Tene's Day (Academy Version)
Five days had already passed since the members of the Evergarden household arrived at the Academy.
Rosaria was settling in nicely in the single dorm room she'd been assigned, while Felix had simply moved his entire life into his research lab and was living there without a second thought.
Most of the students and professors each had their own spaces where they rested, studied their majors, and whiled away the hours.
But what about the servants who had come along to attend them?
"Hwaaaah… achoo! It's gotten pretty chilly, hasn't it…!"
Bennet woke to a cold wind sharp enough to tickle her nose. She rubbed her arms and pushed herself up from the bed.
—Thump
"…Ugh, I don't wanna get up."
—and flopped right back down again.
Back at the Evergarden estate, four people had been crammed into a single room, sleeping pressed against one another under thin blankets. The Academy, by contrast, issued even the servants a decent bed of their own, so the quality of sleep itself was on a completely different level.
Of course, the Evergarden household had already begun reducing staff and bringing in new furniture for the servants' welfare. Unfortunately for Bennet, the day the new furniture was supposed to arrive in her room was the very day she left for the Academy—so this was the first time she had ever used a bed for sleeping rather than cleaning it.
To a girl who had always slept on a hard floor with nothing but straw and a blanket, a soft mattress and a thick quilt were a whole new world. Lately, hauling herself out of bed in the morning had become a real struggle.
"…Still. Gotta get up."
Born diligent to the core, Bennet shook off the bed's devilish temptation and rose once more.
She quickly straightened the bedding, twisted her body this way and that to shake off the last of the sleep, then turned her gaze.
"Kooo—kooo—"
"She's still out cold. Well, she always slept till around lunchtime even at the mansion, didn't she?"
There lay Tene—one of the reasons they'd been assigned a double room—clutching her pillow like a stuffed animal and snoring peacefully.
Originally a guest of the estate, Tene had volunteered herself as a maid just so she could help attend the eldest son, and had followed them all the way here.
She could have stayed at the mansion and lived in comfort without lifting a finger. When Bennet had asked why she'd bothered coming, Tene had simply beamed and answered, "Because it looked fun!" Bennet still couldn't forget that bright smile.
"What even is this girl…?"
Bennet leaned in close to the sleeping face and murmured to herself.
She had dropped out of the sky into the mansion one day, never acted particularly noble, yet got along warmly with the servants—while still being treated as an honored guest. She didn't seem like an ordinary peasant the way Bennet was, yet she carried none of that aristocratic arrogance either.
Come to think of it, the Evergarden family themselves had suddenly grown kinder and more affectionate around the same time Tene appeared.
…Well, the mistress had become more properly noble, in a good way, at least.
Bennet lingered there a while longer, watching the sleeping girl and turning those thoughts over—until:
"Tene, time to get up."
"Hweh?!"
Tene was no longer a guest of the house but a fellow servant, so Bennet yanked the covers off without mercy and dragged her out of dreamland.
"Uuu… is it morning already…?"
"Yep. Up you get—tidy up and get to work."
"…Hwaaaah. Yeees…"
Even yanked from deep sleep, Tene answered diligently, rubbing her bleary eyes.
Once she had finished making her own bed as well:
"I'll turn around."
"I keep telling you, you don't have to."
"I do have to!"
The moment Bennet started peeling off her clothes to change into her work uniform, Tene whipped her head toward the wall. Bennet couldn't understand it, but Tene's resolve was absolute.
I have to endure…! But it's just Noona and me in here… maybe a little peek—no! Snap out of it!
On the outside she was a cute little girl, but inside she was still a high-school boy in his prime, packed with a libido that would explode at the slightest touch. Today, as every day, the angel and devil in her heart were locked in ferocious combat.
She had already become a woman, yet she still wasn't used to being one.
Well… maybe it's because she's still young?
Bennet, who had no idea about any of that, simply found it odd that two girls changing clothes together would be a problem—but she let it slide.
