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Chapter 11: Veronica

Rain.

One of the most basic things in our everyday life, the liquid that keeps us all alive.

Staring out of the closed window while deep in thought, Makoto didn't notice someone entering the room until a sudden shout made him jump.

"Henderson!"

Confused, Makoto looked up and saw his Instructor standing right in front of him staring back.

"Well then, I see that you are back in the world of the living. As I was saying, please hand me your finished assignment so I can look it over."

The man expectantly held his hand out.

While ignoring the people laughing all around him, Makoto opened his bag and handed over the essay he had finished before the weekend.

"Thank you. Alright back to were we left off before..."

As soon as the attention of everyone left Makoto, he let out a relieved sigh and his accelerated heartbeat slowly calmed down again.

He hated being in the spotlight like that.

It made him uneasy, scared and he couldn’t stop his heart from beating at nearly 3 times the normal pace.

After a few minutes his mind drifted off again and his eyes naturally went to the window beside him.

Raindrops splashed against the glass, leaving trails behind whenever the ran down.

Makoto liked the rain.

It had something calming, reassuring.

The smell, shortly after it rained was one of his favorites.

He thought if at all, that must be how life itself smelled, refreshing.

Most people only ever complained about rain, "Oh not again" "I didn't even bring my umbrella" "Perfect, now I can't go out with my friends again" phrases like that everybody seemed to spout and Makoto didn't understand why.

Was he really the only one that appreciated rain?

.....

As always, after the lesson in his course was over he went to the cafeteria for lunch break.

He chose a table and sat on a free seat, alone.

Nobody ever approached him to spend time during lunch or other breaks, everyone just seemed to ignore him mostly.

They all had their friends and 'besties' but Makoto was alone, just like he always had been.

It wasn't that he wanted to, but he neither resented it.

He had made a few attempts in the past to make friends but it always ended in him getting attention in the end, unwanted attention.

The type of attention that made bullies look up and smile disgustingly.

Now in College everything was a bit different, the bullies grew up and some outgrew even things like bringing others down and just enjoyed their life.

Everyone has to grow up at some point and instead of bullying that weak looking kid, they focus on themselves, go to parties and have sex like rabbits.

That’s what college life was for them, at least as far as Makoto knew.

There was always those girls and boys in every class, be it middle, high school or in College.

The 'sluts' and 'assholes' that burned faster through relationships than cigarettes, getting a few STD's on the way and then to calm down when they got older.

Like a Firefly, burning bright during the night and unnoticeable during the day.

Everything comes to an end after all.

But for Makoto it was different, he never had those 'wild times' never any 'mistakes'.

He only had himself, did he masturbate? Sure, everyone does occasionally but he never had anybody in his life before, neither many friends nor others, just himself.

We all want to be loved and cared for, the loneliness had been tearing at him during his middle school days but now he was used to it, embraced it.

It is true that we all at some point long for another person in our life, someone we can share, talk or even fight with but it is not always that simple.

The fear of getting rejected, hurt and laughed at keeps most of us at bay, at a distance.

We all create these bubbles around us, leaving only enough space for a few close friends or family members and everyone else got shunned, lied to or left out.

Makoto's bubble only had himself in it, it was a small bubble, not knowing the feeling of warmth, kindness or even camaraderie.

Only loneliness.

Just like always he finished his meal in silence, plain bread with cheese and ham.

There was many things swirling around in his mind but he didn’t talk about them with anyone, sharing was something foreign to him and he generally didn't interact with many.

Sure he talked with people like everyone else did, told something funny from time to time, speaking with others so he didn’t stand out too much, to keep up the façade, but there always was an emptiness in the whole play.

After returning to his seat, the next lesson started but something changed, a shift in the normal routine.

Feeling this strange occurrence, Makoto's eyes went to the front and beside his Instructor stood someone he knew, his heart tightened just seeing the girl.

"Alright everyone listen up, this is Veronica Ashford, she just recently moved here and will be joining our Course from today on. Treat her nice everyone.

You can sit down wherever you want, there is way too many seats for just our small class inside this room anyways."

It was the girl from the mall, the same blond beauty with green eyes he had seen outside, Veronica.

