Hi guys! You may find us in discord thru ! Please come and let us know about you, too! (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Chapter 43: Internal Battle (1)
I did what Sir Apollo said. I avoided Gin. He gave me a new training partner—Ethan, for honing my aiming skills. Though wondering about the new training scheme, he agreed nonetheless.
I avoided eating in the same time with Gin or meeting him in the hallways. Whenever I could do nothing but face him, I only gave him a formal greeting. We still talked when it's about the trainings or when we're with the whole group. But apart from that, we almost seemed like we never knew each other. That set up continued for several days.
If Gin noticed, he didn't say anything. He continued to be the Team Captain, and I as a member of his group. But I often found him staring at me. His forehead was frowning while watching me; as if he was trying to read my mind.
I was pulled back to the present when I felt a thin something wrapped on my legs. I looked down and cursed when I saw the roots of the tree from where I was leaning moved. They slowly wrapped my legs. Oh right. I was in a training with Ethan. Damn it.
“FOCUS, SHIA!”
I heard him shout from somewhere. But we were in the middle of a forest and except for the trees and plants around me— I couldn't see anything else that has a life.
“DAMN IT, ETHAN!” I shouted back.
I disentangled my legs from the roots but they wouldn't let go. I’m trapped. I immediately took the remaining knife strapped on my leg. I bent down to cut these annoying roots but I soon stopped when an object caught my eyes.
Shit!
A tree trunk speedily flew into my direction. I panicky cut the roots that had wrapped my legs. The heck. Ethan is not really holding back.
I was almost on the last root when I felt the wind pressure from the incoming trunk which was only a few inches away from me now. I couldn't do anything but dived to the ground to avoid it from hitting my body. I hastily made a fetal position to reach and cut the root once more and finally freeing myself, I quickly rolled away from the ground where the tree eventually crashed.
I closed my eyes. I felt a great tremor; the trunk had hit the tree where I leaned before and then crashed to the ground. My whole body was shaking all over on the ground. When I opened my eyes, I saw the fallen tree trunk just a few inches away from me.
A disbelieving sigh came out from my mouth. I was almost covered with earth and dust but I still managed to laugh. Using my palms pushing from the ground, I tried to stand properly. I watched the mess in front of me.
“Holy shit.” I whispered.
I heard it rustled from above the trees. A moment later, Ethan jumped beside me. He blinked and looked as if even he couldn't believe what just happened. One second mistake and my whole body would definitely be crushed.
“Awesome, right?” I asked him while grinning. I can feel the adrenaline rush pumping through my system. I felt my face heating up and about to explode. “It almost got me there.”
His forehead knitted. He shook his head over this scene. “I almost got you crushed.” He said seriously.
I lightly hit him on the arm and was going to say that he's way too serious but then my legs buckled down. I lost my balance so I held to his support.
“Now you feel the backlash on what you did.”
I just smiled at him as he supported me. The real life simulator slowly faded its power around us. I saw again the original look of the training room―dimly lit, walls made of stone, weapons carefully displayed around. I can still feel the rush of our training even though my body was finally noticing the pain.
These past few days, I avoided using my ability— the ability to tone down pain, especially during physical training. That's why maybe, I've only felt this thrill now.
We started walking out of the training room. My steps were slow due to exhaustion, so Ethan supported me. I always felt comfortable when I was with Ethan. Maybe because his personality was somehow similar with Lucas.
Ethan looked at me and smiled. I noticed that his eyes slightly squinted when smiling.
“What?” I asked.
He stopped walking and took something from my head. He showed it to me and laughed as he saw my expression. Oh, thin branches. I touched my messy hair. It must have looked like a bird’s nest. I earnestly removed the dirt from my hair but soon stopped when I saw the man who just entered the training room. Ethan stopped laughing while I was slowly dropping my hand.
“Hey, Captain.” Ethan greeted Gin.
However, he was ignored. Gin simply looked straight to me. He watched me with the same intensity as though studying me. I immediately retracted my eyes from him. I didn't see him the whole day but I felt weak just because of his gaze.
“We just finished our training.” said Ethan.
I knew Ethan noticed what's happening between the two of us. My gaze moved towards Gin's hands. They were wrapped in bandages. I heard from Luna this morning that he had an excessive training yesterday.
“Go to the Medic Room.” ordered Gin.
Ethan nodded. He helped me as we walked again. I would like to walk by myself but I knew we would only stay longer in this place if I insisted doing that. When we're out, I couldn't help turning around to where Gin was standing.
The door in the training room closed on its own. From the gap, I saw Gin as his back was facing us while his hands were clenched into a fist. Before the door finally closed, I saw him threw away the weapons that were properly stacked on the table.
I felt my chest tightened to this sight. Gin…
I was not myself as I stared at the ceiling inside my bedroom that night. It's less than two weeks more. Can I still do it? I don't want to see Gin like that. I’m hurting.
But I have to do it; for him and for the whole group. I don't want him exposing his weakness especially to some others. I don't want to be the cause of his fall.
I almost didn't sleep that night but I still have to wake up early the next morning. We've been training almost ceaselessly and sleeping and eating were our only breaks.
Gin wasn’t here all morning. I didn't see him. He didn't come to the Breakfast Hall. He also didn't come when the whole group jointly coursed the simultaneous crossed ability training. And even all afternoon he was not around.
I started to wonder. He had yet to skip an attendance as he hadn't absconded himself from the group for a whole day, especially now that the Cup was nearing. That afternoon after our training, I followed Luna out of the training room to ask her questions.
“Captain isn't here?” I asked her furtively.
She turned to me while walking. “Yes.” She replied in confusion. “An accident happened in the training room yesterday. You didn't know?”
Shock and concern etched on my face. “No one said a thing to me.” I answered disbelievingly. Should this even be part of our avoiding-game?
Her forehead furrowed. “I thought you knew since you and Ethan just left when it happened.”
“What?” I couldn't stop my voice from rising.
Luna watched me. She seemed surprised by my reaction. “Don't worry, Shia. The captain is fine. He’s been injured previously and coincidentally the simulator overheated yesterday, so it’s hard for him to take the control back of the entire training room then.”
“Is he okay?” I asked her.
She paused walking. “He’s fine. Because of what happened, the medication that I gave him before has slightly slowed its effect to recover his injuries. So he needs to rest today for his health to recover better.”
She then continued walking to the Medic Room. However, I was left standing in the hallway. I felt suspicious about what she said. The simulator overheating was not an accident. Gin must have done something to trigger it.
Did he rampage inside?