Chapter 7: I Became the Last Place in the Academy

Knowing the future meant dealing with it alone, using that information to somehow resolve things – that was the basic principle.

But what if I suddenly went to that person and said, "This is going to happen in the future, so prepare for it"?

How much would they believe me?

They'd have to give up so much, be prepared for so much, just to believe those words.

And even if that thing really did happen in two weeks, I had no idea what would become of me afterward.

I could be grilled about how I knew about this, where the information came from.

But I was prepared for all of that, and I spoke the information aloud.

Unless I could try again and again, it was too big a gamble for me, not knowing if this was the right thing to do.

So, I was a little scared.

Scared that I might not be here after the incident, in a situation where I might or might not be able to stop it.

But it was already done.

I had two weeks, which was enough time for me.

So, I renewed my resolve.

The same school life as always.

The same space where gazes of disregard and contempt crossed paths.

It wasn't mine, but I squirmed at the atmosphere that was ultimately directed at me.

I wanted to shake it off because it was so unpleasant, but I didn't even have the Abilities to do so, so I just endured and let it pass.

The day passed, and the sunset fell.

While everyone else was going home, I didn't.

Somehow, when I thought about being alone, even two weeks felt too short.

"...Are you an academy student?"

"Ah, yes."

"Then just take a ride."

"Thank you."

Everyone dreamed of wearing this uniform.

Well, it was natural, since just wearing the uniform granted you some benefits like this.

But I still didn't understand if it was worth enduring the gazes of disregard, contempt, and ridicule just to get this uniform.

It wasn't like I had done anything with this uniform anyway.

Kanna was just another character who was buried like that.

So, I was so powerless that I wondered if that was why.

I rode in the high-speed moving taxi, watching the scenery change in an instant.

The view that had been in the center was now close to the wall that people had built to escape.

Since everything except the center was a wall, it was difficult to tell which way was which.

But I had decided what to look for first.

First, the weirdo who summoned the monster.

Second, the ominous totem created by the weirdo.

Third, the crack in the wall.

To enter the space with the barrier, you needed one of those three things.

It might be difficult for others to find the sense of incongruity, but I would be able to find the clues a little better.

I walked around, looking around.

It was an ordinary city. There were apartments and houses densely packed together.

It was a little strange how the scenery changed so drastically despite being nearby, as if announcing the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, compressing the rich and poor neighborhoods.

"...Where should I start looking?"

In fact, I couldn't easily guess where to start looking.

Since the details of the incident were never revealed in the beginning, I couldn't tell where or how the signs were showing in the academy or in this city.

All I could do was struggle to find traces.

It was too daunting to do it all alone, but fortunately, I had two weeks, so I thought I could do my best.

Even if I couldn't stop this one, there was a next time.

Of course, I didn't intend to rest easy, thinking there was a next time.

With that in mind, I carefully sent my gaze around.

Gazes gathering around me.

Perhaps because the white uniform announced that I was a student of the academy, I could see that the gazes around me were slightly focused.

They seemed to be gazes of admiration, or perhaps envy, and I barely managed to hold back the corners of my lips from turning down.

They probably thought I was like a star.

They probably thought I was able to enter the academy because I had Abilities.

I wanted to tell them that it was hell to enter such a place with insufficient Abilities.

Of course, I had no reason to tell them that, since they didn't know and hadn't asked for help.

I looked at the wall.

The huge wall seemed like it wouldn't let anyone in.

But the thought that it would be breached someday, and that a monster would come crashing in, taking away many people's friends, lovers, and families, made me tremble with fear.

As I was lost in thought, I realized that people's gazes weren't just focused on me, and I glanced back.

There, I saw a student wearing the same uniform, Yun Hamin, hiding in the alley and watching me.

"...Yun Hamin?"

Why is he following me here?

Yun Hamin's house couldn't possibly be near here.

"Ah..."

He scratched his head awkwardly, as if he had been caught, and slowly walked out.

"...Did you follow me?"

"Yeah."

When I asked quietly, I got a cheerful answer.

He was a guy who didn't seem to care about me at all, let alone be interested in me, but what I said on the school rooftop today must have been quite a shock to him.

