Chapter 70: Rejected with a Punch

"What?"

Eris stared at me as if she wanted to make sure she hadn’t misheard me.

When I didn’t answer for several seconds, I repeated myself.

"I want you to train me."

The surprise on her face slowly turned into a stranger expression. She narrowed her eyes slightly and studied me, trying to tell from my tone whether I was joking.

"Wait, are you serious?"

"Yes."

Eris placed a hand against her forehead and closed her eyes. Judging by her reaction, my request had given her a headache rather than surprised her.

"Noc..." After taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again. "I can understand your personality changing so much in a few days or you trying to become a different person, at least to some extent. After all, you left your family and you’re trying to build a life of your own now."

She paused and examined my face carefully.

"But you get a little stranger every day."

I frowned.

"I’m perfectly normal."

"When I suggested exercising together a few months ago, you refused. Now you go running every morning, exercise constantly at home, and suddenly ask me to train you." Eris folded her arms across her chest. "Where did this come from?"

I thought I was prepared for this question.

I couldn’t tell her I was Orochimaru or that I had fought hundreds of monsters only a few nights ago. Explaining Umbrella would lead to far more dangerous questions about how I possessed such a power despite not having a Nexus.

So I turned to the more innocent explanation I had prepared.

"You know I’ll be starting university soon."

"I know."

"And lately, I’ve realized how talented I am when it comes to sports."

The expression on Eris’s face didn’t change, but her silence made it clear that she didn’t believe a single word I had said.

Even so, I continued.

"Maybe I’ll join the kendo, karate, or archery club. I don’t want to spend my university life doing nothing but attending classes and returning home. Wanting to learn new things and improve myself is perfectly normal."

"You?"

"What’s so surprising about that?"

"Everything."

I continued speaking before Eris could interrupt me.

"Besides, you know what kind of world we live in. Even if I don’t have a Nexus, I want to learn how to defend myself. No one knows when or where an Overlap might appear. I don’t know what could happen to me in the future, and I might not be as lucky next time."

When I finished, I paused after realizing I had said almost all of that in a single breath. I might have said too much while trying to make my excuse sound natural.

My final sentence in particular had affected her differently than I expected.

The suspicion disappeared from Eris’s eyes, replaced by a thoughtful and slightly sad expression. Her gaze moved to my shoulder for a few seconds, then traveled over different parts of my body.

It was as if she were searching for wounds that were no longer visible.

Had I said something wrong?

She probably thought I had been frightened inside the Overlap and was too embarrassed to admit it. That wasn’t entirely wrong, but I couldn’t let her learn that what I had experienced was much worse than she imagined.

I still couldn’t forget the blood on the ice, the mangled corpses, or the goat-headed monster throwing me into a wall like a toy. I also knew perfectly well that I wouldn’t have made it home without Cecilia’s potions.

Eris let out a long breath and hid the sadness on her face. Then, instead of comforting me, she chose to throw the truth mercilessly in my face.

"Talented, my ass."

"What?"

"You can barely manage a few pull-ups. On the first day you started running, you collapsed in the park looking like you were about to die. I also saw with my own eyes that your form fell apart during half the push-ups you did at home."

"That’s all in the past."

"I’m talking about a few days ago."

"Great improvements can happen in a short time."

Eris rolled her eyes and continued.

"Besides, why would someone studying music join a sports club? You’ve never used a bow in your life. I doubt you even know how to hold a kendo sword."

"I can feel that I’m naturally talented."

This time, she stared at me for a long moment.

"Saying that with a serious expression only makes it worse."

"You won’t know until you let me try."

"Noc..." Eris’s voice slowly became more serious as she lowered her arms. "I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but you can’t fool me."

When I opened my mouth to speak, she raised a hand and silenced me.

"I’m not against you exercising or trying to change. Actually, I like seeing you this way. At least you’re not locking yourself in your room all day and feeling sorry for yourself."

"I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself."

Eris’s eyebrow twitched.

"Stop making excuses. You know what I mean."

As the anger in her voice gradually faded, she looked directly into my eyes.

"I know you’ve changed, and if you don’t want to tell me why, I won’t force you. But now you’re standing in front of me and suddenly saying you want to learn how to fight. On top of that, you’re trying to explain it by bringing up the Overlap."

I swallowed to hide the tightness in my throat.

