Chapter 55: Vengeful Mask

"Hey, Xenia! That outfit of yours is way too cute! The principal got it for you, right? Do you know from where?" Emria ran out from their hiding place, followed by Saphrilla.

"Oh thank you so much! I forgot to ask her, but next time I see her, I'll be sure to ask!" She happily responded, keeping Clyde at the corner of her eye, waiting for him to say something.

"Yes, please do. What do you think about them, Clyde?" Saphrilla asked out of nowhere, startling Xenia into a frantic panic.

"Hm?" Clyde reacted, surprised that they asked him.

"I don't believe it's my place to comment on," he bluntly spoke, making Xenia even sadder as Emria and Saphrilla nervously laugh as they worsened the situation, followed by a long pause of silence.

"Ahaha… Well, we're gonna go help Chloe and Rein! You two make yourselves at home!" Emria rushed back into the bedrooms.

"Adios," Saphrilla followed.

"..."

"..."

There was an awkward silence between them, as none of them spoke to the other, Clyde taking the opportunity to sharpen his blade.

Meanwhile, in the bedrooms.

"Man, where are those mattresses… Coulda swore I saw them in this closet earlier…" Rein spoke as he scanned the closets along with Chloe.

"Hey… Rein? Why do you keep grabbing my horn?" She asked while looking away, making Rein stop searching for a second to answer.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Like during the tournament, and just now in the living room… Are you grabbing it for the reason that I think..?" She nervously asked, gently holding her own horn.

"Oh, she must be talking about the horned character trope," he thought to himself.

"Yeah, it is. I thought I already made it clear to you though," he began to speak in a serious tone, making Chloe jolt up, making a startled sound, still looking away as she hid her face.

"Wha!? N-no you didn't! This is the first I hear of this! And besides, I have to ask my father first… And I don't know if my brother would be—" Chloe continued speaking, eventually being interrupted by Rein.

"What are you talking about? Is your family against that sort of thing (grabbing horns)?" Rein inquired, startling Chloe yet again.

"O-oh no! As long as it's with someone that is trustworthy… They should be fine with it…" She mumbled, beginning to turn around, revealing her beet-red face to Rein, her noticing that he wasn't phased by the conversation they just had.

"Why are you all red?"

"Huh?! Why aren't you? We're talking about marriage here!" She whispered shouted, making Rein jump back in surprise.

"What?!" He reacted, making Chloe understand that he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Why are you acting all surprised?! Y-you don't know about that custom?!" She yelled at him, her anger beginning to boil over.

"Heya! What are you two talking about?" Emria and Saphrilla barged through the door.

They saw the scene that was unfolding in front of them. Chloe's beet-red face about to hit Rein who was recoiled to the corner of the room, with no progress in terms of setting up the sleeping conditions. The two girls put their hands on their faces in disappointment, sighing at the same time.

"What are you two doing… After all of this time, you still have not found a single mattress?" Saphrilla angrily scolded, as the two apologized for their tardiness.

The two girls helped them find the mattresses, setting one up in the girl's room, and the other in Rein's room.

"Sorry about that Chloe. I didn't know horn grabbing meant a proposal in Draconica…" He whispered to Chloe as they struggled to fit the mattress through the doors.

"Whatever… Just forget about it," she pouted, Emria and Saphrilla noticed their interaction.

"Besides… I don't have time for things like that…" He quietly whispered to himself, as a bottomless gaze of despair washed over his eyes.

"*sigh*. Quite frankly, I'm done with everything today. It was tiring enough helping Raxo with her gadgets, I do not want to deal with this too," Saphrilla sleepily spoke, as Emria wallowed in her tired emotion, the two girls simultaneously yawning.

After they set up the mattresses, Emria and Saphrilla instantly fell asleep, followed shortly by Xenia and Chloe who talked for a short while. Rein and Clyde tried sleeping but to no avail.

"Rein? Are you awake?" Clyde, who was sleeping on the mattress on the floor, called out to Rein, who was sleeping on the bed.

"Yeah, I am," he replied.

"What do you think the principal wants us for? You, Core, and I?" Clyde asked, trying to ease up to his other questions.

"Probably about the ones who hired Crypt. Pretty sure you know who it is by now?" Rein turned around to face him.

"Yes… Melina Alister. She mentioned the Timeless Blitz, Drevius Alister. If I'm not mistaken, you're related to them, aren't you?"

"That's right. My real name is Rein Alister. And that woman you saw was my aunt. She's the one behind everything. She hired Checkmate to attack my village, and when Checkmate didn't kill anyone, she ordered the soldiers to kill them with their own hands," Rein began shivering out of fear and anger, speaking about his aunt.

"You… Seem to be frightened. But it didn't seem like it when you came back from facing her," Clyde stated, making Rein remember.

"Yeah," his voice trembled. "You have no idea how fucking scared I was. If it weren't for Saphrilla's Spring, I would have broken down right then and there," he continued quaking in his bed, eventually calming down as he turned back around in his bed, closing his eyes.

