"Who is...that?"
Immediately, Haerin jumped like a surprised cat, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she attempted to hide what seemed like a paper.
After a couple of awkward moments, she simply replied.
"A study buddy."
"...?"
With those hurried words, Haerin scurried off to her dorm, still hiding something.
Gazing at the academic building, Leo paused for a moment before ultimately deciding to head in.
Yet, as he made a left toward the cafeteria and scanned the almost-empty area, his gaze once again caught sight of a familiar figure.
Him...again?
The figure was extremely close to Serena as their breaths rushed against each other’s faces, but, at that moment, Serena stepped backward and returned to her lunch table, leaving the boy dazed.
What’s going on with those two?
Seeing Carissa sitting alone, Leo grabbed a plate of food and sat across from her, his gaze still somewhat lingering on the male figure now sitting a few tables away from Serena.
Looking at her plate, Leo joked.
"Sweet treat?"
Leo expected to simply blankly nod as usual, yet...Carissa looked up, confused.
However, just at that moment, as she saw Leo, a spark of recognition flashed in her empty eyes, as if someone who had just woken from sleeping, her head jerked backward.
Confused, her eyebrows raised and mouth agape, she scanned the bench and plate before her, gazing at her two palms, distraught.
"W-what?"
"...?" ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novelꞁire.net
...
...
...
Smiling, I gazed as Carissa, confused, gazed at her two palms while Leo just stood there like a spectator, no idea what to do.
He and Magnus were the keys to solving Carissa’s problem.
Earlier, I had walked up to her to see if, possibly, I could trigger something in her, but unfortunately, the soul inhibiting the diary she had received remained within her head.
Only when she saw Leo just now and Magnus, in the future, would she return to normal.
Having seen what I needed to do, I glanced at Serena, who was simply gazing at the paper before her, ignoring her plate.
I already knew that if she went to the laboratory, there was no way she would eat for the next few days or even leave her laboratory, entranced by the idea of a new discovery.
That was just the way I had written her; she was passionate to the extreme about the sciences.
She’ll die of hunger before she can watch Carissa.
Pushing her tray toward her, I placed my hand over the paper, blocking her sight, and said.
"If you’re not gonna eat that, I’ll take it."
Finally looking up from her paper, perhaps because of the sheer stupidity of my statement, she said in absolute disbelief.
"What!? There’s an entire buffet of food over the-"
Interrupting her mid-sentence, I reached my fork over her paper and plucked a piece of chicken from her tray, purposely chewing loudly.
Her expression transforming into one of pure disgust, she pulled her tray in front of the paper, blocking me from it, and began eating while gazing at me like I was a lizard.
Interestingly enough, the two of us seemed to be thinking the same exact things, just about each other.
What an interesting creature.
After arriving at my dorm room, I returned to my normal routine of practicing my swordmanship against the AI dummy bot.
Though it was minimal, besides my swordmanship, the accuracy of my lines was also improving.
When I had first started, the lines stretching from the robot’s sword had been numerous, all flickering and uncertain.
Yet, now, each time the robot swung his sword, fewer than five definite lines appeared.
While this could be said to be a good thing, I simply sighed.
What was going to happen when it got to the point where only one definitive line appeared from the robot’s sword?
Training against it then would be useless.
I could train against a human for 1 million years, and there would always be at least two lines due to the unpredictable nature of the human brain.
Or perhaps, a line of mine, like what happened with Ruby, could even be wrong.
Yet, with a robot, there was an algorithm.
My brain seemed to have learned that algorithm and was using that information to form definite lines.
Thus, my lines were never wrong with the robot, unlike with humans, so it was all about just choosing the right one to follow.
Once that algorithm was learned entirely and applied by my lines, I would either have to find a robot with a different algorithm or stop training.
There was no point in fighting against an opponent whose next move I always knew.
*BZZT*
At that moment, as I rested atop a lilypad, soaking in the sunlight above me, my smartwatch suddenly buzzed, a small holographic screen popping out consequently.
[A reminder to Travel Club Members: Orientation will be held this weekend, starting Friday Evening and ending Sunday night. Please remember to bring clothes, basic essentials, and anything you may need for an overnight trip. We have just finalized the trip’s final locations and accommodations.]
[Hope to see you soon!]
Friday...that was tomorrow.
Picking up my smartwatch, I used my newfound wealth to order some potentially useful items, with same-day delivery.
Surprisingly, things like chemicals and potions were just...available on a hero-only shopping site; I didn’t even have to navigate to the underground portion of the web.
Setting an alarm on my smartwatch, I leaped out of the painting and into my bed, enjoying the darkness of the real world instead of the constant light within the painting.
As the next day arrived, I headed to class as usual...however, because of my packing, I was a couple of minutes late, still earlier than the bell.
When I arrived in the classroom, my seat had been taken by thr girl Serena had stolen her seat from.
"..."
I silently stared at Ruby, Serena, and the other girl in the row for a few moments before scanning the classroom.
There were two seats available.
One was on the other side of the classroom, right next to Magnus.