Three Trucks of Trouble

"..."

A serious problem had landed in my lap first thing in the morning.

Can I really not just expel this kid?

I stared blankly at the student register, chin propped on my desk. In a space that had always listed only my name, a single extra line had appeared.

Lee Yena. I now had a junior — an extremely insolent one.

If I erased it, the student count excluding myself would be back to zero...

I really agonized over it. Would expelling her be the right call...?

Of course it wouldn't.

"...Guess not."

If I expelled her, I'd be the one to die first.

Not that I meant I would actually die. My academy would. The academy I'd poured my precious youth into like it was my own blood.

In the end, I abandoned the expulsion plan I'd been turning over dozens of times since last night and closed the student register. It wasn't as if expelling her would stop her from showing up at the shop anyway.

"What a life..."

I was sighing my lungs out when a knock came at the door. It wasn't a violent pounding. The knocks were perfectly composed — which meant this wasn't one of those irritating guys. It was that irritating girl.

"Come in."

The door opened, and yesterday's nightmare customer — also a VIP — walked in.

"Good morning, Senior Yuna."

"..."

Right. At the moment, she was my one and only junior.

The kid who'd come to the shop last night and thrown a wallet-fueled tantrum was nowhere to be seen. She was dressed neatly in her school uniform, every line in place. Her ash-gray hair was tidy, and beneath a wrinkle-free uniform a long, straight silhouette carried down to the floor. Unlike last night, when she'd seemed a little rough around the edges, her posture now wouldn't have looked out of place on a proper young lady.

A picture-perfect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠model student. From Yena, of all people.

"..."

This is a scam. That has to be a scam.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Are you actually the same person I saw last night?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"Don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you remember what you did to me yesterday?"

"Yesterday?"

Yena pretended to think for a moment, then beamed.

There's no way she doesn't remember. She's just teasing me. Insolently.

"I had a wonderful time!"

"Fine. That's enough, then..."

Poking at it would only make me angry, so I let it go. I didn't press further and stood up from my chair.

"Follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"I'll show you around the academy. Not that there's much to see in a dump like this."

We'd wandered around yesterday too, but only in the loosest sense. I'd processed her enrollment, pointed out a few unused classrooms, and that had been the end of it. If she was actually going to live here, she needed to know which facilities were even usable. I was the director, in my own way. Giving a new student a tour was the least I owed her. Even if the academy itself was a complete wreck...

"...I'll say this up front. Don't get your hopes up."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

I opened the door and started the tour.

"This is the high school building."

"Yes."

"That's the middle school building."

"Yes."

"Neither of them's in use. There's no middle school at all, and high school's just you and me, so we won't bother with those. We'll do everything in the director's office. Classes, all of it."

"..."

"Don't look at me like that. I think is this even an academy? plenty myself."

Is this really even an academy...?

Ha. This year I should enter the combat tournament and try every kind of promotion I can get my hands on...

Every step we took sent our footsteps echoing down the corridor. At any other academy, this hour would have been noisy with students getting ready for class. I'd been like that too, once, as a first-year in middle school.

I glanced out the window in a fit of self-pity. Academy City's morning unfurled beyond the glass. A silver unmanned train glided along the elevated rails, and from another academy in the distance, flashes of light were already rising between the buildings — ability training, probably, and this early.

"It's lively from the morning."

"I don't know which academy that is, but I'm jealous!"

In Academy City, that much was more or less ordinary. I'd gotten used to it by now; it didn't faze me anymore. Most students had some kind of supernatural ability, big or small, so you ended up accustomed to it whether you wanted to or not. A classroom ceiling getting blown off in the middle of a lesson wasn't even that rare.

And our school? We didn't even have a student who could blow off a ceiling. If I looked on the bright side, I could say we had less facility damage. Taking comfort in that was pretty pathetic, honestly.

"This is the cafeteria."

I opened the door at the end of the hall. Yena peered through and looked around, and a flicker of surprise crossed her face.

"It's nicer than I expected?"

"Right?"

I felt a little proud and planted my hands on my hips. The cafeteria itself was old, but I'd kept it up well enough to make it reasonably usable. I cleaned it constantly, too.

"I clean it a lot."

"You do it yourself, senior?"

"There's nobody here. Who else would."

"Couldn't you hire someone?"

"No money. This is why rich people..."

They didn't understand a beggar's heart like mine. Did she have any idea how much it cost to hire people? That was why our academy didn't even have teachers. Every single day was self-study.

"I could..."

"No."

"I haven't said anything yet."

"You were about to say you'd spend your money."

"That's right."

"I can't use a student's money. I'm a student, but I'm also the owner of this academy, so that doesn't count."

Yena nodded with a faintly sour look. I'd lived a ridiculously long time between my past life and this one, and I still didn't get people like her. Feeling oddly smug at having scored a point on Yena, I headed for the next facility.

"Infirmary."

"Where's the nurse?"

"There isn't one."

"Then it's not an infirmary, is it."

"There's first-aid stuff and whatever."

"..."

"..."

Next.

"This is the library."

It was the school library, though it was large enough to pass for a proper one. The academy had been fairly well-known once, so the collection itself was substantial. The problem was something else.

Yena ran a finger along the top of a bookshelf. White dust clung to her fingertip.

"It could use a cleaning."

"I don't come here much, so I don't."

"I see."

"Why are you smiling?"

"Because you're cute."

"Watch how you talk to your senior. Just get out."

"Please don't kick me out."