He said he would think about it, but I didn't expect him to follow me so closely.

I knew he was good at taking action, but I didn't expect him to go this far.

"Why?"

"...You asked me to believe you, but to believe that, I have to ruin my exam. To do that, I thought I needed some reasonable, well, some kind of basis that I could trust."

Yun Hamin answered with a bitter smile.

I told him information about the future. I couldn't provide any evidence for it.

I can't say, "I saw you in the novel. I'm from outside the novel."

Therefore, what I presented was just information about the future, without any basis.

He judged that it was absurd to give up what he was aiming for just by believing that information.

But I was impressed by the way he didn't stop there and tried to get the evidence by following me.

I guess that's the kind of humanity that people would call a hero.

"More than that, can we talk comfortably? We're in the same class, and we're friends... right?"

I almost burst out laughing when I heard that.

Friends? Don't make me laugh. I don't have any friends at the academy.

Why would someone with friends bother to buy bread at the store and go into the last stall in the bathroom?

But I knew that getting emotional would only lead to losses, so I suppressed my emotions as much as possible.

I brought the heart that had allowed me to endure being alone, to endure disregard, contempt, and ridicule, and I endured.

"Is that so? Then, I'll speak comfortably."

I said nonchalantly and turned around again.

Then Yun Hamin quickly replied, "Oh, yeah," and hurriedly followed me.

Just when I thought he was being a little distracting as he looked around, he spoke to me when the gazes around us seemed to have lessened a little.

"Do you live near here? Or is something really going to happen here? Really?"

His voice was cautious.

Maybe it was because he had followed me and saw me seriously scanning the area, but he also seemed to have become serious as he followed me.

I had just told him to trust me once, but I was really touched that he would do this much.

"I don't live here... It's not that there's something here, but I came here to see if there's something near here. That's all I know."

That was the truth, at least for this incident.

I knew about the next incident too, but I couldn't talk about it yet.

I thought that knowing too much would only increase his resistance, so I decided to only talk about this one, which I had already messed up, and watch the situation.

A village near the wall.

And because of that, a family of a kid from another class disappears.

Just because it was another class, it gave the readers the impression of "So what?" and just like that, the sentence lightly passed by, as if Kanna's sad story barely came out in one line.

From the surroundings that were unrelated to the protagonist Yun Hamin, to the surroundings that were related, I had to cut off the things that were being chewed up from the beginning.

I firmly believed that was the way to somehow solve this tragedy.

"...Kanna."

"Huh?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"...Huh?"

I frowned and turned around at the sudden, sarcastic question.

But when I saw his expression, I realized that he wasn't being sarcastic.

"...Is that why you couldn't concentrate in class?"

"......"

At those words, I shut my mouth and remained silent.

Was that silence enough of an answer for him?

He let out a hollow breath and looked at the wall.

I was afraid that this wall, which seemed like an impregnable fortress, might collapse.

And I said that a monster would come crashing into this wall, that it would happen in two weeks.

Yun Hamin seemed to be wondering whether to believe me, who was spouting nonsense.

I wasn't showing good performance in grades or skills.

Right now, even the teacher would see what I said as just a desperate attempt to postpone the exam.

In fact, it didn't really matter if they saw it that way, because my situation wouldn't change much anyway.

The fact that there was nothing worse for me in the gutter was a very good thing for me.

"...Then what should I look for?"

And Yun Hamin asked me, as if he had decided to believe me once.

When I looked at him with wide eyes, he quickly avoided my gaze.

"No, you said two weeks. I'm saying, if I find something in that time, there's no reason not to believe you, right?"

"...Is that so?"

Still, he followed me all the way here, so maybe he decided to believe me once.

Hearing Yun Hamin's words, I couldn't help but wish that something would come out right now.

I wanted to feel that feeling of someone believing in me, even just a little.

Is it my bad habit to have hope as soon as there's a sign?

Still, I wanted to be a little greedy, so I turned around and walked back the way I had been going.

"Then I'll tell you what to look for."

I quietly told him what he should look for.

He might be better at finding it than me, who was no different from an ordinary person, and it seemed more likely that we would find something if two people were looking together than if one person was looking alone, so I spoke as if asking for help.

Previous|Next