Vulgar Lump of Meat
The next morning.
Squeeze—
“Um… Sponsor?”
Ester grabbed my sleeve out of nowhere.
Not even the wrist—just the sleeve.
“C-could you come with me for a moment?”
“Why are you….”
Squeeze—
Instead of answering, Ester tugged my sleeve a little harder.
It somehow reminded me of a puppy pestering its owner for a walk.
Led by her hand, I arrived at the old school building.
It had transformed so beautifully I had to wonder whether it was even the same place I knew.
“T-ta-da….”
Ester spread her arms and awkwardly unveiled the scene.
She kept talking after that, but honestly I didn’t hear a word.
Without realizing it, I was too busy drinking in the view of the old school building.
Flowers dancing on the breeze seized my gaze.
And not only the flowers.
Lush vines stretched out and gently filled every crack that had marred the structure.
Ester had breathed life back into a building on the verge of collapse.
Success.
With this, I had taken another step toward the hidden ending.
No—rather, the timing was even earlier than the hidden ending itself.
Great success.
To achieve this much on the first try was better than I had dared hope.
“……I did it.”
While I was lost in thought, Ester finished the proud little speech she had been giving all by herself.
I had only half-listened, but the gist seemed to be that she had only meant to revive a single flower—yet the entire flower field had come back to life.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“D-don’t get your hopes up too much….”
Of course I was looking forward to Ester, but what I really meant was the headmaster’s side of things.
Time to collect on our little wager.
008
I had learned last time that the old school building was clearly visible from the headmaster’s office.
Not that the headmaster seemed particularly fond of that fact.
“…It would appear Master Daywin can see the future.”
From here, the flower field Ester had revived was just as plain to see.
“I never imagined a student at the absolute bottom of the rankings would possess such ability….”
He spoke while gazing out the window.
“That’s only natural. It would be stranger if the headmaster knew every single student. Last time I was surprised you knew Laward so well.”
“…….”
Whether my words made him reflect on how blatantly he had favored Laward, he remained silent for a long while.
“Does Master Daywin believe the other students also possess talents like Ester’s?”
“You already know her name.”
“…I looked into it a little.”
What a transparent man.
The way he zeroed in like a bloodhound the moment he scented talent was exactly that.
“To answer your question first: yes. In my eyes, Laward and all five of the young women have more than enough talent.”
“Hmm… is that so. Even though one of them was suspended, no less.”
The headmaster moistened his dry lips with hot tea, then carefully continued.
“I apologize for last time.”
I met his unwavering gaze.
“I doubted Master Daywin’s judgment. From the moment you sent Laward to us, I should have trusted you completely….”
He trailed off with a bitter smile.
“It is shameless of me, but please take good care of the other students as well. The Academy will also support them with everything in our power.”
“Understood. Though I believe it is only natural for the Academy to support its own students.”
“Th…at’s right.”
“Then may I make one request now?”
“Ah, yes. I will keep my promise.”
“I understand there is a rule requiring students in the lowest academic ranks to take supplementary classes during vacation.”
Supplementary classes had been a major event even in the game.
Depending on how the vacation was spent, the heroines’ routes diverged.
“While the other students return home for the break, those subject to supplementary classes must remain in the dormitories and attend special lectures—or so I was told.”
Laward’s situation varied with the player’s choices, but his grades were usually high enough that he never stayed at the Academy during vacation.
Therefore, to trigger the “spend time with the heroine” events during the break, you could only choose heroines who had been exempted from supplementary classes.
If there was a heroine you wanted to grow closer to, you raised her grades to free her from the extra lessons.
That had been one of the game’s objectives.
But the fanatic Laward never grew close to any of the heroines, and never helped them.
As a result, every last one of them was locked into supplementary classes.
“That is correct. Through the special summer lectures we raise the students’ academic achievement and their drive to improve….”
“Please make every student I sponsor an exception.”
I intended to make maximum use of that vacation.
I could not simply let pass a stretch of time when I did not have to come to the Academy and the heroines were free.
Above all, Ester was essential for the Subjugation Festival.
“…Exceptions?”
