Emily was momentarily confused about what she just heard.
“…Huh?”
It wasn’t the warm and kind voice she usually knew, but one filled with chilling disdain.
It felt like the same person was suddenly completely different.
“…What did you say?”
So, Emily thought she must have misheard.
But she hadn’t misheard.
“Didn’t you hear? If I go alone, then I’ll go alone. Why would I consult you?”
Ken Feinstein coldly glared at her and spat out those words without mercy.
He swatted Emily’s hand away as she touched his cheek.
“Don’t you remember? You stepped on my head and insulted me.”
“…That, that was…”
“How dare you insult Mary?”
The hatred in his eyes stabbed at Emily’s heart fiercely.
“Get lost. I don’t want to see someone like you for even a second.”
With those words, Ken turned away.
Ken’s back, facing Emily, felt like a towering wall.
She couldn’t say another word.
Only confusion and pain remained.
The pain surged from deep within her chest.
‘Even if I hear such things from Ken… it’s nothing…’
Emily kept deceiving herself, but she realized her true feelings were already starting to go awry.
She had been rejected.
Just as Emily had tricked herself into rejecting Ken.
‘It’s nothing…’
She continued to comfort herself with lies.
But Emily’s steps were already leaving the classroom.
。
。 。
After Emily left the classroom, I was curled up with my head in my hands.
‘Jeeeeeennn! What have you done, you idiot Ken!?’
It seemed that Ken’s bad words about Mary stirred something in him, and with tremendous focus, he unleashed his true feelings that he had kept pent up.
As I watched this unfold, I thought, “Ah, I’m really going to get hit now…” but Emily’s reaction was completely unexpected.
“…Ugh…”
She bit her lip, clenched her hands, and trembled her shoulders.
It was a face that seemed to hold back some pain that was different from fear.
Then, with her eyes reddening, she gathered tears and rushed out of the classroom.
‘Should I chase her even now?’
While pulling my hair in frustration, I thought about running after Emily to tell her it was a misunderstanding.
But misunderstanding my butt! If the guy who just said everything he wanted to say suddenly approached her with a grin, she’d think he’s insane.
‘No choice then… should I talk to her tomorrow?’
I didn’t want my relationship with Emily to go sour.
As time went by, I needed to navigate closer to the ending, and to do that, I had to maintain some proximity.
It couldn’t be helped that Emily personally disliked me.
But at least, it would be good to have some casual conversations like we did recently.
‘…How do I even explain?’
When Emily comes by later, should I approach her cautiously?
That day went by as I contemplated ways to improve my relationship with Emily.
But she never returned after leaving the classroom.
And the next day as well.
Emily didn’t show up at the academy.
。
。 。
Emily lay face down on her bed in her room.
After slipping out of the classroom without even realizing it, she hadn’t done anything since arriving at the dormitory.
She was just lying there.
But unlike the stillness of the room, her mind was anything but still.
‘…What was that look?’
What kept flooding her thoughts was the way Ken looked at her.
The rage and disgust openly displayed on his face, the animosity.
Ken’s words kept echoing in her mind.
“Get lost. I don’t want to see someone like you for even a second.”
That voice ringing in her head repeatedly scratched at her heart.
“Why… why do I have to feel this way about Ken…?”
She didn’t want to cry.
If she cried, it would mean acknowledging that his words had hurt her.
It would mean that the feelings she had denied for so long were becoming truth.
That’s why she didn’t want to cry.
But tears flowed down Emily’s cheeks nonetheless.
“No… I… I can’t… like Ken…”
She kept deceiving herself, but from the cracks of her wounded heart, her true feelings started to slip out gradually.
‘I don’t want to be hated.’
“It doesn’t matter… right? Whether Ken dislikes me or not, nothing changes.”
‘I don’t want to be hated.’
“It wasn’t like we were that close in the first place, right? I can just do my own thing, and he can do his…”
‘I don’t want to be hated.’
