How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 18: Protagonis

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Protagonis

Eiros’s red pupils met Alen’s dark blue ones. He could clearly see that Alen looked genuinely surprised at Eiros approaching him.

"...Us?"

Alen spoke, gesturing at himself and his teammates. Unlike the other groups, which stood out considerably, Alen’s group could honestly be described as plain and unremarkable. None of them looked particularly strong or noteworthy enough to catch the eye of other Other-class students who’d come to observe.

But Eiros knew exactly what he was doing right now. So he nodded, a smile on his face.

"Sorry, am I bothering you?"

"Ah, not at all. It’s more that it’s hard to believe an Other-class student would actually come to our team."

Watching Alen give an awkward smile while scratching the back of his head.

Eiros just felt relieved. Alen’s concern made sense, since the moment Eiros glanced around, he could see every one of his classmates making choices that would clearly benefit them—whether in terms of popularity, influence, or raw power.

At this point, Alen was simply classified as an ordinary student who happened to be a little stronger than average. But that was only because Alen had never actually used his Stigmata in public. He relied purely on Soul Essence and his own physical strength to reinforce each other.

So if anyone asked exactly where Alen stood, Eiros wouldn’t hesitate to say he was on par with the top-tier names among the current crop of first-years.

Of course, Alen would probably lose in a direct fight, given the gap in training quality and resources compared to those students.

"By the way, what should I call you? Ah, you can call me Alen."

"Just Eiros is fine."

Then Eiros’s gaze shifted to Alen’s other two companions—one boy and one girl.

Each of them were Alen’s friends, characters who could be considered supporting cast in this webtoon.

The girl, sporting a red bob cut, smiled with sparkling eyes as she looked at Eiros.

"You’re... Eiros? That Eiros Clair?!"

"Eh?"

"Hehe, didn’t you know? You’re actually pretty famous, you know—for dating Erness, of course."

’Ah.’

Eiros’s lips twitched hearing that. Of course, with looks like Erness’s, there was no way she wouldn’t be popular.

"I’m Lovia by the way, nice to meet you."

Hearing that, Eiros nodded.

After the rest of the introductions, they finally reached the actual matter at hand, the one that made Eiros let out a sigh.

The protagonist, Alen Hazelia, came from the combat class. So did Lovia—both of them were combat class students. Meanwhile, the other boy was named Godon.

Godon had a large, muscular build, coming from the mixed class, and had apparently become friends with Alen from crossing paths often at the training center.

"So, you guys need at least one support type?"

"Yeah, or a ranged attacker works too."

Alen gave a rueful smile as he scratched his cheek.

"It’s kind of sad, honestly, but with my status as just an ordinary commoner, it’s hard to build any connections that actually matter."

"Hmm... Can’t the three of you just handle Awakened-tier monsters on your own? I’d think, as long as you’re careful, it shouldn’t be that hard."

Just as Eiros said that, Lovia agreed and launched into a rant.

"Exactly, it should be easy. But Alen’s got some other idea in his head, I don’t even know why. This kid keeps insisting we need to prepare for this and that."

Godon gave a wide grin.

"Well, honestly, it doesn’t matter much to me either way. This is just an evaluation to measure our progress over the past two months anyway. So I’ll leave that decision to you two."

With that, Godon just shrugged and washed his hands of the whole matter. Lovia kept grumbling while Alen gave an awkward smile.

Eiros stood there quietly. He actually felt a bit uneasy about Alen’s request and started reconsidering it, until something seemed to click in his mind, and he glanced around.

"...Is there really no support-class student left without a team?"

That question made Lovia go quiet, while Alen’s eyes lit up, clearly pleased that Eiros had decided to ask.

"Wait... Why are you jumping on that too, don’t you trust my strength, h—"

"Wow, Eiros! I knew it, you must be someone thoughtful and careful. Even if Awakened-tier monsters are manageable, that doesn’t mean we should get careless, right?"

Alen cut in eagerly, drowning out Lovia as if afraid she might talk Eiros out of it.

"H-hey, listen to me...!"

"I’ve heard lately that some stronger monsters have started showing up, so we really can’t afford to be careless!"

Every time Lovia tried to speak, Alen would talk over her, just a bit louder. The argument lasted only a few seconds before Lovia finally gave up.

"Tch, this guy, he gets so damn stubborn whenever he wants something."

Muttering that, Lovia retreated to stand beside Godon, who just stayed quiet, watching.

Eiros closed his eyes, a bitter smile on his face.

"...So, why didn’t you try looking for a support-class student earlier?"

That question made Alen’s smile widen even further, though in a much worse sense, since it looked genuinely pale and strained.

"...See for yourself."

"....?"

Eiros glanced over toward the support class. Only two girls remained there. One of them was Erness, surrounded by so many different teams all vying to recruit her.

The other was a girl with long blonde hair. Her face was flawless and adorable, and instead of the academy uniform, she wore a long white robe from the sacred temple.

"Ah... Only Erness and the Saintess candidate are left?"

Alen nodded gloomily.

"Just as you can see. The Saintess hasn’t awakened her Stigmata yet, but since she’s already been prophesied to become a Saintess, she ended up placed in the support class regardless."

Eiros already knew that, so he nodded.

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, Alen looked at him with hopeful eyes.

"Um... Erness is your girlfriend, right?"

For some reason, Eiros could feel cold sweat crawling down his back. As a result, he avoided Alen’s hopeful gaze.

"Could you invite her over here? She doesn’t seem to be trying to join any team. But if it’s you asking her, she might—"

"....The Saintess isn’t bad either, right?"

Eiros answered, his face deathly pale, forcing a smile as he glanced off in some random direction.

Then Eiros felt a hand clap down on his shoulder.

"...You’re really okay letting your girlfriend go off on her own? Are you seriously that clueless? She might be waiting for you."

He didn’t remember getting this close with Alen before. But caught up in the topic, Eiros just went along with it.

"Well, I understand my girlfriend better than anyone else does. She can take care of herself just fine."

Then, wetting his own lips, Eiros suddenly remembered something and broke into a bright smile.

"We should just bring the Saintess along instead. Even if she hasn’t awakened her Stigmata yet, as a Saintess, the sacred temple surely wouldn’t let her embarrass herself out there. Who knows? She might have some kind of artifact that could actually help—wouldn’t a sacred temple artifact end up being more useful than a normal Awakened-tier support anyway?"

Alen’s expression froze, going rigid, then he suddenly seemed to think it over and said:

"Wait... Now that I think about it, you’re right..."

So, next, Eiros locked eyes with Alen, who stared right back. Their gazes held steady for five full seconds before the two of them nodded in unison, as if reaching some unspoken agreement, and said together:

"It’s decided."

The two of them then turned their attention toward the Saintess, took a few steps forward, and stopped short at the sound of a sharp shout behind them.

"W-wait...! What exactly did you two just decide?! What about my opinion on this?!"

Then, Lovia shot a glare at Godon.

"Do something! You muscle-headed bastard!"

"...Since those two already agreed, I’m on board too."

"W-why are you siding with them now?!"

Either way, Lovia had no choice but to swallow her defeat this time.

***