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Part II Chapter 35 - Gesundheit

***Lynett***

I take back what I said before. The public isn't indifferent.

The moment the teacher supervising the event announced the opening of the advanced classes' duels, the atmosphere radically changed. Since I didn't know when exactly it would be my turn, I left the boys to join the participants zone. I am no longer in the stand so I can't see them, but I definitely can hear them...

I can hear the students yelling, erupting in cheers. I think I can even hear some of them jumping. The only things missing are the ground shaking and the loudspeakers, and there you have it: the stadium atmosphere. I've actually never gone to see a game so I'm not sure, but at least, this is definitely what I would expect from it.

The audience wasn't indifferent. It had just been waiting for the real battles to begin. And now that the novices' duels were over, the real show was starting.

I don't feel so good.

I am quite uncomfortable with crowds. Because of my eyes, I've learned to tolerate it, but I still really don't like having all eyes on me. I can handle a little attention. I could have handled the audience from before. But now they all just went crazy, cheering like madmen.

From the participants' zone, we couldn't see the fights. We just patiently waited all together for our names to be called. I didn't know anyone there. The participants were all older than me, all serious, and last but not least, they were all prepared. Because of that, the atmosphere in the waiting room was pretty tense. Combined with the fact that I couldn't see anything of what was happening outside and with the public's loud cheering, I was really starting to grow anxious. It's not like I wasn't confident in winning, but the atmosphere was just hard to bear.

I think I can understand Vivian now...

So I sat in a corner, buried my head in my arms, and I closed my eyes. Letting myself get swallowed by darkness always had a relaxing feeling for me. It wasn't so difficult as the others around me were very quiet. Some were meditating, others were stretching, all were silent. If it hadn't been for the noise outside, I would've probably fallen asleep.

And I waited. For quite a while, I think, as I quickly lost track of time. But eventually, I emerged from my stand-by mode as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You alright?"

It was an unknown boy. The stranger crouched down to reach my level.

"Are you nervous?" He asked, his eyes looking genuinely worried.

I've learned to become wary of strangers approaching me, but that boy didn't seem to have any ulterior motive.

I shook my head.

"No I'm not," I responded. "Not anymore."

"Good, because you're next," the stranger told me with a half smile.

Uh... HUH?! Already? No wait, I did wait for quite a while... But my heart is still not ready.

"As I thought, you didn't hear the teacher coming in, right?" The unknown boy continued. "He announced the next three competitors. Your name was among them."

Huh? Really?

"You weren't budging though, so I thought maybe you passed out or something. I hope I didn't interrupt your mediation."

"You didn't. Thank you for warning me."

I was lucky. I totally didn't hear anyone coming in. Did I fall asleep after all?