Things are not okay right now…at least that’s what I would say. Especially considering the situation Xara and I found ourselves in.
We were currently locked up in what appears to be an empty black void. It almost reminded me of Xara’s mind when I went inside to calm her down after she was taken over by that curse.
Now before you ask how we got here, I have no idea.
I was going to the restroom like I said, when I suddenly found myself trapped here.
Xara popped up a few minutes later and now the two of us were stuck.
In all honesty, this whole thing was quite a pain. But I didn't know if there was anything we could do.
Xara was sitting on the ground near me trying to wrap her head around what was going on. Meanwhile, I just let out a yawn and pulled out my grimoire.
“Hey, Nia?”
“What is it, Master?”
“Do you know what spell this is?”
“Yes. It appears to be some form of encapsulation spell. One designed to keep things sealed away in an enclosed space without taking up any room due to it being made of a person's own magic.”
“That so? It actually sounds kind of useful. Can you teach me it?”
“No can do. I may be able to teach you a lot of spells, but there are some even I can’t use. That’s what the other grimoires are for.”
Huh. So that meant if I wanted to learn a spell Nia didn’t know, I’d have to collect one of the other two grimoires that exist in this world. Dang. Guess I’ll have to put learning that spell on hold.
“I see. Well, are there any spells you can teach me to destroy this place so we can get out?”
“Yessir! However, as you are right now, they are beyond what your body can handle. The same goes for the transformation you’d need in order to gain such power.”
So in short, there’s nothing I can do.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I sat down and looked out into the endless black void.
Talk about a bump in the road. And my plan was going so smoothly until now.
Rubbing my eyes, I wondered what was gonna happen next.
“Looks like we're in another pickle together,” Xara joked awkwardly.
I chuckled.
“Yeah. Looks like it.”
After that little exchange, the two of us sat in silence for what felt like ages before Xara spoke up again.
“Um…Axel?”
“Hm?
Keeping ourselves faced away from each other, I glanced behind me to show Xara I was listening.
“Do you…hate me?”
“Huh?”
“It’s just, ever since I confessed, you’ve been acting completely different towards me.”
“Really? How so?”
“Well, just today for example. When we ran into each other, you had this look of disinterest on your face. The same one you’ve been making pretty much every time we’ve run into each other since the day I confessed.”
“A look of disinterest?”
I normally can’t see my face, so I didn’t understand what she was getting at. I figured I was acting the same as I always did. Is she saying I’ve been different?
I let her continue talking.
“You may not notice it yourself, but when we face each other, you never seem to have any life in your eyes. Like the very sight of me turns off all your emotions making you look completely lifeless.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“That so? But what about the time you, me, Dianne, and Vey all walked around town? I remember us having a good time.”
That’s right. Things were pretty energetic that day. In fact, I remember it being quite fun.
“Is that so? If that’s the case, please think back to that day, do you remember any time you weren’t rude, cruel, or distant to me?”
“Of course I...I...”
I stopped myself.
When my thoughts drifted back to that day, she was right. In fact, every time we saw each other after I rejected her, I had a sense of sadness overwhelm me. I figured it wasn’t anything to worry about and let it be. But no matter how many times I tried to ignore it, whenever I saw Xara again, I immediately felt a heavy sense of guilt and sadness wash over me. Like being around her wasn’t something I was allowed to do.
Curling up my legs, I rested my head on my knees. Was what she was saying really true?
While I thought about it, I recalled a line I once read from a book.
A subjective viewpoint isn’t the same as a factual statement.
As I thought about that line in my head, I finally felt myself beginning to understand.
Even if I thought things were fine, that wasn’t always the same for everyone else.
For example, if I went to an amusement park with someone and decided to hop on a rollercoaster. I may say that the ride was fun once it was over. But just one look at my face would make it obvious I didn’t have enjoy it.
That’s what was going on here. Even if I thought things were fine, that wasn’t how others saw it.
Having made this realization, I rubbed my eyes and let out a groan of frustration.
“Axel?”
I could tell in her voice that Xara was concerned. Dammit. Why did I have to ruin the thing she had going with Riko? If I just hadn’t interfered with them because of my grudge against this game's flaws, maybe the two of them would’ve become a happy couple and I never would’ve had to involve her with me. At least then, she’d have some form of happiness. Even if it was just an excuse for her own lack of self-worth.
Feeling myself growing frustrated, I lifted up my hand and-
SMACK!
-hit myself as hard as I could.
“Axel!?”
Surprised by my actions, Xara turned around and tried to ask me something. But I held my hand out to stop her and started slapping myself over and over.
“Axel!? What are you doing!? Stop that!”
