Chapter 16

The day after I experienced my first pick-up session, as the second period was about to end, I turned my attention to the center of the classroom.

Zeke was absent.

I remembered the heroic boy I fought the other day. Due to the situation, I had no choice but to put a hole in Zeke’s palm, but he should be fine. The wound can be restored by treating it overnight with healing magic, but maybe he took care of himself and decided to take the day off.

“Yeah, it’s lunch! Let’s eat!” Glan shouted as the bell rang to signal the beginning of the lunch break.

“Glan, I’m going to the restroom. You go ahead.”

“Got it. I’ll save you a seat.”

I let Glan go ahead of me then I headed to the bathroom. As I headed down the stairs after doing my business, I encountered a familiar girl in front of me.

“Oh, Tweight.”

“Elysia?”

We saw each other and moved a little closer.

“Today Zeke is absent.”

“That’s right. I was concerned if something was going to happen, but I guess my fears were unfounded.”

“We don’t know yet. Yesterday, he looked unusual.”

Elysia was right, Zeke’s behavior the other day was not normal. Maybe we shouldn’t let our guard down yet. I nodded my head in agreement.

“By the way, where do you guys usually have lunch?”

“The cafeteria.”

“Hmmm… Maybe I should go there too. I usually go to the courtyard with Mize to eat bread from the store, but today Mize went to eat with other kids.”

When Elysia muttered to herself like that, something that suddenly occurred to me.

“I’ve been wondering for a while, does Elysia have any friends in the Hero Department?”

“Hey, excuse you! …You’re right, though.”

“You’re a loner.”

“No! This is solitude!”

Elysia insisted.

“I’m sure you’re aware that the Hero Department naturally makes fun of the Regular Department. I don’t really like that kind of conversation, so I don’t want to fit in.”

All the students of this school have already realized that the Hero Department looks down on the Regular Department, but not all of the hero students are happy with it. Some of them, like Elysia, argued that while they are in the Hero Department, the regular Department should also be respected.

“By the way, your collar is messed up”

Elysia told me to check the collar of my shirt. It was definitely in disarray. When I first entered school, I used to close the first button and kept my appearance neat and tidy, but recently I realized that I was in the minority. Since then, I have been wearing my first button open and moderately rough, referring to Glan and other regular students.

I unconsciously lifted the corners of my mouth as I realized the change in my state of mind over the past few days.

“What’s with the face?”

“… It would have been unthinkable for me a while ago.”

“You used to work as a janitor before you came to the academy, right? Hmmm. I guess cleaners these days have better manners than we do.”

“That’s right. If my boss saw a messy collar, my neck would fly immediately.”

“Is it really that strict!?”

I nodded my head. By the way, this “head flying” is not a figurative expression, but a literal meaning.

“Those who can’t follow the rules on a daily basis can’t follow the rules in the field. That seems to be the reason.”

“You’re very hardcore. The next time I see someone cleaning on the street, I’ll give them a friendly nudge,” Elysia muttered in a small voice.

Perhaps I was contributing to the status improvement for all cleaners in the country.

“But I think you’d look better with that kind of thing. Here… I’ll fix it. Don’t move.”

With that, Elysia reached out her hands to my collar. Inevitably, our faces became closer to each other. Elysia’s beautiful eyes and nose filled my vision.

Elysia left a strong impression on me when we teamed up for the entrance exam. She was a fierce, aggressive, and stoic girl. However despite her personality, her face was very graceful and had a beauty that had nothing to do with fighting. The faint trace of her childhood also gave the impression of an innocent girl.

As I was observing, I noticed that Elysia was looking at me with her steel eyes.

“…Hey you.”

“What?”

“Are you not interested in the opposite sex?”

What are you talking about all of a sudden?

As if she saw through my inner thoughts, Elysia continued to open her mouth.

“This situation, I think, would normally be more delicate than this.”

“The situation is that you’re just… fixing my collar.”

“Then, how about this?”

Elysia moved her face closer to mine. Our noses slightly touched each other. I could smell her sweet scent. Elysia’s cheeks gradually flushed as she looked straight into my eyes.

“Elysia.”

“…What?”

“Your eyelashes, they’re so long.”

Elysia’s cheeks instantly turned red. With an apple-red face, Elysia slowly pulled away from me.

“Nah, uh…”

“If you’re gonna be embarrassed, don’t do it in the first place.”

“Because I didn’t think you’d say something like that…”

“Didn’t you want me to say ‘something like that’?”

“Forget it! Let’s go to the cafeteria!”

Elysia was extremely perplexed, perhaps because she didn’t receive any resistance, despite having approached me herself. I followed Elysia, who was walking fast, to the cafeteria.

“It’s your fault…!”

Eventually, Elysia pointed at me with tears in her eyes.

“I’ve been treating you like a normal person, but there’s still something about you that I don’t understand. When it comes to this, I’m sure I’m not the only one who is eager to find out!”

“Well, if you have a tightly closed box, it’s human nature to want to open it. Shouldn’t you at least think about how to do it?”

“You should have told me that a while ago.” Elysia said, her shoulders slumping.

“Now I have my own definition of you.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“You’re weird! You are a suspicious guy!”

As expected, the evaluation was… unacceptable. Even with this, I try to be normal so that I can spend my daily life like a normal person.

“I was prepared to be called weird, but I didn’t expect to be called suspicious. Am I that suspicious?”

“Yes, it’s very suspicious. Because when I’m in close contact with people like this, I can’t help but notice things that don’t feel right. For example, your footsteps don’t make any noise. Are you consciously doing that?”

“No, it’s a habit. I don’t think this is something that needs to be fixed. Should I fix it?”

“I’m not saying you should fix it or anything…”

Elysia said with a complicated expression.

I was aware that I was a little different from other people. I had been raised in a special environment ever since I could remember, so it was natural. However, I didn’t really notice what exactly makes me different from others.

“…But being suspicious because of my quirkiness is more trouble than it’s worth.”

“The biggest problem is that you are not aware of it.”

“I won’t deny it. …Elysia, I’m sorry to bother you with this, but if you can give me some other reasons to think I’m suspicious―”

As we were walking outside the school building on the way to the cafeteria, I suddenly felt something strange reflected in my vision, so I stopped speaking.

Behind the school gate stood a woman with light red hair in a black military uniform. She was waving her hand at me.

Chris? Why are you here?

I was a little confused when I saw my former boss.

Work related ― or not. If she wanted to discuss business, she would have contacted beforehand via the News Letter. Whatever it was, I couldn’t ignore it.

I turned to Elysia and apologized, “…I’m sorry. Something urgent has come up, so you’ll have to go to the cafeteria alone.”

When I said that, Elysia gave me a terribly cold stare.

“This…kind… of thing. It must be very important.” Elysia clarified once more.

“That’s about it.”