It's Okay Even If It Breaks! - 3
Don't worry about it.
Right now, what Michelle had to do was submit her resignation letter. She didn't have time to worry about the materials Adrian brought.
[EVENT HORIZON]
But Michelle couldn't ignore the seven words stuck there. Next to it, her own name seemed to whisper that this belonged to the girl.
Her eyes kept drifting to it. Over and over.
Adrian indeed possessed incredible magical ability. She couldn't understand the method or principle, but it mocked her in terms of telekinesis. It was unpleasant, but she had to admit it.
'So this was really made for me.'
She rolled her eyes and glanced at other students' materials.
"Electric Chain," "Wind Cutter," etc...
It was really different. Every time she changed the materials she rolled her eyes to look at, the spells and data in them were different.
So one thing was clear. Adrian had given the Event Horizon materials to Michelle alone.
- It's just pity.
- To fulfill each individual's desires.
He had said that.
- I don't like you.
- Idiot who can't even do self-study. From today, that's your name.
He said that too.
Which was the truth? How much did he know?
Was he mocking her because he knew everything, or should she believe the absurd story that he was doing it for her sake. The girl started to worry.
After worrying and worrying and worrying again.
"...Stupid."
She crumpled the materials she received from Adrian with all her might. Those things that were materials just moments ago were now just a pile of paper.
To believe the words overheard in the library. I really am in a pathetic situation. It was that miserable.
If she had thought about her actions, she wouldn't have needed to worry.
He had hung her in mid-air as if to show off to Michelle and poured out harsh words. He thought of her as just a tool to move desks.
A human like that wouldn't prepare something like this for her sake.
Event Horizon was a technique that anyone who handled telekinesis would envy. So he added it. He added it without thinking.
...He didn't even know how her legs were, he just threw it in.
But then.
—Flash!
The vision turned white, and soon it showed a scene completely different from the lecture hall.
A grassland. An endless grassland.
In this grassland with scarecrows planted at regular intervals, any magic could be cast freely without worrying about anyone's eyes.
"Individual hallucination..."
She muttered involuntarily because it was unbelievable.
During the crumpling of the materials, Michelle's mana flowed in, and when the user's mana flowed in, it was designed to link with hallucinations like this.
There were 54 students in the F-Class.
Was it that the 54 students were training in their own hallucinations?
Locking one person in a hallucination required an unreasonable amount of mana as a price. But this was for all of them?
- It's just pity.
The words echoed in her ears again.
No, no. It couldn't be... Did the academy provide mass mana capsules or something? A professor who would do such a thing while harming his own body didn't exist in the world.
"Michelle Maynans."
At that moment, a familiar voice came.
Adrian's voice. Michelle straightened her posture without realizing. The professor approached the girl blinking her eyes.
Just in case, Michelle grabbed the hem of her skirt. Then, today's underwear was similar to that time.
She looked up at Adrian without hesitation. In her hand, she still held the crumpled resignation letter.
But Adrian's clone didn't seem to care about such things. He just looked down at Michelle with a blank expression.
"Through this practice, it will help you understand 'Event Horizon'."
Understand...
Who couldn't understand? She had the spells written on the board every day and chanted them sweetly. But understanding and using were different domains, weren't they.
"Before the practice, let me ask one thing. Is Event Horizon that difficult a technique?"
"...Of course."
"That's a misconception."
Misconception?
If the goal was to anger Michelle, it was a successful statement.
Even the prestigious Maynans family of telekinesis acknowledged it as difficult.
"You already know that telekinesis is done with the power of the mind. However, there are still many fools who confuse 'telekinesis' and 'teleportation'."
"Fool...?"
"See for yourself."
Adrian easily drew a spell in the air.
But Michelle, who had memorized the spell, could tell. She couldn't pinpoint which part, but something was subtly different.
—Snap!
When Adrian snapped his fingers, the scarecrows planted at regular intervals rushed madly toward the destination of the spell.
