Minha.
I'm really indebted to you.
I was never going to live such a life without you. I'm thankful I met you.
She was sniffling.
She said it with a single thought.
She called me in the morning near her dormitory.
Just to tell me that.
Just to say she's thankful.
The thought of her thanking me made me... happy.
Now that she's indebted to me...
Maybe I should help her get into the academy council and the committee.
That's how I'll be able to get information.
She will definitely do it if I ask her to.
No point in wasting time…
But…
I must tell her the way she wants me to—
Not the way I should.
Because…
That's the way I should be telling her.
I slowly raised my hand and patted her head.
She blushed, looking at me.
And then… she hugged me.
I slowly hugged her back.
> "It's okay. Don't… I'm not looking for you to repay me. But… you can, if you're up to it."
> "What is it? Tell me. What is it that you want…? I will give you everything…"
Wait…
That's a heavy word.
She shouldn't be saying anything like—
"EVERYTHING…"
But whatever.
I'm not a pervert, so it should be fine.
It's not like her to say this kind of thing recklessly.
But I guess…
She's still emotional about it.
> "Listen. Go rest well. I think you're still emotional. So just go and rest. I don't want you to repay me with something you just accepted out of the blue."
> "What's that… SOMETHING??"
> "Nah. Go rest. Maybe tomorrow."
> "Tell… me."
Damn.
Why is she having weird thoughts?
> "There is… no getting into you, huh…?"
> "My request is that…"
> "Tell me. Why did you stop?"
> "But I don't think I can ask you that."
> "It's okay. I told you that you can name whatever you want… Everything includes that too."
> "Okay. What I want is for you… to help me get secret information from the councils and from the committee."
> "Whaaaaaaatttttt… Is that all? Like this? Come on, I thought you would ask for one night though."
Holy shit.
Is this girl in her right mind?
But then again… no girl is ever in her right mind when she's standing in front of me.
She actually looks disappointed.
Maybe I should say something like:
> "How about we go out tonight and maybe you can thank me for the food…"
> "You're not asking me out, are you? Because that's not the way you ask a lady..."
> "Well, it doesn't matter what I asked, right? It only matters that we go out. Besides, you have someone in your mind already."
She must've forgotten him after meeting me.
But I don't want her for any romantic reasons…
Things are moving pretty fast.
But we both sat down in the library.
I'm kinda worried.
The reason?
Lyra.
She saw me talk to her.
She even saw us hug.
She doesn't know I'm Kurai…
But if she finds out I'm alive—
She'll know soon.
Very soon.
Tonight is a very special night.
We cling to each other,
hand in hand like what you guys are probably thinking,
and walked out into the street.
People saw us.
They were fascinated.
She's super hot.
And I don't even need to talk about myself—how I became the best guy ever.
Training, posture, looks.
Yeah, that helped.
Besides, the more I work out, the fresher I look—
Damn, fresh isn't the word I should be using.
I'm not fresh.
I'm a man.
So yeah.
We enjoyed our time.
But then…
Chaos unfolded.
Sayaka was right in front of us.
It's really hard not to see her or not to pretend.
And it's a really good way of knowing if she still spreads rumors like she used to.
We won a 'couple lottery.'
Finally, after that, she said it:
"I want you to be mine."
"You are drunk, aren't you?"
"Well yeah, I already know. You see, girls know it when you're into them or not.
They also know when you're into someone or not. Well, I'm happy because you helped me."
"Yeah, I helped you. Maybe that's the reason why you're feeling like this...
But you already repaid me almost 50%."
And just like that, the quiet romance that I only wanted to use as a tool was blossoming as f*ck.
---
I got home, and when I got home…
The boys all chilled on me.
Guess Sayaka did tell them.
I'm starting to hate that girl.
Although I'm almost sure when I say this—
She likes me.
Of course she does.
---
That's how my day went.
---
The next day is a very big day.
The next day…
We are gonna go to the:
NYUMBANI KINGDOM
To help raise our camping abilities.
It's a competition that is held for a full-ledged week.
That's why I must check it out.
---
The next day
I'm on a train named 'Tree Root.'
It uses roots of the tree to move.
The driver is a tree magic user, making everything very easy to understand.
He uses the trees to move the train as if it's being led by the trees.
The reason is that accidents happen—
It's all to not let accidents happen.
The trees switch places with their roots and the trains as well.
It actually moves 300 km/h.
---
Looking at the kingdom…
The kingdom is covered with very long and thick trees,
making it easily mistaken for a forest.
The place that Minha told me about is here—
But we're passing it.
I can guess why.
It's all because they want us to see and learn about the culture,
since we'll stay here for a full week without them interfering.
---
There are 4 different places claimed to be dungeons.
In our assignment, the one who gets the 5th one will get double points.
That's because, before settling,
you need to reconsider the place you're going to settle in.
---
I forgot that I sat down in the citizen's section
without even considering to listen to the professor.
But not too long ago,
they were sent to find me on the train.
Let's just sleep and see who finds me.
---
Minutes have passed and I fell asleep.
Suddenly, in my dream, Lyra appeared.
It was so vivid I could tell her warmth—
and her calling me.
So I clung to her by
hugging her tight and said:
"I missed you."
What I didn't know was…
it wasn't a dream.
She actually found me on the train...