I woke up staring at a very unfamiliar ceiling and the imdiate thought that crossed my mind was:
’Ah. So this is how I die. In a fancy bed.’
I blinked again.
’Nope. I’m still alive.’
"...Unfortunate," I muttered.
I tried to sit up but it was a bad idea.
My entire body imdiately reminded it had recently participated in running, summoning, fighting, fainting, and emotional humiliation.
I was about to groan dramatically when—
"...Mhmm..."
I froze, my eyes slowly shifting to the side.
The beds beside mine were separated by curtains. Very thin, unhelpful curtains and through them, I saw two shadows where one is clearly on top of the other.
My brain imdiately connected the dots.
"This academy," I whispered to myself, deeply betrayed, "has no sha whatsoever."
We are in an infirmary. A place for the sick, injured, and dying. Not—this.
Where was the supervision?
Where was the nurse?
Where was literally anyone with authority and morals?!
"Aaahh..."
I shut my eyes tightly.
Nope.
NO.
I am not doing this again.
I did not escape one "educational experience" in the garden just to be enrolled in Infirmary Edition.
"I refuse," I whispered, covering my ears and turning to my side, only to freeze again from the sudden pain.
"...Why does everything hurt?" I muttered through clenched teeth as I focused on muting everything but the sounds kept slipping through anyway.
Creak.
My eyes opened...
Creak.
And twitched in annoyance.
Creak.
At this point, it wasn’t even subtle anymore.
It was audible assault.
"...Unbelievable," I muttered, pressing my hands harder against my ears.
It didn’t work.
Why would anything work for anyway?
The universe clearly had a personal vendetta against .
Fine. You want noise?
I’ll give you noise.
I flopped flat onto the bed, stared at the ceiling like a woman who had absolutely lost control of her life, took a deep breath.
And committed to the bit.
"...Oooh..."
The bed next door paused.
I blinked. ’Did I win?’
Creak.
Creak.
Creak.
They resud again but this ti the movents were getting stronger and bolder as if they were challenging .
My eye twitched violently.
’Oh. So that’s how it is.’
Ga on.
I sat up slightly—regretted it instantly—then started shaking my bed more loudly and violently like a possessed furniture review.
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"
CREAK!
CREAK!
CREAK!
They.
Still.
Did.
Not.
Stop.
I grabbed my pillow. "This is war," I muttered before I started smacking it against the bed like I was trying to exorcise a demon.
"Aaawwwwoouuugh!!!"
At this point, I wasn’t even sure if I sounded like a person anymore.
I probably sound like a distressed animal or much like a dying wolf.
Silence.
Glorious, hard-earned, I-fought-for-my-life-for-this silence.
I lay there, victorious, ready to drift back into unconsciousness—
"Y-You didn’t tell there was s-soone else here," the woman whispered in panic.
My eyes snapped open.
That voice...
’Vivienne Rosenthal?!’
My soul left my body.
Another voice followed, calm and completely unbothered.
"Then let them hear. I don’t care."
’Sebastian Grimm?!’
Oh no.
Oh absolutely not.
I stared at the curtain blankly.
"...Seriously?" I whispered under my breath. "Is this a hobby? A scheduled activity? A club I accidentally joined?"
Through the thin fabric, I saw her shadow scramble off the bed like she had just rembered morality existed while Sebastian was sitting still, facing my direction.
I slowly turned over, pretending I had never existed in this universe.
Please let this be a hallucination.
Please let this be a fever dream.
I carefully, slowly, quietly began inching towards the edge of the bed, one centiter at a ti, and just when my foot touched the floor—
Creeeak.
The curtain slid open.
I panicked and imdiately pulled the blanket over my head like that would solve everything.
"Yes," I whispered to myself. "If I can’t see him, he can’t see ."
If I couldn’t see the devil, the devil couldn’t see .
"Hey."
I did not respond.
"Woman."
I could not respond.
"What was that just now?"
I was now a certified blanket-shaped corpse.
"...Hey," they repeated.
I still said nothing because I value my life. Also because I had no explanation that wouldn’t make sound insane.
