783 Conflicted
"Isn't that Ad'oni? What's he doing there?"
Lucielle was the first to mention his presence, despite all three of them gawking at him for nearly a minute. A small look around would also make it clear that they weren't alone in the attention directed at him.
Still, someone had to say something, and as soon as Lucielle said this, all of them had to come out of their spell.
Rey heaved a sigh as soon as Lucielle spoke, happy that the moment ended without any form of awkwardness.
At least, externally.
~You're sus, Master…~
Emil wouldn't stop giving him "the look" despite how hard he tried to explain that he was only observing Adonis' great forms and diligence, and not his insanely attractive body.
The way his sweaty skin gleamed under the light… the way his biceps and triceps, and perfect abs, all meshed together perfectly, while complementing his handsome face and clear eyes… all of those were not Rey's priority.
He made that known to Emil, but she wouldn't have any of it.
~So this is why you still don't have a woman despite how amazing you are, Master…~
In the end, he just had to keep his thoughts shut and stop responding to the allegations made against him by his own Familiar.
Instead, he focused on the ongoing conversation between Lucielle and Mi'ja.
"Yeah. Ad'oni is the only one in our class who takes this place very seriously. He still comes every day, before and after every class. During breaks, and during any spare time he has on campus… before returning to his dorms."
The way Mi'ja looked as she spoke about him was reminiscent of an admirer.
"He's the newest member of our class, after all. He joined a month ago, and he has only been in the Academy for a total of two months. Amazing, right?" Lucielle nodded, even saying stuff that urged the girl to go on with more explanations.
"You really admire him, huh?"
"W-what? N-no… no, it's not like that at all… I just… admire his hard work is all…." Her cheeks displayed even more hints of red as she uttered those words, stealing a few glances at the training Adonis/Ad'oni.
Rey witnessed all of this and laughed to himself.
'Adonis, you lucky bastard. You already have a Dragon Girl fawning over you.'
He now made sense of what one of the receptionists told Mi'ja back when they just entered the building. She was referring to Adonis being present.
'Judging from her reaction back then, and also right now… it's obvious.' He controlled his laughter, so the girls wouldn't notice.
'I wouldn't even be surprised if there were more admirers that want him. He's the whole package, after all… of course, I mean that objectively.'
He already knew Emil would come after him, so he had to add that caveat.
The most important takeaway to Rey was simply that Adonis was not helping himself by making all these decisions that would ultimately draw all of the unnecessary attention that he was receiving from everyone.
'He's the class loner, and he's the only one in Class 1-A that comes here regularly. He's spending his leisure in such a place, and he's working harder than pretty much everyone else here. His features make him stand out, and his actions increase that visibility.' Rey wanted to sigh as he was having these thoughts, but he controlled himself.
'Right now, you're like a nail sticking out, Adonis…' And there was one thing that usually happened to that sort of person.
They got struck down.
'I'm not one to talk, though. Lucielle and I went and overdid it to get promoted to Class 1-A as fast as possible.'
Back when he made the decision, he didn't know how incredibly rare it was for Examinees to instantly shoot up to Class A. He simply thought he and Lucielle would be recognized as skilled and exceptional… not as pure exceptions.
'Standing out too much is a problem, but I think we can maintain a balance here. We can still be exceptional students, while blending in with everyone else and being part of the system.'
Ultimately, this was all a means to the end that he wanted—granted, he still wasn't sure how long it would take for him to reach that end.
'One step at a time, though….'
Right now, his central priority was to somehow insert himself in the conversation between Lucielle and Mi'ja—as casually as possible, of course.
"I think—"
"Mi'ja, you have a crush on Ad'oni, don't you? Doesn't she, R'ai?" Lucielle suddenly turned to Rey, asking the most out-of-pocket thing.
'What the hell? Why would you ask that? She's clearly very shy about it? More importantly… why drag me into this?!'
Despite having such thoughts, Rey maintained an air of elegance and calmness.
Rather than respond with a "Yes" or "No", he simply shrugged off the question and gave a stoic expression.
14:17
'Please just let it go!' He prayed to himself.
"S-stop it! Stop it, you two! I said I don't… I don't have a crush on him, okay?" 'But what did I do?' Rey's eyes widened as he received a portion of the blame for something that Lucielle clearly caused on her own.
Mi'ja didn't look like she was ready to receive any of his explanations, though. Her eyes were closed, and her face was tomato red. It almost looked like she was burning up with a fever.
"Does that mean I can pursue him?"
"W-wha…?!"
"I mean… you're not interested in him, right?" Lucielle kept teasing, intentionally pushing all the buttons like a teenage girl would.
"T-that… b-but…n-no way… I…"
Rey found it incredibly painful to watch this cute scene, seeing as Lucielle was just downright torturing the more innocent Mi'ja.
'Innocent, huh?' His thoughts trailed as he looked at the teary-eyes Dragon Girl before him. 'How true is that?'
All of his recent experiences highly contradicted what he previously knew about Dragons—so much so that he began to feel conflicted on many things.
'No matter how I look at it… they seem very human to me.' As his thoughts flowed, he couldn't help but have a thought.
A rather dangerous thought.
'Perhaps they also need a bit of guidance, like the Elves.' *
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[A/N]