Something seems wrong....(Part 3)
Mondays are something that almost everyone hates unless it’s a national or international holiday. And it’s very common to be late to school or office on that day of the week. Several students who were late to school were running round a oval 90 yard inside a certain school. There were other students who were looking at the students running and were mocking them lightly. Among those several students who were punished for being late, only two black haired boys looked like they were enjoying it.
The atmosphere of the school was very lively despite the punishments. But it seems that this lively atmosphere would get even more lively…..
*Ren’s POV*
Uhh…how long do I have to run like this….? Although, I have lost my shame long ago, I can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed for this. I looked at my childhood friend beside me. He appeared to be very serious. But I can bet a thousand bucks that this guy, who is running with me, doesn’t have any sense of guilt and shame!
Brother….you can deceive other people but not me!
“Ok. Stop!”, a rough voice came behind me. Upon seeing the owner of the voice, I stopped running. It was Rambo, our Senior Sports Teacher. He is like a macho man. This is the simplest way I can describe him without wasting time. Also, he has a scary face. It’s probably because of the scar on the left side of his face. I heard that he used to be in military. His name fits his character and body!
“You can go to your respective classrooms now. Don’t be late next day. Or else, I will make it 20 laps from 10.”, Rambo said in a rough voice. Scary! But its not my fault! I have the duty to wake up my childhood friend, Xie. Its damn annoying! Though, it would be would be a different case if you were a cute childhood tsundere childhood friend. Why aren’t you Xie Xiannu?!!
“Finally, its over ”. Speak of the devil and here he is.
“Its kinda annoying to run like this. “, Xie continued.
“Heh…Lets hurry. Kitakami-sensei is scary”, I said and ran away after which, Xie followed me.
Suetsu High School, Class 3-A
The classroom was as usual, lively. This lively atmosphere would continue unless Sensei walks in. I went to my seat which was at the 2nd last row and 4th column. Xie sat behind me.
“Ren, do you know Liana? Is she from this class?” , Xie asked me. I sighed in my mind. This time I am not going to be surprised. But still…..I have my limits!!
How much of an idiot are you?!! Liana and you went to the same middle school and you even went to several mixers along with her! I would not be surprised even if you two started dating!! Brother…you never fail to amaze me…..
“Hey! Answer my question. Do you know her?”, Xie asked again after seeing me muted.
“Yes. I do. Why?”
“Do you know her whereabouts?”, Xie asked a question which made me a bit confused.
“Hm? Yes. I remember going to her place on an occasion. But w-wh-why?”, I replied shuttering. But why am I shuttering? I looked at my surroundings and everyone seems to have the word “panic” written on their faces.
“Ren, an earthquake of 8.7 magnitude came!!”, Xie shouted in my ears.
That’s weirdly accurate!!After hearing him, I also had the word “panic” printed on my face. I saw our homeroom teacher, Kitakami , dragging two female students under her desk. Wh-what should I do? Should I run away or stay under my desk…? No, running wont help and I don’t think my frail desk could save me from this earthquake. Now, its all upto fate . I silently prayed to God even though I call myself an atheist.
“This shouldn’t be happening….I was sure to block all the gates…..I must get to the end of this.”, my childhood friend was muttering something. But I couldn’t care less about that right now.
While I looked down and was silently praying to God, a white light came from the floor and it seemed to devour me. I was scared but decided not to scream. Is this the vision everyone sees before their death?? The white light embraced me and I finally accepted my sad death….If I was given another chance, then.……what should I do then?! I don’t seem to have any grand ambitions other than making a harem….F*ck! I don’t care anymore! I sobbed closing my eyes.
“Everyone, don’t panic. Although, I think it is normal for you to panic. But please listen to me. This is important.”
Suddenly , a beautiful voice entered my ears. I finally opened my eyes and looked at the owner of the voice.Ah…I never thought that the Death God would have such a gorgeous beauty. She wore a clean white kimono-like clothing with golden earrings on her left ear. She was so fair that…..enough of this!! Why am I even describing her appearance? Is it a webnovel or something?
“Oi. Get up!”, soon a familiar voice reached my ears. It was my childhood friend. I frowned upon seeing him. Why do you have to follow me everytime?? While I was cursing Xie in my mind, I looked at the surroundings and found all of my classmates. Eh? Did everyone die along with me? Ah….such good classmates….
“Is it something like defeating the Demon King trope?”, Satou,an influential student of our class spoke up.
“Yes, it’s as you said. You must train hard from now on to defeat the demon king.”, said the white beauty.
Eh? Demon king? Isn’t it something which we often read in LNs? Cool!! So that means we get super OP magic powers, right?
“B-but we don’t have any powers”, said Satou. Though he is shuttering, I don’t think that the shuttering was genuine.
