73. Lonely
The dormitory was desolate.
Yesterday we had been bustling about in the annex, but here it was single rooms. We could choose single or double, and at the academy I had applied for a single room, thinking it would be more comfortable to live alone.
Each room had its own shower, the facilities were excellent. The beds were clean and soft. There was even a large bath in the basement. It felt like a hotel.
Yet every room had a device installed that measured internal mana flow in real time, so anyone other than the owner would trigger an immediate alarm the moment they entered.
For same-sex roommates, entry was allowed with permission from the dorm head. For opposite-sex, of course, it was strictly forbidden.
The dorm buildings were far apart from one another.
If a person of the opposite sex intruded, it would incur five hundred penalty points. Accumulating even around a hundred would send you straight to the student council, but five hundred meant expulsion.
Thinking about it, Sugar pulled the blanket over her face, feeling even lonelier.
Ryly was naturally assigned to the male dorm. Ian was too.
The fact that Ian was also far away hit like a truck. In the academy they had always been together. All night, playing, sleeping together, bathing together. Just seeing that overwhelming chest had been enough to overwhelm anyone.
But that was all in the past.
Anyway, since we had come to the annex each of us had used separate rooms, so it wasn’t a big deal. Sugar had even intruded into Ryly’s room several times, only to get caught and thrown out, but still.
Still, waking up or lying right before sleep with the people you loved was too warm, so not being able to do it left a bitter taste.
It was a pity.
Regret.
Really…
“…”
But you know. The one who had always clung to me was Ian. The one I had lived with all the time was Ianne.
Why did my mind keep drifting to the crossdressing Saintess instead of the other person? We had only lived together for a few days.
Maybe the distance had made it even more nostalgic.
The scene from yesterday had already been enough to make the night for Sugar dreary in so many ways.
***
“Umm…”
The next day.
Sugar recalled the scene she had seen in the exhibition hall yesterday.
No matter how you looked at it, Leon’s expression hadn’t been merely surprised. People had come over and smoothed it out, but
“Why did he make that expression?”
He should have looked more dumbfounded.
In the original prologue, the cutscene showed Leon just grabbing the staff, and the “Oing?” face was strangely funny and dazed. The community had synthesized it and mocked it everywhere.
But this was reality. Even if not exactly that, I had expected a similar surprised expression.
Why would he make an expression that was angry in some places and sad in others?
First, I recalled the facts I knew about Leon.
Only child of a single-parent household with just his mother. Even if a little poor, he had been loved and raised to be fundamentally righteous and diligent. The growth process had been completely ordinary. The mention itself had been nothing more than that.
It was a game that followed the orthodox story of an ordinary person becoming a hero by being chosen by the Saint’s staff.
Sugar looked at Ryly. While looking, she recalled the original Ryly.
After hiding the grimoire, Ryly had entered under a famous magician on the floating island and soared.
The most outstanding disciple among his disciples. The promising talent of the floating island. A new magician mage who received the expectations of many mages.
Steadily advancing toward being recognized by the world and the dream of having everything under his own feet, but unfortunately he had faced a wall at Stille.
To officially have his name on the floating island, he needed a magic school diploma, so he had entered the most prestigious one, Stille. There he had met Leon. Precisely, he had seen him being chosen by the Saint’s staff.
All expectations and interest had flowed to Leon. At first it had been a gaze mixed with suspicion, but soon, through various events, Leon had proved his diligence and righteousness. Eventually even students, professors, the president, and even Ryly’s mentor had acknowledged him.
In the midst of all this, Ryly had had no room to acknowledge Leon. Instead, jealousy, envy, and hatred had filled his heart.
Why hadn’t he chosen me, the best one?
Why did there exist those who casually had and casually obtained everything?
Ryly, born to people who couldn’t be called parents, had struggled from the bottom of the bottom.
Compared to him, Leon had grown up loved by his mother, chosen by the Saint’s staff, receiving all expectations and envy.
From there, all the twists had begun.
Ryly had sincerely wanted to kill Leon. At first it had been mere curiosity, but at some point he had been unable to hold back the murderous intent.
