[The King's Avatar] The Misconstrued Situation With An Overdue Explanation

Chapter 29: Absolute Emptiness

1200 words, 6 minutes

Professors at Chongqing University cared more or less about the success of their students, depending on which one you had.

Unfortunately, Akane was stuck with the ones that prioritized their income over the mental health of their students.

They showed this by calling her at the end of class to each reprimand her about her slipping grades. Repetitive messages rang through her ears.

"Stop slacking off!"

"You don't want to graduate with 60's!"

"Nobody's going to hire somebody that did poorly in university!"

Hearing that only made Akane roll her eyes when she wasn't facing them, the statements utter garbage when compared to her current situation, because grades totally reflected on who you were as a human being. Totally. Who was she to question the judgement of her professors?

Who was she to want to scream at them about how life wasn't fair to her recently? 

Despite acting somewhat irritated, she didn't say anything for the sake of respect and for fear of saying something impolite if she didn't bite her tongue. She only accepted their warning superficially before making a half-hearted promise about doing better.

It didn't surprise her that they didn't ask her what caused her grades to slip.

~

According to her schedule, her Music Performance class was the last class of the day, and she was surprised to exit the class and see Tang Rou waiting for her. The short-haired woman's normally calm face expressed concern this time, and she didn't say anything at first. Her hands nervously clutched her own backpack strap as she eyed Akane worriedly.

Akane turned and walked away with a sulking posture. Tang Rou caught up to her as other students bustled by to gather their belongings from their lockers before going home. "You can't let this go on, Akane. Do you have any idea how worried we are about you?"

"You don't get it," mumbled Akane. She developed a bit of an attitude when she stared at all the other students and saw their happy faces. She had no energy to replicate a smile.

"Chongqing University has a good reputation, and for what? Not caring about the mental health of its students?" she added. "Only adding that requirement for courses and not actually following through with it?"

Tang Rou was silent as they walked down the hall, presumably to go to her shared dorm room with her best friend. "If you really need help, come to us. I can't possibly imagine how you feel after losing your mother, but at some point you have to release all this negativity."

Akane could only wonder when that time would be.

So much for being in good physical and mental health.

~

She wasn't sure how she managed to do decently on her exams. Akane supposed she just pushed thoughts about her mother out of her head and tried to get her life in order. But the progress was minimal, as she only managed to lightly clean her apartment before cramming the rest of the time.