BXBX NOVEL Chapter 57: Chapter 57:The Return [2]
It was true. Back at the award ceremony, it was my first time seeing him as Ren, so all his explosions just exploded outwards. Now that it was the second time, I could stop the leakage of emotions as I was more accustomed to it.
Of course, my anger at him for being a terrible human being was still there, but I could keep that under control, partially because I knew I couldn\'t do shit about it right now.
What was more important at this moment was how Ruby knew so much about me. From recognizing my face back in the cave from a simple glance to even knowing the backstory about my father disowning me, she had to have met me before.
Most of Ren\'s childhood memories were fragmented, so I couldn\'t recall ever seeing or meeting someone similar to Ruby.
I also couldn\'t ask Ruby about anything as she would immediately realize that I wasn\'t the real Ren for not remembering, in the case I had met her before.
After my response, the mood turned somber as the two stared at the land without saying anything.
As the ship approached the land, I got ready to leave.
As if I was going to help the main cast carry all the students out of the storage room and onto the land!
Seeing me ready to jump off the boat, Ruby cracked a grin before asking.
"You ask me why I call you shameless?"
A third-rate villain must embrace that shamelessness to advance to a second-rate villain! Or something like that; honestly, I just needed to give myself an excuse to leave.
"You act like that, but you\'re doing the same thing."
Turning to Ruby, who was also on the ledge of the boat, ready to jump, I reciprocated her smile before waving and jumping.
However, Ruby was shocked, not because I was jumping, though. It was because of where I was jumping: into the deep blue water.
Embracing the cold ocean water, I sunk to the ocean floor before swimming towards the land like a mermaid; I was actually swimming faster than the speed boat!
As I turned around to see how fast I was moving compared to the speed boat, I peered past the darkness of the water and saw a figure also in the water.
"... no fucking way."
Right next to the speed boat was Ruby, who struggled to stay afloat while wildly slashing her arms to stay above the surface of the water.
...Doesn\'t she have teleportation? I guess water is spatial magic\'s weakness...?
Swimming back towards the speed boat, I swam right next to Ruby and floated above the water effortlessly before saying.
"Are you actually stupid?"
"Oh, so when you do it, it\'s alright, but when I do, I\'m stupid?"
"... you know, maybe it\'s a stupid idea for you BECAUSE YOU CAN\'T SWIM"
"Details, details; who cares?"
"..."
Well, I can\'t just leave here to drown or get run over by the speed boat, can I?
Turning to Ruby, who was desperately flailing her arms and legs to sway afloat, I asked.
"So, what\'s your plan now?"
Stopping her flailing arms and legs, she grinned and asked.
"I don\'t know; maybe catch a ride?"
Then, a second later, she started to sink into the water as she stopped flailing.
Diving into the water below Ruby, underwater, I gestured to my back, and without any hesitation, she threw her arms out and attached her hands to my drenched shirt.
Even though I knew she couldn\'t hear, I said.
"Hold on, tight."
Boosting myself off the ocean floor, I swam using breaststroke as fast as I could toward the land, which became closer and closer with every second.
Turning away mid-stroke, I saw Ruby trailing behind me, holding on with all her might to my shirt, which was already almost torn due to her tight grip.
...Why do all my clothes always get torn?
Reaching the shallow area of the water, I stood up with my shoulders barely above the surface and walked towards the sand, only a few feet away.
On the other hand, Ruby only had her head above the water as she struggled to walk due to the resistance of the water.
As soon as we reached the sand of the beach we swam towards; Ruby collapsed on the ground panting.
"a-are y-you a d-damn m-mermaid?"
Shrugging my shoulders, I crouched beside her and stared at the speedboat, which had already reached the port that was only a couple of miles away from the beach we were on.
"Well, we should get back to the hotel."
"g-go like this?"
Staring down at my drenched suit, which did not make me uncomfortable or irritated in the slightest, and Ruby\'s dress, which had sand all over it, I grabbed the cloak tied around my waist and handed it to her.
Since the sun was just rising, the cloak shouldn\'t have any effects, so she wouldn\'t realize it was a magical artifact, and I could just take it back once we reached our dorm room.