At last both of them were dressed.
"Hold it, Tene! You're not going out with your hair looking like a bird's nest, are you?"
"Ah, right."
Tene had been about to walk straight out the door; Bennet's remark made her fumble at her messy locks.
"Come here. I'll brush it for you."
"Okaaay—"
Tene had never known how to do her own hair (even in the modern world she'd just towel-dried everything and called it done), so the entire job fell to Bennet.
"You really ought to learn how to handle your own hair at least."
"Hehe…"
Bennet sat her on the edge of the bed and began running her own comb through Tene's hair.
"Still, your hair is ridiculously silky."
"Is it? I wouldn't know. Isn't this just normal?"
"Say that in front of the older girls and they'll thrash you."
Bennet marveled, as she always did, at the fine strands, while Tene muttered that it hardly seemed special.
Being a dragon, Tene looked extraordinarily attractive to human eyes, and her body stayed spotlessly clean all on its own. But in her previous life she had always kept her hair short, so she had no idea how exceptional it was.
"The older girls slather on expensive oils just hoping for hair this nice… and you don't put anything on at all, yet you still smell so fresh."
"Hehe… thanks, Noona."
Bennet set the comb down; Tene grinned and thanked her.
"How long are you going to keep calling me Noona? It's Unni."
"Eh… b-but… I'm still not used to it…"
"Then try it right now. Un. Ni. Unni."
Bennet shoved her face right up to Tene's and ordered her to say it.
But the word still felt terribly awkward on Tene's tongue.
For all that she looked like this, she was still a guy inside—she couldn't yet claim to be a girl with any confidence. Sure, the outside was pretty and cute and beautiful… but she had been a boy.
"W-well, uh… ah! I've got something to do today, so I'll head out first!"
"Hey! Don't you dare run away, you little—!"
After a long, flustered pause, Tene shot to her feet, yanked the door open, and fled.
"Whew… that was close."
Safe in the hallway, Tene let out a breath.
"Okay, better hurry."
She might have bolted from an awkward situation, but the excuse she'd thrown at Bennet hadn't been a complete lie. She quickened her steps.
The skirt of her maid uniform fluttered wildly as she scurried along.
—Knock knock
"Felix… sir… are you awake?"
A little time later, Tene stood before a certain door, knocking hard enough to be heard through the wall.
The official reason she had come to the Academy was to attend Felix, so looking after him came first on the list of priorities.
In practice that meant little more than waking him in the morning and handling a few simple chores; the rest of her day was filled with odd jobs. Still, in terms of importance, this ranked highest.
As always, she rose early, knocked on the door of Felix's laboratory, and carefully attached every honorific—just in case anyone overheard.
Felix had been assigned proper lodgings as well, but since he had simply moved his entire life into the lab, Tene naturally ended up coming here instead of the dorm.
"…Still asleep?"
Creeeak—
"Pardon the intrusion~"
After about three rounds of knocking with no answer from the other side, Tene finally opened the door and stepped in.
"Geez, at least open a window once in a while. Why's it so dark in here?"
What greeted her was Felix's laboratory, blacked out by heavy blackout curtains.
Felix claimed that stray light during experiments could ruin everything, so he had hung the curtains and never bothered with ventilation; the air was always thick and stuffy. Every morning Tene's job was to throw the curtains open and fling the windows wide.
"—so if we do it this way…"
"—then the circuit formula…"
"Hm?"
A sudden sense of human presence made her turn her head. A faint glow and two silhouettes were visible over by the desk.
Tene approached the source of the light.
"Huh? What? You're already up?"
"…Hm?"
There sat Felix at his research table, muttering to himself as he stared at a glowing magic circle.
At the sound of her voice he sluggishly turned his head and looked at her.
"What, is it morning already?"
"Don't tell me you haven't slept at all?"
The dark circles under his eyes and the bone-deep exhaustion in his voice told Tene everything: the guy had pulled another all-nighter, lost in his research again.
