novelraw Chapter 168
Chapter 168
Chapter 168
The attempt I had made to seize the initiative with all the courage I could muster ended in failure because of a ridiculous mistake.
Having tasted the bitter sting of failure and humiliation, I ended up losing all confidence and had to keep my mouth shut for the entire festival.
The only comfort to my tattered heart was mealtime. The three of us entered a tent restaurant run by one of the club booths and took our seats.
“Welcome~!”
The students running the restaurant greeted us energetically.
Even though the sun was still blazing high in the sky, other tables were already holding drinking parties. The mountain of bottles stacked beside their tables proved they had started drinking from early morning.
‘Still, they’re playing fairly clean.’
Whenever I thought of a drinking scene, what usually came to mind were the chaotic parties held by gangs.
Burning cars and barrels, harsh cheap liquor, half-naked women ogled by greedy men, and all kinds of illegal Junk Chips and drugs.
Compared to that, these college students—faces and bodies flushed red, quietly sitting around exchanging lame jokes—looked almost cute. Perhaps that was the difference of being at a prestigious university.
On top of that, thanks to the noise cancelers installed at each table, it wasn’t all that loud. The performance wasn’t the best since voices from other tables slipped through every now and then, but it wasn’t enough to disrupt conversation.
‘Hmm…….’
From the kitchen wafted the sweet yet savory scent of seasoning. Thanks to that, the dark memory from earlier began to fade bit by bit.
Calming down at the smell of food…… I felt almost like some kind of wild animal, but what could I do about that reality?
‘So this so-called war of romance is exhausting…….’
Lacking both experience and tolerance, I felt utterly drained after such a short time.
Still, the one good thing was that here I wouldn’t have to see Serena’s nauseatingly fake demeanor quite as much. I had forced her to sit next to me, after all.
“I’d rather sit next to Aaron……”
“Sit here.”
“Ugh!?”
When Serena tried to lift herself off her chair, I pressed her back down. I had already seen enough of her clinging to Aaron’s side, acting all cutesy—it was disgusting. I didn’t want to feel like throwing up all through dinner.
“……”
“……What.”
“Hmph. It’s nothing……”
Serena glared at me in discontent. But when I stared her down without backing off, she quickly lowered her tail. Being a non-adaptee, she couldn’t hope to outmatch my strength.
Phew.
Only after suppressing Serena did I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, I could eat in peace.
But just as I was about to relax, an unexpected obstacle appeared.
“Excuse me, we’d like to order.”
“Yes~ What would you like~♡.”
As Aaron raised his hand, a female student server approached with a nasal tone that even Serena couldn’t match. And that wasn’t all.
“What’s this menu item?”
“Ah, this one here~♡.”
When Aaron pointed to the menu, she leaned down unnecessarily low until her shoulder brushed against him.
Then, acting coquettishly, she extended her hand to point out each word on the menu one by one, giving an overly detailed explanation.
No, it was obvious she was just padding out the conversation to spend more time talking to Aaron.
“……”
What infuriated me even more was that Aaron didn’t seem to notice her sly behavior at all.
I wasn’t exactly well-versed in women’s nonverbal cues, but even I could recognize someone wagging their tail that blatantly.
So how could Aaron—who usually saw right through my inner thoughts—be so casually receptive to such an obvious act? It was maddening.
–Crrrk.
The sound of grinding teeth suddenly reached my ears.
For a second, I thought it was the sound of my own frustration leaking out, but no—it was Serena. Unlike me, who at least tried to maintain composure, she was openly showing hostility toward the server.
Well, she was trying to mask it in her own way.
It just wasn’t working.
Her mouth smiled, but her eyes didn’t.
They looked exactly like a murderer’s eyes.
“……Excuse me?”
“Yes?”
“Could you bring us some water?”
It was a scheme to drive the server away from Aaron. I admired Serena’s cunning for a moment, but the server wasn’t an easy opponent either.
“Ah, sorry. All our water and alcohol are self-serve~.”
“I saw you bring some to that table.”
“That’s impossible~”
And then she brazenly locked eyes with Aaron, smiled playfully, and continued.
“But I’ll make a spe-cial exception just for you. Next time, you can help yourself from that fridge over there~.”
“Much obliged. Then for the food, we’ll have this and this. You two don’t mind, right?”
Aaron looked to me and Serena.
I pouted and muttered,
“……I don’t care.”
I had been hungry, but suddenly I wasn’t.
Just watching that girl wag her tail next to Aaron killed my appetite. At least in this place, I didn’t want to eat a single bite.
Serena also pouted, seemingly feeling the same way. Aaron glanced at us curiously.
“Why the long faces all of a sudden?”
“……Just order whatever you want.”
“……I’ll go get some water.”
“??”
Looking puzzled, Aaron picked a couple of dishes at random and placed the order. Only once the server left Aaron’s side at last did Serena and I both sigh in relief at the same time.
But that relief didn’t last.
“Excuse me?”
“Hm?”
Another female student suddenly approached our table, inching toward Aaron as she spoke.