I shoved the clinging Yena away and moved on.

"This is the gym."

The big doors opened onto a wide interior. The floor was torn up in a few places, and one wall bore a large repair scar. Compared to the rest of the facilities, though, it was in remarkably good shape.

"You've taken good care of this one."

"Because I use it."

"Do you train?"

"Sometimes? I need to blow off steam too, you know."

I answered like it was nothing. Yena, however, was looking at a deep gouge in one of the gym walls. A mark that might as well have been my dark history.

"...What's that?"

"Call it a small mistake."

"What kind of mistake does that to a wall?"

"I made my sword a little too big, and it ended up like that."

"A little?"

"A little."

Don't ask anything else. It was an embarrassing memory from my middle-school years.

I spun on my heel then and there. Out the back door of the gym was the outdoor ability training ground. It had once been used by hundreds of students, so it was fairly spacious. There was all sorts of equipment, most of it outdated — but outdated or not, it still worked. When I tapped at my terminal, a curtain of blue light rose along the edges of the field.

"It may not look like much, but it's still kicking."

Yena brushed the barrier with a fingertip.

"The condition isn't bad."

"Old things are dumb, but they're sturdy."

"Didn't you fix it up yourself, senior?"

"A little? In case someone wandered in and got hurt while training."

And it was a place my mother had attended, too. I didn't want to watch somewhere like that fall completely to ruin. So whenever money came in, I repaired things one by one. I couldn't afford to replace anything, so I just kept the old ones going however I could.

Yena looked around the grounds without a word.

"It's a good academy."

"...Where, exactly?"

I genuinely didn't understand. Looking at this, what could anyone possibly call good? She'd come here after attending a genuinely excellent academy.

"It's all run-down."

"Filled with affection, shall we say?"

"It's not that. It's just a waste. I bought the place, after all."

I answered curtly and walked ahead.

"Next."

We went around a few more spots after that. First, the club building: no students, currently usable as a warehouse. Next, the small auditorium: no students coming in, so usable as a warehouse. The student council room: no student council, so usable as a warehouse.

"Why is everything a warehouse?"

"Because there's nobody here?"

"You used an academy this big all by yourself?"

"Yeah."

Yena fell silent for a moment after hearing the reality of our academy. Then she asked something out of nowhere.

"Then where do you live, senior?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

I pointed past the athletic field without much thought. Through the trees behind the main building, an old structure was visible.

"I live in the dormitory."

Yena's gaze turned that way.

"There's a dormitory too?"

"There is. Until ten years ago, our academy was this close to cracking the top five. We've got everything. We just... have it, that's all."

"It's failed now, though."

"Anyway! There's a dormitory, and some of it's livable."

The building was so huge that maintaining the whole thing cost a fortune, so I only used one section. And in that one section, I was only using a single room.

"You live alone?"

"I was the only student. Who else was I supposed to live with."

What an obvious question. The shop was right next door, so I could go straight to bed after closing up. It was pretty convenient, in its own way.

"I see."

Yena nodded slowly.

"Then I'll be staying in the dormitory starting today as well!"

"What?"

I blinked, wondering if I'd heard that right. She was going to live where?

"Why?"

"Because I'm a student of this academy now too?"

"You have a house."

"I did."

"A really nice one, I bet?"

"Yes."

"So why do you want to live here?"

Yena tilted her head slightly, as if I'd asked her something strange. I was the one who wanted to be doing that right now.

"Well, because there's a dormitory here?"

"The dormitory's optional, not required. So commute."

"I don't want to."

"Why!"

"Oh, honestly. Obviously I'm moving in because you live here, senior. Please take care of me!"

"..."

She was so shamelessly straightforward I actually had nothing to say. Yena beamed at me — that exact irritating smile I'd seen at the shop. A very bad feeling settled in my stomach. This girl was a completely different person between day and night.

"And I've already given up my room, so I have nowhere else to go."

"...What?"

"I prepared last night, just in case."

"That's not how you use 'just in case.' Then if there hadn't been a dormitory, where were you planning to stay."

"I would have sponged off you, senior."

"Are you insane?"

It was a moment I sincerely wanted to expel her.

From far off at the academy's front gate came the rumble of engines. And then I saw them: three enormous moving trucks, rolling toward the dormitory. I stared, dumbfounded, at the frankly impressive spectacle.

"What is that?"

"That's my luggage."

"...Are you moving in?"

"Yes."

"To the dormitory?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"There's only the two of us using it anyway, isn't there? I could use a little more than one room. That's all right, isn't it?"

In complete contrast to her words, Yena bowed at the waist with perfect courtesy. Her ash-gray hair spilled softly forward. Faced with that kind of audacity, I couldn't even find my words. Whatever I said, she was going to do it anyway. If I truly put my foot down she probably wouldn't — but the problem was I didn't really have a reason to.

"I look forward to your care, Senior Yuna."

"..."

I slowly raised my head and looked at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sky. Nice weather. Not a cloud in sight. Perfectly peaceful. So why was I this miserable?

My peace was about to be smashed to pieces by three moving trucks.

"...No."

"They're already here, so I'm afraid there's no going back."

"Send them back."

"I refuse."

"Lee Yena!"

"Yes, senior."

Yena smiled so brightly it would have lifted anyone's mood just looking at her. The way she answered so readily, she seemed less like a wolf and more like a big retriever. So why did I feel so awful?

Looking at her, I became certain. The sin of taking her in was far too great.