Who Gave You the Right to Rename Someone Else's Lover?
“Who? Laward…?”
“Yeah, him. The one you like.”
“Shh, shh! Senior, how can you just say it like that!”
“Is there anyone at this school who doesn’t know…?”
“There might be!”
“There might be, huh. That would make for a pretty miserable school life all on its own—”
“Not everyone can just get along with people the way you do, Senior… Wait, so you’re saying Laward stole your girlfriend?”
“Yeah. And not only did he steal her—he’s flaunting her around.”
“What are you even…”
Only after they had talked that far did Ester finally realize the “her” in question was a sword.
“…You scared me half to death.”
“Ugh, how did he even buy that thing? The scholarship… sure, it was a lot, but not enough to cover a sword like that!”
“I wouldn’t know… I have no idea how much Laward received from our sponsor. Wait—maybe the sponsor bought it for him himself?”
“That’s it!”
Clap—
Rebecca smacked her palms together.
“That must be it! Esty, is he always like that? The type who just hands out gifts without holding back—to you, to him, whoever?”
“Well, yes. I heard it was the sponsor who got Laward admitted by recommendation, and he was the one who made me realize my own talent. He’s an incredible person.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Why?”
“No reason. Just thinking I should try to get on his good side a little…”
“Senior, he isn’t the kind of person who buys things for you just because you’re pretty. That’s not what this sponsorship is. You’re pretty, sure, but… that would actually be completely inappropriate!”
Please don’t suddenly make this sound dark! Ester added silently to herself.
“Huh? What are you talking about? How would you even know something like that…?”
“…What? Th-that’s….”
“Anyway, don’t worry. I’ve got my own methods!”
“Those ‘methods of yours’ are exactly what I’m worried about…”
“Or are you trying to keep me in check right now?”
Rebecca grinned slyly at her.
“Keep you in check?”
“Huuung— Lately I just can’t figure you out.”
“W-what about me?”
“Back in the first semester, remember? You kept getting dumped by guys and crying in the dorms. Yeah, that’s right. I even seriously talked to the housemother about switching roommates—”
“D-did I…? I’m sorry…”
“No, no. Looking back, it was actually pretty fun. On the first day I thought this confident, bold underclassman roommate was kind of annoying, but still.”
“Ahh… I’m sorry about that too…”
“You’re not like that anymore, and watching you was entertaining in its own way—”
Rebecca shifted her tone.
“But these days you never talk about that Laward guy. You used to bring him up so much I even memorized the name.”
“Most people can memorize three syllables after hearing them once or twice.”
“Look at you dodging the question—scary—!”
“I’m not dodging…”
“You’re flustered, aren’t you?”
“Huh…?”
At that reaction, Rebecca’s eyes curved as if she had just figured something out.
“How wicked of you, Esty. First love really is that easy to replace?”
“W-what are you talking about!”
“Nothing—nothing at all.”
Rebecca poked Ester in the arm and started walking.
“We’ll talk about your love life later in the room. I’ve got something of my own to say first!”
“You’re not going to ask him outright, are you? Senior, w-wait just a second!”
“Wait? You know me better than that.”
Thud.
The end of Rebecca’s confident stride put her right in front of Laward.
“I don’t like that.”
Huh?
I tilted my head as I watched Rebecca stop in front of Laward.
Uuhh?
What is this?
No matter how I thought about it, there was no reason for Rebecca to confront Laward right now.
Their event didn’t start until the second semester of first year, and even then it was around the athletic festival preliminaries—so not yet.
I activated the Favorability Scouter.
Favorability between me and Rebecca was, of course, 0.
Neutral.
At least that hadn’t changed.
Then the ending.
I immediately checked the ending preview screen.
But that hadn’t changed either.
The Laward-Rebecca ending conditions were about the same level as the other heroines’, and so far zero conditions had been met or locked out.
So what the hell?
“That sword—did you buy it?”
Rebecca demanded, eyes sharp on Laward.
She had always had a sharp face, but because she was always smiling, you rarely noticed.
This was the first time she was deliberately using that impression to its fullest.
As expected, without the smile she looked terrifying.
Ah.
And now I understood.
I was the one who had created this whole mess….
It was all because of this sword….
What even is a swordsman, really?
