Reborn As An Extra : I'm gonna mess up everything

I Want A Friend

These thoughts flooded Kaelith's mind as she swung another punch toward Maruti. 

But just before it connected, something stopped her. 

Kaelith hesitated. Her grudge wasn't with Maruti; it was with Esdeath. She wasn't a heartless monster, and the idea of permanently harming someone who wasn't her true target felt… wrong. 

So, she pulled back slightly, reducing the power in her punch. Even then, when the blow landed, it was still strong enough to make Maruti stagger. She saw Maruti's body sway, her legs faltering, but the girl didn't fall. 

Maruti stood there, blood dripping from her lip, and looked at Kaelith with unyielding determination. Kaelith stepped back, retreating for a moment, and her gaze shifted to Esdeath. 

"Are you doing this for her? But why? What's in it for you to be so desperate? Did she save your life or something? From what I know, you two only met here in the academy. How could your bond be so deep already?" 

Her anger grew. 

No matter how hard Kaelith tried to land a finishing blow on Esdeath, Maruti was always there. She intervened every single time, even at the very end. 

Kaelith remembered it clearly. She had aimed a decisive punch at Esdeath, but Maruti had thrown herself between them, taking the full force of the blow yet again. Even as Kaelith's fist slammed into Maruti's face, the girl retaliated with a punch of her own, striking Kaelith across the cheek. 

The crowd watched as Kaelith collapsed to the ground, seemingly unconscious. But the truth was far from that. 

She wasn't unconscious. 

Lying there on the ground, Kaelith stared up at the sky, her thoughts swirling in confusion. She didn't feel defeated, but she felt… hollow. 

"Why? Why does Esdeath have someone like her? Why does she have someone willing to stand by her side, no matter the cost?"

Kaelith's chest tightened, and her fists clenched. 

"I want that too," she thought, her heart aching. "I want someone who will stay by my side no matter what. I want… a friend."

Closing her eyes, she pretended to faint. The crowd cheered for Esdeath's victory, but Kaelith didn't care. Winning no longer mattered to her. 

"Let them win," she told herself. "I can win the next rounds if I feel like it. This fight doesn't matter anymore."

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"Lalalala... Lalalala..."

Lortell hummed softly as she strolled through the academy's bustling hallways, her steps light and carefree. Her voice carried a melodious tune that caught the attention of nearby students, but she paid them no mind. Let them whisper, let them stare—it didn't matter. 

Today was a good day. 

She was in an unusually great mood because of the news brought to her by her trusted head maid, Lorraine. 

Lortell smirked as she thought about the rare essence stone Lorraine had mentioned. 

"Blood Connection."

A C-rank blood-path investigation stone. Its ability was simple yet powerful: if someone had ever consumed another person's blood, the essence stone could track the location of that person, provided they weren't using strong concealment techniques. 
 
And Lortell? She had drunk Esdeath's blood plenty of times.  

"Esdeath is just an E-rank anyway," Lortell mused, her crimson eyes gleaming with excitement. "She wouldn't have any advanced methods to hide herself. She's probably just wandering around looking for luna. There's no way she could block the stone's effect."