What the boys didn’t know was that two girls were also watching the tryouts just a few blocks away from them.
“Why did you have to bring me along, Calla?” Edel asked, crossing her arms protectively as they got seated among the mostly men crowd.
Calla chuckled, and replied:
“I need someone to accompany me, darling~ Princess, you have been eating lunch all alone inside your dorm room ever since last year, wouldn’t this be a good change?”
She was sucking on a candy apple loudly, and offered it to her friend. “Here’s yours, or we could share if you prefer~”
Edelweiss pushed her hand aside. “I’m comfortable enough eating alone. If you are truly worried about me, why here of all places? Surrounded by Warriors?”
“You never heard of the term ‘face your fears’, princess?” Calla said.
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you really going to let that one prince ruin your life? Just that one incident, destroying a beautiful and strong woman such as yourself?”
Edelweiss glared at this. “I won’t, but you don’t have to meddle—“.
“I need to meddle, dear. You know that very well. Since we were children, I always had to meddle to get you back up together again.”
She gestured to the people around them, mostly to the Gridiron players who were at the peak of masculinity among their peers.
“Look at this men. The world is your little jungle stage, Edel. They are watching like a crowd of vultures…. And vultures only eat the dead.”
“They will only pounce on you if you show that you are dead meat. So stay alive, dear, and keep your chin up.”
When she saw Edelweiss still held a conflicted expression, she then said in a softer tone, taking her hand:
“I know what you experienced was hard, whether or not Cermin Drycspiel was innocent. I know it would be hard for you to trust in the world again. But I am not asking you to trust.”
Edelweiss blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Hold on to your hatred, Edel. Do not trust any men from now on if you want to. But do not give up to them in fear.”
The now 3rd-year Scholar considered this, then took a deep breath. Her friend was right.
There’s no point in hiding like a turtle inside a shell out of fear. She needed to face the world, and bear her fangs like a shark toward it when it tries to harm her.
Just as she was lost in thought, the next batch after Don’s were now playing.
They unluckily got feet, but they still managed to get the ball in their possession. However, one of them was not good at aiming, and kicked the ball too hard in the wrong direction…..
And it went rushing directly to the audience, right where Edelweiss was sitting!
Edelweiss was not her former self and had become depressed due to the assault. She was not as alert as she was before, when she intercepted a dart going for Ronin’s eye.
If she was like back then, she could have managed to save herself on time, summoning a sea creature to block the ball.
Calla had no way to save her either, as her powers only work in the mind space, not the physical realm. She went on to cover Edelweiss protectively—
When a blue hand caught the ball like no problem.
“Are you ladies alright?” Asked a younger student, only at the cusp of puberty.
He was the one that Volken commended earlier and claimed as a trainee under him. The one with presumably two Mage Types.
He’s still in his first year, and yet he already had the build and facial features of a handsome lad, not a young boy. He smiled at them brightly.
Edelweiss felt something familiar with that smile.
It was the same strange arrhythmia she felt when she first saw Cermin. Because of this….
She immediately got distrustful and defensive, pushing herself to not see this man any further than a vulture going after her.
Don was confused by the sudden glare from the Opal girl he helped. Meanwhile, the other girl with half-green and half-white face wrapped her arms around him.
“Oh, thank you! Thank you, valiant hero~ To intercept a heavy ball dashing at the speed of light towards us helpless maidens….. How can I repay you?~”
Don immediately got flustered, as this girl was more mature than him, possibly in her final years at the Academy.
She had also grown…. large and heavy balls of her own too, on her chest. It was rubbing on Don’s arm so he had to gently push her away.
“No need to repay, it was out of reflex, really.” Don scratched the back of his head. “But is your friend doing alright? Her brows are creased and seem to be worried about something…”
“I am fine. Please go back to your seat and do not worry about us any longer.” Edelweiss answered coldly.
Don really found it unreasonable, but then he recognized something in the way that girl distrusted him.
It was the same distrust he held over men, especially when he was just Donna before. That kind of distrust could have only been acquired once a woman was wronged.
It was a justified distrust, but it was doesn’t feel right anymore, now that Don was experiencing the other side of it.
“If you say so, ladies…..” He said, walking back to his seat in deep thought.
He kept his ears perked to listen to the girls’ conversation even from afar.
“Did you see how he just ran all the way here the moment he saw the ball was kicked in the wrong direction!? He really is something else, I can’t wait to get to know him better~”
“Calla, sometimes your way of dealing with men disgusts me. If you despise them, just openly show it instead of hiding it with flirtation.”
“Oh, but I do like this one, Edelweiss! He’s quite charming, don’t you think?”
The one called Edelweiss rolled her eyes just like how little Donna rolled hers once.
“Doesn’t make a difference, still a man. If you give them mixed signals, they might pounce on you and think you’re easy prey.”
Don was now feeling conflicted, as he didn’t expect so many things to happen in just one tryout. First, that thing with Volken, and now this.
But he did pity this Edelweiss, and wanted to learn more but knew he probably couldn’t. Not as a man she highly holds prejudice over.
If only he could tell her that he understands her struggles too….
Ronin could hear all these along with the afterthoughts, and could only give the one who caused the girls’ distrust a look.
Cermin, eating his third candied apple: “What?”
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