“Are you really not going to tell me what happened?”
Headmaster Juno sternly stared down at her adopted little son, who looked so well-behaved on the hospital bed that she felt like she was actually mistreating him even though she was only simply wrangling him for answers.
“Just let it go, Headmaster…” Sebi mumbled as he hesitantly looked up to the woman from below his eyelashes. “It was my fault, I can’t control my powers properly. No one is at fault here.”
The headmaster raised an eyebrow. “Necomir and your friends told me you were telepathically assaulted by another student. You aren’t going to file a complaint?”
Sebi shook his head. What Misharu Tsai did may have been quite dirty, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle. It had just been a bit too dramatic because of that weird thing that came over him, and the fact that Necomir with the others were there to witness it.
Whatever it was that came over him, Sebi didn’t want it exposed. It might have something to do with his transmigration, like a side effect or something. If the headmaster found out, she might make Sebi seek professional help and they would find out the truth. That would too worrisome, and who knows what the hell will happen.
The fact that Necomir knew Misharu Tsai was the one who bullied him was already a headache.
“I’m fine,” Sebi assured her. “I can handle myself. Consider this as training. It won’t be a problem.”
“Alright,” Headmaster Juno sighed after a while, finally letting it go. After all, they were already adults. It’s actually good that Sebi didn’t escalate it too much, showing that he was able to deal with the problem on his own. “But remember, if this worsens, I won’t hesitate to intervene.”
“Yes,” Sebi smiled, looking so well-mannered and obedient that the headmaster couldn’t help but reach out and pat his hair.
“Alright. If you feel well, you can go and attend class.”
Sebi still had an hour before his class that morning, so he went back to his room to wash up and change into a fresh uniform set. He felt rejuvenated after almost twelve hours of sleep, and he even felt that if Misharu came for him today, he could really beat him up and teach him a lesson for being so arrogant and catching him off guard.
Seated on the bed, Sebi went through his lightband and found messages from Alexandra since yesterday, with a few from just this morning.
Alexandra: “Did Misharu Tsai really target you?!”
Alexandra: “I’m going to burn all his hair off!”
Alexandra: “I hope you’re alright.”
Alexandra: “I visited you awhile ago.”
Alexandra: “I’m really going to burn off Misharu Tsai’s hair off.”
Sebi laughed out loud and quickly got down to reply to her.
While doing so, a knock suddenly came to his door. Sebi walked over to open it, and was graced by the view of Necomir standing outside.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Yt.” Llr ojmf yibrrbwfv klat j iluta rwlif. “Ll, Rfmb.”
“Qf cffv ab ajix,” Rfmbwlg rjlv jr tf rafqqfv lcrlvf. Llr tjcvrbwf ojmf kjr rb rfglber atja la jmaejiis wjvf Vfyl offi cfgnber – yea tf kjrc’a regf lo la kjr yfmjerf tf ibbxfv gfjiis jaagjmalnf ilxf atlr, bg lo Vfyl kjr ufcelcfis lcalwlvjafv.
“W-What is it about?” Sebi mumbled as he wrung his fingers.
Seeing that he was anxious, the old Necomir would have rejoiced by the fact that this meant he was the more powerful one between them.
But the current Necomir was the total opposite. He quickly adjusted his approach towards him and spoke a bit more softly. “Sebi, I’ve got a few concerns about you.”
“You shouldn’t worry, Neco,” Sebi quickly said. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” Necomir stubbornly said. “I saw it. There was something haunting you.”
He knew… he knew about that thing…
“It was Misharu,” Sebi immediately said, but quickly realized he was wrongly accusing him. “No… W-What I meant was… Misharu was the only one who went up against me. I beat him, there’s no problem.”
Necomir didn’t look happy about him dismissing this so easily. “I know what I saw, Sebi. If you don’t deal with that now, it will bite you in the future when you’re the least suspecting–”
Sebi distracted him by suddenly throwing his arms around the taller man and hugged him tightly.
Naturally, Necomir was startled by the sudden affection. He was stiff at first, stuck between wanting to push him away or hugging him back, a desire that was buried deep into him that he greatly craved as someone who grew up without much affection.
Eventually, Necomir settled on placing his hands on Sebi’s waist.
“Neco, thank you for being so good to me,” Sebi said, cheeks red as he closed his eyes and savored the feeling of being close to his best friend like this again after so many years. “I really appreciate it, but please don’t think too much about my issues. I can handle them on my own.”
Why was Necomir so badly worried about Sebi?
It was understandable if he was upset that Sebi was competing with someone else other than him, but he was actually not too upset about that. Rather, he was stricken with terror for him. Those images that he had seen were too strange and weird, tinted with red and pure chaos…
Necomir can’t just ignore the fact that he is really worried for this old rival of his.
“I’ll still find out, soon enough,” Necomir warned him with a soft voice.
Sebi pursed his lips but didn’t say anything as he pulled away and simply gave him a vague smile.