He wanted to give as much pain as possible and end it.
The direction of murder, which had been mandatory just to fill the grimoire, had changed.
Outwardly pretending to be a kind young man while hiding the grimoire’s mana. In the back, using the cult, breaking other students’ minds, taking the heroine as a hostage. Committing all sorts of bad things, but…
“…completely different person.”
Back to reality.
Sugar, as usual, sat on Ryly’s legs, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. When we had been in the annex we could see each other’s faces even at night, but now that we had entered the dorm, while releasing this loneliness she was thinking at the same time.
“Ryly. Yesterday we saw something amazing, right? How was your impression?”
“Seeing all sorts of things while living.”
“Is that the end? ‘I want to be chosen!’ or ‘How dare that guy!’ thoughts?”
“What are you saying… It’s unnecessary.”
“Sugar. Ryly. Public indecency penalty fifteen points.”
“Then, this is just asking. What kind of expression does a person chosen by the Saint’s staff usually make?”
“Surprised or dumbfounded, I guess. But wait, we’re getting penalties right now—”
“That’s right. But if the expression wasn’t just surprised, but angry or sad, what could be the reason?”
“No particular reason, or maybe he didn’t like it. But our penalties—”
“Why? Why don’t you like it?”
“I thought I wasn’t worthy of being chosen. Or I didn’t want to attract people’s attention. Or not being from the Saint sect. Various reasons.”
“Then—”
“Wait. Stop asking.”
“Why?”
Why? Why? Ryly was about to sigh and lift Sugar up.
“Eh…? What? You’re freshmen, right?”
At that moment a middle-aged male professor passed by and stopped when he saw the two.
“From the morning, what kind of mischief? What’s your name. Even as freshmen, I don’t give special treatment.”
“… I received a penalty earlier.”
Earlier the president’s secretary Mel had given it. So when Ryly answered, the professor clicked his tongue.
“What? You received it but are still doing that? Even more serious. Quickly say your name.”
Then Sugar, with a sorry expression, brushed her bangs up.
“Sigh… Professor. I didn’t want to say it, but even so, we’re from the academy. Friends of the Tianzi.”
“Hey! Don’t sell my name! Professor, hit the penalty as much as you want!”
They were openly affectionate on the bench by the open corridor. Suddenly Ian jumped up from somewhere.
So the two had gotten thirty penalty points each from the first day of admission.
It got steep.
“Haa…”
First the two got up from the bench.
Ryly grabbed his head. That sigh contained so much emotion that Sugar fidgeted with her fingers and broke out in cold sweat.
“Hey, Sugar.”
“Yes, yes.”
“We got thirty points in penalty in just a few minutes. Not three points, not ten points, thirty points. In this situation, what kind of words would I say?”
“… Let’s go to a secluded place without people and cling?”
Immediately grabbed the cheek.
“Are you crazy? The answer should be to keep distance. Is that normal? You’re really lewd Sugar? You’re going to follow the nickname?”
“Ueheue- haha…”
When Ryly let go, the cheek flesh bounced back.
“But… We were apart for a long time… If we keep distance, it’s lonely…”
“Me too-, haa… Think about it. Both of us are adults now. Grown-ups. But if we cling like this openly… the gazes around. Reputation will drop.”
Ryly spoke seriously.
Ian, who had been close from the academy, even though her words were like that, understood us quite well, but others weren’t like that. Just a lewd couple that made eyebrows frown. They’d hear all sorts of curses. And since Sugar was a woman, it might affect her honor even worse.
Of course, the biggest problem was the penalty. We had just entered, and the student council was holding a meeting? Worst case, expulsion. But did we really need to cross dangerous lines.
It had been good that it was like this. Recently it had been hard because I kept sticking my body, breasts and thighs all soft, damn it. What if I kept rubbing the soft things? It reacted. Fortunately I had learned the temporary blood flow manipulation using internal mana.
Anyway. Whether knowing or not, it was a problem. Since we couldn’t deal with it before graduation, we had been holding back.
With that in mind, when I opened my mouth, Sugar’s pupils widened.
Startled, shocked face.
Immediately she twisted her body, went to the bench and plopped down.