She was dressed in black and white, a contrast that seemed to only further enhance her face and body.

Many boys around Makoto had a similar stunned look on their faces just like him.

In the end she choose to sit next to Matt and sent a smile towards him which he responded with an even brighter one.

Matt was famous in this College for having had sex with nearly half of the girls attending Courses here, he was handsome, rich and had a well toned body.

Not many could resist his charm either, Veronica also seemed to be captured by him because Makoto could see her head turn quite a lot in his direction.

Every time he saw her turn her head to give Matt a shy smile, his chest hurt.

It felt worse every time until it was similar to a gaping hole were his heart used to be.

The before euphoric feeling that he got after seeing her again quickly turned into excruciating pain, he knew at that point that he loved her.

This girl had captured his heart just with her looks but he wanted more than that, he wanted to get to know her, talk to her, find out who she really was and what she liked or hated.

Seeing her fall so easily right before his eyes for someone like Matt hurt him and in turn made him question his own feelings, was he not just like her in the end?

Falling purely for looks and appearance?

Quickly enough he stopped looking in her direction, the sight itself, how she looked at Matt, felt like getting his heart ripped out over and over again.

Truth be told he was new to this, it was the first time he felt for someone like that and it hurt seeing the girl he had a crush on fall for someone that would discard her like a used toy after he was finished with her.

Makoto knew Matt too well, he had been in the same classes with him since High school after all.

Nearly every week another girl would show up in his class, screaming her anger and hurt out about how Matt promised her this and that, how he could be so cruel and he only smiled towards those girls, practically spitting in their face with his uncaring attitude.

Seeing this scene hurt, but nothing was lost yet, she could still be warned and saved from the same fate.

A strange and before foreign resolve manifested in his heart.

He was going to make sure that she knew what she would get herself into before she fell to his charm.

.....

With a few quick steps Makoto caught up to her.

"Hey wait a second, you are Veronica right?"

The girl turned around and after seeing him nodded with a smile.

"What can I do for you stranger?"

Gathering all of his courage he held out his hand and smiled at her with reddening cheeks.

"Hi, my name is Makoto, we are in the same History Course, I sit at the back which is probably why you didn't notice me."

Even he himself doubted those words considering some people like Matt would reintroduce themselves in High school every single year towards him, they never seemed to remember his face or name even after spending months in the same room.

"Oh, nice to meet you."

She shook his outstretched hand and then gave him a curious look.

"So what is it that you wanted?"

Breathing slowly, Makoto readied himself and then looked right into her green eyes.

"You remember the guy right next to you? His name is Matt and I think he has his eye on you so I wanted to give you a heads-up.

He is the kind of guy who has a different girlfriend every week, and even when he is together with them spends his time with other girls...if you get what I mean with that.

Basically he is a real douche and would probably only be nice to you to get into your underwear."

Stunned about his last words himself, Makoto looked away, waiting for a response.

Veronica's smile grew larger after seeing him squirm beneath her stare after not saying anything for a few seconds.

"I already gathered as much, which is exactly the reason I wanted to befriend him as fast as possible and told him I'm not into guys.

Trust me I know that type of person far too well, they always seem to find me. I wonder why?"

She said, only to giggle about her own joke afterwards.

"Alright...good that you know...I just thought it wouldn’t be fair if...nevermind."

The more he talked the more her smile seemed to grow until he was unable to meet her eyes anymore, only staring at the floor.

"If what Makoto? Hmm? Tell me."

She teased him only to giggle again and then pat his shoulder.

"I'm just kidding with you, still thank you for the warning.

Nice to see someone actually cares about me and not only about my looks."

If Makoto would have been able to look up at the moment, he would have seen her smile turn sad during the last sentence only to brighten up right away again.

But he didn't, all he was able to see was her white and black striped jeans.

With his entire face slowly getting more and more red he bid Veronica farewell and then stormed off home.

Embarrassed but with a warm feeling in his chest, Makoto returned to his home and to Azalon.

.....

The sun was currently rising when Makoto arrived in a beam of light.

Breathing the surrounding air in he could smell a whiff of sea and was unable to stop the smile that blossomed on his face.

