Confession

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...

..

.

Staring at my reflection at the mirror, I gently caressed my face with my two hands and made a gentle smile.

"I'm back..." I said to myself, heaving a deep sigh of relief before taking a quick shower. I have to hurry up, I'm not sure when's my match is gonna start. I wonder, did Arthur also passed the elimination round...? Probably, yeah since he was the protagonist of this world.

I head out from the bathroom half naked with my towel covering my private part from below. Water gently dripped down from my hair to my body as I used the blower artifact to dry my hair quickly.

-Foooo!

When I was done, I put on my uniform properly before heading out and locking my door behind.

-Click!

I made my way to the cafeteria to eat some breakfast, because I was feeling too lazy to cook myself some food, and went in line to buy myself some food.

[7:39 A.M.]

I looked at my watch as I waited for my turn. Hmm? I didn't know why, but for some unknown reason, I could feel some intense gaze coming from the people around me. They were watching me intently as if they were observing every movement and what I was trying to do. It was honestly creepy.

Frowning, as soon as the person in front of me left, I walked forward and bought myself a nice meal for my breakfast.

"I would like a salad with mayo, pancakes and hot chocolate for my drink." What a weird combination I just bought... Not that it matters nonetheless.

The girl who was in the counter stared at me weirdly for some reason... Probably because of the food I've ordered, before heaving out a deep sigh, "That'll be one silver and fifteen copper in total." She said while clicking something in the counter.

I nodded and placed the total down. They immediately prepared a tray containing the food I've ordered and handed it to me.

"Where should I sit...?" I pondered in silent, briefly looking around to find a seat, "That's a good spot." with no people that can disturb me from eating.

I walked towards the direction of the empty table from the distance and placed my tray to the table before sitting down.

"Itadakimasu..." Just a habit I picked up back then when I was still Lucius. I stabbed one of the vegetable in my salad using my fork with elegance and precise manner.

"It's Athan!"

"...."

While I was silently eating, I heard a familiar voice call out my name from the near distance. That voice... It was from William.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your date today?"

"...?" I stopped eating and looked at him, then, tilted my head sidewards in confusion.

Okay, now it's getting weird. First, the strange gaze the people was giving me. Although I could still remember back before my consciousness got transferred in the past, the only gaze they were giving me were hate, jealousy and annoyance. Now, the gazes contain such thing as fear, disgust, and many other more.

And second of all,

"What date?"

What's this guy talking about? Me, going on a date with someone in this world? The chances of that is near impossible... That doesn't mean it's impossible though.

"Don't tell me that you forgot...?" William pinched the middle of his eyebrows in contempt. I didn't know why, but I somewhat hate the look he was giving me. "Alicia will feel upset with you if she ever finds out about this. You're clearly lucky that you've met up with me and not the othe-"

"Heya, Athan!" Athena walk towards the two with her right hand raised, as if it meant that she was saying 'hi'.

"Oh shit, the aunty is already here- ack!?" She slapped the back of William's head when he called her an aunty.

"Anyway, what are you guys talking about? I heard him mention about a date..." Squinting her eyes, she looked at me intently, slightly interested in the topic William was talking about.

William looked at my direction, "You didn't tell here?" He asked out of curiosity. When he noticed that I didn't want to answer his question as I averted my eyes elsewhere, he sighed deeply in contempt.

"Anyway, you said to me yesterday that you wanted me to make you two a reservation... Although I'm still pissed about what you said and your habit on ordering me around even though my status is higher than you since I'm the prince, I still can't resist it... I hate myself for being a pushover." William said. Wow, that probably took a lot of energy for him to say something like that, I kinda feel bad.

He sighed, "I've already made a reservation at the restaurant Persia and I used to go during our date. The place is called 'Last Meal', although the name sounds weird, I mean... Hey, don't judge a book by it's cover. It's quite famous for it's own unique dishes."

He continued, "Since Alicia's matches will be starting maybe around twelve, I've reserved your table in the restaurant at ten. Meaning, you two can still go around the city to do what you guys want for two hours or so. You guys do your thing, just make sure that you don't take things too far..."

"Dude, I'm still twelve." I frowned, furrowing my brows as I looked at me with disgust.

"What I mean to say is that you take her back before her match start. What are you even talking about?" William looked at me innocently like a child.

As for Athena, who had been silent since the two of us started our own conversation, finally decided to spoke. She said, "So you're already dating Alicia..." Her gaze meant as if she had caught a friend of her cheating to their lover... I don't even know anything about this, just what the hell did Deus do to my body while I was away?

I took a quick sip my my chocolate drink and tilted my head sidewards, pretending I didn't understand what her eyes meant, "What's with your look?"

