🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 10
“Ah, geez. If you praise me like that, I’ll get shy, Rien.”
That wasn’t a compliment, though.
It felt like I should correct myself even now, but instead I narrowed my eyes and voiced my honest impression as if it were praise.
“Hmm. Jane, you’re really good at… disguising yourself.”
Jane burst into giggles. It was such a bright, innocent laugh that clashed completely with her current appearance.
“It’s not a disguise—it’s makeup, Rien!”
“Right, so today’s disgui—no, makeup. What’s the reason? Getting a refund?”
Just yesterday, she’d had a completely bare face.
That mischievous, lively expression had instantly turned into something like a boss’s presence.
It wasn’t that her made-up face was ugly. It was pretty.
Very pretty.
But it was the kind of face that could turn a few classmates into her footstools without much effort.
The fact that the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw her was, ‘Where did I put my wallet?’ wasn’t for nothing.
“If I were going for a refund, I’d have gone even stronger. Today, I just need moderate combat power!”
Stronger than that? And combat power? Was Jane seriously going off to pick a fight somewhere?
“Com…bat power?”
“I rushed to the academy, so there’s quite a lot I need to buy. I’m planning to go to the shopping district today and pick up a bunch of things.”
Even after her explanation, I still didn’t understand. Why would you need combat power just to shop?
When I tilted my head in confusion, Jane grinned.
“Ah, I see. You’ve never bought anything around the academy shops, have you, Rien?”
“How did you know?”
She was right.
I’d prepared so thoroughly before coming here that I hadn’t needed to visit the shopping district at all.
And since I liked staying glued to my bed, I’d never even thought about going out to look around.
Jane firmly placed her hands on her hips.
“This won’t do. I was going to go alone, but I can’t just leave an innocent little lamb like you. Get ready, Rien. We’re going together!”
“…Huh?”
Dragged out half by force by Jane, I quickly came to understand her grand intention.
The shopping district around the academy was the perfect place to get ripped off.
Naive noble students often wandered around pretending to be commoners.
Honestly, if I had come here alone, I probably would’ve been overcharged too.
Since my parents passed away, this was my first time going out to a market without any escort.
With a strange sense of curiosity, I looked around with Jane.
True to her claim of being a returning student, she knew the area extremely well.
One peculiar thing stood out—every bakery and dessert shop we passed had long lines of female students.
Suspiciously long lines.
The students leaving the shops each carried neatly packaged cookies.
Just as I started wondering if this place was famous for cookies—
Jane asked, her face oddly excited,
“Rien, are you going to buy some too?”
“Since we’re already here, I guess I could.”
“Great idea!”
She nodded eagerly, as if she’d just heard the best news.
It looked like she’d snatch my wallet and buy them herself if I said no.
Are cookies really that good?
In the end, I bought enough cookies to last a while—partly so Jane could eat them whenever she wanted without feeling burdened.
Money wasn’t an issue. My aunt, whom I always relied on, gave me more than enough.
After a full day of shopping, on the way back to the dorm—
Jane asked carefully,
“Rien, this might be a bit sudden, but there’s something I want to ask seriously. Can you answer me?”
“…What is it?”
“What’s your ideal type?”
She’d said it was a serious question, so I’d been a bit tense—but that deflated me instantly.
From the moment we met, I’d felt that Jane had a rather unique personality.
“That’s your ‘serious’ question?”
“No. This is really important to me.”
“My ideal type is…”
Judging by her expression, she truly meant it. She even swallowed nervously. Over this?
As I thought about it, Karsion’s face briefly crossed my mind.
“A kind man.”
“Oh? I-I see.”
“But not just kind—he has to be really, really kind.”
His face.
Jane’s expression turned pale, like she’d just been sentenced to death.
“…Th-that sounds really difficult.”
“Right? I think it’s hard to meet someone that kind too. An ideal type is just that—an ideal. It’s not like you actually end up with someone like that.”
“H-ha… yeah! Of course you can’t end up with your ideal type! No way! And someone as kind as you’re describing would be really popular, so it’d be even harder!”
Her flustered words oddly sounded like advice directed at me.
