Dinner time.
While I was eating, Tana from the opposite side tapped my foot lightly. I wondered what was up, and she pointed towards Hayun, giving me a knowing look.
Hayun, lost in thought while eating, looked seriously gloomy.
Sigh, did I say too much?
After today’s practice, I had mentioned to Hayun and the others about Rin and how I was suspicious of Heaven Len, and ever since then, she had been like that.
I thought she had completely severed ties with the Ren family after the last time I saw her, but maybe it wasn’t as easy as that.
Feeling it was my fault, I couldn’t even swallow my food. Besides, Eve and Sen were glancing nervously as well.
I thought about talking to Hayun alone after dinner when our eyes met.
She looked around to check the expressions of the other friends, turning her head like she had been poked and awkwardly smiled as she explained, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you all uncomfortable.”
“N-No! Not at all!”
“Yeah! Dinner is really delicious!”
“I like this!”
In response to Hayun’s apology, Tana, Eve, and Sen hurriedly chimed in about dinner. Watching my friends, Hayun scratched the back of her head.
“It’s not because of the Ren family. I’ve let go of everything. I just feel a bit skeptical about my own past.”
“Skeptical?” I asked back, and Hayun put down her fork and replied.
“When I heard I should date Ares, why didn’t I ask for more details? It was definitely a suspicious situation, so why did I just let it pass?”
She already knew the answer, so I didn’t need to say it. Back then, she thought following her family’s orders was the only way to survive.
Knowing all this, Hayun was blaming herself for her foolishness. Still, I was confident it wouldn’t last long.
If it’s Hayun, she’s sure to overcome this by herself.
In just a few days, the competition would happen.
Even though the outcome didn’t matter much to me, seeing everyone practice hard made me want to cheer for them.
Just then, the second-year twins approached Tana.
“Hey, big sister! Here, drink this!”
“Other seniors, come here too!”
Ben Mayas and Valtory Mayas brought over drinks. We were a bit taken aback, but Tana accepted them gracefully and smiled in thanks.
“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”
“Yes!”
“Tana big sister! Cricket fighting!”
The little Mayas twins cheered and dashed off. I was a bit surprised by how different they were from before, but Tana shrugged and explained.
“Well, we did visit the royal palace. Maybe they were really touched by that. They feel like their dreams were supported.”
“Can a person change that much though?”
Eve was sipping the drink they gave her. Though Tana seemed a bit awkward, she didn’t look too upset.
“Anyway, it’s nice to see you all getting along.”
Resting my chin on my hand and sticking a straw into my drink, Tana also nodded, a bit bashfully, agreeing with me.
Just when I had gotten used to eating with my left hand instead of my broken right hand, May Plov burst into the cafeteria.
I was going to ask to have dinner together, but I didn’t see Rin or May, so I just left it. But it didn’t seem like she came for dinner.
As May looked around earnestly, she locked eyes with me and immediately ran over.
“Sorry, but can you help me with the tray?”
“Having a broken hand sure is a privilege, huh?”
“I need to check my bandage later. Aren’t I just pretending when I’m already healed?”
Tana and Eve fired back.
“I’m just feeling like I need to go somewhere. Just by looking at her vibes.”
“Daniel!”
May came running as if she were in a hurry, sweat beading on her forehead.
Thanks to that, the eyes of the students in the cafeteria naturally turned towards us, but a few quickly looked away as they recognized May Plov as the school’s delinquent.
“Come with me! A lot of kids got hurt… They’re looking for you.”
“Kids?”
“Beldament.”
Thinking I was getting pulled into some trouble again, I responded that I understood and got up. Tana and Eve waved me off, saying they’d take care of the tray.
The city of Bairn had many facilities and buildings supporting its massive stadium as its main source of revenue.
Bairn Hospital was among them.
A treatment center for those injured at the huge stadium.
The Beldament gang was hospitalized there.
Both Rin, May’s roommate, and the Dean along with other professors looked anxious.
The condition was quite serious; their faces were all swollen, and several bones were broken, making them look horrible.
