NOVEL WEB Chapter 4: Chap 4
-Snacktime-
-From the perspective of Mayu Ryomen-
Lost in thought, I now wandered out of my room, which was the last one in the corridor, across the hallway to the kitchen, while I was greeted by the warming rays of sunshine that had shone through the large windows and covered the dark wooden floor in a warm chocolate brown.
Another sunny day, which unfortunately seemed to be languishing in the in-house dojo. It was certainly over thirty-five degrees outside and we had nothing better to do than to simply tear apart the hallowed halls of the dojo once again. Let's hope that Satoru was a little more affectionate with me today than he had been the last two times.
But before he put me through the wringer again, I wanted to at least have a small meal, because I didn't want to start a training session like the one he had planned for me on some days with an empty stomach.
Apart from that, at that moment I had an unspeakable craving for my happiness booster - fruit! Fruit salads were even better!
There could never be enough of them.
Arriving in the brightly decorated kitchen, where there was no one else to be found, I happily grabbed a large peach from the large, full fruit bowl and a knife from the drawer and cut my favorite fruit into pieces.
Shh, I didn't like to just bite into it. I was a bit peculiar in that respect, as some of my colleagues had noticed.
Especially my black-haired colleague Hotaru, whose hearty laughter still echoed in my thoughts and who I could now also count as a friend.
Her skeptical look, which she had given me several times at the beginning, literally shone in the various inscriptions, all of which said something like 'you cut your fruit instead of just biting into it?
She found it particularly funny when I cut into a mandarin orange with a knife and then peeled it with my fingers. I would not soon forget such a warm-hearted laugh about it. Just like her question about why I wouldn't just rip it open.
I smiled to myself.
Yes, she probably hadn't asked herself that question alone, I'm sure everyone I knew had, but the reason couldn't have been more banal. I disliked having bits of shell under my fingernails and between my teeth.
I didn't like it and personally found it disgusting.
The peach was joined by a large, juicy pear, which I also cut into quarters and had a slice of.
Thoughtfully, I blew a short but powerful puff of air through my nose.
Instead of standing here in the kitchen, cutting fruit and about to start a special training session, I would actually have been standing in the operating theater with Hotaru, assisting in a difficult operation, where she would have given me valuable tips and tricks. The topic of surgery and the human body was a mixture of fascination and thrill for me at the same time. I saw this anxiety that everything would be fine afterwards and that the patient would be able to carry on as usual without any restrictions.
It's hard to believe that just under two months ago, I had given up half of my heart's desire and received sad and regretful faces from my colleagues and bosses.
It was crazy that I had gone through with it. Initially, I caught myself a few times getting ready for work in the morning and unfortunately realized that I no longer had that job.
Instead, I was now dealing with curse spirits. I was allowed to save people's lives again, hopefully soon, but I hadn't even dared to dream of this kind of rescue. It was pretty crazy.
I sighed slowly and added another peach to my fruit and cut it into pieces.
I missed it. I missed it immensely.
Even though I found these new tasks I had here at the academy fascinating and funny at the same time, it was quite contradictory to what I had learned and done. Even though I was out and about with Megumi or Kento, watching over their shoulders as they worked, how they dissected curses or the nasty training with Satoru, who was already hoofing it out the door. I had never really imagined my later years would be like this... Really never.
All this stuff about curses, curse spirits and curse power and so on and so forth. If someone had explained this to me or told me about it ten years ago, I would have stood there shaking my head and thinking that they had got it in for me, but what could I say? I was now in the middle of it. Instead of just being there... Including the waffle on my head.
Smiling, I took another bite of my snack.
What had the gentleman come up with for me again today?
Last time he literally chased my soul out of my body. The madman seriously came up with the crazy idea of unleashing so-called fly heads on me.
Fly heads!
Just the fact that they had a name at all, those bastards.
I shook myself in disgust as it sent shivers down my spine. My memory of the curses of the 4th rank almost made me feel sick again. And they looked particularly hideous.
They had white feathered wings and a wrinkly naked body with eyes that were far too big and had tried to attack me. Ewww! They were small and fortunately could be driven out with just a stick-like weapon, but the guy with the white hair said dryly to me that I should have driven them out with curse power.
With curse power...
Which, even after the past training sessions, still hadn't shown itself from its vacation or even the afterlife.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have had to save my ass on the sports field when that fucking thing hit me seven weeks ago. And by God it was monstrous. This devil thing was all oversized teeth, ready to devour me with one bite. Its hands and feet were just as small as those of those fly heads, which had been a joke in comparison, and yet it raced at the speed of light.
And that was beginning to be my everyday life...
I sighed again and brought another piece of fruit straight to my mouth.