Xara grabbed my hands to stop me. But I didn’t feel satisfied, so I pulled my hands away and got on my knees before slamming my head into the ground over and over.
"RAAAH!" I screamed as my head throbbed loudly.
It hurt like hell, but that was nothing compared to everything I’ve done.
Even if it wasn’t intentional, I manipulated Xara into liking me, made her worry for me, and made her blow off the one person she always cared so much about just because I shared my stupid opinion! What kind of monster ruins the happiness of others simply cause he doesn’t like a character trait!? It just wasn't right!
After smashing my head into the ground a few more times, I finally stopped right before I would’ve lost consciousness.
Xara looked at me with both concern and terror. And when I turned to face her, I could tell she was probably shocked by how battered and bruised my face more than likely looked.
“Xara…I’m so sorry.”
Xara’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Sorry? What for?”
Trying to keep herself calm, Xara walked over to me and looked me in the eyes.
“Because of my big fat mouth, I ruined the happiness you had before and turned you away from the great life you would’ve had.”
“What’s all this about!?”
Xara’s confusion was obvious. So I did my best to explain.
“If I had just left you and Riko alone, you wouldn’t have to go through all the struggles you went through. The curse wouldn’t activate from you questioning how you felt, you wouldn’t have felt the need to distance yourself from Riko, and you wouldn’t have fallen for a loser who uses his opinion to destroy other's lives!”
I felt tears roll down my cheeks.
It was all my fault. I kept telling myself everything was fine. That if she still felt the way she did after she learned to think for herself then I’d give her my answer.
But in reality, I was just making excuses to hold off on my own mistakes. And now, I was causing the one girl whose life I ruined feel concern for me. All because of this stupid mouth of mine.
Xara watched me cry in silence for several minutes…and then...
Bonk!
I felt a light chop on top of my head. It wasn’t painful, but it was tough enough to be noticeable.
While it was hard to see, I noticed at some point my vision had turned towards the ground.
I lifted my head up to find Xara looking at me with her arms crossed.
“What the heck are you saying!? If it weren’t for you, my life would’ve been terrible!”
After she said that, Xara wiped the tears away from my eyes and I got a good look of her face. She looked like she was on the verge of crying herself.
“Huh?”
Despite what she said, I found myself questioning her words. What was she saying? Her life would’ve been great without me. And that's the truth!
"Y-You're wrong! You're life would've been-!"
Suddenly, without warning, Xara pulled me into a hug.
“Don’t you dare say me meeting you was a bad thing! Ever since I met you, you’ve helped me more then I could ever repay! You not only helped me learn about my own problems, but you also taught me all kinds of things about myself. You even saved me from a curse I might’ve never escaped from otherwise.”
“But the only reason you succumbed to the curse in the first place was because…”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“What? Because of you? Don’t blame yourself for that. I was the one who let the curse take over. You didn’t do anything.”
“But…”
“No more buts!”
Xara released me from the hug and moved her face close to mine.
“Listen to me here and now, I love you Axel Savoncho. Even if you think everything that’s happened is your fault, even if you regret putting yourself into my life, I’m happy you did. If you didn’t, I’m positive that my life would become nothing but lies and pain. So no matter what you say, I will continue to be thankful that you came into my life. Now and forevermore.”
After hearing those words, a strange feeling of happiness welled up inside me. What was this? She’d have a much better life without me…right?
I started to question such thoughts as my emotions felt like a mixed mess.
Ignoring a strange warmth on my cheeks, I stood up and turned away from Xara.
“That so? Well I’m…I’m glad to hear it.”
My heart was beating like crazy. What was going on!?
Not sure what else to do in this awkward silence, I decided to pull my grimiore out once more.
“Nia…are you sure there isn’t a way for us to get out of here?”
“Hm? Yeah. Just teleport out.”
“...Huh?”
We instantly appeared right in front of the entrance ot the cafeteria. Successfully escaping that weird empty void we had been trapped in just moments ago. The two of us remained silent for several seconds before Xara decided to speak up.
“Sooo…you know teleportation magic huh?”
“Erm…Yeah. Guess I forgot.”
That was what I was saying on the outside. But internally, I was screaming at Nia.
You stupid grimiore spirit! You said there wasn’t a way out of there!
Like she could read my thoughts, Nia replied.
“You only asked me if there was a way to destroy the encapsulation spell so you could escape. Not if there was a way to leave without destroying it.”
Why you little!
Taking in a deep breath, I rubbed my eyes. Just then, I heard Xara’s voice behind me.
“Um…About before...”
“Hm? Oh! Um…”
I was speechless. I didn’t know what to say about the whole thing. All I had planned to do today was win the competition and then leave.
“This’ll probably sound stupid to ask, but I’d like to repeat myself.”
