Luna revealed to her crush the weird memories that kept being engraved in her mind for the past few days.

She was honest and sincerely hoped that he could point her to a direction for the solution. In her life, she trusted him the most out of everyone. Even though teacher Nicole had been kind to her, she was still affiliated with the academy.

From her adoptive parents who would grumble about the unfairness of player society she had some understanding that those players out there all had some hidden side and it wasn't all harmonious after becoming awakened. It was okay to say that life becomes more complicated as with power to do things unimaginable for an unawakened it also came with heavy risks and obligations to fulfill.

She wasn't sure how teacher Nicole's true side was but what she was sure of was her Sunshine who was there for her.

Sure enough, after her revelation he had a worried expression and asked about her wellbeing. He also had concern if someone was harming her from the shadows.

However, he also couldn't figure out a solution for it but instead said,

“This is also my first time to hear such a thing. Memories that you have no idea of appeared in your mind… I have a feeling that this matter isn't simple. We could indeed discard the notion that someone was deliberately scheming behind you but it is still better to be cautious.”

“I also think that there's no one involved.”

“But Luna, why does your current situation sound similar to those fantasy literature? Have you ever read them?”

“Eh? I did read some back at my world. Now that I think about it, this pattern of gaining unknown memories isn't this… from the reincarnation genre!? Could it be that I am a reincarnator!!?”

She was shocked to her core after finding so many similarities of those reincarnators she read about in literary works. If not for her crush sensing this oddity and reminding her of it she might have still been kept in the dark.

The reason why such a conjecture never formed in her mind was because when she read those fantasy literature out of curiosity it was some of her happy times that got buried later with the abuse-filled life she had to get used to for years after that. Her life before being adapted was just like any other girl of her age.

With him mentioning it, those moments of her life got refreshed in her mind again. This fact also couldn't help but make her a little bleak inside as it turned out that she needed someone to actually remind her of it so she could remember those warm days.

Her life seemed to have been permanently damaged by those two filths.

She pushed those dark thoughts out of her mind to focus on the new discovery of her recent trouble,

“Blue, I don't know what to do. Should I ask teacher Nicole about this? But I can't bring myself to trust her so easily!”

“This… then how come you trust me so much?”

He asked her in a both curious and somewhat happy tone as her trust in him seemed to have touched him deeply,

“... Well, I actually… Well! You are my close friend after all. If I don't trust you then who else can I?”

She asked back while glancing around from bashfulness. She wanted to just reveal that she liked him very much but such a confession at this juncture was bound to make things awkward between them.

He gave her warm smile before caressing her head playfully much to her utter delight. She wanted to feel more of his touch as such a rare occasion of him feeling a bit endearment towards her had happened for the first time. Unfortunately, he didn't continue as she was still treated just as previously by him.

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After all, she still hasn't managed to take their relationship to the next stage.

“It may be true that you are a reincarnator, after all, we don't know how much a higher level player can achieve in the future. That being said, we have to consider the fact that in those literatures most of the time reincarnators had only reincarnated when they either perished or were forced by some other plot line thus it always involved the ending of the past life, right? So…”

He seemed to be not able to continue as the further speculation seemed to take a grim turn for her. Luna also had a gloomy expression on her face after figuring out where the speculation was heading. To be honest, she had also thought of this point thus she felt even more reluctant to reveal it to someone else other than him, who had already learned the truth.

After all, if some enemy had forced her to reincarnate then the more she revealed any clues about her identity the faster she might get noticed by them. Her new memories also seemed to make her feel that she shouldn't have discussed it with him. This subtle change in her mindset further made her gloomy as she keenly noticed it, after all, it involved her crush.

“Luna, don't make that face. This matter is better to keep a secret for obvious reasons. Though you told me out of your trust, I will still promise you as a Paladin that this matter would remain a secret that I will take it to my grave.”

He held her hands as he deeply looked at her with eyes bearing his sincerity and an oath of secrecy. She looked at his red eyes akin to shimmering rubies and felt like the gloom she felt earlier receding slowly as she kept further falling in love with this man.

She took a deep breath and decided to be brave.

She closed in and hugged him tightly without letting him understand why she did such a thing. His slightly startled body language made it obvious but he nonetheless didn't push her away but caressed her hair and back to calm her gently.

When she noticed that the wench named Karla was approaching the secluded spot she earlier took him for the conversation, she reluctantly ended the hug but still smiled at him sweetly.

Then they returned to the final practice session before the big day tomorrow.

°°°°

Blue stood behind Walter as the other young Paladins gathered behind him.

Today was the last day of the second month thus the day of the second monthly evaluation. All the students had gathered at the previous exam center and were now waiting for the vice principal, Julie, to arrive and start the exam.

As the fourth ranked student he obviously stood ahead among the gathering formation made by the Paladins behind Walter. This guy also sneakily checked his status window earlier and seemed shocked to see his progress from the last time he saw him.

Blue ignored him as he was more concerned about the matters of Luna and Nicole.

He had cautiously handled Luna yesterday but the fact that her memories were being slowly unlocked so soon put some pressure on him. He had also noticed the subtle change in her behavior because of it.

Especially the sudden hug, which was something she wouldn't have done if her mentality was the same as he last saw her before the training. He had always been cautious with her and now he felt the pressure from being put in front of a core denizen more acutely. Her silent observation and distant look of analyzing him had been quite apparent because of her sloppiness from only unlocking a small number of memories.

Blue took a deep breath without any heed to others as pretty much all the young adults were sporting the similar tension on their faces. The tension and anxiety was not as bad as their first evaluation but it was still present visibly. It was only the second exam after all.

Anyways, he now had to hurry on Luna's side quest without making any fumbles along the way because of the recalibrated plans for her.

On the other hand, Nicole was also a serious matter for him to handle. It seemed that the talk with Julie didn't go well and she always seemed to be in a bad mood. Her expressions after noticing him were always complicated.

Though she never mentioned what Julie said to her, she had been trying to keep a subtle distance from him. It seemed that the fact that he would become a player affiliated with a noble thus being in a different spectrum than her commoner self had greatly affected her established mindset of him and she felt conflicted on how to go about this.

There was no option of refusal from the start.

A noble had given her some face by even bothering to have a talk just because the other party she wanted to recruit was reluctant of her matter. This was already a tremendous compromise Julie made for Nicole since if she showed disobedience later and complained about her “poaching” behavior then her dignity as a noble would be tarnished.

Not only did she lower herself to give her some face because she wanted to recruit him but she also probably kept the matter under wraps by promising to give her faction some benefits in compensation for rule violation. Though the nobles made the rules, she was “magnanimous” enough to give a commoner like her and her faction some consideration. After all that, there was no way for Nicole to even reply in negative as that would be akin to challenging Julie’s dignity as a noblewoman from that point on.

Regardless, he could only focus on her matter after he was done with the second monthly evaluation.