How To Survive A Calamity

"It's almost like he was hit by someone with a grudge."

"Cough! Cough! Cough!!" I was hooked by a dry coughing fit the moment i heard Deandra said that, the side of my face twitching quietly.

I shifted the slipping franes of my glasses, hovering my fist over my mouth.

"A-ahem. I...i see."

Someone with a grudge, huh? Yeah, close enough.

It was pure malice though.

"Ahem. D-did he say he remembers anything in particular...from that incident as a whole, i mean. Cough."

"Hmmm. No, not particularly. He said the last things he recall was a strikingly familiar devil like face with malevolent grin before he passed out. Twice, apparently. Don was under the influence of...you know, so maybe what he saw was also part of tye effect of the spell." Deandra said.

Ah, i remember at that moment Don was just about stirring awake when i jabbed him straight into the eye with my fist. It was inconvenient that he was finally waking up just when i was about to head for Alex, so i had to somehow make sure Don would remain cold...by knocking him out all over again.

But a devil like face...? Wasn't that too much.

"Ah, yes. That's true... it's very likely." I coughed dryly to clear my throat.

The next moment, Deandra cocked her brow up an angle.

"But i still think it's a little odd." She said and i stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think i remember Don with a black eye just before we went after Chelsea and the others. It's almost like he really got hit after, but that couldn't be right?"

"Huh? Didn't you guys say you left Don's unconscious body back with Victor?" Chelsea siad.

Up until that moment, Chelsea who was just next to Deandra remained silent, attending quietly to her meal.

Occasionally she'd steal glances and react subtly to our conversation, but Ceres on the other hand seemed completely indifferent. In fact, she seemed even more vested and particularly fixated in her meal.

'What is she...'

Side glancing quietly at her from the corner of my eyes, Deandra's voice snapped me back to reality next.

"Mhm. If we hadn't, then Don would have been attacked by Monsters while he was unconscious. It was a big risk, but in the end, it ultimately turned out to be the right decision to leave Victor back. Which, by the way, i have to say it, Victor, how did you manage to do it?" She said, raising her brow curiously at me, full of interest.

My redheaded class president's words managed to snap me out of my daze, feeling her gaze intently on me.

I blinked, stuttering.

"... what? Do what?"

In truth, i really wasn't sure what she was talking about. It was true that Don didn't have a clear black eye at first, and it was also true that his body was left behind with me. It really didn't need a genius to put one and two together, but it seemed like what Deandra was asking was more than that. With that realisation, i managed to calm my uneasy mind.

Then Deandra replied.

"How did you do it? Fight off a herd of monsters in your state?" Her voice rising a few pitches with curiousity. Chelsea too was leaning back and simply stared at me as well.

I stared dazedly at them, blinking blankly from behind my lense.

"What?"

Deandra promptly explained, she drew a breath — her fiery red hair flowing down her back like a cascade of bright flames.

"By the time it was all over, we found your unconscious body surrounded by mutilated monster corpses. It seemed like you fought quite a pack of them while protecting Don until you passed out. Why, don't you remember?"

My eyes widened slightly before i quickly managed to recompose my expression, switching places with a fake small sheepish smile as a vague response.

Internally, i raged.

'What the fuck?'

I had no idea what Deandra was talking about. My hazy memories ended just around when i retreated away from the chamber, just before the mental strain from the Flaw of Murmur's Mask and exhaustion caused me to pass out. I also did remember a part of the excruciating pain that came with an agonising breakthrough, however...

But nothing of the sorts of fighting off a small pack of monsters.

My thoughts behind my expression cooled silently, my mind coldly settled.

'That wasn't me.'

I was in absolutely no shape to fight another wave of monsters like that,i was literally unconscious by that point. In fact i barely even remember making it back to the chamber where i left Don behind. And all of this could only mean one thing.

Heaving a quiet sigh internally, i locked my fingers over the table, masking my expression with a feeble smile.