The scarecrows, rushing like moths to a flame, didn't stop even after being sucked in. They kept colliding and shattering with each other with a crackling sound.
"......Event Horizon?"
Michelle's eyes widened.
It was a technique expressed with extreme difficulty. It succeeded so easily?
"What do you think? Was that Event Horizon?"
"Clearly..."
It was clearly Event Horizon, but she felt a sense of familiarity. Michelle shook her head.
"Something's different."
"That's exactly it."
Adrian continued explaining calmly.
"I didn't pull those things with my telekinesis power. I moved the scarecrows to make it look that way."
"......!"
The difference between telekinesis and teleportation.
Was that what it meant? Even Michelle, who handled telekinesis, almost fell for it.
"However, the interesting point is that this kind of deception is actually more troublesome. Deception requires 144 circuits, but Event Horizon only needs 74 circuits."
"No. It's 208 circuits."
Michelle immediately retorted.
Was he crazy? Why talk about 74 circuits when it's 208.
She didn't have confidence in this part. Because she had memorized the circuits and spells every day.
"Try it."
Hah.
Michelle, who smirked, immediately started drawing lines in the air.
She hadn't learned how to flow mana into the circuits, but drawing what she memorized accurately was a realm she could do with her eyes closed.
It took her several minutes for her hands to move busily. Finally, the spell for Event Horizon was drawn.
"Here."
"This is deception."
Adrian started erasing the spell Michelle drew one by one without any hesitation.
If she had drawn it with all her heart, he would casually destroy the spell! Michelle shouted immediately.
"W-what are you...!"
But she couldn't finish her words. Because she was shocked.
Adrian's hand was removing the lines in a bizarre way. Removing lines was clearly 'destruction', yet it was unnaturally elegant.
Michelle, who had been about to get angry, was stunned by the sight.
Even as one line after another was erased, the Event Horizon maintained the shape of the spell.
Adrian hadn't sent mana into the spell, but Michelle could understand it.
This spell. No errors. If mana is flowed in, it will succeed as is.
"Don't be surprised. It's just that you need to know which circuits I erased. I'll teach you that."
"Wa-wait a minute. This can't be... You can't draw it like this..."
"Why?"
"You can't miss even one line. When activating Event Horizon, you have to specify which things to suck in and which to leave. If even one line is missing, the activator might be swept away too."
"Then what is this spell left in front of your eyes? Is it a spell of an entirely different technique? Or is it a byproduct that can't even be called magic?"
Michelle blinked her eyes.
But at the same time, her pupils started sparkling.
She didn't want to admit it, but she was being sucked in by his words. She started concentrating.
"If you were afraid of failure or obsessed with perfection, you wouldn't have had any doubts. You would have endlessly repeated that adding intuition to the predetermined theory would be enough."
Adrian floated two spells in the air.
One was Event Horizon with 208 circuits. The other was Event Horizon with only 74 circuits left.
"A mage doesn't rely on magic, but is a being who controls magic. You will conquer this guy. You must thoroughly realize that fact."
She swallowed once.
...She didn't want to learn anything from him. She had just thought about submitting the resignation letter.
Her hand holding the resignation letter tightened.
At some point, she was waiting for Adrian's next words. With some expectation.
"Wearing clothes that fit your body is natural. If you thought you had to wear ill-fitting clothes, that would be your misconception. Well-fitting clothes only make you more beautiful. It doesn't change the essence."
"Fitting clothes..."
Perhaps his words were right.
She had mistaken telekinesis and teleportation and only cared about what was visible.
Also, she had tried to fit her body into the ill-fitting Event Horizon.
...Really, I only depended on magic.
"Now, you erase it yourself. What did I remove?"
Immediately, Michelle's hand shot out.
She touched the spell in the air and recalled the order Adrian had erased, erasing one by one.
What to discard? What to conquer.
It was hard.
It was insanely difficult. Drawing each line required other magic power and had to be careful with the length.
But it wasn't hard.
"Ah..."
