It was bewildering.

I never imagined that Sylvia would show tears.

Holding the ring she intended to give me tightly with both hands, Sylvia began to cry, her face contorting like a child who didn’t even know how to cry out loud.

Caught in confusion about what to do, I opened Sylvia’s hand and took out the ring she was clutching.

A ring set with a red gem.

As I looked at the inscription inside, guilt washed over me like a tidal wave.

A false relationship I desperately formed just to survive without doing anything.

I no longer intended to remain a bystander, so there was no longer a need to pretend to be friends with Sylvia.

However, it seemed impossible to pretend this relationship never existed now.

For me, friends were the support pillars of life and the ones who could soothe my sorrows.

The reason I loved academy stories and missed my school days was that they were precious moments when I could meet friends like that.

Because the word “friend” held immense meaning for me, I couldn’t consider the false relationship I formed with Sylvia for my own goals as a true friendship.

Even if Sylvia thought differently of me, our relationship could never be real unless I told her that I approached her with a hidden agenda.

Still, knowing that the truth sometimes wounds someone deeply, I slipped the ring onto my right ring finger and said,

“Thank you for the gift. Is the inscription on Sylvia’s ring the same?”

Sylvia nodded slowly at my words.

“I’m glad you think so.”

It was I who deceived, and it was also my fault.

Therefore, the weight of the ring on my right hand was something I had to bear.

While enduring the hardship, I expressed only joy.

As I smiled, Sylvia stopped crying.

Sylvia’s ring was on her left index finger, symbolizing friendship.

My ring was on my right index finger, symbolizing desire and goals.

Nonetheless, both rings bore the same engraving of the word “friend.”

…

“…I had a general idea about that guy, but ha… it’s worrying.”

After class, I told my classmates not to worry, and then I ran into Leonor while heading to the cooking club’s activity with Mei.

Leonor, seeing me, let out a sigh, tapped my shoulder lightly, and began walking towards the stairs.

Isn’t the cafeteria in the opposite direction?

While I was puzzled, Leonor casually turned her head and brought her index and middle fingers to her lips.

…Ah!

Just then, as I remembered something, I quickly followed her, with Mei trailing behind us, looking bewildered.

On the rooftop, Leonor and I each took a hit from a magical herb.

“Want one?”

“No, I’ll pass.”

Mei rejected Leonor’s offer with a very reluctant expression.

It’s not harmful, so why not join in?

Well, I couldn’t exactly picture Mei smoking a magical herb.

I took off the ring from my right hand and ignited the herb.

As I extended my hand, it was a bit amusing to see Leonor bow her head to light hers from mine.

Even though this was only our third time smoking together, it looked so natural.

With the herb in my mouth, I inhaled the smoke and noticed Leonor creating smoke rings beside me.

“Phew… Kek… How did you do that?”

“Chuckling, well, at some point, I just started doing it naturally.”

“How long have you been smoking, senpai…?”

Leonor laughed at my failed attempt to mimic her, and Mei asked her curiously.

Honestly, if she said she picked up the magical herb at a young age, I wouldn’t be surprised.

“I started smoking when my mother passed away, so it’s been about six years.”

“Ah… oh…”

Mei sank into depression upon hearing Leonor’s answer.

As I calmed her down, who was turning pale, Leonor said,

“Well, don’t worry about it. It’s old news. This thing hits you hard, you know? The reason I still smoke is a bit of a habit.”

I stared at Leonor.

What kind of habit? Honestly, how can you tell someone not to worry while clearly not being okay?

She was indeed an uncommonly kind person.

If the herb clouded your mind and helped you forget the hard times, you might think of it as an addiction.

But the effect of the herb was to soothe the mind.

Unless Leonor was suffering from hallucinations, smoking it could even make things feel tougher afterward.

The reason people say time heals is that eventually, they realize the only way to move on is to accept things.

If your mind is calmed by the herb, it forces you to realize that truth.

Gaining clarity can feel like an assault for someone wanting to escape reality.

It’s a feeling of being forced to face it, asking what you’re going to do otherwise.

Yet, she has been smoking the magical herb for six years and still strives not to look away from her mother’s death.

It must be tough; she’s admirable.

Knowing how hard it is to accept the death of a loved one, I carefully reached out and patted Leonor’s back.

Then Leonor chuckled and gently tapped my head.

“If you’re feeling down, I thought about offering some advice, but it doesn’t seem necessary.”

“Well, I’ve prepared myself, so I don’t worry too much.”

As I said this, Leonor slowly started to stroke my hair.

“Alright, if you’re having a hard time, contact me. You’re always welcome at the cooking club, even just to eat. Don’t avoid it; show your face. When you come, I’ll make you whatever you’d like.”

