Jiro was halfway through lunch when he realized Emilia had stopped talking again. She sat across from him with her spoon pushing rice around the tray, but every time he caught her eye, she gave him a small smile that faded almost right away.
'Hm? She is usually the one carrying the conversation, did something happen?' He thought, still looking at her before taking another bite of his food.
'it's very strange seeing her that quiet,' he placed the spoon down and reached over, grabbing her hand.
"Hey, is everything okay? You seem very down today," he asked, tightening his hand on her hand.
Before answering, she stared at his hand, looked up at him for a few seconds and then looked back down to her tray, "I... I am fine, just... tired," she said, pulling her hand free.
Jiro's brows pulled together a little, his hand staying there for a second before he slowly brought it back. 'Tired? No, that doesn't feel right,' he thought, watching the way she kept her eyes on the tray.
For a whole year, she had never acted this awkward around him, not even on her worst days. It made the back of his neck itch, because he kept feeling like he had missed something important without knowing what it was.
She swallowed, still not looking at him, "how did your core formation go yesterday?" she asked, trying a little too hard to sound normal.
That caught him off guard, but he didn't think much of it, letting out a small laugh to lighten things up a bit.
"Another burst," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a crooked smile. "Maybe I am just not cut out to be an awakened." He waited for that cute laugh she always did after hearing his answer but this time there was no laugh.
'Something is definitely off about her today, did I do something wrong?' He thought, starting to feel a little sad since he loved her very much and hated seeing her sad.
Just as he was about to ask her again, she suddenly took a deep breath, looking like she had made up her mind about something.
'What is she trying to say?' He thought, watching her open her mouth while gripping her spoon tight.
"I..." she started, but whatever she was about to say got cut off when the loud cafeteria suddenly went completely silent.
'Hm? Why did everyone suddenly quiet down?' He thought, turning his head to look at the main doors.
A girl had just walked in, wearing the pure white and gold uniform of the SSS Class.
'Wait, I know her, that's Ruby from the training hall posters,' he thought, recognizing her right away. She was one of the academy's designated hero candidates.
'Why is she coming this way?' He thought, frowning when she didn't just walk past, but headed straight for their table.
'Why is she looking at me like that?' He thought, keeping his frown when Ruby stopped right at their table and gave him a nasty look.
"Leon is looking for you," she said, completely ignoring him and turning to Emilia.
'Leon? The number one hero candidate? What does he want with my girl?' He thought, his eyes darting between the two of them. 'Wait... could this be why she's acting so strange today?'
"What's going on, Emilia?" he asked, not liking the way this felt at all.
She let out a shaky breath, finally looking him in the eye, "Jiro... this... just won't work out," she said.
'What?' He sat there in complete shock, staring at her because the words didn't even process right away.
"I've been working harder every day trying to gain points for both our sakes," she explained, her voice trembling a little. "Hoping that one day you'll awaken and we can both earn points together, but... it's clear that's never going to happen."
He tried to reach over to grab her hand again, wanting to tell her they could figure this out together.
But she just stood up right away, making him miss her hand. "Leon offered to take me under his wing and help me reach Class B at the very least," she said, grabbing her bag.
'Leon? Really? No, I can't let this happen,' he thought, immediately pushing his chair back to stand up.
Before he could even get up, a hand clamped down on his shoulder and violently shoved him back into his seat.
"Ugh!" He gasped, feeling a heavy pressure suddenly push down on his chest, making it incredibly hard to breathe. It was Ruby's aura, suffocating him just from her standing near him.
"Act like a man," she said, looking down at him with pure disgust. "She told you it's over, so take it like a man."
'It hurts... but I'm not going to just let her walk away,' he thought, gripping the edge of the table to bear the pain.
He looked up at Ruby, glaring right into her cold eyes. "Fuck off," he gritted out. "I'm trying to talk to my girlfriend."
"Ohhh, you have quite the mouth on you," she scoffed, her grip tightening and her aura flaring up even more.
"That's enough!" Emilia quickly stepped in, her voice sounding panicked. "Please, don't hurt him."
