I got into school for nothing - Chapter 29
I got into school for nothing (29)
Lesson 7. It's Not Because I Like You, Absolutely Not - 4
Saturday morning.
All the Rebellion members were gathered in the training room.
Union Academy's Second Annex had a communal training room allocated for each class, where students could gather and train. Surprisingly, even though they were treated as first-year Class 11, they were given exclusive use of a very large training room!
If they hadn't been officially recognized as a class, they naturally wouldn't have received such benefits. Long live Professor Yumina!
"Ba-Ban, I have a question for you, who has excellent comprehension."
"What is it?"
Light was currently sprawled flat on the floor like a frog, and Ban Yuwon, being kind, approached him closely to listen to his words.
"How foolish."
But it wasn't Ban Yuwon who answered Light; it was Dokgo Yeon.
Unlike Light, who looked like a dried-up, dead frog, she stood gracefully, stretching her legs like a crane.
"Since it's about teaching the body, isn't it natural to directly inject it into the body? It would be different if you were a thief like Ban Yuwon, who steals the true meaning after seeing something once, but you're not, are you? So stop lying there and get up quickly."
"My, my sword... give it to me...."
Of course, there had always been a significant difference in strength between Dokgo Yeon and Light.
Even so, this was the first time Light had been so unilaterally thrashed, and the reason was that he didn't have his sword in his hand.
"You need to learn how to fight without that sword first. Until then, I cannot allow you to have it. The same goes for entering the Tower."
"I'm a swordsman!"
"Then if you lose your sword, do you intend to die right there?"
"If I don't lose it...."
"Why don't you try holding your sword and challenging me? I'll make you drop it in three seconds."
Light couldn't retort.
Instead, he glared at Dokgo Yeon with a look of deep resentment, to which Dokgo Yeon snorted, a dismissive scoff.
"Ban Yuwon also agreed to this."
"What did you say?!"
Light glared at Ban Yuwon as if he were a traitor.
Ban Yuwon scratched his head and replied.
"Sorry. I didn't expect it to proceed this way... but it's true I discussed it with Dokgo Yeon for your growth."
"Keuk, for my growth...."
"And if Dokgo Yeon chose this method, I think it's probably the right one. Light, can't you trust me just this once?"
When Ban Yuwon looked at him with serious eyes, Light couldn't argue further and clamped his mouth shut.
He bit his lip hard, then eventually nodded.
"...Alright."
He hadn't expected Light to agree so readily.
It seemed the hot chocolate they had cleanly finished yesterday must have worked wonders.
...Or perhaps what the Observer of All Things had said served as a kind of shock therapy.
"You have a good eye... I'll trust you, just this once."
"Oh."
Dokgo Yeon smiled faintly, watching Light rise to his feet.
"Good, let's start again then."
"Whew...."
As Dokgo Yeon went on the offensive, Light also took his stance.
For Ban Yuwon, whose realm was still low, simply observing their sparring was of great help, so he also settled down and watched them.
'I somewhat expected it, but Light really does become drastically weaker without his sword.'
The resumed sparring was truly one-sided.
Dokgo Yeon ceaselessly struck Light with her palm edge, up, down, and diagonally.
Light seemed to be trying his best to dodge Dokgo Yeon's attacks, but his movements were noticeably duller and slower compared to when he held his sword.
"Keck, kheh...!"
"You only need to see my breathing and the start of my attacks! The rest you must feel with your ki. If you try to follow where my palm edge is aimed with your eyes, you won't be able to block it even in a hundred years!"
"I know... that!"
"If you know, then do it. You could do it when you had your sword, couldn't you? Does your combat sense rust immediately if your sword doesn't keep it alive?"
"Keuk!"
The power of the Holy Sword truly seemed remarkable.
He heard that it not only enhanced Light's physical specs but also acted as a combat assistant, didn't he?
If so, it was highly probable that Light had been relying on his sword rather than developing his own senses until now.
The consequence of that was the mishap that occurred during yesterday's exploration.
His sword got entangled in the mana-infused web shot by the giant spider, its functions were sealed, and he struggled against a monster that should have been dealt with swiftly.
'That must have been the part Dokgo Yeon disliked.'
He activated his Babylonia Code and observed the two.
Of course, it wasn't easy to read the internal concepts of two people at a distance in real-time, but he did it with the hope that consistent attempts might lead to some change.
And it yielded partial success.
While Dokgo Yeon was impossible, he succeeded in reading the changes in Light's internal concepts.
'Light's Life, Body, Magic, and Soul... all of them are continuously decreasing in real-time?!'
All four concepts, which Ban Yuwon himself had named 'Core,' were steadily declining.
Ban Yuwon was dumbfounded to see Light's Life, which had easily surpassed 500 (at least, Light with his Holy Sword was a monster who surpassed the Special Class Irekto by nearly threefold), halve in just three minutes.
