The Professor's Summons

When Professor Selene called me to her office, I couldn't help but tense up for a moment. After all, I still had a conscience, and I knew exactly what I'd done. In truth, the situation was obvious enough that not just Selene but the other students could have noticed, but I'd gotten lucky so far. 'No, more than that—I really didn't think I'd get caught.'

My opponent was a mage with exceptional skill. It seemed I'd let my guard down too much. If I'd thought about it calmly for even a second, it was the kind of thing that could easily get me caught, but I'd been too focused on teasing Eloise to pay much attention. The one saving grace was that she hadn't scolded me in the classroom but had called me to her office instead. 'If it's just the two of us... I can probably hypnosis my way out of this.'

I hadn't used today's hypnosis quota yet, so I had plenty to spare. From the beginning, I had confidence that no matter what happened, hypnosis could cover it. Of course, I had to worry about her mental strength... but honestly, this wasn't a situation that required hypnosis strong enough to overcome serious resistance, so I wasn't too concerned. 'I need to save some for when I meet Chloe later... using all three might be difficult.'

As always, I mentally summoned the system window to check my level.

“Huh?”

“...Is something wrong?”

“Ah, no. I'll be right there.”

I'd checked the contents without much thought, but the system window had changed from yesterday, and I accidentally let out a sound. Because of that, Selene looked at me with a strange gaze, but I gave an awkward smile as if it were nothing and started packing my things. Selene glanced at me and Eloise, let out a deep sigh, and left the classroom. The students still in the room began snickering as they looked at me.

They probably thought I'd get a scolding from Selene. Since I'd taken the seat next to Eloise, they likely assumed she'd done something to me. But the situation was the complete opposite of their guesses. 'More importantly, when did I level up?'

I thought I'd been checking every day, but apparently there were times I missed it. It didn't seem to work on an experience-point system. I used the remaining hypnosis opportunities every day on passing students or to mess with the bastards who tried to harass me, so nothing was left over. In short, I used up all my hypnosis uses, but that didn't mean I leveled up consistently.

Naturally, speculations about leveling up began to form. Among them, the most plausible one was this: the fundamental basis of this world was a game. Then, of course, there would be characters with high importance, like the main character. Perhaps hypnotizing high-importance characters affected the system's level— that was my current theory. 'Of course, it's all just speculation...'

Still, it didn't sound completely ridiculous. The value of a random extra character 1 wasn't the same as Eloise's, after all. I watched the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠backs of the students leaving the classroom while snickering, then let out a light sigh and glanced at Eloise, who was still sitting in her seat.

With an expression that was half dissatisfied and half anxious, Eloise alternated her gaze between her notebook and me before letting out a small sigh and speaking. Of course, her mask hid her mouth, so I couldn't see it open.

“Seriously... you could've just done it in moderation...”

“But it was fun once I got into it... and I thought you were enjoying it too, Eloise.”

The classroom was already empty except for the two of us, so we spoke comfortably. If other students saw us, they'd sense something strange about our conversation lacking the usual barriers, so Eloise and I had agreed to maintain our old attitudes in front of others.

Anyway, when Eloise asked what I was going to do now, I thought for a moment, but no particular options came to mind.

“Well, she called me, so I guess I have to go?”

“...Isn't that too reckless? That's Professor Selene we're talking about.”

“It's fine. It's fine. I have a plan.”

Of course, I didn't actually have a plan. The only thing I could rely on was hypnosis. But since the ability ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had never let me down before, I believed it would pull through this time too. 'Besides, I'm not planning to do anything special. If I can just get through it smoothly, that's enough.'

In Lilina's case, hypnosis worked well, so I wasn't going to rush things and try to claim her right away. 'Though that formal suit and her ass were incredibly tempting... I'll claim her eventually.'

And since I was involved with Lilina, maybe a sister sandwich or mother-daughter sandwich could be possible someday.

“Serina... you have that perverted look on your face again.”

“Huh? Ah, right. Anyway, I'll stop by the professor's office first, so head to the next class without me. If you see Chloe, tell her I said hi.”

“Got it. See you later.”

I watched Eloise put her notebook and writing tools into her subspace, then casually scanned the surroundings. Confirming no one was around, I quickly approached Eloise and left a short kiss on her lips.

“Hey!”

Before the flustered Eloise could react, I quickly left the classroom. Hearing her call after me, I smiled and continued walking down the hallway. Unlike the obedient Maila, Eloise still grumbled after having sex with me a few times, which made teasing her endlessly fun. Imagining her fuming face, I walked down the corridor until I arrived at the floor where the professors' offices were clustered.

A wooden door with an antique atmosphere greeted me, along ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a nameplate that read [Selene Tenebris]. Since I'd come after doing something wrong, showing an excited expression would be the wrong move. I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath to calm my mind, then carefully knocked on the thick wooden door.

“Professor. This is Serina from the Magic Studies Department.”

Clunk—!

Before I could even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ask if I could enter, I'd only stated my affiliation, but the door opened immediately. Was this magic too? The thick wooden door opened on its own with a not-unpleasant sound, as if inviting me inside.

With a strange tension, I stepped forward and soon found myself facing Selene, who was sitting in her chair and letting out a sigh.

“...So. What was the reason for that behavior during class?”

Unlike her usual sharp gaze, she wore a strangely flustered expression as she asked.

The word “that behavior” came from Selene's mouth. Obviously, I wasn't simple enough to not know what it meant. It referred to the caress I'd given Eloise. 'In this case, rather than being embarrassed herself... is she trying to be considerate of me?'

I wasn't sure exactly why she avoided using the word “caress,” but since the atmosphere didn't feel like she was scolding me, I hesitated as if troubled before carefully opening my mouth.

“Um... first of all, I'm sorry.”

I immediately bowed my head in admission of fault. Though I couldn't see it, I heard what sounded like a slightly relieved sigh from Selene. She might have been worried I'd act brazenly.

My long hair cascaded down past my neck as I bowed. After some time passed, I lifted my head and faced Selene, who was looking at me with an expressionless face—or more precisely, with a mix of suspicion and incomprehension—and carefully spoke.

“Well... you might already know this, but I originally didn't get along very well with Miss Eloise.”

Selene remained silent as if she knew that much, then carefully nodded. Taking her attitude as a sign to continue, I began to weave my story in a calm yet earnest tone.

“...Anyway, we cleared up the misunderstandings between us, and I plan to apologize to Miss Chloe as well.”

To summarize, there had been misunderstandings between Eloise, Chloe, and me. The underwear incident had also stemmed from a misunderstanding. After apologizing and clearing things up, we were now on good terms. Everything except the part about being on good terms was a lie, but did it really matter? Starting today, I was supposed to attend to Chloe as she consumed the elixir, so it might not even be a complete lie.

Selene, who seemed lost in thought for a moment, tapped her fingers on the desk before speaking.

“I understand up to that point... but what was the reason for that behavior during my class? To be honest, this is serious enough to warrant demerit points for disrupting public morals on campus. No, considering it happened during class, demerits might not even be enough.”

As expected, this wasn't going to get me off the hook. With a resigned mindset, I met Selene's purple eyes and carefully called out the hypnosis trigger in my mind.

'Hypnosis, activate.'

Soon, a familiar yet subtle heat filled my head, and the hypnosis activated.