“Reputation… reputation…”
Sugar, who didn’t care about the surrounding gazes, didn’t care about her reputation.
Rather, she thought Ryly was looking at the eyes of the surrounding ‘women’. Right. If I’m attached to you, I won’t have a girlfriend.
You became an adult too. Yeah, right. You want to meet women. Outside, you couldn’t meet women because of training, but now that school had come, you should enjoy free campus life.
Looking up at Ryly, he really had grown well. Really grown up. Even from the previous life’s perspective, it was a face that could be described as ‘damn, he’s handsome.’
With this, there was no way he’d stay by my side forever. I had to go around making other women cry.
Since he was a kind friend, I’d keep the promise to ‘Let’s go to Stille together’, ‘I’ll protect you’, but that was the end. I couldn’t interfere beyond that.
“Yeah… right…”
“What? Why are you so disappointed. It’s just to avoid physical contact. We’ll listen to classes, eat, and walk around together. What’s the problem…”
But those words didn’t seem to sink in for Sugar.
“… As you wish… As you want… I’ll keep distance…”
“Did you hear my words properly? First, we’ll do it like that at Stille, and during vacation—”
“I don’t need a wish coupon… This much is… ugh… But I’ll only make one girlfriend… Wind is not good…”
What? Nonsense like hitting the head. Ryly watched the bewildered appearance, Sugar staggered out of the way.
“Hey. Sugar. Wait. As I said before, what is a girlfriend—”
“Yeah. It’s okay. I’ll cheer for you, Ryly.”
“Listen to my words. I won’t make such things. It’s unnecessary.”
“Yeah, yeah… I understand…”
By the time he saw the back of Sugar disappearing far away, Ryly covered his eyes.
***
Herbology lecture room.
Ian had a troubled expression.
After all, one of her friends had her head on the desk, and the other was frowning with a sigh. They were sitting side by side, but it didn’t seem like they were getting along well.
Usually she would sit on the legs and stick closely, but today why was this. Before the lecture started, she had been like this, and after it ended too.
“… Why are you like this? Maybe because of the penalty?”
Recalling what had happened yesterday. Feeling guilty as if it was her fault, Ian asked slightly.
“No. Even if it wasn’t Ian-nim, it should have been like this someday.”
“Eh…”
Looking at Sugar, it didn’t seem like that at all. The way she was blankly kneading the unknown herbs was strange.
Honestly, it gave me the creeps.
“Sugar. Sugar. First, the lecture is over. Let’s go.”
When grabbing the wrist, she was pulled out helplessly. In this state, would the surrounding voices be heard? Still, since it was the first lecture, no real class, so it was fortunate.
“Hey… Come to your senses. Shall we go eat something?”
“Ah. Ian-nim.”
Finally Sugar showed reaction.
“Ian-nim. Wow. Ah. This is not the time. I have to go. I have to check. My feelings.”
But suddenly she rambled with weird words and left the lecture room with a “shing—” sound.
“Sugar!”
Ian chased after her. Ryly also got up from his seat and tidied up the area. I guess I had to follow.
“Where did you put your mind…”
Tidying up his own things, and seeing that the books and stationery that Sugar had been sitting on were still there, he picked them up too.
And as he was about to leave the lecture room.
Three female students blocked Ryly’s front.
“Um… Could you tell us your name?”
“… Why the name.”
Slightly frowning, he asked, and all three giggled.
“Because we want to know.”
“Are you close with the Tianzi?”
“With the woman who was sitting next to you? What kind of relationship?”
The coquettish voice was creepy with obvious intent.
Not the time for this. Ryly sighed and was about to say busy and leave.
At that moment, Sugar peeked her face out from the lecture room door and their eyes met.
Was she coming back because of the luggage? Anyway. Her pupils were very round and clear.
Sugar, who always showed rich emotions whether smiling or crying, was expressionless now. Without blinking once, just staring deeply. No movement in her lips, and whether she was even breathing was doubtful.
Like colorless.
So Sugar stared at Ryly surrounded by women for a long time, then suddenly hid her figure.
Cold sweat ran down Ryly’s back.