... It's been a while since I've uploaded, huh? ( ̄∇ ̄)

Hope ya'll still are interested in reading it. Here's Chapter 11! And as usual, big thanks to William172_lonhs for the proofreading! Doubt my chapters would be readable without him!

Chapter 11: New Day, New Problems!

"If you turn to page 56, you will see that…"

Another day, another class.

The sound of the other students putting pen to paper echoed throughout the class, and was like a lullaby to my ears, making me sleepy.

I yawned and spun my pen with my fingers. I had become quite skilled at it over the years.

...

I wish to be anywhere but here. I don't know if you know, but I hate school.

Suddenly, something light and slimy hit my cheek.

I wiped it off with my hand and saw what it was.

A spitball.

Instantly my eyes darted to Aqua who sat two seats across from me.

And just as I thought, she was giggling with a straw in her hand.

I gestured a "why" signal with my hand to her.

Her response was another spitball to my face.

So she wants to mess with me during class? Well, I'll show her.

A mischievous idea formed my head, and I smirked.

In my mind, I imagined a bucket of water right above Aqua.

I concentrated with all my might and thought, 'create!'

The bucket of water appeared and fell onto Aqua's head.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Aqua jumped up with a bucket on her head, drenched in water, and slipped on the water, causing her to fall onto the student behind her.

The teacher was not happy with the disruption.

"Aqua! What the hell is the matter?"

"I-I-I-I"

However, this was a teacher who hated the students.

"I don't want to hear your excuses! Go to the principal's office!"

I smiled mischievously and put my head down.

...

"KAZUMA YOU MEANIE! BAKA! WHY DID YOU DUMP A BUCKET OF WATER ON ME?"

Me and Aqua were heading home, and Aqua was crying. In fact, she's been crying the whole day,

Needless to say, they didn't believe Aqua's story of a bucket of water appearing out of thin air.

Because she was new, she was let off with just a lecture, but was warned that any further shenanigans would result in detention.

I just shrug at her as a response.

"If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. In my humble opinion, that was the only proper response to a spitball,"

At this, Aqua started crying louder.

"WAAAAAA! Kazuma you meanie…"

Ok, maybe I did go a little bit too far. It must have hurt a lot when the bucket fell on her. But if I didn't teach her a lesson, what would have happened next? Today it was just a spitball. Tomorrow it could be rubbers. The next day it could be paper airplanes. It could spiral out of control. I was just being a good guy.

However, seeing her cry so much, I could definitely tell I went too far.

I sighed and comforted her.

"Look, I won't do it again, alright?"

"... You promise?"

She sniffled and looked at me with puppy eyes.

Geh.

"How about we go and eat out today then? What about some real ramen instead of cup ramen?"

Aqua instantly brightened up.

"Really!? Yay!"

Well, that was easy. The carrot and the stick are really effective.

I took out my phone and checked for the nearest ramen store.

Hmm, there's one 5 minutes away...

I showed it to Aqua.

"I say we go here, it's the closest and the ratings are good."

Aqua nodded, and started to drool at the sight of the pictures of ramen that appeared.

...Not gonna lie, it made me hungry too.

"Well, what are we waiting for Kazuma!? Let's go!"

And off she ran, straight up the tarmac road and around the corner.

"Oi oi, Aqua, do you even know where we are going?!"

I ran after her.

And turning the corner, I almost ran straight into her.

"Aqua, what's wrong? Why did you stop?"

Aqua turned around and pointed to her pin.

It was glowing. Ah crap, looks like we gotta sort this out first.

But why was it a different colour? Not light red like usual. Dark red like deoxygenated blood. And why did Aqua look so serious? Gone was the joyous expression that she had after hearing about ramen or the sad expression of being told off by teachers.

As if she read my mind, she answered the question in my head.

"The darker the red, the more dangerous the monster. I didn't know we'd meet a dark red this fast, they are usually rare… Whatever. Kazuma, let's quickly deal with this so we can go eat ramen!"

And as she smashed her pin to release the red mist, I asked her a question.

"Hey, uh, Aqua, how dangerous are dark red monsters now? Considering I almost died to goblins last week I don't think it's a great idea-"

Suddenly an ear-piercing roar shakes the ground.

We spun around to see what it was.

A dragon, perched on top of a nearby building.

