Chapter 83 Volume III – Chapter 4: Karaoke

Actually, these three hours with Adrian, Julian, Celine, Lucia, Sue, and Alysia were much more productive than I thought.

Towards the end, the group started talking to each other a bit more freely. I didn’t know how much they would progress from the first day, but I certainly didn’t expect them to make this much.

Of course, unfortunately, our time was not unlimited. So there was an end to it.

“Well! How do you think it was?”

I looked at the six people in front of me, who were almost asleep, without taking the smile off my face. They had listened to what I was saying with a lot of focus, but of course, three hours of concentration had tired their minds a lot.

“Thank you…”

Celine took a deep breath, attempting to stand up, but I spoke before she did.

“Are you bored?”

Six pairs of eyes turned to me at the same time, a hint of curiosity in their tired eyes.

“Don’t you think you deserve a reward after all that hard work? Why shouldn’t we have fun?”

As I said these words, I looked each of them in the eye, while observing Alysia.

Her expression was the same as always.

It’s really impossible to understand what she was thinking, but if I don’t try, I won’t be able to get an idea. For now, I’m curious to see how she’s going to look at the idea of ‘fun’.

“Fun?”

Sue asked in surprise, the others must have been thinking the same way as she was, their sense of wonder multiplied.

“Yes, fun.”

I widened my smile, turned off the holographic screen we were using for the lesson, and then raised my hand to open another holographic screen.

The lights inside the room suddenly dimmed, more colorful lights filled the surroundings, and a huge screen appeared on the wall in front of us.

“Isn’t this the karaoke room? After what happened at the preliminary and after such a boring time, why don’t we have fun? Don’t we deserve to have a good time?”

Yes, that was my plan, even if it was cheap; to sing karaoke.

As young people who are not even twenty years old yet, why can’t we sing karaoke?

I hesitated for a moment.

Well… I mean, even though my mind is twenty-one, my body is eighteen. I’m kind of an exception, I think.

“I think it would be better if we rested…”

Julian stood up, clearly uncomfortable. Then slowly, but with haste, which he tried to hide, he headed for the door.

“Do you have a bad voice? Or are you ashamed… Oh, I see. I wouldn’t expect that from a nobleman.”

Julian paused for a moment.

“There’s nothing you can do if you sing badly, but I really didn’t expect you to ‘run away’… Julian Virhen, refusing a challenge cowardly… This will make good gossip.”

He’s a proud man. Whether it’s his personality or the fact that he was born and raised in the Virhen family, almost the highest nobility in the kingdom, a lot of factors have made this pride grow and grow since he was a baby.

What does he do when he hears these words, especially in front of other people, people he is embarrassed by?

“Run away…”

He mumbled, but his voice was barely audible. I narrowed my eyes and continued with a slightly sad expression.

“Anyway, there’s nothing to do-”

“Alright…”

Julian turned around, quickly approached the screen, and then scrolled down the list on the screen with his finger. Then he pressed something at random.

The lights in the room suddenly swiveled to focus on him, a pleasant-sounding melody began to emanate from the walls, and then the lyrics appeared on the screen in front of Julian.

All the while I smiled with the sweet satisfaction of victory, turned slightly, and looked at the others.

For now, none of them seemed to have any intention of leaving, they all understood what I had done in this exchange between Julian and me, and they seemed to like it, grinning slightly.

Good.

I had a broad smile on my face. Then I turned back to Julian and then another voice joined the melody echoing in the room; Julian’s voice.

The song was one of those fast, energetic songs. The melody was one of those that forced you to keep a rhythm, it sounded quite nice.

Not to lie, Julian’s voice sounded good too, and it matched the rhythm. So that little tension in the atmosphere disappeared in an instant.

Julian continued to sing the lyrics for about two or three minutes, then the music faded, and the room lights, which had been focused on him, scattered again.

Julian slowly looked back and gave me a knowing look.

I smiled, nodded in agreement, and started clapping, followed by another round of applause from behind me. Sue joined me, followed by the others with herd psychology.

“Heheh…”

When Julian saw the applause, he stood still for a moment, scratched the back of his head with a grin he couldn’t keep off his face, and averted his eyes.

The nervousness, the embarrassment of only a few minutes ago was gone.

“Next then?”

I turned around again and looked at the others, the applause had suddenly stopped.

The nervousness that had left the atmosphere seeped back into the air, no one made a sound. No one even made eye contact with me, let alone a sound. The only one who did was Alysia, but she was expressionless and I couldn’t understand what she was thinking.

Shame is really their worst enemy…

“Then let’s draw lots!”