Ruby clicked her tongue, letting go of his shoulder and taking a step back. "Tch, you're lucky she cares so much for a failure like you," she sneered.
Without giving him another glance, Ruby turned around and started walking away, with Emilia following right behind her.
"Emilia, wait!" He called out, his voice cracking, but she just kept walking, not even looking back once as the two of them headed straight for the doors.
The silence in the cafeteria suddenly broke as the people at the surrounding tables started whispering loudly.
"Holy shit, he really just got dumped!" a guy a few tables away whispered loudly, staring right at Jiro.
"Man, that must suck," another student replied, shaking his head. "Though honestly it makes sense. Why would she stay with a failure who can't even wield a drop of mana?"
He just sat there, his hands balling into fists as the whispers echoed all around him. He was having a complete mental breakdown since way too much had just happened all at once.
'She left me... for points?' He thought, his hands gripping his pants tightly.
In the academy, students were strictly ranked by the amount of points they earned, and those same points could also be used as money to buy whatever they wanted.
Using points didn't actually reduce their ranks, since it worked more like a total deposit track that simply reset each semester. But since he had absolutely no mana, he couldn't participate in battles, dungeon raids, or missions.
He could only barely earn points through regular written tests, and it clearly wasn't enough for the two of them.
'Fuck this,' he thought, his sadness suddenly turning right into anger. 'I'm not letting it end like this.'
He aggressively pushed his chair back and stormed right out of the cafeteria, heading out to find Emilia.
'Where would they go?' He thought, rushing through the crowded hallways and checking the usual spots.
Ten minutes later, he still couldn't find them anywhere, and he was starting to have the absolute worst-case scenario thoughts running through his head.
'Leon is notorious with girls... would he really just help her study?' He thought, feeling completely sick to his stomach.
"Dammit!" he cursed out loud, violently punching the wall next to him in pure fury.
He stood there breathing heavily with his knuckles stinging, before turning his head and looking straight out the hallway window.
'Wait...' He thought, his eyes going wide at what he saw outside in the courtyard.
Right there in the middle of the courtyard was Leon, standing with all his harem girls. But Leon was holding someone else entirely, Emilia.
He had his arms wrapped right around her waist, and they were actively kissing.
'...' He just stood there, feeling completely broken inside as he watched them.
She had her arms wrapped tight around Leon's neck and was leaning all the way in, looking really into it. She didn't look like a girl who was just kissing him for some academy points.
'Why... why Emilia? Why would she do this?' He thought, feeling the world spinning around him as he continued watching. Intense sadness and unimaginable rage started tearing through his chest.
Leon suddenly looked right up at the window after they finished kissing.
'He sees me?' He thought, his grip tightening right as Leon locked eyes with him and smirked.
He just watched as Leon reached down and forcefully grabbed Emilia by the butt while still staring right at him, making her let out a clear moan.
'...'
He continued watching them for another second, before the anger suddenly vanished. He felt completely calm as he turned around and walked away from the window.
Later that night, he sat silently on his bed in his dark room. His face was battered and bloody, and his hands were completely covered in dried blood, showing clearly that he must have raged a lot after making it back.
'It's finally quiet,' he thought.
He sat there staring at his completely ruined knuckles. All the anger he had been feeling had totally burned itself out, leaving behind nothing but a heavy emptiness in his chest.
For an entire year he had believed that if he just kept studying and testing well, they could eventually build a future together. But today proved that none of that mattered, in this academy, without mana, he was literally less than nothing.
Leon had taken her effortlessly just because he had power and points.
'She really just threw me away without a second thought,' he thought, feeling a bitter smile creep onto his battered face.
"Fine," he muttered to himself, "you can have her."
He slowly lifted his head, staring straight at the blank wall with completely cold eyes. "But I promise to take absolutely everything else from you," he said, his voice dropping. "Your points, status... and your future."
He knew perfectly well that what he was about to do had an incredibly high chance of killing him. The academy doctors had warned him to never try forcing a core formation again after his last burst nearly destroyed his inner channels.
'I'd rather die tonight than live another day as a failure,' he thought, his focus locking perfectly into place.
He closed his eyes and started breathing in and out, preparing his body for the pain.