“You don’t have to worry about that. The moment you people came to this world, God has already given you some unique abilities.”, she continued.
Unique abilities?Awesome!Now, my dream of constructing a harem may come true. But it depends on the unique ability she mentioned. If the ability I get is something like
“How do we know our unique ability?”, Satou asked the question which was in my mind.
“Good question. You all seem very adaptable. Can you see the white crystal placed there?”, the beauty asked while pointing to a crystal which was placed at the centre of this huge room. A hall would be more suitable. Now that I look closely at the hall, the word ‘beautiful’ won’t be enough to describe. The hall was painted in white with golden strips. Is there anything that could be as beautiful as this? I am not over exaggerating.
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“That crystal will show you which elements are you compatible with and also your unique ability.”, the beauty said as she smiled.
“Elements? Like Fire, Water, Earth and wind??”, I voiced out.
She nodded.
“Can we go home?”, I asked again.
“Yes, of course. I want to apologize to everyone present for bringing you all out here without respecting your own wishes.”, she bowed courteously after apologizing.
Its pointless to apologize though. There’s no crying over spilled milk…..Though I always wanted to transport to another world and make a harem, it’s only on the condition that I will be super OP. Besides, I have parents and a sister to worry about. That’s why no matter what I can’t buy your apology.
“It’s no big deal. We will glad to help you. Besides, we always dreamt about transporting to another world and fight demons. But in turn, what do we get?”, Rumi, a pony-tailed girl of my class said.
“Yes. Nothing in our world was for free.”, Satou said after which most of my classmates followed.
Seriously guys….what do we get?? I would be plenty satisfied just by sending me to my home. It’s not like I’m not greedy. Just that I have got my priorities first.
“Yes. Of course. But you were wrong on one part. You were summoned here not to defeat the demons, just the demon king.”, the white haired girl said.
Eh? Just the Demon King? Why???Were the demons brainwashed by the Demon King? I am confused. And it’s not just me.
“What do you mean?”, Mamoru, one of my classmates, asked.
“It’s as the priestess said. A few years after the previous Demon King was defeated by the Great Otherworldly Hero, Reuken, the demons and the humans were united. But alas, the Demon King still managed to survive…..”, an old man in white clothes said.
So, before us, a guy named Reuken was transported. I wonder if he has a harem.
“But, just because the Demon King managed to survive doesn’t mean to can’t be defeated by Reuken again, right?”, I voiced out.
“Right. But the Hero mysteriously disappeared after defeating the Demon King. And we were not strong enough to defeat the Demon King without Reuken’s help. “, this time, a knight in blue armor said.
I understand. It all makes sense now.
“We understand. But what do we get?”, Satou asked.
“You get everything you would get from this world.”, the priestess replied with a smile.
Everything we get from this world? Like superpowers, harem, everything?? I am suddenly super hyped.
“Deal. We would be glad to help you”, Satou, our class representative, replied again.
Suddenly, discussions among us started. Everyone seemed to be very excited….except Xie, who had an annoyed expression.
But I couldn’t care less about him.
“Everyone. We would be grateful if you all form a queue. We want to find y’all’ affinities for elementals.”, a bald knight in blue armor said.
After a while, we finally formed a queue. There are a total of 39 students present. Liana was absent today. I heard that she is on a trip. Such luck…..By the way, my position is 8th from the last in this queue. Behind me, is Xie, who apparently seemed very annoyed.
“Congratulations! You have an affinity of B-level with earth.”, an old priest said.
“Congratulations! You have an affinity of C-level with fire.”
“Congratulations! You have an affinity of B-level with water.”
“Congratulations! You have…….”
“Congratulations…….”
“……..”
...
“Congratulations! You have an affinity of A-level with water! A rare talent.”, the old priest, who seemed very excited, said to Rumi-san.
I am envious now. But will I have an A-level affinity?? Now, I am worried.
“Oh Lord!! Another talent! Child, you have an affinity of A-level with fire! With these talents, we could definitely be saved from the clutches of the Demon King.”, the old priest said while referring to Satou.
After waiting for two minutes, finally my turn came. I walked upto a platform where the old priest was standing.
“Child. Keep your dominant hand on the white crystal.”, the old priest explained.
I did as he told me.
After a second, the white crystal turned black and then slowly turned yellow. Eh? What element is this? I looked at the old priest looking for answers. He seemed deeply immersed in something. After a while, he turned to me and said, ”Child, you have a rare elemental affinity, lightning. Rare affinities are generally stronger than the common ones. But it’s just that….”
HAHAHAHA. I am the god of thunder, Th*r!
“Just that…..?”, I am in clouds nine right now.
