("So, he's the one responsible for all of this?")

Her piercing look now blamed me for everything.

'I just told you it wasn't me! Darn, this is so hard. I'm so bad at talking and convincing other people.'

"Don't look at me like this. I swear it wasn't me."

I tried to speak calmly to not make her even angrier. For the first time since I entered the classroom, she opened her mouth. Her voice was soft, not in a gentle way but giving a tired-of-everything kind of feeling.

"Why do you know about me if it's not you?"

She had a heavy accent which would be hard for anyone apart from me to pinpoint where it was coming from.

'What should I answer in this case? I don't want to reveal my only advantage in life. I can only be evasive.'

"Do you remember when I got scared and left the class this morning? Well, one of the reasons was because I found out about you."

"So, how?"

"I… can't tell you that, sorry."

("So untrustful.")

There was another pause in our discussion. I tried hard to find a way to persuade her. She was in a very unstable mental state and I was only adding to it, unfortunately.

'Fine. I just need to use what I know about her. Let's focus on the positive side of things.'

"But you know, isn't it a good thing? That you're here, I mean."

Her frown deepened once more.

("A good thing? I'm alone in this strange place. I don't understand anything, I don't know anyone and I don't have any money. How's that good?")

I raised my hands palms facing her to calm her down and explained.

"What I mean is that, in this place, no one will force you to do what you don't want to. You won't need to do what you did before. You're completely free."

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("Free? Free… Maybe so. No one bothered me the whole day and I was allowed to move as I wished. But what is freedom without any means to live? I'll just end in the same situation as before.")

"You don't know anything."

"I do. That's why I'm here. I want to help you until you can find a way to live by yourself."

"Why would you do that?"

("No one does anything for free in this world.")

Now was the crucial part. I didn't think telling her I felt pity for her would be convincing enough. After a second, I came up with a plausible idea.

"Actually, you were just one of the reasons why I ran away this morning. I can't tell you the details but this class has a lot of dangerous people. Ah, do you know where we are?"

"…A school?"

"Right. And this is our classroom. We're supposed to study here for the next year, five days out of seven every week."

I knew by checking her memories that she had been called by name when the teachers had taken attendance during the day. As weird as it sounded, she was part of this class. This whole farce felt like someone was manipulating events from the shadows. However, what kind of being would be able to manipulate the freaks that were in this class? I trembled just thinking about it.

She nodded very slightly. She was in such an incredible situation that something that small couldn't bother her anymore.

"In exchange for helping you, I'd like you to be my ally during this year."

("Hmm. Is that true? He could be lying. Men are all untrustworthy. Not that women are any better.")

I stayed silent. There was no point in talking anymore for now.

("Should I just end it all? I'm so tired of everything.")

Her thoughts had suddenly taken a very steep dive. This is precisely what I feared the most and why I came here in such a hurry.

"I live with my family! There's my father, my mother, and my little sister. They'll never let me touch you in any way! I want you to live with us for some time until you get your bearings in this town. I swear I'm not lying. I'm also taking a risk by letting a stranger live with my family, see?"

This was a bit of an exaggeration. I knew she would never harm anyone. Still, convincing her was more important. Failure meant death, after all. Perhaps for me too. Any ally I would have in this class would be a great boon toward my survival. That was the truth.

She was lost in her mind for some time and I followed her thought process. On the one hand, life had been extremely hard on her. Her only hope was a vague promise of freedom in the future. Every day, she was thinking of ending her life. On the other hand, if there was one thing she trusted about her current situation, it was that she had gotten the freedom she so much wanted. However, she had gone from being provided with all necessities but having no freedom to having absolute freedom without any means to provide for herself. On top of that, she knew nothing about her current situation, this world, and almost anything and everything around her.

("What's the worst that can happen to me? Going back to my previous situation? Then it would be as if nothing changed. I could try to go on my own but how long would I last in this foreign place? In that case, should I follow him and see what happens?")

The last thing that convinced her was that she was a little curious about this world. Since the start of the day, she had seen many things that intrigued her. At the very least, she thought she could get me to teach her about this world.

"Fine. I'll follow you."

I smiled, relieved. It was hard but I had done it.

"Good. That's good. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Wren Tamtri. It's nice to meet you."