However, despite being exhausted from training, she couldn't easily fall asleep and kept tossing and turning.
When she closed her eyes, the words she had heard at school today kept coming back to her.
‘I like Sylvia...’
“Ugh...”
Sylvia's face turned red as she hugged her pillow.
Then, with a slight smile, she murmured softly.
“I'm happy...”
It was such a joyful thing to hear.
She never knew that hearing such an unadorned, sincere compliment from someone could be so blissful.
It was even more meaningful because Scarlett had said it.
To Scarlett, Astra was a place like an enemy.
So when her request to become friends was rejected, she was honestly worried.
What if she, as Astra's successor, became the object of Scarlett's resentment?
What if they could never be friends again?
But it turned out to be an unnecessary worry.
She thought it would take a long time to become friends again because Scarlett hadn't opened up to her, but her expectations were pleasantly wrong.
Sylvia gently stroked the friendship ring she always wore, even while sleeping, and looked at the other half of the ring on her bedside table.
Now, she wasn't so worried.
It seemed the day the ring would find its rightful place wasn't far off.
“Hehe...”
Sylvia, laughing and rolling around on the bed while hugging her pillow, eventually buried her face in the pillow and whispered in a small voice, as if afraid someone might hear.
“I... I like you too, Miss Scarlett...”
Immediately after, she screamed and thrashed around with her face buried in the pillow, but the fatigue from training soon overcame her, and she lay limp.
Since today's classes were particularly tiring, both Scarlett and she decided to take an early rest, but maybe they could do a pillow talk tomorrow.
A pajama party would be nice too.
It would be great to stay up all night talking and then fall asleep in the same bed.
She had even deliberately asked for a large bed to be placed in Scarlett's room for that purpose.
Smiling, Sylvia imagined this, but then her face slowly hardened.
Thinking about sharing a bed, she suddenly remembered Scarlett giving a macaron to Yun Siwoo.
It seemed clear that she had feelings for Yun Siwoo.
But Yun Siwoo was a bad guy.
She thought he liked Scarlett, but she never imagined he would be such an irresponsible man, pretending not to know after doing something like that.
She had even supported their relationship for Scarlett's happiness...
If things continued like this, Scarlett might end up like the tragic heroine in a book secretly brought by a classmate in middle school, giving her body and heart to him and ultimately being abandoned.
But if she told Scarlett to stay away from Yun Siwoo, she would surely refuse.
And if she revealed that the man was just after her body, it might hurt Scarlett, who liked him.
What should she do...
After pondering for a long time, Sylvia finally fell asleep from exhaustion.
*
“Scarlett, good morning.”
“Miss Scarlett, good morning! I feel like I'm going to die from muscle pain!”
As I walked to school with Sylvia today, Mei and Jesse greeted us.
Jesse, who seemed to have muscle pain from yesterday's training, had a strange expression that was hard to tell if she was smiling or grimacing.
I'm sorry, that's probably my fault.
She said the training intensity was increased to see how far the other students could go after I pushed them to their limits in one-on-one training.
I heard this when I returned the enchanted gem, which was no longer needed after getting a prosthetic arm from Mr. Eve before leaving for home yesterday.
Apologizing to Jesse in my mind, I sat down and greeted Yun Siwoo, who was sitting in front of me.
At that moment, Sylvia, who was about to sit down, suddenly stopped and called me.
“...Miss Scarlett, do you have a moment before the teacher comes in? I have something to talk about.”
I nodded and followed her out of the classroom.
We stood facing each other in the quiet hallway, just before the morning assembly started, with no other students around.
Feeling strangely tense, I swallowed hard, and Sylvia leaned in close and whispered.
“Miss Scarlett, what do you think of Yun Siwoo?”
Hearing this question, I felt a sense of déjà vu, as if I had seen it somewhere before.
Then, after a moment, I was shocked.
Could this be a situation like 'Stay away from that guy! You thief cat!' that often appears in novels!
I thought Sylvia didn't like Yun Siwoo, unlike in the original story, which was strange.
Now I remember, she looked upset when I gave the macaron to Yun Siwoo yesterday.
