Knight's Qualifications (2)
“Long time no see, Rion.”
The moment I heard Camilla's words, my mind refused to process them.
Long time no see? Not our first meeting?
Officially, this was the first time Camilla and I had met. But when she suddenly dropped that line, I had no idea how to respond.
Was she referring to the previous playthrough? Or had we met sometime in this one?
There was no way for me to know.
But the other heroines I'd encountered so far knew I had no memories from the previous playthrough. I doubted Camilla was unaware of that fact.
So, I decided to play along for now.
“Long... time no see, Camilla.”
And as I watched her face drain of color at my words, I thought,
I'm screwed.
It even looked awkward to me—maybe she'd think something was off.
“...I see.”
“..?”
“You... you remember.”
Tears welled up in Camilla's eyes. Not just me, but the other students around us looked stunned.
Then they started shooting me these judgmental glares, like I was the bad guy.
What the hell am I supposed to do?!
Even as tears streamed down her face, she forced a fragile smile, pretending everything was fine. The stares from the crowd grew sharper by the second.
In a panic, I tried to wipe her tears with my sleeve, but she pushed my hand away.
“I'm... fine...”
After that, I watched her run off like a heartbroken heroine in some melodrama. None of us—including me—moved a muscle until her figure vanished from sight.
“What a drama queen.”
I turned at the voice behind me to find Alessia wearing an incredulous expression.
“Oh, sorry.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
Over a week passed after that incident, and Camilla avoided me like the plague.
Those tears she'd shed in front of me were enough to paint me as the villain in an instant. Even Instructor Fran doubled over laughing as he recited the rumors about me one by one.
“...No luck today either, huh.”
If Camilla kept running away, there was nothing I could do. Not even a conversation was possible.
And for some reason, her skills at slipping away unnoticed were top-notch—probably a holdover from the previous playthrough.
Knock knock.
I turned at the tapping on the window. Erin was peeking her face in, rapping lightly on the glass.
“Not caught this time, Erin?”
I opened the window, and she hopped inside with a little bounce.
Erin made a habit of sneaking into the dorm at night like this to avoid prying eyes.
“Don't lump me in with that psycho bitch, okay?”
Alessia had tried sneaking into my room multiple times at night too, but she kept getting caught. Now the guards were basically stationed outside her door.
Erin plopped down on my bed and patted the spot next to her.
“Come on, sit.”
Someone seeing this might get the wrong idea.
Dark night. A girl sneaking into a guy's room. And a single bed.
“We've gotta learn intermediate magic today, so hurry up.”
“...Right, got it.”
But that didn't apply to Erin when she was focused on magic. Normally, maybe—but magic lessons killed any such mood stone dead.
Grip.
As I went to sit on the bed, Erin grabbed the back of my neck. She yanked me toward her and slammed me against the wall in an instant.
Then she planted both hands on the wall to either side of me, pinning me in place.
It felt strangely familiar, but confusion hit first.
“Erin?”
“Thinking about another girl right in front of me again.”
Her senses were uncanny.
“Princess last time, lady this time?”
“Erin, it's not—”
“Who else treats you this well? Why look elsewhere?”
I couldn't argue with that.
Lucia had drawn a line, saying we shouldn't get involved anymore. Alessia was friendly, but whatever lay beneath that hadn't shown itself yet.
Truth be told, Erin was the only one genuinely helping me out of pure goodwill.
“Haa... Do you even know how much I'm holding back, oppa?”
Erin's breathing grew ragged. And her eyes shifted to that sticky, intense gaze I'd seen before.
“I could lock you away right now—forever. Make you look only at me for the rest of your life...! But that's not what's best for you, so I've been holding back...”
“...”
“So just think of me when you're with me. Look only at me. I might... snap at any moment.”
Erin hadn't abandoned her obsession with me. She'd just prioritized my needs over her own desires because that fixation wasn't good for me.
Shamefully, I'd forgotten that consideration. How long had it even been since I transmigrated here? How much time since I reunited with her?
As I pondered how to apologize, footsteps echoed in the hallway outside.
Thud, thud.
It was about time for the dorm supervisor's patrol.
This was the men's dorm—getting caught with Erin here wouldn't end well. I'd heard some couples recently got disciplined for fooling around in the guys' dorm.
With weird rumors already swirling about me, I didn't need more fuel. In a rush to quiet her, I clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Mmph.”
My fingers slipped inside by accident, but at least I got her to shut up.
Once the footsteps faded, I pulled my hand away—and a thin strand of saliva connected us.
“Eugh... salty...”
“Sorry, haven't washed up yet.”
The dried sweat from training must've tasted salty to her. I handed her a glass of water; she chugged it down in one go.
“Oppa... you're planning to meet Camilla somehow, right?”
“Yeah. If she quit the sword because of me, I need to know what happened.”
“To get her to pick it up again?”
“...Not necessarily. If she refuses, that's her call. But if I'm the reason, we at least need to talk.”
Erin fell silent, lost in thought. She refilled the cup with magic, downed it again, then grumbled irritably.
“Why am I always stuck with these roles...”
“Huh?”
“Go to the spot I tell you tomorrow and wait. You'll meet her then.”
“Around here...?”
The spot Erin mentioned was a forest with no proper paths.
Look for a massive dead tree. Wait there.
I'd even skipped Instructor Fran's training today to come here.
A withered old tree loomed before me, towering over ten meters—taller than anything around.
I leaned against it and waited a few minutes.
Rustle.
“Hm?”
Eh?
Our eyes met—Camilla, dashing through the trees in her skirt. She startled and spun to flee; I lunged and grabbed her wrist.
“Camilla!”
“Let go!”
“Just talk for a minute.”
“I... don't deserve to even look at you. You know why, don't you?”
Her words confirmed it: she was misunderstanding something. Letting this slide could lead to who-knows-what disaster.
“What reason?”
“You really want me to say it? Fine, I guess I don't even have the right to refuse.”
Her spiraling self-loathing was frustrating—like swallowing ten sweet potatoes without a sip of water.
“Camilla, listen carefully from now on.”
“...Okay.”
“I have no memories from the previous playthrough.”
“...Huh?”
Her eyes went wide. She stared at me in disbelief.
“...For real?”
“For real.”
“Then... what was that line last time supposed to mean?”
“What line?”
“...‘Long... time no see.’”
That explained the whole misunderstanding—stemming from my single awkward reply.
“You said it first, so I went along.”
“So you just echoed me?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah...”
Heat rose from her throat, flushing her entire face in seconds. Her cheeks and ears turned as red as her eyes.
Unable to bear the embarrassment, Camilla covered her face with both hands and buried it in her knees.
I left her alone until she calmed down.
“Whimper...”
I tried to ignore the occasional puppy-like whines leaking out.