“D-Daniel! You’re here!”
Beldament, his face wrapped in bandages, greeted me way too enthusiastically. The other professors came up behind me.
“What’s going on?”
I wondered why they had called me, and as I listened, I realized I was deeply entangled in this matter.
We were the ones who were asked by Hendrick to stomp on Anton. Of course, we refused, but the night walk was the problem.
I had dealt with those who said the wrong things about Rin, and as a result, the request was fulfilled.
Hendrick misunderstood that we had received the request and handed over a money bag to Beldament today, but then it was snatched by pirates roaming the streets.
“Pirates?”
Wait, this isn’t about the sea, right?
As I was in disbelief, the guys lying in bed all spoke in unison.
“He called himself a pirate!”
“Yeah! He was super strong!”
“It hurt so much, ugh.”
May exploded in anger at the weakened characters.
“Then why the heck did you accept strange money and get beaten?”
The guys who had just been sniffing suddenly stopped. In the end, you could say they got punished for trying to get something for nothing.
“How did they know it was a money bag?”
Just as I thought about this, Rin uttered my question. The other teachers looked serious too, pondering the same thing.
“It’s probably tied to that guy Hendrick.”
“A mere student linked with pirates?”
The Dean placed his hand on his forehead, not believing my words, yet he didn’t provide any other plausible theories.
As doubts about Hendrick grew among the other professors, Jeffrey, our class professor, clenched his fist and exploded in anger.
“We need to go tell Palace right away! This isn’t something we can overlook! Students colluded with pirates? And they even hurt the competition’s selected members? These are insane!”
I remembered him not being particularly passionate before, but perhaps he believed this was a way to tie in the Palace, which is why he seemed so intense.
But then Professor Amanda countered.
“That’s just suspicion. There’s no evidence that this student Hendrick is actually related to pirates. Even if we could prove it, we’d have no grounds to speak about the competition.”
Because I had smashed the Anton gang.
Sure, they started it, but still… that was how things turned out.
“Of course, it doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong. I’m not in a position to speak as a teacher, but… defending a friend was a good act.”
Amanda offered me comfort, possibly worried I’d feel demoralized. Sorry, but I didn’t care at all. If the same situation arose again, I’d gladly hit harder.
Ultimately, the conversation just went in circles, and the professors decided to discuss amongst themselves and sent us away.
As Rin, May, and I walked through the night back to the accommodation, May asked.
“Is there really no way?”
She balled her fists, unable to accept that her immature friends had ended up like that. Rin placed her hand on her chest as if to say she could find them with her imprint.
But I shook my head and replied.
“There is! We can definitely find them. So just stay calm. There are experts for these kinds of things.”
“Experts?”
I grinned at May’s question.
We have those from the Chokugen Faction and even a princess who personally runs an intelligence organization.
*
This time, Elise wasn’t doing anything for the competition. No, she hadn’t even set foot in the massive stadium of Bairn.
She was comfortably living on the top floor of the hotel for a specific reason.
Since she had shown her face at the royal banquet, people would start recognizing her as the Third Princess.
She didn’t want to endure the fatigue that came from that, so she ignored everyone around her, waiting only for the day the competition ended.
“Princess, I’ll place the fruits you wanted here.”
“Thank you, Bertia. How do you think the competition preparations are going?”
But that didn’t mean she was entirely uninterested in the competition. In fact, she had started to take an interest lately. Being cooped up in her room with nothing to do naturally made her curious.
“I think many students are getting injured. But it seems to be due to problems from outside rather than practice.”
“Isn’t it just delinquents like May attacking behind the scenes?”
“May’s right-hand man, Beldament, was hospitalized during lunch today.”
“Excuse me?”
I was taken aback and jumped up from my bed at those words.
Just then, the hotel door burst open, and a boy with black hair walked in.
“Wow, you’ve made quite a palace for yourself alone.”
Daniel McLean frowned as he entered.
“Master!”
Although we were in the same hotel, Elise rushed over to Daniel as if it had been a long time since she saw him.
