friend chapter 9

A colossal blunder. That’s how I’d summarize my first encounter with Edward. Across both my lives, past and present, nothing has ever been this mortifying. I don’t even remember the entrance ceremony itself. The headmaster’s tedious speech went in one ear and out the other. When the freshman representative was called and Edward walked onto the stage, I seriously contemplated the most comfortable way to die.

***

The embarrassment was one thing, but Edward’s relentless pursuit afterward was a real problem. One day, he declared, “You’ll have lunch with me.”

“Oh dear, what shall I do? I promised to eat with Jade.”

“Jade? Ah, you mean the Purple Dripper? He has a stomach ache today.”

“That’s news to me.”

“It will be. He’s about to get one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you ever heard of illusion magic?”

“.…” What was this lunatic planning to do to Jade?

In the end, I broke my promise with Jade and had lunch with Edward. When I apologized, Jade sulked. “He’s already stealing Luna away. I’m so annoyed.”

Purple Dripper, of all things. It was strange that Edward had given Jade a nickname. Purple Dripper was a character from a children’s storybook in this world. I’d read it as a child. It was about purple poison dumped down a toilet, journeying through the sewers. The protagonist, the purple poison, was named Purple Dripper. …On second thought, it was a rather cruel nickname.

Anyway, I had lunch with Edward that day… and I couldn’t tell if I was eating or just inhaling my food. All the students were staring, which was incredibly uncomfortable. I started to understand why Edward usually wore a disguise.

“Why aren’t you disguised today?” I asked, the underlying meaning being, “Why don’t you put one on right now?”

“You like my face. Why would I disguise it?” he replied.

“Pfft.” His unexpected response caught me off guard, and I choked on my pasta. I’d never choked on pasta before.

“Are you alright?” Edward asked with concern, casting a summoning spell. The summoned object was a handkerchief. Embroidered with an elegant pattern, it looked expensive. He reached out with the handkerchief toward my mouth, which was probably stained with tomato sauce from the pasta incident. I briefly imagined what I must look like. Yeah, I’d lost the will to live.

“Oh my god! Look! Edward is…!” Students whispered from afar. I hoped they weren’t getting the wrong idea.

“He’s trying to poison her!”

“He must have put poison on that handkerchief.”

“Poor Lumina… Should we help her?”

It was the wrong idea, just not in the way I’d initially thought. Edward, what kind of life have you lived? I was starting to feel sorry for him. Although, I was the most pitiful one for being caught in his web.

“I’ll do it,” I said, snatching the handkerchief from Edward and wiping my mouth. After lunch, I promptly got indigestion. I hoped my digestive system would survive this.

And so, I began avoiding Edward. He was a magic student like me, but thankfully, we were in different classes. The academy’s curriculum was divided into general education and specialized courses. General education classes were taken within our respective homerooms, so I didn’t have to see Edward during those. However, specialized courses were chosen by the students, so there was a chance we might overlap. Luckily, none of the courses I chose were taken by Edward.

What about lunchtime, you ask? I ate in the dining hall inside the women’s dormitory. The building itself was off-limits to men, so there was no risk of Edward appearing. …The food wasn’t as good as the student cafeteria, but I could endure soggy bread if it meant avoiding Edward.

I figured if I could just hold out for a few weeks, his interest would wane, and I’d be free. I thought that once. I was wrong.

I was having dinner in the dormitory dining hall when a girl sitting across from me suddenly expressed her desire to become friends and suggested we take a walk in the school garden together. I had no reason to refuse. The more friends, the better. I’d had a lot of students approach me after that lunch with Edward, and seeing their genuine concern for my well-being reminded me that the world wasn’t all bad. I felt like I was finally making up for my friendless past life.