Siris Helen
The weekend passed quickly.
A morning air that felt somehow different signaled the start of the week.
Creak.
I opened the door to Class S and stepped inside. Upon seeing the pure white woman, a new feeling washed over me.
‘Is this the first time we’ve been alone?’
Siris Helen.
Since I always met her with Christina, this was almost the first time we were alone together.
“Hello, Siris.”
“……”
Siris’s gaze turned toward me.
“……Hello.”
After staring blankly for a moment, Siris responded.
Thud.
I sat down in the seat next to her.
‘What could it be?’
The Siris I knew was a somewhat dazed, sleepy woman.
She would sometimes stare blankly at one spot, but I didn’t know the reason.
‘Is it a congenital constitution?’
Siris’s complexion would occasionally flush red as if she had a fever. I thought it might be due to her constitution.
‘Is she cold?’
She would sometimes shiver, but since she wielded the power of frost, I thought she wouldn’t feel the cold.
‘I don’t feel heat much either.’
Even as a user of fire abilities, I had resistance to most heat. Siris was probably the same.
“……”
There was no particular answer.
‘It’s not like I know anything.’
If it were Christina, she might know something, but asking felt a bit off.
‘It seems like I’m interfering too much in someone else’s business.’
For now, I wouldn’t ask.
“……”
I turned my head at the gaze that seemed to be staring intently at me.
No one else had arrived in Class S yet; only Siris was there. She had been staring at me. That gaze felt mysterious too.
“……”
“……”
I met Siris’s eyes.
Her round eyes and gaze were wide open like a baby bird wanting food, making it hard to avoid.
I spoke first.
“……Why?”
“……”
But no answer came.
‘……There she goes again.’
Hadn’t I said she sometimes stares blankly at one spot? This was exactly that situation.
Siris would sometimes just stare blankly at me. Expecting her to look away as usual, I was a bit flustered.
Screech.
Because she was moving her chair closer to me.
‘This is a first.’
She had never approached before.
“……”
The desks in Class S weren’t narrow. There was plenty of room even for three people. There was no reason to approach on such a desk, but I waited for now.
‘There must be a reason.’
Since she was someone who didn’t speak much, I thought there must be a reason for this behavior.
Thud.
She placed the chair right next to mine and sat there.
“……”
Even so, she just kept staring at me.
‘What is it?’
Really, what could it be. It wasn’t that I disliked this behavior or disliked Siris. I was just curious about the situation—what intention Siris had in approaching and acting this way.
Swish.
She made another move. She spread both arms and looked at me as if waiting. As if asking for a hug.
Siris’s body was trembling very slightly, so weakly that you wouldn’t notice unless you concentrated.
When I didn’t do anything, she muttered softly.
“……Is this not it?”
I didn’t know what wasn’t it, but I became even more curious about the reason for this behavior.
Grab!
Siris suddenly pulled my body toward her. Naturally, I ended up in her embrace.
‘What? Why is she so cold.’
Contrary to what I thought about not feeling the cold, her body was trembling. When I looked at Siris’s face, she was smiling. Unlike the past when she didn’t show smiles, it was as if she was happy.
“Warm……”
Hearing her words, I thought.
‘What’s warm about it.’
Wasn’t she not sensitive to cold? I pondered more.
‘What’s the connection.’
Shivering was a sign of being cold, but being dazed and sleepy usually happened when it was warm. What about staring at me?
If cold, one seeks warmth. The connection between her trembling body and staring at me was one thing.
‘Fire ability.’
The warm energy. Perhaps that had caught her attention. Was she hugging me now to ward off the cold?
‘Does frost feel the cold?’
It could be cold from something else. Like a curse, for example.
Fwoosh.
Having thought that far, I drew up a bit of my fire ability—just enough to not harm Siris and to warm her. When I did so, she began to slowly absorb it.
“……Hehe.”
This act continued until the other Class S students arrived.
***
“Next class, we’ll be learning about ranks. That’s all.”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
After Instructor Yura left, the classroom became noisy.
“What’s your next class?”
“Me? Class lesson.”
“Ah damn, lucky. I have philosophy class.”
Amid the conversations sharing trivial daily life, I looked at the mysterious woman who hadn’t woken up.
Snore snore……
She was still peacefully asleep.
‘Amazing, really.’
It wasn’t about sleeping. Instructor Yura had once asked Siris a question. I thought she would get it wrong. But it was amazing that Siris, who only slept, answered every single one of Instructor Yura’s history questions without missing any. That’s how she earned the right to sleep legitimately.
“Siris.”
But I couldn’t just leave her asleep. The next class was the class lesson, and Cain had specifically asked us to attend today.
“……Mm?”
Contrary to thinking she wouldn’t wake up easily, she got up quickly.
“……You woke me?”
At the slightly eerie mutter, I quickly replied.
“It’s time for class lesson.”
“……Ah.”
She let out a small groan and stood up holding my hand. Though not much time had passed, since the morning incident, I had been continuously giving her fire energy.
‘I don’t know the reason, but.’
Because I liked seeing Siris smile as if she truly enjoyed it. And so we headed to the Class S classroom.
Screech.
“First time, huh.”
No one else was there. Siris and I sat again in the seats we had taken in the morning.
Whoosh!
Since no one was around, Siris nestled into my arms. Unlike in the morning, the reason she came into my arms was because my embrace was wider, so it felt better.
‘Good thing we set rules.’
Before the history class, we had set some simple rules. We would only hug when no one was around. If I refused, she would accept it. And I would rarely refuse unless absolutely necessary. It was to prevent strange rumors or misunderstandings.
Siris followed those rules quite well.
“……”
“……”
How long had we been like that?
Crackle.
A strange hallucination reached my ears. A sound like something being scorched by electricity.
‘……Electricity?’
It was like lightning. Lightning was Shane’s symbol. Having reached that thought, I pulled Siris out of my embrace.
“……?”
At her questioning gaze, I answered simply.
“The instructor will be here soon.”
At those words, she frowned but returned to her seat.
Screech!
Gradually, students like Shane, Banya, Christina, and others entered, and eventually Cain arrived as well. He was holding several sheets of documents in his hands.
Cain looked around at the thirty seats.
“Everyone’s here.”
With those words, Cain flung several sheets of paper. The flying papers landed three per desk. It seemed like a technique using mana.
“Read them once each.”
Cain said nothing more.
I lowered my head and looked at the paper. The very first sentence on the paper was visible.
-Demon Realm Practical Training
Seeing this made the war with the demons feel a bit more real. Reading further, there was one important point.
‘Your own death is not the academy’s responsibility, but the student’s own responsibility.’
If you didn’t like this, you wouldn’t go to the Demon Realm, but there would be no such person. If there were, they wouldn’t be in Class S.
“I’ll assume you’ve all read it and speak.”
I took my eyes off the paper and looked at Cain.
“Originally, the practical training was scheduled for about two weeks from now. But the schedule has changed, and we’ll be going tomorrow.”
At the sudden mention of tomorrow, my eyes widened. Seeing that there were others with the same look, Cain answered.
“You can’t do everything only when you want to. Consider this part of the training as well.”
Cain nodded slightly and continued.
“Anyway, death in the Demon Realm is the responsibility of the student themselves, of you all. The instructors will do their best to protect you, but you know there are many variables in the Demon Realm. In such situations, hoping for rescue every day would be ridiculous.”
“……”
“……”
Perhaps because the words were a bit heavy, the atmosphere became calm. Seeing that, Cain smiled in satisfaction. It was essentially his usual expression.
“That’s all I have to say. I’ll let you know the details when we arrive at the Demon Realm, so come at the designated time tomorrow. That concludes it.”