Have You All Gone Mad?
Ending (21)
A familiar face has come to the Academy.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would meet the childhood friend I parted from ten years ago.
There had been no word in all that time.
I did not even know if she was alive or dead.
The moment Veronica laid eyes on Laward, she recognized him and threw herself into his arms.
Joy and regret wash over me at once.
After ten long years, the time we can spend together is only a few scant months.
Can I truly stay connected to Veronica while conquering the other beautiful girls?
Perhaps this is the moment to go all-in.
Laward rests a large hand on the back of Veronica’s head and says…
Skip.
I closed it there. I had seen a similar scene just a little while ago.
The outcome seemed completely different, though.
That was probably why the ending got locked.
Not only had I locked Ending 21, I had also pocketed a modest fifty coins.
Endings remaining until Stage 3 Privilege Unlock: 1
Only one left now.
Come to think of it, I would need to gather more coins and upgrade the Favorability Scouter further.
The next upgrade lets me check the correct dialogue options.
That would be useful in all sorts of ways.
It would be almost like reading the other person’s heart.
While Laward and the heroines were shattering walls and surpassing their limits to grow stronger, I was growing through dating-sim powers. The irony was almost too much…
Ah.
Speaking of growth reminded me.
“Lucia. After school today. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”
“Mm… huh?”
“We agreed to do it. Don’t tell me you forgot.”
“Ah, that? I already stole the key to the PE equipment shed, just in case. The one that mysteriously locks the second it closes and can only be opened from the outside.”
“That plot feels weirdly familiar, like I’ve seen it somewhere, but I never said a word about any PE shed. And put the key back.”
“We’re not using it? That blue mattress in there?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“We’re not going? To a room we can’t leave?”
“I feel like the first half of this conversation got cut off, but we were supposed to do a mid-term check before the athletic meet. Stop changing the subject.”
“Ah—”
Lucia’s small shoulders slumped.
“Got it. The mid-term check.”
“Finally back on track…”
“We were going to face Karma-nim, right? Three-on-one.”
“Glad you remember. After school, Training Ground B. Don’t mix it up.”
“Lucia, Rebecca, and Laward?”
“No. Not Laward.”
Laward was in closed-door training, after all.
“Then who’s the third?”
“Right over there.”
I pointed at the ash-haired third-year still frozen in the middle of the field—Veronica.
“Hmm—”
“What is it?”
“Nothing. Just… Karma-nim never runs out of girls. That news earlier might turn out to be bad news.”
“You do know that at the Academy I’m a sponsor, right?”
“Mm. I think I’ll hang onto the shed key after all. A sense of crisis, you know? Lucia needs a secret weapon of her own.”
“And here I thought you’d finally stopped joking.”
“This time I’m serious. Barely.”
“……”
“……But don’t take it too hard. I’ll get hurt.”
“Anyway, the PE shed—no. The training ground.”
“Yeees. See you later.”
Lucia waved her hand in a shooing motion, as if telling me to be on my way.
Leaving things like that felt vaguely unsettling, but I brushed it off and headed toward Veronica.
“Veronica.”
“Hyaaak!”
The second I called her name, Veronica leapt half a foot into the air.
This was starting to feel like déjà vu.
“W-What—you! What are you doing here…?”
“I didn’t see a thing, so relax. We’re doing a skill test slash mid-term check before the athletic meet. You’re coming too.”
“You saw everything…! My marriage prospects are toast, seriously…”
“No. Strictly speaking it’s the opposite. At least one person seems to have already crossed the river of no return.”
“Sh-Shut up. But… a mid-term check? Wait, before that—what does any of this have to do with you? Who even let you in here?”
“Just listen. We’re testing the students who’ll compete in the sparring events at the athletic meet. The meet’s coming up soon, and the results decide who gets to enter the Dowon Festival.”
“Well… I don’t know the other students’ levels… so that doesn’t sound bad. So how does it work?”
“I’ll be your opponent.”
“Ah—is that so?”
The corner of Veronica’s mouth curled into a grin.
“I have no idea what’s going on… but you’re going to face us?”
“You heard right.”
“Fine. I’m in.”
She nodded without hesitation.
“I’ve got something to pay you back for anyway.”
“What the… what is this…?”
Kang! Kagagak!
Sparks flew as Daywin deflected the sword Lucia swung at him.
“Why is he this strong…?”
By the time Veronica came back to her senses, she had already been sent flying out of bounds.
She forced her bruised body up and dusted off her knees.
“I was going to pay him back for what happened at the shop…”
While Daywin was batting Lucia away, Rebecca dove in.
She aimed for his blind spot and tried to slip through the opening—
Kwang!
One of Daywin’s spirits filled the gap.
“Tch…!”
The moment Rebecca clicked her tongue, Daywin kicked her.
Kwakwakwa—
She skidded across the floor and tumbled down beside Veronica.
But she was back on her feet almost immediately and charging again.
As if this sort of thing was nothing new.
“What are you doing?! Hurry up!”
She tossed the remark at Veronica and left her behind.
“Huh? Uh, uh…”
She’d just been scolded by a junior she’d never met before.
More than anger, Veronica still felt pure confusion.
Kagagak!
Even so, the clash of steel rang out without pause.
Daywin had four spirits out in total right now.
