Not Again
1148 Words
"Class dismissed."
"Thanks sir."
The instructor left and the room is starting to get noisy. Some students chatter while sitting, others stood up, dragging the screeching chairs back to their original places, and...there's that one female who keeps on staring at the door with malice.
It's the Second Seat girl (I don't know who she is and I don't particularly care at all). I often forgot names.
"Uh, Second Seat... Why are you here? Are you looking for someone?"
One of my classmates curiously asked her the reason why she's here. She's from a different department and a different time schedule. We don't have any mutual classes.
I'm not that curious at all, but I just peeked at her from the corner of my eye. I'm still sitting and ought to snooze someone but her stares are piercing me.
The elite ones here are gone just after the class ended, and she's staring at me like that, so it's pretty obvious that I'm the one she's stalking with.
Wait, is that the proper term? Meh, beats me.
"Yawn..."
I'm just going to snooze some more—
I immediately straightened my sitting position to avoid an ice shard launching towards me, particularly to my head. To avoid some collateral damage however, I hit the shard with my bat swung diagonally, then reverted it back to a rune card.
She's pretty reckless, that's for sure.
"Second Seat, what are you doing!? Please, come down for a moment!"
"Shut up Student Secretary. I'm not done with that guy yet!"
Ah. Snow tried to settle this peacefully but that girl hates the idea. Yep, her personality and the element of her choice are polar opposites.
Great. Now my classmates were looking at me with their doubtful stares while gossiping.
"What's happening?"
"I wonder what happened."
"She seems to be mad at Yukti."
I could hear you all, loud and clear.
Ignoring the gossips, the girl with anger management issues snorted and points at me with her right index finger.
"I've been training for days now, and I'll show you the results! I demand a match!"
"You better ask permission from the chairperson."
"An elite like me has the privilege to bypass that rule!"
Huh? For real?
I looked at Snow and she nodded.
So there's that privilege huh? I didn't actually read the overall whatsoever thing, since I'm but a temporary Student Secretary.
"Hey, Yukti."
"Hmm? What is it?"
While I'm still figuring how to escape from this mess, Agony tugged my uniform and whispered at my left ear.
"Could I instead take her on? I don't want to get rusty."
"Rusty who?"
"Me! Me, you know! All I've been doing is household chores. I didn't have any battle experience yet."
That's true.
Agony is an unknown existence.
She's similar to a Summoning rune card, except that she has a will of her own and could even express emotions like other beings do. I'm a bookworm, that's for sure... But I never came across any information about a rune card like Agony.
Perhaps if I read those books from that facility, I could find some clues about her origin.
I could only stare at her and gave a nod.
"Nice! I'm going to do my all!"
"Put some restraints of your power input, okay?"
"Hey, what are you two poopieheads talking about?"
Our little chat was interrupted by the Second Seat's scornful way of talking.
"She asked me if she could replace my place."
"Who is she? Your girlfriend!? Hah! I'll pulverize her then! Come at me!"
"Hot-tempered as always."
"What-!?"
I teleported behind the Second Seat, something that made her jolt.
"You're so annoying. First of all, Agony and I weren't in a romantic relationship. Second, as an elite, you should be aware of your role as one of them. Let's go outside, I don't want this place get destroyed by your selfish desires to beat me up."
•••
"Mister Andrew, how's the Dome Project?"
"It's going smoothly, chairperson."
I'm in my office together with Mister Andrew. He's getting some dark circles under his eyes. But he did say that he'll sleep after settling the matter at hand.
He's a a man in his mid-twenties, got blonde slick hair, red eyes and has the height of 5'9". He's a bit chubby, and he added it as one of his assets to perform a humourous performance when he was still working as a comedian.
Yukti brought him here after he met him by chance at the park near their residence. We've been working for the Dome Project, and I could say that he's pretty hardworking. His efficiency made the project progress twice as fast compared to me working on it alone. I'm thankful for his services.
"Hmm? Ma'am, your cell card is vibrating."
"Oh? Who is it, I wonder. Ah, it's Yukti."
My cell card is on the table, vibrating. Mister Andrew noticed that it's receiving a call, and so I picked it up to respond with the caller.
"Hello, Yukti? What is it? You know we're working on the Dome Project, right?"
"I know, and I'm sorry to disturb the two of you. Something just happened."
"Hmm? Is it something urgent?"
"I don't know for sure. But it's troublesome."
"Okay. What happened?"
"That stupid elite member challenges me."
"Who?"
"That ice user."
"Oh, the Second Seat?"
"Yeah. Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I'm not the one fighting."
Eh? He's not? Then what's the point?
"It's Agony. She's the one who'll fight in my stead."
"Oh ho? Agony, huh? Where and when will the duel take place?"
Agony. A unique existence that we came across by incident. Like Yukti, I'm absolutely clueless about her origin and capabilities.
I stood up, invited Mister Andrew (he already knew about Agony's real identity as a rune card) and went on our way.
•••
"Eh? Why is the chairperson here?"
"I called her."
"You want me to be humiliated in front of the chairperson? You're the worse."
"I don't want to hear that from someone who just came and shoots an icicle shard at me."
"Urk! S-stop with the lies!"
Yukti just did a heavy sigh, with his left palm on his forehead. Knowing Yukti, he wanted to sleep when that girl just barged in and disrupt his plan to snooze. I couldn't help but snicker.
"Seems that your plate is full, eh?"
"Come on, chairperson. Remove that smirk off your face."
I just tapped his right shoulders while jokingly looking at him with pity. He reciprocated by curling his lips and squinting his eyes.
This guy sure is easy to tease.
"Very well. I, Rose Crimson, shall be the witness of this duel! Conditions, none! Restrictions, avoid giving fatal injuries to the opponent! Are both sides in agreement with that?"
Agony and Liz Plasma nodded.
"Well then. Duel, commence!"
- Writer
