Pouring down heavily!

As if a hole had opened in the sky, the thick raindrops that were few soon filled the entire world around us.

Naturally, we, who were walking outside, got soaked by the rain and quickly took cover.

Since it was a bit far to the dorm, we found a shabby warehouse nearby.

We immediately went inside.

“Phew, haha, it was sudden and surprising, right? Mary?”

“…”

I lightly spoke while drying my hair, but Mary’s condition seemed strange.

Pat-pat, pat-pat.

The sound of heavy raindrops hitting the ceiling of the warehouse echoed, and the darkened sky made the inside of the warehouse dark as well.

And even in such darkness, Mary’s trembling shoulders were clearly visible.

‘…Is she cold?’

“Please wait a moment! I’ll quickly dry you off and give you something to cover with!”

“…”

Mary didn’t respond and just trembled, hugging her arms with her hands, shivering like a wet cat from the rain.

I immediately took out a towel and a blanket from my spatial pouch.

These pouches are really convenient in situations like this.

I handed the dry towel to Mary.

“Mary, here, quickly dry yourself off with this.”

“…”

“Mary?”

But Mary did not accept the towel I handed her.

She simply hugged herself and kept trembling.

Observing her strange condition closely, I heard her small voice amidst the sound of the rain.

She was mumbling so quietly it was hard to understand.

“…I’m sorry.”

‘Sorry?’

Focusing my attention to understand, the sentence gradually became clearer.

“…Ah, father, …I’m, I’m sorry. …I did, hic, I did wrong.”

She was apologizing.

Trembling and apologizing to someone who wasn’t even here.

The situation was alarming.

‘…Could it be?’

I quickly checked Mary’s status.

[ Name: Mary Hyde

Unique Skill: Blessing of Frost.

Unique Trait: Split Personality.

Possessed Traits: Fear LV 1, Anxiety LV 1, Trauma LV 1 ]

‘She also has something…’

As expected, Mary’s status was in a terrible state.

Though not to the extent of despair, she had traits of fear, anxiety, and trauma.

It was clear that something was wrong.

In the game, if fear and anxiety traits are simultaneously activated, it results in a panel of behavioral paralysis.

That’s why she isn’t responding to my call.

‘And what is this split personality trait?’

What kind of hidden settings have these perverted game developers put into the characters?

The more I know, the more questions I have.

‘System, display detailed explanation of the split personality trait.’

Soon, a status window appeared before me.

[Unique Trait: Split Personality

The trait owner’s personality will shift upon achieving certain conditions.]

It was a simple explanation.

But what are these certain conditions?

‘In this case, could it be because of the rain?’

I thought about it and started drying Mary’s head with the towel.

It might be taken as sexual harassment if done wrong, but if I left her like this, she’d surely catch a cold.

Drying her head should be okay.

‘Or is it something about the water itself?’

Come to think of it, Mary’s condition wasn’t strange right after the rain started.

She responded properly to the suggestion of avoiding the rain until just before it started pouring.

The change in her condition was noticed after we entered this warehouse.

After she got completely soaked.

“Mary, …are you okay?”

After drying Mary’s head sufficiently, I covered her shoulders with the blanket.

I could feel her shivering through the blanket covering her shoulders.

As I was thinking about what to do, Mary’s hand moved.

She grabbed the sleeve of my hand.

“Mary?”

“I-I’m sorry. Ken. I’m not in a good state…”

Fortunately, Mary, who had regained her composure, explained in a small voice, but…

Boom—!

“Aah!”

She suddenly screamed at the thunder and jumped into my arms.

“Are you, are you okay?!”

“Hic, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. …I’m sorry for being so clumsy.”

She buried her face in my chest, trembling, and kept mumbling something.

When she finally looked up at me, her usual cool and composed expression was gone.

She had the face of a frightened child with tears in her eyes.

‘Is this the split personality trait?’

This was the first time I had seen Mary like this, even after several playthroughs of the game.

Of course, Mary does show emotions like anger or sadness, but she is generally calm and gentle.

She didn’t even shed tears in front of Ken’s corpse.

“Hic, I’m sorry, Ken. I-I’m just so scared…”

She had turned into a crying mess.

Her hand holding my sleeve was trembling, and she kept apologizing for some unknown reason.

“W-Well, shall we calm down a bit first?”

“…Yes.”

So, for a while, Mary and I stayed in the warehouse, avoiding the rain and keeping watch over the situation.

A little while later.

I understood why Mary took a break from the academy on rainy days.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“…Yes, yes.”

Though she said she was fine, she was still trembling.

We were now sitting on the warehouse floor, covered with a blanket.

And the terrified Mary seemed to cling to my clothes, as if asking me to stay by her side.

‘Like a rabbit.’

