58. Welcome to Kalon Academy (4)
58. Welcome to Kalon Academy (4)
"What's your problem with Yohan? You're a weird person!"
Millia grew angry on my behalf and aggressively devoured enough dessert for both of us. Was she cooling her rage with sugar? I wiped the food from my hair with the towel the waiter had brought. Ugh, it was sticky. I wanted to return to Dawn Hall and shower immediately.
At least I'd been wearing an outer layer over my shirt, so that was lucky. Otherwise I would've had to walk around in a shirt smeared with every kind of sauce. Though I'd still have to stop by Dawn Hall either way.
"Let's eat and head back to Dawn Hall."
"Righ'... gotta go change!"
"Swallow what's in your mouth first, then talk."
I wasn't saying she could not talk during a meal, but she could at least swallow what was in her mouth first. At my remark, Millia nodded vigorously and gulped everything down.
She really could pack it away. That was already her fourth plate.
She seriously loved food. Well, even back when she was just a head her appetite had been something else. I drank the water I'd brought from the meal station and waited for Millia to finish eating. I'd originally planned to eat more myself, but the earlier incident had completely killed my appetite. Or maybe it was more that the sauce smell on my clothes made me queasy and put me off eating.
"Thank you for the meal."
"Millia. Right side of your lips."
"Right side?"
At my words, Millia wiped her mouth with a napkin. The opposite side, to be precise. Naturally, the sauce remained untouched.
"Other side."
"Oh, right."
She wiped it clean. Then it was time to return the plates. We rose from our seats, carried them to the return counter, and left them there.
It'd been an excellent meal.
Except for being showered with food out of nowhere.
...Did I really look that frightening?
"Millia."
"Huh? What?"
"Do I look scary?"
"...A little?"
When I stared at her after that answer, she was scratching her cheek and looking away. What was with that guilty face? I'd thought my face wasn't objectively ugly, though... was it not?
Had my brain just idealized my own face?
"But it's okay! Because I think you're a good person, Yohan!"
"...Ah, right. Thanks."
That reaction only made me feel worse.
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"You've had quite a day."
Reni sat by the window puffing on her pipe and snickered at my ridiculous state. Apparently, she found my getting pelted with food hilarious. After laughing for a while, she removed the pipe from her mouth and exhaled. A small cloud drifted through the room. Compared with cigarettes back on Earth, the smell was much milder, so it wasn't especially unpleasant.
"Ew, Reni stinks!"
...But it seemed harsh to Millia. Millia pinched her nose and made a show of fanning the smoke away with her hand. Looking sorry for her reaction, Reni tapped out the contents of her pipe into the ashtray.
"Oh, is that so..."
Once the source of the smoke was gone, the room cleared a little. Millia threw the window wide open and vigorously fanned the air, making the curtains flap. After nearly five minutes, the smell of smoke seemed to have faded by half.
"Now I can finally breathe!"
"Tsk. Gotta leave the window open when I smoke from now on."
Reni muttered to herself and looked at me. A faded memory flashed through my mind. I'd seen a similar scene before. In the original game, raising Karina's affection high enough also brought you closer to Reni, and after reaching a certain level, she'd act like this around you.
Though since Reni wasn't a heroine, it ended there.
"Yohan. There's something I want to ask."
"What is it?"
I glanced at Millia, who had become absorbed in the view outside, then returned my attention to Reni. At some point, she'd relaxed even further and sprawled across the sofa with her legs over one armrest. Her shapely legs, emphasized by the skin-tight trousers that had been one of her appeal points in the game, were openly on display as she asked,
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"...Who knows."
I hadn't yet settled on a definite path. As the Saintess's benefactor, I could probably remain here for quite some time, but I couldn't stay at Dawn Hall forever without a secure position. To Karina, I was a lifesaver and someone she knew. To everyone else at Kalon Academy, I was merely a man of unknown origin.
I'd already gotten a bizarre misunderstanding because of my face anyway, so wouldn't having a respectable job get me out of that kind of treatment?