Xara cleared her throat.
“Do you…hate me?”
…What?
Oh yeah. Come to think of it, that was how our conversation started, wasn’t it? I completely forgot thanks to everything else that was said while we were trapped.
Going silent for a moment, I took in a deep breath.
“Could you give me some time to think before I answer? With everything that’s been going on recently, I’d like to get my thoughts together first.”
Nervous at the idea that I needed to think about it, Xara nodded.
“Yeah. That’s fine.”
“Thanks. How does meeting up here around eight on the first day of next week sound?”
“That sounds good…yeah…that works.”
“Good. Well then, how’s about we get moving?”
“Huh?”
“Take a look at the sky.”
Xara turned her head to a nearby window and her eyes went wide. It had gotten significantly darker outside.
“That’s right. We were trapped in there for quite a long time. If we don’t hurry and meet up with our teammates, we won’t be able to finish our lists on time.”
With that, I grabbed hold of Xara’s hand and we rushed down towards the school building where we found Dianne and the MC searching for us. We explained what happened, but ended up leaving out what occured while we were trapped.
And so with the team back together, we continued hunting for as many items as we could.
“What kind of cruel person would do such a thing?” Dianne muttered to herself. Looks like she’s still frustrated about Xara and I getting trapped. As nice as it is that she cares, we couldn’t focus on that right now. With one hour left, we waved goodbye to Xara and Riko and went back to focusing on our own list.
Thankfully, we were able to acquire another item. The twin rocks.
They were a set of rocks that made it so whatever happened to one rock, would also happen to the other rock. They were actually kind of cool…at least to me.
After having gathered two out of the three items, the last thing to do was grab hold of a school flag.
Deciding it’d be safer to return the other items while we could, I had Dianne make her way back to the classroom as I went off to get the flag.
Having made that decision, I glanced out at the sky to make sure the sun was in the sky before starting to make my move. While there had been a few bumps in the road, it was finally time to start the plan I had carefully laid out.
With that in mind, I began walking down the hallways. Ready for what was to come next.
As Axel went off to get the school flag, I made my way back to the classroom to drop off the staff and stones. I didn’t know what he was thinking when he decided we should just focus on collecting today’s items, but for now, I had to trust him.
Walking for about ten minutes, I began to draw near the classroom when I stopped myself right before bumping into someone.
“Whoa!”
Taking a few steps back, I look up to find a girl with long black hair looking at me.
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t see you there,” I said in apology.
The girl let out a chuckle.
“No. No. The faults all mine.”
The girl apologized in response before looking at the stuff in my hand.
“Say, are those your items for the Hunter Games?”
Not feeling any hostility from her, I nodded.
“Yes. I was actually about to return them to the classroom. Why do you ask?”
“Hm? Oh. No reason. Say, why don’t I help you carry them back? The staff looks like it’s a bit heavy.
I shook my head.
“Thank you for the offer, but I’m good. The classroom isn’t that far anyway, so I best be on my way.”
I began to walk past the girl when she grabbed hold of my arm.
“No no. I insist. It’s the least I can do after running into you like that.”
Huh? But I was the one who ran into her.
Sensing something was off, an eerie feeling crept up my back and I tried to shake the girl off.
“Really. I’m fine on my own. Please excuse me.”
Shaking away her grip, I began to pick up speed in order to escape.
“Vine Wrap!”
Suddenly, I felt myself lose my footing and I collapsed to the ground.
Letting out a groan, I turned to find my legs tied up in a set of vines that had burst from the ground.
Hearing footsteps behind me, I looked behind me to see the girl walk past and grab hold of the day's items.
“Honestly. Even after we worked so hard to steal all your other items, even after all we’ve done to ensure you don’t even make it into the top hundred, here you are still trying to get a foot in this little race.”
“Huh?”
What was this girl saying?
Noticing my confusion, the girl grinned and walked in front of me, and crouched down to look me right in the eyes.
“You still haven’t figured it out? Talk about being oblivious. And here I thought you were one of the smarter students in your class.”
The girl flicked me in the forehead which caused me to flinch. Then she stood up and looked down at me like I was an insect.
“There’s no way in hell we’re gonna let a filthy commoner like that boy win. If he did, it would make the royalty at this school look bad. And we can’t have that.”
Beginning to step away, the girl turned back to me.
“Oh. There’s one more thing I forgot to do.”
She walked up in front of me again.
“Fireball.”
A ball of fire instantly appeared in her hand and she began moving it towards my hair.
“For trying to interact with commoners like they're on the same level as us. I think you need a little punishment. How does going bald sound for a brat like you?”
The girl chuckled to herself and continued lowering the fire down toward the top of my head.
