Chapter 372 (Self Edited) – Asking about Things that Concern Him
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Soma repeatedly blinked for several times. Although he had regained his composure by the time he finished listening to Steina’s words, he still thought that various unpredictable things could happen in this situation. If this situation was intended solely to confuse Soma, then it was a great success. Thinking such things, Soma shrugged his shoulders at Steina.
“No, it’s neither of those. I merely came here to fetch someone up. Or perhaps, depending on the situation, it might just be a wait-and-see approach.” (Soma)
“Fetch someone up…? Ah, I see, you brought that girl here. That’s quite timely.” (Steina)
“Hmm…?” (Soma)
Before Soma could ask what that meant, a sound echoed in the room. One of the part.i.tions that had been closed opened. And there appeared the person who he had come to fetch up. However, it seemed unexpected to Aina that Soma was here. She blinked her eyes several times and tilted her head in wonder.
“Soma…? You didn’t come here take a break, right?” (Aina)
“It seems he has come to fetch you up?” (Steina)
“It’s more like I came to see how things were going. But if that’s the case, it seems like there won’t be any problem going back.” (Soma)
“Yes, thanks to you.” (Aina)
Aina seemed to have really been resting here. It didn’t seem so… but perhaps she was really tired.
“It’s about time for lunch break to be over, right? If you’re awake, hurry up and go back.” (Steina)
“I know. That’s why I woke up.” (Aina)
“Jeez… the infirmary isn’t a resting place, you know. Don’t overdo it, okay?” (Steina)
“I know that too. But if you can do it without overdoing it, it won’t be a struggle from the beginning. Right?” (Aina)
“Jeez… you’re still stubborn as ever. I wonder who you take after.” (Steina)
“People around say I’m a mix of both. Well… Anyway, more importantly, sorry for making you wait.” (Aina)
“No, it wasn’t particularly necessary for me to come anyway.” (Soma)
Personally, it wasn’t a problem to come for him to come here because he was investigating.
Muttering such things inwardly, he started walking with Aina. He lightly bowed to Steina just in case, but Steina waved her hand as if to say “go quickly”. In that state, she probably didn’t know about them after all.
‘But still, why is Steina the school nurse? Well, maybe it’s less out of place than just being a teacher or mingling with the students…’
Such irrelevant thoughts crossed his mind as he left the infirmary.
Although it was probably unnecessary, Soma continued walking ahead, leading the way, and immediately afterwards he spoke because he was puzzled by the sight he had just seen.
“Well, it didn’t seem like they were complete strangers… Could it be that you knew that school nurse?” (Soma)
“Huh? …Oh, well, yes. She’s like an older sister to me.” (Aina)
“I see…” (Soma)
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It seemed that Iori and Aina were unrelated, but Aina and Steina’s relationship remained unchanged. Soma wasn’t clear whether it was the same as before or not, but from Aina’s way of speaking, it didn’t seem much different. This was another aspect that was quite puzzling. Given that Sofia and Klaus were still Soma’s parents, it didn’t mean that parent-child relationships weren’t maintained here. However, there were too few examples to investigate this further. Among his acquaintances, the only other parent-child relationship he knew of was with Sylvia. Regardless of what he finds out, it would be impossible to derive a pattern from such limited information.
Most importantly, it was not a high-priority issue, so it should be fine to leave it aside for now. Instead, Soma decided to prompt Aina to talk by asking her a question.
“So, you’ve heard about this place beforehand?” (Soma)
“Well, yes. It was thanks to Nee-sama that I was able to have all my textbooks ready on my first day of transfer.” (Aina)
“I see.” (Soma)
Indeed, now that she mentioned it, Aina had her textbooks and used them as if it were any other day, despite it being her first day at the new school. He had wondered if he would need to share his textbooks with her, but it turned out there was no need.
“But the uniform was impossible to get in time, wasn’t it?” (Soma)
“Yeah, it was too sudden for me to arrange that.” (Aina)
“I see… Now that you mention it, you did say something like that.” (Soma)
He remembered her mentioning it among the many questions flying around. She had been vague about why she transferred so suddenly—
“Can I a.s.sume that Felicia was involved in the reason for your transfer?” (Soma)
“I told you I wasn’t going to talk about that, didn’t I?” (Aina)
“You did, but you didn’t say I couldn’t ask.” (Soma)
When he shrugged his shoulders, she gave him a sidelong glance and then, he sighed. It was quite rude of her to say that, considering he hadn’t broken any promises. Well, he wasn’t exactly following all the instructions he’d been given, either.
“By the way, while I’m at it, there’s something else I’d like to know. Why did you say it would be best to distance ourselves from Felicia? From what I’ve observed, Felicia doesn’t seem any different than usual.” (Soma)
“You… You haven’t been following what I said at all, have you?” (Aina)
“Felicia isn’t my only childhood friend. I always have lunch with her and our other friends. It would be strange to suddenly distance myself only from Felicia.” (Soma)
“That… may be true, but…” (Aina)
“Well, if I knew the reason, I might be able to do something about it.” (Soma)
“I told you, I’m not going to tell you!” (Aina)
She glared at him, but Soma merely shrugged again, indicating that his stance wouldn’t change. In truth, he had subtly observed Felicia during lunch, and she hadn’t shown any signs of hiding anything. Felicia wasn’t good at keeping secrets, so if there was something going on, it was likely beyond her control. Given that, he couldn’t simply comply with Aina’s request without more information. Even if Felicia were involved in something by her own will, and that was why Aina had told him to distance himself, whether he would follow such advice was another matter.
“…You really will regret this, you know?” (Aina)
“If that time comes, then so be it. At the very least, I would rather regret knowing the truth than regret knowing nothing.” (Soma)
“…Fine. When the time comes, regret all you want.” (Aina)
With a dismissive tone, Aina quickened her pace, overtaking Soma. Since she had likely been speaking out of concern, it was natural for her to be upset when her advice was ignored. There was no need for him to lead anymore, so there was no issue with her going ahead alone. However, if there was one problem—
“…Oh.” (Soma)
It was that they would soon meet again and that their seats were next to each other. As Aina averted her gaze somewhat awkwardly, Soma smiled wryly. He shrugged at his friends who gave him puzzled looks, wondering what had happened, and then he took his seat, pondering what to do next.
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