'Meta must have taken control of my body during that time then. She was the one who probably dealt with the Monsters while i was breaking through, but the pain and strain were more than enough to knock me out.'

Either that, or it was Hamlet. But for some reason i was more inclined to believe the latter.

It didn't take me to long to reach this conclusion. This also wasn't the first time Meta had taken control of my body when i was unconscious. The last time, too, i was almost on the brink of death from blood loss while at risk of danger.

It's merely been a long time since Meta did something like that, but now once again, I've been reminded of how much discomfort and unease that thought filled me with. The disquietness was even more unsettling, especially now during this moment, considering my most recent interactions with Meta throughout the day.

Meta could take control of my body with or without my consent as already proven, not once, but twice in multiple occasions. But this was precisely the terrifying part; how sure was i that these two instances were the only moments when my body no longer belonged to me.

Admittedly, both the times Meta took objective control over my body, i was in danger, or outright at death's floor, yes. The first time was the Inherits Dungeon of Laplace after my first confrontation with the Den of Bone Spikes— i had nearly bleeded to death.

The second time was the most recent, at Darm Castle. From what Deandra said, 'i' definitely wasn't the one to take a last stand against the small horde of monsters — Meta was.

And even before this, there was also the instance when Meta seized control of my body for a brief moment a year ago, still at the Inheritance Dungeon, while confronting the Silver Sentinel for the first time. Albeit, that time i was still awake and well conscious.

Then if i was asleep, couldn't Meta just do the same thing and use my body to do... whatever? Or what if there ever came an instance where i refuse to 'fall in line' with the System's Machinations, and Meta merely seizes control against my will?

And even much larger and worse, what did Meta being able to control my body at will mean? Would i eventually lose complete and total will of myself, and not just ro Meta, but to whatever it was or, is, that was behind everything?

My mind was cold, shuddering at the thought. Alas, this wasn't the first or second time I'd sat still to think about this particular problem. But even yet i still haven't accomplished a way to resolve the complication, but now without a doubt i felt even more pressured.

But there was just so much to do and think of.

'Sigh. I guess I'll be adding one more to the list.'

It was more than regrettably, but unfortunately as i continued to remain like this, i was at the complete Mercy of Meta and the system.

Just look at what occured today...

"You actually fought them all off in that state." Deandra lamented, sighing deeply while i remained a feeble smile on my face. I enjoyed my right to remain silent and finally turned to Ceres beside me, setting aside my troubling thoughts for now.

Narrowing my eyes inquisitively, i said.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Ceres had remained quiet literally all throughout the conversation, the sound of her cutlery occasionally resounding as it struck her plate. The sharp clangs were persistent, but it finally grew to a point i couldn't ignore it anymore.

As i turned to finally face Ceres, the right side of my tace twitched, her actions seemingly prompted me to react in suprise.

"No, really. What are you doing?" I felt i had to ask again. Perhaps, i believed, my eyes were deceiving me, but...

—TAK TAK TAK...

Ceres was...

-TAK TAKK TAK...

The stalwart and mysterious cold beauty and first ranked cadet Ceres Walker was... picking her food.

Ceres, her long glittery silver hair framing her face, next to me lingered a few seconds, raised her head and blankly turned to meet my gaze, her blood red eyes staring motionlessly into mine.

"..."

"..."

A strange kind of silence settled over the table, Ceres and i holding each other gaze without a word. Admittedly, for some reason, i felt stumped.

'What...how am i supposed to react this? Should i react?'

However, breaking the silence, Ceres eventually spoke up first, her brows folding and her expression contorting slightly in a bratty exasperation.

"...I don't like the peas."

"..."

'What?'

The peas...?

I looked fown at her plate, specifically at her dish. Ceres' meal consisted of a type of salad and and she was meticulously separating the peas away from it like they were some kind of plague or poison.

Ceres looked away, her expression reverting to her usual indiscernible and indifferent look. An air of graceful distance and aloofness reverberated from her being as she added quietly in her usual voice.

"And the carrots too."