Chapter 158 Volume IV - Chapter 3: Thought of a Romantic Relationship
"I told you to protect my sister. There are guards watching her, right?"
Ulka sighed deeply from the other side of the call.
"Yes, there are."
"How many?"
"Six. Three D+, two C, and the last one B grade. They are affiliated with a company, so they can also call for backup if there is an emergency."
I leaned back, feeling a little relieved.
"I see."
But Ulka was confused.
"If you want me to increase the protection, I will."
Actually... that would be good.
"Yeah, but make sure my sister doesn't realize it, I want her to live a normal life.""
"Okay."
I smiled slightly at Ulka's answer. At least this thing seemed to be okay.
"See you then, Ulka."
After my words, the call went off and silence quickly filled the room.
Looking up at the ceiling, I sighed and thought about what had happened about twenty minutes ago.
"A date, huh?"
"You seemed to be trying to stay away from this kind of thing when you were dealing with Celine, what's gotten into you now?
"There's a big difference, Sith."
I turned around in my bed and looked at Sith standing next to me with his hands on his waist.
"Celine is a different matter. If I start a relationship with her, it will be because I want to help her, because I don't want to do anything to hurt her. So... it won't be 'serious, real', at least from my point of view. If I'm going to have a relationship, it shouldn't be fake, I shouldn't deceive the other person."
Sith raised one eyebrow, looking a little surprised.
'I never thought you had such ideas about romance.'
My eyebrows furrowed quickly in comparison, and I tapped Sith on the head with my index finger. Sith jumped back quickly at my sudden movement. My flick, therefore, had only nudged him lightly.
"What do you mean you didn't think?"
Sith spoke, this time looking at my index finger with a slight hesitation in his eyes.
"Because you seem like the kind of person who has no interest in romance, who would reject someone who tried to approach you like that.
Each word penetrated my heart, I felt a growing unease inside me. And... I didn't like it.
"Really?"
'Yes.'
I sighed deeply, banished the bad feeling inside me, and thought.
I've never been negative about the idea of a romantic relationship. What I strive for here on Lunerra is to try to be happy. I'm trying to experience things that I didn't experience in my previous life, including whether I have a girlfriend or not. It's just... I'm not sure if it's normal for me to be in a relationship with someone.
I mean... there's only three years difference between my body and my mind. My real age is not a problem, at least I think like that. But... I'm not a human being at the very beginning, at least not half a human being. If I marry someone in the future, if I have children, will they also not be human?
If only one of the parents is wiera, it is enough for their children to be wiera. Does that also apply to me, a hybrid?
So, another thought sprouted in my mind.
Can I restore my body to its original state? I already know the answer... Yes, I can, but it would be extremely difficult.
But do I want to do it? Of course, I want to. One of my goals is to become fully human again, which is not impossible.
So as long as my partner knows and accepts this information, there shouldn't be a problem, right? In the end, if I can do the things I have planned, even if it will take a while, I think there is a good chance that I will become human again.
When I felt that my mind is clearing, I suddenly paused.
Do I get excited and make excuses to myself...? There is no reason for Absolute Mind to clear my mind...
Would it have cleaned it up?
It would, now that I think about it...
'I think you should sleep, Aiden.'
So, a relationship is okay for me right now?
Although... what if I misunderstood Sue?
I paused again.
Seriously... I didn't think this much about Celine, I had my reasons, but why am I thinking this much about Sue?
Could it be that I liked her?
'Aiden...'
Sue... is actually an ordinary girl. She's a background character in a backstory that doesn't have much of a place in the game except Justin's backstory. That's why I was excited when I met her for the first time. I liked dealing with an issue; a person that I didn't see in the game.
Is that why I'm thinking like this now?
'You fucking idiot, can't you hear me?'
Hm- Huh?
When I turned to Sith, I noticed that his little eyebrows were furrowed and shaking. He had a look on his face that showed his anger.
'Sleep, don't think too much. Just sleep. Or you'll blow your brain out.'
"Isn't that technically impossible? I have Absol-"
'Sleep.'
His words echoed in my head, and my own words caught in my throat as I swallowed.
"O- okay, I'm sorry. It's just... I got a little excited. I've never been in a relationship or been on a date in my past life."
'I can understand that much.'
Sith sighed lightly at this. Then took the shape of a green, glowing orb and entered my body. He needed to sleep too, as everyone did.
I took a deep breath and stopped thinking. I closed my eyes.
Still, a few more thoughts went through my head before I fell asleep.
It can't hurt to try, right?
*******
One day passed, then it became three days... and the weekend came.
Almost nothing important happened during these days. I trained, practiced, met with others for the study group. The thing that sticks in my mind the most was the inter-class soccer tournament that the academy organized.
