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Chapter – 22
I approached Ignis, placed a hand on his shoulder, pressed down slightly, and spoke.
“It’s been a while, Ignis. You’ve been really hard to see lately.”
“Y-Yeah… I guess so. Things just kept coming up for me lately…”
“I see.”
“Looks like everyone’s here.”
While Ignis and I were exchanging that awkward conversation, Professor Kyla entered the training grounds.
She looked at us and spoke with a bright, pleasant smile.
“Since it’s the first day, we’ll keep things light—just think of it as warming up.”
Thank goodness.
Looks like she doesn’t plan on pushing us too hard from day one.
Yeah. Even a strict professor wouldn’t go all out on the first day, right?
Professor Kyla reached into the pouch she was carrying and pulled out several gemstones of various colors.
…That looks ominous.
“These are magic stones infused with monster energy, made by Professor Erra. Since it’s the first day, I prepared intermediate-level monsters.”
“……”
Ah, what a relief.
After hearing her explanation, I figured intermediate monsters would be manageable.
As long as there weren’t more than ten, we’d be fine.
There’s no way she prepared more than ten—on the first day, right?
Yeah. No way.
“Today, all you need to do is defeat thirty intermediate monsters each.”
“…Pardon?”
The moment I heard that, I doubted my ears and turned to look at Ignis.
Judging by his expression, he was just as shocked as I was.
“Since it’s the first day, I didn’t want you to overdo it. Now then, let’s begin.”
…This is plenty overdoing it, Professor.
If this is how the first day is, what are the rest of the days supposed to look like?
“It’s… over, right?”
“I think so, Renia.”
At Ignis’s words, I collapsed flat onto the ground.
My breath was stuck in my throat, and my entire body was soaked in sweat.
“Wow…”
“……”
“But… we did manage to clear them all.”
After telling us to defeat thirty monsters each, Professor Kyla immediately left to attend to other matters.
As the head of the department, she was probably busy preparing for the upcoming tournament as well.
I lay there on the ground for quite some time, resting.
The empty training grounds echoed only with Ignis’s and my breathing.
Once my breath finally settled, I sat up and approached Ignis, who was sitting on the floor.
I took his hand and helped him to his feet.
“We’re done, so let’s go change first.”
“Uh… yeah.”
The training grounds were equipped with magic systems to cool off sweat and spaces to change clothes.
It really showed just how serious the academy was about this hunting tournament.
After changing and stepping outside, Ignis was already waiting in front of the training grounds, having changed out of his training clothes as well.
“Renia.”
“Hm? Yeah?”
“…I waited because I have something to tell you.”
Something to tell me?
Ah—maybe it’s about him avoiding me all this time?
If that’s it, I’m a little annoyed.
Part of me felt relieved that this uncomfortable period might finally end, while another part felt oddly sulky.
But when I saw Ignis standing there with his eyes tightly shut and fists clenched in obvious nervousness, that irritation quietly faded away.
I couldn’t help but smile and spoke gently.
“Want to go talk there, like before?”
“Yeah! I’d like that.”
If we were really going to talk, that place would be better.
Ignis and I left the training grounds and headed elsewhere.
An awkward silence lingered between us as we walked together.
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“H-Huh? Ah, well…”
A familiar scene—one that felt like it had been forever since I last saw it—came into view, and I stopped walking before turning to him.
Ignis looked flustered by my question.
I watched him quietly, waiting until he felt ready to speak.
After a long silence, Ignis finally opened his mouth, speaking in a small voice.
“…Renia. I actually avoided you.”
“I know.”
“…Was it that obvious?”
“Of course. I almost got really hurt over it, you know?”
When I let out a sigh, sounding genuinely disappointed, Ignis became restless, clearly unsure what to do.
“It’s not that I meant to avoid you on purpose… It’s just that… I mean…”
“……”
“I’d been feeling it little by little for a while, but back then I didn’t realize what it was. So I needed some time to sort things out.”
“What it was?”
Ignis’s eyes darted around before he seemed to make up his mind and squeezed them shut.
“The truth is—my heart kept pounding really hard, and my head felt dizzy. Just when it was you…”
“Were you sick?”
“N-No! That’s not it—Renia!”
