The Angelic System That Turned My Life Into Hell

Chapter 188: Confidence

After their mock battle, everyone sat on the ground, forming a circle. And as they were drinking from their water bottles, the other students left.

Some of them were leaving disinterestedly, whereas others appeared to be genuinely impressed by the white class’ performance. It was not their intention but the student body’s opinion on them started to change.

"..."

Mika looked at his classmates.

Like always, the mood was relaxed and comfortable as they talked happily with each other and shared some laughs. However, Harik and Rachel looked somewhat down as they were forcing themselves to be in a good mood around the others. Especially, Rachel.

"Let’s head back to the inn, shall we? It’s getting late already." Lily suggested, getting up first.

Everyone agreed and got up as well.

"Are you training tomorrow, too?" Lisa asked.

"Yes, that’s the plan. Until the day of the match, we wanted to train a little every day after lessons are finished." Mika replied.

"Okay, we will hurry up then!" Lily stated with a wide smile.

"I will also try to help out as much as I can." Sylvia added quietly.

Belian and Lisa also agreed to help, nodding their heads.

"Thanks, guys." Mika said, smiling slightly.

"It’s us, who should thank you. You’re putting in more effort to help the class than I do and I’m the teacher." Ophelia chimed in with a huff.

The group left the training field behind and headed to the inn.

"Where’s Rachel?" Mika asked Harik, who was walking alone in the back.

"She told me she wanted to train a little more." he answered nervously.

"..."

Mika shifted his gaze to the others, who were among other things too tired to notice.

"I see. Thanks for telling me." he said with a fierce gaze as he turned his back on the ground.

"Are you joining her?"

"Just for a short while. I will be back for dinner." Mika responded with a smile.

"A-alright..."

Then, Mika hurried to the field again.

"..."

Harik looked uneasily at his palm before he joined the others in their conversation.

And while the others finally wondered where Mika and Rachel were, Mika joined Rachel.

The breeze got fresher and the orange sky was turning into a darker tone.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn’t you get some rest?" Mika asked Rachel.

She was clearly worn out and yet, she was still swinging a wooden sword.

Sweat dropped on the ground. Her eyes were about to close and her body, especially her arms were shaking from the exhaustion. She could only perceive a blurred vision and her ragged breathing.

"Stop."

"...?"

It was only until Mika took hold of the sword that Rachel snapped back to reality. She weakly looked up to Mika, who wore a stern expression.

A few minutes passed until Mika returned with a new bottle of water, which he handed to Rachel, who was sitting on the ground with her back leaning against a nearby fence.

"Thank you..." she muttered exhaustedly.

Mika stood beside her.

"So what’s this about?" he asked with his gaze directed to the front.

Putting the bottle to the side, Rachel hugged her knees tightly and buried her face in them.

"..."

Despite asking, Mika had a rough idea of her current mental state.

Rachel Troa was a part of the original white-class quartet, consisting of her, Harik, Sylvia and Belian. Back then, she was still suffering from her curse, which made her accept her fate and the fact that she could not compete with the likes of Belian. And with Harik’s and Sylvia’s power levels back then, she was content with being called a magic genius, who was still able to reach such high levels despite the curse hindering her.

But as time passed, she witnessed the sudden and enormous growth of not only Sylvia but also Lily, who started out as a red-class student. Paired with a relic and her potential, one could say that Lily surpassed Rachel.

Then, Lisa joined the class, who was proficient in both magic and weapon arts, making Rachel drop even further down the ranks.

Leaving the comparison between her and Mika aside, Rachel was objectively one of the weakest students in the class even though she was once one of the strongest. And recent events, like the invasion, where she could only act as a support while some of her fellow classmates played a big role, or the previous mock battle, where her team lost badly against the others, proved to her that she was weak.

Almost all her classmates were exceptional individuals but even though she knew that, she still felt hopeless and started to lose confidence in herself. After she was cured by Mika, she promised herself to repay this debt by devoting herself to him but she began to doubt that she could do even that.