I slowly inched backward under the blanket, attempting escape round two.
If I moved slowly enough, maybe I could disappear into another dinsion.
I was this close to freedom, when a hand suddenly grabbed .
"Ack!"
I yelped and got yanked back onto the bed as the blanket flew dramatically into the air before landing perfectly over both of us.
Everyone who looks at it can see that we are doing sothing in a very questionable situation.
"You again...?" Sebastian frowned, like I was a recurring inconvenience in his otherwise peaceful life.
"Uhm... who are you again...?" I laughed awkwardly, because denial is a river in Egypt.
He smiled.
A "you’ve-made-a-mistake" kind of smile.
"Don’t tell you already forgot this lunatic?"
"Wow," I said weakly. "What are the chances?"
"...High, apparently," he replied, still very much on top of , which felt like an important issue no one was addressing.
"...This looks bad."
"It does."
"...I can explain."
"I’m listening."
"Then get off first," I said, attempting to push him away with the strength of a dying squirrel.
"Or?" he asked, clearly entertained.
"I will scream."
His grin widened. "I can also make you do that."
I stared at him, deeply concerned—not for myself, but for society.
’Does this man want to scream in pain and terror just because I interrupted his extracurricular activities?’
"Who even said this was a motel anyway?!" I snapped, finally shoving his shoulder with what little strength I had. "I was defending my peace! My ears are innocent civilians in this situation!"
He didn’t even flinch.
"If you want to do... whatever that was," I continued, waving vaguely toward the curtain, "then do it sowhere no one has interest in hearing it! Preferably a cave. Or the bottom of the ocean."
He tilted his head slightly, studying like I was the problem here. "Were... you jealous?"
My brain short-circuited. "...What?"
He stared at like he had just solved a very complex mystery.
"What makes you think—"
"I understand," Sebastian cut in smoothly, already nodding like he had solved a mystery no one asked him to solve. "Won in this academy really do unimaginable things just so I could notice them."
I stared at him, silently wondering if he had a little accident and left his brain behind sowhere along the way, which is probably why he’s here in the first place.
"Is that why you approached in the first place?" he continued, smiling like he deserved applause.
"No—"
"Sshh!" he interrupted, raising a finger as if I was the one being unreasonable. "That’s alright. I can give you my attention if that’s what you want."
’Excuse ?’
"You already caught my interest anyway," he added, smirking as he leaned down.
My eye twitched. ’The audacity, confidence, and utter delusion of this perverted lunatic!’
Before his lips could even get anywhere near , I headbutted him as hard as I could.
Thunk!
He groaned, jerked back, and sat upright as if he’d been hit by a wrecking ball while I imdiately scooted away, looking as if I just survived an assassination attempt by the world’s clumsiest assassin.
"Listen, you lunatic!" I snapped, clutching my aching head but refusing to lose montum. "I have never—never—had any feelings for you. I got bored, that’s why I did those things!"
He chuckled.
Why was he chuckling?
Why are they all chuckling?
"Then you can say the sa goes for ," he said, casually advancing like this was a friendly conversation and not a cri scene.
"Get back!" I hissed, grabbing the nearest pillow and launching it at his face.
He caught it effortlessly, which only made more annoyed.
"I’ll let you go," he said, holding the pillow like it was evidence, "if you give your na."
"Not gonna happen."
"Then that ans you really want to touch you."
I recoiled so fast I almost pulled a muscle.
"Alright! Alright!" I raised both hands in surrender. "My na is Anne."
"Anne?" he raised a brow.
I nodded excitedly. ’Why would I even give you my na in the first place?’
Just when I thought I was safe, I suddenly heard Gawain’s voice calling out to . "Miss Blanca, are you okay now?"
My soul attempted to exit my body for the second ti that day.
’Of all the possible tis...’
"...No," I whispered under my breath. "No, I am not okay."
Sebastian—no, this lunatic—stared at with growing amusent. "Anne, huh?"
"Y-Yes!" I said quickly, sweating like I had just committed tax fraud. "That’s really my na. I don’t even know who that guy is."