Bruh.

It was absolutely massive, around the height of an 8-floor apartment block. Its red scales almost made it blend into the red mist. Claws and fangs sharper than a blade were present on this beast.

You've got to be kidding me. Weren't monsters as strong as this one only occur at the end of the game? My knees were already shaking.

"Uh, Aqua, how about we put this off and come back another day so we can be more prepared?"

"Nonsense Kazuma! This should be a piece of cake for you! Just use your blade and slash it!"

Right, she still doesn't know about my blade refusing to unsheath itself.

Right as I'm about to tell her the situation, she forms a ball of water and strikes the perched dragon with it. However, because it is water, and that thing is a dragon, it does nothing but finally drags its attention to us. It roars and stretches its wings.

I start shaking Aqua violently.

"Aqua you dumbass! Why did you do that? Now it knows our location!"

"You can't slash it when it's far away! So I decided to make it come to us! See how smart I am?"

The dragon starts flying towards us.

"Aqua?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry-to-say-this-now-but-my-sword-refuses-to-sunheath-I-don't-know-why-but-it-doesn't-work-anymore."

I say all of that in one breath.

Aqua's eyes widened in shock.

"Are you telling me you can't use your OP god sword anymore?"

I nod.

The dragon dives towards us, mouth open, revealing its razor-sharp teeth.

We look at the dragon, then at each other.

"RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

"RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"

We start sprinting away as fast as possible and hide around the corner.

The dragon's dive missed us by literal inches. It zoomed right past us.

"Aqua, cast speed buff on us!"

She nodded and cast the spell.

"Improve Speed!"

We continued running street to street while the dragon circled above us, waiting for the right moment to strike.

AHHHH I should have told Aqua about the problem with my blade ages ago! It would have avoided all of this!

I turn my head to Aqua.

"Aqua, where are we going? How do we fight this dragon!?"

"I don't know! If it was undead I could do something about it but it's not! I thought that you would just slash it and win! You've got a lot of explaining to do!"

"I'll explain after we get out of here alive!"

Suddenly, Aqua tripped over a rock and fell.

Shit!

I quickly ran over to her.

"Kazuma… my leg hurts…"

She clutched her leg in pain. She must have sprained her ankle.

I smack her on the head.

"Idiot, just use your healing power on yourself!"

"Oh right! Heal!"

A bright light surrounded her ankle, and instantly she recovered.

I grab her hand and run again.

"! Kazuma what are you doing-"

"JUST RUN!"

I'm already running out of breath, and my sides hurt from straining it too much.

Suddenly, we arrived at the red mist wall.

"Kazuma, we can't go through until we beat it, remember!?"

Crap crap crap.

What now!? We can't leave the mist!

We turned around to go back, but there was the dragon, only a few metres away from us. It roars at us, sending chills down my spine.

Uh oh.

"Aqua, do something!"

Instantly Aqua sticks her hands out and casts a spell.

"Barrier!"

A small whitish protection dome surrounded us.

I sigh in relief.

The dragon roared and struck the barrier with his claws, but it held.

The dragon struck it again. And again. And again.

"Aqua, how long will this barrier hold?"

"Not long. What's the plan Kazuma?"

"...I have no plan."

Crap crap crap crap crap.

I frantically try to think of a plan as the Dragon constantly strikes the barrier.

Crack.

The barrier starts to break underneath the weight of the strikes of the dragon.

Aqua turns to me frantically.

"I can't hold the barrier for much longer!"

With one final roar, the dragon smashed through, breaking the barrier.

I'm about to run when I see that Aqua has collapsed onto her knees, breathing heavily.

If I abandon her right now, I could probably get away. She'll be fine anyway, she can just heal herself, and I'm pretty sure goddesses can't die anyway, right?

I dive at Aqua just as the dragon strikes down at her.

Time seems to slow down, and as I dive to push her out of the way I can see that I'm too late.

She'll be crushed before I can push her out of the way. She's out of reach.

I curse myself at my uselessness. Everything could have been solved if I had just been truthful from the beginning.

I close my eyes in pain.

"You're in luck, young man."

Huh?

When I opened my eyes, instead of seeing the dragon about to crush Aqua, I saw a girl in a maid costume holding a mechanical pocket watch, looking down at me.