Chapter 83 78 - First Day at 'Work'

Later

Caelus had expected the lesson given by Yanagi to be similar to lectures given by the university professor, and he had expected to fall asleep. To his absolute surprise, not only did he manage to stay awake for the entire lecture, but he seemed interested in the topics.

He managed to learn a lot about Hollow, like how it works and how it affects human bodies. Sure, he may have learned some of it from playing the story, but she managed to explain it in detail. She also explained how W-Engines help raiders or agents to traverse through Hollows, and how Drive Disks were able to be injected into them.

Damn, those disks are tiny as fuck.

What surprised Caelus was learning about Carrots and how it calculated the data from the traced pattern over a certain period of time. Caelus had to bite back a groan when he heard this, wondering how in the world he, a guy who graduated with an engineering degree, had to learn maths for his new job in another world. He swore math was like that one crazy clinging ex who didn't take their break-ups well.

Like, could anyone explain how he still needs to study math despite getting isekaied into another world!?! How does that work!?! Does nobody realize how absurd this is!?!

Thankfully, she told them she will continue to cover the formula behind the calculation in the near future. At least, Caelus knew what he should do to prepare himself for his impending doom, and he could prepare himself for it.

Phil honestly was super excited to go through 6-month trials under the supervision of his idol, Yanagi. He had thought he might learn a lot of new stuff regarding H.A.N.D. and Section 6. To his disappointment, he had to start with the basics, something he had learned during high school!

Sure, the school his 'parents' had sent him to is a prestigious one, where prodigies learn more advanced topics than those from any normal school. But he can't help but be disappointed by the subjects Yanagi taught them today.

But he had no choice but to sit through the lesson and learn the topic. At least Caelus seems like he has learned a lot. Judging from how Caelus seems surprised by basic knowledge, he clearly needs them.

Yanagi had low expectations when she first met Caelus, but she can't help but be surprised by how attentive Caelus was. He didn't seem to be distracted by the lesson, and he seemed like he genuinely wanted to learn. Yanagi had to admit, it was a complete breath of fresh air compared to when she first held a presentation for his team.

She remembered it like it was yesterday. She was completely distracted by her team when giving them the presentation: Soukaku was constantly distracted by little things (Yanagi suspected she might have ADHD), Harumasa slept through the entire presentation, and Miyabi seemed distracted defending a kitten trying to attack her (she learned her boss had been listening the whole time, much later).

Compared to her teammates and chief, Caelus has been taking notes, and when they were on lunch break, she took a peek at the notes. Imagine her surprise at how neatly written the notes are.

She would have suspected Caelus to have a good academic background if not for a single fact: He and his family are from the Outer Ring. Yanagi wonders if he might be from one of the academies outside New Eridu, like Helios Academy. But she simply dismissed that when she noticed Caelus seemed surprised by some information regarding Hollows.

Yanagi had to begrudgingly admit Caelus was good, but that simply wouldn't be enough to get rid of her annoyance towards the young man.

After all, he's the writer of As I've Written. If she wasn't teaching, she would drag Caelus away and have a little 'talk' with him, perhaps 'convince' him to change the ending. Thankfully, luck seems to be on her side as she manages to finish the lesson a bit early.

"Alright, that's for today's lesson," Yanagi says as she puts her stick away. "And Caelus, may I have a word?"

Caelus blinks before his face turns slightly pale, realizing what she wanted to talk about. Phil notices this and simply shakes his head before patting Caelus' back in sympathy.

"...I'm going to be blunt here: why in the world would you write such a fate for Phainon and Cyrene?!" Yanagi yells. Caelus and Phil blink at the sudden outburst.

"...to be fair, that was the tame version..." Caelus says nervously, causing Yanagi to look at him in horror. What does he mean by the tame version!?! Is he implying that their fate is much worse than the published version!?! "My co-writer suggests me to write as much detail as possible, making sure the readers can 'experience' everything in the story. Upon reading it, I...had to take extreme measures to tone it down."

"I...I...." Yanagi collapses to the floor in utter shock, trying to process everything she just heard.

"...I honestly wasn't expecting that..." Phil mutters to Caelus. Phil had never expected his idol to read his friend's work, nor expected her to react like that.

Then again, he did try to read it and reacted far worse than her.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile

With the Cunning Hares and Friends

"...oh gods," Nicole mutters in horror, having overheard everything from outside. "To think Mem, out of all people, has that side in her..."

"Boss...the baby is scary..." Billy whimpers.

"...after everything she went through, I'm surprised she's still able to smile at everyone..." Anby mutters. Meanwhile, Alice stares at the Cunning Hares in confusion before looking at Seed.

