novelraw Chapter 164 : Chapter 164
Chapter 164 : Chapter 164
Chapter 164 - Time and Change
In many ways, the Exchange Meeting ended with a tumultuous and sudden incident, but…… since it's over, I'll be honest.
I, Yuna, was enjoying the Exchange Meeting quite a lot.
‘It's true that it felt somewhat unfamiliar, but in other words, it was new and nice.’
Since I've only attended for one semester, I thought that kind of luxurious? sophisticated? party would just be burdensome, but it was unexpected.
I don't think it was because I adapted better than I thought, or because it suited my constitution more than expected.
After all, there were so many people around me who helped me so that I wouldn't feel burdened.
From the Princess who gifted me a dress, to Serene whom I met later but treated me without reservation, to Pleta who accompanied me and helped me adapt.
And even that guy, Rain, who reassured me when I was floundering without even being able to enter the party hall.
‘Rain…….’
Thinking of him made my head complicated. He was a guy who made me complicated in many ways even on a normal day, but since 'that incident' happened.
“Ugh……”
It would be natural for a groan to escape my lips.
The incident itself was shocking, but a lot happened afterwards as well.
First of all, that guy, who was completely battered, naturally received treatment under the care of the Princess.
Because of that, even though the academy had started, he couldn't attend lectures for about a month, but it seemed the academic affairs side had made some arrangements for him.
I was also able to hear a glimpse of the circumstances that led to his battered state.
That while wandering around the Exchange Meeting, he 'happened' to encounter a suspicious person, and saw that suspicious person going underground.
That guy, Rain, guessing that the situation seemed quite urgent, grabbed his weapon and followed him alone.
And as a result, he confronted the suspicious person who was trying to summon a monster in the basement, and although he stopped the summon, he was injured while trying to catch the escaping person…… that was the story.
It didn't seem like a complete lie. Upon investigation, it seems there really were signs of an attempt to summon a monster in the basement, and there were also traces of a fight.
‘But I have a feeling that's not all there is to it.’
An explanation of the sort that it happened because it happened, even though there are no flaws in the logic.
I could roughly tell. He must have gotten into that state again while trying to do something on his own.
‘Should I have followed him.’
Should I have stopped Rain who was about to leave, or should I have followed and helped him.
Such thoughts, or regrets, also remained, but it wasn't something to be mentioned importantly.
Regret is just regret, and time cannot be turned back.
Time flowed again, and Rain, who had finished about a month of hospitalization, returned to the academy.
I thought that with that, everything would return to square one.
His wounds had healed, and time had passed.
There were many suspicious and curious points, but I had no doubt that time would solve that as well.
But his appearance was a little different from my expectations. To be precise, he seemed somewhat different from before.
‘What has changed?’
If you ask that…… ugh, honestly, it was hard to declare that this part had changed like this!
On the outside, there was nothing particularly different from before, and his actions themselves were also the same.
But I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease from him.
It was as usual, but it felt like the result of him trying to act 'as usual'.
It seems I wasn't the one who felt that unease.
“Sir Rain, your atmosphere has changed a lot, hasn't it.”
One day in the second semester, after attending a lecture together, Serene said that to me.
“He tries to hide it, but it's like he's become somewhat more…… dark, that kind of atmosphere.”
I couldn't help but agree with Serene's words.
He seems to have become somewhat dark.
It was extremely vague, but there was no better expression.
I can't pinpoint what part has become dark, but I could definitely feel a darkness from him.
He was a guy who usually had a nonchalant expression about everything, but sometimes had a look in his eyes as if living was painful, but it felt like that negative aura had deepened since the Exchange Meeting.
Rain, with that darkness in him, pushed himself even more harshly than in the first semester…… no, even more so.
Watching him, I thought, is it possible to live like that? It meant that he trained himself to that extent.
I had to just watch him, engulfed in that darkness, and that…… was a little painful.
Yes. I know. In fact, the way to resolve this pain was actually simple.
What happened, what are you thinking. Your expression is really bad.
All I had to do was ask like this.
I know the result. Of course, I didn't think he would ever open up to me given his personality.
But I also couldn't deny that that was all I could do.
After asking that, I could feel at ease.
I did everything I could. He just chose not to answer.
Since it can't be helped, I should help him in a different way.
I also knew that it would turn out like that.
