Ch.156155. School Trip

# 155. School Trip (1)

As expected, this semester was rather dull.

The only change was Luna joining our party; everything else remained the same as before.

‘Now that there’s nothing happening again… it’s boring.’

Clearly, having too many incidents isn’t good.

Not only does it steal time from training, but participating in such events consumes a considerable amount of energy.

So it’s better not to have them, but on the other hand, it was monotonous.

I had been living such a bustling daily life before.

‘Time has passed so quickly…’

Going through the same pattern of daily life for a day or two made time flow incredibly fast.

I blinked once and a week had passed; blink again and an entire month had gone by.

‘It used to feel like this before…’

Without any significant events, each day became somewhat meaningless, and as a result, each day felt tedious.

Of course, I never felt that way when I was with her, but that was all.

“It’s really boring these days.”

“That’s my line…”

Seeing Aelin say such things, it seemed I wasn’t the only one finding this period monotonous.

“Ah… why is it so boring lately…”

“It’s because you’re always causing trouble, so even I get bored during times like this.”

“How is that my fault?”

“Of course it is.”

It was quite an absurd statement, but since it was true, I couldn’t say anything back.

I asked Aelin, who was wearing a smug expression.

“By the way, how did your exam results turn out? Did you do well?”

Until just a week ago, it was the final exam season, the most important part of this semester.

Being the last exam of the school year, many students were seen studying through the night to secure good grades.

And Aelin seemed to have put in more effort than usual.

“You didn’t try this hard last time.”

“We’re about to enter high school soon.”

“So?”

“So I worked harder because when we enter high school, they’ll recruit new students, and there will be many who are better at studying and stronger.”

She seemed to have worked hard in her own way to avoid falling behind such students.

It was clear that position shapes a person; Aelin was giving her all to maintain her first-place position.

“Even so, you can’t beat me, but it’s still a good situation.”

“You really know how to annoy me.”

“It’s a compliment, a compliment. So how did the exam go?”

“I did pretty well.”

Judging by that response, she didn’t just do well—she did exceptionally well.

She was even twisting her body in a way that would irritate anyone watching.

“Well, with that much effort, you should get good results.”

“What about you?”

“Why ask when you already know?”

No matter how much the difficulty increased for the final exam, it was still just a first-year problem.

“But aren’t you kind of cheating? You already knew everything, right?”

“If you’re jealous, why don’t you regress too?”

“Seriously…”

Aelin slumped over her desk with an expression like she’d eaten something foul.

I admonished her.

“Are you sleeping?”

“I’m not sleeping! Just a bit drowsy…”

“Stay up; lying like that will make you sleepier.”

“But why do we have to do this assignment anyway?”

“More precisely, why do you.”

Aelin was complaining about the assignment she had received.

“Why do I have to write a thesis?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Don’t you guys have to do this?”

“I already finished and submitted mine a while ago.”

“You traitor…”

It was even more absurd because she was saying these things in all seriousness.

This assignment had been given out a whole month ago.

“Just hurry up and do it. You called me over, and now you’re trying to sleep.”

“Well… you’re not even helping, but you keep talking.”

It seemed Aelin had called me over hoping I would do it for her.

‘Not a chance.’

But I couldn’t do her assignment for her.

Basically, it’s not something I should do, and if we get caught, we’d both be in big trouble.

And above all, the biggest reason was that I simply didn’t want to do it for her.

“But you’re doing well on your own.”

“Once I finish this… this year will be over, right?”

“What are you talking about? Not yet.”

Aelin, absorbed in exams, had forgotten about the big event coming up.

I informed her of the reality.

“We still have one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“For me, it’s the school trip; for you, it’s the graduation exam.”

Just like the third-year high school students, Aelin’s middle school third-year class also has a graduation exam.

Usually, most students experience their awakening during that graduation exam.

That means the difficulty of the exam is quite high.

Of course, Aelin has already completed her second awakening, so she’ll likely pass easily.

“That’s super easy anyway. I’m going to pass anyway, so can’t I just skip it?”

