novelraw Chapter 185 : Unfulfilled Wish
Chapter 185 : Unfulfilled Wish
"What are the schools like in this world?"
After touring various interesting places in this free dream space, Elsa expressed her desire to see Yvonne's alma mater.
"I want to see where Evie went to school!"
School...
Hearing this long-forgotten word, Yvonne felt some hesitation.
To be honest, her previous world's campus life hadn't left many good memories.
But seeing Elsa's expectant face, Yvonne couldn't bring herself to say the dampening words 'let's skip the school'.
"...It might not be as interesting a place as you imagine."
"That's not important."
Elsa had other plans,
"Taking this opportunity—I want to investigate this world's education system in person!... See if we can bring some changes to 'that side'."
Elsa hoped to provide equal education for people of different races, which was also for Bebe's future.
Of course~ getting to know more about Evie's past was also a primary reason,
She could no longer participate in her previous life's student days, so at least now she wanted to be the best audience.
"I see..."
Hearing Elsa's plan, Yvonne was somewhat surprised,
She hadn't expected her to think so far ahead,
Compared to herself, who wanted to run away from the scene just because of unpleasant memories, she was really lacking.
·
Although she wanted to overcome this psychological barrier, when Yvonne arrived at the school gate and saw the indelible scenery imprinted in her memory, a feeling of resistance and discomfort immediately enveloped her entire body.
"...The school gate is closed tight, I think we'd better not go in?"
She still harbored a slight hope that 'if the door isn't open, we can let it go',
Unexpectedly, Elsa, unwilling to give up, walked to the gate, gently pushed it, and opened the lock.
"It's not locked! It should be fine to just go in and take a look, right?"
She blinked her eyes pleadingly, and Yvonne always found it hardest to resist her like this, so she could only agree.
Following this bouncing small dog, Yvonne also stepped back into this world she had left many years ago.
The school was empty.
After exploring for a while, Yvonne vaguely sensed some rules within this world.
One discovery was... the number of shadows was limited.
To put it more bluntly, Yvonne found that she seemed to be able to control their existence subconsciously.
She had suspected this during their date at the amusement park,
Because she wanted her date with Elsa to be lively, so many 'shadows' of visitors and staff appeared around them,
But now, whether teachers or classmates, she didn't want to see any of them, so the school became empty.
"So this is what modern schools are like..."
As they toured, Elsa kept exclaiming in amazement.
There were unified textbooks and all kinds of magical teaching equipment.
Elsa thought the most amazing thing was undoubtedly the projector!
It could display images without relying on magic, which was incredibly miraculous
"The rest feels quite similar to Emerald Academy..."
"Of course, after all, it's designed based on real-world schools."
Art imitates life—game design is the same.
In the empty teaching building, only the gradually synchronizing footsteps of the two could be heard.
"This classroom is..."
When they reached the upper-grade floor on the third floor, Yvonne suddenly stopped at the door of a certain classroom.
"What's wrong?"
"...This is the classroom where I had classes."
Sighing inwardly, Yvonne said softly.
"—Really?!"
Elsa became excited upon hearing this and pulled her into the classroom.
"Which seat did Evie used to sit in?"
"............"
Passing through the neatly arranged desks and chairs, Yvonne came to a desk.
"This one."
She placed her hand on an old, battered desk, stroking the dents on it.
"This..."
Elsa was dumbfounded.
This desk was completely different from the others, with what looked like words carved with a knife,
Judging by the deeply carved, barbaric and vulgar strokes, they were probably not good words.
"...Are you sure there's no mistake?"
She still couldn't believe it,
Yvonne shook her head with a bitter smile.
"There's no mistake, I was this unpopular in middle school."
This was still an understatement,
It wasn't just unpopular,
She was the target of ostracism and bullying that almost every class had.
"Sometimes, groundless malice doesn't need many reasons."
It might be simply because someone found her annoying, or worse, just out of boredom.
"I'm sorry... I, I seem to have done something unnecessary..."
Elsa immediately fell into deep panic,
She didn't understand anything at all...
Without understanding, she had done something that rubbed salt into her wound...
"It's not your fault, it's those brats who were bad."
Seeing Elsa instantly become downcast, she hurriedly comforted her,
"Actually, if I have to say, becoming a bully after reincarnation is something I find harder to forgive myself for..."
She knew better than anyone the taste of being bullied,
"Knowing the pain of being bullied, yet still doing that to you..."
The fact that she couldn't adhere to her inner beliefs made Yvonne very regretful.
"But in the end, Evie never really bullied me!"
Elsa didn't think so at all,
"No, no, no—That was definitely bullying!"
"No, no, no—That really doesn't count as bullying!"
Only on this point! She must refute!! She didn't feel it was bullying at all, it had nothing to do with bullying except for flirting and making her like Yvonne more.
"Evie... you don't think you 'bullied' well, do you?"
Seeing Yvonne's incredulous face, Elsa felt quite helpless,
"That kind of childish bullying tactic was the clumsiest and worst among all the people who were against me!"
"...Was it really that bad? I was trying very hard to bully you!!"
"No, that's not what I meant~~~~"
"Then I did bully you!"
"No! Neither of those!"
The conversation had completely hit a dead end, Elsa herself was confused. She thought seriously, organizing her words,
"Besides, even if it was bullying... Evie's bullying is completely different from the kind that wants to embarrass me!"
She stood up from her seat, hugged Yvonne who was sitting on the chair from behind, and then frantically rubbed the other's head.
"What are you suddenly doing—You're messing up my hair!!"
"Hehe, isn't it great that the person I like only bullies me?"