To be honest, I'm not very talented at soccer and it showed in the game, so I tried to play mostly passively, just passing and holding the ball. Adrian didn't play extremely well until he learned the game, but then he got used to it and he definitely performed above normal.
Julian, on the other hand, has been a monster. He scored six goals on his own in a single game and played like a toy with the students in the opposite class toward the end. In fact, when we went up against a class, the class purposely backed off because of Julian's presence alone.
Still... that was it. As much fun as I had, there was no more. I wasn't too focused on soccer because I'm not that good at it.
What I was focused on was today.
The clock read noon for the time available. The academy was relatively quiet, there was a chilling breeze outside, indicating that it was winter.
Inside my room, I looked at myself in the mirror and studied my appearance.
I was dressed quite neatly. I was wearing a cardigan, a simple light-colored sweater, and jeans, which didn't seem like the best choice for winter, but which I didn't need as a wiera and yet kept me quite warm.
Although I wasn't particularly handsome, I didn't look bad, and my gray eyes played a big part in that. Still, I knew it wasn't healthy to comment on myself.
"Sith, do you think I'm okay?"
'You should increase your charm, there is a limit to good preparation. You're not bad, you're not ugly, but you could be a lot better.'
I clicked my tongue.
"I'll increase it... I'll increase it so much that Lucia will be like candlelight next to me."
I hesitated for a moment, I was joking with the Sith to make a joke, but then... an idea struck me.
Actually... I could really increase my charm. It would be hard, and it would take me a lot of work, but...
'I feel like you're heading down a bad path.'
I paused in my thoughts, sighed, and spoke calmly as I stepped away from the mirror.
"You feel nothing."
I don't need to do anything else, I'm fine, I guess. I just... got excited.
So I finally walked out of my room, went downstairs, and headed off to my destination.
The sky was covered with clouds, it could rain in the evening. Nevertheless, it was the weekend and there were more students than usual outside. There was a quiet crowd outside, it was a bit strange but I was already used to it.
The only thing I couldn't get used to was that some passers-by would stare at me in particular. It seemed that my fame, which I thought was temporary, was still going on.
With this, something came to my mind again and I squinted my eyes.
'Sith, please tell me if you see anyone doing strange things. There might be others following me after the other guy.'
'Okay, take your time.'
Now, that's settled too... I guess I should really try to make the most of my day.
I turned my eyes in front of me, and then I stopped.
Ah, here I am.
When I saw the café next to me, not far away, I smiled and approached.
But my face twitched instantly because there was no empty table in front of me. Students enjoying their weekend were literally crowding the café.
I felt uneasy for a moment.
What if I can't find a table?
I waited for a while, and then my nerves started to fray when I realized that the never-ending noise was literally echoing in my ears.
Should I find a quieter place? It seems like it would be uncomfortable to eat something with all this noise...
The idea clicked with me. I thought about where else we could eat besides here, and that's when someone caught my attention.
Sue appeared to me out of the corner of her eye from a distance. She smiled as she noticed me and started to approach me.
She was wearing jeans and a sweater just like mine. The only difference between us was that she was wearing a thicker cardigan. I could confirm that she wore light makeup on her face, but it was rather faint. Other than that, her long black hair was combed and quite pretty.
Yes, Sue might have been an ordinary girl, but I couldn't say she wasn't pretty at all.
"You're early."
Oh, I got distracted.
"No, I haven't been here long. I was looking for a table but..."
I tore my eyes away from Sue and looked around the tables again, but I still couldn't see a single empty table. Everyone was where they were, and we weren't the only ones standing. There were a lot of people waiting to be seated at a table they found empty.
"Never mind then."
When I heard Sue's careless voice, I turned to her again, this time with a look of confusion clearly on my face.
"Excuse me?"
"We don't need to eat here. It's early anyway."
She walked briskly out of the café, not giving a damn about not getting a table or not being able to eat, leaving me standing there, confused.
"H- hey! Stop, wait!"
I ran after her and once we were out of the crowd, I could easily find her again. She was never out of my line of sight anyway. She was at a distance where I could easily follow her.
"Haaah... Don't move so suddenly, give me a chance to think."
Sue chuckled lightly.
"I apologize."
Sue continued to smile, turned around again, and pointed to an end of the academy that was invisible to us.
If I remember correctly, there is the academy's shopping mall.
"There's an entertainment center near the mall, and there's a café there too. Let's go there!"
Ah... Right, there is not only one cafe in the academy... Why didn't I think of that?
Am I becoming stupid?
"Okay, let's go."
With that, I quickly joined Sue and we started walking along the busy but spacious roads of the academy.
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only