Usually, she has the impression of an elegant cat. But just getting wet from the rain had changed her appearance so drastically.

It seems she becomes like this when she gets wet.

I don’t know the reason.

But it’s clear that she becomes a scaredy-cat when she gets wet and thus avoids getting wet to the extreme.

“So, how do you handle showers?”

“…Oh, if I don’t wear clothes, it’s fine… The feeling of wet clothes, I-I really hate it.”

So, if she is naked, can she go out in the rain?

No, it’s obviously impossible.

I had a foolish thought.

The downpour soon stopped after a while.

Fortunately, after the rain stopped and Mary had dried off a bit, she looked noticeably calmer than before.

“…I’m sorry, Ken. For showing such a pathetic side today.”

“It’s okay! Rather, I’m glad I could see a new side of Mary!”

‘Split personality, huh.’

Though I didn’t hear why it happens, I now understood why Mary took breaks on rainy days.

She is extremely afraid of getting wet.

To be precise, she rejects the scaredy-cat version of herself that appears when she gets wet.

‘So, that’s why she fell for Adrian.’

In the early part of the second chapter, after going through some event, Mary falls for Adrian.

Though the exact reason is not revealed, I can roughly guess.

After all, Adrian also dislikes water.

‘He was also reluctant about getting wet.’

Adrian’s weak point is the water element.

Adrian, who has the unique skill to freely control the fire element known as ‘Eye of Ifrit,’ dislikes water because of this skill.

It’s not to the extent of having trauma like Mary.

But there must have been an event where they formed a bond over this aspect.

“Hmm.”

“Ken, are you thinking about something again?”

“Just planning to help someone.”

“Just like you, Ken… so kind!”

I dropped Mary off at her dorm and returned to the Tower.

And I was pondering in front of the workbench.

‘How can I make her come to the academy on rainy days?’

I was thinking about how to make Mary come to the academy on rainy days.

‘Do I need to help her overcome her trauma first?’

Most of the events related to Mary in the game are confrontations with Emily, so there’s little information on this part.

‘Or should I ask Adrian?’

From Mary’s condition, it seems the event between them hasn’t happened yet.

But if I ask with some hypotheticals, maybe he’ll tell me what he would have done in the future.

‘No, I’m not that close to him anyway.’

I was pondering with my head full of thoughts.

At this point, if someone wondered why I was so intent on helping Mary?

It’s to escape Emily’s bullying.

‘Now that skill grinding is over.’

After leveling physical resistance and mental enhancement skills to level 2, they showed no signs of growth.

So, there’s no need to cater to Emily’s bullying anymore.

It’s becoming bothersome.

But the problem is.

I’m weaker than Emily.

‘Of course, things would be different if I used Calorie Burn.’

But if I did that, it wouldn’t be about winning; it could be that I might kill Emily with a normal attack.

What’s the point of killing the protagonist?

So I need someone who can protect me.

“Hey, Ken.”

Raphne, who had been watching me from the side, spoke up.

What is it? Is she trying to help?

“What?”

I looked at Raphne.

She placed her hand on my work desk and peeked up at me.

Her lightless, dead eyes were carefully observing me.

Then she smiled and spoke.

“You know, about that person you want to help.”

“Uh, yes?”

Overwhelmed by her gaze, I stuttered.

“Is it a woman?”

For some reason, her voice felt pressuring.

“…Hic.”

I couldn’t answer.

What, why? Why is this atmosphere like this?

Her cold smile urged for an answer, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak due to the confusion in my head.

“…Really a woman?”

And seeing my dumbfounded expression, Raphne erased even her mask-like smile.

“No, no, it’s a man!!”

“Lies! Lies! Lies!!”

Why does this always happen?

“Don’t lie! It’s a woman! You’re planning to give something to a woman! Otherwise, Ken wouldn’t be thinking so hard!”

“What are you talking about! It’s really a male friend who needs help!”

“Ken doesn’t have any friends!”

“Ugh!”

[ System: The skill level of Mental Resistance has increased. ]

It hurts as I know Ken’s memories and how true her statement is.

Maybe her harsh words are better than Queen Emily’s?

It seems the original bully is better at bullying after all.

“T-that doesn’t matter whether it’s a man or a woman! I’m just trying to do something good!”

“No, no! If Ken gets a woman, he won’t come here! He’ll forget about someone like me while being all happy with a woman! Please… hic, please don’t abandon me!”

Raphne’s familiar desperate act.

She used the ‘hold onto the pants’ technique.

“Waaah! No, don’t go, don’t abandon me! I’ll treat you better than that woman! If you need a woman, just ask me! I can do better! I can give you everything you want!”

“It’s really not that!!”

How long will it take to calm her down this time…

[System: Raphne Bell Martinez’s despair level is rising. 98% … 99%]

I know, so be quiet.

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