With her blue hair meticulously styled and her uniform immaculate, she looked every bit the perfect candidate for the upcoming second-year student council president.
Irvene Rangdall walked with a poised, rhythmic grace, the crowd parting effortlessly before her. She carried an aura of absolute frost. It was a cold, unyielding attitude that made everyone within a five-foot radius instinctively flinch away, lowering their heads to avoid her gaze.
"Hey, Irvene."
At the sound of that single voice, the icy armor she wore so naturally began to melt away. The sharp line of her lips softened, curving into a rare, gentle smile. Her steps quickened with sudden enthusiasm as she closed the distance to Erwin.
"Did he come to mess with you again?" Erwin asked, his expression clouded with genuine worry.
"Nope," Irvene replied firmly, her smile faint but reassuring.
Nearly everyone in the academy was acutely aware of her feelings for Erwin. To the rest of the world, she was a distant, untouchable ice queen who only spoke to a select circle of close friends. Erwin was the sole exception. Yet, ironically, Erwin remained completely oblivious to it all, entirely too dense to notice the obvious.
To the onlookers in the hallway, they looked exactly like a couple as they walked side-by-side toward the lecture hall. And, just as she did every single day, Irvene took her seat directly next to Erwin, slipping back into the familiar, comfortable pocket of her closest friends.
Irvene’s Persp
I was actually in a pleasant mood for once, listening intently to Instructor Sophiana’s lecture. For the first fifteen minutes, the classroom was entirely peaceful, the complex theories of mana flowing smoothly into my notebook.
Then, the heavy door let out a sharp, piercing screech.
The abrupt noise shattered the room’s focus. Some of heads turned, and even Instructor Sophiana paused mid-sentence. Standing at the threshold was a frail, disheveled boy.
My jaw instantly tightened. My fingers gripped my pen so hard my knuckles turned a stark white. ’Vale’. My blood ran cold as a familiar surge of anger and anxiety flared up inside me
’Did he seriously come here to cause trouble again? Hasn’t he done enough?’
Before my dark thoughts could spiral, a warm, reassuring hand gently pressed against mine.
The sudden contact acted like a soothing balm, melting away the tension rigid in my shoulders. I didn’t even need to look up to know who it was. Erwin was right here beside me. His silent reassurance was a reminder that I wasn’t alone, and I forced myself to take a slow, calming breath.
Instructor Sophiana broke the heavy silence, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she dismissed Vale and signaled for him to find a seat.
As he began walking up the stepped rows, my mind raced with anxious questions. ’Is he going to come over here? Is he going to look at me and start screaming insults like he usually does?’
I braced myself, instinctively ducking my head slightly to avoid his gaze, terrified of causing a scene in the middle of a lecture.But the confrontation never came.
Instead of throwing a tantrum or making a fool of himself, Vale walked straight past us without a word. He didn’t even look in my direction. He simply climbed to the very back row, slipped into a lonely seat by the window, and sat down quietly.
For the rest of the class, I kept expecting him to do something—anything. But he just sat there, staring at the instructor and listening to the mana theory lecture as if he actually cared. It was entirely uncharacteristic of the rotten scum I knew, and it left an unsettling knot of confusion in my stomach.
***
Vale’s Perp
’Wait... Helen! Was that the name Eriana mentioned?’
The realization struck me like a bucket of ice water. The exhaustion that had been dragging my eyelids down split-seconds ago vanished completely. My head snapped up, my eyes darting across the lecture hall like a predator tracking movement in the brush.
Just then, a girl at the front of the room stood up. She moved with an innate elegance as she walked down the stepped aisles toward the podium.
I couldn’t quite catch a glimpse of her face from this angle, but she calmly gathered a stack of documents from the instructor’s desk and left the classroom, presumably to deliver them.
’Ah, damn it. Missed her face’ I thought, a frown tugging at the corners of my lips.
My gaze swept across the classroom caught the two people chatting and laughing. Of course it is Erwin and Irvene.. But couldn’t continue their couple drama.
’It feels sick’... ’why did i even bothered to chase after her like parasite, is it because of childhood memory...well whatever’ he thought
Before their gaze swept on me.... I quickly averted my eyes.. My gaze lingered on an empty desk a short distance away from mine.
’Wait’ ’Wait’
A sudden, jarring thought sparked in my mind. Pieces of memories I hadn’t fully organized began colliding, forming a horrifyingly clear picture. Like gears finally snapping into place, the connection made my chest tighten. My expression warped into one of utter bafflement, and I instinctively clutched my head.
"No... no, no, no," I muttered under my breath.
’Did i become too stupid or am i stupid from birth’ he thought to himself
That girl...
The realization hit me like a physical blow, freezing the air right in my lungs. My entire body went rigid against the hard wooden seat. It was her. She was the exact same girl who had turned to look at me when I first stumbled into the lecture hall—the same one who had instantly ducked her head in the moment our eyes met.
"I bet she is hundred percent scared of me, if it was the old me i wouldn’t bothered by this.."
My knuckles turned white against the wooden desk—not out of anger toward her, but out of absolute disgust for myself, or rather. ’If I have even a shred of decency left in me, I have to find a way to apologize to her,’ he thought, lowering my head in shame.
/THUD/
The sharp sound of the classroom door swinging open broke my spiral. He looked up, and my breath caught in my throat. Walking back into the room was the same girl who had came just after delivered the documents.
Our eyes met for a for barely a millisecond before she flinched, instantly glancing away as if looking at a monster.
"Haa..." A heavy, suffocating sigh escaped my lips. Wrapped in a terrible, lingering guilt.
I crossed my arms on the desk and buried my face in them, wishing the floor would just swallow me whole.