"I sought vengeance at all costs… But it's a hell of a lot more complicated than that. There are unbeatable foes that I have to overcome… And fears that I have to face. But, I will make her suffer, and rot for everything she's done," Rein creepily smiled, his eyes wide open as he grinned from ear to ear.

"It… Was the same for me. I was just like you during my time in Crypt. But then I met master, and he taught me that I shouldn't fight for the sake of my personal vengeance, but to protect something precious to me. I believe that only after doing that can you truly grow to meet your ambitions," Clyde explained as Rein rolled over in his bed, scoffing to himself.

"Fighting for the sake of protecting something, huh?" He spoke to himself, recalling what happened to his sister. "That'll only get you killed," he concluded as he thought to himself.

"I assume the condition was for someone connected with the ring to say your name?" Clyde asked.

"Hm?" Rein snapped out of his rut of anger, returning to his usual self. "Yeah, and it's thanks to you that my plan worked," Rein yawned, Clyde, knowing what he meant, but not agreeing with him.

"Nonsense. You just said that you connected with us using Saphrilla's Spring. It was clearly your influence on me that made me make the connection," Clyde denied.

"Hahaha, sometimes I wonder if your really modest, or you're just an idiot. You didn't forget, did you? It's almost impossible to influence your mind. It was a real pain in the ass for me during our match," Rein explained, making Clyde realize that he had figured it out by himself.

"I see..." he uttered, feeling a sense of accomplishment. He went on to tell Rein about his past, re-telling what he told Xenia in the prison cell. When they finished talking, they both went to sleep, Clyde commenting on Rein's sleeping form before doing so.

"Are you not going to wear a blanket? It gets quite cold at night in the Gulf," Clyde advised, making Rein softly laugh to himself.

"Nah, I'm used to this by now anyway," he said as they both drifted off to sleep.

The next day, very early in the morning.

"*yawn*, that was the best night of sleep I've ever had," Xenia awoke, seeing the other girls sprawled out on the ground in front of her.

"What now..? I guess I should go get changed," she thought, as she stood up. "I forgot how nice sleeping feels… It's thanks to him that I'm able to think this way now… Ah! Forget about him! I don't care about that inconsiderate jerk anymore!" She angrily thought to herself as she entered the bathroom, unfocused.

When she opened the door, she saw a shirtless black-haired man standing behind the wooden half gate that lead to the hot springs. His chest was filled with scars, making his muscular body look rigid and stern. She looked under the half-gate, seeing his bare feet on the bathroom floor.

She quickly covered her eyes and started blushing intensely, her scream somehow not waking anyone.

"C-Clyde?! What are you doing naked in the girl's bathroom!?"

"Naked?" He said curiously as he opened the half gate that covered his bottom half, walking out into the toilet area of the bathroom.

"Wha! Don't walk out here!" She peeked through a crack in her fingers, seeing that he was wearing his usual navy blue pants.

"I just got done with my morning training. This room has quite an impressive dojo," he stated.

"Oh…" She muttered, slightly disappointed. "But wait, that doesn't excuse you! Why are you in the girl's washroom?!"

Clyde wore a bewildered expression as he pointed up to the door behind her, which had a sign written on it in sloppy handwriting.

"Rein's bathroom. Girls, don't enter!"

"O-oh! E-excuse me then," she hastily tried leaving the bathroom, but she was stopped, Clyde, grabbing onto her hand.

"Are you angry at me for something? Whatever I did to anger you, I sincerely apologize," he said bluntly, making Xenia feel slightly bad, then shook her head to snap herself out of the empathetic state she was in.

"No, I'm not angry," she said, frantically trying to free herself from his grip.

"Please, just tell me what I did so I can avoid it in the future."

"I said I'm not angry! Woah!" She slipped backward on the wet floor, as she was caught by Clyde who was behind her.

"Watch your step, the floor is wet," he said, propping her back up on her two feet. " I'm sorry for keeping you. If you're not mad at me, then I suppose I was worried for nothing," Clyde spoke as he began walking back to the hot spring section to put on his shirt.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," Xenia apologized, making him stop and turn around.

"What for?"

"I was angry… When I changed into my new clothes yesterday, you didn't say anything about it, and I got mad because you changed the subject so quickly…" She revealed, talking quietly so nobody else hears.

"What? But I wasn't the only one that didn't say anything. Rein and the other boys also quietly stared," he professed, confused as to why she got mad over such a trivial matter.

"So what, I only wanted to hear you say it…" Once she realized what she had said, frantically blushed and looked up at him, seeing a muddled expression on his dense face, not understanding what she meant.

"I see… My apologies, but I didn't say anything because I didn't think you cared what I had to say."

"No, it's alright, it's all my fault anyway. Well, I'm gonna go get changed too, see you later!" She began running out of the bathroom, hearing a remark as she left.

"I thought the outfit was breathtaking. It fit you like a charm," Clyde complimented, speaking his mind with no holds barred.

"Th-thanks…" She ran away as happiness filled her body, her jittery heart beating like a drum.

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3 days later, an announcement was made from the school's intercom that reached the entire campus, including the dormitories.

"Rise and shine students of Ranger Academy! Today is your first day of school! Please head to the school's foyer as soon as possible!"