Giggles and Squeals
Ian is... well...
The physical exam. Sugar had no idea how they ran those at this school.
One way or another, it was bound to be a rough time for a girl dressed as a boy.
...It's all right. I have something in mind.
When Sugar had glanced over with that worry written all over her face, Ian had answered with a faintly anxious smile.
And then the next day arrived.
It was a sudden physical, but with a whole day of classes wiped off the board, not a single student complained. Even the students of a prestigious academy still wanted to play when they got the chance.
"We're losing a day of vacation for this. Tch."
"People always gravitate toward the happiness right in front of them..."
Ryly and Sugar sat on a bench, trading remarks as they skimmed the notice. It was a rundown of how the physical exam would proceed.
Order: third-years first, first-years last.
Boys and girls will be examined separately.
The exam will be conducted via magic; no special preparation is required.
However, students will be asked to remove their upper garments.
"We're screwed."
"Totally screwed."
Neither of them named a subject, but they both knew exactly what the other meant.
"Stripping from the waist up. Well, this is..."
Even as Sugar fretted over Ian, her eyes drifted down Ryly's chest.
Hmm. Hmm-hmm. Heheh. Hmm.
"You perv."
"You were checking mine out too..."
Sugar gave her modest chest a little squeeze. Looking was allowed, after all. She might grumble, but she didn't actually mind.
Ryly ignored that and kept reading the notice.
"Hey. So what's Ian going to do?"
"Don't you already know?"
"You tell me. From what I gathered, she's not doing it on the boys' side."
"What?"
No. If she wasn't going with the boys, then where exactly was she going?
She's not about to do some big gender-reveal surprise in front of the whole school...
Questions and a flicker of dread settled over them as they headed for their respective buildings.
Stille had two infirmaries, one on the north side of the main building and one in the east wing. Sugar had heard there were more, but those were the only two actually in use.
Boys used the north side of the main building; girls used the east wing.
I don't come to the east wing much.
She looked around as she headed for the building and spotted a long line of girls stretching down the hallway. The badges on their cloaks said second-years. Not the first-years' turn yet, then.
"Oh..."
A little gasp of admiration slipped out as she looked over the second-years. She'd spotted a familiar face.
Number two on pre-reincarnation Sugar's smear list.
Hair like a living flame. Sharp, upturned eyes that advertised a temper. Lips pressed into a prim little line. A bit taller than Sugar.
And a chest like a wide, rolling prairie...
...Huh?
What in the— come again? That couldn't be right.
This was not supposed to happen.
There's... a curve...?
One look at her features and you knew she was a redhead straight out of the classic mold.
The main smear campaign Sugar had run against her had leaned hard on that pancake-flat chest — the usual gags you pulled on a flat-chested character. She's actually a guy. She's a washboard. That sort of thing.
Sugar stared for a long time, until their eyes met.
When Sugar flashed a goofy grin, the redhead — Asta — looked back at her with a face that said, What is that thing?
Originally she was the type to pick at Leon out of a mix of curiosity and inferiority. Maybe she just wasn't interested in the Leon who was keeping his head down here. They were in different years besides, so they barely ever crossed paths.
Anyway. No harm in making friends. Come to think of it, Sugar hadn't made a single female friend since coming to Stille.
She was always hanging around with guys — including one guy who was actually a girl — and that crossdressing girl's presence was so enormous that the four of them had been dubbed "the Chunja and His Retainers."
It might have been different at the start of the term, but by now a kind of wall had gone up, and other students didn't approach them. If you spoke first they'd answer just fine, but they never came to you. That kind of feeling.
So Sugar winked. See you around. Let's be friends. That was the sentiment she packed into it.
What she got back was ice-cold indifference. Ah. How sad.
I wanted to enjoy a giggle-and-squeal life with other girls too...
Sometimes you just wanted to be wrapped up in perfume and that soft, feminine air. Being with Ryly was the best, of course, but it was... clingy. Sometimes so thick and sticky it made her head spin. Sometimes she needed to come up for air.
Back in the Holy City she'd done the giggle-and-squeal thing with Ian. That fresh floral scent Ian gave off. The softness you could only get from a girl. That enormous, satisfying-just-to-look-at...
Enormous...
Enormous...
"...Huh?"
Sugar had been wandering a quiet stretch of hallway, lost in memories of her Holy City days, when she reached the tail of the line and the corridor naturally fell silent.
That was where she ran into a familiar silhouette.
A girl with the hood of her cloak pulled up. Even the glimpse of her lower face was enough to tell you she was a beauty.
Her hair was all gathered and tied back, so you couldn't make out the color. Not that it mattered. Because what jumped out below that was a chest threatening to burst right out of her dress shirt.
Sugar drifted toward her in a daze.
"...Anne?"
"You should probably drop the honorific."
Ah. That dewy voice. She usually kept it pitched low, but when they slept in the same bed or were alone in the bath, she'd speak in her real one. A thin, sweet tone that felt just a shade more mature than Sugar's.
Sugar threw her whole body at her.
Calling Ian by her alias, she buried her face in that chest. The mystery of the Holy City, waiting to be unearthed. A treasure. A holy relic. The original form, unsealed, was far too satisfying. Mmm. Floral scent.
"W-what on earth is going on?"
"Let's move somewhere else first."
Sugar and Ian headed for a secluded spot outside the building.
"When I enrolled at Stille, there were a number of contracts going back and forth. One of them was hiring a few people from the Holy City to work here."
"So there are people besides us who know the truth?"
"That's right. One of them works in the infirmary, and I arranged to have her do my exam. She happens to work at the east wing infirmary. I'll be getting checked on the girls' side too."
She couldn't exactly strip from the waist up in a crowd of boys, after all... She said it with a bitter smile.
