Chapter 195: Mid-Term…

Tuesday morning arrived with the specific kind of dread that only midterm season could produce. Kawakami High looked like a war zone; not the supernatural kind Akira was used to, but the academic variety.

Students gathered in every available corner, burying their heads in notebooks and scrolling through revision apps. Their voices carried that particular edge of panic that no amount of coffee could fix.

Akira walked through the main corridor with his bag over one shoulder, watching a girl from Class 1-C actually cry over a flashcard deck. Normal… completely normal.

Rina fell into step beside him. “Chemistry practical tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“You ready?”

“More ready than most people here.” He nodded toward a second-year boy stress-eating onigiri while reading from three textbooks at the same time. “That guy is going to pass out before third period.”

Rina laughed, which was nice to hear after the last few weeks.

—

Chemistry class ran long because Nishikawa-sensei had a talent for explaining simple things in the most complicated way possible.

“Tomorrow’s lab practical will constitute thirty per cent of your midterm grade,” she announced. “Review oxidation-reduction reactions tonight. Focus on electron transfer direction and how to identify reducing agents in solution.”

Half the class groaned in unison.

Aoi, seated one desk to Akira’s left, was already writing in her notebook at speed, hand moving so fast the pen squeaked. She’d highlighted three paragraphs before Nishikawa-sensei finished her sentence.

Akira leaned slightly. “You okay over there?”

“Fine,” Aoi murmured without looking up. “Completely fine. I’m just noting everything.”

“You’ve underlined the same sentence twice.”

She looked down. She had. “I’m nervous,” she admitted quietly. “I need strong grades this term. My parents are already unhappy about how much time I’ve spent on the festival art stuff.”

“You’ll do fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. You’ve been explaining half these concepts to me for the past week. People who can teach don’t fail.”

Aoi finally looked up, cheeks going pink. She turned back to her notebook without another word, but she stopped underlining the same line a third time.

—

The school library had a no-food policy that everyone universally ignored during midterms. Akira, Mia, Aoi, and Rina claimed a corner table, spreading textbooks, notes, and contraband snacks across every available inch of surface.

Aoi had the whiteboard app open on her tablet, diagramming electron flow. Rina had actual printed notes, color-coded by topic. Mia had a notebook with three lines of writing and twice as many doodles.

“Okay,” Aoi said, stylus moving. “The reducing agent loses electrons. The oxidizing agent gains them. Think of it as the reducing agent donating to the oxidizing agent.”

Mia stared at the diagram. “Can you say that in words a normal person uses.”

“That was normal words.”

“No it wasn’t. You said ’reducing agent’ like it’s something anyone would know.”

Rina looked up from her notes. “It’s literally in the name, Mia. The reducing agent reduces the other thing by giving it electrons.”

“That makes even less sense.”

Akira slid Mia’s notebook toward him and drew a quick diagram: two circles, arrows between them, labeled in plain language. “Think of it as one molecule paying a debt to another. The one paying out is the reducing agent. The one collecting is the oxidizing agent.”

Mia studied it. “…okay. That actually makes sense.” She looked at him. “Why didn’t the textbook just say that?”

“Because textbook writers hate students.”

She laughed, genuinely, and leaned against his shoulder for a second before straightening back up and reaching for her pen.

The table settled into a comfortable working rhythm: Aoi and Rina were debating whether a specific reaction counted as redox, Mia was working through practice problems with Akira checking her answers, and there were occasional whispered arguments about formula notation.

Around twenty minutes in, Mia put her pen down and looked around the table.

“You know what? This is actually kind of nice.”

“What is?” Akira asked, glancing up from her notebook.

“This. Just sitting here studying. Being students.” She leaned back in her chair. “No drama. No complications. Just normal exam stress like normal people.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Rina said without looking up.

“I am.” Mia picked up her pen again. “I really am.”

Akira didn’t say anything. She was right… it was nice. Quiet, ordinary, the kind of afternoon that used to feel like his whole life before the System changed everything.

He let himself sit in it for a moment before reminding himself it was temporary.

That was when Sakura Hanamura walked in.