“If you don’t mind, would you like to join us…….”
“……?”
Aaron seemed slightly taken aback at this direct approach. At that exact moment, the server girl returned with the food—and casually slipped him a card.
“Sir, here’s my number……”
“Eyaaahhh!”
In the end, Serena couldn’t hold it in anymore and exploded.
Sitting plainly at the same table with us, for them to barge in like that meant they were seriously underestimating us.
Enraged, Serena tried to flip the table. Fortunately, I noticed it first and managed to hold her back.
But that didn’t mean I just sat there and accepted the situation. I glared at the flies buzzing around Aaron with all my sincerity.
“Hey.”
In the backstreets of Polen, the most important thing was a battle of wills. The moment you got looked down on, your life was in danger.
“Stop bothering us, will you?”
Just a simple line.
But the feral gleam in my eyes, sharpened in an environment where life and death were always on the line, was more than enough to suppress the two young female students.
Gulp.
The students who had been hitting on Aaron swallowed hard. Then, wearing awkward expressions, they backed away from him.
“I-I should get back to serving……”
“S-sorry for the trouble……”
That’s right, scram.
Pathetic nobodies daring to act up.
“Hmph.”
Having cleared the situation in an instant, I calmly sat down again and began eating the food we ordered. But after a few bites, I suddenly realized that Aaron and Serena’s eyes were on me.
“W-what is it……?”
“……No. It’s nothing.”
That was all Aaron said, but the corner of his lips curved upward as though he was holding back laughter.
Serena, after glancing at me, cautiously began to eat her food too.
“……”
It felt like I had made some kind of mistake.
Still, even with my face burning red, I didn’t stop moving my chopsticks.
After that, similar situations kept repeating themselves as we wandered around the festival. At first, I thought Serena would be my only rival. But that wasn’t the case.
Wherever we went, there was no shortage of people acting foxy and trying to get close to Aaron. I say “people” here because those targeting him weren’t only women.
Anyway.
Aaron was excessively popular, drawing attention everywhere he went.
‘Why are there suddenly so many people throwing themselves at him……?’
Because he changed his style a little?
Because no one here knew he was Aaron Stingray?
Those reasons were partly true, but the biggest one was because I had started to be conscious of him myself.
If it were me normally, I wouldn’t have cared at all. But the moment I admitted I liked him, my “alert mode” switched on.
Realizing that, I felt embarrassed—but at the same time, I also recognized anew just how remarkable of a man Aaron Stingray was.
‘Just his looks alone are enough…….’
Even without the name of the Stingray Family, even without the fact that he was a high-level Adaptee, Aaron Stingray could still wield overwhelming influence over people with his beauty alone.
‘I knew that. I knew, but still…….’
The more we walked around the festival, the more painfully I realized how extraordinary the person I liked really was. And at the same time, I also tasted how vast the gap between us truly was.
Inferiority.
Even if by some miracle I ended up with Aaron, if I couldn’t overcome this inferiority complex, one day it would surely destroy everything.
“……”
A crushing melancholy weighed down on me.
Because of it, I could hardly enjoy the festival. Whether snacking at a street stall, trying out student-made mini-games, or watching the film club’s “Tactile Film” that drew everyone’s admiration, I couldn’t shake off the suffocating helplessness.
Time flowed on like that, and before I knew it, the festival was nearing its end. As the sun dipped low on the horizon, Aaron and I decided to return to the Academy.
“Are you really leaving already?”
“Yes. My schedule doesn’t allow for much free time.”
Even though Serena tried to persuade him—insisting that the real fun of a university festival only began after sundown—Aaron declined, saying he was busy. Honestly, I was relieved, since I wasn’t in the mood to enjoy the festival any longer anyway.
With Serena seeing us off, the two of us got into the car. With movements that were becoming a bit familiar now, I climbed into the passenger seat, and Aaron naturally took the wheel.
Vroooooom—!
The flying sports car roared with heavy engine power as it soared into the sky. I fastened my seatbelt and stared blankly out the window.
The entire scenery of the West Skyline University Festival spread out beneath me. Lights flashed from the stage, and students wandered the grounds in groups, laughing together.
As my eyes were caught by that sight—
Aaron spoke.
“You didn’t seem to enjoy yourself much today.”
“Huh? W-what did you say?”
“I feel like I forced you along even though you weren’t feeling well. Sorry about that.”
“N-no, it’s not like that. I was just……”
“Right, Serena must have said something strange to you.”
His words pierced me as though he could see straight through my heart. At that moment, I felt like my chest had dropped.
C-could he have found out?
My heart pounded like crazy, my face flushed crimson. Thankfully, the car was dark inside, so it didn’t seem like he would notice.
“Uh, um…….”
What should I say?
Should I ask him if he knew how I felt?
No, if I asked something like that and it turned into an awkward atmosphere, what would I do? Should I just blurt out something random instead?
As my mind whirled with a storm of thoughts—
Aaron’s voice shifted, turning serious.
“I have a favor to ask of you.”