'These girls. I love them, don't I?' Katherine's frown only deepened. 'Do I...?'
Many believe that humans don't die once.
They believe that, instead, a person dies multiple tis in their life. Symbolic deaths.
The death of a parent, a heartbreak, a failure... Countless things can lead to a symbolic death. To the death of the individual, scarred and changed forever, for the better or worse.
When it cos to Katherine, that mont was a symbolic death for her.
How can you be such a failure? Why are you unable to win? I've trained countless gymnasts, including Petra who ended up winning a gold dal! I am the best coach there is! So why... Why is my daughter so untalented? Why are you unable to be like them when you are my blood?
Standing in front of the bathroom's mirror, she stared at her own figure, adorning a black leotard.
"It's because of my weight..."
That is what her coach and father repeated constantly.
But no matter how much or for how long she starved herself, it didn't make a difference.
Her eighteen-year-old body had already shaved off anything that wasn't necessary to the body's survival.
Thinking about those she had competed against hours earlier, thinking about their lean and thin bodies, Katherine didn't feel an ounce of jealousy.
'My breasts get in the way.'
The only way to lower her weight further would be to cut them off.
She thought about those she competed against.
Katherine didn't feel an ounce of jealousy.
She thought about how they looked after the competition, their parents and coaches proud, whether they had won or lost.
Katherine clenched her teeth, refusing to let her tears flow down.
The next day, her father didn't wake her up for practice.
After years of shouting and abuse, from one day to the next, he started completely ignoring her.
"It's fine now. Once you're past a certain age and have no achievents, it simply ans that you have no talent. You can do whatever you want."
That sense of freedom she had been deprived of for years was suddenly given in full, felt like the sharpest knife and the deadliest sting.
After so ti, Katherine started feeling like a ghost in her own ho.
When it ca to her father, it was like Katherine was already dead.
At the first chance that she got, Katherine left and went far away.
Her father would call every two or three months. Katherine stopped answering after the first six months.
Gymnastics was everything to her father. And because of him, it was everything to her as well.
She wanted to leave everything behind. Her father, his obsession with the sport, everything.
"We're not really in need of an English teacher right now. However, looking at your resu... How would you feel about assisting our gymnastics team's coach? I know that's not the position you ca to apply for but..."
Katherine took a job. It was a job like any other, she told herself.
It really wasn't.
Everything was made worth it thanks to it, though.
When her team competed and won against the team that her father was coaching, it felt like the ultimate victory.
The goal had been achieved.
Four years later, the team had completely changed.
Katherine was still working the sa job.
The goal had been achieved.
She felt completely empty.
Defeating her father once wasn't enough to be victor. Yes, maybe defeating him twice. Thrice. Maybe a dozen tis would...
"You girls take care of yourselves, alright?"
"Katherine?"
"C-Coach, where are you going?"
"What are you going to do?"
"Hm..." Katherine scratched her head. "I don't really know where I'm going. By the way, you don't have to call coach anymore. I have resigned."
"R-Resigned? When?"
"Right now." Katherine chuckled.
Minutes later, she was walking away from them.
People she had only t because of her father, places she had visited because of her father...
'I thought that leaving ho was enough, but it wasn't. Ever since then, I've been doing everything to oppose him. Registering in the exact competitions, I knew he always registered his teams into... Everything I have done so far has been my way of telling him that he can go #### himself.' Katherine let out a deep sigh. 'Beyond gymnastics and my anger against him, what am I left with? What is truly mine?'
Elijah waved, noticing her approaching.
'You found on the first floor, bleeding and wounded, having killed and injured a bunch of Monsters. What part of is that? It certainly isn't the gymnast in .' Katherine chuckled as she walked. 'I wasn't angry either. In any case, I think...'
"Ready to go?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah." Katherine nodded before wrapping her arms around his.
'I'll be able to figure it out with you.'
Marianne and Léa exchanged looks for a mont.
"Are they together?" Léa whispered.
"Why do you care?"
"I don't know, he's... Pretty handso."
"Ew."
Zarath coughed.
"Can I get up now? My knees hurt."
"No, you can't." Katherine said.
"You're not the one I asked!"
Elijah turned in Katherine's direction and whispered in her ear.
"I assu this ans you're staying with ."
She smiled, blushing lightly.
"Well, maybe."
"Maybe, huh?" He chuckled. "That's good enough for ."
Léa had received neither an Awakening Scroll nor an Awakening Scroll Upgrade Ticket.
Marianne refused to take Points from Elijah for an Awakening Scroll Upgrade Ticket, so she delayed using the Awakening Scroll she had received as a Reward.
Katherine called it out, and the Fire Mage's Cloak appeared over her shoulders.
Elijah did the sa for the Elite Assassin's Cloak.
[Fire Mage's Cloak, C-Ranked Item:
Cloaks used by the Fire Mages of Zuthra. The Fire Mage's Cloak increases Resistance to Fire Damage by 30%, increases Heat Resistance by 50%, and increases Resistance to all Mana attacks by 10%.]
[Elite Assassin's Cloak, C-Ranked Item:
Cloaks used by the Elite Assassins of Velmire. The Elite Assassin's Cloak allows the user to blend with the environnt at night and when in dark shadows. Movent Speed increases by 10%. Sound produced by the User's movents decreases by 80%.]
"Zuthra...?"
"Velmire...?"
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