The Villain’s POV in the Academy

Chapter 348: The Villain’s POV in the Academy

“I like you. Please officially go out with me.”

At Airi’s sudden confession, I couldn’t help but stop breathing for a moment.

No, perhaps it wasn’t sudden. It had been quite a while since I first noticed her feelings for me, so something that could have happened at any time had simply happened today.

I had prepared myself for this to some extent, so I gave the answer I had prepared.

“No.”

Even to me, it was a rather cold, clean-cut answer.

However, Airi only flinched for a moment when she heard my answer, then immediately asked back with an unaffected expression.

“Why?”

Just as I had prepared myself for Airi’s confession, she seemed to have anticipated my rejection as well. Her voice trembled faintly, but her attitude remained confident.

“Because I’m from the Fallen?”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“I’m the Chairman of the Stingray Educational Foundation. My job is to discover, sponsor, and support talented people. As you know, among them, Trinity Academy in particular is an investment target that every corporate educational foundation keeps an eye on.”

“So?”

“In other words, no matter what I do, attention is inevitably drawn to me. If the chairman of an educational foundation dates a student he sponsors, you can imagine how filthy the looks from those around us would be, can’t you?”

If we could simply start dating and then “lived happily ever after.” everything would have been fine, but reality wasn’t like that.

“Don’t you remember the rumors that circulated early last year, when you and Miyu were the only ones in the Special Class? Just because there were only two female students in the Special Class, people started saying I was paying money to collect girls I had my eye on.”

“…….”

“Miyu is from Sector E, and you came from the Fallen. Because of that, those rumors hardly died down until Silence joined. No, to be precise, even after Silence joined, there were rumors for a while that I was also interested in men.”

No one said anything in front of me, but behind my back, they would whisper all kinds of filthy slander.

It didn’t help that Aaron Stingray before my transmigration hadn’t been particularly interested in women either, which tended to amplify the rumors even further.

“Do you need any more reasons?”

“……Yes.”

I thought she would back down after hearing that much, but surprisingly, Airi didn’t. Instead, she stepped closer to me and confidently straightened her shoulders.

“Whenever people looked down on me for being from the Fallen, I used to get excessively angry. I didn’t hesitate to use violence, and there were times when I beat people half to death until they apologized. All the while, I wished for a world where people wouldn’t discriminate based on someone’s origins.”

“…….”

“But once I realized it, I discovered that I was the one who had branded myself with the label of ‘Fallen’ more than anyone else and was viewing everything through prejudice. Things like, ‘That person must be looking down on me,’ or, ‘That laugh was definitely mocking me.’ To be honest, even until a few days ago, I still had some of that persecution complex left…… but I suddenly realized something.”

“Realized what?”

“Once you die, none of it matters.”

Airi’s purple eyes looked at me.

“Once you die, it’s over. Whether you were looked down on because you came from the Fallen, or whether you were born with everything from the beginning like you. Once you die, it’s over. If it’s all going to end when we die anyway, should we really live our lives worrying about how other people see us while we’re still alive?”

“Airi.”

“I’m going to do what I want.”

Airi declared.

“I liked you, but I was too embarrassed to say it. I told myself our backgrounds didn’t match and shrank back…… and all the while, I worked myself half to death because I wanted to become someone confident enough to stand beside you.”

“…….”

“But when I thought about it, who in this world could possibly fight alongside you as an equal? No matter how strong I become, I’m probably never going to become strong enough to kill a dragon by myself. More importantly, what I really wanted wasn’t ‘strength.’ It was the ‘confidence’ to stand beside you.”

“…….”

“You’re that strong, so why are you afraid of how other people see you? Once you die, it’s over anyway.”

“Haa…….”

I sighed, closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

“Airi.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t say this because I thought it might hurt you, but if you absolutely refuse to give up, I’ll give you more reasons.”

“Ugh…… F-Fine. Tell me.”

When I pushed harder, Airi seemed to become tense as well.

“First…… there’s a considerable age gap between us. When I had just started working for a corporate security team at eight years old, you hadn’t even been born yet.”

“Then I’ll argue against that too. In a world where people can easily live to a hundred because of anti-aging surgery, an eight-year age difference is nothing at all. Besides, Serena is the same age as me, so why were you engaged to her?”

“That wasn’t my decision.”

“Right, everyone around you thought that kind of age gap was nothing, didn’t they? Then there’s no real difference with me either.”

“…….”

She refuted me instantly.

I was losing to Airi in an argument.

Earlier, I had even lost a battle of wills against Miyu. Why had I become so weak lately?

N-No, not yet.

I still had plenty of ammunition.

“Second…… your appearance…….”

As I spoke, my eyes suddenly met Airi’s.

I was about to say I didn’t like her face, but to be honest, criticizing Airi’s appearance was practically impossible.

Starting with my younger sister Kalia, then Maria and Serena, there were plenty of beautiful women around me, but purely in terms of facial features, Airi didn’t fall behind any of them.

Even with her usual makeup-free face, she was beautiful enough to put most celebrities to shame, so even as a man, I couldn’t bring myself to lie and say, ‘I don’t like your face.’

More importantly, in this world, appearance was something you could replace with a few simple surgeries anyway, so being obsessed with it would have been rather strange.

“Third…….”

“Why did you just skip the second one?”

Airi pointed it out, but I ignored her.

“Third…… I’m a Transmigrator.”

“Does that matter?”

“I don’t know how you see it, but even I don’t understand by what principle I’m controlling this body. Perhaps one day, I may suddenly find myself back in my original world.”

What would happen if my soul vanished from this body one day and the personality of its original owner revived?

