My Bothersome Life

Blamed

The same scene was repeating again. Luke came by my classroom to have lunch together in the special room provided from the school while ignoring everyone else around him.

The amount of pushing and shoving in the crowd of fan girls to greet Luke after he finished teaching wasn't a joke. His fan club was already established by the end of the first day and its members acted as guards to lead a 'safe' pathway for him at all times.

I wouldn't mind if I wasn't involved whenever this happened, but sadly I was suffering from the numerous and increasing threatening glares each time Luke came to pick me up.

Although, I could imagine what would happen if anyone of them discovered Luke's true personality. They would probably run away just from the sight of his face to save their own lives. However, since they would never know, I could see his fan club members increasing.

"Can you please try to avoid me at all times at school?" I asked directly once we settled into the room.

Luke stared at me with no expression like he was trying to study me. This happened whenever he was confused or couldn't find a reason or cause for something.

"I mean- , it's pretty uncomfortable being in the centre of attention from all your followers."

"I don't have any followers?"

"The people who follow you around while screaming your name."

"Oh. Them. I'll fix this right away." Luke frowned as if he was remembering his past trauma that Alex had mentioned to me.

Somehow, I didn't get a good feeling about Luke fixing this problem, but Luke was pretty competent in all that he did?

So, I forgot about our conversation during lunch until the bell rung indicating that math class has ended for today.

"Remember guys! Just because I couldn't finish the lesson, it doesn't mean you don't have to know the rest of the material!" I shouted to the class with a serious face.

"Sure, I'll do anything for you Rika!" Adrian yelled as a joke.

"Yea! If it's Rika, I'll do anything!" Another male student added.

I guess this was a good thing? Right?

The female students in comparison to the male students were not as responsive, however we had a good underlying relationship when we talked about our hobbies and whatnot.

At this rate, getting the points from this mission was going to be a piece of cake!

Luke came to pick me up like usual at the door with his fan club members and admirers that followed him which increased in number.

I was sure that during lunch he said that he was going to fix this problem? I wondered what happened to that as my mood became darker from thinking about how to escape from the crowd.

Luke suddenly stood beside me as he announced, "From now on, anybody who follows me will be sent penalties from the school that will possess severe consequences as this has been inconveniencing a number of other students."

Immediately after this decrement, the girls all sent menacing glares at me. And I knew what they were thinking: 'This all happened because of this girl because she complained, didn't it?'

"Rika, let's go home now." Luke shook my arm which meant he was indirectly asking me why I was frozen in one spot.

'Ugh! Why Luke? You could've made this announcement when I wasn't there! Now they're all blaming me!' I threw him an angry smile when the abolished fan club gave me a hardened, cold look.

However, the next day, everyone who used to be a follower of Luke greeted me back kindly with a smile. Was it just me, or was it that this was really strange?

In light novels or manga, everybody would usually harass the main protagonist who had the attention of the male lead.

Even when I was teaching later on in the week, everyone was behaving even better than the previous days that I taught.

The only difference was the doll-like girl who came up to me after class rather than being surrounded by the usual crowd of girls she led.

"Rika..." Her soft voice and teary eyes compelled anyone to help her from miles away, which earned the attention of many passersby.

"What's the matter?" I softly asked in attempt to comfort her.

"I know, I know- this has nothing to do with your math class, but I was wondering if you could help." She was about to break down in front of me.

It was probably not a big of a deal, so I decided to accept the challenge. It was better than potentially losing some points for making my student cry.

"What is it?"

"I lost my heirloom inside the forest that is near the church when I was showing my friends how pretty it was."

Why would she be near the forest? The forest wasn't that close to the school and I was guessing that she would ask me to try to find her 'heirloom'.

"Why were you and your friends inside the for-"

Before I could complete my sentence, the female student burst into tears earning us more stares from the people nearby.

I had already guessed what was going to happen, it was either go into the forest or keep her crying and have the possibility to lose points. It was obvious this act was fake as she cried each time I asked why she and her friends were inside the forest that was oddly a distance away from here.

Maybe it was a bit of a welcoming prank to the third district. "Fine, I'll go. Tell me the entrance into the forest!" I tried not to yell from frustration.

The girl oddly smiled like she got what she wanted, "Thank you..."

***

The sky was filled with hues of orange and purple indicating it was about to become dark inside the wide forest with tall lush trees.

My hands were scraped with tiny scars as I searched through every single bush to find a jade pendant fitted into a gold molding.

Unfortunately, I couldn't use mana, as it was forbidden to use besides emergencies. Mana was not to be seen in front of the third district whose people who didn't know the existence of it.

As the sky went darker and darker, my hands became bruised with calluses and scars from repeatedly searching through the bushes.

I knew I should have made that girl search with me! Knowing it was a prank, we could've suffered through it together!

It was already deep into the night. I was going to give up on searching as I now knew there was no pendant hidden inside the forest.

I discovered a light from someone's phone after dusting the dirt off my knees. Was someone here in the middle of the night?

The girl had ash brown hair flowing from the wind while wearing a smile like she was trying to keep a secret. She hid a large object as both her hands were behind her back.

I stared in wonder under the faint moonlight that offered light inside the dense forest.

"Hello, are you also looking for the lost pendant as well?" I asked while somehow knowing it wasn't the answer.

"No, I was actually looking for you. Everyone has been searching for you as it's been a long time since you were gone." She took one small step toward me.

"Really?" I pretended I didn't notice the large object behind her back.

The object glistened like it was a metal blade or a sharpened weapon. Maybe a long sword with the angles?

"And behind your back?" I knew I shouldn't have asked.

She lightly took a long scythe out like she was used to its grip that listened to her very desire. The scythe spun with its elegant tricks until she put it stably back into her grip.

"Just for a bit of protection," she flung the weapon into the air to show off her precise control.