"'As I've Written'? You mean that one book filled with so many 5-star reviews that consists of only readers cursing at the author? Caelus, my cousin's best friend, is the writer of the book?" Alice asks in surprise.

"Yes," Nicole says, her eyes gleaming as she pulls out another copy. "Interested? You can buy one from us for 20,000 dennies."

"Oh, that's cheap!" Alice exclaims before pulling out a stash of Dennies, giving her the money, and taking the book. Nicole froze, trying to process Alice's words while her hand was still outstretched. She had heard so many people surprised at the price, and some even felt angry at the price, but she had yet to meet anyone who casually said it was cheap straight to her face!

Is Alice implying that she's rich? Does she know other rich kids who might be interested? As the gears in her head start spinning, she starts grinning and, perhaps due to influences from a certain raccoon, her beauty instantly disappears in the blink of an eye when she grins. Both Billy and Anby blink upon seeing the ugly grin on Nicole's face, and they can't help but be unnerved.

"Hey, girl..." Nicole says as she gently places her hand on Alice's shoulder. Poor Thiren had to do everything not to be scared by Nicole's grin. She held her tongue, trying to avoid being rude to the girl who sold quite a thick novel at such a low price. "I hope you don't mind, but could you help us promote the book to your friends? My friend here wants to share this romantic story with everyone in New Eridu, and I was hoping you could help..."

"U-um, sure...I could recommend this book to some of my classmates in school..." Alice says nervously, and she can't help but shiver when Nicole's grin grows wider.

"Nice!" Nicole exclaims before letting go of Alice, who lets out a quiet sigh of relief.

"...that's gotta be the nastiest grin I've ever seen besides Caelus," Seed says bluntly, eating her flower as everyone looks at her in disbelief. Nicole didn't seem to care as she started cackling like a madman, muttering how much money she could get from the rich folks.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back with Caelus

"..." Yanagi stares at the little Thiren in disbelief as Caelus introduces the little girl as his co-writer. She looks at Caelus in disbelief, questioning how this girl is responsible for the horrors in the story and wondering if he wants to simply shift the blame to the poor, innocent girl.

"Don't give me that look," Caelus sweatdrops. "I have no reason to lie about this. She's the one who comes up with most of the tragedies."

"...forgive me for having a hard time believing you..." Yanagi mutters as she adjusts her glasses.

"She may look young, but she is much older than she looks," Caelus says before he gets elbowed in the shin, causing the poor man to yelp in pain.

"Hey, don't be rude! Did no one teach you to never bring up ladies' age?!" Mem exclaims with a pout.

"Well, since you like to act like a kid, I need to bring it up so no one can get tricked by your charm," Caelus deadpans, earning a stomp on his leg. Thankfully, he is prepared and activates Preservation to protect himself.

"So, her Thiren species made her look younger and shorter..." Yanagi muses, causing Mem to pout at her. "But still, how can she come up with such things?"

"She had a load of unpacked trauma, and she tried to cope by writing an angst. She believed that seeing everyone tear up at her romantic story would put a smile on her face." Caelus says dryly, causing the entire room to go silent before Mem starts hitting Caelus repeatedly.

"Can you not word it like that!?! You made me sound like a villain!" Mem whines, earning a chuckle from Caelus. Yanagi is unsure how to react to all of this, while at the same time wondering if any of Caelus' words are remotely true.

"...This is one of the weirdest moments in my life," Yanagi mutters, causing Phil to scoff lightly.

"If that's weird, wait till you hang out with Caelus long enough. This is much tamer than anything he went through..." Phil mutters quietly before he notices Yanagi staring at the bunny. "Uh...c-can-?!"

Pet.

Caelus blinks as Yanagi places her hand on Phil's head. The poor bunny froze as his face turned slightly red while Yanagi looked captivated by him, slowly stroking his head as her face flushed.

What was supposed to be an adorable moment turns concerning as Yanagi has gotten herself controlled by her urges and is stroking Phil's head at rapid speed. If this were anime, Yanagi would have swirly eyes and smoke coming out of her hands.

Never mind, it's currently happening right in front of his eyes.

Without another word, Caelus gently taps Yanagi's shoulder, which successfully snaps her out of her trance. Upon realizing what she has done, her face turns bright red out of sheer embarrassment, retracting her hand from Phil's head. Before she could apologize, Phil had fallen unconscious with pure bliss on her face.

If this were someone else, Phil would complain nonstop. But given that this is his idol who did this to him, he wouldn't mind it. In fact, he would prefer that way.

"...I have no words," Caelus deadpans at the scene, while Mem lets out a giggle before writing a title: 'A Forbidden Love'. Caelus notices this and gives her a deadpan stare. "Really!?!"

To be Continued