I Became a Tentacle Monster Blooming in the Academy Garden 102

## Chapter 102 – Why Me? (2)

Almost like an insult, a sharp shout pierced her ears, and the girl slowly turned her head, gazing at the source of the sound.

Her grip tightened slightly as she looked at the group of sweat-soaked female students.

“Practicing is so hot!!
Hey!! Go buy us some drinks!!”

“It’s unbelievably hot…!! Whew~
Are you hot, Vivian?
I’ll get them right away!! Hehe!!”

A girl with blue hair, simply trying to look cool and distorting her face, and girls beside her, fawning over her as if they were her left and right arms.

One of them told her to fetch them snacks, and the girl, gritting her teeth and pretending not to hear, turned and walked towards her locker outside the training ground.

Many people were gathered around the lockers where students kept their personal belongings, and just as Anne found hers and was about to open it.

“Are you crazy!! Can’t you hear when someone’s talking to you?”

One of the delinquent girls shouted and punched Anne’s locker with a bang, causing the people around the locker, which now had a faint fist mark, to slowly slip away from the scene.

The emotions etched on their faces were pity for Anne, who had unfortunately been targeted by the bullies, relief that they weren’t the target, and indifference, as if they didn’t want to get involved.

The figures of the people around her faded into the periphery of her vision, and Anne stared silently at the delinquent girl in front of her.

“……”

“We ‘asked’ you earlier, didn’t we?
Is it really that difficult?”

“Aren’t you tired of this?”

“What?”

“If you’re going to hit me, hit me. If you’re going to curse, curse.
If you don’t have anything to say, don’t bother me and get out of my way.”

“Huh? This bitch, has she gone crazy?
Were you perhaps into getting beaten up?
You should have said so earlier?
I would have sent you to a brothel that specializes in that sort of thing?”

“Hahaha!!”

The gang burst into laughter at the delinquent’s sarcastic remark.

But then, another delinquent leaned forward, meeting Anne’s gaze and glaring at her, starting to threaten her.

“Who said we didn’t have anything to say? Didn’t I just tell you?
Go buy us some drinks, you airhead.
Can’t you still figure out your place?
If you keep this up, you’re really going to get f… Vivian…!!”

But then her body was pulled back, and the blue hair, which had been quietly watching, fluttered into Anne’s view.

“The bottom-feeding mutt doesn’t know its place and barks.
I really don’t like that. On the other hand, I’m also curious?
How long can you hold out with that pathetic pride of yours?”

The meaning of those words was a fairly typical expression of threat, but Anne still glared back at Vivian with eyes that seemed to find her amusing.

But then, at one word that came out, her eyes began to waver.

“The Monehen family. An insignificant merchant family.
I heard they run a small family trading company that deals in miscellaneous goods?
It just so happens that our family is also involved in that area?”

As Vivian’s face gradually approached her, Anne, tensing up, held her breath and tried to maintain her composure.

“Perhaps as you climb higher, goods will be supplied to us?
Then you’re just a subcontractor who provides goods to us.
In a way, we’re in the same industry, so do we really need to be at each other’s throats like this?”

And then, Vivian brought her face so close that Anne could feel her soft breath on her ear, and her lips moved slightly, whispering softly in her ear.

“I’m going to give you one last chance, kneel.
And I’ll forgive you if you lick my shoes until they’re clean.”

They say that when a person is truly angry to the point of losing their mind, their head turns completely white, and perhaps that saying was for situations like this.

Regardless of whether they were nobles or commoners, making someone kneel and lick their shoes was the greatest insult one could inflict on them personally.

And more than anything, Vivian, as if holding her precious family hostage, smiled slyly after speaking, then stepped back slightly.

Seeing that, Anne stared at her blankly, her face flushed with heat.

Whether she thought that expression was a sign of agreement or not, Vivian shifted her stance slightly and extended one foot forward, showing off her shoes, which were dirty from sword practice.

But Vivian, who had extended her foot forward, quickly tilted her head back as if she had already anticipated what was coming, and a fist cut through the space where her head had been.

“Forgive…? Who forgives who…!!
Threatening me with my family!!
Apologize!! Apologize… Ugh!!”

“Vivian!! Is she really crazy!! Hey, stomp her!!”

Anne’s rebellion, which had been about to start with a shout, ended with Vivian dodging once and the other delinquent girls rushing in.

It was literally impossible for an ordinary freshman to fight several bullies, including upperclassmen.

Anne, who had been punched in the face and slammed against the locker, fell to the floor, and was collectively trampled by the bullies surrounding her, only able to let out a painful groan.

“Ugh… Keuh… Augh…!!”

After being kicked and trampled on relentlessly for a while, Anne’s whole body was covered in dust, and even her once glossy purple hair had lost its luster and was now a dull color.

She could feel the pain and the inability to move even a finger from her slightly swollen face and the throbbing all over her body, although it was hidden by her clothes.

Even while letting out a painful groan, Anne tried hard to hold back her tears and not show any weakness.

And when the beating was over, Vivian approached her again, looking down at her with eyes as if she were looking at something dirty, then tossed out a word and turned away.

“I clearly gave you a chance. Look forward to it.”

Vivian passed by Anne, who was lying on the floor unable to move, and her gang began to follow her.

And just when she thought everything was over, one of the bullies poured a bucket of filth over Anne’s body, who was lying face down on the floor, and the bully who roughly threw the bucket next to Anne spat and quickly followed Vivian.

Anne, whose whole body was bruised and covered in filth from head to toe, just like last time, was in a truly miserable state, and when the people around her disappeared, she struggled to gather her strength and began to get up.

Her body ached and it was painful, but it was okay.

Because she could solve it if she tried somehow.

‘Still… I brought clothes with me…’

She had to do something about the smell coming from her body, which was covered in filth.

Because hearing the whispers of her classmates again, like last time, was even worse than their cold indifference.

But inside the locker, which she slowly opened with all her strength, there were only pieces of cloth torn to shreds by something sharp, scattered messily.

Faced with a situation she hadn’t even imagined, Anne eventually sank back down to the spot and squatted down, pulling her knees to her chest.

Then, leaning her back against the locker and burying her face in her knees, her shoulders slowly began to heave.

‘Why… me…’

At that moment, at a moment she hadn’t even expected, Anne screamed as a bucket of water was poured over her head.

“Kyaaa!!”

And as if hearing that sound, a flustered sound was heard from above, and soon a face emerged from the window above and began to look down.

“What!! There was someone there?
I’m sorry!! Wait there for a moment!!”

After hearing a voice filled with embarrassment, the person who appeared in front of her with a blanket in his hand spread it out and covered her, babbling incoherently.

“Are you okay? I thought it would be okay to pour it here…
The locker was on this side… I got the direction wrong… Ha…
I’m really sorry… Come to think of it… You…?”

As the man, who was apologizing to Anne repeatedly, recognized her face and greeted her, Anne also raised her head and checked his face.

The face of a man with soft features, filled with apology, was looking at her from a very close distance.

‘Associate Professor… Edward…’

“I really didn’t do it on purpose…!!
I’m sorry!! I can’t live with myself, really…
I’ll give you something to change into, so let’s do something about it!!
It’s cleaning water, of all things… It’s better to wash it off completely…
There’s a staff shower room, so get up!! Slowly!!”

Although there was a blanket between them, she could feel the firm sensation of his strong arms gently wrapping around her waist and lifting her up without worrying about getting wet.

Leaning her powerless body against him, Anne carefully got up and was able to slowly move towards the staff shower room with his support.