Chapter 32

The next morning comes. And Medicine-class starts once more. And once it ends I speak with my favorite - also the only one I know - nurse.

“Miss Haruka. I wanted to thank you for yesterday. You really patched me up very good. I was able to run around without worries!”

Miss Haruka looks at me, demotivated as always. If she is this unmotivated for her job, why did she choose it in the first place? Was she perhaps forced to perform this job? Maybe she felt destined for it. After all, her ability perfectly lets her work as a nurse.

“Don’t thank me. It’s merely my job.”

Cold as ever, huh?

I think back to the woman from yesterday. I have no idea what kind of person she is. Thus, I do not understand her reaction… I want this to change. I want to know the people I talk with.

“Miss Haruka, can I ask you a question?”

“Just ask.”

“Why… are you doing this job? You constantly seem like you hate it.”

She’s quiet for a while.

“Hm. That’s a good question… Even if it doesn’t seem like it, helping people makes me feel fulfilled. I don’t want to pour all of my thoughts and negative emotions onto a kid like you, so I won’t go in depth… Especially as your teacher.

But, and that you can trust me with… I like healing people. Who wouldn’t like helping someone beat their pain? Even if life isn’t as fun as I would like it to be, there are still those highlight moments. And I live exactly for those highlight moments. And the best way for me to experience as many highlight moments as possible is by becoming a nurse, don’t you think?”

I nod.
“Yeah, I think I do understand. But shouldn’t you-”

“You should really quit stalling and go to gym-class already.”

Damnit! She saw right through me! While I did want to really learn more about her as a person, my goal was partially to learn more about her, however a good side effect of that was skipping as much of Gym-class as possible.

I end up coming to Gym-class. My peers are already running around the track, at least most of them. Is this all that Gym-class is about?!

I - slowly - walk over to the building containing the changing rooms and enter the male one. There I see Nagano Ayumi, the boy with the crazy hair and the different eye colors. I remember what I was told by Kida’s gang just yesterday and decided to talk with him for a bit. Partially to learn more of him, partially to skip as much of gym-class as possible.

“Nagano, I heard you were blessed by two Protogoni. Is that actually true?”

Nagano, who slowly was making himself ready for running around the track, looked at me. Then, after thinking for a bit, he answers.

“Yup. I was blessed by both Time and Darkness. Pretty cool, right?”

It was indeed pretty cool.

“Ah, but please don’t think any differently of me. Even though I am blessed by two Protogoni, I am still just another human. Just like you are: Blessed-hybrids are rare and those blessed by Death are even rarer… But despite everything, we are still human. We bleed, we laugh, we enjoy food… We live like everybody else. There’s nothing about that, right? We are human. No matter who we are blessed by.”

I smile. I feel… connected, in some way at least.

I want to keep on talking to him but he is leaving.

“Sorry, Isuri! Time to run!” And thus he leaves and starts running.

Soon enough, I am running around the track as well. I do hold a bit longer than yesterday: Probably because I started eating - I even ate early in the morning - and possibly because of my training yesterday during which I was not only interrogated by Aomade and Aki, but also cheered on and motivated by them. Also, Itoh pushed me to my very limit by ending up hunting me down once I was about to give up which… is a weird method of motivating someone but it did work out.

Around 20 minutes in I was about to give up once more. At this very moment something interesting happens: Iwata Shuji is running next to me. He does not smile at me, he does not even look at me. Yet he changes his pace and runs exactly next to me. I feel a heavy stare at me from behind… Okubo is probably running behind us, staring at me. I better not mess up or I will get hunted down for real.

“Isuri Bankoku. After school the two of us will meet. You will help me in regards to a certain topic, understood?”

While this sounds strange as hell, I do want to know more about people. And Iwata is - unsurprisingly - a person. Also, he never did anything bad to me. I think I only think of him as a suspicious person due to Itoh warning me about him. Hell, Iwata even saved me from getting my ass beat by Hibiki, even if that was not his intention.

“...sure. No problem…. uh… when and… where?” The short pauses I take are due to me gasping for air, obviously. After all, I am still running and am - slowly but surely - getting exhausted. Like, really exhausted.

“We will meet at 3 pm here.”

After speaking those words he quickly increased his speed and soon enough he was long gone. And - just like I suspected - Okubo followed him soon after.

Once I can not go on anymore I sit down. However, I sit down right next to Mister Kazuki and start talking to him.

“Mister Kazuki, why do we always run?”

“Silly Bankoku! Of course not all of Gym-class is simply running: But, I must admit, running is one of my favorite exercises. And rightfully so! Running boosts both your stamina and your speed: Two of the most important things one can have! So running is not only an easy task, it is also a most efficient exercise! One you definitely need, Bankoku!”

I keep on talking to Mister Kazuki. I do want to know him better but I mostly do not want to keep on running. At least for now.