Boy Meets Girl
And the next day.
"Why are you just now? I've been waiting forever."
At the entrance of the male dormitory, a woman with a white ponytail greeted me.
"…Huh?"
…Who are you?
"Oh wow, I was hoping you'd recognize me but you really don't."
The woman smiled slightly, then raised both hands above her head.
"Squeak squeak?"
"…! Squirrel?"
"Wow, that's harsh. I didn't think you'd really not recognize me. I recognized you at a glance, you know."
No.
Well.
"You came back as a human after being a squirrel, how was I supposed to know…"
"Still! Come on, there's things like your eyes or your vibe, right! And you brought the same pouch!"
"Oh. It was a pouch? I thought you picked it up from the clothes donation bin."
"It is from the clothes donation bin, though."
We drifted away from the dormitory, exchanging idle chatter.
"But what were you going to do if I wasn't there? Why wait?"
"We have the same class. You'd come out ten minutes before it starts."
"Our class is at eleven. I could've gone out before that."
"Hmm… Well, that's just unfortunate."
"I'd just be that girl who waited in front of the dorm for her friend and got stood up."
"You say things like that again."
"I should… get a phone?"
"Oh come on."
You'd have to earn money or something.
I think I'd heard that items from Academy graduates or current students got a better price. Graduates' items were trustworthy, and if students' items were defective, they got filtered out by the professors — well, by the graduate students under the professors, technically. Anyway.
"But how much was it?"
"I got a used old model, so it was cheap. About a thousand gold?"
"…What?"
A thousand… gold?
A thousand gold was a huge sum that an ordinary family could live on for two months.
"I was thinking, 'How did this guy get that much money? Did he steal it?'"
"Yeah."
"Usually you'd deny that in this situation…"
"It's the truth, what do you want me to do."
Actually, I thought more like, He works pretty hard to live. I guess he didn't have a guardian like I did. The fact that he enrolled in the Academy on his own showed determination and ability, didn't it? This made me feel awkward, having come to the Academy just thinking about getting by.
"Alright, we're here. Same Thunder Hall as yesterday."
"Engineering magic, right?"
"Yeah."
We went up to room 302, same as yesterday.
"Ah. Here it is. The place where you almost threw up."
"Should I say that to a girl? Huh?"
"Hehe."
Passing the familiar spot, I checked the time: 10:55. We had plenty of time.
"What do you want to eat after? You paid yesterday, so I'll get it today."
"Oh. Then cafeteria food?"
"Let's eat something expensive. Something expensive."
"Then there's West House right here."
"……."
As a side note, West House was a high-end restaurant where even the branch locations were well-known, with a top-tier chef as the head chef of the flagship store — one of the best in the capital. It operated on a strict reservation system and was a place nobles visited only for special occasions. The one near the Academy was also the West House flagship store.
"……."
"Hey hey, it's a joke. Sorry. Don't be mad."
"I'm not mad."
No no. You are mad. You were walking side by side until just now, and now you're going alone.
In the end, Cecil went ahead and opened the classroom door first.
"Huh?"
"What's this. Why… huh?"
And there was no one.
No. This isn't it.
"What's going on? 11 AM, Thunder Hall 302. That's right, isn't it?"
"It's just 11. Everyone's late except us? Even the professor? That doesn't make sense."
"Is this some hilarious hidden camera show?"
We went outside and looked around, but nothing unusual. Let's think about it. What could be the reason the classroom is empty?
First: classroom relocation. If the professor or school needed to use a different classroom.
"There was nothing like that on the bulletin board."
"There's a bulletin board?"
"Not physically. Inside the phone."
…What kind of artifact was that, that it had a huge bulletin board inside it for communication?
"Then that's ruled out for now."
Second: the class was cancelled. Due to cancellation or some other reason?
"This makes even less sense."
"Ah. Wait a sec."
But Cecil seemed to think of something and slowly tapped on her phone.
"…Ah."
"What? Did you find something?"
"Yeah."
And with a faint sigh, she showed me the screen.
"…What is this?"
"So… it's not a notice shown to all students, but a mini-notice only for enrolled students?"
Looking closely at the text, I could see the date: March 1st, 9:30 AM. Looks like they wrote it right after the first class.
"Now that I think about it, they did say 'see you next week.'"
"Yeah… I thought they mixed up the class time."
So. There actually wasn't a class?
Oh come on.
"Hehe. Sorry."
"Why are you sorry?"
I couldn't check the notice either because I didn't have a phone. It wasn't really anyone's fault — just two people who got unlucky.
"It's actually good. No class, and we can take a walk."
"Then that's a relief. Oh, and the general magic class that was after lunch is also cancelled. Looks like we just come next week."
