This Can't Go On

Leon sat in the lecture hall, turning yesterday's events over and over in his mind.

It had happened around the time Sugar and Ryly were off spending time together in the forest.

Here. Ah...

—Aaaaaaah—!

At the cookie thrust before his eyes, at the sight of his roommate with his hair falling loose, Leon had kept his face carefully blank — but inside, he had screamed with everything he had.

It had all started when Ian brought snacks back to their dorm room.

I baked some cookies. Want to try some? At that question, Leon had thought, How domestic of you... and readily agreed.

I-it might taste weird, since it's my first try... she'd said, all shy about it, and something strange had stirred in his chest. Still, he'd told her it was fine.

And they actually were fine. A little lopsided, maybe, but delicious.

When he said as much, Ian had beamed at him so brightly that his heart did something odd — but that was fine too. He'd told himself it was nothing more than the warmth of that kindness rubbing off on him.

Ah, you've got crumbs on your mouth... hold still.

That was where the trouble began.

The Chunja himself had personally wiped Leon's mouth with his own handkerchief — which smelled wonderful — offering to clean the crumbs away.

And after that, for reasons Leon could not begin to fathom, he had started feeding him by hand.

Ian... I can eat by myself. I'm not a child.

Ah, sorry. Was that too much? I feed Sugar like this sometimes, so...

...

Agape. This was agape.

Absolute, selfless love. That was what Leon told himself as he squeezed his eyes shut and opened his mouth.

Ian had chuckled, pleased as anything, and slipped a cookie inside.

And now, back in the present.

This can't go on!

It was dangerous.

Far, far too dangerous.

Set beside his own weak, narrow, inadequate self, the Chunja possessed a love so vast it threatened to crush him flat. He ought to have been able to simply accept it as it was — instead, he felt as though he were wrapping his own hands around his own throat.

What could he possibly accomplish with willpower this pathetic?

Was his heart so cramped that even the smallest measure of affection couldn't fit inside?

Leon thought back to his childhood. Those happy days. His mother, still in her "proper" form. A perfectly ordinary boy named Leon, who knew nothing and carried nothing on his shoulders.

Then he shook his head. Happy memories always dragged that day's recollection along behind them.

Ever since that day, everything had felt broken. His heart, his mind — twisted out of true, unable to receive kindness as kindness, capable of nothing but ugly thoughts.

I understand that feeling, at least. I, the Chunja, who holds an extraordinarily high position in the Holy City — I understand you. So cheer up.

There was no one more gracious. How could the descendant of the Saint say such things to someone who had grumbled that he didn't even want the Holy Staff?

And yet, this strange feeling that kept rising whenever he thought of that person...

"Ahh..."

He sighed — then, on impulse, turned his head.

Sugar and Ryly came into view, each of them chewing away. They were holding cookie bags wrapped in pink ribbons — Leon's had been a purple ribbon — and munching contentedly.

Among them, Sugar's particularly miserable expression stood out.

Sugar entered the lecture hall, turning yesterday's events over and over in her mind.

It had happened around the time Ian and Leon were spending last night together in their dorm room... well, something along those lines, anyway.

Sugar, who had been starving for Ryly's touch.

This can't go on!

It was dangerous.

Even as she denied she could possibly be like that, the self-loathing crept in. What was this, seriously. She'd never thought that... but if she had, she'd be Sugar the Degenerate.

It wasn't right. Wanting her precious childhood friend Ryly to put his hands on her? Unthinkable.

She'd decided to take the teasing as teasing, to accept it with open arms. She wasn't some kind of, of, of, of pervert.

Ahh...

She sighed inwardly — then, on impulse, looked straight ahead.

Leon came into view, clutching his head in both hands.

In that instant, their eyes met.

And the moment they met, they understood.

You too!

You as well!

The torment of wondering: was this friendship going to be all right?

Sugar thought:

The poor thing. He's fallen so deep into Ian's charms he can't climb back out... but he thinks Ian is a guy, doesn't he? Honestly, that's kind of creepy.