Well, needless to say, it would be a catastrophe.

A murderous sociopath strong enough to defeat a dragon. The Sky Dragon at least treasured humans while treating them like livestock, but there was a good chance that bastard wouldn’t.

Just imagining it was horrifying.

“Is that enough of a reason?”

When I spoke confidently, Airi remained silent for a moment before opening her mouth.

“No. Like I said earlier, I don’t care whether you’re a Transmigrator or whatever else.”

“Then fourth.”

“Y-You still have more?”

“Personality. I prefer women who are a little gentler and more refined. How could I see someone who casually kicked me the first time we met as a romantic partner?”

“Th-That……! I don’t have anything to say about that, but I can change if I work at it! Think about it. When I first enrolled, how many people could possibly have imagined I’d become Student Council President? My grades improved tremendously too.”

“Give it up already. The fact that you’re trying to appeal to me with your grades is exactly what makes you a child.”

“Y-You’re really going to play it like that!?”

Airi finally exploded in anger.

“To be completely honest! Who in this city doesn’t have personality problems? Serena honestly isn’t normal either, and Ms. Maria is a workaholic! E-Even you!”

“I wasn’t trying to insult you, so calm down.”

“Your personality isn’t exactly easy to deal with either, you know? You’re a narcissist, you always wear those gloomy black suits! Your hair is always slicked back, you don’t even know how to make proper jokes…… A-And……!”

“I said calm down.”

“And you’re an unparalleled liar…… but still!”

At that moment.

Airi’s momentum suddenly weakened.

“S-Still…… I’m saying that I thought that ‘Aaron Stingray’ was cool…….”

Her face soon turned as red as a strawberry.

Even so, she never looked away. She stared at me with those vivid purple eyes and revealed her feelings in a trembling voice.

“I-I don’t like you because you’re cool. You look cool because I like you. Isn’t that what it means to like someone?”

“Airi.”

“I-I’ll dare to say it. I’m a g-girl with plenty of qualities that you could like too…… and if you just give me a chance, I can prove that to you.”

Airi’s face had gone beyond bright red and looked like it might actually explode. Her already snow-white skin only made it even more obvious.

However.

Even this time, I could only give her the same answer.

“……I’m sorry.”

“…….”

I avoided her gaze with a light sigh, and Airi didn’t answer.

Silence lingered between the two of us for a while.

Then.

Airi broke the silence and spoke again.

“……Then let me ask just one last thing.”

“What is it?”

“You listed so many reasons why we can’t date, so why didn’t you say even once that ‘I don’t see Airi Aliceval as a romantic partner’?”

“……!”

For a moment, it felt as though someone had struck me over the head with a hammer.

I had tried not to show it as much as possible, but Airi possessed remarkably sharp instincts, and she had caught that detail perfectly.

When I turned my head toward Airi, a broad smile covered her lips. Her face was still bright red, but her expression was as triumphant as a victorious general.

“I-If you dislike me as a romantic partner and truly believe I have absolutely no chance, then clearly tell me that you ‘don’t like me.’ Then I won’t press you any further.”

“Airi. I don’t know what you think, but men as creatures are…….”

“Don’t say anything weird. Answer me.”

“…….”

There was no way I could say I disliked her.

Fine.

Let’s be honest.

A woman who told me she liked me, who threw herself into danger when my life was at risk, who worked herself to the bone for me, and who genuinely cried for my sake.

No, even long before that.

The heroine I had admired before I ever became Aaron Stingray.

The person who had breathed hope into my gray-colored life.

The girl whose journey I had cheered for while knowing her only through words on a page and the images in my imagination.

How could I possibly dislike her?

“…….”

No matter how many excuses I made, no matter how much I tried to lie.

That alone was a truth that would never change.

However…….

“……Airi.”

“Yes.”

“You shouldn’t have fallen in love with me.”

“Why?”

“The person you were originally supposed to love wasn’t me. It was someone else. The feelings you have for me are partly because you’re still immature, and partly because of a mistake committed by fate and me.”

“…….”

“You weren’t supposed to fall in love with me.”

The original timeline.

In the original story, there was someone else she was supposed to fall in love with.

Shade Wells.

That name, which now felt impossibly distant, belonged to the person Airi was supposed to love.

My original goal had been to become an ‘observer.’

My dream was to possess overwhelming wealth and power, remain in a comfortable position, and watch the growth of the people I admired from a one-sided vantage point.

Things had simply become twisted again and again until we ended up here, but originally, Airi was supposed to hate and despise me, ‘Aaron Stingray,’ simply because I was a Stingray.

The story had already diverged so far from the original that there was no turning back, but that was also one of the most important reasons why I couldn’t readily accept Airi’s confession.

“So…….”

“Then let’s do this.”

At that moment.

Airi cut me off.

“I’ll give you until I graduate.”

“……What?”

“The fact that I’m still a student is what makes all of this complicated, right? Then I’ll give you three years. I’ll give you that much time, until I finish my fourth year and graduate.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If your feelings still haven’t changed by then, I’ll back off cleanly. But if they have, then after I graduate, go out with me. How about it?”

“……Shouldn’t that be the other way around?”

Was this really a proposal someone making a confession was supposed to offer?

As I wondered about that.

“Answer me quickly. Otherwise, I’ll stay right here and keep bothering you.”

“Are you trying to threaten me?”

“Think about it. Why did everyone leave when I arrived? The truth is, everyone else is in on this too. They’re on my side.”

“…….”

What could I possibly say to that?

In the end, what came out of my mouth was a declaration of surrender.

“……Fine.”

With a sigh, I admitted defeat.

“I accept your proposal.”