“If only I could just… Ugh, just let it be that way.”
The words she uttered to avoid getting hurt bore no fruit.
Her emotions were bursting out uncontrollably now, too intense to suppress.
As tears continued to flow, she sobbed.
“Huh… why do you look at me like that?”
In truth, Emily already knew.
She understood that she was in the wrong.
At first, she thought the emotions she felt for Ken were merely a means of denial.
That she was making him suffer.
But at some point, her heart began to race with excitement when she teased him.
She found herself thrilled by the way he would fumble and feel awkward.
Her heart raced, and she wanted to make things even more difficult for him.
She wanted to touch him more.
The feelings she initially denied soon turned into an addiction to that thrill, causing her to seek him out repeatedly.
And she continued to torment him.
Even though she knew it was wrong, she couldn’t stop.
So when Mary stood up to her, she felt a sense of relief.
She didn’t know where to draw the line for herself either.
Then when Ken defended her when it nearly came to a fight with Mary, she felt grateful he called her a friend.
‘Ah, no! Mary! It’s not harassment! Emily and I are just friends!’
‘…F-friends?’
Of course, she knew that was just Ken trying to smooth things over.
But Emily couldn’t shake the words from her mind.
And then she realized.
‘I want to get closer to Ken.’
After that, she wanted to create a more normal relationship with Ken.
She even tried to find time for just the two of them.
“Ken, let’s have a meal together today. A day wouldn’t hurt, right?”
But opportunities rarely presented themselves.
After becoming closer, she felt she should apologize carefully.
She knew it was shameless, but it was the best she could do.
Amidst conflicting emotions and her first uncharted experience with love, everything she did was clumsy from the start.
Emily thought it should have started with an apology.
That she shouldn’t have hoisted her pride.
If she had done that, none of this would have happened.
“…What should I do now?”
Only after everything went wrong did Emily finally accept.
The emotions she felt towards Ken were sentiments of romantic excitement.
And that the actions she had taken towards him were irreversible mistakes.
‘I don’t want to go to the academy…’
Then morning broke.
The previous day, she had been holed up in her room, doing nothing and skipping the academy.
But now she had to go.
She needed to do something.
“……Let’s go.”
Having made up her mind, Emily prepared and left the dormitory.
Unlike the previous day when she had tossed and turned in anguish, the academy was peacefully unchanged.
Students bustling in noisily.
The sound of birds chirping and the breeze blowing.
“Ah! What am I going to do…! I need the assignment for this afternoon…!”
A student cried out, having possibly broken something and fallen.
In the midst of all that peace, Emily was worried about only one thing.
‘How should I face him…?’
What would Ken’s reaction be when they crossed paths in class?
Would he ignore her?
Or maybe grimace and click his tongue?
Either way, it would surely hurt her heart.
That possibility scared her immensely.
‘He’s still… not here.’
When Emily arrived at the classroom, she casually scanned for Ken but it appeared he hadn’t shown up yet.
She went to her place and organized her bag.
“Emily… are you okay? You suddenly took leave yesterday.”
The girl next to her, her closest friend Marine, spoke up.
Although shy, she was attentive and considerate, which made Emily feel comfortable with her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wasn’t feeling great.”
“Is that so? If anything’s up, please tell me.”
“Sure.”
Marine had undoubtedly witnessed what happened with Ken but she didn’t bring it up.
That kindness actually reassured Emily a bit.
“Good morning, Emily.”
“Ah, hi, Adrian.”
Gradually, students began to gather in the classroom.
After that, Emily sat down and waited for Ken to arrive, but for some reason, he didn’t show up until class began.
‘…Is he taking a break today too?’
He had definitely skipped the academy a few days ago.
Maybe he was doing the same today.
Emily felt some relief, as she planned to apologize when they met.
If he took the day off, they could have a conversation tomorrow.
If just a little more time passed, her feelings would surely fade away.
