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Chapter 7: Infinite Depth

Third Person

Students taking swimming lessons inside the university's PE Building splashed water on the tiled ground. Nera continued to blow her whistle to instruct the swimmers in the methods they had been taught. Training pools were divided into three levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. There were also pools for casual beginners and trainees to learn the basics of swimming. Those athletes were discussing the impending national championships.

Yvar sat around the corner from the bathroom where wet people were constantly coming and exiting. He was surrounded by other individuals, like parents or perhaps siblings, who were keeping an eye on a young relative.

They were all raving about the positive effects that taking swimming lessons had on the health and self-control of their loved ones. They were parents bragging about how fast they could swim compared to others.

Yvar groaned and slumped against the wall as he watched the parents beam with pride over their kid. After their parents were killed by werewolves, he understood that Amilita would take on the role of mother for their family.

Events from the past surfaced in his mind, causing him to cough violently as he snapped back to the present. He blinked many times, rubbed his eyes, and shook his head.

Celeste accidentally bumped with her co-student swimmer, Vanessa, when both of them got off from the pool, pulling off their swimming goggles. Celeste slipped off against her feet which caused her feet to hit Vanessa’s. Vanessa fell his butt on the ground causing her to shout, crying.

“You aren’t looking your way! You hurt me! You hurt me!”

Celeste was already standing up. As she ran to tell Yvar the bad news, Vanessa immediately caught up with her and yanked on Celeste's hair. When Celeste yelled and shoved Vanessa, the two of them accidently fell into the deep end of the pool for the experts and athletes.

A splash was heard from the water, and both kids were wailing asking for help. Nera and the parents of Vanessa were alarmed as they rushed to the spot like a flash. Everyone else in the area seemed to be in a state of fear.

"Athletes? Where are they? Let's ask them to dive underwater!"

"They finished their training and already left the building just a few minutes ago."

“Hurry! Please try to get in touch with one of them to come back!"

Celeste gasped for air and floated upwards, but she felt nothing under her feet. Vanessa tried to swim, but she continued sinking due to the water's depth. They were both reaching out and clutching at each other, but Vanessa kept on hitting Celeste on the face.

Yvar wouldn't stop calling out Celeste's name. He stripped off part of his clothing and was set to leap headfirst into the pool when Nera stopped him, warning him that the water goes much deeper than he had anticipated.

While screaming at Nera, Vanessa's mom pointed out her frustration about Nera failing to jump in to rescue her daughter.

"You are the worst swimmer I have ever seen!" The mom became upset. Nera sighed, attempting to take it easy.

She reasoned out, "That's why I exclusively teach children only…”

Principal Charlotte showed up a little while later. Nera dove into the water due to the principal's intimidating presence and the mounting concerns about her abilities as a student athlete after she constantly refused to save Vanessa.

W-What is this?

It’s completely dark and I almost can’t see anything! The more I swim deeper, the colder it feels.

Her feet suddenly felt cramped as she proceeded to stretch further and deeper into it, that the pool had the sensation of being a vacuum—something that does not have a beginning or an end.

I know this pool is deep. But I wasn’t expecting it to look and feel like this.

Amilita Plasmata

The last bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. I packed up my things quickly since I need to catch the librarian before she leaves. So, I should give myself twice as much time as usual. I found myself staring at the ring often everytime I used my hand.

As each of my students departed, the room became noisier. When a classmate named Jarius stood in my path, I hung my back on my shoulder and started to get up, pretending he wasn’t blocking my way. I mean, why would he even do it?

"Are you free this time?" he asked. I hesitated and looked at him with stuttering eyes.

“Huh?”

“There is a milk tea shop across the university. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?” he continued, sounding too casually familiar to make me feel like we'd known one other for years.

Yes, we are in the same class, but we aren't exactly best friends. We were able to pass the time talking, although our chats weren't as in-depth as those with his pals.

I couldn't help but keep staring at him, trying to figure out what all the commotion was about. Even though he began conversing with me as he always does, I simply don't anticipate him inviting me out for a milk tea since he hasn't been behaving like this for the past few days.

"Maybe next time... I have something else to do today," I answered with complete honesty, despite the fact that it makes me feel a little bad by simply looking at his happy eyes flashing excited blinks.

“O-Oh…” A ray of disappointment can be seen from his face, but he was covering it with a positive-looking smile. “I understand. Let me know when you’re free. I will make time,” he giggled, doing those playful hand gestures that made me flash a little smile a bit.

“S-Sure…”

And with that, I left.

“Is there another way to borrow that book?”

“Honestly… Yes, but I don’t believe it works.”

I asked Miss Vanilla if there were any other methods to get ahold of that book, but it seems that Sylvester is the only option. She's multitasking by piling books and sorting them, while I'm doing the opposite by peppering her with questions.

She rubbed the side of her forehead and shook her head. Without looking at me, she continued by saying, “This is just a rumor. I don't know for sure if someone tried to do it or if it worked as well as it sounds."

I sat on the chair next to her table, right in front of her.

“What is it if I may ask?”

"People who want to read the book must be connected to the CEO or to that underground community he built something that the government didn't recognize." I could tell by the way Miss Vanilla spoke that she was used to saying things like this because it wasn't unusual for her to tell people about this. Even though she was doing many things at once, she wasn't sidetracked.

But if that's the case and I have to be connected to the CEO… Then…

Miss Vanilla inadvertently mismanaged the stack of books that were piled on top of her table causing me to jump out of my skin.

“You need to join that community which I forgot the term being used—”

“Werewolf hunters.”

“A-Ah… That’s it! I guess?”

I sighed.

When I formed a fist in the space between my thighs, I accidentally caused a section of my uniform to get wrinkled. It seemed that I would need to get up the courage to negotiate once again with the CEO about his offer.

“B-But why would they even force someone who's interested in our history to join such a thing?”

“According to them, only those with a connection to the founder can gain access. Because it is sacred and can only be read by those who are devoted to the preservation and existence of the truth.

Sacred?

I went completely silent, looking down on my feet.

“Don’t tell me you are planning to join?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“Unless you believe that it does exist then…”

“Why? You don’t believe they exist? But they were the reasons why the Javini Attack stopped. Because of them, we still have a country today.”

“It was the military forces’ efforts,” Miss Vanilla argued. But I was confused when she quickly shrugged her shoulders afterwards and shook her head.

“Not sure… I don’t know.”

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