“Yes. Please exempt them all. Amelia enjoys studying, so I will leave it to her choice, but I must insist on the remaining three.”
“But if exceptions are made, the other students and their guardians….”
“I believe you said you would keep your promise.”
“That is….”
He hung his head and pondered for a long while.
A moment later:
“If you must insist… I will find a way somehow.”
He nodded with clear reluctance.
“Good.”
“Ah, Master Daywin. I heard Laward plans to take advanced courses during the vacation—in the special lecture class for third-years about to graduate. Shall we send Laward home this summer as well?”
“What? No. Keep a thorough watch on that one so he cannot set foot anywhere except the Academy and the chapel. He has no home to return to anyway.”
“Uh, um… yes….”
The closing ceremony for vacation arrived.
Looking at the students lined up in neat rows in the grand hall, Daywin was reminded of days long past.
From the moment the principal’s tedious lecture began he wanted nothing more than to flee, yet as a sponsor he was scheduled to mount the podium and offer words of encouragement.
Daywin forced his expression into something presentable and endured the ceremony to the bitter end.
Along the way he exchanged greetings with the faculty; reuniting with a female teacher who happened to be exactly his type was at least some consolation.
Her name, he learned, was Grace.
Then, the moment Daywin stepped onto the podium with a distinctly reluctant face—
Why is Master here…?
Laward suffered shock after shock.
Appearing at the Academy without the slightest prior notice had been only the opening shot.
Seeing Daywin here at all was startling enough; when the man was introduced as the generous sponsor who had donated scholarships to the Academy, Laward’s mind went blank.
A sponsor… meaning there are other students he sponsors besides me….
Questions he wanted to ask Daywin piled up like a mountain.
And among them, one thought alone kept circling.
There are others besides me… others… students Master cherishes….
Laward had never once disobeyed Daywin’s words.
He had gladly accepted the glory of becoming a Holy Knight, reported his every action, and diligently submitted every assignment.
He had never doubted his goal of becoming the Goddess’s sword, nor had that goal ever wavered.
Though Laward himself did not notice, by the time he came back to himself he was clenching his fist so tightly the knuckles had gone white.
I am still… far from enough.
Laward drew a deep breath and nodded to himself.
Once the ceremony ends, I will go see Master.
Just wait a little longer.
Repeating those words, he waited only for the end of the ceremony.
For Laward, the closing ceremony stretched far longer than it did for anyone else.
With the principal’s summer water-safety reminders, the ceremony finally concluded.
At the same instant Laward set off after Daywin with quick strides.
“Master…!”
The moment he called out to Daywin’s back, Laward’s breath caught.
Daywin was not alone.
He was speaking with another student.
A neatly pressed uniform.
A first-year necktie.
A ribbon on the sleeve.
Slender silver hair.
A ponytail.
Knee-high socks wrapping her shins.
Vulgar lump of meat.
The girl who had annoyed him all semester long.
The girl who had openly flaunted her lust in this sacred place of learning.
Ester.
Without realizing it, Laward slipped behind a pillar.
Eavesdropping was a blasphemous act.
Yet the moment he realized that another student under Daywin’s sponsorship was Ester, he felt he would go mad if he did not hear every word.
Even if he had to scourge himself in repentance that very night, he had to know.
“Ester, do you have any plans for the vacation?”
“Plans? Um, first I have to study the magic book you gifted me….”
Magic book?
Laward’s head seemed to ring hollowly.
A magic book?
Had Master treated that girl so specially that he even gave her a magic book?
Surely… it could not be holy magic.
“Ah, and I have to take supplementary classes. Because… my grades aren’t very good, so it’s mandatory, I hear.”
“I see. Then come to Hasgard with me.”
“…What?”
…Huh?
Laward startled at exactly the same moment Ester did.
“I only asked about your schedule. Ester, go back to the dorm and pack. We’ll leave soon….”
Daywin took out his pocket watch and checked it casually.
“I’ll give you forty-five minutes.”
“W-what? N-no, no!”
Ester waved both hands in frantic denial, repeating herself in her panic.
“Wait a moment! I-I’m a supplementary education subject, so during vacation I have to stay stuck at the Academy!”
