Aria was... crying.
Her expression hadn't changed much.
Her face remained calm, serious.
But tears streamed steadily from her eyes, quietly, as if her body had processed the words before she allowed herself to feel them.
Jake's proud smile vanished as he panicked and asked worriedly,
"A-Aria, are you okay??"
He hurried toward her.
Aria shook her head.
"…No. I'm fine… I am just happy."
Hearing this, Jake froze and smiled wryly.
"Happy? Phew, I thought there was something else."
To be honest, watching Aria's face remain the same as tears flowed out was truly strange, and he was getting worried for a second there.
Aria nodded and hesitated for a moment before she softly murmured.
"...I have always been a failure."
Her fingers slowly tightened around the shirt she was holding.
"No matter how hard I trained, no matter how many times I tried… I could never escape that name."
Her voice remained calm, but the tears continued to fall.
"Trash class."
She looked at her hands.