"Damn, it's good to be back."

Happy to feel his Gear and Sword on him again, Makoto started his Journey north.

He went through another forest and nothing dared to even come close to him at this point anymore.

Most creatures had a level far beneath his own, making hunting them a pointless thing to do, he probably wouldn't even gain experience anymore with such a gap.

The further he went north the colder the climate got.

It was not much but after traveling for nearly half a day he did notice a slight drop in the surrounding temperature.

It was quite boring for him, having nothing to do during his travel so he started to go further and further away from the ocean and deeper into the woods around him.

Just checking his map occasionally was enough for him to make sure he was still going north, even when he couldn’t see the ocean anymore and only trees around him.

It only took him 2 more hours to find what he was looking for, something he could fight.

Wood Wolf: Level 11

Similar to the Starving Wolfs they had pretty much the same pattern, only that instead of being alone, these Wood Wolfs all were in a pack, numbering around 20 to 30.

It was a dangerous situation but he wanted to increase his level and the only way to do that right now was to grind.

"Come on Puppies, let's see what you got!"

Smiling, Makoto drew his sword and attacked the first one in his vicinity.

246 Damage dealt!

A big damage number showed up right away, confirming the boost he had gotten from changing his class.

The Wolf growled and right away the rest of the pack was alarmed.

A howling started to resound around him and Makoto only responded by lashing out towards yet another Wolf.

It was a bloody battle and he was hit a good number of times but because of his now enormous health and good Armor the most he was ever hit for was 78 Damage.

He also tried out his new active Skill and after using it only a couple of times he noticed how quickly the Wolfs health declined, together with his own mana.

15 mana per hit was a lot when you practically attack everything around you, it didn't even take one minute for his entire mana pool to run dry but the effect was obvious.

First of all nearly half of the wolfs had a bleeding status that lasted a good bit longer and drained way more health, secondly, because he got hit quite a bit his passive Skill activated, making it impossible for him to drop below half health.

Whenever he was about to drop that far it took him only 10 or so seconds of not getting hit until he was back at about 60%.

It was a truly amazing ability and it would activate for as long as he was missing 2% health, true it would heal less the more health he currently had but it was still better than nothing at all.

"It's like I have a Priest with me, healing me whenever I get too low.

Awesome!"

His overall combat prowess increased by a lot, his stats being so incredibly high now and his overall gear protecting him made it so he didn't even have to care much about getting hit.

Naturally he still tried to evade if possible, there was no need to take a hit if you could evade it after all.

But generally speaking he was a lot stronger now.

After disposing of the last wolf he started looting them all and continued his Journey.

It took him only 1 hour of fighting pack after pack to level up to 12, that is how good the experience those Wood Wolfs gave was.

After distributing his stats and his health finally hitting the one thousand mark he continued his way through the forest.

Shortly after, even whole packs of Wood Wolfs avoided him or ran the moment he approached them.

He also noticed that the surrounding trees started to thin out until finally, he was walking on a grassy plane.

Makoto was quite overjoyed when he actually found a road that led north.

Traveling on the gravel road was a lot easier and faster than through the thicket of a forest after all.

When the sun slowly started to disappear behind the horizon, he was able to notice a light up ahead behind a corners bend, his vision blocked by a small mound of earth.

The chatter of voices reached his ears and after turning the corner he saw a dozen or so wagons in a circle all surrounding a gigantic bonfire.

"Well that is something new..."

Curious, Makoto approached the bonfire and the 40 or so people sitting around it.

"Could they also be on the way to Shivercliff?"

Hope filled his heart, maybe now he would not have to travel alone anyomore.

In the end what was keeping him from making friends or joining a party in Azalon?

Makoto decided to show himself and stepped into the light of the bonfire, his dark cloak wrapped tightly around him.

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Chapter of the Dayyyyyy.

Hope you guys like it and feel free to ask me anything in the comment section, even if i can't always answer for spoiler reasons XD.

Wish you all a nice Sunday and cya tomorrow!

PS: If i pull it off today with writing 2 Chapters it will be Double Chapter Tomorrow so lets see if I can do it. XD