Chapter 29: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 29
Do you know what it feels like to see the man you love looking only at someone else?
Every time she witnessed him blushing while talking to someone else, Sylvia felt her heart burning.
But she thought it was a problem that would naturally resolve itself if she were given a little more time.
Sylvia had never thought, even for a moment, that she was inferior to anyone.
But the red-haired girl she didn't think was much better than herself.
She saw that girl holding hands with the man she loved, talking happily just the two of them, blushing as they shyly kissed, and finally, wearing a wedding dress and marrying him.
Seeing Scarlet's mocking gaze, her red eyes like her hair, during each of those moments was far from pleasant for Sylvia.
To be precise, it was not just unpleasant; it was extremely upsetting.
It made her unconsciously frown.
‘It’s just an illusion anyway.’
Sylvia had long realized she was seeing an illusion.
That’s why it made her so uncomfortable.
It bothered her that her subconscious feared or loathed something so trivial.
It made her feel as if she thought she was even a little inferior to Scarlet.
After a few deep breaths and focusing her mind, the illusion disappeared.
Even after escaping the illusion, Scarlet kept bothering her.
Feeling this emotion itself made Sylvia feel worse, and she clicked her tongue.
She had to focus on calming herself down so she wouldn't unintentionally snap at Scarlet, who was buying her macarons as usual.
***
I want to eat macarons.
When that thought crossed her mind, it felt oddly natural when Scarlet soon handed her a macaron.
‘Can this person read my mind?’
Suppressing the irritation recalling the illusion from yesterday, Sylvia asked Scarlet how she knew she wanted to eat macarons.
“Because we’re friends, I know.”
It was an incomprehensible answer.
Sylvia didn’t particularly consider Scarlet a friend in the first place.
Unable to understand, she directly asked if there was any reason she kept buying macarons, but Scarlet just repeated that it was because they were friends.
Honestly, Sylvia thought Scarlet would soon get tired and give up.
They hardly talked, and she only occasionally thanked her when Scarlet bought macarons. If she didn’t want anything in return, it was a strange situation to call her a friend.
Sylvia thought Scarlet would soon reveal her true colors.
But whether it was patience or lack of pride, she kept repeating the same actions from the first day they met without showing any sign of displeasure.
Still, that consistent behavior didn’t feel bad.
Sylvia thought it was better than those who approached wanting to be friends but quickly changed their attitude.
That day, passing through the first-floor hallway with an errand to run, Sylvia saw a familiar person carrying someone into the infirmary.
Leonor Lionelle.
A well-known hero's child, she sometimes interacted with Sylvia since childhood. Sylvia saw her carrying Scarlet, who had handed her macarons earlier, into the infirmary and peeked inside out of curiosity.
Inside, Leonor was laying Scarlet on a bed and made eye contact with Sylvia.
Leonor gave her a meaningful smile and asked the now uncharacteristically expressionless Scarlet,
“I remembered when I heard the name earlier. You’re the one running errands for that Astra girl, right?”
Errands?
Sylvia had never thought of Scarlet that way.
She had never made anyone do such a barbaric thing as errands. Other than playfully asking Scarlet to buy macarons the first time, Scarlet had bought them of her own volition.
But could others see it that way?
Sylvia was about to open her mouth to explain when Scarlet, in a voice that sounded drunk or affected by something, said,
“No, I’m not. She’s my friend.”
Her voice sounded like she was just saying whatever came to mind.
So Sylvia was a bit shocked.
A possibility she hadn’t considered until now struck her.
“If you don’t like it, I could tell her to stop. What do you think?”
“I don’t wanna… I want to do it… Or I wouldn’t have any friends…”
“...That’s what she says?”
Leonor turned to Sylvia with a smile after hearing Scarlet’s words.
Sylvia was confused.
‘Is it really true that she just wanted to be friends with me?’
She had assumed Scarlet was swallowing her pride because she wanted something from her.
But if, by any chance,
Scarlet was buying her macarons every day just because Sylvia called her a friend.
If she was just naively thinking they were truly friends,
Sylvia found herself fleeing the infirmary and returning to her classroom.
That couldn’t be true.
She hoped it wasn’t.
If it were, wouldn’t she be a terrible person?
Her ears burned with embarrassment.
“...Scarlet isn’t feeling well, so she’s resting in the infirmary.”
Sylvia answered the teacher’s query about Scarlet’s whereabouts and thought,
Should I really trust her this time?
Does she really just want to be my friend?
If that’s true.
If she keeps this attitude towards me for a while,
What should I do?