"Because it’s a logical reason."

"No. It’s only a reason you want to sound logical." Eris shook her head slightly. "I know there’s something else on your mind. Until you tell me what you truly want, my answer is no."

I pressed my lips together and remained silent.

I couldn’t explain my true intentions.

I couldn’t tell her I wanted to learn how to fight because I had no idea when the System might send me on another deadly mission.

The longer I stood silently in front of her, the stronger the determination on her face became.

It was clear that I couldn’t convince her through normal means.

There was only one method left for me to use.

I suddenly closed the distance between us and took both of her hands in mine.

Eris flinched slightly, her eyes widening in surprise. Before she could pull away, I held her fingers tightly and brought my face a little closer to hers.

I still didn’t fully understand why the store clerks who mistook me for a girl or the people who heard my voice during streams reacted so strangely. Still, I remembered Eris often accusing me of using my face to get my way.

Then I could do the same thing this time.

I tried to make my blue eyes look as innocent as possible and softened my voice.

"Eris... Please."

Eris froze completely for several seconds.

Her gaze dropped from my face to our hands, then returned to my eyes. The blush spreading across her cheeks quickly reached her ears. Her lips parted, but not a single word came out.

’It worked—?!’

Bam!

The hard punch that struck my stomach erased every thought from my mind and sent my body flying backward.

My feet slid across the stone floor before I lost my balance and fell flat on my back. All the air left my lungs at once, and the crepes I had eaten for breakfast rose back into my throat.

"Oiii!" I wrapped both arms around my stomach and curled up in pain. "That really hurt!"

Eris didn’t answer.

Without even looking at me, she turned around and quickly walked toward the center of the training grounds. Despite the unnecessary force behind her steps, I could clearly see that her ears had turned bright red.

"If you were going to reject me, you could’ve said no like a normal person!"

Eris stopped for a moment but didn’t turn around.

"I’ve been telling you no from the beginning, idiot!"

The moment I saw Eris’s shoulders tense, I dragged myself back across the floor to avoid another punch. Instead of attacking me, however, she continued walking toward the water bottle in the middle of the training grounds.

I watched her leave while waiting for the pain in my stomach to fade.

White Snake’s upgrade was truly useful. A blow that would normally have kept me on the ground for several minutes was already beginning to hurt less, though my pride would take a little longer to recover.

Just as I began pushing myself up on my elbows, a shadow fell over me.

"Looks like you got rejected pretty badly, beauty."

When I raised my head, I saw Talia standing right beside me.

I hadn’t noticed when she returned. One hand was tucked into the pocket of her sweatpants, while the other held a half-finished cigarette. She looked down at me with an amused expression and casually blew the smoke from her mouth to the side.

I frowned, rose to my feet, and dusted off my clothes.

"I haven’t been rejected yet. And don’t call me that, woman!"

Talia took another drag from her cigarette.

"How cool."

The flatness of her voice made it clear that my words hadn’t impressed her in the slightest.

"I’ll have you know, I’m going to convince her."

"Eris doesn’t change her mind easily."

"I don’t give up either."

Talia turned her attention toward Eris, who was trying to keep her distance from us in the middle of the training grounds. Although Eris had raised the water bottle to her mouth, the slight angle of her head made it obvious that she was listening to our conversation.

"If my ex had been as stubborn as you, maybe I wouldn’t have left them," Talia said.

A mocking smile formed on my lips as I looked at her indifferent expression.

"Are you sure you weren’t the one who got dumped?"

Talia’s expression didn’t change.

For a moment, we simply stared at each other in silence.

Just as I began widening my smile, thinking I had won, a hard kick struck my backside and sent me stumbling forward.

"Oiii!"

I threw my hands out at the last moment and stopped myself from falling face-first. When I turned around in surprise, Talia was calmly examining her cigarette as if she hadn’t done anything.

"Why did you kick my butt?!"

"Sorry," she said calmly. "I was trying to hit a fly."

"There wasn’t a fly!"

"Not anymore."

"..."

After taking one final drag, Talia threw the cigarette butt onto the ground and crushed it beneath the tip of her shoe. Then she slipped both hands into the pockets of her sweatpants and started walking toward the training grounds.

As she passed me, she turned her head slightly and looked my way.

"My break is over. See you, beauty."