Finally, Spring Has Come to Lena
The warm afternoon sunlight bathed the upscale dessert café La Vie en Rose, just outside the Lena Youngstern Academy shopping district. Rachel Valentine inhaled the delicate aroma of black tea while her fingers tapped an anxious rhythm against the handle of her teacup.
“Haa… our poor Lena…”
A heavy sigh slipped from Rachel’s lips before she could stop it. As the young lady of House Valentine, whose lands bordered the Youngstern county, she had been Lena’s friend since childhood. They hadn’t seen each other much lately because Lena was so busy, but Lena had always been the precious friend Rachel wanted to protect and look after. So when she heard that same well-behaved (?) Lena had caused an unprecedented mana explosion that turned the entire academy into a water park, Rachel genuinely doubted her own ears.
It was a blessing no one had been hurt. Otherwise the incident could have ended in expulsion and even sparked a political crisis between their families. Thankfully it had concluded with nothing more than a slap-on-the-wrist house arrest, but the thought of that proud, stubborn Lena locked in a cramped dorm room for five whole days, crying her eyes out, made Rachel’s chest tighten.
She’ll definitely show up looking like a wreck. Dark circles all the way down to her chin.
“Poor, poor Lena…”
Rachel remembered the note that had been tied to the mysterious white cat (with a blue tip on its tail!) that had pawed at her dorm window this morning.
House arrest is over. Meet me at La Vie en Rose this afternoon. —Lena
Even in those short, dry words Rachel had sensed her friend’s crushing loneliness and desperate SOS. She had felt genuinely happy. As expected, when Lena’s at her limit, the only person she relies on is me! Still, since she was a girl after all, Rachel had decided to buy every kind of sweet cake on the menu.
Just as she was steeling her resolve, the clear chime of the café bell rang out and the door opened.
“Rachel!”
The familiar voice that skipped any honorific made Rachel’s head snap up on reflex. The moment she saw who had entered, every image of her exhausted, gloomy friend she had pictured shattered into pieces.
“…Lena?”
Dark circles? None. Emaciated? Her skin was practically glowing. There was even a soft, lively flush on her cheeks. It looked less like she had spent five days under house arrest and more like she had returned from a luxury spa at a five-star resort. Or like… a girl who had fallen in love. No, that couldn’t be Lena.
“Sorry, did you wait long?”
Lena walked over with light steps and sat down across from her. That bright smile, completely free of any trace of melancholy, left Rachel speechless.
“Y-You… are you okay? No, why does your face look so good? Did the dorm food suddenly taste amazing? Or did you reach some kind of enlightenment?”
At Rachel’s frantic questions, Lena picked up a fork the moment her strawberry tart arrived and gave a small smile.
“Yeah. I did reach an enlightenment.”
“What kind of enlightenment? Don’t tell me you broke through to a new realm of mana control?!”
“No, not that kind.”
Lena gently broke the edge of the tart with her fork, eyes lowered to the tablecloth. Her cheeks flushed a deep pink as she whispered in a tiny but crystal-clear voice.
“I… I have someone I like now.”
“…What?”
The teacup in Rachel’s hand nearly toppled onto the table.
“Are you serious, Lena?”
Rachel doubted not only her ears but the very identity of the girl sitting in front of her. Lena Youngstern was the same girl who, since childhood, had preferred splashing around in mud over playing with dolls. The same girl who had spent every social ball pressed against the wall out of fear she would trip over her own dress hem. Countless noble sons and promising academy students had sent her secret letters and tried to approach her, drawn by her beauty, yet Lena had never once given them a glance.
Boys are annoying. I can barely take care of myself, so why would I bother with romance?
Wasn’t that her usual line? The only hobby she had was nagging and scolding that hopeless childhood friend of hers. And now she was saying she was interested in the opposite sex?
Tap!
Rachel immediately reached across the table and pressed her hand to Lena’s forehead.
“Eek! W-What are you doing, Rachel!”
“Hold still. No fever… no signs of dark magic either. Did you eat something weird while you were locked up?”
“I told you that’s not it! I’m being completely serious!”
Lena pouted and swatted Rachel’s hand away. Rachel could only stare, stunned.
“Oh my, oh my, oh my. Just look at you.”
