Sharp gazes, whispering voices.
All directed at me.
While the academy's hallways might be like a red carpet of glory for some, for me they had become a distant and treacherous path of thorns.
I had properly worn gloves that looked like normal skin to avoid drawing attention, and even put on special pantyhose designed for prosthetic legs that I normally wouldn't bother with because they're such a hassle.
But even if I could hide the existence of my prosthetic arm and leg that way, I couldn't block the stares of those who focused on me as a person.
It was uncomfortable, to say the least, being with Yoon Ha-min in this situation.
I resented him for insisting we go to school together when I suggested we go separately. I couldn't understand why we needed to walk together in this situation.
The gazes directed at me seemed to include suspicion and doubt. Even the looks toward Ha-min seemed to become somewhat puzzled.
No matter what, I didn't want to cause trouble for Ha-min, but I couldn't understand why he wouldn't listen to me and instead stubbornly dug his own grave.
I clearly tried to dissuade him.
This time it couldn't be helped, but I hoped that if something really happened to me next time, he wouldn't get involved by trying to protect someone like me.
Still, the heroes only kept their distance, whispering and giving sharp looks without directly harming me.
This was only possible because I came here as a student.
If I had truly been in league with the Strange Ones as the rumors suggested, and had come with hostile intent on their side, the students would have immediately swarmed and beaten me to death.
I was nervous. My heart was pounding like someone about to enter a fight, with that tingling sensation at the tip of my nose as adrenaline surged through me.
To be precise, I wasn't preparing to fight anyone, but rather preparing to feel less pain if I got hit.
Despite all this, I managed to enter the classroom without being harassed by others.
The atmosphere instantly grew cold, gazes fixed on me, and the pressure made it difficult to breathe, but I tried to comfort myself by thinking that I'd experienced this before as the Bottom Rank.
Whether Yoon Ha-min understood my feelings or not, he grinned and greeted the other students with a wave of his hand, finally greeting Orca.
"Hi, Orca."
Orca, who had arrived earlier and was sitting in her chair, opened her mouth to greet Yoon Ha-min and me.
"Hello, Yoon Ha-min, Kanna. This is unusual. Coming to school together."
"Oh, we just happened to meet on the way..." I answered, slightly flustered and making excuses.
Orca nodded as if it didn't matter either way.
I felt a twinge of guilt at her slightly colder attitude.
I wondered if there had been various conversations while I was gone.
Especially since she was a daughter of the Ramiris family, she must have heard the rumors going around.
I worried that she might be angry because the collapse of the Wall was my fault, not her family's.
People would have pointed fingers at her family, accusing them of wrongdoing, and she would have had to bear that burden. Then suddenly learning it wasn't her family's fault but mine—well, anyone might get upset. I had nothing to say.
"...Ah, class is about to start, so I'll go to my seat. See you."
"Oh, yeah, okay."
I retreated to my seat, escaping that awkward atmosphere.
Yoon Ha-min made a dazed sound before hanging his bag on his seat.
I also returned to my seat and tried my best not to turn my head.
It didn't matter how others saw me.
It didn't matter how they judged me.
I had already let go and tried to get used to this situation, so now it didn't bother me.
...Well, not completely unbothered, but enough to endure.
I didn't feel like my life would be very long anyway.
I might die soon, so I was just trying to find what I could do and what I should do in that time.
After checking the first period class and taking out my textbook in advance, I took a deep breath, and the front door of the classroom creaked open.
Most of the students had gathered, and given the time, there was only one person who would enter through the front door.
"Now, I'm going to take attendance, so everyone please sit down~"
Mrs. Lucia entered with the attendance book and placed it on the podium.
But after her gaze briefly turned toward me, her eyes widened.
Then, after looking around once to see if there were any empty seats, she beckoned to me.
"Kanna? Could you come out for a moment? Everyone else, please be quiet and study for the first period!"
Leaving behind the students who responded with "Yes," I got up from my chair and went out the back door.
Then I walked toward the teacher who was waiting near the front door.
"...Yes, teacher."
"Kanna, um, the Association took you away, but did they say it was okay for you to act like this without any explanation?"
"Oh, is there some problem?"
When I asked tensely, the teacher denied it as if she had just been curious.
"No. There's no problem as long as no one makes it one. And if that's how they decided to handle it, there probably isn't any major issue."
Whether there was a major issue or not was uncertain.
So I tilted my head in confusion.
The teacher seemed to have other concerns and let out a small groan.
"I'm worried about whether you'll be okay, given that perceptions won't be good because of what happened before."
Whether perceptions would be good or bad—if I were going to decide whether to attend the academy based on that, I would have already written a withdrawal form and left.
No matter how cornered I was, I wasn't going to back down from here.
"Teacher, I'm fine. Besides, nothing happened."
"Really? Well, if that's the case..."
There was no one who would touch my arms and legs.
No one knew whether there was soft skin or hard metal there.
Except for Yoon Ha-min, who had seen my body directly.
So no one would notice if something happened to me.
If the teacher received reports from above, that would be different, but I didn't think that information would reach the students.
That's why I emphasized again that it was no big deal.
Seeing my attitude, the teacher finally nodded.
"Alright. The bell is about to ring, so go back in."
"Yes."
The teacher headed to the Teachers' Office, and I went back into the classroom.
Four classes in the morning, followed by a lunch eaten in silence. Then another three or four classes in the afternoon before the day finally ended.
The good news was that there were no exams this week; the bad news was that things had become a bit awkward with Orca.
It was a little difficult, but honestly unavoidable.
People from the Ramiris family had been blamed because of me, and now that the truth had been revealed, her gaze would naturally turn toward me.
Of course, she probably didn't do anything harmful because she thought I might not have done it intentionally, but the uncomfortable atmosphere was unavoidable.
"..."
I looked around absentmindedly.
No matter how many buildings lined up, they couldn't hide that massive structure—the Wall.
A sterile construction, but the only sanctuary for the people of this world.
At the same time, a fortress built to reject the Strange Ones and secure their own safety.
As I was gazing at it, Yoon Ha-min, who was walking back with me, quietly spoke.
"What's wrong? Do you sense something coming?"
"...No, not that. I was just looking."
"What about Totems, like before?"
"I don't know. There's no point in looking for them anymore..."
Honestly, I didn't want to say things like "it's meaningless."
If what you're doing has no meaning, then where are you supposed to find meaning?
But thinking about what the Strange One had shown me directly made me afraid, and what I was doing felt like trying to erase sand in a desert—just vague and futile.
The gentle breeze of mid-April was actually quite warm.
I thought it might get cooler if it rained.
Yoon Ha-min quietly observed me from the side before speaking softly.
"Then couldn't we just live as if none of this matters?"
His suggestion to leave the Totems alone and live quietly as if we had no connection to the Strange Ones sounded appealing.
But it seemed like burying our heads in the sand, which made me tilt my head in doubt.
"Then what if a Strange One suddenly appears with monsters? What if they point at me again?"
I spoke of a future that hadn't yet come.
A future that might be inevitable.
I questioned whether we could escape when there was already a Strange One who was aware of my existence and watching me closely.
If they came again, looked at me, and smiled at me, what expressions would people make when they looked at me?
A week of preparation time—it could be shorter or longer, but I was afraid of the Strange One's psychology, which was difficult to pinpoint exactly.
Not knowing when the Wall might collapse again, getting through each day was so burdensome for me that I sighed.
"You could go somewhere the Strange One doesn't know about, somewhere hard to find. Then they won't be able to point you out. In the meantime, I'll defeat the Strange One."
And making my sigh seem pointless, Yoon Ha-min's promise to help me repeated several times.