He had thought Light was strong even without his sword, but if even these changes were due to the sword, his condition was quite serious.
"You're getting weaker! Is your main body the sword? Are you a sword?!"
"Kuuuuh!"
And as if Dokgo Yeon had noticed the change too, she furiously berated Light.
"Did you come out here to demonstrate that you can't do anything without your sword? If so, then just say it!"
"No!"
"Then don't look for a sword you don't even have in your hand right now; face me bare-handed!"
"Uuugh!"
The moment Light clenched his fist in anger at Dokgo Yeon's words, surprisingly, the degradation of his concepts stopped.
It didn't recover, but at least it remained stable at the halved level.
'What did Dokgo Yeon say just now? Did she tell him not to look for his sword?'
Dokgo Yeon, who was sparring with Light, must have snapped at him when she saw him unconsciously making movements that presupposed the presence of his sword.
If the degradation stopped the moment Light snapped out of it after hearing those words, Perhaps there was some other factor influencing the contract between the Holy Sword and Light, something Ban Yuwon couldn't even guess at?
"Ah."
At that moment, Rucell, who was watching their sparring with Ban Yuwon, gaped.
"What's wrong, Rucell?"
"Light's... face."
"Face?"
"It's changing."
Hearing that, he examined Light and was surprised to see his face indeed changing little by little.
More specifically, his already feminine facial features softened further, double eyelids appeared, eyelashes grew longer, his chin became more slender....
"Has he given up hiding it?"
"It's not that he gave up; it's more like what was suppressed is being released...."
It went without saying that everyone in Class 11 had figured out Light's true identity.
But surely that was different from Light directly revealing his identity, wasn't it?
As the two exchanged questioning glances, it happened.
"C-ck!"
Suddenly, something in Light's chest brightly glowed, and Light screamed, collapsing on the spot.
Dokgo Yeon's face, as she looked down at him, seemed a little serious.
"This won't be as simple as I thought."
"K-hah...."
"...Light, you know about this too, don't you?"
"But... I have to overcome it."
Light, whose fit had subsided and returned to a state closer to his original appearance, replied through gritted teeth.
It was different from the overtly feminine look he had just moments ago, but still a considerably altered, androgynous face compared to his initial appearance.
While those who didn't know him well might not notice, the members of Class 11, who had been facing him for almost a week, could all immediately tell.
"You and Ban are right. I also thought I couldn't go on like this... Can I ask for more sparring?"
"...I owe you an apology. I'm sorry, I misjudged you."
Dokgo Yeon apologized to Light with a stiff face.
Light gave a bitter laugh and shook his head.
"It's alright. I hadn't told you guys either. Probably, even in the future...."
"I thought you were merely a clueless idiot who didn't know his place, but to think you were an idiot with a bomb strapped to his body. I sincerely hope your peculiar illness doesn't flare up inside the Tower."
"I truly hate you!"
"Then get up now. You said you wanted to spar, didn't you?"
"Poison must flow in your veins instead of blood."
Dokgo Yeon's venomous words remained, but it was true that her attitude towards Light had softened considerably.
Light, too, seemed to have slightly reduced his animosity towards Dokgo Yeon after realizing that she was genuinely trying to help him grow.
The sight of them bickering and yet getting along was so amusing that even Rucell, who usually feared Dokgo Yeon, couldn't help but giggle.
"Ban, we should be like... Ugh."
Rucell, emboldened by the dramatic improvement in their relationship, spoke to Ban Yuwon first.
However, Ban Yuwon, too focused on the concept he had just briefly seen, didn't manage to answer Rucell.
'What was that?'
Had he seen it wrong?
He wished that were the case, but somehow, he doubted it.
[Holy Spirit, Demonic Spirit]
The moment a small burst of light erupted from Light's chest, Ban Yuwon's eyes saw two concepts.
They weren't Light's internal concepts, but rather something contained within whatever he held close.
However, the fact that two clearly conflicting concepts resided in one item, The fact that it was related to the Soul, And moreover, if it was the cause of Light's recent seizure, it was something he absolutely couldn't overlook.
If he could somehow deal with that, couldn't Light's problem be solved?
'But Light isn't the type to readily answer if I ask him.'
He shared a room with him anyway.
There would be many opportunities to talk to him in the future, and many chances to observe him.
There was no need to rush.
He merely had to consider it another task added to his plate as the class president of Class 11.
More importantly, what was crucial right now wasn't Light, but...
Rucell.
"Rucell, you called me, didn't you? Sorry, I was lost in thought."
"Hick?! Ah, no. It's not that...."
Rucell, who had been rebuffed once and given up on communicating, was startled by the sudden call and recoiled slightly from him.
But she soon cautiously approached again and opened her mouth.
"Actually, we... would like to spar too."