Finding myself the object of Sylvia's jealousy, I laughed and said,
“Do you like Yun Siwoo?”
I always thought the protagonist and the heroine should end up together.
So when I read the original, I rooted for Sylvia.
It was a situation where I couldn't support the other heroines.
So I was going to tell Sylvia not to worry because I had no intention of pursuing him.
But Sylvia's reaction was unexpected.
“...No, to be honest, I don't like him. Anyway, I'm just curious about what you think of him, Miss Scarlett.”
I thought she was at the stage where she was too embarrassed to admit her feelings, but looking at her face, she seemed to be genuinely saying it.
Why, I wondered?
It was a bit awkward for me, who wanted them to get together.
It would be a bit painful, but I wanted to see them being affectionate with each other...
Desperately, I called out to Sylvia.
“Sylvia, Yun Siwoo has many good qualities!”
Seeing her subtle reaction, I blurted out whatever came to mind.
“Yun Siwoo is... very capable.”
He was a damn overpowered guy with a lot of money and incredible combat skills.
“Also, he's kind, has a good personality, and is responsible.”
In the original, he was the type who would sacrifice himself to take care of others.
“...And he's good-looking too.”
While trying hard to think of his good points to support their relationship, a sense of self-loathing and embarrassment washed over me, making my face hot.
...What am I doing, trying to enjoy their romance?
Thank you, damn Yun Siwoo...
I'm doing all this for your romance...
“...Anyway, I hope you two don't hate each other and get along well...”
Hearing this, Sylvia seemed to feel a bit sorry for me and nodded with a troubled look.
After finishing our conversation and sitting down, I saw Yun Siwoo with his head on the desk.
He seemed to be struggling with the training, despite looking fine just a moment ago.
Sitting quietly, I watched the heroine and the protagonist sitting in front of me and thought,
I hope they can live happily together.
*
“Since you all had a tough time yesterday, I'll make today's class short!”
At Mr. Eve's words, the students from Class A and B, gathered in the gym, cheered.
Looking at the excited students, Mr. Eve laughed and shouted,
“Ahaha, you guys are too happy! Anyway, today, regardless of Class A or B, we'll form teams of four by drawing lots and compete! The goal is to kill 100 monsters in a city battle. The team that finishes first will get to eat first, so everyone try your best!”
Everyone's eyes were filled with determination.
Students have always been willing to jump from the second or third floor to eat a little faster.
With food on the line, it was no surprise that the competitive students would give it their all.
But the world is often cruel, even when you give it your all.
“...I don't feel confident about this.”
Mei muttered beside me.
“Yeah, me neither. I feel like we're going to lose...”
I echoed her thoughts.
Ironically, Mei and I ended up in the same team as Yun Siwoo and Sylvia.
It was like a crazy bus with no idea how fast it would go.
Just wearing the seatbelt would be enough to win.
“That's cheating!”
“This isn't fair, teacher!”
I heard Daniel and Jesse shouting from somewhere, but Mr. Eve ignored them.
“It's all by luck today since we drew lots! The world doesn't always go as you wish!”
The students were disappointed by Mr. Eve's cheerful shout.
I couldn't help but agree.
The world doesn't always go as you wish.
*
Naturally, we ended up eating first, being the bus driver.
We tried hard, but we were still the first to finish.
“Miss Scarlett! That was amazing!”
“Was that from the prosthetic arm? It was quite powerful, right?”
On the way to the cafeteria, Sylvia and Mei commented on the new technique I demonstrated, the Flame Emission.
Jesse strongly suggested calling it the 'Scarlett Buster,' but I thought it might be embarrassing to shout a named technique, so I just called it Flame Emission for now.
With one Flame Emission, I burned over ten monsters that were clustered together, which made me feel quite good.
I'll give all the credit to Jesse for making the prosthetic arm.
I'm sure Jesse, who ended up eating last and was on the verge of tears, would be happy too.
Using a technique like a finishing move in a real battle made my heart race.
It would be even cooler if I could add some flair, like taking off a glove before using it.