Karma is using spirits… and glowing ones at that…
The fact that Karma was even at the school had been hard enough to swallow, but that was when the real chaos began.
He transfers one of them into his sword to stop Lucia.
So spirits could be used like that.
Learning something new as a fellow spiritist was both enlightening and a blow to her pride.
Two of them are blocking that junior’s sword…
They seemed to intercept automatically without him even giving orders.
That left him freer to deal with Lucia’s blade work himself.
What kind of spirits are they? Completely different from mine… wait. Where’s the last one…?
“Focus.”
That last one was already right on top of Veronica.
Peobeong!
The instant she noticed and threw herself aside, the spirit smashed the spot where she had been standing.
She shielded herself from the shattered fragments of the training-ground floor with her hands and lifted her head.
She was rolling across the ground again.
She had just struggled to her feet a moment ago, and now once more.
Again and again.
“Veronica. Are you just going to keep running?”
“Ugh…”
The taunt got her back on her feet in a flash.
“I’m not losing to you again…!”
Ting—!
She flicked a silver coin into the air with her thumb.
It spun with a bright ring, then—
Something snapped it up with a gulping sound, and the coin vanished.
In that same instant—
Peoeong!
An explosion the size of a single silver coin engulfed Daywin, but he simply shifted one of the spirits that had been facing Rebecca into the blast and canceled it out.
“…That’s not fair.”
Some of us have to spend actual money to make something that big explode…!
Gritting her teeth, Veronica clenched her fist and dug through her coin purse again.
If silver wasn’t enough, then something bigger.
A gold coin, or an even more expensive gem if she had to.
“Nice one, senpai!”
Rebecca, on the other hand, looked delighted that the two spirits she was fighting had dropped to one.
Her joy lasted only a second.
Peoeok!
His kick slammed into her again.
“Kh!”
She managed to block it, but the force still drove her backward, making her earring swing wildly.
“Ah, seriously…!”
Rebecca scrunched up her pretty face and twitched the fingers of her free hand.
“I told you that’s not allowed.”
At his words she quietly gripped her sword again.
What the hell is going on…?
The owner of the red-light district was strolling around the Academy in broad daylight, casually training students.
Too much had changed in the year she had been gone.
It felt as though not just the Academy but the entire world was lying to her.
When the chaotic training finally ended—
“Haaah.”
The three who had faced Daywin sat in a limp row, completely drained.
“Lucia, what is going on?”
Veronica asked between breaths.
“Lucia feels like she’s dying…”
“Don’t die and answer me. Does this kind of thing usually happen? At the Academy?”
“If it usually happened like this, Lucia would have died yesterday or the day before…?”
“No, I mean that guy… who even is he…?”
“You mean Karma-nim? Ah, I shouldn’t call him that. Please pretend you didn’t hear that, senpai. Cover your ears and go aaaah—”
Had she misheard?
Karma…-nim?
“He always helps us. Though he’s never gone this far before…”
“W-Wait a second. You mean you know who he is and still…?”
“Come on, Lucia-senpai. No matter how exhausted you are, you can’t mix up Master’s title! They’re not even similar!”
Master?
Title?
“Ah. Sorry about earlier. I’m…!”
Rebecca thrust her head forward and locked eyes with Veronica.
Her eyes sparkled. They were pretty eyes.
“I’m Rebecca, second-year!”
When she beamed, her beauty shone even brighter.
Even with sweat-damp gold hair stuck to her face.
Rebecca was the kind of beauty who would catch anyone’s eye, yet Veronica was seeing her for the first time.
A face that should have caused an uproar from the entrance ceremony onward.
“Veronica. Magic Department, third-year same as Lucia.”
“I know that much. You’re the one who rode a horse all the way into the auditorium at the entrance ceremony. Sideways, I heard?”
“Just how far has that rumor spread…?”
Incomprehensible things kept piling up.
“You were using a sword earlier, so you must be Lucia’s direct junior. Is that how you two know each other?”
“Nope. If anything, I’m your direct junior, Veronica-senpai. I’m in the Magic Department too.”
“……?”
“What’s wrong? And the reason Lucia-senpai and I know each other is because we’re both Master’s…”
“Why are you in the Magic Department…?”
Had she taken her eyes off the world for ten years instead of one?
“Ah, he’s here.”
Rebecca, who had been about to say something, suddenly stared past them.
From the direction she indicated, two men walked in.
Daywin and Laward, each carrying cold drinks in both hands.
I’m going insane. So they know each other like that too.
Arrows exploded across the relationship chart inside Veronica’s head.
She gave up trying to understand and simply hung her head.
Even if she had only missed a year, catching up on the material was far too overwhelming.
“Eunsanim, are you sure I don’t need to join?”
“Yeah. Someone mentioned needing a… secret weapon or something.”
That conversation made Veronica’s head snap back up.
Eunsanim.
He called him Eunsanim?
Lucia said Karma-nim.
Rebecca said Master.
And Laward even said Eunsanim.
Each of them used a different form of address, and not a single one made sense.
If Amelia—who at least called him by his family name—had been here, Veronica might have been able to untangle her questions, but by sheer coincidence she had gone to the Royal Capital.
He was the man who had inherited the title used for the owner of the red-light district since ages past.
So why…
“Everyone.”
The short word that left Veronica’s mouth made every head whip toward her.
“Have you all gone mad…?”