Then Ken might treat her a bit more gently.
Time passed, and the sun set, painting the sky with twilight.
‘In the end, he really was taking a day off.’
Ken didn’t appear in the classroom at all.
The nerves I felt in the morning felt foolish now since nothing happened throughout the day.
It was a perfectly peaceful day, just like that morning walk to school.
With her spirits lifted, Emily returned to the dormitory, thinking about what to say for her apology tomorrow.
On her way back to the dormitory,
‘…Who is that?’
In the twilight-soaked walk home.
She spotted a woman approaching from the opposite side.
‘…She doesn’t seem like an academy student.’
The woman had long black hair cascading down to her ankles, obscuring her face.
Her clothes resembled rags, making her look like someone not quite normal.
That unsettling aura radiating from her made Emily hesitant.
Could it be a homeless person who wandered onto campus?
She really didn’t want to get involved.
There were no buildings or people around, only a path made of tiles.
On that twilight-colored path, only Emily and the strange woman remained.
Feeling a chill, Emily tried to pass by without making eye contact.
But then,
“Despairing, huh…”
The woman mumbled as she walked past, her words casually drifting into Emily’s ears.
“…Huh?”
And Emily inadvertently responded.
She had firmly decided not to engage, but her awareness drew her into answering her sudden words.
The woman then turned her head towards Emily’s voice.
“Yooouuu~… are veryyy… despairing!”
“……”
Staring into the bloodshot eyes peering through the tangled hair.
The unsettling look struck fear into Emily.
‘Don’t respond.’
She attempted to ignore the woman and walk away.
“…You know? I’ll take you.”
But Emily found herself frozen in place by the woman standing before her.
She was just staring, her face tense, not knowing when the woman had gotten so close.
“You…”
Then the woman with the tangled hair grinned, her eyes curving like a crescent moon.
“…Bring me the Child of Prophecy.”
“…Huh?”
At that moment, everything in Emily’s view turned red.
“…Kuh, kuh…”
As the scene changed suddenly, she attempted to cry out, but she couldn’t.
The cause that colored her view red was coming from her own throat.
Splash.
Emily sank down to the floor, hand clutching her throat.
‘…Is this… all my… blood?’
Blood gushed like a fountain.
Her vision blurred, and her body lost balance.
Out of strength and unable to endure, she collapsed to the cold ground.
‘…Mom…’
“Ahahahahah! Ahahahaha!”
Through her fading vision, she saw a woman joyfully dancing with a large pair of scissors in hand.
As she stared at the woman, Emily’s body grew colder.
。
。
Upon awakening, Emily found herself staring at a familiar ceiling.
“…Ugh!”
With an unsettling sensation, she shot up and checked her throat immediately.
“…I… I’m okay.”
Her throat was fine.
Looking around, she saw her familiar room.
Warm sunlight streamed through the window.
It was a familiar morning scene.
“…Was… it a nightmare?”
It had been such an unpleasant dream.
Perhaps she fell asleep exhausted from worrying and fretting the day before.
It wasn’t unusual to have nightmares.
‘But… it was just too much. That dream.’
The vivid sensation of her throat, the chilling laughter of the woman.
As she recalled it, goosebumps crept down her body.
‘…Let’s just go to school.’
Ultimately, after waking from the nightmare, Emily shook her head and brushed it off.
Then, just like usual, she got ready and set off for the academy.
Unlike the previous day of tossing and turning through distress and unpleasant dreams, the academy was as peaceful as ever.
Students bustling noisily with their morning routine.
‘…What’s this?’
The sound of birds chirping and the gentle breeze.
“Ah! What am I going to do…! I need the assignment for this afternoon…!”
A student cried again, having perhaps dropped something and broken it.
In the midst of all that peace, Emily found only one thought swirling in her mind.
‘…Why did I see that scene?’
The déjà vu of the sights left Emily staring vacantly at the scene.
