Lunchtime passed smoothly.
While everyone else was busy filling up on bread from the school store or cafeteria food, Yoon Ha-min, Orca, and I were sitting in the classroom eating our packed lunches, which naturally drew some attention.
What mattered was that I wasn't eating alone but with Yoon Ha-min and Orca, so the stares were somewhat dispersed, making it bearable.
Tomorrow was originally supposed to be exam week, but due to the sudden curriculum change, it had been postponed by a week, leaving me with mixed feelings.
At this rate, it felt like I'd only be extending my time as the Bottom Rank, which wasn't pleasant. Yet I couldn't gauge how well I might perform on the new subjects if we did take the exams, making the situation ambiguous.
I couldn't decide whether to be happy or upset about the postponed exams as I read through my textbook.
Field evaluations might be a bit harsh, but I felt oddly confident about geography. The thought made me smirk.
When heroes fight, they often call out locations, and if I memorized based on that, it would be easy. Of course, it would be harder than I imagined, but if I thought of it as getting ahead while everyone started from the same point, it would feel less difficult. By the time everyone else caught up, I'd already be far ahead.
"Kanna, you seem to be in a good mood today?"
"Ah, well, I'm just making better progress with studying today."
School was almost over.
After giving a vague answer to Ha-min's question, I started packing my bag. Orca, who was also preparing to go home, turned to look at me.
"Miss Kanna, have you decided where you'll go for the hero practicum?"
"Oh, I'm planning to go wherever they're short on people."
The hero practicum program wasn't part of the first-year curriculum, but became available from the second year.
While it was normally a privilege given to high achievers like Yoon Ha-min and Orca, the current situation meant that even a complete Bottom Rank like me got this opportunity.
The idea seemed to be that students should get their rookie mistakes out of the way during school, so they could act like professionals immediately after graduating and becoming heroes.
I knew I would only be a hindrance in such places.
Being an Awakened Being, I was better than ordinary people at running fast or throwing strong punches.
But when it came to abilities, I couldn't show anything proper, so I could only hang my head.
If I was treated this way within the Academy, how could I expect to be welcomed at hero agencies where real-world experience was the norm?
That's why I planned to go wherever they had a quota to fill or were desperate enough to take anyone.
"...Really? There's nowhere you particularly want to go?"
"No."
"I see."
Orca murmured that, nodded, and then started walking.
"Alright, I'll be going now. Everyone get home safely."
"Yes, see you tomorrow."
Since Orca's family car came to pick her up, it was her routine to leave promptly at the end of the day.
As she walked away, Yoon Ha-min glanced at her retreating figure before turning his attention back to me.
He didn't ask if we should go or suggest going together.
Since our destinations and living arrangements were the same, it was natural to just make eye contact, shoulder our bags, and leave together.
As we exited the building, Yoon Ha-min glanced at me.
"But you know, don't you really have any agency you want to go to? Or any hero you'd like to work with?"
"...Well."
I tilted my head.
In the novel—that is, in this world—there were a few heroes I knew about and would like to see once.
There were heroes who fought spectacularly and those who fought beautifully.
But ultimately, what I had been following was Yoon Ha-min's footsteps.
So now that I already had Yoon Ha-min beside me, I had no desire to enter a prestigious agency just to see other heroes.
It would be much better to be accepted somewhere because they were short-staffed and had no choice, rather than having the Bottom Rank cause trouble by trying to aim too high, making both parties uncomfortable.
"If my grades improve, I might consider it, but right now, I'm not sure."
Honestly, doing well on written exams didn't make one stronger as a hero.
What mattered was scoring well in practical skills, and that definitely required different training methods.
The problem was that I didn't know how to go about it.
As his name suggested, Yoon Ha-min was the only person in the story who had been brought to this world.
With his ability to borrow power from the stars, he showed incredible progress that defied explanation, so I couldn't learn how to increase my strength from him.
Since the issue was my lack of talent, Yoon Ha-min could only groan without finding anything helpful to say.
