## Chapter 101 – Why Only Me? (1)
With flushed cheeks still glowing from the dance, Anne crossed the dance hall, her heels clicking as she returned to her seat.
As if waiting for her from the start, Lucia was there, sitting with her legs crossed on the sofa, an almost empty teacup resting on the table in front of her.
Lucia picked up the teacup, took the last sip, and set it down with a clink, gazing up at Anne standing before her.
“You seemed to enjoy yourself quite a bit?
Without even coming back.”
“I… I’m sorry, Senior…
I got too carried away…”
In a way, she had left the person who brought her there and enjoyed the party all by herself.
Feeling a wave of embarrassment, Anne bit her lip and offered an apology.
But Lucia merely chuckled at her apology before speaking again.
“No. There should be times to enjoy yourself.
You need things like that in life.”
“Enjoy… myself…?
But… shouldn’t I be training for the future…
Rather than things like this…”
“You’re being gloomy.
Rest is as important as training, isn’t it?
It’s not bad to have a place to lean on for a while.”
As Lucia gracefully rose from her seat and started to walk away, Anne quickly followed behind.
“Then… what about you, Senior…?”
“Yes. I also enjoy leisure from time to time.
So stop looking so grim.
Why do you think I brought you here?”
“……”
“To clear your head once in a while.
I heard you’ve only ever practiced swordsmanship?
You were just a freshman last year.
Time to enjoy yourself as a freshman is also precious.
You’re actually late, so you should try harder to make friends.”
Anne continued to follow Lucia until they reached the door leading to the spacious balcony of the hall. Lucia stopped just as she finished speaking.
Crossing the threshold, Lucia turned around and firmly held out her hand as if to say, “Don’t come any further.” Anne’s eyes wavered slightly at the sight.
“I just came out for some air.
You should go back and do what you want.”
“Senior… what about…”
“What were you going to say?”
“Nothing…”
In the end, Anne turned away from the balcony door and walked back alone, her steps growing heavier.
‘Was that… leaning on something for you too, Senior…?’
The shocking secret she had encountered while touring Paulo Hall a few days ago.
The hot air filling the wide hallway.
And the flushed faces of her respected senior and the man she admired, heating up the atmosphere.
The sticky gaze of a woman in love and the man’s eyes, showing both embarrassment and care for her, were once again burned into her mind.
Unconsciously quickening her pace, Anne passed through the hallway and burst through the door in front of her.
‘I…’
Anne entered the lavishly decorated restroom, turned on the faucet forcefully, and plunged her face into the water.
In the dim light and darkened underwater scenery, unaware of her bangs getting wet and scattering in the water, she remained there with her face submerged.
Whether it was the water or the tears mixing in, her vision blurred, and memories of the past slowly began to take over.
Soon, Anne’s shoulders began to shake, and small air bubbles, perhaps escaping from her lips, rose to the surface and burst, adding warmth to the restroom’s temperature.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“One!! Two!! No!! You’re too slow!!
No!! Why are you stopping there!!
If you swing the sword, you have to cut through!!
What will you cut if you stop in place!!”
“Teacher~ Can’t you just tell us about your first love?”
“Kyaaaa!! First! Love!! First! Kiss!!”
“You’re goofing off again. What would Professor Chepelli say if he came back and saw this?
Don’t all crowd around! Get back to your places!! You guys!!”
“Ughhh~~”
“Hahahaha!!”
Along with stern nagging, the lively voices of students protesting and laughing filled the air.
A typical scene from the swordsmanship department, group practice time.
Professor Chepelli was temporarily away on business, and a vice-professor had come to fill his place.
While a playful scene unfolded between the students and the vice-professor, the girl didn’t pay much attention to what was happening around her.
After this class, the Grenot gang would come to harass her again. Her so-called friends in the same department would be intimidated and just stand by as she was bullied.
Sometimes she would be slapped, or her abdomen would be kicked where it wouldn’t show easily.
On bad days, they wouldn’t even care if they were caught and would dump garbage on her, pretending it was an accident.
Now she kept spare uniforms in her locker in preparation for days like that, but the first time it happened, when she couldn’t react, the sound of people holding their noses and groaning and whispering about her never stopped all day.
So, the girl, who had just wanted to die back then, now simply maintained a blank expression and swung the wooden sword in her hand.
Other female students might have cared, but she didn’t care if her clothes were soaked with sweat, her hair was a mess, or her clothes were disheveled.
Staring blankly, she struck the human-shaped dummy with a wooden sword, the impact accumulating until she dropped the sword and looked down at her trembling hand.
The wooden sword fell to the floor with a clatter.
As she bent down to pick it up, her arm trembling, she reached out.
At that moment, she felt two hands grab both the sword on the floor and her trembling hand. Following the arm, she slowly raised her gaze.
Looking back now, her eyes must have been so pathetic, so empty.
With those emotionless eyes, she saw a man holding the wooden sword in one hand and looking down at her trembling hand with a serious expression.
“Why is your hand like this? Did you hit it too hard?
It’s good to practice hard, but too much isn’t good.
You should rest for a while and check your wrist.
Let’s see… your name is… Monet…”
“Monehen.”
“Ah, right. Here it is. Anne Monehen. Anne.
Anne, your passion for training is important. Very commendable.
But if it ends up like this, wouldn’t you spend more time healing than training?”
“……”
“Give me this, and sit over there for a while. 10-minute break.
And you guys should learn from her!!
There’s someone working this hard, and you’re all talking about first love?
I won’t know if you all fail!!
You know swordsmanship is graded absolutely, right?”
The man led Anne to a corner of the training ground, sat her down, and returned to his place, scolding the students again.
But what are students?
Cheerful beings who are serious about jokes even if the world is ending.
The students didn’t immediately follow the young vice-professor’s words, as if there was still something they weren’t satisfied with.
“Ooooooh!!”
“Ooooh, what? You can’t go home until your hands tremble from hitting the dummies!! Got it?”
“Teacher!! My hands and feet are trembling!!”
“Hey!! You guys want to spar with me right now?”
“A professor who likes winning against students? LOL!!”
“Vice-professor!! You punks!!
Anyway, Professor Chepelli will be back soon.
Let’s start practicing properly again!! One!! Two!!”
“Waaah!! Sis!! My hands and feet are shaking, and tears are trembling!!”
“You guys!! Seriously!!”
“Wow!! We have a new dad!! Give us allowance!!”
At that time, the girl, squatting and staring blankly at the scene, didn’t think much of it.
There were many cheerful people like that.
Like now, they always attracted people around them.
There were many students like that in the swordsmanship department, and several in the same grade as her.
But even those classmates didn’t pay attention to her.
The giggling students returned to training in a solemn atmosphere, suppressing their laughter when Professor Chepelli returned. Anne stood up again and gripped her wooden sword tightly.
But she couldn’t train properly with her hand not working as she wanted, and the training time ended with her focusing more on her grip than the training itself.
As she left the training ground, she was met with a scene of students swarming out for break.
And that also meant that an unwanted situation was approaching.
“Hey!! Slut!!”
