Chapter 99: Chapter 98
Walking through the hospital halls in silence, Layla showed worry for Erina as she displayed an unchanging mood and expression of sadness.
"Erina… are you sure you're ok?"
"I told you, didn't I? I'm fine…" brushing Layla off with her cold tone.
She backed off, feeling a sense of distance as she displayed a guilty look, "s…Sorry…"
Looking at her, Erina scratched her head and pinched herself in the cheek, "No… don't apologize, I'm sorry for the cold tone," she turned around and faced Layla, looking at each other eye to eye, "thanks for worrying but I'm really ok… If that doesn't convince you then…" she let out an awkward smile, "then I'm going to be, ok?"
Layla giggled, hiding her face as she looked away.
"W… what's so funny all of the sudden?"
"Nothing, sorry I was being pushy, just tell me if you need something, ok?"
"As I said, you weren't being pushy…"
"I have a feeling I was, I made you do something like that after all,"
"Eh!? You didn't… eh?" Erina looked away in embarrassment, "guess I wasn't able to pull off like what he did in the past," she whispered.
"You said something?"
Erina looked away, "nothing, I said nothing,".
From a short distance, Erina saw a familiar figure. A small white-haired girl talking to someone in the middle of the hall, looking happy with a bright smile imprinted on her face.
"I… Isn't that…!?" Layla shivered.
Looking beside her, Gabriela waved and showed a bright smile as she notices them from a distance.
Layla awkwardly waved back as Erina bowed and went straight to the exit. Looking flustered, Layla bowed and followed quickly Erina.
"She seemed to be in a bright mood… after leaving the room just like that…" Erina frowned.
Layla laughed awkwardly, "anyway, she seemed really happy while talking, I wonder who she was talking to, did you see?"
Erina shook her head, "they were talking by the corner turn of the hall so I couldn't tell who it was, all I saw was a shoulder. Also, I couldn't care less if it's someone I don't know,".
Meanwhile, from Gabriela's perspective.
"You know those two?"
"Yup! they're friends of Yuji and Yukina,"
"I see. Form the way you said it I can assume you aren't close,"
"I don't think so, I feel a huge distance from them, especially Erina, I think she does on purpose,"
"Well, It'd be a lot more surprising if you actually became close with them in such a short amount of time, Like with that guy,"
"You mean Yuji?"
"Yeah, he arrived a lot later than the others from city D, yet you managed to be close with him in such a short amount of time,"
"That's… I really don't know what to say to that…" Gabriela looked away.
"You were even close enough to throw a powerful tantrum in front of him,"
Gabriela looked away in embarrassment, staying silent.
Sigh* "Little sis, can you really not tell me anything about what you're dealing with? Even a little? I still don't even know what caused your tantrum"
Gabriela shook both of her hands in front of her, "no, no, no, no, no! I already told you, big sis. I can't say anything until both of us work things out, I don't want to say anything that might be misunderstood or false. Also! Don't call it a tantrum!!"
"Alright… then how are you going to do that? Didn't you say that the situation is a bit awkward between you all?"
"That's no problem," she smiled suspiciously, "the seeds have already been planted, he'll be the one to come to me once he's ready,".
"The way you said it… you're giving your sister here chills, this is worrying…"
Meanwhile, from Yuji's perspective.
An awkward silence lingered within the room.
Yuji kept his head down as if he was deep in thought as Yukina kept a worried expression, not knowing what to say.
Struggling to think, she decided to ask something to break the mood. "Y…Yuji, umm…"
Suddenly, an essential thought came to her, "now that I think about it… what caused Gabriela to be so focused on you anyway? I tried thinking about it, does it have something to do with Alicia's ability? Do you know?"
"Sorry… Yukina," Yuji further averts his gaze, "I… can't say anything,"
"Eh…?" Yukina was stunned shocked, "I… I see,"
Yukina looked down as she submerges in thought with baffling emotions, "what's this…? I suddenly feel a sense of distance… now that I think about it, maybe I was acting too familiar with him… He couldn't tell Erina, the one who's been with him since childhood, so surely he won't…"
Noticing Yukina's baffled expression, Yuji raised his head, "at least… not right now,"
"Huh?" she raised her head.
"I can't tell you… Erina, or anyone anything right now… Not until I settle things with Gabriela," he faced forward with a serious expression and tone.
