She looks back for a moment one so brief that if a person blinked they would have missed it.
She doesn't understand why she did it, perhaps there's something deep inside of her that still cares about him, their eyes meet once again. He smiles at her and hears him say her name, she turns away.
She knows that what she just did was cruel but it's better this way, the sooner that he forgets about her the better.
"Hello everyone." the blond-haired man from before says to them, he looks at the the blue-haired woman and frowns.
"This class is only for Regulars and you aren't one." he says to the woman. Rachel doesn't say anything, but she can see the woman shaking, maybe it's fear that stops her from talking, but the woman doesn't say anything.
"She's my teammate.' Kazuma says to the blond man who raises an eyebrow and smirks.
"Don't be ridiculous, she hasn't been chosen and even if I allowed her to pass, she has to pass the first test just like everyone else.' the blond man answers Kazuma.
Kazuma turns to look at her, his smile turns into a full-blown grin. "She just needs to pass the first test." she hears Kazuma say before he turns to the other woman.
"Just one question, do we have to take your class now or can we do this later?" he asks the teacher or whatever the blond man is.
"No, but if you leave now you'll have to wait for the next group." the man answers Kazuma.
"Good because I paid in gold for her." she hears Kazuma say before he takes out another gold coin and throws it into the air.
Rachel can't help but blink somehow she's on the first floor again looking at the same creature who mocked her not too long ago.
Its cold blue eyes glare at them, it doesn't bother speaking nor does it move it just stares at them. 'Why?' it asks them, but its words feel as if they are directed at her.
"Because we need a team." she hears Kazuma answer it with the same carefree voice that she has gotten used to hearing from him.
"Three tests one to go up, one to pass, and one or the one that you just left." it says to them.
'You know we just need her to pass." Kazuma says to the examiner while pointing at their future teammate.
Rachel can't help but blink, she was on the first floor but now she's outside again, the door to the tower is beneath her but there's no one else here.
She can feel the oppressive air of the rulers blowing, she can feel her heart beating faster and faster as fear becomes dread, they're coming, they're going to hurt her for disobeying them.
She falls to her knees and starts beating on the door, she screams over and over again for the doors to open but they don't.
She knows why the doors don't open for her, it's because she hasn't been chosen, she isn't special like Baam so the doors won't open for her.
Her tears fall and she cries in despair.
She doesn't bother screaming because that would help them find her, she clings to the gold coin that Kazuma gave her, but her hands are so sweaty that the coin slips from her hand and rolls onto the doors.
"I paid in gold for her." she hears Kazuma say to someone before the doors open beneath her and she sees something that shouldn't be possible.
A vortex of energy spins above Kazumas head as he threatens the examiner, she can barely hear anything, the light in the room is so dim that she could swear that she is looking at a dark tunnel whose exit can barely be seen.
She can see Kazumas rage-filled expression as lighting falls around him, the temperature begins to fall and she feels herself becoming colder and colder.
"Fine if you won't free them! then this floor doesn't need to exist!" she hears Kazuma scream, as the vortex turns into a ball of fire that pulls everything towards it.
The ground shakes as the walls around her break the moment that the lighting touches them.
She gasps for air as a pair of hands wrap themselves around her. "We have to stop him" she hears someone say to her.
She turns and finds her teammate, she doesn't know her name so she doesn't bother saying it, despite wanting to ask questions she doesn't ask them as the fear in the woman's face is clear.
"Lightning Saver, Explosi!"
"Kazuma stop!" they both scream, while hoping that he hears them.
'You pass." they hear the examiner say before they find themselves back in the classroom sitting on the same chairs that they were in before they left.
She turns to look at Kazuma and sees that he is still surrounded by the red lightning that was destroying the first floor.
"Guess what she passed." he says to the instructor who nods and looks back at everyone.
Rachel can see the man's sweat, it isn't hard for her to notice that he's afraid, she looks around and sees that everyone else is acting the same way.
They are afraid not of her but of Kazuma.
'And that's our lesson" she hears the instructor say before he walks out of the room leaving them behind.