Seeing that no one was willing, I quickly accessed something on my watch that could help us draw lots. I quickly typed everyone’s names into the program except Julian’s, and then without waiting, I drew the lots.

The name that came up was Celine’s.

I looked directly at her with a smile on my face and she realized the result. She insisted on not standing up, but in the end, I forced her to stand in front of the screen.

When the first lyrics came in, her voice was a bit slurred, but then it rose on its own. She synchronized with the song as if she had forgotten about us, and when the song ended she had the same look on her face that Julian had just had on his; she was so proud of herself.

In this way, although they were reluctant and hesitant at first, they slowly adjusted to the environment. The nervous expression on their faces gradually disappeared, they were just focusing on the songs and relaxing.

After Celine, the next draw was Sue, Adrian, myself, and Lucia.

Sue was timid at first, just like Celine, but after I gave her a little push and encouragement, she went on. Her voice was neither good nor bad, it was just an average performance.

When she finished, Sue didn’t say much, just a slight smile on her face and took her place. There was still some distance between her and the others, but I believe she will get used to it eventually.

After Sue, it was Adrian’s turn…

Well, he was actually the only one in the group who seemed excited to go on stage, but I can’t say that his voice was… good.

I can’t comment on myself, but judging by the looks on people’s faces, I didn’t give a bad performance or an extremely good performance. I am not very important anyway. The main event will be the person who will perform after me, Lucia.

Lucia confidently stepped in front of the screen, even if her facial expression could not be understood because of her mask.

No one else knew much about her, but I did, so the mask couldn’t hide her emotions from me.

She was someone who was hungry for real friends, someone who always wanted to have a ‘fun’ time but could never do it. That’s why she was excited, whether she let it show on the outside or not, now she wanted to show herself.

What she didn’t know, though, was that her statistics affected not only the way she looked and the way people looked at her but almost everything she put out.

When her voice left her lips, when her lyrics echoed in the room, the ‘comfortable’ atmosphere dissipated in an instant.

To call Lucia’s voice beautiful would be an insult. Even the most famous singers in the world could not be on the same level as her.

It wasn’t only her voice that was perfect, her harmony with the song was also excellent. The slow but peaceful song, which aims to evoke a lot of emotions at the same time, jumped several levels at once when Lucia was the one singing it.

That’s why everyone was hypnotized. Even Alysia’s eyes widened, she didn’t move a muscle and focused on the music.

I, on the other hand, listened to the whole thing without being overly affected thanks to the Absolute Mind, even if the song was really perfect.

I am aware of Lucia’s beauty and the charm of her voice, I could be as hypnotized by the song as they are if I let myself, but more is impossible unless I specifically ask for it. I don’t feel particularly drawn to her and I don’t feel my mind going fuzzy.

Of course, I’m not complaining.

So after three minutes, Lucia finished her song and turned around excitedly to look at us.

When she saw people staring at her with open mouths without saying anything, she frowned, even though I couldn’t understand her emotions because of her mask.

She understood that her statistics were at work, she knew that the people in front of her were looking at her because of the statistics. That’s why she was annoyed, but then she saw me looking directly at her.

When our eyes met, I smiled slightly at her, then closed my fist and raised my thumb in the air as if to show that she had succeeded.

She was stunned when this happened, but I didn’t mind her too much. I whistled and clapped a little louder to get the crowd back on their feet.

The sound echoed around the room and everyone came to their senses. Then, absent-mindedly, they started clapping along with me.

“You should be a singer Lucia, you’ll make good money.”

This comment was not mine. It was Celine who spoke.

“E- Exactly…”

This time Julian interjected, but his voice trailed off with each letter.

The tension on Lucia’s face slowly faded as she heard them, and instead, her cheeks contracted, as if to show that she was smiling under her mask.

“Thanks…”

Lucia stepped back from the screen and rejoined us. She was relieved, I think I can say.

So there was only one person left, Alysia, who didn’t go on stage.

Alysia didn’t react much when she realized we were looking at her. She just sighed a little bit, came in front of the screen, and started singing a random song.

I didn’t expect her to sing. I mean, at least given her personality, I could visualize her expressionless rejection.

And now… she’s singing in front of us.

And it’s not sloppy, she does it quite well. After Lucia, she might even have the best voice of all of us, she harmonizes well with the rhythm and gives emotions. Not as much as Lucia, but she can make everyone focus on her.

Of course, not me.

I narrowed my eyes and focused more on Alysia’s back facing us than on the song.

She’s definitely trying to do something, I’m sure of it now.