Those green eyes were brimming with embarrassment and shyness. The usual bold demeanor was gone; instead Lena fidgeted with her fingers and kept avoiding eye contact. And that silly little smile that kept slipping out unconsciously—Rachel had no choice but to accept it.
This is…!
Lena Youngstern was, quite literally, the very picture of a girl in love.
Oh my god, spring has finally come to our Lena too!
An emergency siren blared inside Rachel’s head. She had to seize this opportunity! If she let it slip away, this dense girl might spend the rest of her life as a lonely old spinster in the Youngstern territory, surrounded by nothing but cats.
No way am I letting that happen!
What was the point of being a noble young lady if not for love? As both her friend and a fellow noble daughter, she could not allow this precious spark to be extinguished.
“That’s it! Perfect! Absolutely wonderful, Lena Youngstern!”
“Uh… yeah…?”
“I’m dying to know who it is, but I’ll ask about that later. What matters right now is how I can help. Want me to ghostwrite love letters? Or should I run a background check on his tastes? Our family’s information network is pretty reliable.”
“Well… there is something…”
When Rachel’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, Lena shyly lowered her gaze and tapped her two index fingers together.
Wow…
That tiny gesture alone left Rachel inwardly shocked. The girl who would normally slam her fist on the table was now making such a cute, feminine motion. The power of love was truly terrifying.
Lena fanned her flushed cheeks as if trying to cool them, then spoke carefully.
“Um… could you help me pick out some clothes? I’m not really sure what looks pretty on me.”
“Clothes?”
“Yeah. I have an appointment this afternoon.”
“…This afternoon?!”
Rachel’s eyes flew wide open.
“An appointment today?!”
She sat there with her mouth hanging open. She had assumed Lena was suffering through a one-sided crush, but she had already reached the stage of making plans?
“Once you decide to do something, you really go all in, don’t you!”
At Rachel’s excited shout, Lena simply buried her face in her hands and let out a helpless giggle.
In a dark, quiet classroom.
“Haaaa……”
The hulking demon slouched sideways in the chair across from me—Dusik sunbae—let out his tenth deep sigh.
“I still don’t understand why I, a sacred being, have to spend my precious afternoon hours alone in an empty classroom with some gloomy male underclassman.”
“Hey, Dusik sunbae—”
“It’s Dusik, you little shit.”
“Sorry. My pronunciation’s bad.”
“Haa……”
“If you’re that unhappy, why don’t you go confess to the academy disciplinary committee that you tried to mess with a junior and got your mana orb stolen?”
Dusik’s shoulders twitched. The guy really was easy to blackmail. He chewed his lip and subtly looked away.
“Th-That’s… already in the past, isn’t it? As a generous senior from the Arts Department, I let it slide.”
“Then stop sighing and just wait quietly. She’ll be here soon.”
The ten-million-krone scholarship match posted by the Magic Tower Master. Before the practical exam tomorrow, I had called the team together. Since Lena had just finished her house arrest, I figured we should meet once as a team and get our coordination down. Thanks to arriving early, I was stuck killing time with Dusik like this.
“How dare he make someone like me wait. What a pathetic bastard. I won’t let this slide.”
Dusik started grumbling again. I shot up from my seat.
“Oh! Hello, Dean Lucy!”
“Hiek?! D-Dean! No, that’s not it! I wasn’t bullying a first-year, I was just fostering good relations…!”
Dusik sprang up like a two-meter-tall spring. I sat back down leisurely and grinned.
“Ah, my mistake. Wrong person. Sorry, sunbae.”
“You… you vicious little—! How dare you mock your great senior?!”
His reactions were always so satisfying. Just as Dusik’s face flushed red then purple and he began to tremble with rage, the classroom’s back door creaked open slowly.
“Looks like she’s here.”
I turned my chair toward the door and looked over. And then—
“…Huh?”
The moment I saw the figure stepping through the door, my brain temporarily shut down. Standing there was a noble young lady so perfect you could practically hear sparkles and twinkles in the air.
“S-Sorry I’m a little late…?”
Her cheeks were faintly pink as she shyly lowered her gaze.
“Who… who is that unbelievably beautiful young lady?”
A stunned voice escaped me, matching Dusik sunbae’s own shock.
“Lena?”