Of course, Necomir would find out eventually. Sebi just needed to be a bit more guarded and try to dissect his mind before he picked up anything suspicious that may lead him to realize who he really was. Even if Sebi didn’t like the thought of using his powers for something like this, he had no choice.
But the thought of Necomir badly wanting to know what was troubling him…
Sebi thought this treatment wasn’t far from what the Necomir of his universe would give him. This made him feel happy, knowing this Necomir did care for him outside being just a rival he needed to beat.
“Don’t you have class?” Necomir asked, finally dropping the topic.
Sebi shook his head. “I still have an hour.”
“Do you want to come with me? I kind of know this place… it’s beautiful.”
Sebi perked his head to the side and smiled warmly. “I’ll go wherever Neco wants to bring me.”
This sincerity was too much that Necomir quickly felt his heart doing a few flips, causing him to feel a bit itchy for some reason.
He cleared his throat and nodded in a nonchalant way, hoping he didn’t reveal anything on his face. “Alright. Let’s go, then.”
Sebi really had no idea where they were going and could only blindly trust Necomir, which he had no problem with. He felt a tiny bit giddy, happy that the Necomir of this universe really cared for him even if he saw him as a rival.
Necomir led him out of the building, letting Sebi bask under the warm sun.
“Do I already know this place?” Sebi tried guessing, since he was very curious.
Necomir hummed. “We know this place.”
Sebi went through his inherited memories. The thing about the original Sebi’s memories was that they were quite useful, but some memories were very blurred and indiscernible due to the brain injury. The only profound memories he had with Necomir were their fights, and anything that weren’t violent were spats or arguments. Any place they’ve been to in his memories didn’t seem like a good candidate for something Necomir might cherish enough to show to him.
“We’re here.”
Necomir had let Sebi into a greenhouse. It was really big and looked a lot like the ones that made up half of Easterm Earth Base because it contained all the plants that they consumed. But this one didn’t have those kinds of plants – or at least, weren’t filled with it. There were a huge variety of plants everywhere, specifically made for botanical students to study.
“You don’t remember?” Necomir asked, gazing into Sebi’s curious eyes.
Shaking his head, Sebi looked back at the other man with an embarrassed expression.
“I’m sorry…” he mumbled.
“Don’t worry,” Necomir assured him as he rubbed his back. “I’ll show you the exact spot. Hopefully, you will remember.”
Sebi felt frustrated, badly wanting to remember it. Even if he wasn’t the one that Necomir shared the memory with, he still wanted to appreciate it with him.
Necomir led him deeper into the greenhouse until they reached a very closed off area. They stopped in front of a fountain with water that sparkled under the Sol Star’s rays that seeped through the glass roof.
“This is where we first met,” Necomir said with a fond smile.
Sebi’s eyes snapped upwards to look at him.
“I got lost,” Necomir proceeded to recall. “Then I stumbled over this fountain. I was just nine at the time, so I was very curious. I’ve never seen water this clear, so I dipped my hand into the fountain.”
He paused for a moment, chuckling as he vividly remembered the rest of the memory.
“Then you came, all young and haughty as you yelled at me for being dumb and contaminating the water source of all the plants in the greenhouse. We didn’t beat each other up, we just had a spat. It was childish but brutal enough to last in my brain.”
No matter how you look at this, no one should be able to recall fondly to the first time you met your rival. Necomir himself began to feel for the first time that it was strange. Why did he recall so happily the first time they met? What was he supposed to be happy about?
Necomir looked at Sebi, who blinked back at him with pretty little eyes.
Of course, he was happy to meet Sebi because he brought out the best version of him. He strived to become better and better, just so he could reach him and pull him down so he’d be at the top.
Necomir might be a masochist.
“That day, I swore I’ll do my best to beat you in everything,” Necomir said. “And I will still do that.”
Sebi smiled brightly, like he was genuinely open to Necomir beating him up and he wouldn’t be mad about it. This quickly made his heart waver, and he was driven into a feeling of guilt.
Clearing his throat, Necomir added, “Of course, I’ll wait until you fully catch up. It’s not a fair fight if I just pick on you now.”
“You already bullied me a week ago, you can bully me more. I don’t mind.” Sebi shamelessly teased him.
Necomir was especially handsome if he’s driven by the instinct to win while in a fight, so Sebi didn’t mind losing to him if he could get to see it up close every time.
Author’s Note:
Sebi: You’re the most handsome while bullying me 
Necomir: My most cherished memory of you is when you first picked a fight with me
They’re both masochists~ ><
Did he mean he’s gonna dissect Neco’s mind? Or his own?
Thanks for the chapter ^-^
He’s deliberating doing it to Neco 😞
sebi you’re procrastinating dealing with whatever the hell that being was. necomir will find out about it, eventually. and maybe you being from another universe too. alexandra’s so sweet she wants to protect sebi from misharu tsai. also the emotional support rivals are cute
I like the term “emotional support rivals” it’s very refreshing 😆
i was just gonna comment how the both of them are a big M~ hahahaha thank u for the chapter!!