Watching her put on my cloak, which was far too big for her as the bottom of it scraped against the ground, I suppressed the urge to laugh... but failed.
She looked like she just came from the circus.
"*PFFT*"
"Something funny to you? Enlighten me as to what\'s so funny."
"*PFFT* i-i, n-nothing at all."
Stepping in front of me, she blocked my path and held out her hands horizontally, causing me to laugh even more. Her sleeves were so big you couldn\'t even see her hands.
Upon reaching our hotel room, I promptly took back my cloak and put it in my luggage before showering and changing.
Stepping out of the shower, I noticed that the room was mostly empty. Zach and Irene were probably in the hospital being treated like the others, leaving me the entire living room.
Tomorrow, we would be heading back on the buses, so I crammed everything into my suitcase and even used my awakened strength, almost breaking the suitcase, to zip everything up.
Wrapping a towel around my neck, I sat on one of the cushions near the table and drank a cup of green tea that Ruby had made because she was cold from the swim.
Scrolling on my smartwatch, enjoying the sweet tea, relishing the view of the ocean from our room, and recalling the earlier swim made me realize something.
Was it so bad to live a normal life here?
When I first came to this world, I was so confident that living here would be hell and so determined to head back to earth, but now, here I was, enjoying the simple things in a student\'s daily life.
I had always denied that I was enjoying my life here, but at this point, it was hard for me not to have fun.
Just messing around with Zach and Ruby, hanging out with Jin and Han, and even just training against the AI bots brought me happiness and solace. Things I would never be able to do if I went back to Earth.
Guess it\'s true you only miss things when you realize that you can no longer have them...
What if I never even got back to Earth?
That thought had crossed my mind many times, but I had always denied it as if I was transported to this world; there must be a way to travel to other worlds, but I just hadn\'t found it yet.
Of course, in the meantime before discovering the method, I had decided to do my best to save this world from destruction by maintaining the plot structure.
But... was this life really so bad? With the prestige of the academy and the money from Raven\'s business, I could live comfortably after graduation, maybe move to the countryside, and buy a mansion.
Wasn\'t that better than working a 9-5 job on Earth? Wasn\'t living comfortably in a mansion with no worries way better than waking up at 6 AM every day just to be yelled out by my future boss?
Why was I so persistent in making my way back to Earth?
Interrupting my thoughts, Ruby opened the door of her and Irene\'s room before strolling into the living room and taking a seat on the cushion across from me.
Staring at me with a curious expression, she asked.
"How\'s the green tea."
"Could be better."
"...? Are you insane? I made t-"
"Alright, alright, it\'s good."
Lifting up the cup of tea to my mouth to prove my point, I tilted the cup towards my mouth, letting the gold liquid flow into my mouth; however, when I attempted the put down the cup, I couldn\'t.
Ruby was holding the cup to my mouth with a grin on her face.
"AH, HOT, HOT, HOT!"
Overpowering Ruby, I put the cup down, but the damage was already done. With my tongue burning in pain, I rushed to the bathroom sink and covered my tongue in water, but that just made it worse!
Further adding to my situation, I could hear someone breaking down in laughter back in the living room.
With my tongue still writhing in pain, I rushed back to the living room, grabbed Ruby\'s cup of tea, and raised it to her mouth.
"OPEN YOUR—hiss—MOUTH!"
However, Ruby teleported back 5 meters away from me and ran for her room before frantically shutting and locking the sliding door.
While washing my tongue in the sink for the next hour, I could hear the constant bangs against the door and laughter from the other room.
When I woke the next day, I didn\'t even bother to eat breakfast, as the tea had burned all my tastebuds off.
Everything was tasteless...
While glaring at Ruby, who was comfortably gathering food, I also saw Irene and Zach, who were completely healed, walking towards the table.
Sitting down next to me, Zach exclaimed.
"last day, guys, I\'ll really mi-"
"Don\'t lie, Zach, you won\'t miss Ren."
"Wait, really, I will, I ac-"
"Shut it, please."
After I silenced Zach, Ruby also sat down beside us before saying.
" Zach, don\'t listen to him; Ren can put up with you for one more day. Isn\'t that right, Ren?"
Ignoring Ruby, I got up from the table and headed to the luxury bus outside that had just arrived.