Rolling her eyes to the side, Athena replied, "Nothing... Yes, it's nothing for you to worry about." She gave me a warm smile, but for some reason, in my eyes, the smile she was showing were quite similar to the time when she caught my older brother hanging out with his colleagues, which were a bunch of females and only three male that includes him.

It was somehow scaring me.

-thud

I stood up from my seat, "Thanks for everything." And thanked William before heading back to my room to do something.

[7:56 A.M.]

Apparently, I still have around six minutes and two hours before the date will start. Meaning, I still have enough time to have a good talk with this little shit inside me after I get back.

-Hey... Isn't that the guy who surrendered from his opponent after dealing some pretty bad damage yesterday?

-Yeah. Don't go near him, there's a possibility that he'll do what he did back then to us if he's pissed.

-Do you know what happened to his opponent after that?

-I'm not sure... However, I heard from my other friends that he finally woke up.

While I was walking toward my room, I heard some students talk about me and my (Deus) match yesterday.

𝘋𝘦𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥...? I thought deeply. Why would he do that...? I'm not sure why, it would be better to ask him that myself.

As soon as I got back my room, I sat into my bed and looked at the mirror that reached the same height as me... Wait, there's actually no mirror. I totally forgot that my room is not the same as Lucius'.

Facepalming, I embarrassingly went inside the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror. as soon as I was inside, my expression turned serious as I placed my hands to edge of the sink.

"Talk."

I glared at myself in the mirror... or more specifically, to the person who's inside of me, Deus.

[.....]

"Talk, damn it!"

Deus didn't gave me any response even after all that. He just straight up ignored me as if he was telling me that he's not willing to answer any of my questions.

I thought for a bit and decided to speak up in a gentler tone, "Can we please have a talk about the rumours I've heard?"

However.

[....]

The only answer he gave me is silence.

"Haaa...."

Because of this, I heaved out a sigh in defeat as I walked out of the bathroom. Since talking to him will only leaf nowhere, it's better for me to just prepare for the date later.

"Now that I thought about it, I wonder where's my sister now?" I abruptly stopped walking and took out my phone to try and message her when I suddenly saw something that made me crack my screen.

"Arthur..."

It was a picture of Chloe hugging Arthur's arm. He was making an awkward smile while my sister was making a piece gesture in her hands. And from the looks of it, it seems like they been hanging out lately after seeing few more pictures after scrolling up.

[𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵... 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.]

Deus, who had been silent since the time I worked up, spoke up before going silent once again.

"From now on, you are ban from using my body...." Saying this, I placed my cracked phone back inside my pocket before putting on some new clothes that had been hanging inside my cabinet.

"I'll deal with that guy later..."

I looked at the reflection of my eyes from the blade of my katana before placing it inside my [Pocket Ring].

After that, I left my room to go to the restaurant that William reserved for Alicia and I to meet up for the date.

.

..

...

At the same time,

"Hrrrr..." Arthur subconsciously shivered up after feeling cold chills ran down in his spine. He didn't know why, but he felt scared for his life for some reason.

Lumine, Chloe and the others noticed this as they asked him about it. He just replied, "It's nothing. I just feel cold for some reason...." and showed a small smile to them.

....

..

.

Two hours zipped by.

After I left the academy, I immediately went to the restaurant William reserved for my date and waited for Alicia to appear.

"Athan!"

As I heard someone call out my name, I turned around and saw a familiar figure walking toward me in an elegant manner.

Alicia was wearing a black, shoulderless, frilly dress, and her feet were encased in black enamel shoes. Because of her naturally white skin, the contrast between her white legs and the black dress was very eye-catching.

She took a brief stop a couple of meters away from me to take a deep breath before walking forward once again.

"This stuff is uncomfortable, but..."

Alicia looked quite uncomfortable wearing such revealing clothes, no matter how good they looked on her. She made eye contact with me. Back from my previous life, my ex-girlfriend often told me not to say anything whenever she dress up because she's easy to get embarrassed... Why am I thinking of her again?

Suddenly, Alicia was the one who looked at me without saying anything.

Should I say something...? Of course, even if I didn't say anything, it was already obvious that she look breathtaking in her dress.

"How do I look?" Alicia slightly bent down and looked at me from below.

Sighing deeply, I placed both my hands in my pocket as I replied, "You look cute in that dress." while showing a small smile.

When she heard my reply, Alicia's face became red for a quick second before covering her face and chuckling in embarrassment.

"Eh, uh... Th-thanks!"

I shook my shoulder and turned around to face the restaurant, "Let's go and eat."

Few minutes later...

Propping my elbow on the table, I supported my chin with my right hand and let out a long sigh.