"Then the engineering circuit theory at 2? Should we go to that?"
"Yeah. That's also in Thunder Hall. …But you're memorizing that? It's only been two days?"
"I don't want to carry around a schedule flapping in my hand."
"That's pretty impressive. Memorizing things because it's too much trouble."
We left Thunder Hall and walked for a while. We had no destination. Since we had time until 2, it would be fine to go back to the dorm.
"That won't do."
"Why?"
"It's boring. My roommate is a block of wood."
Ah. The dorm had a roommate system. Now that I think about it, I hadn't met my roommate yet. Maybe because it was only day two.
"Eh. Then what do you do when you're bored?"
"It's nice and quiet."
I was a deep sleeper, so I could sleep even if someone was rustling next to me as long as they didn't stab me with a knife — but that was just possible. I also preferred sleeping in a quiet environment. I'd rather my roommate just keep not being there.
"Anyway, I'm against it."
"Then what do we do?"
"Hmm… Oh. Bail has no class in the morning. Should we call her?"
"Yeah."
Fortunately, Bail also had nothing to do, so we decided to meet at the central fountain. When we arrived, Bail was standing there hesitantly, apparently nearby.
"Bail!"
"Eek! You scared me! Cecil, please don't suddenly hug me!"
"Hehe. Bail. You smell good."
"You're like an old man…"
Oh.
Kinda nice. Objectively speaking, both Cecil and Bail had appearances that matched the typical standard of beauty. The sight of them hugging and sniffing each other… hmm.
"Your eyes look impure. Acorn?"
"…Huh? No no. That can't be."
…Let's get a grip. That's sexual harassment.
"Do you have anything else to do?"
"That's why I called you."
"Then how about going outside the Academy? It's the capital, and the Academy at that! There must be lots to see!"
"Oh. That's pretty good? Jeden, what do you think?"
Hmm. Well, we had nothing to do anyway.
"We have a 2 o'clock class, so let's come back before that."
"Eh. It's orientation anyway, what's the big deal."
"Still, you'd get marked absent. It'll end quickly, so we could drop by briefly and go back out."
"I have a 3 o'clock class today. Should we meet here again after class?"
"Let's do that. Ah. Jeden. Then we'll be back in a bit."
Huh?
Once things were roughly settled, Cecil suddenly grabbed Bail's hand and pulled her.
"What floor of the dorm?"
"Room 202."
"Oh. I'm in 211. Same second floor?"
No.
It's not about the room number right now.
"Dorm shop? Why?"
"Why? Then we'll go in our uniforms?"
"I'm fine with uniforms, but since we're going out… I have civilian clothes my sponsor bought for me. Hehe."
Wait.
The conversation has been going off track since a while ago.
"What are you talking about uniforms? Weren't we supposed to wear civilian clothes?"
"…Huh?"
"What?"
What's going on. Something's wrong.
It turned out the Academy provided uniforms for free based on the body measurements filled in the enrollment application. I wondered why I didn't know, but I hadn't received the enrollment guide that was supposed to arrive later.
Application submission → Permit delivery → Guide arrival. That's what they said.
"Something's strange."
"Yeah. I got the permit three months ago, and the guide arrived just a few days later."
I couldn't say "I submitted late because of connections so I didn't get the guide, hehe," so I had to just brush it off.
Looking in the closet, there it was. I'm pretty sure the campus in the book Luke was reading didn't have uniforms. But I also thought, Academy means uniforms!
Anyway, we waited a bit in front of the female dormitory.
"We're here!"
"Did you wait long?"
"No. Not really."
Cecil and Bail arrived in civilian clothes. Cecil wore a simple white shirt with loose cotton pants, and Bail wore a black blouse with a knee-length skirt. Cecil's shirt hadn't faded but the fabric had softened, suggesting it was well-worn, and the cotton pants had no color loss on the stitched seams, suggesting they were new… No. Let's not analyze. I'm not even thinking about picking up a knife. It's unnecessary.
"Why are you staring so hard? Did you fall for me?"
"I, I…!"
Ah. Right. Let's get a grip.
"I just… thought it looked good on you."
"What? Did I do something wrong to you?"
"Nonsense. Ah, Bail, you look good too."
"Hehe. Thank you."
Looking closely, she had such a cold appearance that her smile was precious.
"Ah. I looked up a few places. Good value restaurants, dessert cafes, and entertainment facilities or clothing stores too!"
Bail said that while rummaging through her phone.
Hmm. This was a bit rude to ask, but where does she get her money—
"If you're asking where I got the money for the phone, my sponsor bought it for me."
"Oh? Oh. Really? What a nice person."
"Thanks to them, I'm able to attend the Academy."
I got the answer before I even asked. As expected. The orphan experience never goes away.