“You’re exempt. It was already agreed before the ceremony.”
“What…?”
“Forty-four minutes. Seems you don’t have much luggage.”
“B-but still! Still, if I have time during vacation I should go home too….”
“That’s also already settled. Since you received a scholarship far above your station, they said I may use you however I like.”
“D-did you even write letters to my parents?”
“Yes. They were cultured people. Asking questions is fine, but the time you have to pack keeps shrinking.”
“Then…! U-uum…! Why do I have to go…?”
“There’s a Subjugation Battle being held this year. A festival called the Subjugation Festival—and your power is absolutely necessary.”
“My power is absolutely necessary… you say.”
Ester hesitated, looking thoroughly flustered.
And then, just a little, her face reddened.
“Th-then I have no choice! It’s embarrassing, but! Since you say you need me…!”
Ester put on a light show of bravado, and the instant the words left her mouth she spun around and bolted for the dormitory.
Click.
Daywin snapped his pocket watch shut and watched her retreating figure.
And Laward, who had overheard every word from behind the pillar—
For the Subjugation Festival… Ester is necessary…. In the battle against monsters… not me… but Ester….
He repeated the same words over and over like a broken radio.
The reason Laward had pushed Ester away had simply been that her nickname—“Goddess”—rankled him.
But from this moment on, whatever nickname Ester carried no longer mattered.
Laward simply hated Ester with every fiber of his being.
SUMMER TIME!
Laward grew much closer to Ester over the course of the first semester.
Attending the Academy seemed to have brought him into contact with other beautiful girls as well, but Laward paid them little mind.
With the arrival of summer vacation, Laward received an invitation to Ester’s family home.
The sudden proposal startled him, yet it was still many times better than returning from the dormitory to the slums.
Laward had never liked vacations.
Fortunately, Ester’s parents welcomed him warmly.
Ester’s family home stood so near the sea one could almost say it touched the water.
Perhaps because she had once caused a great fire in the past.
Day and night: fire safety.
Keep fire close to water.
Every day Laward ate the warm meals Ester’s mother prepared.
He even tried fishing for the first time in his life, following Ester’s father.
Laward saw the ocean for the first time.
“D-does this outfit look strange…?”
Ester’s swimsuit, of course, was also a first for him.
He had never before seen her look purely embarrassed—she who always hid her true feelings behind sharp words.
Normally she would have said something like, “I-it’s not like I wore this for you to see, okay?!”
But the swimsuit truly did seem to mortify her.
Fishing, the ocean, and the swimsuit—
Everything was a first-time experience, yet the most precious first of all was the memory of thinking someone was lovely.
Laward spent an unforgettable summer.
But the world was destroyed.
Endings remaining until Stage 1 Privilege Unlock: 3
Huh….
Why is a message window popping up at a time like this….
The window that suddenly floated before my eyes displayed the ending script along with an illustration of Ester in a swimsuit.
Even knowing only I could see it, the image was so embarrassing I felt the urge to cover it somehow….
Ester’s Ending Number Two.
Locked.
Once again an ending had locked itself at the most unexpected moment.
Looking over the script, it was an event that could only be seen during the first-semester summer vacation.
This summer, by taking Ester to Hasgard, I had erased any chance for Laward and Ester to spend time together.
Naturally the ending locked as a result.
It was less a matter of changes in Laward’s or Ester’s feelings and more a simple problem of physical time—
“Master.”
The voice from behind me made me start.
That voice.
And that form of address.
“…Laward.”
There was only one person it could be.
I wiped the surprise from my face and turned around with deliberate calm.
Laward’s face, after so long, looked strangely resolute.
“Master, after enrolling at the Academy and maintaining the top rank, I believed I was doing well.”
Hmm.
What on earth is this kid suddenly talking about?
“But simply being first in this place is not enough. To become the Holy Knight Master desires… I am still.”
Laward thrust out a tightly clenched fist.
“I will grow even stronger!”
Huh?
Wait a second.
There’s something weird about this kid’s eyes.
“I will not stop training until Master is satisfied! I will surpass not only my seniors but the entire level of the Academy itself! Please watch over me!”
Well….
Do whatever you want….