Leon thought:

Does that person even have anything to agonize over? Doesn't she just dump her desires all over Ryly without any filter? Isn't she a total pervert?

Be that as it may.

Two people who both thought this can't go on had found each other. The way they quietly tore each other down while each secretly believing themselves the superior one was almost poignant.

"We need a plan..."

"What kind of plan?"

Sugar and Leon were sitting on separate benches, holding a conversation. The kind of secret conversation that, to anyone watching, wouldn't even look like a conversation at all.

Of course, Ryly was currently lying with his head in Sugar's soft thigh, reading a book, so it wasn't a perfectly secret conspiracy.

"Honestly, couldn't my problem just... just be solved if all of you properly talked to Ian? About personal space, about the way he acts, that sort of thing."

"Don't ask other people to do what you won't do yourself. You. Can you look Ian in those innocent eyes and say, straight out, that you don't like it? That he should stop?"

"..."

"See? And honestly, you like it."

"That can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠possibly be true...!"

"From where I'm sitting, you look like you're enjoying yourself. No matter how I think about it, your actual tastes—"

"Don't say weird things! And what about you, anyway? Do you even have anything to worry about? You're the one who should just enjoy—"

"Hey!"

"You're glued to him affectionately ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even now!"

"This...! This is completely different from that..."

Sugar's cheeks flushed as she gently swept Ryly's bangs aside. At present, Ryly had cast the Curse of the Deafened on himself and was reading in perfect peace. Listening to the two of them would only have been a headache, after all. As far as Sugar was concerned, that was a genuine blessing.

"Let's all just calm down. Right. Let's not raise our... let's not raise our voices."

And who got us raising them in the first place... Leon muttered under his breath, but he settled himself anyway.

"I've been giving this some thought."

"What kind of thought?"

"No matter how I look at it, what we need right now is mental fortitude."

"..."

Leon pulled a sour face, then conceded that she had a point and nodded.

"Fortitude that won't collapse no matter what hits it... that's what we need. We're mages, after all. It's one of the most important things there is."

"I won't argue with that. You mean we should use it to govern every kind of anguish and emotion, yes?"

"Exactly."

Sugar answered while thinking of the dual chanting Ryly had shown her a few days ago. How hard must he have worked to make something like that possible?

Even if she couldn't reach that level, a decent mage ought to be able to shake off messy thoughts like these in no time. And as it happened, the timing was perfect.

Leon... let's use this chance to get you to grow a little.

As things stood, Sugar and her friends could all be considered targets of the Order. That went without saying for her and Ryly — no, wait. It went without saying for Ian and Leon, too.

The Order still hadn't made an open move. The last incident had only happened because Sugar had approached the Crystal Tower first. Even so, they had to stay wary and stay prepared. The Crystal Tower, the ones turned into beasts, the Order's internal affairs — there was still far too much they didn't know.

And he won't even use the staff, and he hasn't made any companions, either.

He always went around alone. Sugar had spotted a few familiar faces from the original game while walking through Stille, but that was all. None of them were close to Leon. If anything, it was the three of them from the Holy City who had ended up filling the companion slots.

Of course, she was willing to help if he ran into trouble. He had the makings of a hero. She wanted to guide him down the path of glory.

But what if something happened where she wasn't around? Leon wasn't a child. In a world like this, you had to face threats with your own strength, too.

So — time to find him a fated opportunity!

Let's get Leon to grow!

And I'll grab a bite of that growth while I'm at it!

Sugar dug through her memories of the original game, calling up the growth events that were supposed to exist at Stille. The flow of the story was different now, and so was the protagonist's rate of growth, so there was no telling whether they were still there.

Something related to mental fortitude... nothing beats leveling up, really.

Defeat monsters and enemies, pile up experience, level up. That was just how a game rendered it in numbers — but in practice, it was the same thing: you fought, you won, and you accumulated experience.

Not that she could just toss him into a monster den and call it a day.

