Celebration?

 Once I got done training with Akiko, I decided to head back to my dorm. The crystal told me which building and room to go to, so it wasn’t too hard to figure out. On the way back, I realized the campus was pitch dark and empty. We trained for a lot longer than I expected. I must’ve lost track of time because I was having fun. Normally I trained alone or with my parents, so training with a friend felt different—nice, even. Thinking about it now, I didn’t have many friends in my past life. Maybe a lot of acquaintances but never someone I would call a friend. Sure, we talked, but only when I was at work. Once I got off my shift, it was right back to being by myself. On weekends or days off, it was just me again. Sure, I would want to hang out with them but something in me made it difficult to reach out. For some reason, it felt desperate, like I was begging someone to be my friend. Maybe it was because I wasn’t close with anyone or that I wasn’t sure if anyone would be willing to be close to me. Especially with how cautious people were around me after finding out I was locked up.

I wonder… how would Akiko react if she knew about my past?

My dorm wasn’t too far of a walk from the training grounds. It probably would've taken me a minute to get back but I decided to take my time. It still felt nice to walk around like a normal student so I wasn’t in any rush. The walk was quiet but peaceful; the silence made me think about how things are. Honestly, everything still feels so unreal. After training with my parents and everything that’s happened, it never really hit me how crazy this all was. Getting reincarnated into a magical world, too. Don’t get me wrong, this is amazing and I’m glad that it all happened, but it seems too good to be true. Being able to have an opportunity like this is surreal. I’m just surprised that it was given to me. There have to be better options out there, right? Like why does it have to be me? Am I the right choice for all of this? Am I a good enough person to have that kind of responsibility? And if someone were to ask those types of questions to me right now, then I would say no. I don’t think I’m worthy of this opportunity, I don’t think… I know that I’m unfit for this job, especially with what I’ve done. So why me?

When I got to the building, I noticed that it was a lot shorter than expected. I guess 900 kids isn’t that many compared to a normal university. I just hoped that the dorms are a lot more spacious than the ones back in my world.

Room123… Hopefully my roommate isn’t an asshole.

Opening the door I saw a familiar face with short spiky red hair.

“Haruki?” I asked.

When the door was fully open, there he stood. He was in an over dramatic pose with his hand stretched out like he was about to give a hug. “Yes! It is I! Behold, I am your dormmate!”

“You… look like an idiot…”

He slowly dropped his hands and looked down. “You don’t think it was cool?”

“Nope.”

He sighed, “Well, I tried.”

“Were you just standing there like that the entire time?”

"Nah, I would’ve died waiting that long. I got into position as soon as I heard you turn the doorknob."

“But… why?”

“Because it’s fun to have a flare to the dramatic. You get me right?”

“I don’t.”

He turned around and clenched his fist, “No one will ever get me.”

A shiver was sent down my spine.

This guy is so CRINGE!

When he turned back around he asked, “So, what took you so long to get here?”

“I was just doing some training.”

“What about yesterday? You had me worried, thought you were kicked out for not having a blessing.” he laughed.

“You don’t have to remind me. But I was in a magical duel. The both of us went too hard so we knocked each other out for a whole day.”

“Really? Who were you fighting?”

“Just some girl named Akiko. I’m not sure—”

“The Akiko?”

“Yes? Is she important or something?”

“Is she important or something?” he sarcastically repeated. “She’s like one of the strongest people of the celebrated generation. Not to mention, she’s like super cute. She's super quiet but when something happens she’s always ready to step in. She’s definitely the type to be a light novel protagonist, or at least a major supporting character."

“You sound like her fan.”

“Well, that’s just common knowledge about her. No one really knows any specific details about her because she normally keeps to herself. Actually, it’s not like she completely keeps to herself. It’s more like no one is willing to approach her because she can come off as cold. I hear she would regularly insult people.”

She doesn’t seem like the type of person to be like that. Oh wait, Gareth said that she would do that by accident. Maybe all of those accidents are building up to ruin her reputation.

"She seemed really friendly to me." I said

“Then you know what that means right?”

“What?”

“You sir, will become the protagonist of a romcom.”

“Huh”

“Think about it, you—who is a dirty commoner.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, I mean commoner. Currently is the only person that the cold hearted noble is nice to.”

“I think you’ve been reading too many romcoms.”

“Possibly, but that possibility isn’t impossible, right?”

