Free Web NovelChapter 94: Left behind (1)
Deep within the swirling abyss of Matthew’s Sea of Consciousness, Verde sat in silence, watching the spectacle of his struggle play out through the memories of his mind.
Schwartz... you are always like this, her voice carrying a rare, melancholic weight.
An enigma.
Someone who always pushes forward alone, rejecting everyone and everything around you.
Her mind drifted back to the quiet moments they had shared inside this vast, internal world.
She remembered the honest, unpolished version of him. The way he had awkwardly handed her those vibrant, meticulously cared-for flowers pulled straight from the soil of his previous memories.
He didn’t know how to comfort, nor did he know how to connect properly, yet he had tried anyway in his own clumsy, stubborn manner.
Verde let out a soft sigh,
.....
A faint smile graced her lips.
...I must have gotten soft.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
One more step....
That was the solitary chant I kept repeating in my head, over and over, until the words lost all meaning and became the rhythm of my stride.
Every single cell in my body was screaming, begging for my stubborn mind to just stop and let go, but I turned a completely blind ear to their pleas.
Because if I can still move, then I should.
If my legs haven’t yet snapped under the crushing 120-kilogram weight, then I have no right to stop.
Strangely, even though I had absolutely nothing left to give, my body kept responding to my strides, running on pure, unadulterated willpower.
Just when I thought every step I took would be my last, I would somehow find just enough friction for another one.
And then another one.
And another.
At this rate... maybe I can actually make it.
No! I WILL make it.
Step.
-
Step. Step. Step.
-
Step. Step.
-
Huf...
-
huf... huff...
-
Step.
-
Step. Step.
Huf... huf... huff...
The world had completely dissolved into shades of gray and black.
"Matt... Matt!! MATT!!"
Distant, muffled voices began to echo through the ringing in my ears, but I paid absolutely no attention to them. I must be hallucinating again. The oxygen deprivation must be finally catching up to my brain.
The voices, however, did not lessen. They grew louder, cutting through the heavy fog of my trance.
"MATT! You’re done! You completed your laps! Stop running!"
Huh? Laps?
What is that...?
No... focus.
One more step...
-
and another...
-
and another...
-
Thud.
-
My forward momentum suddenly ground to a halt as I crashed into a soft wall.
The abrupt stop nearly sent me sprawling, but a familiar yet unfamiliar scent instantly flooded my nose.
I could not put it into words, but it smelt like the refreshing fragrance of early spring.
I forced my heavy, sweat-soaked eyelids upward to look at the ’wall’ in front of me.
"You truly are doing your best, aren’t you?" a gentle, reprimanding voice murmured.
My vision was swimming.
"Sis...?" I wheezed.
"Who are you calling ’sis,’ you nutwit?"
Even though I had stopped moving forward, my legs were still unconsciously twitching, trying to force another step into the dirt out of pure muscle memory.
Grip.
Two arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a firm embrace.
"Well done," Kaye said softly, holding my trembling frame steady.
"You can rest now, Matt."
The tips of her hair and the distinct highlights in her eyes suddenly flared with a brilliant, comforting glow.
Instantly, a wave of warmth washed through my shivering body.
My numbed limbs began regaining their senses, and the suffocating pressure in my chest finally dissipated as I was dragged out of my trance.
"Thank God you were visiting our class, Sis Kaye..." Nagi panted, standing right behind her with her hands on her knees.
She seemed to be running by my side, the one who kept calling out to me.
"A selective healing magic targeted purely through fatigue, fixing only what is necessary in order to maximize natural muscle growth," Solaris murmured from the side, her sharp eyes scanning the magical residue.
I blinked, rubbing my eyes as my vision slightly cleared.
I looked around the track, entirely bewildered.
The massive crowds of students were completely gone. The towering night lights surrounding the track field had automatically flickered on, and the sky above had turned into a deep, twilight purple.
"What...? Where is everyone?" I croaked."
I let everyone leave early the moment they finished their quotas," a husky, deep voice replied to my bewilderment.
I looked back.
Professor Heather was slowly floating down from the air.
Before he could even speak, Kaye snapped her head around, glaring at him.
"Hey, you gym rat! Can you leave my cousin out of your barbarism? Not everyone lives by protein and God knows what else is left in your empty cranium besides training!"
"Kaye Pier Salinin... you never change," Heather murmured while his stoic face was entirely unbothered by her outburst.
"So! He’s free to go, right?" she demanded, crossing her arms defensively in front of me.
"He was free to go whenever he wanted," Heather stated, tapping his glowing tablet shut.
"Even if he did not complete a single lap today, I would not have stopped him from leaving the field."
A small, genuine grin suddenly appeared on his usually frozen lips.
"But to think he would even exceed my calculations... and finish all four hundred and seventy laps in a single day."
"Uweggg. I know that face," Kaye groaned, catching the dangerous glint in the professor’s eye.
"Let’s go, Matt, before he drags us into another one of his weird training ideas."
Without waiting for a response, Kaye tightly grabbed my arm and began dragging my sore, aching body toward the exit gates. freewebnσvel.cѳm
Solaris silently fell into step right beside us, her gaze lingering on me for a second.
Nagi lagged behind for a moment, stopping to give a polite, respectful bow to the instructor.
"Thank you for going into overtime just to watch over him, sir," Nagi said honestly.
"This is only natural. After all, I am your professor."
Nagi smiled, waving him goodbye before turning around to sprint after our retreating group.
"Hey! Wait up! Wait for me!"
-
"Ah, that was close."
