Chapter 20: Hero – 9

The train arriving at Platform B will end its service at Boon Lay. 

As soon as the train doors hissed open, the jostling crowd on the platform rushed into the train and snapped up all the vacant seats; being an experienced commuter, I managed to grab a seat for myself and sat down with a smug smile. 

“...youʼre just gonna watch me stand here for the entire journey?” Angelica muttered, her glare so chilly that even the people next to her shuddered involuntarily. 

“Standing improves your blood circulation and also increases your concentration to create an optimal condition for absorbing and retaining information,” I said convincingly as I opened up the math textbook on my lap. “Letʼs revise AP and GP for now, then we can do a mock practice paper in school before assembly begins.” 

“Hmph, whatever.” She glanced down at my textbook and began muttering to herself, “an arithmetic progression is a sequence such that the difference between every pair of consecutive terms is a constant number, i.e. a sequence of the form a, a + d, a + 2d, a + 3d, …, where a is the first term and d is the common difference of the sequence...to prove that a sequence is an arithmetic progression, we need to show that...” 

“Sheʼs actually studying seriously…” I waved my hand in front of the textbook to get her attention. “Wanna listen to some music in the meantime?” 

“Music?” She looked at the headphones that I just passed to her suspiciously. “I donʼt particularly listen to human music…” 

“It helps with studying, trust me.” I gestured for her to put it on over her ears. “Hang on, let me bring up my studying playlist…and shuffle, there we go.” 

Angelica raised her eyes to the corner and pursed her lips. “…I donʼt know what to say, to be honest.”

“Trying singing it, then,” I suggested with an encouraging smile. 

“If you say so…” She swayed her head lightly from side to side along with the beat and began to hum, “see, anybody could be good to you; you need a bad girl to blow your minddd—”

Suddenly, another familiar-sounding voice joined in from somewhere in the crowded carriage. “—bang-bang into the room!!” 

Of course, there was only one person I knew who would be so self-unaware about his surroundings; I smiled wryly as Liam squeezed his way towards us and waved his hand at us. 

“Oii Avery, why did you ignore my message?” he said in mock anger, pointing at his phone. “I was trying to get your attention, and here you are flirting with Angelica instead?”

I rolled my eyes. “Huh, what are you talking about? It isnʼt like sheʼs my girlfriend…” 

You are reading story The Hero died, now what? at novel35.com

Wait a minute, if Angelica meddled with Liamʼs memories as well, then he might actually think that—

“Oh, donʼt worry, I didnʼt do anything to him,” she said assuredly once she met my questioning gaze. “I told him the truth in exchange for his cooperation in helping to cover for us while we werenʼt in school.” 

“Iʼve always wanted to be the main characterʼs best friend,” Liam said with a grin and gave a thumbs up. “Gambatte!” 

I didnʼt know whether to laugh or cry, so I just nodded my head weakly in acknowledgement. 

“By the way, isnʼt todayʼs test ungraded?” Liam asked, glancing at Angelica. “You donʼt really need to study too hard for it, just saying. It doesn’t count towards your actual grades reflected in your report book.” 

She blinked, then shot me a disgusted look. “Y-you are a scammer!” 

“Fillet mignon~” I replied with a straight face. 

Liam couldnʼt help but laugh at Angelicaʼs confused face before changing the subject. “Oh, right, I forgot to mention that the Prefectorial Board requested to do a joint talk with us tomorrow. I told Seraphine that Iʼll be there to represent the Union, but do you want to go as well?” 

“A joint talk involving both sides of the Student Council?” I furrowed my brows. “Is it some kind of initiative by the school?” 

He nodded his head and explained, “the talk’s going to be held at the secondary school side to promote the Student Council to our juniors. I can forward you the link to the slides now.”

“Ooh, that does seem super interesting,” Angelica commented with a curious look in her eyes. “Being in the Student Council sounds cool…”

“If you want, you can join us too!” Liam quickly added in response, throwing a knowing look in my direction. “We do have space in the Student’s Union for an additional member, after all. You don’t mind, right, Avery?”

“Uh…” I heaved a sigh of resignation. “Yeah, sure.”

 

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