CH 90

The bell rang, and the hustle and bustle of the classroom gradually died down but the buzzing in my heart grew louder.

Wait. Why isn’t Claire participating? Could it be that she’s injured or not feeling well?

I looked at Claire, but she was sitting up straight and dignified as usual. That doesn’t seem to be the case.

I mean, seriously, why don’t you go? I’ll never get a chance for a mock battle like that again!

Class was over and it was the last recess until after school, but there was no sign of Claire moving at all.

She’s not going to go. If that’s the case, I have to get her to cooperate somehow. But what should I do to make her fill the form?

As if to mock my impatience, the time was ticking away.

I can’t do this anymore. I can’t wait!

I can’t think of anything to say, but I get up from my seat and go to Claire. Then Claire looks at me and her face turns bright red.

“Claire! Why aren’t you participating in the mock battle?”

“Hyah, hyah!”

I was standing right next to her, and Claire just replied in a slurred voice. I waited for a bit, wanting to hear her answer, but she just cracked her mouth open and showed no signs of speaking. On the contrary, she turned her eyes away from me, refused to make eye contact, and showed no signs of composure.

The classroom, which had been buzzing during recess, quieted down. Normally, I would definitely avoid this scene, but I have more important things to do right now. If I don’t get Claire involved in this, I won’t have a future.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

I ask again, and Claire sits up in her chair, looks up at me with downcast eyes, and opens her mouth.

“Why do you ask that?”

Please. Don’t return my questions with questions…….

There was no way I could ask Claire to turn her affections to another man.

My impatience with time has slowed down my thought process and I can’t think of a reason.

“I just want Claire to participate. Really. Please.”

“No, don’t say that because if I’m on a different team from Chris, we’ll be enemies…….”

That’s what I’m here for. I’m really begging you.

When Claire turned her head down with so much heat that steam was almost coming out of her face, she was pierced with annoying glittering eyes from the girls and harsh stares from the boys.

In addition, the ice cold gaze from Mist, Alice is……something like crying, but it doesn’t matter.

Now I’m in a situation where I really need to get out of here. I don’t want to do this anymore. I really want to run away. But if I ran away, it would make it even harder. I opened my mouth to do something about it.

“Claire. It’s fine. We can be on different teams. I’m not going to antagonize you.”

I don’t want to be on a different team and antagonize Marquis Alcala just to curry favor with Claire.

“I’m not going to become enemies with Marquis Alcala…….”

Claire looks up at me with a twinkle in her eye. A few of the girls cackle and cheer.

I don’t want it. I really don’t need that cheer.

Claire, buoyed by these cheers, started to sit up, but then, as if still troubled, she sat back down again and a shadow fell over her face.

“Yeah, but I get so excited when it comes to competition. If I get serious, I might hurt Chris…….”

Oh, my God! It’s so annoying!

In the first place, I’m not going to fight Claire directly, so if another guy gets hurt, that’s not a problem. ‘Getting hurt is an honor’ it’s what I wanted to say but I swallowed hard and changed my words.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll be fine!”

“Chris……”

Claire looks at me with a puzzled expression.

I felt uncomfortable and looked around to see some girls holding their eyes with handkerchiefs and others nodding their heads in agreement, saying things like, “It’s pure love.”

The men, too, looked at me with admiration, saying, “I never thought you could say so much to that famous warrior, Alcala-sama,” or dropped to their knees in frustration.

Ouch……..My stomach really hurts. I really can’t fail.

I need one more push. But I can’t find the words to say what I’m looking for. There’s no time left. I have to say something!

“Look. Maybe we can be on the same team. When we do, I’ll protect you, you know!”

“Chris! All right, I’m in.”

With a squishy, puffy face, Claire immediately stood up and headed down the table with bouncy steps.

The bell rang just as Claire finished writing. It seemed that she had managed to make it just in time.

Even though I couldn’t see at all, the pain told me the exact position of my stomach in great detail, so I stroked it and went back to my seat.

As I took my seat, I exhaled heavily and collapsed onto my desk. My thoughts swirled as I entered the pitch-black world of my desk and my eyelids almost closed.

I really can’t fail now. I’ll have to clear up my classmates’ misunderstanding. No, would that be resolved naturally once Claire started to look at another man? Whatever the case may be, I don’t know what to do……in the mock battle.

At that moment, I felt a twitching rhythm on my arm, like a fish nibbling on bait.

I turned my head to the side and saw Mist poking at my arm with her white fingers, looking as if she had realized something. When Mist saw me turn my head, she opened her mouth wide without making a sound.

What, did you notice that, Mist?

The front of my eyes bled just a little bit, as if I was happy that one of my problems was gone, or that I was being rewarded for my efforts.