Why do they all stake their lives on blades like this?
As someone who had bought a sword only to shatter it a few hours later, it was a world I simply could not understand.
“Who the hell are you….”
Before Laward could answer, I clamped a hand firmly on his shoulder.
“Laward. Can’t you see the color of the name tag? You use formal speech with seniors, adults, and people you’re meeting for the first time.”
This bastard’s been getting way too casual lately.
“I still have to teach you something this basic…”
“…I’m sorry.”
Laward scrubbed a dry hand over his face, then looked at Rebecca again.
“What is it?”
“I asked if you bought that sword.”
At her words, Laward tightened his grip on the blade.
“Holiday was a gift from my Eunsanim, who is right here.”
“Unbelievable. Who gave you the right to rename someone else’s lover and call her whatever you want?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
For a second I thought she meant me and that I’d finally been found out—but I had never renamed anyone.
Therefore I was a far more upright person than Laward.
“I can’t believe this.”
Laward shook his head.
Naturally. Calling a sword your lover had to sound completely insane to him.
“How is a sword my Eunsanim gifted me supposed to be your lover?”
…So the “lover” part didn’t even faze him?
They were talking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
It made me wonder if I was the weird one; there was simply no room for me to insert myself into a conversation between swordsmen.
Not that I wanted to.
“You must have begged him for it. You took one look at that sword and had to have it.”
“Do I look like a child to you? I wasn’t even expecting anything and Eunsanim bought it for me! That’s why I was twice as moved!”
“Is that true? Please tell me. This cocky underclassman didn’t beg for it, right?”
“Well, perfect timing, Rebecca. I’m refunding it anyway. Once the refund goes through, you can buy it and use it yourself.”
“Ah, really? Thank you! This friend of mine has been hoping I’d use her too!”
“Eunsanim, we already finished talking about that!”
“How is it finished? It’s finished when the money is back in the wallet. If I don’t get the refund today, the chance is gone for good.”
This whole situation was thoroughly unsettling.
It wasn’t just about the money—it was a favorability problem.
From the looks of it, Rebecca had come to dislike Laward over this.
Their proper story hadn’t even started, yet just from her expression it was already unfavorable.
This was a refreshingly new situation.
Until now I had always been the one actively disrupting the heroines’ relationships with the protagonist. This time the heroine had put distance between herself and him first.
Emotional distance.
About as far as Monday to Friday.
But I couldn’t simply celebrate, because this was also how romances sometimes began.
There were “love at first sight” romances, yes—but there were also the “so you’re that asshole from back then” variety.
I’d heard the modern trend was to jump straight into the physical and figure out the relationship later, but that was irrelevant.
I was already completely outside that trend, outside that era.
Anyway, if this was the latter type of situation, it left me deeply uneasy.
The more Laward-Rebecca went off-script, the less I could afford to let my guard down.
“Re-Rebecca Senior!”
Mid-thought, Ester’s voice pulled my head up.
At that clear call, Rebecca stopped mid-glare and walked over to where Ester had been standing a little ways off.
A moment later.
“Hey, first-year.”
Rebecca returned and addressed Laward.
“You’ve got field experience learning today, right? They’re looking for you. Hurry up. Even better if you leave the sword behind.”
It was a message Ester was relaying to Laward.
Why wasn’t Ester just saying it herself?
“She said if she told you directly, you’d get upset.”
What kind of fight was Ester even having with herself….
Giving up would be so much easier.
“Ah, Eunsanim. I’ll be going now. I’ll have to meet Commander Blash later.”
He stood, brushing off his clothes.
“And yesterday things were too hectic for me to mention it, but that Chris guy or whatever his name is—I’ll make sure he never acts cocky in front of Eunsanim again.”
I doubt it.
Right now you’d probably lose.
……Once the first-years left the Academy grounds, Rebecca also bowed her head to me and withdrew.
From her expression she clearly had something she wanted to say, but in the end she kept silent.
“Hmm, fewer students than I expected!”
Time passed and Blash arrived.
“You’ve come. Chris is nowhere in sight.”
“Chris is looking for a delivery boy.”
“Still…? Wouldn’t it be easier if the Church just used communication magic tools or something?”
“That won’t do. Security reasons.”
