Chapter 75 Volume II - 41: Two New Members

Chapter 75 Volume II - Chapter 41: Two New Members

"Why... are you following me?"

I looked at the girl walking next to me.

She had bright blonde hair and blood-red eyes. She had the most beautiful face I had ever seen on earth, and the slight smile she wore emphasized it.

Moreover, her room was not where I was walking.

"I'm not following you Celine, we're just on the same path to where we want to go."

Although I had spoken to her many times before, it was all during social activities. Apart from that, when we were in the hospital after what happened in the preliminary, we worked together to prevent a near clash between the families.

A few of the students who died in that incident were noble, and because of that, a few families almost clashed. We cooperated on behalf of our families to prevent that and that was it...

Other than that, we hadn't really talked much or been friends.

"Well..."

I took a deep breath and kept walking, focusing on the road ahead.

When I finally arrived in front of the fourth dormitory building, I paused. Lucia paused with me, and then we turned into the building at the same time.

"Well, can I ask where you were going?"

"I was going to Aiden's room."

I didn't expect her to say it outright...

"Why?"

Lucia didn't hesitate to answer, again.

"There's a study group with Adrian Caleo, Julian Virhen, and him. I was wondering if I could join them."

My eyebrows raised skeptically.

"Aren't your grades already excellent? You came second in the last written exam..."

"Yeah, but it never hurts to make friends, right?"

I couldn't help but be surprised when she said this with a slight smile on her face.

Did she have a goal like me...? Or does she really mean what she says?

I opened my mouth again. I was going to say something but then I paused.

I realized something, everyone in the lobby was looking at us, or rather at Lucia.

I clicked my tongue and headed for the stairs, Lucia followed me and we avoided most of the stares.

That girl's stupid statistics attract a lot of attention...

"I take it you're going to his room too?"

"Yes..."

"Same goal?"

"Y- yes..."

"How were your grades?"

"..."

I kept walking without answering.

Lucia raised her eyebrows and looked at my face, and I involuntarily retreated even further into my cynicism. Finally, Lucia chuckled lightly and turned away without pressing her question.

Should I thank her?

In the end, I didn't. Without speaking again, we walked together to the front of room number eight hundred and seventeen and both of us reached for the door at the same time.

"I'll knock."

I moved quickly and knocked on the door myself, and then we just waited.

We waited... we kept waiting.

Finally, a slight nervousness enveloped my body, and I couldn't help raising my eyebrows.

"It seems he's not home."

I sighed slightly at Lucia's comment.

"Wher-"

I paused, turning back to the door.

"He's home."

Lucia looked at me curiously, then at the door. I ignored her.

It was that feeling, that strange feeling that my skill reacted to when Aiden was near, and it was getting stronger and stronger.

So Aiden was getting closer. And the door opened only a few seconds after I thought that.

He hadn't even changed his clothes. He even still had his cardigan on. His black hair was a bit messy. He must have thrown himself on the bed as soon as he entered his room, everything about him screamed that. Apart from that, his usual cold expression had been replaced by a slight smile.

He didn't look surprised at all. It was as if he had already predicted our arrival, he knew it from the beginning.

When I think about it now, didn't he always have this air about him?

Thinking back over the few times I had spent with him, I realized that, apart from the incident at the cemetery, I had never really seen him surprised. Even at the preliminary, he knew what to do when he was leading the students, he never hesitated for a moment.

"What are you here for?"

"You have a study group, right?"

Lucia beat me to it, so I took the opportunity to put all my focus on Aiden's lips.

After Lucia spoke, his lips curved a little higher, as if he was really expecting it. And with my passive skill, which is all about intuition, the probability of the thought in my mind becoming true increased exponentially.

He knows things in advance. I don't know if he predicts, calculates, or has a skill for it, but he really knows the future to some extent.

I imagined the things that came up on the screen during the measurement.

If I remember correctly, he must have two passive skills, one A- grade and the other A grade.

If that was the only thing I suspected, maybe I would have ignored it, but now that I think about it, there are really too many things overlapping.

The strange feeling I got from him because of my passive skill, the calmness he always had, the know-it-all demeanor, and the strange development he suddenly showed.

I paused with these thoughts and an idea sprouted in my mind.

Could Aiden... be a new seer?

There are only three seers in the world. One of them is in our kingdom, and the other two keep to themselves, but when there is something that concerns the world, they all unite at the same time to try and foretell a better future.

Although there are still many, many skills still undiscovered, the only one known to be clairvoyant is not really active; it's passive.

"You want to join... I see, we'll be happy to accept. You could very well help us with things we don't understand."

After Aiden said that to Lucia, he turned to me.

"What about you?"