She wasn’t wrong. But for some reason, I felt a slight urge to push back.
“If I try, maybe I could at least date someone like that briefly? Who knows—maybe my ideal type might even like me.”
“What? Who is it?!”
“I’m just saying, hypothetically.”
Jane reacted as if that absolutely must not happen.
Could it be… she likes me? …What do I do? I like men, though.
She spoke again, her voice trembling slightly.
“Rien, what do you think about that guy Fior from your club?”
“Fior? Well… he is kind.”
Jane covered her mouth with both hands and let out a silent scream. She looked horrified.
Now I understood. What kind of misunderstanding she was having.
“Fior is just a friend, Jane.”
“…”
“Really.”
But Jane clearly didn’t believe me.
“So Fior likes you…!”
No, that’s not it.
After that, I tried everything to clear up her misunderstanding—but in the end, I failed.
“…Well, at least it doesn’t seem like you like Fior yet. I guess that’s a relief.”
At that point, I gave up trying to convince her.
I did feel a bit sorry for Fior, but since it was just her misunderstanding, it wasn’t like anything serious would happen.
This is bad.
Until I witnessed the incident, today had been a very satisfying day.
I’d been lucky enough to be placed in the same class as Jane.
Now I could eat lunch with her and no longer had to attend classes alone—except for major courses.
After finishing my pleasant day of classes, I headed to the clubroom as usual, planning to take a nap on the comfy sofa.
But when I opened the door—
This wasn’t the same clubroom I’d seen a few days ago.
The few desks and chairs had been smashed beyond recognition.
Karsion’s magic books were burned or torn, not a single one intact.
The chessboard and cards Fior had brought were scattered all over the floor.
This was complete chaos.
Then I realized this wasn’t the time to be looking at anything else.
I hurried to check on the sofa.
Oh no.
My comfortable sanctuary—the sofa—and its eternal companion, the blanket, were gone.
Unable to believe what I was seeing, I dropped the books I was holding.
This was a disaster.
As the books hit the ground with dull thuds, Karsion and Fior—who had been facing off at a distance—both turned to look at me.
“Rien!”
“…Did you two fight?”
“That bastard Karsion heard some nonsense somewhere and suddenly lost his mind!”
At Fior’s desperate shout, Karsion put on a picture-perfect smile and spoke in a stiff, clearly irritated tone.
“I’m not angry, so just answer honestly.”
“How does that look like you’re not angry?! And I told you, it’s not true!”
From their exchange, it seemed Karsion had been interrogating Fior, leading to this mess.
I pressed a hand to my forehead, trying to soothe my headache.
“Karon, Fior. I don’t know what happened between you two, but don’t you think this is going a bit too far?”
“Rien. I’m a pacifist. I haven’t laid a single hand on Fior.”
Karsion’s innocent eyes shimmered as if claiming his own purity.
He was terrible at lying—his expressions always gave him away.
But right now, he looked completely sincere.
Then… did Fior do all of this?
I stared at Fior in shock.
“I’m not buying that, right? He’s not a pacifist—he’s a be-pacifist! He didn’t touch me because he was busy blasting magic everywhere!”
What does be-pacifist even mean?
“Either way, you did fight, right? I’m not going to meddle in your issues, but if you’re going to fight, do it in your dorm. Clean up this mess first.”
At my sigh, Karsion fidgeted under my gaze.
Fior looked like he had a lot to say but couldn’t get the words out.
“Do either of you have something to say?”
“Rien… the sofa and blanket are safe, so don’t be mad. Okay?”
They’re safe?
The moment I heard that, my anger melted away.
No wonder I didn’t see even a trace of them. As long as they were fine, that was enough.
Seeing my expression soften, Karsion seemed to gather courage and spoke hesitantly.
“If you answer just one question, I’ll clean up the clubroom like you said.”
“What is it?”
He hesitated, staring at the ground, then suddenly squeezed his eyes shut and shouted,
“Do you think I’m kind?”
“…What?”
Thinking I misheard, I looked at Fior, who urgently mouthed, “Say yes! Say yes!”
I didn’t know what was going on, but Karsion was definitely kind.
“Karon, anyone can see that you’re kind.”
His face.