Ah, right.
Of course.
I’m well aware how stuck in the past you people are.
“The reason it looks like there aren’t many students is because all the first-years just left. They headed out on a field trip a little while ago.”
“Ah, the field experience learning, you mean.”
“A field trip.”
“That’s what field experience learning is, isn’t it?”
For someone who never even went to school, he sure knows the terminology.
“So, what business did you have at the Academy?”
“I no longer have any. Because of the field experience learning.”
“You had business with a first-year student?”
And of course it wasn’t Laward?
Then how exactly had the Houndry business spread as a rumor?
Had it become some grim urban legend circulating only in the underworld?
“Yes—someone Daywin knows well, in fact.”
“Me?”
“Ester. I hear she performed excellently at the Subjugation Festival while assisting you, Daywin.”
“Well now. I didn’t realize you even knew about that.”
“She isn’t Holy Knight material, but I wanted to introduce her to the Sisterhood. Maintaining good relations with the Sisterhood is also part of a commander’s duties.”
Coming from someone who had once been commander himself, the words carried a humbling weight.
I had never thought of things like that as duties.
Partly because I had been too busy just trying to survive back then.
“So I stopped by the Academy while I was at it.”
Either way, this was a perfect chance to push Ester into the Church.
If Ester entered the Church at this timing, managing the endings would become far easier.
The still-unlocked Ester endings were Route 3, Route 4, and Route 5.
Three left.
But if Ester left the Academy and joined the Church, all three endings would automatically lock.
Completely unromanceable.
There was a hard rule that Laward could never leave the Academy, but the heroines were different.
The best way to lock an ending was to physically separate them and simply let time pass.
“I would like to verify Ester’s abilities. Though of course we will have to wait until she returns.”
“Then why don’t we go as well?”
“To the field experience learning site…? Even if we go, we won’t be able to check Ester’s healing ability, will we?”
“Who knows.”
Come to think of it, had I mentioned it earlier?
That Laward’s sword would become non-refundable after today.
“Nothing changes if we just sit around, does it?”
It wasn’t a matter of the refund window.
With a receipt, you could return it within a week.
It was a condition problem.
Unopened second-hand versus opened.
In other words.
Today, Laward was going to use that sword.
“All right, everyone. Gather over here, please.”
The guide called out in a loud voice.
The first-year field experience learning site wasn’t far from the Academy at all.
In fact it was right next to the dorms, like a park practically attached to the campus.
The Academy Founder’s Memorial Hall.
“From here we will enter the tomb of the Academy’s founder. As I explained earlier, the founder was one of the heroes who fought in the war against the Necromancer a hundred years ago.”
The guide explained with enthusiasm, but the students only half-listened as they trudged after him.
What they had been expecting was not the grave of some old man who had died a century ago.
It was Academy tradition for vicious seniors to hide that fact and get the first-years hyped for a picnic, so every last one of them wore openly crestfallen faces.
A picnic that only frustrated the guide.
“I see.”
There was, however, exactly one exception: Laward alone listened attentively to every word.
It wasn’t that he found it particularly interesting either, but he had promised Daywin he would give his absolute best to the Academy curriculum.
Faithful to the regular course of study.
Thorough self-directed learning as well.
That was the rule he and Daywin had set.
“Yes. Before the war the founder amassed a great fortune, and after the war ended he founded the Academy in order to rebuild an environment where children could receive education. He devoted the rest of his life to the school. His final wish was to be buried near the school.”
“I see.”
“Before we move on to the place where the founder’s spear is kept, please stand here. Now, look—there’s a large coffin, right?”
The guide stepped into the memorial chamber housing the founder’s coffin, turned in a half-circle with his back to it, and struck a pose.
“There’s something a little unusual about this. For a wealthy man’s coffin, it has almost no ornamentation and isn’t particularly lavish. You can see the founder’s attitude toward life even here.”
“I see. Um, I have a question.”
Laward raised his hand with perfect honesty.
“Yes, what is it?”
“As you said, the coffin looks a little different. Is it originally like this?”
“Yes, rather shabby, isn’t it? Surprised?”
“No. That’s not what I mean.”
Laward slowly lowered the hand he had raised and pointed at the coffin.
“The coffin is open.”