How foolish could she be!? A flame that hot wouldn’t just burn my hair, it would leave permanent burns all over my skin!
Time felt like it was moving in slow motion.
As the girl continued moving closer and closer, I could feel my heart quickening. But right as it was about to hit my head-
“Water Shot!”
-a ball of water shot out from nowhere and instantly extinguished the flame.
“What the-!?”
The girl didn’t have time to respond as someone appeared in front of her.
“Haaaah!”
With a fist slamming into her face, the girl was immediately sent falling into the ground before being pinned in a position where she couldn’t move.
"Don't you dare touch her!" shouted what sounded like a boys voice.
It sounded familiar, but it took me a second to realize who it was.
“Sir Roy!”
Roy turned his head to smile at me.
“Hey, Miss Dianne.”
Someone walked up behind me.
“Light Flame.”
The vines tying my feet to the ground instantly burned away and I turned to find another familiar face standing there.
“Miss Ella.”
Ella held out a hand for me and I instantly took it.
“You’re not hurt are you?”
“Um...No. But thank you for your concern.”
After I managed to recollect myself, I turned to Roy who had gotten the girl onto her feet while still keeping her hands pinned behind her back.
“Alright. So what should we do with her?”
While he asked that, the girl tried to squirm out of his grip.
“Unhand me! I’ll have you know I am under the house of none other than Gravenport! One of the most influential trading companies in the entire world! If you think you can try anything for even a second, I’ll have my father make you pay!”
When he heard that, Roy frowned.
“Geez. Were royalty always this annoying?” he wondered aloud.
“Wah-!?”
Finding Roy's words unbelievable, the girl gawked in surprise while he guided her down the hall towards the main office where we reported what happened. After that, the three of us made our way back to the classroom.
“Um…Thank you for that you two, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t been there.”
Roy laughed.
“It’s no problem. We just saw a friend in need and decided to help.”
That statement caught me by surprise.
“Friend?”
“Hm? Yeah. We are aren't we?”
Hearing that caused a smile to spread across my face.
“Of course.”
It was then that it hit me. When I decided to become friends with Axel, I made several other friends as well. Axel’s friends saw me as one of their own. Realizing that, a warm feeling stirred in my chest and a smile refused to leave my face.
Roy, Ella, and Dianne walked into the room to drop off their things only to gawk in surprise at the sight in front of them.
“Sup guys. How’s it going?” I said in a chill, confident tone.
No doubt they were looking behind me and had completely drowned my voice out. A bit rude, but understandable.
“Axel…is this…?” Dianne tried asking.
I chuckled.
“Yep. Every single item we need for our list. I would’ve found it all sooner, but I ran into a few road bumps.”
Those road bumps being several students trying to get in my way of collecting the flag. Everything else was all Sirin and Vey's doing.
And if you wondering, yes, those two were the reason all this stuff was here. But I didn’t want to show them off to everyone since it might cause both an uproar about using technology in an era where it didn’t appear to exist and also making my squire collect items for me.
Now how did those two do it? Simple. Since I figured the people stealing our items were probably keeping them stored somewhere, I had Sirin track that area down and then guide Vey toward it. After doing so, Vey pushed everything into one giant pile that once I came by, I could simply use my teleportation spell to bring all the items back to the classroom in an instant. In all honesty, though, we cut it pretty close. I never would’ve guessed it would take so long for Sirin to locate it all. Still, I’m glad it worked out.
Roy and Ella were still looking in shock, but Dianne instantly ran over to me.
Was she angry? Maybe. I did kind of go behind her back to get all this. And considering this was meant to be a team effort, I didn’t exactly show much teamwork. So if she wanted to hit me for it, I suppose I could accept that.
“Axel! I’m so happy!”
“Huh!?”
Without warning, Dianne jumped on me and wrapped me in a hug so tight that it was a bit hard to breathe.
She held onto me tightly for almost two minutes before letting go when Ella cleared her throat.
“Well then, it looks like the two of you have everything covered. However, we still have some things to gather so we’ll be on our way,” said Ella as she gestured for Roy to follow her and the two of them left the room.
Once they were gone, Dianne turned to me and gave me a smile with tears in her eyes.
“I don’t know how you pulled it off, but thank you, Axel. This means so much to me.”
Huh. Was it really that big of a deal? I get these competitions were intense, but I never thought she’d look so relieved over something like this. I mean, I was just doing what I felt like doing. Is that really worth getting so worked up about?
Letting out a sigh, I shrugged.
“It’s no big deal. Just showing I have your back.”
Hearing me say that caused Dianne to let out a small chuckle.
“Thank you. That means a lot.”
Not sure what else to do, I shrugged again and watched over the stuff while waiting for the committee running the event to show up and score what we collected.