"Isn't this basically like a fast food restaurant, DacRonald...?" Staring intently at the hamburger I was holding, I tried my best not to let my my mouth slip and let some more unnecessary words to come out...

Also, is fast food restaurant a good place to go when going on a date? Was it weird, erm... Not sure.

"...?" Alicia took a bite from her burger as she enjoys it's taste. She took a glance at my direction and saw the strange expression I was making while I stared at my food.

"...Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"...I see." She awkwardly lowered her head to avoid my gaze as she continue to eat. I admit that I'm staring at her, but not that intense.

I once again heaved out a sigh as I ate my fill. When we were done, we left the restaurant to wander around the city more.

We went to the shops William recommend me to take her and bought some accessories that suits her. We bought things like artifacts that could help her get stronger, a new [Pocket Bracelet] only for her, and many other things.

We also went inside a clothing shop to pick some dress for her. I didn't really intend to get a new clothes myself, but she forced me to become her dress up doll for about thirty minutes.

She made me wear suits, clothes that was slightly bigger than my twelve year old body, and many more.

However, when it was finally her turn,

Alicia looked at herself in the mirror after she put on a dress, some other clothes, and shoes. Then, wearing a white dress that almost matches her platinum hair, and covered it up with cute pink heels, she made eye contact with me as she looked into the mirror.

I won't lie, going in this shop is worth it.

"Erm..."

Just before she could form a proper sentence to say, I looked at the shopping assistant next to me, "I'm buying every clothes she picked." I said, handling her a pout full of gold.

The shopping assistant was stunned seeing how much was inside as she promptly ran to the counter to calculate everything.

[11:13 A.M.]

When we were done, we went out to buy some snacks.

"Hmm~"

Seeing her happily ate the crepe I bought from the stand we passed by not a little while ago, I unconsciously smiled without noticing it.

"Do you want some?"

Before Alicia could even take another bite, she noticed my gaze and abruptly stopped to look at me. Her question quickly removed me from my thoughts as I returned my attention back to her.

"No." I replied, slowly turning my head to the road in front of me.

After about five minutes of walking, we went to a nearby bridge and sat down to rest.

"Haaa.... Ha?"

I was exhaling my breath when I suddenly noticed few familiar people walking toward us at the distance.

"Oh, it's Athan!" Arthur, who noticed us together, walker towards our direction. To his side, Leigh, Lumine, Sophia, Athena and my sister followed him from behind.

When I saw him with my sister, my eyebrows twitched as I forced myself not to attack him. If it wasn't for the fact that she was with Athena, I would have not hesitated to cut his fingers off one by one.

Arthur somehow understood my gaze as he cleared out his throat, moving further away from Chloe for a couple of meters and going to Lumine's side.

I was about to say something when I noticed someone missing.

"Where's the elf princess?"

Arthur abruptly stopped walking and placed his finger under his chin to think, "Now that you've mentioned it, she's been missing since yesterday. She didn't even attended her match, causing her opponent to win."

He was about to add something when Leigh spoke up, "If you're asking about my sister, she went back home after receiving a mail from His Highness, the King of Elvion Kingdom."

"Oh..." Arthur had a face of realization.

"She left?" I didn't know how to explain it, but a part of me feels off after hearing Leigh say that. Cayla don't often visit her home. And most of all, her father don't just 'order' her to go back, not unless it affects her safety.

Arthur noticed the expression I was showing and asked about it, "Why do you look worried?"

Should I tell him? No... I guess that won't be necessary. I'll just go ask Jack to investigate this matter. It's better for me to do this, so that it won't disturb Arthur during his match.

"It's nothing..."

I shaked my head lightly and turned my attention to the clouds above the sky. Seeing this, he nodded weakly before continuing to walk pass me and Alicia, "See ya later..." He said, waving his hand lightly, bidding us farewell.

After I saw his back disappear from the distance, I sat down on the bench.

"Today's been fun..." When I turned my head toward Alicia, I saw her slightly smiling.

"Hey, Athan...."

"Hmm?"

Smiling, she turned her head toward me.

"I like you."

"...?"

At this moment, my expression froze.

...

..

.

Few moments before the confession,

"Whistle~"

Athena was walking around the area alone. She didn't decide to follow Arthur and the others. She let them leave without her as she went back to where Athan and Alicia are to watch what was happening.

While she was walking, she noticed that a familiar presence was following her, making her turn around to look behind her.

"Chloe, what are you doing?"

"!!? Eh umm...." As if she didn't expect that she would be noticed, Chloe tried to pretend that she thought that Athena was walking to where Arthur and the others are heading.

With a slightly surprised expression, Athena pointed her fingers behind Chloe and said, "Arthur went that way...."

"Ah...!" Flustered, Chloe shaked her head lightly before returning her eyes back to Athena, "So... Where are you heading then? Can I come with you?"