The first thing I did in response to the question was to shake off my thoughts.

No, no. It's too early to claim such a thing, I need to be even more sure. I don't even have any proper evidence.

I need to investigate. If he really is one of the seers and he is hiding himself, then I really need to attract him to our guild.

"I want to join the group too."

"Oh, I see... How were your lessons?"

"..."

I didn't answer and just stood there, and then Aiden grinned slightly, just like Lucia had just done.

"Okay, you can join in. No problem."

He lifted his wrist, opened his watch, and turned to us.

"Give me your numbers and I'll add you to the group."

A few seconds later, both Lucia's and my watch received a notification at the same time.

<<------------------------------

You have been invited to the 'Study Group'!

Do you accept the invitation?

Yes / No

------------------------------>>

I quickly pressed yes and then entered the group details.

<<------------------------------

Study Group - 3 Online

Description: -

Members: Aiden Tenebra (Administrator), Adrian Caleo, Celine Potenbea, Julian Virhen, Lucia Quie.

------------------------------>>

Out of curiosity, I took a quick look at the message history and saw that it was mostly Adrian, Julian, and Aiden discussing amongst themselves or when they were going to get together. There were also a few fun, everyday messages.

It was basically a pretty normal group of students studying. It served whatever its purpose was.

"See you two at our next meeting then."

Aiden stepped back without lowering the smile on his face and looked at the two of us one last time before closing the door.

"See you..."

That's how he closed the door. I was alone in the hallway with Lucia.

"Let's go then?"

Lucia turned around with a slight smile on her face but paused before she started walking.

She was waiting for me.

"What are you waiting for..."

Together, we left the building with everyone looking at us, or rather at Lucia, everywhere we went.

This time, though, I didn't care.

In my mind I was still weighing up what I had just thought, thinking of other possibilities.

*******

I continued to watch as my brother's lullaby slowly lulled my little body to sleep with a big smile on his face.

"Sweet dreams, Clara."

After a while, I couldn't see anything because my body had closed its eyes, and then my brother's childish voice stopped.

I was in a dark void again, still unable to feel my body.

I was getting scared now.

Whatever I was seeing, wherever I was, and whatever was happening... I don't understand.

As I felt lost in my own thoughts, the darkness fluctuated again. A dazzling light enveloped everything again, blinding my eyes.

I knew I was going to see something again, a memory or a dream, so the first thing I did was to quickly try to recognize my surroundings.

As the light slowly faded, as I was trying to understand what was happening, I was stunned by what I saw. Everything in my mind, all my thoughts disappeared in an instant.

My whole body trembled with fear and I vomited with a bitter taste rising in my throat.

We weren't in our family home, we were in another room, and standing in front of me was my brother, who couldn't have been more than eleven years old.

"Oh? Clara..."

His eyes, unlike in the previous image, were emotionless and soulless, just like in my memories. His expression was calm, cold, as it should be.

He didn't even bother to hide the bloody kitchen knife in his hand from me.

"You woke up at a bad time, as usual."

My brother took his eyes off me and looked somewhere I couldn't see because of the half-closed door of the room.

I could still make out that there were bloody human bodies there, only a small part of their bodies in my field of vision, but they were human.

"Though... it doesn't matter anymore."

He threw the knife in his hand toward the bloody bodies and then took a step closer to me.

"B- Brother-"

My little self stepped back in fear, but nothing more came. She was so scared, so unable to make sense of the scene in front of her that she froze, just like me now.

"Shh... Clara..."

My brother came up to me and bent down slightly to get to my height. He stroked my hair with his hand and then smiled brightly on his soulless face.

"It's over now. You won't have to... suffer anymore."

He stopped stroking my hair and hugged me, but I was not relieved in any way.

On the contrary, my fear only multiplied.

"Don't worry... You won't remember any of it, not even me. Now you can live as a normal girl, away from us, away from everything. That's the least we owe you."

I don't understand...

I don't understand what's happening...

I'm... scared... why are these things happening?

"See you, Clara." n0velUSb.c0m

He paused for a moment, then his smile turned bitter and he continued.

"No... I hope not, that's for the best."

Those words were the last thing I heard before my vision darkened again.

My head ached.

My body, which I hadn't been able to feel until now, had suddenly regained its sensation and I could feel the pain radiating from my back to my body.

I had already jumped out of my bed screaming, thanks to this pain. Afterward, the pain I was feeling slowly started to fade away, but the tears didn't stop.

As I curled up even more in my bed, pulling my arms and knees closer to me, something I had never thought about before slowly entered my mind.

How much do I... how much do I remember of the past? I haven't thought much about it, but before the death of our parents is too... too blurry.

Something...

Something is not right...