Chapter 85 What Was My Life Really Like?

After sending out my Minions, I now had some free time.

I've been wanting to spend some of the numerous resources that I gained from killing the outsiders. I could either trade them for Tokens or craft some better items and equipment.

"William."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever had a crush on a girl before?"

What an out-of-place question...

"Um... why are you asking that now?"

"Aw come on~ I'm just curious after all!"

"Uh, well, I guess I have."

She seemed to be taken aback.

"You? Seriously? Tell me about it!"

"It's really nothing special."

"Come on! Talk about it with me~ surely we're close enough now..."

"I mean... I don't really mind talking about it."

She seemed to be getting excited by what I was saying. It was true, there was a single girl who I once liked. To be fair, it wasn't even like I had a major heartbreak, it was pretty standard... it was pretty normal. It wasn't even like it was something I really wanted to hide either.

"William, you know, I've been wanting to know what your life was like. Normal people don't end up like you~"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah, you don't even realise it? I guess you've spent too much time around me, neither of us are 'normal'."

"I mean, what even is 'normal' these days? Everyone's special in their own way... or so they say."

"You get what I mean, why do you act like you're 'normal'?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Ah forget it! Just tell me about the girl you liked!"

"Well, if you really want to hear about it."

***

It was a hot summer day when everyone arrived at class for their first day of high school.

Most of the students in the class had already been going to this school for several years. However, I was completely new, not only to this school but to traditional schooling in general. I had lived my life in almost pure isolation, I was first a product of the now-scrapped Ideal Human Project, and then I had to survive off of part-time jobs whilst I was still underage and lacked any identification.

Only last year, I finally decided to take the entrance exam for this High School. It seemed my intensive education during the Ideal Human Project paid off, as I managed to get in with a 100% scholarship and free access to boarding facilities.

I wasn't dumb at least.

After several days, I was able to tell that this school was certainly the upper-echelon in terms of education and wealth. Even so, the students of this school seemed relatively normal—well, it's not like I can really comment on normal. The school itself was as you'd expect, however, there was something that interested me.

*

On the first day, the teacher assigned everyone a seat.

That was when I noticed Sara. She was two seats away from me and between me and her sat a boy, Tom. I didn't take much notice of them at first, for all I knew, they were just two random people. However, several weeks later, I noticed that something was distinctly... off.

The way the two of them interacted, you'd believe that they were dating. The two seemed to flirt quite a lot during class and I overheard plenty of invitations for hangouts outside of school as well. Sara's smiling demeanour and happy-go-lucky attitude appeared to be genuine, however, something didn't feel right.

It was on one very humid day when I arrived at class and witnessed a severely depressed Tom. He and Sara didn't talk at all the entire day, at first, I believed that maybe he'd just been dumped. However, when the teacher announced that we would be changing seats, I noticed that Sara wasn't sad at all.

In fact, it would appear that the two of them never had any sort of relationship in the first place.

Instead, she was happily flirting with the boy who had now been seated next to her.

That was when I first realised it.

***

This cycle went on continuously every time the seating plan was changed.

For she was a genuinely cute girl, it would appear understandable to most people that she'd reject a lot of boys.

Most people chalked it up to a coincidence that it was often her seatmate who would be heartbroken.

However, I very clearly noticed this pattern.

Why was she doing this?

What was her goal?

Aside from that, she seemed to be an honest kind person. It didn't make sense...

What was her reason... for breaking so many hearts?

Soon enough, I would have an opportunity to find out.

*

Usually, our teacher would reshuffle the seats every 3 to 4 weeks.

It was the beginning of the second semester.

It was just a coincidence that I was seated next to Sara at the beginning of this semester. I was in the seat at the very front and on the very left, seat one as we called it. She was seated to my right, with another girl on the other side of her. The girl seated on the other side of her was Karen, she was one of Sara's best friends from what I observed.

The teacher generally had a boy-girl seating allocation method but she would also make sure that you had at least one friend beside you—so it was more like a boy-boy-girl-girl seating method. As a result, Fujiharu would always be seated next to one and only one boy.

In the last couple of months, I had noticed Sara's tendency to break the hearts of the boys sitting next to her. All I knew was that not a single boy yet managed to survive the several weeks without falling for her. I didn't have much information on what was really happening—I could only really observe from the outside.

Now, I would be right in the middle of her attacks.

???

***

???

It would be then when people first started calling me a 'psychopath'.

It was then that I first began getting 'bullied'.

Well, I guess 'bullied' isn't exactly the right word... I was stronger than the so-called 'bullies' after all.

I ended up getting hated by everyone because of what I did to Sara.

I mean... it was what she deserved after all.

///

Ah, I guess I know what you mean now, Chloe.