"Well... Sure?"

Athena didn't try to stop her as she turned her back toward Chloe and continued walking. Chloe soon followed her as she went to Athena's side.

Both of them didn't say anything as they continue to walk. It was until finally, they were near the bridge where Athan and Alicia is.

***

[A/N : I wanted to make this chapter a cliffhanger, but I have to do this since I have no time to waste chapter on something like this.]

"I like you."

"....."

I stood there, staring at her in complete silence.

"Athan..."

Alicia waited for my response as her eyes landed on mine. For a quick second, our eyes interlocked with each other, making me smile.

"Why did it have to come to this...?"

"Huh?"

I knew for the fact that Alicia liked me, but I didn't know what I could say once she confessed her feelings... Should I accept her feelings and forget everything about my previous ex-girlfriend? This would have been the most logical solution.

However.

"Sorry, I already have someone I liked."

In the end, I'm not that kind of person.

I don't know if I'll ever get to meet her in this life like how I happened to meet my brother's girlfriend, Athena, but even if I didn't, that would still be fine by me.

I know that I'm being an idiot and unreasonable, but I guess that's just who I am when it comes to this emotions called "Love".

"I see..." Alicia let out a light laugh, then, lowered her head before lifting it back up again to look at me. "I won't bother you in this matter anymore... Still, I want to thank you for being my first friend. If you and that girl you're talking about didn't ended up together-I mean, it's not that I don't want you guys to end up together, but..."

Alicia started breathing roughly as her eyes began to swell up. Tears fell that was mixed with sadness and pain started falling from her eyes. She didn't try wiping any of it as she let her emotions flow out like a cup that overflowing with water.

"Ah.... I promised myself that I won't cry even if you rejected me, but..." Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to look at me in the eyes.

"Why am I crying?"

"....."

I couldn't even give her a proper response to comfort her like saying 'everything will be alright' or 'you'll find someone you deserve eventually' because it would seem like a that I'm only pitying.

And I don't want to pity her...

She's the most strong-willed heroine that was part of Arthur's harem in the novel. She was meant to become much more than becoming my 'lover'. She's that kind of person who was meant to be on top near the real protagonist! Not in the hands of some pitiful villain.

I admit that I like her, but not in the way as a potential lover. I like her as friend, my first friend in this world.

"Sorry...."

Alicia promptly turned around. Without even looking at me for the last time, she ran away like what I already expected her to do.

As soon as her back was not visible as she went away from the distance, Athena, who had been hiding since the beginning to watch this 'drama', walked out behind the wall and went to my direction.

"Are you sure that this is your answer?"

"..."

I looked at her before turning my attention to my little sister who went after Alicia. When her back became barely visible from the distance, I returned my attention to Athena before nodding.

She sighed deeply because of this and pinched the middle of her eyebrows in contempt. "You know that we can't be sure if your ex-girlfriend was reincarnated like us. Why couldn't you just forget about her and move on? Are you an idiot?"

"Same reason as you, I guess... Lying to ourselves that they'll get reborn like us." My expression softened as turned my head to face the sun.

"You know Athena, it's more better for you to just forget about my older brother and love Arthur like in the story. That way, you'll be able to live like what you've always wan-- *pak*!"

I was cut off short from my words before I could even finish after being slapped by her in the cheeks.

"To hell with that!" She raised her voice, glaring at me with her teary eyes as if she was pissed. "I don't care if Arthur would become a God or something above them in the future. I only want one person and I'll only love him even if it meant dying alone in this cruel world that the sick author created!"

Upon hearing this, I smiled gently. She really is the same as she used to be. I could really understand why my brother was willing to sacrifice himself in order to save her back then.... Ugh, she's really too stubborn to listen to what he said about her when he was about to die saying that she should just find someone new.

Although I wanted to speak my thoughts out loud, I couldn't because we're both are almost in the same situation.

We couldn't even move on!

"...Sorry, I just..." When she realized what she did, Athena looked at her palm and apologized for the slap.

"Don't mention it...."

I turned around and ignored her as she tried to come up some things to say. Soon after that, I left the city and went back to the academy.

***

While this happen, Arthur and the others was finally back at the academy.

He turned around to face his companions when he noticed two people missing, "Chloe and Athena, where are they?" It was a question that quickly popped out from his mind.

"I heard from Chloe earlier that she will leave the academy and return home for today..." Lumine grumbled. Arthur felt that she was feeling upset for some reason, however, he ignored this.

Did she left while no one is watching? Hmm... That's probably the case. Athena was probably the only person to notice her leaving secretly and decided to follow her... Arthur thought about this as he reassured himself.

"Alright, my first match is about to start. I'll be leaving, guys."