“What are you saying? If you fail, you’ll truly be a family disgrace.”

“Then I’ll leave home.”

While that might be nice, the possibility was approaching zero in reality.

If Aelin were to fail, no one in middle school would pass.

“You’re bragging about something so easy…”

“It’s not easy! Do you know how hard our kids are working for it?”

“They’re working hard now because they haven’t been working hard until now.”

If they had lived diligently from the beginning, they should have experienced at least their first awakening by now.

However, only a very small number of third-year middle school students have experienced even their first awakening.

“Am I wrong?”

“Well, not really… but the kids are young…”

“…”

There was quite a big difference between those kids and Aelin, despite being the same age.

And because of that difference, Aelin didn’t seem to realize that she was the same age as them.

“Well… I guess it’s funny for me to be telling them what to do anyway.”

I came to this time period through regression, which is why I’m like this, but the original me was still an irredeemable piece of trash.

Realizing that fact made me feel a bit embarrassed about what I had just said.

“True, who are you to talk like that? You were just a gaming addict before.”

“Just finish your assignment.”

With those words, I stood up from my seat.

Aelin asked me with a sour expression.

“Where are you going?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“You never know.”

“You called me out, so I left the others behind. I should go check on them. After all, I am the vice-party leader. You should finish quickly and come too.”

“It’ll be around 9 o’clock by the time I finish this.”

Aelin was openly expressing her reluctance to come.

However, those expressions had no effect on me.

“We usually go until 12, don’t we?”

Actually, 12 was the standard, and sometimes we disbanded as late as 3 or 4 in the morning.

And Aelin was with us at those times too.

“Fine… I’ll come.”

“You should have said that from the start. Everyone will be missing the school trip soon anyway. Let’s work hard before that. Those with graduation exams need to work hard anyway.”

Those two events were now approaching very closely.

There was only about a week left until the two events, which were scheduled for exactly the same date.

“By the way, where do you usually go for school trips?”

“Usually, we go to some nice place in our country or to the Orion Kingdom. Visiting those historical sites is surprisingly fun. The amusement parks too.”

“Amusement parks…”

“I feel like someone like you wouldn’t have been to one.”

I don’t know how she knew, but she was exactly right.

I had visited historical sites a few times, but an amusement park would be a first.

“At least I know what it is.”

“I thought so. But you probably won’t find it fun anyway.”

“Why?”

“Those rides won’t be particularly fast for you, right?”

“Well, the same goes for you, doesn’t it?”

From what I’d seen in videos, they were fast—definitely not slow.

But as Aelin said, they weren’t particularly fast either.

“Besides, I think it would be fun anyway. It’s the atmosphere that makes it enjoyable.”

Rather than the speed of the rides, it’s the experience of riding them with friends that would be fun.

Of course, it would be even better if she were there too.

“But I’m surprised they’re still going despite the war.”

“We’ll probably stay within our country, and those guys wouldn’t be crazy enough to invade here anyway.”

Still, since there was a real danger, people like Amelia would likely accompany us.

‘Actually, just having me and sis would be fine…’

The more I thought about it, the more regrettable it seemed.

After all, graduation was coming soon, so we wouldn’t see each other much after that.

And Aelin was well aware of that fact too.

“But what will we do without Ally?”

“We’ll have to manage on our own.”

“Are those sisters really going to leave for the Orion Kingdom after graduation…?”

“Yeah, it’s almost certain.”

I already knew this, so I didn’t have any particular thoughts, but Aelin, who had only recently heard this news, was saddened by it.

Having spent time together at the academy since middle school, they must have built up quite a bond.

“Aren’t you affected at all…?”

“Well, two years is nothing.”

Of course, it’s not that I’m not affected.

I want to be with her continuously and don’t want to be apart.

However, for the future ahead, being apart might actually be better.

When separated, we can’t rely on each other, which will make us develop ourselves more and strive not to fall behind each other.

“And it’s not time to be sad yet. We’re still together for now.”