"That guy is still as much of a training maniac as ever, huh?"
I opened my mouth to respond to Kaye, but the moment I tried to shift my weight, my jelly-like legs completely gave out.
The sudden loss of control sent me plunging forward, heading straight into a face-first freefall toward the hard stone path.
Grab.
A slender hand caught me by my shoulder, pulling my frame upright before I eat shit.
"Oh, thanks, Kaye," I mumbled, instinctively draping my arm over her neck to steady my shaking balance.
As I leaned into my savior, the crisp fragrance of early spring I had smelled just a moment ago suddenly changed.
Now, a neutral, cold floral scent filled my nose.
It was incredibly elegant, and deeply familiar. It brought back a sudden flash of memory from my past life, reminding me of a quiet flower shop I used to pass by every day.
"Blue Hydrangea," Verde corrected inside my head.
"Oh, thanks."
I raised my free arm, awkwardly wiping a fresh layer of sweat from my forehead with the sleeve of my combat suit.
"Sorry about this, Kaye, but can I just clutch onto your shoulder like this until we finally get back to the changing rooms?"
"If you are looking for your cousin, she is right ahead of us. And she is still loudly complaining about Professor Heather to the empty air."
...?
That didn’t sound like Kaye at all.
I leaned a fraction closer to get a proper look at her face.
Framed by the soft purple glow of the overhead night lights were long, light-blue eyelashes and clear, breathtaking aquamarine eyes.
"Solaris?!" I barked out, completely shocked.
She immediately averted her gaze, her eyes darting away shyly.
"Do you mind...? You are... too close," she murmured, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"Oh, sorry!" I gasped.
I frantically tried to pull my arm off her shoulder to give her some space, but before I could even detach myself, her grip snapped shut around my wrist, firmly securing me back in place against her.
"I did not tell you to let go," she said plainly.
She kept her face turned away, but the tips of her ears were burning a bright pink.
"But I’m literally covered in pure sweat, and I smell terrible right now," I refuted, feeling incredibly self-conscious about ruining her pristine image.
Instead of answering, Solaris turned her head back toward me. She leaned in closer, her nose tilting slightly toward the crook of my neck.
She took a tiny sniff, her chest rising before she gave a small, firm nod to confirm something to herself.
"You do smell..."
"Ouch!...." I muttered, my ego taking a minor hit.
"See? You really don’t need to force yourself to carry a walking biohazard. I can manage on my own."
I tried to pull away a second time, but her fingers dug into my arm, holding me even tighter than before.
"No, I mean..." Solaris stammered slightly, her aquamarine eyes flickering back to mine.
"It is a smell that I actually... like. It smells like the dirt when it rains."
I raised my own sleeve and sniffed my arm again in confusion.
The smell of petrichor? I don’t smell anything like that, though?
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Cousin of mine," a loud, theatrical voice suddenly cut through our bubble.
Kaye dropped back from the front of the group, walking backward with a massive, mischievous grin plastered across her face.
"Don’t you think you’re aiming a little too high? Making a direct move on this kingdom’s actual princess? I swear, I don’t know whether I should be proud of your audacity or if I should start preparing myself for your future beheading."
"You are incredibly lucky I don’t have the remaining energy to argue with you right now, Kaye..." I grumbled, letting my head hang exhaustedly.
"Do not worry, Miss Kaye," Solaris spoke up, her voice instantly shifting back into her perfect, aristocratic farce.
"I do not behead people just because they appreciate my perfect stature. Furthermore, I do not believe your cousin is currently fit to be my consort, given his present societal status."
"Oho? Is that so...?"
Kaye playfully watched the two of us, slowly rubbing her chin as a wicked glint shined in her eyes.
"So, based on what you just said, as long as Matt becomes a proper noble... there is a chance?"
"!?"
"!?"
Both Solaris and I froze, completely baffled by the sheer leaps in logic my cousin was making.
"You see, my father, Eric Pier Salinin, was granted the title of an honorary noble due to his legendary achievements in his militia service," Kaye explained smoothly, counting the points on her fingers.
"Because of that, his wife, his parents, and most importantly, his children get to enjoy the full imperial benefits of being recognized as nobility."She paused, a sharp, triumphant glint shining in her eyes as she looked directly at me.
"And that, of course, includes any adopted sons and daughters."
"Can you please just shut u—"Before I could finish my sentence, Kaye stepped in close and playfully pressed her index finger directly over my mouth, cutting me off entirely.
"Want to become my official adopted brother, Matt? We can make it legal by next week."
.........
I just stared at her in dead silence, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.
"Man, your reactions are always so incredibly boring!" Kaye huffed, throwing her hands up in disappointment.
"Even Kim reacts better to my teasing than you do!"
Hah... I mentally sighed. I desperately needed to change the topic right now, or else she was going to prolong this awkward situation indefinitely. Especially since I could physically sense Solaris’s mounting uneasiness.
"Whew! I finally caught up to you guys!" Nagi, running up from behind and wiping her brow.
"Oh, yeah, Sis Kaye, I’ve actually been wondering about this for a while now, but how exactly were you acquainted with Professor Heather in the first place? You two seem... unusually familiar.
Oh, nice save, Nagi! Perfect timing.
"Tsk!" Kaye clicked her tongue, realizing I had successfully evaded her adoption trap.
She raised a hand and lazily scratched the back of her head.
"Well, it’s really nothing much. Back in our academy days, he and I were actually bunkmates. Just like you and Nagi are right now."I blinked, my brain momentarily short-circuiting.
"Pardun?"