“Just that your affinity is at the level of D. But as I said, rare elemental affinities are generally stronger than the common ones. So, your talent won’t differ much from your peers.”, the old priest said. I was about to faint when I heard the first line. Anyways, although I didn’t get an A-level talent, I am not disappointed.
Then, I was about walked towards the direction of the white haired priestess who was asking questions to everyone who has finished the test for affinity. But decided to wait for Xie.
Xie walked up to the platform and kept his right hand on the white crystal. The white crystal first turned red, then slowly turned dark-blue. Woah! An A-level fire affinity! Now, I feel proud for him. I walked upto him who still seemed annoyed and said, “Bro. Now that you have talent., you have to protect me Don’t betray me in a dungeon. Otherwise, I will make my hairs turn white and come to kill you for betraying me.”
“Heh….this A-level could not be classified as a ’talent’ in my encyclopedia.”, Xie said with an arrogant tone.
Brother…can you stop bragging? I know that you have talent…..He is probably being arrogant after getting power.
We headed towards the direction where everyone again formed a queue for some QnA hosted by the priestess.
It was Rumi’s turn for QnA. She walked elegantly to the priestess. Then, the priestess asked some common questions like her dream, her will, her preferred race in her next race…What? Preferred race in next life? What kind of question is that?
Rumi seemed to be in deep thought. After 2 seconds, she finally answered, “A demon. I don’t deserve to be a human after all the sins I have committed….”
Huh? You want to be a demon because you don’t deserve to be a human?? That makes zero sense. Ah…I am such a fool. Who said that everything one says is the truth?
“HAHAHAHAHAHA”, a wild laughter came from beside me. I looked around saw Xie laugh like a maniac.
In a second, he gained everyone’s attention. Even the priestess was looking at him with a grim expression. After realizing what he did, he bowed and said, ”Everyone. Forgive me for my shameful behavior. Just that my friend beside me cracked a very funny joke.”
Oi. Do whatever you want but don’t drag me into your mess. I awkwardly laughed and said, ”Xie, c’mon it was not that funny….”
“No, it was very funny.”, Xie replied.
After 2 seconds, everyone finally lost interest in us. Xie heaved a sigh of relief. I wanted to scold him but decided to talk about it after the QnA.
After standing in queue for about fifteen minutes, I noticed a very weird thing. For the question,” What race do you want to be in your next reincarnation?”, most of my classmates replied, “Demon.”…..Is being a demon that cool??
Finally, my turn came. The priestess asked all the common questions and finally asked, ”What race do you want to be in your next life?”, I simply replied, ”Human”. The priestess sighed and said,” You can go now.”
“Excuse me, where is the washroom?”, I asked. I have been holding it in for about five minutes. Also, I can’t ask the servants previously because I was in a queue and my turn was near when I thought about it.
“Huh? It’s on the 2nd floor. Ask the servants there for the accurate location.”, the priestess gave a professional answer.
“Thank you”, I said while rushing towards the washroom.
I came back in the hall room after two minutes and saw…….what? Why is Xie lying on the floor? Also, what’s with the blood in his abdomen????
Then, I saw a few men and women dressed in blue armor in his surroundings. No! It ca-can’t be….
“Why did you kill Xie?!!”, I howled.
Don’t die, Xie….otherwise how am I supposed to face Uncle and Aunt….Don’t you dare die!!
“Calm down, Ren. I know that he is your childhood friend. But he himself committed suicide.”, Satou said to me in a consoling voice.
Huh? Committed suicide?? Heh…that’s the last thing Xie would do…..but looking at Xie’s right hand which had a dagger, I had no choice but to believe that committed suicide.I looked at Xie’s eyes that was still open. No matter what, Xie is like my brother…..He was there with me when I had no one……I can’t see him die like this. I wanted to rush to him but my classmates caught me from my back.
“I get that he committed suicide but why are you not letting me go?!”, I asked my classmates who held me back.
I looked at Xie which was finally losing its color. Just when his eyes were about to close, he lightly smirked to me.
Eh? Is that how you say goodbye? I remembered the moments we had together. Although, he is a bit intolerable, he was still a good friend…..That’s not what I should be thinking right now!!
“Priestess, can he be saved?”, I looked at the priestess with a panicked expression.
“We would do our best to save him.” ,the priestess said with a solemn expression.
A middle-aged man came in right at that moment and seemed to check Xie’s condition. After a while, he said,” He is alive for now. But he will die soon if he isn’t operated on.”
I heaved a sigh of relief at the physician’s remark.
“Then, operate him right away.”, the priestess replied.
After few minutes, I finally got to know what had happened in my absence. But I still wonder why he stabbed himself…..He is not someone to act on impulse. Something seems wrong…..