"To what I know," Sebastian said slowly, eyes gleaming with betrayal and entertainnt, "we’re the only ones here, Blanca."
"Miss Blanca, who are you talking to?" Gawain called again, footsteps getting closer.
No.
No no no no—
"WAIT! D-Don’t—!"
I lunged forward in pure panic, aiming for the curtain like my life depended on it but my body, still recovering from betrayal, combat, and physical suffering, decided now was the perfect ti to malfunction.
To make matters worse, an annoying lunatic was directly in my way, blocking my path.
I tripped and in a perfect, horrifying sequence of events, I fell forward.
Straight.
Onto.
Sebastian.
The curtain finally opened revealing on top of him while he was looking up at and not complaining.
Silence.
I slowly turned my head to et Gawain’s blank face.
The kind of expression that ant he had already judged the situation, found it unacceptable, and was now deciding how many bodies needed to disappear to restore order.
"I can explain," I blurted imdiately, scrambling to get off—only to freeze halfway as my entire body scread in protest. "—ah—never mind, my body says no."
"Do you need assistance?" Sebastian asked, clearly enjoying this far more than any sane person should.
"No," I snapped. "I need you to disappear."
’Preferably permanently.’
"Sir," Gawain said politely, though his tone could’ve frozen lava, "kindly remove yourself from beneath my lady."
Sebastian didn’t even try to move, he just looked amused. "As you can see," he drawled, "your lady is sitting on top of ."
Before the situation could escalate into sothing that would definitely get us expelled—or executed—Gawain stepped forward, lifted like I weighed nothing, and put a very firm distance between and the problem.
I clung to him like my life depended on it.
Gawain looked down at . "My Lady," he said calmly, "just give the word, and I’ll make sure no one rembers him."
I blinked. "...That sounds illegal."
"Efficient," he corrected.
"Do that," Sebastian’s eyes darkened, a dangerous glint in them, "and I’ll make sure your head is hanging on top of the Academy gates."
I sighed wearily, rubbing my temples. "Just carry back to my dorm," I requested tiredly, hoping to avoid further conflict.
Gawain didn’t argue this ti. He simply turned and started walking.
Freedom.
Sweet, blessed freedom—
"Leaving just like that?" Sebastian called after us. "No goodbye kiss?"
I twitched.
"My Lady," Gawain said, tone suddenly hopeful in the most concerning way possible, "let smack him. Just this once."
"No," I said imdiately. "We can’t afford to offend soone like him."
Gawain slowly stopped walking. "...My Lady," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "you’ve already offended maybe half of the students here."
"That’s different."
"How?"
"I don’t care about them."
"...You don’t care about him either."
"I care about survival."
Behind us, I could practically feel Sebastian smiling... which was deeply unsettling.
"Just not him," I added firmly.
Gawain resud walking, clearly reconsidering my intelligence.
"Is your body still hurting?" he asked after a mont.
I nodded, burying my face against his shoulder. "I feel like I got run over. Twice. By different vehicles."
"Good."
I blinked. "...Good?"
"Then let’s continue training."
"...What?"
"Especially how to summon your soul weapon properly."
I stared at him like he had just suggested I run a marathon while being stabbed.
"But what about class?" I demanded. "What about my condition? What about my right to rest? Do you want to die?"
"We’re already excused," he said calmly. "And no, you won’t die from training."
"That sounds like a lie."
"We need to train you quickly so you can at least defend yourself."
I narrowed my eyes. "Defend myself from what?"
He looked down at , completely serious. "From your stupidity."
I stared at him, deeply offended "...Put down."
"No."
"I want a new aide."
"Denied."
"I want a new life."
"Also denied."
"...I miss the Rogue," I sighed and let my head fall back. "At least the Rogue was honest. It tried to kill directly. Not emotionally, ntally, and socially at the sa ti."
Gawain chuckled softly. "...We’re going back to the dorm first."
"Finally, a reasonable decision."
"Then we train."
"...You were doing so well."
"And you," he replied calmly, "are a disaster."
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