"Are you sure?"
Ban Yuwon's 'Are you sure?' wasn't a declaration like 'Can you surpass me?'.
He was merely checking, worried that she might go berserk again like yesterday.
...Come to think of it, this party is truly a minefield.
"No."
Rucell shook her head reassuringly.
Then, blushing slightly, she looked at his forearm, or more precisely, at Eve wrapped around his forearm.
"So, sorry, but... if things go awry, Ban has a way to restrain me."
"Shhhhrrr."
Receiving Rucell's gaze, Eve hissed, as if to say 'trust me.'
Feeling unnecessarily flustered, Ban Yuwon cleared his throat and nodded.
"Alright. Shall we give it a try?"
"Yes... Um, please."
Rucell shyly nodded.
Ban Yuwon felt an indescribably ticklish and proud feeling from her smile.
Wasn't a fragment of the youth he desired right here?
Even if its direction was a little different!
'Good, this is it. Young men and women encouraging each other, diligently striving for improvement! This is true school life!'
Of course, Class 11, excluding Rucell, was an environment that could truly be called a girls' club.
However, there was a slight problem with the member composition.
Professor Yumina, who supported him to a burdensome degree, clearly seemed to want something in return.
Dokgo Yeon, whose ability gap was so vast that he thought of her as a teacher before a woman.
Light, who was hiding his identity, was also oblivious and nonchalant.
Wasn't this a composition where not even a hint of youth could be found!
'Rucell is my only hope. It's not about *doing* anything, just about *feeling* the atmosphere of youth!'
But his last hope shattered into a thousand pieces in just five minutes.
"Grrrrrrr!"
"Eve!"
"Shhhhrrr!"
Was it because she took Ban Yuwon's words "I'll somehow fix it" so absolutely to heart? Shortly after the sparring began, Rucell started showing signs of going berserk.
Within her Heart Furnace, fueled by her emotions, at first, feelings like pleasure, exhilaration, and joy flared up, activating her movements.
But as Ban Yuwon, who had grown considerably stronger, skillfully dodged or counterattacked her attacks, causing her to bounce back several times, anger and frustration accumulated in her Heart Furnace, and she slowly seemed to be losing her mind.
"Kuaaaaaa!"
"Eve, hold her tight!"
"Shhhhrrrrt!"
Eventually, when madness and killing intent appeared in her Heart Furnace, she transformed into a complete beast.
'It seems that the type of emotions burning in the Heart Furnace determines the degree of physical activation and the influence on her rationality.'
For now, observing the changes in her Heart Furnace was the best he could do; no matter how much he touched her body, he couldn't extract or change the emotions within the Heart Furnace.
One of the measures Ban Yuwon had considered was to calm her down by extracting his own emotions as concepts and imbuing them into her, but this also failed.
Their sparring only led to the conclusion that nothing would be resolved by simply exchanging blows like this.
"Krurk... Hah!"
Perhaps it was because it wasn't an actual battlefield where blood, flesh, and bone dust flew.
After being restrained by Eve's chains for a few minutes, she managed to regain her senses.
"Ugh, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I said I'd help you. I was fully prepared for this much."
"Ban...!"
"It seems you were smoothly enticing the beast while I was diligently educating her."
Just when he finally had a chance to talk to the now-conscious Rucell, Dokgo Yeon interjected from the side.
"Enticing? Didn't you see me struggling while sparring with Rucell?"
"I saw you whispering sweet nothings to an innocent beast, if that's what you mean."
"That's not it."
As Dokgo Yeon teasingly mocked Ban Yuwon, Rucell directly defended him.
"Ban was genuinely worried about me...."
"Then perhaps the beast is the one with ulterior motives?"
"Ugh?!"
While the innocent Rucell blushed and struggled to respond to Dokgo Yeon's mercilessly blunt words, Ban Yuwon checked a message that had arrived on his Mirror and smiled faintly.
"It's done."
"What's done?"
"Yesterday, when I was having dinner with Professor Yumina, I asked if I could bring one of you outside the floating island."
And just now, permission was granted in the Chancellor's name.
Normally, such a request would never be approved, even if he died and came back to life, but perhaps the channel video Ban Yuwon uploaded had a positive influence on the Chancellor as well.
"That's good news; I was just starting to feel stifled staying only in here...."
"So, Rucell, let's go out for a bit now, together."
"Huh?"
"Hm?"
"What did you say?"
Not only Dokgo Yeon, who had been certain he would take her out, but also Rucell, who hadn't expected her name to come up, and even Light blinked in surprise.
Ban Yuwon deliberately ignored Dokgo Yeon's piercing gaze and winked at Rucell.
"Let's go on a date."
"...Huh?!"
It's absolutely not because I like you.
It's purely to handle Rucell's abilities, so he hoped there wouldn't be any misunderstanding.
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