"Settle things…? So something really is going on between you and Gaby!?" Yukina stood up in shock.
"I can't say it's nothing, but… I can at least guarantee that won't lead to the same situation like yesterday again," looking at her in the eyes.
Yukina fell back on her chair as she felt her knees weaken, "I don't know whether learning was for the better or worse," she sat straight and looked at Yuji with a serious expression, "you're not going to try and hurt each other… right?"
"From what it seems like, I highly doubt that'll happen," Yuji smiled.
"That's right, she won't try to hurt me, at least until she has a grasp on me," He thought, "what she did earlier was basically her saying, "I know something you are hiding," and used it as a means of keeping me within her grasp. Also, if I think about it, assuming she saw my eyes like THAT, no one else made a fuss about it, and Yukina didn't seem to think about it either. Furthermore, seeing her authority, If she wanted to completely get a hold of me, she would have isolated me somewhere secretly or have government officials handle me from there. Though there might be lots of other reasons why she can't…"
"Hey, Yukina, can I ask something,"
"Yeah?" looking tired and stressed out.
"um, first of all, are you ok?"
"I'd be lying if I said yes, but this is nothing I can't handle, there is just a lot to take in and a lot to worry about, even if you ask me not to worry, anyway what do you want to ask?"
"… It's about my exit from this hospital…"
"Oh, about that, this is a private hospital that serves under Gaby and her sisters, and regarding your exit, Gaby told me you can leave as soon as you feel like you can, the bills and everything else will be on her,"
"I see…"
Looking forward, he submerges in thought, "thinking about it, for everything to go this smoothly if a fuss got out, would be the most unlikely thing to happen… In other words, she knows something that only she and I knows. As for her reason for keeping it to herself, there are some but I can never be sure from what is happening,"
"To sum it up, what I really need to do is to talk things out with her, which I assume is what she wants. Now the main question is the timing…"
Holding his head, he closed his eyes in silence, "Alicia… it's weird, I feel her being there but I can't seem to get the feeling that she'll respond, it's like she's asleep,"
Remembering what Gabriela said earlier, " "She won't be able to answer for a while," she said that with such a straight tone… It's probably safe to assume that she knows about her. Now for the answers to some of my questions, I think she'll be able to give me some,"
"Maybe that's what Gabriela meant when she meant when she said When everyone is ready,".
Ring* Ring*
"Ah, looks like I'm going to be busy later on…"
"You have something up?"
"Yeah, it's regarding the school second-semester events and the welcoming ceremony for the new students, seems like us S classes will be handling a lot,"
"S classes have it rough, huh?"
"Yeah, but as acting symbols of hope, I think being capable of doing things like these is partly necessary,"
"I guess I agree with that. So, is Erina going to be one of the helpers too?"
"It's not like every S class are ordered to help. Also, I told you before that you work your way up the ranks. Despite her being an S class in ability, she didn't show that she could beat any of us S classes that she fought against yesterday on that capture the flag game, therefore she wasn't qualified as an official S class of the city,"
"I see, then what's her current ranking?"
"she still showed a great performance, so they placed her quite high above, I forgot what it was. Though speaking of ranks… are you sure it's Erina's rank that you should be worrying about right now?"
Yuji's eyes shrunk with sudden realization.
"I don't know the details, but based on the documents I saw, you are currently placed second to the lowest rank,"
"Eh? Why?" looking confused.
"I don't know, but you did leave the exams mid-way without warning, I'm surprised you still got in,"
"I didn't leave without warning! I had some sort of special circumstance with Gabriela,"
"hm? you mean something like she'll be judging you herself?"
"Yeah, exactly like that!"
"hmm… I see, if that's the case, we can never be sure of what's on her mind. If she was the one in charge of your position then it would most likely be her to be the one to put you in that rank,"
"I guess that's something I should ask when I talk with her,"
"well, in any way, one of the best things you should probably do is rise up the ranks, I'm not sure what her motive is, but I'm sure she did it for a reason,"
"Climb up the ranks… before, it wasn't something I could ever hope to achieve, but now…"
"I think you can do it, though it won't be easy,"
"I won't expect it to be… I hope I can continue to receive your guidance?"
Yukina smiled brightly, "don't talk so formally with me… of course, I'll help you!"
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