Do You Like Me? (1)
"Kgh..."
After her rushed spar with Lim Paran in the afternoon one-on-one special class, Seres Erasian had returned to the faculty office.
As if lost in some painful thought, she rested her chin in her hand and stared blankly out the window from the moment she stepped inside the room.
"Seres! Your afternoon major class should still be going... Why are you here?"
Just then, Han Seohwa, who happened not to have an afternoon major class, greeted Seres with a puzzled look.
"Ah, no... It's nothing..."
"What do you mean, nothing? You’ve been groaning nonstop since earlier."
Only Han Seohwa and Seres were in the office at the time, so naturally Han Seohwa had no choice but to watch Seres keep making those pained little sounds the entire time she was there.
"What, did something happen to your health?"
"No. I just... remembered something unpleasant."
"Hmm... I thought something serious had happened, but you kept muttering the same thing for dozens of minutes, so I started wondering if I was the one going crazy."
"W-what?!"
Whether she had done it without realizing or had not noticed her own habits at all, Seres flinched and turned her face away from me in embarrassment.
Her lovely face, usually so striking, flushed red as she averted her gaze, and for a moment I found myself thinking she looked cute.
"Back in the Abyss, I could joke around and you wouldn't even react, but ever since you came here, why have you gotten so emotional? Hmm?"
"What the hell are you... Kgh... Shut up..."
All right. Cute canceled.
How could I call her cute when she started spewing curses the instant something rubbed her the wrong way, even a little?
"I already told you this in the Abyss too... stop cursing!"
Her face was honestly beautiful enough to count among the prettier ones, but that rough mouth of hers ruined it all.
No wonder men had been lining up for her and then scattered as soon as they got close.
"Why the hell should that be any of your business? Just shut it and get back to whatever you were doing."
"Aw, you're so mean."
Seres shoved me away with the same cold tone she always used.
I had come over to comfort her because she looked tired, and yet her attitude hadn't changed much from the days when we were in the Abyss.
No, if anything, it felt heavier and colder now. Was faculty life not her thing?
I don't care.
For the moment, I shoved aside every stray thought I had about Seres and turned away.
I was about to return to my seat, accepting her chilly treatment with a dry sigh, when...
"S-so... Han Seohwa, how is that brat Lim Paran...?"
"Huh? What?"
What?
How was Lim Paran?
Just as I was about to head back to my place, Seres, who had hesitated for a moment, opened her mouth.
It wasn't her usual blunt, deeply irritated voice from before, but something tentative. A voice that didn't sound like Seres at all.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"No, I mean... during your class, how is Lim Paran doing..."
"Lim Paran, you say..."
Lim Paran.
The first special admission student of Sielm Academy.
And a cadet suffering from Mana Erosion, an incurable disease with a hundred percent fatality rate that still couldn't be treated.
As I'd felt over the weekend, if anyone so much as approached him or touched him, he would panic and tremble with fear from human phobia.
I had seen it during the self-introduction session; if too many eyes landed on him, he seemed as though he might collapse on the spot.
Setting all that aside, his enthusiasm for study, his comprehension, his talent...
"Well, his talent is outstanding. Exceptionally so."
It felt a little odd for me to say it myself, but I was also a mid-rank 1st Class Hunter.
Of course, it was true that I had strong talent. I had graduated from Sielm with excellent marks, and with my combat ability acknowledged, I'd spent years working in the Abyss for a salary in the hundreds of millions.
But even after awakening, it took me a full day before I could feel the core of my mana through mana application.
It was only days later that I managed to force mana into a magical tool.
And it took a whole week before I finally managed to settle my mana into one completely.
But Lim Paran?
In one day, and not even a full hour...
He said he'd been able to sense the mana around him to some extent before then, but that was true for me too.
For several days after awakening, I had used the mana around me to get a feel for it, to understand where it moved and how it worked, but none of that had been useful in actual combat.
And yet he had finished that brutally difficult task in just a few minutes.
"Honestly, when it comes to talent for handling mana, he would not be out of place as a special admission student. That doesn't mean he understands class material well, though..."
His gift for recognizing and handling mana was undeniable, but...
- You got the formula wrong here! And the sequence of the magic circle too! The pattern over here is crooked!
Khm...
Well, it was true I'd been harsh while teaching him, but he wasn't especially good at understanding lessons.
If he had only just awakened, that would have been understandable, but this was Sielm.
A place where rankings could rise or fall over a matter of seconds if you tried hard enough.
If you didn't push people this hard, how were they supposed to keep up with the pace of the classes?
With that thought in mind, I had stuffed as much theory as I could into Lim Paran's head in as little time as possible.
Thanks to the fact that I had made the most of that day's lesson and pushed the pace, he was now getting through the basic theories taught in the morning common classes without much trouble.
"...I see."
As if she had expected as much, Seres gave a small nod and went on.
"It seems your opinion is the same... Lim Paran appears to have remarkable talent. He also seems to be receiving the Authority of Growth several times more strongly."
"Oh? Is that so?"
That was news to me.
Of course, if newly awakened superhumans grew while under the blessing of growth that permeated Sielm, they would surely improve at a visible rate.
I, too, was already a 1st Class Hunter who had reached the limit of growth, but whenever I stayed at Sielm for a while, I could feel a faint, ticklish sensation spreading through my whole body.
"I only asked because of the effects of Mana Erosion, but it seems he is indeed..."
Seres stared blankly toward the window, watching the orange sunset gradually sink beyond it.
Seres Erasian's own orange eyes reflected the sunset, adding to her mysterious air, while her ash-gray hair drank in the light and made her stand out all the more in the faculty office.
