EP.24 Episode 24 [Dingdingding~ Good morning~ Dingdingding~]
[Dingdingding~ Good morning~ Dingdingding~ Pabapaba papa pabapapa Good morning~]
The alarm rang.
It's so loud.
I stretched my arm to the side of the pillow.
Maybe because my hand was trembling, it only brushed against the phone, and the alarm didn’t stop.
[Pabapaba papa pabapapa Good morning~]
It's so loud.
I pressed the phone screen with my trembling hand, trying to find its location.
But because my hand was trembling more and more, I couldn’t press the screen properly, and the alarm didn’t stop.
[Pabapapa papa pabapapa Beautiful day~]
Loud, loud, loud!
I pressed the screen of the phone with a nervous gesture.
But the alarm still didn’t stop.
[Dingdingding~]
I actually knew.
The song that was supposed to be an alarm, which shouldn’t have been in the phone of this world.
Even though I saw that there was no alarm set on the phone I checked on the first day I arrived.
Pabapapa papa pabapapa Good morning~
The alarm that rings every time I wake up.
The evidence I had been trying to ignore, proving that I wasn’t okay.
I flushed the toilet and let out a small laugh.
Pabapapa papa pabapapa Good morning~
Feeling too lazy to take off my pajamas, I turned on the shower while still wearing my clothes.
Just like the day I arrived in this world.
Feeling too weak to stand, I collapsed on the small bathroom floor and let the shower water pour over me.
Pabapapa papa pabapapa Beautiful day~
I can’t be okay. Pabapapa Actually, I’m so stressed I feel like I’m going crazy. It’s a beautiful day~ I suddenly woke up in the world of a novel. Dingdingding~ My body is on fire. Dingdingding~ And my body has turned into a girl’s. Good morning~ When I think about the ending of the novel I read before coming here. Dingdingding~ So many people died. Pabapapa To survive, I have to be friends with Sylvia. Pabapapa I have to buy her a macaron. Pabapapa Yoon Siwoo. Good morning~ The Sword of Truth. Pabapapa If I pay attention, I can lie. Pabapapa I’m lying to everyone. Pabapapa Even to myself. Good morning~ A pinky promise must be kept. Pabapapa Father. Pabapapa Stay strong. Pabapapa I’m not the protagonist. Pabapapa Can I change this beautiful future? Day~ It’s impossible. Pabapapa I’m scared. Pabapapa Of the unknown crisis. Pabapapa I might die. Pabapapa I want to live. This school. Tzu My friends. Ah The memories. Pabapapa I want to see my mother. Titi Can I go back? De I don’t know. E~ I have to live. Ding Silvia and. Ding A friend. Ding~
Dingdingding~
I stood up.
Turning off the shower, I looked at the mirror in front of the bathroom sink, and a girl with wet clothes and a terrible appearance was reflected.
I threw off the wet pajamas that clung to my body.
When I emitted fire at an appropriate intensity, my wet body and hair dried instantly.
Good morning~
I wrung out the wet pajamas and laid them out, then put on the school uniform that was hanging on the hanger.
I picked up my bag, slung it over my shoulder, attached the battery to the phone that had fallen on the floor, and put it in my pocket.
After getting ready to go to school, I looked at the mirror beyond the open bathroom door.
Dingdingding~
In the mirror, a girl with a neat outfit but a terrible expression was reflected.
No matter how hard I tried to make my face expressionless, it didn’t return to a perfect blank.
Then, it might be easier to make a different expression.
I spoke to the girl in the mirror in my heart.
Why so serious?
Smile.
Then the girl smiled.
*
“Is something good happening?”
The class president asked me during morning cleaning.
When I tilted my head in surprise at the sudden question, the class president continued.
“Well, you’re smiling this morning, which is unusual.”
Smiling?
Oh, right.
I was smiling.
Today was in smile mode.
While thinking of what to say to the class president’s question, I heard a song.
Pabapapa It’s a beautiful day~ Dingdingding~
“Just because the weather is nice.”
I answered.
The class president nodded and said.
“Yeah, the weather is really nice today.”
I glanced up at the window, and it was indeed a bright and sunny day.
It’s really a beautiful day.
Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming...
On such a day, shouldn’t people like me, who have fire powers, be burning in hell?