"You could keep staying here as a guest... but you don't seem like the type to do that."
Her gaze clearly said there was no chance I would do that. She was right.
I had no intention of wasting time here.
If I wanted to survive, I'd have to keep moving. My goal was to reach at least the Good Ending. Things had already gone off the rails with Elina's death at the very beginning, but the Good Ending could theoretically be reached without romancing any heroine. Her death therefore should not have blocked the route itself.
The Status Window hadn't commented on Elina's death either, so the conditions for reaching this so-called True Ending might not have differed much from those of the Good Ending. There would certainly be a few additional requirements, though.
"I'm planning to find a job first."
"Want me to introduce you to the Artisan's Guild or something? I think someone like you could pass easily—"
"No."
If all I wanted was purely to make a living, that wouldn't be a bad suggestion, but thinking about the story of Survival Academy that I vaguely remembered, I needed a job that would let me operate inside the academy. Preferably a job that would allow me in and out of the academy without issue.
But was there even such a job?
No matter how much I thought about it, I wasn't sure a job that made that possible existed.
"Then what are you going to do? Do you have something in mind?"
"Is there a way I can work inside Kalon Academy?"
"Hmm, if you want to, there are plenty of ways. What, you want to work here?"
"If possible, I'd like to."
It was time for me to mooch off my connections too. To put it bluntly, I had fed them on the island, given them somewhere to sleep, and even helped them escape.
Reni, who'd been looking at me for a while, smirked and turned her head to gaze at the ceiling.
"A job where you can work inside the academy, huh... I'll look into it. With the incident that happened recently, they'll be a bit short-handed, so it shouldn't be hard to find something."
"Reni-Reni, what about me?"
At Millia's sudden question—she had at some point sat down on the sofa and was quietly listening to our conversation—Reni scratched her chin and asked back.
"You? What do you want to do?"
"I want to attend the academy!"
Reni and I looked at Millia at the same time. An unmistakable yearning shone in her eyes. We'd entered the academy in such a rush that she had barely gotten to look around, so what had inspired this? Millia worked her lips for a moment, hesitated, then spoke again.
"I want to study, I want to make friends, I want to go to school with Karina..."
I looked at Reni as Millia listed her wishes one by one like a girl full of dreams. Reni seemed to have had the same thought and gave me a wry smile.
If possible, I wanted to make it happen.
Reni probably felt the same. We knew Millia's past, and her desire to attend the academy was likely a wish she'd carried throughout that painful life.
But even if we did get her into the academy, practical problems remained.
"Reni, how much is the enrollment fee?"
"...It's expensive. I don't have enough to pay it myself, and I can't ask Karina to cover it either."
Karina didn't seem to have much money either. More accurately, she probably had no reason to carry money. The Saintess could attend Kalon Academy for free, and aside from a modest living allowance, she had no real source of income. I also doubted that allowance would be enough to cover the academy's tuition.
...Which meant I'd have to drum up the money from somewhere.
Another headache. Even so, I wanted to make it happen. Looking at Millia's dejected expression after hearing Reni's answer, I said,
"Don't be too disappointed. We'll find a way if we look."
It was a slightly irresponsible thing to say, but I didn't want to see that dejected look on Millia's face. Millia, having apparently gathered her emotions, opened her mouth with a still slightly sad face.
"No, I was probably just being too spoiled. I'm fine as things are."
Hearing her say that kind of made me feel guilty.
Was there truly no way?
Something like a scholarship program?
Ah, that probably would not work. A scholarship required either excellent grades or some special qualification. Millia had neither, and like me, she didn't even possess a proper identity. Reni's guarantee had gotten us inside the academy, but without anything else, we were perfectly positioned to become unwanted burdens.
Then was there another way?
I'd sold off all the jewels and such.
And I didn't have anything else worth selling.
Some good way...
A good way...
Ah.
If it was the same as the game, there was something worth trying.
After organizing my thoughts, I immediately told Reni my idea.
"Reni, I have a good idea."