***
As her thoughts shifted, receiving the macarons Scarlet bought felt somewhat embarrassing.
Normally, she would have taken the macarons without much thought and made comments about being friends, but now, she couldn’t easily say such things.
“...Thank you.”
Even uttering a simple thank you was unfamiliar to Sylvia.
It wasn't just a superficial gesture, but a bit sincere.
***
The next day, Scarlet, who usually arrived early to school except for the first day, was late for some reason.
“Scarlet, you're late.”
Sylvia muttered to herself, unable to ignore the concern.
A moment later, she heard the voice of Yoon Si-woo, who was sitting next to her.
“Sylvia, can I talk to you for a moment?”
The man she liked was leading her to a secluded place.
Her heart pounded, thinking it might be a confession like the ones other girls talked about.
Cooling her blushing cheeks with anticipation, she waited for his words.
Then Yoon Si-woo spoke.
“I’d prefer if you stopped accepting things from Scarlet.”
Sylvia couldn't understand the situation for a moment.
Why was he talking about her after calling her over?
Realizing it wasn’t what she had thought, she calmed herself and responded.
“Um... Could you tell me why I should do that?”
“I can’t tell you the reason, but please do it anyway.”
She had just started thinking that Scarlet might consider her a friend.
Why was he asking her to stop accepting the macarons Scarlet bought?
Yoon Si-woo’s words, without any reason, didn’t make sense to her.
“It's a bit much to ask me to stop without a reason. Scarlet is just buying me macarons out of goodwill between friends.”
When Sylvia said that, Yoon Si-woo frowned slightly and replied,
“Lies.”
“What?”
“You’re lying. You don’t consider her a friend.”
Sylvia felt a jolt as if her breath had been taken away.
It was true.
She didn’t yet consider Scarlet a friend.
It had only been a day since she changed her mind about possibly becoming friends.
It was true, but Yoon Si-woo’s eyes, which seemed to see her as someone who toyed with Scarlet's feelings, made Sylvia angry.
“...I don’t understand why you think that. Even if you’re being unreasonable-”
“Stop it. I know everything.”
Interrupting her, Yoon Si-woo spoke sharply.
His words, as if he had already judged her to be a bad person, made Sylvia suspect that Scarlet might have told him something.
She had just started to think that maybe she wanted to be friends with Scarlet.
Was it wrong of her to suspect someone who wanted to be her friend?
She wanted to be friends too, but was afraid they might be trying to use her.
Was that something she should be judged for by the first person she had ever liked?
Feeling wronged, Sylvia shouted,
“What is it?! Why do you always care about her so much? I like you way more...!”
In the midst of her shouting, she met Yoon Si-woo’s eyes.
His cold eyes seemed to say that someone like her didn’t deserve that.
Yes, she had always been that kind of person.
She had lived fine without friends, so she could continue to live that way.
“...Fine. I’ll stop accepting macarons from Scarlet. After all, we weren't friends to begin with.”
***
While eating, a macaron was suddenly placed in front of her.
How did she know I wanted to eat macarons?
But that didn’t matter now.
Ignoring the macaron Scarlet handed her when she arrived at school late, Sylvia said,
“I don’t need it.”
Seeing Scarlet tilt her head in confusion, Sylvia repeated,
“Didn’t you hear me? I said I don’t need it. You don’t have to buy me macarons anymore. I have no reason to accept them from you.”
“B-but, friends...”
Hearing her trembling voice, Sylvia felt a bit of guilt.
Maybe Scarlet really did want to be friends with her.
But even if that were the case,
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault. So, I’ll be honest from now on.”
She was a distrustful person who played with her feelings and used her.
She didn’t deserve to be her friend.
“I never considered you a friend from the beginning.”
So, she shouldn’t become her friend.
Seeing Scarlet’s face contort with pain, Sylvia thought so.
Oh Sylvia is redeemable after all.
ReplyDeleteAnyway girl please just accept it you are legit one of the reasons she is still sane
So Sylvia still had a semblance of conscience in her, she better be friends with mc fast before her mentality crumbles
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter !
Well, looks like Sylvia isn't a cesspool like that stalker kid, that's good.
ReplyDeleteIt would've been nice that she said it a differently though. A "yet" makes a big difference.
I suppose they need to talk and start over.
Both for MC's sanity and so Sylvia can start opening up to others.
I guess this is the ‘Lies ≠ Bad, Truth ≠ Good’ argument.
ReplyDeleteI don’t have anything against OML. Just hope he learns that unilaterally deciding what’s right and wrong based on truth and falsity doesn’t always work.