Man on a Mission (Part 2)

It was hard to admit I was bad at something. My pride hurt just thinking about it. But ignoring the problem wouldn’t make it go away.

If I was attending any old school, I wouldn’t have to worry much about my grades. I could slide by nearly failing and that was that. Basically what I’d done my entire life. But the school I was attending, McKinley Institute, wasn’t just any school. It was one of the most prestigious schools in the country and had one of the strictest grading systems too.

A single failing class at the end of any semester and you were gone for good.

Passing was like swallowing shards of glass. It was slow, painful, but technically doable.

I sighed as I entered the massive library building. It’s cylindrical shape made it stand out from the other rectangular buildings.

The cool air blasted my face the moment the automatic doors opened. As I passed the entrance, I made my way past a few nearby tables filled with people reading, studying, and whatnot. The way they quietly interacted probably meant that they all knew each other.

My breath caught in my throat. I only glanced at them, but that was enough to turn my blood cold.

I recognized many of those people. There was no way I couldn’t. Not only were they students at McKinley Institute, but they were also my classmates.

My heart thumped like a speeding metronome.

I thought I overheard some of their chattering…

“Is that Tsutsumi?”

“Don’t look at him, he might come over.”

“Oh, that asshole?”

“Shit, I hope he hasn’t seen us.”

My breathing became heavy. I had no way of knowing if that’s actually what they said. They were much too far for me to hear. But the words felt real, and at the very least, the glares they shot at me didn’t lie. I wasn’t wanted anywhere near them.

I swallowed hard and ignored them.

To be completely honest, I didn’t blame them. They had all the reason not to like me. I’d been an asshole to every last one of them at least once. They’d all been so friendly to me, yet I squandered any potential bond immediately as they started to form.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew what I was doing. Purposeful sabotage if you will.

At some point, I had plenty of friends, entire groups even. Now I only had Kokoro, and I was perfectly fine with that.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

I was here for a reason. I wasn’t here to think about the past…well…I guess that’s exactly what I’m here for.

After calming down, I scoured the rows and rows of bookshelves, looking for the sign labeled, “History”.

The old smell from the wooden shelves spoke of how old this place was. Although built around the same time as the school, it wasn’t upgraded every few years like the school was. And with the use of libraries decreasing every year, that probably wouldn’t change any time soon.

“There it is,” I let out as I found the aisle. I scanned the spines of the many books at robot-level speed. In only ten minutes, I’d found most of the materials I thought would come in handy.

“Last thing is…that’s it,” I reached out for the final book.

At the same time, a pale hand reached out for the same volume.

““Oh—”” the person and I let out.

Staring at me were two golden eyes shining like beautiful gems under the sunlight. Short onyx hair that reached their shoulders. Pointy horns on either side of her head, one slightly chipped off the side. And a soft expression filled with shock.

We stared hard at each other. So much so that I noticed her eyes had dim circles around her pupils.

I imagined she was waiting for me to make a move. More specifically, for me to back off and let her have the book. And yes, although that would be the nice and polite thing to do, I also really needed that book. A quick glance at the shelves told me it was the last one.

So yeah…letting her have it wasn’t on my list of options.

I smiled, grabbed the book, and turned away.

“Hey, I was going to get that!” the girl suddenly said.

“Sucks. Guess you should’ve been faster.”

The girl was taken aback. She probably didn’t expect me, a stranger, to snap back at her. Well, at least I was continuing the trend of making people hate me. And as a bonus, it was a person I didn’t know and probably wouldn’t see ever again.

“Y-You—!” with puffed-out cheeks, she furiously charged at me. However, she had apparently forgotten she was on a step ladder because she walked straight off the edge. “…Eh—?” She only noticed once she was falling straight towards me.

Time slowed to a crawl…at least for me.

As a half-Pantherian, I had some sort of quicker reaction time. Maybe not as much as a full Pantherian, or a half-Pantherian leaning that way, but it was still faster than most. At the very least it was fast enough for me to make a judgment call and completely dodge her fall.

She slammed face-first onto the carpeted floor.

Only as I overlooked her fallen body did I realize—she was the first person to turn confrontational at something I said. Whether or not it was because of the prestigious status of McKinley, people really weren’t confrontational. They usually just cowered away.

Although good in a way, that also meant that if there was bullying, no one tried to stop it. No one wanted to get in trouble and try to intervene. They simply looked from a distance or ignored it entirely.

This was the first time anyone had said anything to me straight on.

Or at least tried to…

I bent over, “Are you okay?”

With a huff, the girl pushed herself off the floor and scowled. “Why didn’t you catch me?” her face was red to the tips of her slightly pointed ears.

“Why would I do that? I can’t say I want to be a meat shield or anything,” I snickered. I had nothing against the girl, but I didn’t feel like acting like a hero.

She took in a breath. “T-Then as an apology, hand over the book,” she reached towards my hand.

“Yeah…no,” I pulled back. “I need this much more than you do.”

“Heh? How would you know that?”

I shrugged. Obviously, I had no reason of knowing if that was true, but I felt it was so that was enough for me to say it was.

“What do you need it for then?” I asked.

The girl frowned and stood up. “What do you mean for what? To read it obviously,” she crossed her arms.

“You see?” I opened my arms, “I need it so my entire life doesn’t fall apart.”

Was that an exaggeration? A little bit, but not by much.

The girl opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, clearly flabbergasted. She gritted her teeth, but eventually, she sighed, a soft expression replacing her previous dagger-like glare. “Are you really that big a fan of The Finisterras?”

“Huh?” I looked at the book. The cover depicted a stylized drawing of a group of warriors posing valiantly under a holy beam of light. The title was printed in bold letters: “Known History of The Finisterras”.

Now that was a topic I had heard of and remembered. Not much, granted, but my uncle used to complain how they were nothing more than overly praised thugs. That was as far as my knowledge of them reached.

“Fan of them?” I scoffed, “Why would I ever be one?”

Something nearly audibly snapped inside the girl. Her eyes glossed over and her skin turned paler than it already was. She stood frozen, but her eyes were piercing my soul.

Her blank face was unnerving. It was almost enough to give me goosebumps…almost.

“Uh, are you—”

Before I could finish, the girl’s arm shot out like a harpoon, grabbing my shirt collar, and pulling me close. She brought her lips next to my ear and whispered, “The only reason you’re still alive is because I’m allowing it…better hope that doesn’t change…”