WA! Sans! Papyrus!
If the song I was hearing wasn’t Good Morning but the Undertale BGM, I could at least imagine dodging attacks and have a more intense day.
I finished cleaning, thinking about the game that was famous in my original world.
As cleaning ended, students started to arrive one by one, and a few greeted me.
When I greeted them back, the people who were looking at me had expressions as if they had seen something strange.
I wondered if they were secretly filming me.
But more importantly, we had a sparring session from the first period today.
In my original world, the first period PE was one of the most terrifying schedules, and I always thought PE should be in the afternoon.
If you move in the morning, you’re bound to be sleepy after lunch.
I glanced at Eve with a resentful look.
Eve, who still wore a wizard’s hat and robe, giving off a strong “I’m a wizard” vibe, smiled playfully and shouted.
“Today, it’s sparring again! I’ll make the match-ups so you don’t face the same opponents as last time, so think about how you’ll fight your opponent in advance!”
Eve called out names, and pairs of students went to the sparring area next to the gym, wearing protective gear.
Then, Pabapapa papa pabapapa.
Sylvia faced an opponent with long-range powers and overwhelmed them with her firepower, while the class president faced another close-combat student and won easily with his speed.
The other students also seemed more familiar with combat than when they first sparred.
I could tell, but...
Do you know this?
Even if you’re watching a grand battle scene from The Lord of the Rings, it feels incredibly funny if the BGM is Good Morning.
The sparring session looks like kids playing because of the song echoing in my head!
Gyaahhh!
While I was inwardly screaming in agony, Eve’s voice calling my name reached me.
Huh? Who’s my opponent?
“Evan, your opponent is Siwoo! Show a great match worth 200 points!”
Great.
I silently paid my respects to myself and put on the protective gear.
I saw Yoon Siwoo looking at me with a complicated expression from the opposite side.
It must be awkward to face me after what happened yesterday.
I feel the same.
To avoid eye contact, I lowered my gaze slightly.
For now, I decided not to look at the upper part of my opponent’s body.
You’re now Dura-han Yoon Siwoo.
I thought to myself and took a fighting stance.
The most important part of a fighting stance is the footwork.
It’s about being ready to move at any moment while lightly bouncing your body.
...But because the song was playing in my head, I was unknowingly stepping to its beat.
Since it’s like this, I’ll entrust my body to the Good Morning beat!
“Are you ready... Start!”
Start!
As soon as the holographic word indicating the start of the sparring session appeared, I rushed forward.
In a fight, the most important thing is to take the first move.
In fancy terms, it’s called "first strike, certain victory."
Yoon Siwoo also seemed to know this, as he immediately lunged at me.
Thanks to the passive ability of the Indomitable Sword that enhances physical abilities, he was incredibly fast.
Faster than the class president, who excels in speed.
A light flashed in Yoon Siwoo’s empty hand.
I narrowly avoided the sword that suddenly appeared and swung horizontally at me by bending my knees.
Using the momentum from bending my knees, I launched myself forward.
Flames erupted from my right hand.
Eat this, bastard.
I threw a punch.
Then, I heard a strange sound, “Teeeng!”
Teeeng?
A large broadsword suddenly appeared in Yoon Siwoo’s hand.
My punch was blocked by a defensive barrier he had set up.
You dirty item-grinder, what are you doing...
Yoon Siwoo’s sword strike came quickly as he instantly switched the sword in his hand.
I instinctively reached out to block the attack, thinking I couldn’t avoid it.
Since I tried to block the sword with my hand like an idiot, blood naturally splattered.
Blood flowed from the wound in my palm.
It hurts!
While screaming in my head, I noticed it was strangely quiet around me, so I glanced up.
Yoon Siwoo was looking at me with an indescribable expression.
I thought it was because he had hurt my hand, but his gaze was on my face.
I wondered if something was on my face and wiped it with my hand.
There was nothing.
Author's Note
Why didn’t the teacher wake up even though the alarm was ringing in the infirmary?
That’s right. The alarm was actually a hallucination heard by the protagonist.
To understand the protagonist’s extreme mental state, I wrote this chapter while listening to Good Morning on repeat for an hour as a labor song.
I hope my effort had some meaning.
I’ll go rest to recover my mental health...