“Sure… But I think everyone has the wrong idea about her. You should meet her, she isn’t really as cold as people say.”

“No way dude. You saw how she beat up that dragon kid, what if she does the same to me.”

“Don’t worry, she won’t. She’s actually really friendly… ish.”

“Speaking of beating people up, she completely destroyed you in your duel right?”

“Not much hope in me huh?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean it to come out like that.”

"No, it’s fine. To be honest, I would’ve thought the same thing. But surprisingly, our duel ended in a tie."

“NO WAY!”

“You don’t have to scream.”

“Oh yeah, sorry. I’m just surprised that you were able to match up to someone as powerful as her.”

“Yeah, I guess all my training has paid off.”

“That’s the understatement of the century. This calls for a celebration.”

“Celebration?”

“Yeah. You had an amazing accomplishment so we should celebrate.”

“You think so? I didn’t even win.”

“It’s fine. Being able to match up against one of the top students should be enough, so feel proud.”

“Sure, yeah.”

“For lunch tomorrow, let’s all ball out. Get the most expensive thing there.”

“You want to eat with me tomorrow?”

“Yeah, you can’t celebrate alone can you?”

“I guess not.”

“Perfect, I’ll get Tsubaki to eat with us too.”

“We’re bringing more people?”

“The more the merrier as I like to say.”

“Then, is it a problem if I bring Akiko?”

“Not a problem at all. As long as she doesn’t beat me up of course.”

“She won’t.”

“Probably?”

“So when should we do this?”

“What time is your lunch?”

“After the third class, then when lunch ends I still have one more class to go to.”

“Perfect, that’s when we have lunch too. Let’s meet up at the dining hall near the training grounds.”

“Alright.”

“One more thing, they dropped your uniform here. I put it on your bed.”

“Thanks.”

“No problemo.” he said with a thumbs up.

“You’re doing this on purpose right?”

“What do you mean?”

“The way you're acting, it’s a bit strange. I don’t mean that in a bad way though, I just wanted to know.”

“Who can say? That’s for you to figure out.”

I sighed. “Alright then.”

After we made plans to eat the next day, Haruki went to bed. He said he was tired and had an early class to go to the next morning. I should probably do the same and go to bed. But I needed to clean up real quick. I originally hadn't noticed how big the dorm was. There was a kitchen area, living room area, and two separate rooms and bathrooms for us. This felt more like an apartment than a dorm room. When I walked in my room I noticed a box of uniforms lying on my bed. It wasn’t anything special, just black pants with a black vest and a button up. Just a typical school uniform. I took them all out of the box and placed it in my closet. When I opened my closet, I noticed that there were a lot of clothes in there already. There was also a note attached to one of the pants.

It read

Dear Yakusei,

Thank you for keeping Akiko company. I would like to repay you with all of these clothes, they will help you look less like a common peasant.

Sincerely, Gareth.

This jackass. I’ll take the free clothes though.

After washing up, I headed to bed. I closed my eyes but something kept me up. Thinking about tomorrow made me kind of anxious. It felt odd that I was about to hang out with a group of people. And the hang out was about to be for me too. It’s nice that Haruki is willing to go out of his way and celebrate something trivial like this. What he is doing is nice but it feels strange, maybe even a little suspicious. I’ve never had a coworker ask to go out and eat and not ask for something. It was always can you cover for me and after that I would never have another meal with them. Was Haruki doing the same? At the same time though, what would I have to offer to give to him?

He seemed like a fan of Akiko so maybe he would want to get close to her. Yeah, that must be it. There’s no reason to talk to me. But then, why bring Tsubaki along? I might just be overthinking all of this. I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow to find out his motivation. Even if he is doing this to be friendly, it’s strange for someone to be this friendly. Do people like this actually exist, a person willing to go out of their way this much for a complete stranger? Who knows, but it would’ve been nice to meet someone like this back in my world. Well, I sort of did, but by then I’d already given up on making friends. I’d shut him out and just ignore his advances to hang out. At that moment, I just thought that he wanted something from me. Looking back on it now, he may have just been friendly.

Maybe if I didn’t shut everyone out then my life could’ve been a little more enjoyable. I won’t make that same mistake now, I’ll be more open to people. I can’t waste this second chance at life by repeating my mistakes. I just hope things won’t end up the way they did with her.