But the reason I couldn't put that series of actions into practice was for one reason only.
‘Because the way he acted as usual, looked so desperate.’
With all that darkness in him, or while swallowing the pain, he was acting as his 'okay self'.
Maybe he was even deceiving himself with that.
But if I were to open that gap and look inside, if I were to make him face his own darkness and himself?
I can't see the future, but I knew.
‘He would surely be in pain, that kid.’
That was the reason I couldn't look inside him.
I already knew the answer that would come back, and I also knew the pain that would accompany the answer.
That was all.
The sense of unease that Rain was spreading around him was not just that.
After the Exchange Meeting, after his discharge, one thing had changed…… and that was his skill.
Kaaang-!
I could feel it every time the usual night training session was repeated.
‘……He seems to have gotten unbelievably strong.’
Of course, it wasn't because I had an eye for it. I was still a chick when it came to seeing martial arts.
But it was more like…… a feeling that each of his movements had become incomparably smoother than before.
A feeling as if he had gotten used to each movement of extending his sword.
I was a little puzzled because in his duels with the other training session members, he was showing the same record as before.
About a month later, I asked Elwin to resolve that question.
About Rain, doesn't it seem like he's gotten stronger since he was discharged? - I asked.
And the answer that came back was.
“Yes, I felt it too. His understanding of swordsmanship has certainly improved so suddenly that it's puzzling. It's to the point of being questionable. It's not like he had time to train while he was hospitalized. Even if it were possible, there's no way he could improve that much.”
“Right……?”
“And perhaps, Sir Rain is trying to hide it. I could faintly feel him going easy.”
“Huh?”
That was it.
The words that he had suddenly and puzzlingly improved his skills, and that he seemed to be going easy to hide his strengthened self.
‘Why?’
That question kept ringing in my head.
Why? What happened to make him get so strong all of a sudden?
Why? Why is he hiding it?
But no answer came back to that question. Just like the question about Rain's change.
It seemed that everyone had reached the same conclusion, and so everyone kept their mouths shut about him going easy.
There must be a reason for deciding to hide it.
Not digging into it would be a consideration for Rain.
That was the context.
‘It's frustrating…….’
Because I couldn't know anything, I could only feel frustrated.
And, I could only wait for him to one day tell me about that strange change himself.
Time passed like that.
A month, a month, and another month…….
The midterm exams were over. Unlike the first midterm exam, which was somewhat clumsy because it was my first time, I was able to finish it quite well.
The same was true for the final exams. I had somehow gotten used to passing such exams, and the same was true for my friends around me.
Anyway, the semester ended again like that.
My daily life was also quite enjoyable. I became closer with not only Shasha, Michel, and Kaylee, but also Serene, Arien, Khan, and Elwin.
I was also leading a fulfilling daily life, occasionally going out to play with Rain when something came up.
Yes, everything around me was certainly going well.
But, somewhere in a corner of my heart, a sense of frustration remained unresolved.
Time will solve it naturally. Maybe it was such a complacent thought.
***
Why does the road I've run on look so short when I look back?
When I came to my senses, I had finished my second semester after entering the body of Rain Enlight.
‘Already?’
It wasn't that such a thought didn't cross my mind. But it was also definitely not that I had spent my time lazily.
No, it might be more appropriate to say that I couldn't spend it lazily.
‘Ever since the Exchange Meeting incident.’
The over one thousand regressions I experienced during the Exchange Meeting.
The pains I experienced during that series of regressions remained with me like a scar, or like phantom pain.
The pains of regression would occasionally speak to me whenever I indulged in the luxury of idleness.
-Is it okay to be like this right now?
-If you let your guard down like that, who knows when those pains will repeat?
It's not that I actually heard such voices…… but I might have clearly felt the sensation of those pains repeating.
That's why I ran desperately. Even more so than during the first semester, which I had prided myself on living so diligently.
Perhaps that was the reason why I didn't have a proper memory of the second semester.
Is it a good thing, or a bad thing?
Well.
Time flows.
Change comes.
The speed at which those two laws were carried out was so fast, and I also thought that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them.
But I couldn't fall behind. That meant pain and death for me.
Therefore, I ran desperately.
So as not to fall behind, or be caught up by, time and change. Desperately.
My body and mind were left with all sorts of scars…… well.
It was still bearable for now.
Or maybe I had just grown numb to it.