I’m not exactly sure what, but her grandfather must have given her a mission. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be doing something so contrary to herself.

The only problem is… what kind of mission exactly? The same as in the game, or something different? Is she here just for Adrian or does she have any plans for me?

I don’t know about this and this kind of thing, but I certainly should. For now… I’ll keep watching her.

Alysia sang until it was over until the music slowly came to an end. When she finally finished singing she looked at us without saying anything.

The group was really mesmerized, not as much as Lucia’s, but it was a great performance.

“Okay!”

I gave a small round of applause. Then the group followed me and I looked at the clock.

It was already midnight and we were still here.

Actually, it would be nice to continue. I’d like to try duets or trios so that they get used to each other more, but I won’t bother them too much.

“And so ends our first activity as a group! We studied together and then relaxed by having fun… Thank you for coming.”

With that, they stood up. They understood that we had come to the end.

“When is the next gathering?”

Adrian was the one who asked the question and his eyes looked a little brighter than usual.

He had the excitement of a child eating sweets for the first time in his life. He wanted more.

“We’ll meet again in two days, and then I wanted to meet again on the weekend, but I have a little business… If you guys want to study, go ahead. Lucia is already more knowledgeable than me, she will help you better.”

“I see…”

“Good evening.”

Without another word, Alysia grabbed her tablet, threw her coat over herself, and hurried out of the room. Julian followed her, grabbing Adrian by the shoulders and tugging him toward the exit, but when I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was looking in Lucia’s direction, I had to suppress the urge to laugh.

Well… it looks like I’m cheating because I’m not affected by the charm statistic, but it’s actually quite funny.

“Aiden, are you coming?”

Adrian turned to me, standing in the doorway, waiting for me with Julian.

“No. I’ve got a half-hour thing to take care of, I’m going somewhere other than the dorms.”

“I see… Goodbye, then.”

“Goodbye…”

In this way, Adrian and Julian also went out. Then Celine and Lucia headed toward the door together, but before they went out they turned around one last time.

They were both looking in one direction, in the direction of Sue, who was standing right next to me.

Sue’s eyes were fixed on the floor. She had her tablet in her hand but she was just waiting. She hadn’t realized that Celine and Lucia were looking at her, so I took advantage of this and gave them a quick hand gesture.

They both turned to me, I smiled and pointed at Sue and made a simple walking gesture with two fingers on my other hand.

Sue had tried to get close to them when she was studying, but she always kept her distance from them. Celine usually didn’t like people who were afraid of her, but Sue was different.

Sue wasn’t afraid of those two. She was used to the typical nobility after Justin.

She was just afraid of not making ‘friends’, of not being liked, of being ostracized again. This was a bit obvious in her behavior. That’s how Celine and Lucia understood what I meant. This glance sequence, which lasted only two seconds, was enough for communication between us.

After this brief moment, Celine and Lucia looked at each other for a moment and then nodded slightly. Grateful, I slowly stepped back and gently pushed Sue forward.

As Sue stumbled forward she looked up from her contemplative state, saw Celine and Lucia waiting for her, and then stood still for a few seconds.

“Come, Olivia. Let’s go to the dorms together.”

When Lucia spoke, Sue stared at her for a moment longer. Then she walked slowly over to them, pausing before she left the room and looked at me.

I could have sworn that her dark blue eyes were practically glowing. She looked happy as the nervous, pained expression I had seen so far slowly disappeared, replaced by a big, bright smile, the first I had ever seen on her face.

“Thank you.”

Her voice was almost silent, I could only guess from the way her lips moved that she had said that.

I felt warm inside, I was happy, just like her.

To receive a thank you from someone, to feel that I had really helped someone… it was really wonderful.

I raised my hand and gave her a simple wave, then I put a smile on my face and watched Sue go out the door with Celine and Lucia.

Neither Lucia nor Celine knows Sue in the slightest. Today was the first time they had seen her, but they understood her problem and helped her.

I suppose I should thank them sometime.

Anyway… Now, let me focus on the main event of the evening.

I put my coat on and left the karaoke room. Then I started walking in the opposite direction of the dormitories.

The place I’m heading to is the ‘Mana Research Laboratories’, which I’ve been to a few times since I’ve been here.

Of course, I’m not here to talk to Ulka. I have another purpose.

I’m going to meet Alexander Callidas, who was ranked first in the last written exams.

Even though it’s midnight, I’m around the time when he’s most active, so it’s not so important.

It’s just… I’m not sure if I’ll get along with him, he’s a bit difficult to convince…

Of course, I have my own methods.

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