"NOBITA. YOU'LL BE LATE AGAIN!"
"COMING MOM!"
I sprint down the stairs.
-thumpp!-
And I fell. Classic me.
"Be more careful! Here take your lunch."
Mom handed me my box, as I got up, rubbing my chin.
I sprint out, wearing my shoes in a hurry.
"Best of luck for the test!"
"Thanks mom!"
Shit, I completely forgot about the test.
"Bye mom!"
I rushed out, a notebook in hand and lunchbox in other as I ran down the street like a madman.
Shit, if only I didn't had to do my seasonal side quest!
"Hypothese^2=base^2+height^2."
And yeah, it's obviously maths test first. I'm so getting a bad grade this time.
All due to Demon lords! Damn demon lords!
I reached the school.
-DING-
Safe!
______________________________
-sigh-
I walk out the exam room, my face looking down.
Why? Because I'm fucked.
Like, I'll pass. But it's more like 'You barely passed' line.
Definitely 'it's the damn internet' worthy marks.
My brain still felt like it had been put through a dimensional blender. One minute I'm getting stabbed through the chest by my own best bird friend as part of a galaxy-brain plan to trick a furry dark king, the next I'm solving for 'x'. It's a weird transition.
Since I still had the dragon living under my skin, we had a last talk before he vanished after reviving me. He said something pretentious about "the sword now being the hand that wields it" or whatever. I don't know what happened to the people, but with the real threat gone, they should be fine. Right?
That's what I kept telling myself. Riruru, Pippo, the Metropians... they were fine. They had to be. They had a whole rebuilt world to manage. They probably didn't have time to sit around wondering why the guy who saved them then publicly betrayed them suddenly vanished in a flash of light.
Me? I got a 42 on my algebra quiz.
Life's fair like that.
"Hey, Nobi-the-failure!"
Speaking of fair.
I didn't even need to turn around. The shadow that fell over me was bigger than any of Odorome's nightmare beasts and somehow twice as scary.
"Hey, Gian," I muttered, trying to sidestep.
His meaty hand landed on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. "Where you think you're going? We gotta... talk about your performance."
"My... test performance?" I asked, hoping against hope.
Gian's grin widened. "Your performance as my new training dummy! I saw you running this morning. You're still fast. We're gonna fix that!"
"Gian, I just got back from a... a really long trip. I'm tired. I think I'm dying. I need a doctor—"
"THE DOCTOR IS IN!" he roared, hoisting me into the air like a backpack.
"WAIT! NO! I HAVE HOMEWORK! I HAVE... A SENSE OF SELF-PRESERVATION!"
"THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA TRAIN OUT OF YOU!" he bellowed, breaking into a sprint that shook the very ground.
As the world blurred around me, my stomach lurching, I had one clear, definitive thought.
Damn demon lords. Damn giant robot Santas. Damn birds.
I cursed my entire bizarre life.
And that's all I could do. After all this is the life I chose, no?
After all, what's saving the world a few times if you can't even outrun your childhood bully?
RUN! RUN!
I rushed out the school. Probably got scolded by some teachers who I was too busy to actually care about while running.
"Hey, wait. Gian."
"Huh?"
We both stopped, Gian looked at me annoyed.
"Why are you trying to hit me again?"
"Huh? Obviously, because you got more marks than me."
"..."
"What?"
I took out my sheet and showed him the 42 marks.
...
Silence was too loud.
"Hey nobi." Gian patted my shoulder, his eyes almost pitying. "Better luck next time."
And he left me.
Like that.
I stood in the middle of the ground.
Fuck, this is better than getting beaten up then why do I feel more hurt than that explosion?