Him. Watching him in practical magic, he seems about average.

His diligent nature meant he kept up with class well enough, but at heart he was a model student. Sit down, study, study, stare at books. That was every day.

He never stepped forward in front of the other students, never met with companions, never even left campus. If this were actually the game, it would have been the most unhinged playthrough imaginable.

"...So let's go out. I know a good place."

"What? Go out where, all of a sudden?"

"The shopping district."

Sugar poked Ryly a few times and stood up.

"What. Where are we going?"

Ryly, having lifted the curse, asked — and Sugar would only say, "A good place."

"Let's bring Ian too. It'll be better if we all go together."

"No, but where exactly are you trying to—"

"You'll know when we get there."

"Was it left after leaving campus... the second alley? Between these? Where was it... If any of you see something that looks like a mental training hall, speak up."

It was a place she'd told herself she'd visit someday. Not a burdensome kind of event, so she'd kept putting it off out of sheer laziness.

And so here they were, wandering the area around the event location, and she honestly had no idea where it was. Her memories were well over a decade old, and in the game the shopping district had been compressed down to a fraction of its size. The real thing was incomparably vast.

"Not Este. Not the pasta place. The match shop — oh... the match shop."

"Would you actually look properly?"

A shop that sold matches that improved your mood. Sugar was staring at it as if bewitched when Ryly mashed a hand down on top of her head.

"But a mental training hall? Why there, Sugar? I mean, I followed you, but..."

"For the cultivation of everyone's abilities..."

When Ian asked, Sugar answered with a look of the purest benevolence.

Simply put, it had been a place in the game where you could pay money to raise your stats. The gains were modest, as you'd expect from something so easy to obtain — but she remembered that after using it more than a certain number of times, an achievement called something like "Enlightenment Attained" would complete, and your mental fortitude stats would go up by a meaningful amount.

"She saw something weird again..."

"It does seem she saw something strange."

"Dummy Sugar."

And yet every last reaction was lukewarm.

"Would the last person who opened their mouth — Ryly — please step forward."

Did nobody trust her, was that it? Sugar had just narrowed her eyes and planted her hands on her hips when something behind Ryly caught her attention.

"...Move aside a second."

She stepped closer. A flyer was posted there.

"Ah. Isn't this it? Third floor of the building right next door."

"You dragged us all the way out here for this?"

"What even is this. It's not even funny."

Ian, Leon, and Ryly each took one look at the flyer and had something to say.

Sugar, meanwhile, felt thoroughly bewildered.

Huh? Was this place originally like this? Did they used to put up ads like this?

While she was still turning that over, the other three had already gone on ahead.

"What are you doing. Come on. You're the one who said we should go."

"Ah, yeah..."

Sugar tilted her head, still puzzled, and trotted after them.

"Senior. We've got a problem."

"What now... If it's not a call from upstairs, handle it yourself... Please just let me sleep..."

Given their nature, they were most active at night, which meant they slept a great deal during the day. The senior was slumped against her chair, half-dreaming, while her junior clung to her with stubborn persistence. It was a warm afternoon. The sunlight pouring through the window made it the perfect hour to melt into sleep.

"But we have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠customers."

"Just deal with them..."

"There are four of them."

"Then deal with them one at a time..."

"All four of them are targets."

The senior's eyes snapped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠open.

"Haven't you been sensing the mana this whole time?"

"I thought you were just in heat and losing your mind..."

"That's so mean."

She said it without the slightest change in her gentle expression.

The two of them hid the slender tails at their waists and pulled on their gloves. Their voluptuous figures showed plainly through their tight shirts. The way they ran their tongues across their lips was shamelessly alluring.

They felt no tension at the sudden arrival of guests. Targets, after all — just snot-nosed kids who hadn't even graduated school.

And they themselves were professionals who had "entertained" fully-fledged mages more times than they could count. They weren't concerned in the slightest.

The two women set out to greet their four visitors, red eyes gleaming.