around the city center of Abas, with the sun shining brightly, a brown-haired woman looked a bit strange. Though she had a bit shorter stature, her womanly curves couldn't be hidden beneath her brown, leather armor. 

What was strange about the woman was the fact that her eyes were moving erratically, inspecting each and every individual on the street with a sense of desperation in her gaze. And the reason was simple. 

If one looked at the masses of people more carefully, one would see that their eyes were blank and that their mouths hung agape, and all of them were completely unresponsive. It was a world filled with people, yet no one seemed to be alive. Except for the woman who kept searching for whatever she was looking for. 

My soul grew cold as I somehow knew that this wasn't the first day that the woman had been out here searching for someone. No, she had done this every day for months upon months, desperately looking for someone who was still alive, desperate to not be alone anymore.

Yet, no matter how she tried, she wasn't going to find anyone. 

Meanwhile, on top of one of the large skyscrapers, a dark figure was looming, peering over her like a snake watching its prey wearing a huge, sinister grin.

-------

The days passed by in the blink of an eye, with my schedule now looking something like this; 

Putting on the white bands of torture around my wrists and ankles, roadwork before breakfast, CQC session, lunch, afternoon lectures, small break before evening training into dinner and finally sleep. 

Throughout the week, a lot of people had kept their eyes on me as it didn't even take a day before the rumor that I was going to be dueling George next week was confirmed to be true, and I only got to know the date because I overheard a conversation in the dinner hall. 

So on Friday next week, after all the lectures had ended we would be dueling the academy arena, which I didn't even know existed, at 7 pm. 

'My first real fight at the academy...!'

All in all, I was pretty excited, even if I could tell by how Celine had reacted that there were likely a lot more issues regarding dueling than I knew of but I didn't care. I was too impatient to allow myself to stand still anymore. 

Doing some light stretches in my room, preparing myself for the Saturday sun that had already begun to rise, there was one thing that intrigued me a bit.

'But... it's strange, isn't it?'

My body didn't feel nearly as bad as it did just a week ago, and although it could be argued that skipping weightlifting could be a contributing factor, I knew that the stress that I had put my body through couldn't have been reduced that much. 

Therefore, the only reasonable explanation that I had was the fact that my body had already begun to adapt to the burden of training. Which was crazy to think about even if this world was in many ways pretty crazy. 

'But that proves that I'm getting stronger.'

Exiting my room, empowered by the prospect of traceable progress, I was met by a face that I hadn't seen in a while.

"Hey, fucker! What the fuck do you think you're doing, dueling a senior before fighting me?!"

A very angry Wyll had seemingly waited for me in the dorm hall right outside of my room.

Now dressed in casual, yet very expensive-looking, clothes consisting of a dress shirt layered with a leather jacket and a pair of jeans, his demeanor was still similar to when he was wearing the uniform.

Unlike me, who was wearing my normal tank top and sweatpants, which were, with the exception of three sets of our student uniform, the only kinds of clothes I owned.

When I first came to this world, I had found a large suitcase underneath the bed which had some clothes in it, but sadly nothing else.

'Come to think of it, maybe I should figure out how to get some money so I could buy...'

"Answer me!"

"Oh right, you were here. Well, I'm sorry, I guess?"

"You...!"

As I was experiencing a bit of a déjà vu, knowing that this event would end up with Wyll losing his temper and me escaping, I suddenly got an idea.

"But if you want to fight, let's do it. Find a teacher to supervise and I will spar with you."

"...fucke.. huh?"

Caught off guard, it took a moment for Wyll to understand what I was saying, as he had also likely expected this to play out in a different way.

However, as he realized what I said, his face twisted with a grin.

"...a spar? You... want to fight me? Pfft! Hahaha! Sure! Let's spar! I'll find a teacher right now, so don't even try to run away! I'll meet you at the sports hall after lunch!"

Before I even got the chance to open my mouth again, Wyll was already on his way to find a teacher without even explaining why he was assuming that he would get access to the sports hall or why we would wait until after lunch to spar.

Ultimately, I just had to accept it for what it was. Even if I had some suspicions regarding Wyll's impulsiveness and impatience, I was still satisfied with the outcome. Now I would finally get to test the new skill that I had begun to develop during class and finished on my own, as I had prioritized it over the other skill for now. 

'Let's see if it's enough to beat the shit out of someone at the academy...!'

****

[Cerus' POV]

"Hey, did you guys hear?! Ray is going to spar against Wyll in an hour in the sports hall! Almost all of the freshmen will be there as Wyll made sure to spread the word around as quickly as possible! It seems like he wants everyone to see him demolish Ray!"

"...say, what?"

Wearing a big smile, Jacob spoke with enough excitement that his green hair bounced around on his head, while also making it quite difficult for me, Celine, and Rose to follow what he was talking about. It also didn't help that I was coming straight from practicing my family techniques, something that not only had to do by myself as they were supposed to be kept secret, but they were also extremely taxing on both my body and mind. 

Before coming to AH, I had been training mostly with Celine, even teaching her some of the Hale family's techniques like 'Mana Surge', which she used in her spar against Ray, but currently, I didn't feel like I had enough leeway to do so. I needed to focus on my own progress. 

"I said, Ray and Wyll will be sparring at the sports hall in an hour! So we also have to be there!"

Unexpectedly, before I had the chance to answer him now that he was finally making sense, someone else spoke up.

"Do we really have to watch that idiot fight?"

Keeping her gaze on the food in front of her, it was obvious from her face that Celine was annoyed at something. Or, someone.

'She is still not over whatever happened between her and Ray, huh?'

"What do you mean?! It's a spar between two freshmen outside of the course lectures! I'm betting that it's gonna be a lot more exciting than the spars we had during the first week!"

To me, Celine was very much like a sister, so it couldn't be helped that I was frustrated that she wasn't happy with someone, but as it didn't seem too serious, I also felt like I shouldn't stick my nose in their business.

"Tch! For all I care, that idiot can just go ahead and get beat up by Wyll!"

It was worrying, however, that it involved Ray of all people. For now, though, I would keep my mouth shut while just trying to keep an extra eye on her.

"You want Ray to lose? But wouldn't that make your loss against Ray even worse?"

"Shut up! Anyway I don't care, and neither does Rose! Right, Rose?"

While I had been lost in my own thoughts, Jacob's and Celine's conversation had continued on, until now that Celine was forcibly dragging Rose into the mix.

Unfortunately for her, Rose just shook her head with tired eyes.

"...no. I want to see it."

Having lost the ally she had counted on, Celine turned her eyes to me to see what I thought about it. However...

"I also want to see them spar. I think it will be interesting."

I wasn't about to give up the chance to see Ray spar again, a chance that might lead to me being able to figure out how the crazy skill that he was able to use worked.

"You guys suck..."

In the end, Celine had to give up and although she had the opportunity to not spectate the spar, everyone at the table realized that she would come with us just because she didn't want to feel left out.