Wearing a white shirt and long coat that I had never seen her in back in the Abyss, she looked unfamiliar and yet oddly approachable.
"Still, it's been a while. Talking for this long, I mean."
Back when we were in the Abyss, we had only exchanged simple bits of communication while treating the injured and dealing with monsters, so having a long conversation like this with the blunt Seres felt strangely nostalgic.
"Hmm... It does seem quite peaceful here."
Whether she had actually heard me or not, Seres kept staring quietly out the window.
The scenery reflected there was easy enough to lose oneself in.
Petals drifted and swayed pleasantly in the breeze, while the grass beneath them seemed to chase after them with all its heart, decorating the surroundings beautifully.
"You enjoyed thinking things through back then, too."
"Hmm... Did I..."
There had been a time when the great monster wave ended and everyone was celebrating victory, toasting and cheering in full swing.
Seres Erasian had gone out alone and silently gazed at the red sunset.
Back then, I wasn't used to seeing her like that, and I had gone to her side to ask whether something was wrong with the sky.
- Nothing is wrong. This is just a habit. Don't pay it any mind.
We weren't as close then, and she had answered me in a much more distant, colder tone.
If I had to point out the difference between then and now...
Back in the Abyss, her eyes had always remained in that lifeless, gloomy state, and even then her alluring orange gaze had held a darkness like rotten carrots.
But now her eyes no longer seemed to carry the red sunset of the Abyss. They looked as though they were packed full of the bright orange glow of a sunset at the end of a clear, sunny day.
And then there was...
"Oh? Looks like you haven't been smoking lately?"
"Hm?"
The cigarette she had always had clenched in her mouth back in the Abyss was nowhere to be seen.
I couldn't even smell that distinctive foul stench smokers gave off.
"This is Sielm. It's a school, isn't it? So I'm not smoking. For the cadets' sake, and for Lim Paran, whom I'm teaching..."
"Oh... heh heh~"
"Hm? Why are you smiling like you're so pleased with something?"
"Nothing~"
All right, I take back what I said about her being colder.
She seemed a lot more harmless now.
"...If you feel sick, get that filthy mug of yours out of my sight."
"Whoa..."
Never mind. I had already canceled my opinion of her three times today.
How could a person's evaluation change that quickly in such a short span of time?
She was, as she had always been in the Abyss, a woman who was truly impossible to understand.
Of course, I was someone who understood her to a degree, because I knew what she had been through. But what about some complete stranger?
Seres only had one student.
Lim Paran, do your best...
In my heart, I quietly cheered for Lim Paran.
***
"Hahaha, told you so."
After finishing the entire story about Seres, Yoon Hwayeon had started telling what she claimed was an amusing story from her middle academy days with Han Riae.
"P-Paran, t-that was all a lie, okay?"
"Y-yes... yes, ma'am..."
"It's really not true T_T!"
There were all sorts of stories rolling in: that she'd received three confession attempts at the academy and rejected them harshly with a string of curse words, or that she'd utterly crushed an annoying classmate during a practical evaluation.
What came out was nothing like the Han Riae I was dealing with now.
And even more than that...
"Riae really has changed since she met Paran, hasn't she? Even when she's with us, it's all 'Paran~ Paran~' whenever anything happens. At this point, why don't you two just start dating?"
"Y-yes, y-you?!"
Hearing that kind of thing directly from Yoon Hwayeon, the person who stayed closest to Han Riae, felt oddly surreal.
"H-hey, hey! I told you not to talk about that!"
"Ah, why not? Paran seems to have feelings too, so what's the problem? Right?"
Han Riae glanced my way in a fluster.
Because I was still nestled in her arms, I could feel her body heat, the scent of citrus clinging to her, and the frantic pounding of her heartbeat, which seemed to be racing from embarrassment.
"P-Paran... Are you okay...?"
"Huh?"
After gently stroking my head once, she asked me the question in a slightly strained voice.
"What do you mean..."
"You know, the rumor that we're dating... Are you okay with that?"
"Ah... I..."
Honestly, I was fine with it.
"I like Riae, and if she's okay with it, I want to keep staying by her side."
The moment I finished speaking, the part of her chest that was supporting my head started hammering like crazy.
Wait... this is...?
"R-Riae, are you okay? Are you having a panic attack or something?"
The situation was eerily similar to how she reacted when I had a seizure in front of other people.
Worried, I lifted my head and looked up at Han Riae.
There I saw her face gone bright red, her eyes lost focus as she fiercely avoided my gaze.
"Uh... R-Riae, are you sick? Your face is..."
"Haha... It seems Paran has no idea what he just said."
"Huh? What?"
"Wasn't that just an obvious confession? You're so innocent."
"Uhh...."
Wait, what had I just sa-
- I like Riae, and if she's okay with it, I want to keep staying by her side.
Huh?
I realized what I had just said...
- squeeze
"Mmm..."
"Paran, I want to stay with you too, forever!"
Han Riae, her face still flushed, hugged me tightly in her arms.
***
Good grief~~~
My plan had definitely been to take a step closer to Paran by telling him about what had happened between me and Han Riae, but...
- I like Riae, and if she's okay with it, I want to keep staying by her side.
I went and made them a couple...
Of course, it was nice to see, but still...
"Say that again, Paran!"
"Wheheneheneh?"
Hahaha...
How could she be that happy?
It's a lovely sight, but honestly...
Please...
"Don't cause any trouble, Riae..."
That was the only thing I, who had spent so long with Han Riae, could say...