She moistened her dry lips, sweat beading on her forehead, and muttered involuntarily.
It was joy.
The girl found the curiosity of her childhood again after a long time. She wanted to know the end of this curiosity. She was learning something. She wanted to learn more without stopping.
13 circuits removed, remove the condition of analyzing surrounding objects in detail.
25 circuits removed, boldly remove the output change process that goes through three stages of change.
40 circuits removed, remove by increasing mana consumption and shortening the preparatory work needed for chanting.
...
133 circuits removed, remove the piya identification.
It was after more than three hours.
"I understand. But..."
"But?"
"I can't understand the part where removing the piya identification. If I do this, it should definitely activate, but isn't it the same as suicide?"
"You missed one line."
How did he know? Michelle erased one more line.
134 circuits removed, remove the condition of concentrating all mana on the legs.
"Eh... eh?"
The girl exclaimed.
'Does he know my body condition...?'
No, such things were no longer important.
She realized.
If you remove the piya identification, the caster has to concentrate all mana on the legs and endure with their own power. It should be like that.
She reversed it.
It wasn't about changing an unfit body, but changing the spell so that the caster floats the body and can endure sufficiently.
'Fitting clothes.'
Fitting clothes meant fitting magic, right?
Completely accepting one's situation and thoroughly making magic one's own.
At the same time as surprise, it was embarrassing. What was I trying to give up? Why couldn't I think of this?
True magic is this wondrous and fun—
"Uh, uhn?!"
For a moment, the one soaked in joy, Michelle let out a stupid sound she had never made in her life.
Someone was hugging her from behind. It was Adrian.
"W-what, what, what, what, what are you...?!"
"Error checking in training is essential. Float so you don't get sucked into Event Horizon. I'll assist with your arms and legs."
Adrian hugged Michelle tightly and slightly leaned his posture back.
Naturally, Michelle's posture became as if sitting on Adrian's body.
"Ah, no. A.. no. No, w-wait. I..."
Michelle's face flushed as if it would burst. Her mind's circuits seemed to have broken, making her words stutter.
"Even when floating the body, there is surely an efficient posture. Here, like this."
Adrian handled Michelle's body as if handling a mannequin. But Michelle couldn't think of Adrian as a mannequin at all!
"H-h, h, h, I'll do it alone. A-alone!"
"Put all your strength into your stomach. This posture of half-lying in the air and floating is not only visually easy but very difficult. Instead, it's very sturdy."
"W-wait, w-wait, w-wait a minute.. Wait..."
To check if she had strength in her stomach, Adrian pressed Michelle's stomach firmly.
"Hah, haeueh?!"
Maids were natural, and even her parents raised her without touching her. But what kind of professor is this now?
Do I not know who I am? I'm Michelle Maynans...!
"People don't laugh at those who don't think and act."
At that moment, his voice pushed into her ear.
"However, when you do something with just thought, it's called a genius. You don't need legs."
"Uh, u, u...?"
"Michelle."
Still a cool voice.
But there was no voice that usually squeezed Michelle. It was an oddly warm address.
"I will ask the next head of the Maynans family."
At the same time, Event Horizon began to activate. Above all, the dark black hole started swallowing everything visible.
The scarecrows began to disappear before they even reached the boundary of the Event Horizon.
The technique Michelle had dreamed of was being unfolded casually in front of her eyes.
"Ah......"
...Her mouth opened wide.
It was at least more beautiful than any scenery for Michelle walking the path of telekinesis.
It was dazzlingly beautiful.
"That word 'genius'."
An unbelievable roar occurred. Unbelievable power.
But Michelle didn't get sucked in. Because she was snugly nestled in Adrian's arms.
Also, she didn't hear any roar.
All she heard was her ears—
"...How is it? Isn't that a perfect description for you."
Only his voice was heard.
She had to float, but she couldn't. The only thing she could do was lean on Adrian's body.
It was strange. So...
In the middle of the universe, time seemed to stop.