Stopping her hand that was rubbing like a large dog, she held Yvonne's shoulders and looked down from above, smiling as she gazed at her.
"Don't make me sound like an immature elementary school boy!"
It's not like she wanted to bully Elsa!
If possible... Yvonne also wanted to get to know Elsa starting as normal friends,
She felt that if they had started from that kind of normal relationship, it might have been better.
"In the end, we still ended up together, right? So don't dwell on it so much..."
Wuwuwu!! This is where she's cunning... Yvonne being too serious is also adorably lovable to the point of dying and coming back to life.
"Stop rubbing! My hair is going to fall out—"
"Evie is just too gentle."
As she lay on the desk listening to Yvonne talk about her past,
"If only I could have been your desk mate."
Yvonne laughed,
"Oh my, haven't you been for several years already?"
"If only I could have been Evie's desk mate on this side too!"
"Even without magic, I would use my fists and teeth to knock down those stinky brats!"
"Come on... with your small build, try again in about ten years?"
Imagining Elsa as an ordinary middle school girl, Yvonne found it very interesting.
If such a person had been by her side...
If she had met her earlier...
"Hmm, that doesn't sound bad."
It's truly incredible.
Imagining various possibilities and stories that might have happened, her heart felt much lighter.
Actually, she had never thought about revenge, nor did she hate those who turned a blind eye to this matter,
Because she didn't want to become a victim, nor did she want to become a perpetrator.
Rather than those people, what she could never forgive was her former self who was too weak and not brave enough.
If it were her former self, recalling those unwanted memories from the past would always make her feel sick, want to vomit, cry, and regret endlessly.
Now, the person sitting beside her is Elsa, and this alone is enough to redeem that once weak self from the quagmire of the past.
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"You mean... your thoughts can influence this world?"
After buying ice-cold cola from the vending machine in the school and sharing it with her, Elsa sat on a bench next to the sports field, listening intently to Yvonne's speculation.
"Yes, so I was thinking... since I can influence this world, can we actively make ourselves wake up?"
Yvonne had heard that when people have lucid dreams, they can choose to wake up.
Maintaining consciousness while in a sleep state, dreamers can have the thinking and memory abilities of being awake in their dreams. Some people can even make their dream sensations feel as real as the real world, yet know they are in a dream.
"Then shall we try?"
"Mm, I'll give it a try!"
Yvonne held her head, desperately giving herself psychological suggestions in her mind:
—Wake up wake up wake up wake up!
However, no matter how many times she repeated it, when she opened her eyes, this world remained unchanged.
"...Just this level is not enough, huh?"
According to her sense of time, this world had gradually entered night, and feeling the time flow different from the outside world made Yvonne fall into deep panic.
"Oh no... what if we can't wake up at all?"
The magic guidebooks she had used before were relatively rough productions, usually with specific plots, and as long as the process was completed, one could find the 'exit' in the dream.
But this 'Book of Reality' written by herself is different, it directly created the city from her memory where she lived for 16 years.
It was the same before, although it felt like a long time had passed in the dream, when she woke up, she found that hardly any time had passed.
"If we can't wake up... wouldn't we have to spend years... or even decades here??"
"Well~ there will be a way."
"How can you be so at ease..."
"Although this book is special, since it's a magic guidebook, there must be rules. Evie, what did you hope for when you wrote this book?"
Little Red Riding Hood was to save her grandmother,
Snow White was to meet the prince.
Sleeping Beauty was to break the curse.
As the author, the 'purpose' of writing the book is the exit of this book.
Elsa had thought that after returning to this world and enjoying herself to satisfaction, they should be able to wake up, but now it seems it's not that simple.
"Is there any regret? Or something you want to do?"
Regret...
Yvonne carefully searched in her mind.
The reason for writing down her memoirs...
"An unfulfilled wish."
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"...Can I really come in?"
Elsa's mind went blank,
"Of course."
Yvonne skillfully entered the password and opened the main door at the bottom of the apartment building,
"...Why are you more nervous than the first time you went to my house?"
"Of course I am!!"
The person she was about to meet is—
Actually, Yvonne herself was also very nervous,
Her hand holding the doorknob was trembling.
She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
With a click, the door was pushed open,
As soon as the door opened, she smelled the familiar scent.
A comforting smell.
When you live in a house for a long time, the home develops a fixed, unique smell, different for each household.
This is the smell of home.
"Huh, you're back today? It's not even Friday yet."
Still wearing an apron when opening the door, her hair dyed from the top tied back, wrinkles at the corners of her eyes leaving traces of the years, she was surprised and unexpected to see Yvonne.
"...Mm, I'm back."
Seeing her mother after many years, Yvonne felt like something had gotten into her eyes.
"You didn't call ahead to say you were coming back... Ah, this child is...?"
Noticing the girl beside Yvonne, Mother Yin's face lit up with joy.
"This, this is my best friend, Elsa!"
"He-hello!!"
Even in a dream, Yvonne didn't have the courage to come out to her mother... please spare her this.
"This child looks so likable, come in quickly."
Fortunately, Elsa's appearance was just the kind of obedient face that uncles and aunties like, and as soon as she entered the house, she was deeply loved by Mother Yin.
"Mom... is this what you eat alone at home?"
On the table were only simple vegetables and pickled garlic made by her mother. Seeing this, Yvonne frowned, her heart turning sour.
"Huh? I didn't expect you to come back..."
Mother Yin hurriedly cleared away the somewhat meager meal she was about to eat alone, looking a bit flustered.
"Wait a moment!! I'll go to the supermarket to buy some ribs—"
"Auntie, there's no need to be so polite!!"