The cooking club activity was supposed to have ended last time.

If more than half of the first-year students were dead and a massacre occurred in the gym, it certainly wouldn’t have been a time for club activities.

But we protected it, so we can do this today.

The smile on Leonor’s face that I preserved was a source of joy for me.

Because she owed me, I felt I could push things a bit.

Looking at Leonor, who was a bit surprised, I teased her.

“Then, is it alright if I come every Friday?”

Leonor’s eyes widened in surprise, then she burst into a big laugh, ruffling my hair.

“Ahaha, of course, it’s no problem. Our cute junior is coming! I’ll make sure to stuff you every time you come, so be prepared!”

I nodded.

Mei, standing next to me, seemed a bit pouty.

“By the way, Mei, can we exchange phone numbers?”

“Oh? Ah. Sure!”

It wasn’t like before anymore.

…

After our herb break on the rooftop, the cooking club activity officially began.

“I want to make homemade chocolate for dessert, but what’s good to eat before something sweet?”

“Well, obviously something spicy and salty!”

Hearing Mei’s desire to make chocolate, Leonor yelled.

Yet again, spicy, salty, sweet seems to be the truth in this world.

For some reason, Mei and Leonor looked more excited than usual as they pulled out pots and began to cook.

As I was officially designated as the eating one, I sat down and waited for the cooking to finish.

By the way, homemade chocolate, huh.

I asked Mei, who was cooking.

“Hey Mei, if you need chocolate to make chocolate, wouldn’t it just be better to eat the regular chocolate?”

When I asked this, Mei looked at me deadpan.

It seemed it was a type of question I shouldn’t have asked.

Wow, Mei is really serious about her chocolate…

Quickly apologizing, I quietly waited for the cooking to finish.

As Mei poured the melted chocolate into molds and placed it in the fridge, Leonor’s dish was completed.

It was a spicy tteokbokki with the bright red sauce reduced by half.

The melting cheese stretched over it was just screaming that it couldn’t taste bad.

But today, the looks in Leonor and Mei’s eyes were particularly intense.

It seems many women genuinely love tteokbokki.

I began to wonder if there was some ingredient in tteokbokki that drove women wild.

While I was slowly fishing out pieces of fishcake instead of rice cakes, the two were working quietly but swiftly.

Seeing that there was no sound when Mei moved, it was clear she must have been using her abilities as well.

I had been absorbed in my thoughts during chicken meals, but as we ate tteokbokki today, I once again realized that heroes’ meals were indeed battles.

The tense showdown between the two over the last egg was more thrilling than the battle between Yoon Si-woo and Sylvia.

In the end, the victor was Leonor.

After all, it’s always the one who cooks that has the last laugh.

Mei brought out the cold homemade chocolate from the fridge for dessert.

When I took a bite of the chocolate Mei handed me, I had to admit that homemade chocolate did indeed taste different.

I nodded, and Mei, feeling good, smiled brightly.

There was plenty of both tteokbokki and chocolate, yet it all vanished in an instant.

Today, it didn’t feel like I’d eaten that much, but it seemed true that women had stomachs divided for meals and desserts.

After the delightful meal and finishing the cleanup, I said goodbye to the two in front of the school.

As they disappeared from view, I wiped the smile off my face.

The streets were still quiet.

I checked the time on my phone.

It was 7:30 PM.

It was Friday evening, but it was just a bit too early to jump to conclusions.

As in the original story, it was Friday night of the week when the incident occurred in the gym.

A protest was taking place in District 15.

It was a demonstration where citizens who had lost family members expressed their anger toward the heroes.

If that had been all, it would have been fine, but taking advantage of the heroes dispatched to stop the demonstrations from other districts, the monsters crossed the barriers and attacked the city.

I didn’t know who would die or which district it would happen in, but I knew such events would occur.

I stopped by a discount store to buy some bean sprouts and returned home to wash up and change clothes.

As I checked the time on my phone, I opened the window.

It was 9 PM, and the outside still seemed calm.

Then at 10 PM, 11 PM,

Midnight came, and Friday turned into Saturday.

Nothing happened.

Now, I could be sure.

The future I knew had changed.

Since there were no deaths, the protest did not occur.

Naturally, since no heroes were dispatched, the monsters likely didn’t invade either.

A future altered by my actions.

Now, I could no longer be sure of the events to come.

The events I knew might not happen, and things I didn’t know could occur.

In the midst of that, it could happen that I might die.

But rather than waiting for doom without doing anything,

I had decided to fight desperately to save more people.

Though it seemed like a feeble breeze for now, I hoped the end would be a storm.

The butterfly began to flap its remaining wing.