She came through the library entrance with Yui at her side, both of them scanning for space. Akira hadn’t seen Sakura since the dinner with Valerius… since he had allowed her to get corrupted.

But knowing and seeing were different things.

She looked calm. Her hair was neat and her posture was straight, showing the same level of composure she always had. A stranger wouldn’t have noticed anything wrong.

But Akira wasn’t a stranger, and he wasn’t looking at the surface.

Sakura spotted the open area near their table and moved toward it without hesitation. She didn’t join them, just claimed the neighboring space. Yui arranged her notes beside Sakura’s, leaning in to say something quietly. Sakura nodded.

Then Yui asked something about the exam syllabus, and Sakura looked at her before answering. It was quick, less than a second. But she first checked Yui’s face, as if making sure her answer was okay.

Akira had watched Sakura operate for years; she didn’t need to check with people before she spoke. She didn’t soften her edges for anyone. The girl sitting ten feet away from him wasn’t doing those things; she was waiting for direction from someone Valerius had placed beside her.

He looked back at his notes before anyone caught him staring.

Mia had gone quieter beside him. “Great,” she murmured. “Audience.”

“They’re just studying,” Aoi said.

“Sure,” Mia said, and turned a page.

After school, Akira used the thin excuse of picking up notes from Ayaka to break away. Ayaka didn’t even blink; she backed it up and they were in her apartment with the door closed ten minutes later.

She dropped onto the edge of her bed. “Sakura.”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve been watching her since she sat down.”

“I noticed something.” He leaned against the wall. “She kept checking Yui before she responded to anything. Like she needed permission.”

“That’s stage-two compliance,” Ayaka said quietly. “She’s not just attached to Valerius anymore; she’s pattern-matching to his whole network. Yui is his extension, so Sakura’s brain treats her approval the same way it treats his.”

“It happened fast.”

“He’s had centuries of practice.” Ayaka pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. “When you take her back… when the bond transfers, she’ll do the same with you. All of that compliance, that need. Just redirected.”

“I know.”

“Do you regret letting it get this far?”

Akira thought about it honestly. “No.”

“Then why do you look like you do?”

“Because watching it is different from knowing it’s happening.” He exhaled. “She looks softer. All the sharp edges gone.”

“Corruption does that. It smooths over whatever’s inconvenient.” Ayaka was quiet for a moment. “On the other side of the Domain Battle, there’s a choice. Keep her the way she is… easy, cooperative, no friction. Or go through the long process of actually healing her.” She met his eyes. “If you heal her, she’ll remember everything. Including the math of how this played out.”

“Would you have done it differently?” he asked.

“I don’t know. But I know you have to decide what kind of person you want to be after you win, not just during.” She stood up, kissed his cheek, and handed him the folder of notes she’d actually prepared for the excuse. “Think about it.”

—

That night, Akira sat on his bed with the lights low, staring at the ceiling.

He was halfway through running the Domain Battle scenarios in his head when his vision flickered.

[GATE MANIFESTATION DETECTED]

[LOCATION: HARBOR DISTRICT — INDUSTRIAL DRAINAGE TUNNEL, SECTOR 4]

[ESTIMATED FULL MANIFESTATION: 06:00 WEDNESDAY]

[ENERGY CLASS: BETA]

[ENVIRONMENTAL READING: AQUATIC]

He sat up.

Beta-class, water environment and less than nine hours from now.

One day before he was supposed to fight Valerius at full strength. He grabbed his phone and opened the group thread he had created with Ayaka, Rina, and Satomi.

Gate in the harbour. Manifests at six tomorrow morning. We move at six-fifteen.

The replies came back within two minutes. Three confirmations.

Akira set the phone down and looked back at the ceiling.

Valerius had timed this. Whether he’d actually seeded the Gate or just knew it was coming and stayed quiet… either way, the result was the same. Go in and risk getting hurt before the battle. Or skip it and let whatever was inside start consuming people.

He’d never been able to pick the second option. Valerius probably knew that too.

One problem at a time.

[DOMAIN BATTLE: 22 HOURS]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep