Water falls down onto me from above. Not again, I thought, looking up at the water dripping onto my head.
It’s been a week since I transferred here, and I’m being bullied, apparently. Pouring water onto people’s heads is apparently a popular form of bullying nowadays. Every time I get doused, I can hear the other students laughing at me. Of course, I could easily avoid the water, but doing that would draw attention to me. So, I end up getting a free cold shower every day.
This is probably because of my relationship with Sherry. The students here seem to view Sherry as their princess. She is, after all, the daughter of the Headmaster and a Rank 1 Exorcist, not to mention beautiful. And I’m the strange man who appeared out of nowhere and started hanging out with their princess… Because of that, it seems I’ve become the whole school’s enemy. But they haven’t done any real harm yet, and I’m definitely not in any mortal danger. That’s why I decided to just let it be. Things will calm down over time.
Or so I thought. Instead, things only got worse.
***
“Ah… I’m tired…”
It was the afternoon. For my electives, I had decided to go with lectures, for the most part. I wanted to take practical classes to improve my combat skills, but I need to make up for the two years of schooling that I lost first. It’s thanks to those combat skills that I’ve transferred in as a fourth-year student, rather than as a second-year student. Or, rather, it was only because of combat skills.
My actual knowledge is too lacking to be a fourth-year student. I’ve been buried in books day and night trying to catch up; I even spend all my breaks and lunchtime studying, too. I only take breaks from studying occasionally, in order to train with Sherry. People have started to call me a bit of a tryhard, due to all the time I spend studying. Every time people dumped water on me, they’d always say, “Don’t get full of yourself, tryhard.”
Humans really are scarier than monsters and demons. Anyway, I have an appointment at the hospital to get to, I thought, heading to meet the doctor.
***
“Hello. My name is Sheila. It’s nice to meet you, Yuria.”
“Likewise, it’s nice to meet you.”
“They told me your circumstances were top secret… but if all of this is true, you’ve done some pretty incredible things.”
“Hahaha… well, a lot of things have happened.”
I was at Central Hospital in the Seventh Barriered City. I had been sent here in order to have them examine my right arm. The red and black pattern – the “Duskmark,” as the ogres had called it – covered my entire right arm, from shoulder to wrist.
“So you were here about… your arm, right?”
“Yes.”
“Can you show me?”
“Okay.”
I strip off my clothes until I’m half-naked.
Dr. Sheila gasped. “You… you have Twilight Syndrome. It’s Stage 5… no, further than that…”
“Twilight Syndrome? Stage 5? What?”
“It’s a new illness whose existence was announced at a conference a year ago. As you know, Twilight is harmful to humans. Twilight Syndrome affects people who have been in the Twilight. It is divided into stages, indicating how far the disease has progressed. Stage 5 means that the patient is on the verge of death.”
“Huh?? Am I going to die?”
“No… patients with Stage 5 Twilight Syndrome cannot maintain consciousness. They die slowly and gently, as if they were merely falling asleep. How long has your arm been like this?”
“At first the mark only went from my shoulder to my elbow, but about a year ago it grew to reach my wrist.”
“You’ve… survived at Stage 5 for over a year… Incredible…”
“Um… a year ago, I went to an ogre village and learned about this mark.”
“I’m curious about this ogre village you mentioned… but what did you learn?”
“They call people like me the ‘Duskmarked.’”
“Duskmarked…”
“They said while Twilight is poisonous to humans, there are occasionally humans who are strengthened by it. Those people are the Duskmarked. Actually, I have this book…” I said, showing the doctor the book that Edgar gave me. “This book has detailed information on the Duskmarked. It was a little too technical for me to understand it, though…”
“Can I borrow this from you?”
“Sure. It’s very important to me, so please don’t lose it.”
“Got it.”
After that, I had a simple physical examination and returned home. But to think that there’s a newly-discovered disease called Twilight Syndrome… and I’m one of the patients with it… What on earth have I become… I continued mulling over those thoughts until I went to bed.
***
The next morning, I woke up suddenly. I looked outside to see the gentle light of the Twilight rather than the sun. Waking up like this became a habit for me over the last two years. I go to sleep at night, and wake up to the light of the Twilight. Even though I’m back in the city, it seems I can’t lose this habit. I took a shower and quickly headed to the Academy.
“Yuria.”
“Hm? Oh, Ms. Sophia. Good morning.”
“You’re pretty early!”
“Yes, well, so are you.”
“Oh, I just happened to wake up early today.”
“I see.”
“So, are you studying again?”
“Well… yes. I’m stupid, after all.”
“…I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but there’s a reason you’re studying that hard, isn’t there?”
“Why do you think so?”
“Your aura… or something… it’s a little different from the rest of us. Kinda reminds me of my dad.”
“Your dad?”
“Oh, my dad is a Special Rank Exorcist.”
“Huh?! That’s… amazing.”
Special Rank Exorcists are said to be humanity’s greatest hope. A person at that rank… supposedly has the power to protect an entire Barriered City on their own. There are only twelve Special Rank Exorcists alive today. They’re on a completely different level from the other Exorcists. A Special Rank Exorcist alone is said to be equivalent to a strategic weapon.
With someone that impressive as her father… Sophia sure has some incredible blood in her veins, I thought.
“Your aura… is really similar to my dad’s.”
“Huh?”
“You seem, like, constantly on edge, I guess. You act really carefree, and your face is really cute. Despite all that, you’re really sharp. That’s exactly like my dad. You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
“N-no, not really… I’m just a simple, weak Exorcist…”
“Really? That’s suspicious…”
I felt my body break out into a cold sweat. Sophia seems to have really sharp intuition. I have to find some way to get out of this situation. Suddenly, I felt some sort of pressure on my face.
“Just as I thought. That was exactly what I expected.”
I had tilted my head just slightly, dodging Sophia’s sword. She’s a very talented Rank 2 Exorcist. She wasn’t serious, and she wasn’t trying to kill me… That’s the impression I got from her attack.
“What are you doing?”
“I was right. Yuria, you’re pretty strong, aren’t you?”
“That was just a coincidence.”
“No. You were already beginning to dodge the moment I drew my sword.
Looks like I’ve been caught. The moment she reached for her waist, I felt a little bloodlust. That kind of bloodlust was everywhere in the Twilight. The moment I felt that bloodlust, I pretended to drop a pencil. I was able to pull it off before she’d even drawn her sword, giving me a convenient excuse as to how I dodged.
But, since it all happened so quickly, I couldn’t conceal the way I moved. I couldn’t conceal the reflexive movements that I’d developed in the Twilight.
“If you want to keep this quiet, I won’t mention it to anyone. But some day, the truth will come out. Your strength will become humanity’s hope. You can become the 13th Special Rank Exorcist.”
The other students started coming into the classroom all at once, forcing us to cut off our conversation. Looks like I caught the eye of someone I shouldn’t have… I thought, feeling my shoulders sag a little. Not even in my dreams, though, did I think that I’d be caught up in even more turmoil from the very next day…