My second chance in a strange reverse world!

Yes, she carried me like a princess. It was as embarrassing as it sounded. Her arms were surprisingly strong and held me close. My mind was racing so fast at first that I couldn't understand what was going on around me. However, as the dizziness subsided, I became more aware of my surroundings. I looked up to see the flickering lights on the ceiling, watching as we left them behind.

I could no longer bear being in her arms because my newborn male pride would not allow such humiliation. I squirmed in her grip, too weak for her to let go and drop me. "I'm better, I can walk on my own."

She hesitantly put me down, looked at me with her purple, questioning eyes. "Are you sure?"

I nodded uncomfortably, "Please."

She gave me an evaluating look before shrugging her shoulders and easily lowering me to the ground, making me realize how useful this essence thing was. "If you fall, I won't catch you again. " She issued a warning.

I was relieved to find that my balance remained stable as my feet touched the ground. The dizziness that had been bothering me had finally subsided, and I felt almost like my old self again. "Thank you." I gave the woman a friendly smile. 

Despite her warning, I couldn't help but notice that her hand remained slightly outstretched, ready to catch me if I stumbled. 

Tsun.

I was still a little annoyed with her, but based on her behavior outside of class, perhaps we had both gotten off on the wrong foot.

A faint blush crept up on her cheeks as she cleared her throat and turned away from me, leading the way to a pair of imposing white double doors with the word Infirmary emblazoned in bold black letters above them. 

She spoke in a curt tone without looking back, almost as if to distract me from how contradictory she had been earlier. "Come on, I'll check you out."

I followed her, raising an eyebrow. "Are you also the school nurse?"

She turned to look over her shoulder at me, laughing softly but mockingly. "I'm a chemistry teacher, experimenter, substitute teacher, and nurse all rolled into one."

I whistled in response to her declaration. "Your salary must be extraordinary."

As she laughed at herself, she shook her head, causing her gray hair to bounce around her face. "Oh sure, I've got a Lamborghini parked out back and everything,"

"That's a no?"

She sighed. "Believe it or not, I'm also human, not an elf or something, as most people believe because of the way I look. Did you really believe I'd be paid more than the other teachers if we combined those two factors?"

I did not like the implications of her words.  "Being human is that bad?"

She grabbed the doorknob and yanked the door open. "Yep."

I followed her into the infirmary. "I don't understand, what does our race have to do with it?" I said, sounding less concerned than I really was.

She walked through the infirmary, shrugging her shoulders and her gaze drifted to a wall, where there was a poster of a smiling woman and a motivational slogan. "Well, maybe it's just us being lazy and not trying hard enough, you know? After all, we live in the era of equality for all and if you can dream it, you can achieve it! So clearly, we're just not dreaming hard enough."

I gave her a blank stare because it was clear from her slightly mocking expression that she was having a good time reciting the same slogan on the poster.

"Smart" I replied simply.

"right?"

During a brief pause in our conversation, I took the opportunity to consider the information as I examined the infirmary more closely. The room was typical of an infirmary, with a couple of beds with white sheets and blue curtains, as well as many shelves containing medicines and basic infirmary instruments. The room also had a nice view of the training grounds, which were quite large.

After seeing nothing particularly technological or beyond my comprehension, my thoughts returned to what I had learned from the previous conversation. Was there racism in this world, but now it is directed at humans? What was the point of it? According to what I learned in class, it didn't make sense, because apparently a human figured out how to use essence for technology. Wouldn't that give our race a competitive advantage?

Teacher Smith's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Dizziness and nausea, right?"

I sat on a bed, my gaze fixed on the teacher. She was reaching for a jar on the top shelf, and because she had teased me earlier, I didn't feel guilty about seeing her ass as she stretched. Those black pants looked great on her.

She stopped reaching for something and looked at me " So?"

I coughed into my fist. "Oh yes, dizziness and nausea."

She finally reached for it and walked slowly toward me, confident but with an underlying vulnerability in the sway of her hips. She offered me the bottle. 

The label was simple and unassuming, with the words Dizziness Relief written in simple text. Despite my embarrassment at my inability to easily open the bottle, I quickly took a pill when I did it, hoping it would do the trick.

"Well, I would recommend that you get some rest." She advised, without sitting down or getting too close to me. "If you're still feeling bad, I can call your mother."

I thought about that, maybe it was a good option, but after some thought I shook my head. "No need, it was just a simple dizziness."

After all, being sick was the excuse to wander around the school and find the computer lab, right?

She hummed a little. "Well, you wouldn't want to tarnish your perfect attendance record either. I understand."

Perfect record... Another change? I remembered that I used to use any excuse to not come to class, so maybe the me of this reality was more studious?

Teacher Smith spoke up again as she rambled on. "Hey," she said, a little hesitantly. When I looked at her, I noticed that her gaze was quite uncomfortable as she looked at me, but she managed to conceal it well behind a cold, almost morose facade. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier; it wasn't fair of me to try to humiliate you in front of your classmates."

Silence fell over us and I blinked a little at her before smiling. "Don't worry about it, everyone has bad days."

"I'd understand if you want to report me, but this job is the only one...What?"

"No problem, no hard feelings." I clarified.

Although it was difficult to admit it, she was the first person I had had a pleasant conversation with in a long time, so it seemed reasonable to forgive her and continue to have pleasant conversations like this one.

She narrowed her eyes on me. "You... only that?" In disbelief, she inquired. "No insults, threats, or anything else? Is this a trap?" she questioned. "I'm warning you, I don't have a lot of money or...anything in general."

Hey... wasn't that being overly paranoid? Well, it sounds ironic when I say it.

In any case, I quickly clarified what I wanted to say before I could cause a misunderstanding with my silence. "Yes, no hard feelings." Besides that, I gave my best regretful look. “But in any case, it was also a bit rude of me to respond to you that way, I also apologize for that."

"Huh..." She had a confused and cheerful expression on her face, but she nodded after a moment. Her lips curved into a faint smile. "I appreciate it, thank you."

I extended a hand toward her. Which she looked at in a confused manner and raised an eyebrow. 

I responded by raising my own. "Are you really going to leave me like this?”

She nervously looked at my hand before finally accepting it. Her hand was surprisingly soft and smooth. I appreciated the texture of her hand a little, but when I loosened my grip, hers did not.

And so the seconds passed, and she didn't seem to let go.

"..."

"..."

“...you can let me go now”

"Oh yes, I'm sorry."

She let go of me hastily and I resisted the urge to laugh at her pretty nervous face.