Similar

Me and Lindsey were strolling around the academy area, me leading the way without any real destination.

Having just left the recording room, I had no actual plans for the rest of the day.

In the end, it became a bit too unnerving for me to just walk around with the ice queen. Looking around, I found a bench to sit down at and Lindsey followed suit.

"So, why are you following me?"

'And without saying a word at that...'

Flicking her silver hair away from her face she finally stated her case, "I want you to be my friend."

Dumbfounded by her frank approach, it took me a couple of seconds to collect my thoughts.

'Does she realize that I'm pretty much the main antagonist in this story now?'

It didn't make sense to me, was she truly willing to also risk becoming an outcast just to become friends with me?

After thinking a bit, I also chose to talk straightforwardly, "Why? Why would you want to be friends with me when you know how the rest of our classmates feel about me?"

Looking up at her face I could see that she was thinking about how to answer me.

'She honestly is outrageously beautiful.'

Her clear, pale skin complemented by her icy blue eyes and silver hair was just too enchanting, making one think more of a painting than a real human.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't alluring, as a member of the straight males club I couldn't lie about saying she was incredibly attractive.

'But I already have Misa!'

Although polygamy wasn't all too uncommon in this world where bloodlines could, to a large extent, determine one's future, it wasn't for me.

While I was thinking about stupid things, she had concluded her thoughts.

"I want to be friends with you for three reasons."

That was three more than I could imagine, "Okay, go on."

She put up three fingers, "Firstly, you are very cute."

"HAFGH!"

If I had a liquid in my mouth right now I would have spit it out harder than a high-pressure washer, but instead, I could only react with some nonsensical noise.

Her face was still completely neutral, not caring at all about the embarrassing thing she had just uttered.

"Excuse me?"

She had already put down one of her fingers, "Secondly...

'You are seriously just going to leave it at that?!'

"you are strong and I want to know more about how you managed to advance your grade so fast."

This was a much more logical reason. Of course she would be interested in how I did it, and if it would work for her as well. Unfortunately, this was most likely impossible as it had to do with the fact that my body was devoid of pure mana and I only had lightning-infused mana inside of me.

"Is that so? I can tell you, but I don't think it would help you, unfortunately."

She nodded a bit as she put down her second finger and got ready to give me the final reason.

"I think we are very similar."

My head started spinning, trying to understand the meaning of her words.

I instantly dismissed all of our physical attributes as they were obviously incredibly different. Which brought me to our personalities.

I wasn't a quiet, cool person, far from it. Although I wanted to say I had a certain maturity, I had just proved that to be false a couple of minutes ago when I made a joke out of James.

These last couple of months had already changed me a lot. I don't think I was as naive and meek anymore, although I had always had a temper in this life. Unable to identify what she meant, I had to ask her.

"What do you mean?"

Having already put down her last finger, she managed to surprise me yet again with a slight smile. If she was beautiful with a neutral face she was more akin to Aphrodite with a smile.

"We are both misunderstood by our classmates and the people around us. I still don't fully understand why you chose the role of the villain in front of the class, but I know you didn't want to."

'Ah, so that's what she meant.'

Tilting my head a bit I lobbed her statement right back at her.

"So, in what way are you misunderstood?"

Her small smile quickly disappeared as it appeared to be a sensitive topic for her.

"Everyone thinks I'm some sort of elitist ice queen who doesn't want to get along with anyone, but I'm not like that. I also want to make friends, do fun stuff like drinking and dancing, or go to an amusement park. But because of how I was raised I never had the chance to learn how to socialize."

It was kind of a cliché, but I saw the pain in her eyes as she spoke. Everyone had their own pains, and this was hers.

Scratching the back of my head, a bit of guilt came over me who had assumed she had an ulterior motive. Which she partly had, wanting to know my secret to mold and accumulate mana, but to me, it felt like that was more of a minor reason in comparison to this.

"So, what do you say. Can we be friends?"

She raised her dainty hand towards me, waiting for me to shake it.

'Fuck it, it's not like there's anything bad about it.'

I took her hand, which still almost engulfed my small little paw, "Sure, let's be friends."

****

[James's Pov]

"Arghh! Why doesn't he understand that you want to help him?!"

Me and Sara were sitting in one of the cafés at the academy, having a cup of coffee and talking. Well, she was having coffee and I was having a soda, as I still didn't enjoy the bitter taste.

Looking at, who I would now call my girlfriend, I couldn't help but sigh. She was utterly devastated about what had gone down earlier today.

I had also felt like utter shit after getting humiliated by Miren, but after some time I had already moved passed it.

It had even helped me a bit to see that the old, clever Miren was still there, he was just a bit colder. This was most likely largely due to me, and I was well aware of that.

He was right that I had acted selfishly, and even challenging him now was part of that but there was more to it. Even more so after today's spectacle where he had exuded his pressure in the classroom, even forcing Bayyan who was the same grade as him to his knees.

He had now cemented himself as the villain of the class, and I was pretty sure he had done so purposefully. I just didn't know why.

*BAM!*

"Are you listening to me?!"

Looking up I saw my exasperated girlfriend standing up, trying to get my attention. I always had a bad tendency to get lost in my thoughts, losing touch with reality.

"Sorry, I was thinking about some stuff..."

She sat down once, making her upper assets jiggle a bit, and her face turned into a frown.

"You really should learn to listen when your woman talks to you. Anyway, are you sure you want to fight Miren? He was pretty scary today, you know...?"

Everyone had felt the abnormal pressure he had exuded, which was impossibly strong for someone with an equal grade.

I had already felt the pressure of a lot of much stronger individuals, but his was different. It was as if it was alive, filled with intent. And in this case, intent to kill.

Putting on my signature smile I looked into her beautiful eyes, making sure to look as relaxed as possible.

"I'm sure. At this point, this is the way to make things right."

Sarah didn't seem to agree with my way of thinking as her face looked skeptical, "Are you sure? I mean, it's still the same Miren, right? The small and cute classmate who always tried his best. Couldn't you just..."

Furrowed my brows a bit, I urged her to continue her words.

She fidgeted with her fingers a bit, nervous to continue,

"Couldn't you just talk to him? Even if it isn't enough to make the rest of the class accept him, wouldn't he at least have someone to rely on?"

Rational, but still naive. There was no way he would accept an apology at this stage, he had gotten hurt too much already.

Though I did wish I could turn back time and change my approach before he got kidnapped, but, then again, I knew I still had that nagging voice inside of me. The voice telling me that if I'm not the strongest, something horrible would happen.

"It's too late for that Sarah. But don't worry, I will try to talk to him after I defeat him in the arena!"