CHAPTER 51: BLOOD IN THE MORNING

The golden weekend that had felt like it would last forever finally came to an end.

And, right on schedule, Monday returned—uninvited as always.

Logically, after two days of rest, I should’ve felt refreshed and full of energy.

Instead, my body felt like a sack of sand, heavy and unwilling to move.

I sighed.

"I just want to graduate already..."

But that was still a distant dream for a freshman who had enrolled barely a week ago.

Accepting that grim reality, I trudged along the familiar path toward the academy.

Around me, other students wore the same dead-eyed expressions.

It seemed the hatred for Monday transcended worlds—it was universal.

As I fought off my sleepiness and dragged my feet forward—

Thud.

"Ah! I’m sorry."

Lost in thought, I had accidentally bumped shoulders with someone coming from the opposite direction. Startled, I bowed my head slightly and apologized right away.

The woman I’d bumped into gave only a brief nod, her gaze fixed on the ground, and kept walking without saying a word.

...Huh. How rude.

Sure, it was partly my fault for not paying attention, but still—some acknowledgment would’ve been nice.

She didn’t even look back.

Just nodded once and continued down the street, her steps brisk, her long coat fluttering faintly behind her.

’Where is she even going so early in the morning?’ I wondered.

Right now, every student should be heading toward the academy, not away from it. She was the only one moving in the opposite direction.

Maybe she forgot something important?

Deciding not to think too much about it, I shrugged it off and quickened my pace again.

But a few steps later, something felt... off.

There was a strange dampness on my shoulder.

"Huh?" I muttered, glancing down. The fabric looked darker than usual.

When I ran my hand over it, my fingertips came away wet.

And red.

"...Blood?"

A thin layer of sticky, warm liquid clung to my skin.

My heart skipped a beat.

It wasn’t mine.

I froze, the early morning chatter of students fading into background noise.

I stared at the dark stain on my shoulder, my heart skipping a beat. Did it get on me when that woman bumped into me just now?

"Excuse me...!" I called out, spinning around.

But she was gone.

The hallway was completely empty, not a shadow in sight. My voice echoed softly before fading into silence.

For a moment, I just stood there, frozen. The faint metallic scent of blood still lingered in the air.

What the hell just happened?

---

I couldn’t focus at all once I sat down at my desk. My mind kept replaying the scene over and over.

The woman who’d brushed past me... she hadn’t even looked me in the eye. Her long, dark hair had hidden most of her face, and her steps had been oddly unsteady—like she was barely holding herself up.

And then, in the blink of an eye, she disappeared.

No footsteps. No sign of where she went. Just gone.

The logical part of me tried to come up with an explanation—maybe she used a teleportation spell? Maybe I imagined it?

But that blood on my shoulder was very real.

I rubbed at the stain absently, a chill crawling up my spine.

It almost felt like... I’d just brushed past a ghost.

"That’s impossible."

I shook my head almost immediately at the absurd thought. There’s no way ghosts exist.

Sure, this world has undead—creatures that might look or behave like ghosts—but they’re not the same thing. They aren’t human souls lingering around after death. They’re just lumps of energy that took shape—monsters, in other words.

’So that means she was human after all...’

If she was injured, then she should’ve gone straight to the infirmary. So why was she wandering around like that in the middle of the night?

The morning had only just begun, yet something about it already felt... off.

"Oh, hi Louis!"

"Good morning, Elena," I greeted her with my usual smile.

"Y-y-yes?? Good morning!"

...What’s with the stuttering?

I tilted my head, a little confused. Elena was acting strangely stiff, her expression awkward, like she was trying too hard to appear normal.

’Is she nervous about something?’

Then it hit me.

Ah, right. Today’s the day.

Elena, the class president, and I, the vice president, were scheduled to attend our very first student council meeting together.

That explained it.

’I didn’t think she’d actually get nervous about this kind of thing,’ I thought, a little amused.

In the manga, Elena was always portrayed as confident—someone who spoke her mind clearly and never hesitated to act.

But reality... was different.

Ever since I ended up in this world, that fact had become painfully obvious.

Even Elena, who I’d thought I knew so well from the story, wasn’t quite the same person. She felt more real—awkward, uncertain, human.

As I was lost in thought, her hesitant voice broke the silence.

"L-Louis, um... d-do you have a g-girlfriend or anything like that?"

I blinked.

Wait. What?

That was not the kind of question I expected to hear first thing in the morning.

For a full second, my brain just... froze. I stared at Elena, who was fidgeting with her fingers, her face turning as red as the ribbon in her hair.

’Okay... where did that come from?’

Her gaze darted nervously between me and the floor, as if she already regretted asking.

"Uh... no," I said finally. "I don’t have anything like that."

Her head shot up slightly, eyes widening in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah," I nodded, scratching the back of my neck. "I don’t have a girlfriend."

...Though, technically speaking, I do have a fiancée.

A fiancée I’m supposed to marry someday—at least, according to my family’s arrangement.

But that feels different. Completely different.

There’s a gap—no, a chasm—between being in love with someone and being engaged because of family politics.

One is a choice. The other... isn’t.

So I decided to leave that part unsaid. H