Chapter 13 - And the Story Begins
“Sorry, the magic textbooks are sold out just a while ago."
“Oh no...”
Not only that it took me a long time to clean up because of Willy, but when I managed to finish my potion class and returned to the classroom, I found that my textbooks, notebooks, and gym clothes in the locker were now a muddy mess.
The classic bullying. I should’ve predicted it. It was my fault for not taking any precautions. Though it was definitely the fault of the students who did this in the first place.
I let out a sigh, threw away all the papers, and came to the tuck shop during my lunch break, only to find that I couldn’t buy the textbook for the next magic class.
I had no choice but to buy brand-new textbooks and notebooks other than that subject. When I came back, I heard an unpleasant giggle.
“Oh no, how pathetic.”
“An idiot doesn’t need textbooks anyway, do they?”
The laughter came from the girls who kicked my desk on my first day at school. There’s no doubt. It was definitely them. But I had no evidence. I couldn’t even question them.
And recently, the harassment seemed to be worse than before. The class itself was tense before the rank exam.
Everyone was definitely losing their calm. Because rank was everything in this academy.
“...Don’t pay them any mind, get over it.”
Showing any signs of sadness here would only make the girls grow conceited. I told Willie to keep an eye on my textbooks and went out into the hallway to wipe down my muddy locker.
Midway, I was able to borrow the magic textbook from Yoshida, who happened to pass by. I didn’t have any friends in other classes and Therese was taking a break today, so he really was my savior.
When he found out that my notebooks were all ruined, he even lent me his notebooks diligently filled with notes. “Make sure to copy them!”
“Pfft, hhh... Cough, cough.”
“Miss Wainwright, can you please pay attention?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
And during class, when I was looking at Yoshida’s notebook lined with his beautiful handwriting, I noticed that the doodles of mysterious creature. The creature, which seemed to be Yoshida’s original character, was highlighting the important points in the speech balloon. I ended up laughing out loud and the teacher got mad at me.
Yoshida, you’re so bad at drawing! Although I was a little depressed, Yoshida cheered me back up and got me back into the swing of things.
◇◇◇
After school, I decided to rinse my muddy gym clothes before taking them home, so I headed for the backyard water supply.
As a wealthy noble lady, I received a crazy amount of allowance. I had the money to buy new things, but throwing items that were still usable was too wasteful for me.
“Oh, hello."
“......”
As I was walking, I met Prince Theodore and greeted him as usual. Of course, he didn't reply, but his feet stopped. Unlike how he always walked right past me.
His gaze was directed at my muddy gym clothes.
“......”
“Ah, I’m sorry for showing you something unsightly...”
Feeling somewhat apologetic, I offered him a small nod and walked away. Then I arrived at the backyard and found that it was already occupied.
“Get the hell out of here already, you scum.”
"Uu...”
To my surprise, three students were violently attacking one male student. When I saw him crouching on the ground, being kicking full force, I rushed over to him.
“What are you doing?!?”
“You... You’re the weakest among the F-rank...”
What’s with that line, like I was one of the Four Heavenly Kings? Apparently, I was the lowest of F-rank. Or practically, the most bottom of the grade.
When I said loudly that I would call the teachers, they clicked their tongues, said something like “I don’t want to get infected with F-rank" and left. After all, people who bully the weak were small-minded.
I quickly turned around and asked, "Are you okay?"
He eventually looked up, exposing the same bright red brooch shining on his chest like mine. Since this was the first time I met another F-rank student other than me, I felt a sense of comradeship and held out my hand.
He took my hand, albeit fearfully, and stood up unsteady.
“I-I’m sorry, your gym clothes are all muddy because of me...”
“Ah, it’s already like this from the start.”
Anyhow, his injuries were quite serious. I, of course, could not use healing magic, so I decided to take him with me to the infirmary.
His expression remained gloomy, even when he was attended by the school medic. Unable to leave him alone, I decided to invite him to the cafeteria for a cup of tea.
“Thank you...”
I offered him a cup of hot tea and he thanked me in a small voice, still facing down. People around us were ridiculing us with “F-rank birth in the making” and other elementary-school-level insults, but I ignored them.
The student with blue hair and thick glasses introduced himself as Reinhardt. What a cool name!
“This is the first time someone has been nice to me since I came to this school.”
“Right.”
From the painful scars that can be seen here and there, anyone could easily imagine what he had been through. Girls' abuse was underhanded, but boys’ abuse was a lot more direct.
He didn’t seem to have a good family environment as well, which made him even more relatable.
“Rene, you’re amazing. I’m sure I’ll get expelled from school soon.”
“That’s...”
Although the bullying was painful, he didn’t want to get expelled. Unsure of what his family would do to him once he was expelled, he became even more downcast than before.
That figure resembled a boy I doted on in my previous life. I just couldn't leave him alone, so I continued, "Hey.
How about trying our best together? Let’s both get out from F-rank and shut everyone up with our effort.”
“Together with... Rene...?”
“Yeah. We can support and cheer on each other.”
As for me, I was happy enough to have a fellow F-rank as a friend. He looked puzzled for a while, but eventually gave me a small nod.
Nevertheless, we didn’t have much time left until the next rank test. Hence why starting the next day, I decided to start studying and practicing magic with Reinhard after school every day.
Julius teased me, “Another fling?” but he also taught him magic and Therese watched us both study. Yoshida also lent us his notes on other subjects.
Once again, I realized that I was blessed by my surroundings, and I hoped that one day Reinhardt would feel the same way.
“...If it’s with Rene, I feel like I can do anything.”
“Really?”
One day after school, after we had finished studying together in the library, we were on our way home. And he suddenly muttered something like that.
“I'll do my best. I promise."
“Yes, let’s do our best.”
“I want to be as charming as Sir Julius and Yoshida.”
“Right.”
It’s great to have someone close to him as his goal. I also wanted to get as close as I could to be my goddess, Therese.
As I was walking along, a boy coming from in front of us bumped into Reinhardt as hard as he could. Reinhardt fell straight to the ground, and with a clunk, his glasses rolled to the ground.
“Are you... eh!”
Worried, I rushed to him and was caught speechless.
Because his face, hidden by long bangs and glasses, was extremely handsome. How is this possible!?
“My glasses, they’re broken.”
“A-Are you okay?”
“No worries. They’re non-prescribed glasses.”
“Ah...... Okay......”
His softly narrowed, pale gray eyes were incredibly beautiful. Give me a moment, for real. Why did he have to wear fake glasses in the first place?
“Rene.”
How come the world let such a handsome man suffer abuse for so many years, to the point that this was the first time he had been treated kindly? But this was also the same world that used to be called a shitty game because of its cliche development. So it’s possible.
Then I realized. That his setting was also extremely common. That he might be one of the love interests.
“Rene.”
However, he had the same hair color as Yoshida. Unless they were siblings, none of the love interests had the same hair color.
The packaging of most fantasy-themed otome games were filled with rainbow-colored love interests. One of them
“Rene. Rene, Rene.”
“Oh, sorry! I was just thinking...”
I looked up in a panic, and he squeezed my palm.
“I’m sorry for making you worry. I'll do my best for you, Rene. I will be strong so that no one will ever bully you, Rene.”
“Okay...?”
Although he was getting a little disconcerting, it’s great that he was motivated.
At that time, my mind was fully occupied with which was the second love interest.
Not realizing that I already met all the five love interests, I only had less than a week left before the rank exam.
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