Silence settled between us, and before we knew it, our high-speed taxi had arrived at our destination.
Today's goal was again to cover a manageable area on the map, starting from a station and returning to it.
Yoon Ha-min looked around and then asked me.
"By the way, do we just look for totems like before?"
"I think so. It's a bit vague, isn't it?"
"It is."
Yoon Ha-min answered honestly.
But he went along with it willingly after hearing that removing the totems would prevent the Strange Ones from breaking through the Wall further.
I couldn't help but smile, feeling grateful for his cooperation.
We walked along the Wall, looking at the path ahead.
Just knowing that the source of my trauma-induced anxiety was living and breathing beyond that Wall gave me chills.
Fortunately, having someone to protect me somewhat offset that fear.
We needed to find the totem quickly before the next invasion. With that thought, I quickened my pace.
As my steps hastened due to my growing urgency, Yoon Ha-min's voice called out from behind.
"Kanna! You're going too fast!"
"Ah, sorry... I guess I got a bit anxious."
"Even if you rush, there's only so much we can do in a day. And you need to improve your grades too, so you shouldn't exhaust yourself."
"Understood."
I nodded.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself.
I tried again to broaden my view while walking slowly.
After repeating this several times, just as my legs began to ache slightly, a chill swept over me, knocking me off balance.
"Gasp...!"
It felt like my body was freezing.
I was reacting to a wave of mana.
As I collapsed, Yoon Ha-min caught me.
Thanks to him, I avoided hitting the ground, but I was too terrified to know where to look.
"What's wrong?! What happened? Are you okay? Kanna!"
"No, I..."
His voice called out so loudly it could deafen me, but I couldn't respond much.
Even his voice seemed distant.
"There, that..."
With a trembling hand, I pointed ahead.
Yoon Ha-min's eyes followed the direction of my finger.
"...There?"
Yoon Ha-min held me slightly and helped me stand.
Somehow, he ended up supporting me.
I leaned my head against him, feeling like I might collapse at any moment, and turned my gaze toward the ominous pulsing wave of mana.
After walking for some time, what we found was a purple cube.
"This is the totem."
"This? ...It looks strange."
The previous one had been shaped like a feather, but this one was cube-shaped.
Despite the different shape, the ominous mana waves clearly indicated it belonged to a Strange One.
That feeling I had from the Strange One.
I trembled at the mana flow, which felt more intense than before.
Perhaps I was sensitive to totems in the same way the Strange One could find me.
There was still too little I understood.
I could only make guesses based on what I felt at the moment.
Yoon Ha-min looked at me several times with concern as I showed fear, then quietly spoke.
"...So how do we destroy this? Actually, how did you destroy the previous one? You hurt your hand, didn't you?"
"Oh, that?"
I glanced down briefly.
My awkwardly positioned right hand twitched.
I raised it, hesitating slightly.
"You just need to pour as much mana as possible into these things. Since totems aren't designed to hold mana, they break when you exceed their capacity."
"So it was real."
Yoon Ha-min murmured.
"What I believed wasn't wrong."
As he spoke softly, I felt a surge of emotion.
"...I can feel it too. Not as strongly as you, but I can sense it now that we're close."
Yoon Ha-min said, lowering his head.
His gaze turned to me.
"I believed, and now seeing that belief confirmed feels really strange."
While he repeatedly expressed his indescribable feelings, I reached out my hand.
"This, if you just grab it and pour mana into it..."
I extended my hand to show the hesitant Yoon Ha-min that it was safe to touch.
Previously, when it was feather-shaped, I had been able to grab it easily without any issues.
But unlike before, as soon as my hand grasped the totem, it seemed to absorb into my skin and disappear.
"...Huh?"
I stared at my fingertips with a bewildered expression.
The totem that should have been in my hand had vanished without a trace, leaving me perplexed.
Yoon Ha-min also stared at me without saying anything, while I could only look at my hand with a dumbfounded expression, unable to explain what had happened.
The ominous flow of mana that had been rising earlier was now completely gone, leaving only the peaceful evening.