From the sound of it, this was a precaution — just in case, heaven forbid, Ian ever got badly hurt and they had to strip her for emergency treatment.
"I was worried about my mana pattern too, but as long as I don't make it obvious... I guess it's fine up to that point. They've taken some kind of measures."
"That's a relief."
Sugar nodded, her face still buried in Ian's chest.
"Sugar... I mean, really. Diving face-first like that..."
"I missed this, okay? Do you have any idea how comforting this is? But... something feels different. You know. I'm only asking just in case..."
Even as she nuzzled, she tilted her head.
She couldn't feel the thick texture of an undergarment. There was a layer of something, but it was much thinner.
"Are you... not wearing anything underneath...?"
"..."
Saint have mercy!
Your descendant is a pervert parading around school with no bra—
"I-it's not like I'm wearing nothing! Bandages... I wrapped them lightly with bandages..."
Ian hurriedly covered her chest with both hands.
"It's just... I was going to put the bandages back on right after the exam anyway, and carrying underwear around is a hassle. I didn't want it identified if I left it in my bag... so I kept it simple..."
The young lady wore nothing but bandages on a regular basis anyway. Sugar could understand that well enough.
But why did it feel so indecent?
Because normally the bandages were for pressing her chest down and hiding it, but right now they were standing in for underwear? Because the idea of replacing a bra with a single scrap of cloth sat wrong with her?
Sugar rubbed her chin and let out a groan.
"But couldn't you have just covered your face and left the bandages as they were? Swap the pants for a skirt or something... That alone and nobody would think twice about you standing in the girls' line."
"I just wanted to walk around comfortably for once..."
Fair enough. These days she was in a double room, so she had to keep them on even in her own space. It had to be stifling.
"And... skirts are a little... embarrassing..."
Having worn nothing but pants her whole life, her sense of these things was a bit twisted.
This from the person who'd tried to make her wear one. Honestly.
Sugar found it absurd, but she decided to be understanding. The woman had a hard enough life. The least Sugar could do was get it.
They agreed to stand in separate lines. Even with Ian's face hidden and her chest on display, Sugar never normally hung around with other girls. Better to avoid any unnecessary suspicion.
Before long, it was Sugar's turn.
They went in five at a time, stripped, and got examined. Inside the infirmary were two female staff members. One swept a staff over each student, scanning them with magic, while the other checked their bodies by eye.
This is less a regular physical and more like they're checking whether there's something on your body...
Sugar slipped her suspenders off and untied her ribbon. She undid the buttons one by one, shrugged off her blouse, and folded it neatly in a corner.
"All right. Arms up."
One of the staff members came over and looked her over from various angles, Sugar in nothing but her bra up top. It was strangely embarrassing.
"When did you hurt your arm? Can I unwrap the bandage?"
"They filled in where the flesh tore off, so I was told not to unwrap it until it's fully healed."
"Good heavens! How did you get hurt like that? Let me just note that down... hm...? And this on your neck..."
"Ah, that's, um—"
"Put your arms down a second. Let me get a closer look."
Sugar swallowed. There were faintly mottled marks left on her neck. You wouldn't notice from a distance, but up close like this they were unmistakable.
"What? What's going on?"
"Miss, could you take a look at these marks?"
"Let me see."
The staff member who'd been checking another girl with her staff came over too.
"Ah. It's you. The Chunja's friend... Sugar, wasn't it?"
"...Hello."
This was probably the one from the Holy City. A middle-aged woman in glasses who looked rather severe. She felt oddly familiar.
The staff member examined Sugar's neck from every angle with a serious expression. From the left, from the right. She leaned in close, making thoughtful little hmm sounds as she studied it intently.
Sugar wanted to die.
Having two women far older than her inspect her hickeys was so mortifying she thought she might burst. Heat rushed to her head. She wanted to crawl into a hole right then and there.
"No bite marks that I can see... this is... just that. You know. That."
"Looks like it, doesn't it? That."
"Right. That's what it is. That."
The two of them nodded as they conferred.
"You're all set. Get dressed and wait until the other girls are done, then you can go."
"Yeees..."
"And you're a student. Best to conduct yourself modestly on campus."
Sugar silently hung her head and put her clothes back on.
This hadn't even happened at school.
Standing and waiting in front of the infirmary, Sugar watched Ian come out. Still with her face hidden under the cloak hood.
They exchanged a discreet greeting and walked apart. When Ian went into the girls' restroom, Sugar agreed to keep watch.
Embarrassing as it had been, at least both she and Ian seemed to have gotten through the exam in one piece. That was a relief.
But... bite marks, huh...
Sugar recalled the conversation from the infirmary, then shook her head at the memory of the marking exhibition that had followed. The second she found the guy who made that thing, she was going to headbutt him.
So much for being a gentleman.
The moment the thought crossed her mind, she felt mana. Looks like his exam was over too, and he was heading for the east wing. Probably coming to pick Sugar up.
Before long she spotted Ryly, with Leon a few steps behind him. Heheh. The second he got close, megaton headbutt incoming. Sugar hid her shame behind a wicked little smile.
She was settling into her stance with that plan in mind when she heard a sharp intake of breath behind her.
Ah, right. Ian.
Ryly was one thing, but she must have tensed up because of Leon. Better get her to the restroom first.
With that thought, Sugar glanced back.
And witnessed it.
Ian, for some reason, had gotten so nervous her feet tangled.
And Leon, startled, had lunged forward to catch her as she started to fall.
That much was fine. The problem was that Ian had been even more tense than expected.
In her panic, she grabbed whatever she could reach and pulled Leon into a tight hug.
And then a violent pair of breasts came crashing down on Leon.