...
Was Hazuki an enemy or just a silly girl?
These thoughts circulated in my mind as I watched the girl sitting next to my boyfriend.
Her green hair was tied up in pigtails, her golden eyes were full of vitality. Her gestures were lively, full of energy, and her voice carried a soft but determined tone. Somehow, it seemed that she and Theo had a natural rapport, something that bothered me in a way I didn't want to admit.
'Mnh! She has a cute side when she starts talking, it's quite funny actually.'
I knew that Hazuki wasn't originally from South Korea, she was from Japan and had come to Cube. Her accent, although subtle, was noticeable in some words, which made her even more distinctive.
'Theo, he gets on very well with her, huh!'
Even with Hazuki's little linguistic gaffes, my boyfriend didn't seem to mind.
In fact, he didn't even seem to notice. They even used honorific titles to refer to each other, as if they were long-time friends.
I frowned slightly. It was strange to see Theo interacting so easily with a girl other than me. A slight discomfort was growing inside me, a strange, irritating feeling that I didn't want to name.
With Yeonha, I never felt that way. We were friends, and I knew that, despite her occasional conversations with Theo, there was nothing going on there, after all, that girl liked Jonghak.
But with Hazuki... why did it seem different?
Not that I was jealous... or was I?
I snorted softly, crossing my arms as I glanced at him. Theo was relaxed as ever, listening to Hazuki with a small smile on his face.
That smile...!
It was then that the instructor's voice echoed through the cave.
"You've all done a good job. Get some rest and then we can go back."
Kim Soohyuk's words were like a trigger. Before I could think, my body was already moving on its own, and the next thing I knew, I was standing in front of Theo. My gaze fixed on him for a moment, and I noticed that Hazuki had stopped talking, looking at me curiously.
Theo arched an eyebrow, watching me as I approached.
I opened my mouth, but hesitated for a moment. What was I trying to do, anyway? Only then did I realize that I had my arms crossed, as if my own instinct was telling me to mark my presence.
I half-closed my eyes and stared at him.
I thought he would be nervous or scared, but his eyes looked at me as if he was seeing something amusing.
'That... is making fun of me, isn't he?'
"You really need to tell me how the hell you got here so quickly."
"Maybe my teammate and I just have really good synergy."
The smile on his lips made me sigh and shiver slightly.
I gave his shoulder a little punch and sat down next to him, not bothered by the stares coming from behind.
"Hmph. Come on, tell me, how did you get here so quickly?"
After asking again, the three of us started talking, not really they were my listeners, yes, without me realizing it, I was telling them all my frustrations about this test.
"You were amazing, Nayun-ssi!"
Hazuki, who was listening to all my frustrations, praised me.
But instead of being happy, I actually felt my face contort.
"Hey! Don't ever call me that again... Just Nayun, you hear?"
"Of course Nayun..."
Hazuki agreed as he shook his head up and down.
'Erg! Why was I angry that she called me that?'
Not that I minded, but hearing her speak so formally to me was strange.
I wanted to find out what kind of relationship she had with my boyfriend, but after talking to her for a few minutes, I realized that it was really just a teammate relationship and nothing more.
'Yeah, that's why, I didn't want Theo to think I was a stuck-up girl who cared how she was called, especially with someone who was his teammate.'
After all, Hazuki isn't an enemy, she's just a silly girl, so there's no reason to treat her badly.
'But... It's good to keep an eye out, right?'
...
4:23 p.m.
The Anti-Monster Combat training was over. Most of the students had already gone back to their dormitories, exhausted, while others were running to the Cube's training spaces, as if they still had energy to spare.
And, of course, I was among those who stayed.
The training space was spacious, illuminated by soft artificial light. The padded floor was marked by the wear and tear of countless mock battles by cadets from other grades, but it was known that as soon as the day was over the automatic repair system would kick in, and it would all be brand new by tomorrow.
Magical engineering is truly fascinating.
"Hahem!"
I looked at everyone in front of me. Some with expectations, others with doubts.
'Hmn... I didn't expect Suho and Yeonha to want to take part too.'
After the instructors released us, Nayun and I went straight to the general training court.
Kim Hajin had also come, following my instructions that I had given him yesterday, the weight of feeling weak must have weighed heavily on him.
Yeonha and Suho arrived soon after. Suho, curious, asked me what I was going to do, so I told him I was going to train Nayun and Hajin. After hearing these words, he had also become interested, so I called him too.
Yeonha, I still didn't know if she was really going to train, or just do some light exercise.
"Before we start... I want to make a point here..."
I raised my hand, and lights of different colors began to swirl in my palm.
"As you might have guessed, my 'Gift', it's a bit special compared to other people's..."
Some of the faces nodded, as if to say:
'Yes, we already know that, what do you want by telling us something like that? Bragging?'
"Don't look at me like that, I'm just doing this so you don't think it's weird when I start using my skills."
"Yeah, I kept going..."
Nayun complained, impatiently.
"Okay, where was I?"
I asked, feigning forgetfulness.
"Bragging about your gift."
Yeonha commented with a slightly provocative tone while keeping her arms crossed.
"Ah, yes, bragging about my abilities."
I smiled, shaking my head.
"Anyway, jokes aside, what I mean is that what I'm going to do now might be a bit surprising, so I hope you don't go around spreading it to the four corners of the world, understand?"
The group remained silent for a moment, analyzing my words. It was clear that they were curious, but also cautious.
Suho smiled slightly, as if he was expecting something big, while Nayun looked at me.
Yeonha just raised an eyebrow, as if to say:
'Let's see what you're capable of.'
His curiosity was about to explode.
I drew magic circles on their bodies. The target of the magic circles was their very existence.
"Dive inside, look at yourself."
I instructed, my voice echoing faintly through the surrounding magical energy.
I infused my magical power into their unawakened sources through the magical lines that connected me to them.
"Dive deep, imagine, imagine, the future you must aim for and achieve. Look at yourself. Awaken the future that lies dormant in the depths of your being and embody that ideal here."
Following my words, they began to look inside themselves, searching for the ideal image of who they wanted to become. Gradually, their bodies were enveloped by a pulsating glow, which surrounded them like a living aura.
Having a clear image in their heads of the future they were striving for, the process began. The glowing outlines began to distort, and the light around them split into two parts. The deeper they plunged into the abyss of their ideal, the faster this division progressed.
Soon, the bodies and bases of the four of them were divided into two parts.
The light around them shone even brighter, forcing everyone to narrow their eyes at the intense glow. When the brightness finally began to dissipate, an impossible sight was revealed before us.
Yeonha, Nayun, Suho and Hajin... but different. Older. A future version of themselves, materialized there, staring back at them.
"...W-what the hell is that? She looks exactly like me!"
Nayun exclaimed, taking a step back, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Silence settled for a moment as the four of them stared at their future versions, absorbing the reality of what they were witnessing.
...
Curiosity: Anos can develop new spells whenever he wants, not only that, but he can also learn spells just by glancing at them. If learning them isn't enough, he can also reformulate, modify and amplify them, making them much more powerful than before.