"…Ah."
"Huh? Who's this…?"
Today, however, was different.
Someone was sitting beside Felix—who was usually alone.
Startled by the unfamiliar figure, Tene asked carefully.
"Ah… this is Professor LeMilion. We've been collaborating on magical research lately. And this is Tene, a servant who came from my family estate to attend me."
"A pleasure. I'm LeMilion Ordine. I hold the professorship in elemental magic."
"Ah, hello… I'm Tene."
Whoa, a rabbit.
Long rabbit ears twitched as LeMilion offered a light bow; Tene was so captivated by them that she bowed a beat late, murmuring inwardly.
There are a lot of beastkin at the Academy. At the mansion, Fenril Noona was the first one I'd ever met.
In the modern world, beastkin only appeared in manga, anime, or cosplay festivals. In this fantasy world they were real people.
The only beastkin at the estate had been Fenril, but the Academy drew people from every corner of the continent. Even though Tene had only been here five days, she had already seen enough different beastkin that LeMilion didn't startle her too badly.
"Anyway, first things first—let's get some air in here."
Whoosh—
"Ugh… light… so bright…"
"Morning already…? I didn't even notice the time flying by."
LeMilion's presence had surprised her a little, but Tene calmly set about her duties. The moment she opened the curtains, both researchers squinted and wilted like vampires recoiling from sunlight.
"Whoa, I cleaned yesterday and it's already this bad…!"
With the curtains drawn and the windows open, the lab flooded with light—and Tene stared in horror.
In the dark she hadn't noticed, but now that it was bright she could see the room was a complete disaster.
Crumpled papers covered in indecipherable formulas littered the floor so thickly that a single step would send them flying underfoot.
"I got so focused on the research I stopped paying attention."
"Yes… that was careless of me…"
Felix had never been good at tidying even back at the mansion, and LeMilion likewise forgot the world around her the moment research seized her. The result was chaos.
"Haaah— I'll clean it up."
Tene took one look at the wreckage, sighed lightly, and immediately set to work on the mess.
Is this how Mom used to feel…?
Bending at the waist like the gleaners in Millet's painting as she picked up trash, Tene suddenly thought of her mother, who had always grumbled at her to clean her room.
"…Sniff."
I miss Mom.
For a moment she ached for her parents back in the modern world.
They must be so worried…
From talking with the other reincarnators—the Evergarden family—she had learned that she had already been dead before arriving here.
So she tried to tell herself that letting go of the modern world and receiving a second life was lucky, that she should be grateful… but the longing for her parents still refused to fade easily.
"By the way—you. You wouldn't happen to be a dragon in polymorph, would you?"
"…Pardon?"
"Hic?!"
Thud—roll roll—
Immersed in her melancholy, Tene froze solid as LeMilion's words struck the bullseye.
The trash she had been holding slipped from her fingers and rolled across the floor for good measure.
"I mean, if you possessed talent this outstanding, why hide it all this time? Isn't it more likely that a dragon swallowed the real you in one gulp and is now living in that form just for fun?"
"Ha, haha…! Professor LeMilion, your imagination is something else. But that can't be true, right?"
"…Mm, you're right. Even I wouldn't want to polymorph into your face. You look far too sly and underhanded and smarmy."
"Hey, that's a little…"
"I-I'm done cleaning, so I'll be going now!"
Realizing the comment hadn't been aimed at her after all, Tene frantically finished the last of the tidying and bolted from the lab.
"…Whew, that scared me! I thought I'd been found out…"
Out in the corridor she pressed a hand to her racing heart and muttered.
LeMilion had, purely on instinct, come terrifyingly close to the truth—while an actual polymorphed dragon was standing right there. Tene was still reeling.
"…Mm, I'm hungry. What's for breakfast today?"
Then the realization that it was nearly time to eat struck her. A smile bloomed across her face, and she dashed cheerfully down the hallway.