"..."

Mika sighed.

There was a reason, why he chose Rachel and Harik as the class’ representatives alongside Belian.

In the case of Harik, he had to prove himself against Asak and the others. But Rachel had a different goal, which she did not realize herself yet.

She was only showing it subtly from time to time but Mika noticed her concern and gave her the opportunity, which she needed to prove her own worth. In the upcoming match, Mika wanted her to regain her confidence.

"Do you trust me?" Mika asked.

Rachel lifted her head, looking confused.

"I-I do..." she stuttered softly.

"Then, stop worrying so much." he said carefreely, shrugging his shoulders.

"But... I-I can’t help it..."

She hugged her knees even tighter.

"Listen, okay?"

Mika crouched down to meet her eyes.

"Have I ever let you down when I offered you my help?" he asked with a comforting smile.

"No..."

"So trust me again on this, alright?"

He offered her his hands.

"..."

Without uttering a word, she grabbed his hands and was lifted up.

"I will see to it that you will grow even stronger until the day of the match!" Mika declared.

Rachel’s eyes were glittering with hope.

"Now get some proper rest. Tomorrow will be as tough as today!" he laughed.

Holding her hand, he led her.

"And if you find yourself in such a state again, I will come to you again."

"W-will you give me confidence...?"

"If that’s what you want. Be it confidence, hopes or anything else. I will give anything to you to make you stand up again."

"After this is over, you won’t ever find yourself losing confidence again. I promise." he added firmly.

"I will do my best then..." Rachel muttered with a content smile and slightly blushing cheeks.

For her, it was enough to have someone on her side, who encouraged her. Even if the words were filled with nothing but optimism, it did not matter. As long as Mika was cheering for her, she could find the strength to keep going.

"You will be shocked by yourself when you reach the level of Sylvia in a matter of few days!" Mika chuckled confidently as he still stared to the front.

In his personal ranking, Sylvia ranked second right behind Belian in terms of overall strength in the white class. Of course, Mika did not include himself in the ranking.

"Hey, Mika..." Rachel muttered shyly.

"Yes~?" Mika replied while yawning as his exhaustion was finally hitting him.

"If we win the match..."

The two were just entering the inn, where their classmates were relaxing in the lounge. And as the entire inn was rented out for them, no other people were there.

Lily was the first one to notice them and thus, was about to welcome them back. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

"Hey, guys! What were yo-"

"W-will you go on a date with me then?"

"Sure~" Mika agreed without even really listening to her.

"T-that’s a promise!"

"Yeah, yeah~"

Mika was too tired at this point in time and just headed straight to his room, passing by his whole class, including Ophelia, who all stiffened up in shock.

"D-didn’t know that things were like this between them..." Harik commented surprised with a wry smile.

Belian just nodded his head without actually showing emotions.

"..."

Sylvia could only stare with wide-open eyes.

"Are they a couple?" Lisa wondered cluelessly.

However, Lily was the most shocked besides Ophelia as she was also practically turned into stone.

"..."

Rachel finally noticed what she had done and that everyone was witness to that, leading to her heating up in the face.

"G-good night!" she squealed embarrassedly as she rushed to her room.

Following that, it was silent for a moment.

"C-c-could..." Lily stuttered while she turned her head to Belian and Harik.

Her cheeks were red and her eyes were looking all over the place.

"C-could you throw the m-match...?"

The two guys tilted their heads.

"Wow..." Sylvia remarked taken aback.

"A-ahaha, what am I saying? H-hahaha!"

Stiffly, she tried to hide her embarrassment.

"A love triangle...?" Lisa murmured pensively with a stern look.

"N-no!"

And thus, Lily also hid herself in her room.

"This is getting interesting..."

Lisa smirked.

"By the way, wasn’t Ms. Ross here a few seconds ago?" she wondered.

"Now that you’re mentioning it, I haven’t seen her as well." Sylvia replied confused.

Unbeknownst to them, Ophelia disappeared into her room, too, when Lily stormed away.