I leaned in and pressed my ear to his chest.
Ignis gasped in surprise and immediately stepped back.
Seriously, we’ve hugged and held hands countless times without him being embarrassed—why is he acting like this now?
And pounding heart and dizziness?
That sounds exactly like arrhythmia.
“Did you go to the infirmary?”
“Huh? I’m not sick, Renia.”
“How is that not being sick? I know you—you always hide it when you’re unwell.”
Given his past behavior, there was no way I could take his words at face value.
Ignis had always tried to hide his pain, never letting others notice.
This had to be the same.
How bad must it have been for him to go as far as avoiding me?
And here I was, getting upset over my own feelings without realizing any of it…
“I didn’t even know you were hurting. I was just upset that you were avoiding me.”
“I really wasn’t sick.”
“……”
“Please believe me.”
“…Alright.”
I said I believed him, but honestly… yeah, right.
If this were the first time, maybe.
But this had already happened four times now.
In this regard, Ignis could rival the boy who cried wolf.
“Does it still happen?”
“No! Not anymore. If my heart kept racing and I kept getting dizzy, I wouldn’t be able to do anything, so I worked really hard!”
“…….”
Worked hard at what, exactly?
That just made my heart ache even more.
“Renia… you don’t really believe me, do you?”
“No, I do.”
“……”
Would you believe that?
Ignis stared at me skeptically before eventually bowing his head.
“Anyway… I’m sorry for making you feel hurt.”
“I’m fine.”
As soon as I finished speaking, a brief silence settled between us.
Then Ignis suddenly called my name.
“Renia.”
“Yeah?”
“How… do you see me?”
“How do I see you?”
Why was he asking that?
Did he think I was disappointed in him because of this?
Ah—seriously. Why does he keep making my heart hurt today?
I needed to shut that thought down immediately.
I took a deep breath and launched into my words without a single pause.
“Ignis, you’re amazing at swordsmanship, incredibly kind, super radiant, really handsome, tall, cool, and cute—”
“R-Renia! Stop!”
Ignis turned bright red and lowered his head, clearly embarrassed.
Ugh. So cute.
I smiled warmly at him before continuing.
“You’re a really, really great friend.”
“…A friend?”
“Yeah!”
Ignis looked lost in thought for a moment before letting out a soft laugh and murmuring to himself.
“…Then I guess I’ll just have to work harder.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“It’s nothing, Renia.”
* * *
“Ignis! Behind you!”
“Thanks, Renia!”
Why won’t these things just die already?
After that day, Ignis and I returned to how we used to be.
At the same time, light physical contact between us became natural again.
Though for some reason, Ignis no longer hugged me first or reached out to hold my hand like before.
After finishing off a monster, I leaned my back against Ignis’s and spoke.
“How many are left?”
“About seven?”
“Still seven?!”
The moment I heard that, all the strength drained from my body.
I let my weight rest fully against his back.
Professor…
As the hunting tournament approached, Professor Kyla began excusing both Ignis and me from regular classes—completely legitimately—and pushed us through even harsher training.
As a result, I once again found myself unable to focus on anything other than tournament preparation.
So now that the Ignis issue was resolved, it was the tournament’s turn to torment me?
“I’ll take the right side. Ignis, you handle the left.”
“Got it.”
Thankfully, perhaps because of how busy tournament preparations were, the practice monsters created by Professor Erra all had very simple appearances.
Please let the monsters in the actual tournament look like this too.
With the last of my remaining strength, I defeated the final monster in my area.
“Ignis, are you done?”
“Yeah, I’m done. You too, Renia?”
“Yeah… Somehow, we finished again.”
Ignis handed me some water as I collapsed to the ground, then sat beside me.
Together, we cooled our overheated bodies.
“At least she said we get a day off tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Thank goodness.”
Professor Kyla insisted we take a day to recover and granted us a break.
Since there were no classes tomorrow anyway, I had already sent a message to my older brother, asking to meet.
I contacted him because I hoped to get some help regarding what had happened to me.
Before inheriting his marquis title, my brother had worked in the Imperial Knights, handling strategic planning.
Because of that, I thought he might be able to help me with matters related to dark magic—so I sent him a letter.
