Midterm Exam (3)
“What the hell is this ragged wad of paper?”
Kado eyed the crystallized knowledge I had brought back as if it were pure trash.
“Ta-da! This is the ‘exam archive’ packed with the blood, sweat, and tears of our academy seniors.”
I ignored his gruff reaction and triumphantly fluttered a page right in front of his face.
“Consider yourself honored. I’m letting you taste this great legacy too. Here—take it with gratitude.”
Kado glanced back and forth between the archive and my face, then shook his head.
“Forget it. Don’t need it.”
“Huh? I’m not asking you for anything in return, so you don’t have to get all prideful about—”
Kado looked at me with eyes far more serious than I expected.
“It’s not pride. I want to prove myself on the written exam with my own skill.”
His voice carried a touch of arrogance, but also a clumsy, honest will to test his own limits.
The “Kado” I knew had been nothing more than a foul-tempered extra I used and discarded early on…
“Whoa.”
A laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it.
“You’re a way better guy than I thought.”
“Hah? What’d you just say?”
He barked at the sudden praise, clearly embarrassed, and I quietly smiled at his cute flailing.
For the next few days, the library became a battlefield.
I drilled only the core of the archive; Kado, with brute-force stupidity, plowed through every related book in sight.
Aware of each other the whole time, we filled the space with nothing but the scratch of pens and the turn of pages—a war of pure concentration.
And at last, the fateful day arrived.
I searched for my name among the countless others and let out a sigh of relief when I saw I had cleared the failing mark.
Basil avoided failing too… good.
While checking that the names I knew had survived, my eyes snagged on Kado’s name shining brilliantly near the top of the board.
Kado, you actually pulled it off.
Just like in the original game, first place went to Panir, but Kado’s name sitting right below her with a solidly high score felt both unfamiliar and oddly proud.
Either way, the written exam was safely behind us thanks to the archive. The practical, though, was different.
A pure stage of skill with no excuses allowed.
There I would once again feel the limits of being a “background extra.”
Right now I had neither the overwhelming talent of Ricotta or Panir, nor the unpredictable potential of a protagonist like Basil.
I had been training with Salad, setting daily goals, but it was still nowhere near enough.
Even facing a third-rate villain like Croffle head-on had been a struggle.
High risk, high return.
I needed a weapon of my own that could flip the board in a single strike.
With my current stats, the items I can get this early after enrollment are…
In that instant my mental database began rifling through thousands of playthroughs. And finally, one item surfaced from memory.
…Right. That was a thing.
Most players never even noticed it existed, or if they did, they tossed it as pure garbage.
But when certain conditions were met, it became a shining joker that overturned the entire game.
Unstable magic needles that temporarily boost the user’s mana by forcefully opening and overloading their magic circuits.
Massive temporary boost in physical and magical power at the cost of severe internal and physical damage.
Decision made, I headed straight for the treatment room in the center of the main building.
I entered the treatment room wearing an awkward smile the whole time, rubbing my shoulder.
“Ahaha, with the practical exam right around the corner I ramped up training and, well…”
“You know if you just start using a shoulder that finally healed, it’ll flare up again, right?”
The academy’s dedicated healer sighed as if this were routine and gathered her tools.
“I don’t get why everyone pushes themselves this hard. It’s just a practical exam… You’re going to get seriously hurt at this rate.”
She carefully examined my shoulder while muttering. Worry colored her voice, but resignation was mixed in too.
I dipped my head slightly and gave an awkward laugh.
At the same time, my gaze stopped on a shelf against one wall.
There sat a silver case radiating a cool light, as if it had been waiting for me.
I opened my mouth with carefully feigned pure curiosity.
“What’s… that? It looks special even at a glance.”
“Hm?”
The healer glanced at the box.
“Ah, that? Don’t even look at it. It’s a headache… Honestly I was about to dispose of it soon.”
“Dispose of it?”
I deliberately widened my eyes in surprise. At that reaction she trailed off and spilled the rest.
“It’s actually a new type of magic needle developed for treatment… but it’s too unstable. Instead of controlling a patient’s mana, it makes it run wild.”
“A needle that causes a rampage?”
“Yeah. Instead of restoring the mana circuits it activates them all at once. You might feel a surge of power for a moment, but it puts a huge strain on the body.”
“So it’s an extremely powerful device, then?”
I added carefully. The healer nodded and sighed.
“That’s right. If it could be used properly it would’ve been a revolution in healing magic, but the problem is there’s no student or professor who can control it properly.”
I carefully moved my arm and rolled my shoulder.
The academy healer’s hands were skilled; the knotted muscles had loosened cleanly.
Even so, my eyes stayed fixed on that silver case.
After a brief hesitation I leaned in carefully.
“Would it be all right if I took that for research?”
The healer’s eyes went round.
“That thing?”
“Yes. I’m very interested in mana control. It’s not for an assignment or anything, but there’s something I want to investigate on my own.”
I arranged my expression to look as much like a “curious, diligent student” as possible.
She thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Fine. The official disposal process hasn’t started yet. But you are absolutely forbidden from using it on your body. Understood? Absolutely!”
“Yes, thank you!”
With permission granted, I carefully lifted the silver case from the shelf.
A failed medical device?
What was inside was nothing of the sort.
Dangerous, and precisely because of that, powerful—
a clear weapon.
And at last, the practical exam notice went up.
This practical evaluation will be conducted as two-person team sparring.
Each team will be deployed onto the battlefield simultaneously; both cooperative combat and individual combat ability will be assessed.
Team assignment method: automatic matching via magic crystal orb.
The great hall was packed with students waiting for the team lottery.
The magic crystal orb placed before the professor rose into the air, glowing softly as it began calling names one by one.
“Ricotta!”
When her name was called, the hall stirred.
Ricotta walked forward while shooting me a sidelong glance.
She said not a single word, yet every nerve in her body was screaming who she wanted as her partner.
With every eye on them, the crystal spat out the name of Ricotta’s teammate.
“…Basil!”
In that instant every sound in the great hall evaporated as if it had never existed.
A silence like water poured over a fire.
Students could only stare at one another’s faces, doubting the name they had just heard.
The meeting of those two that I had tried and failed to arrange again and again.
And now this damn game’s system had bound them into one team under the most perfect pretext of all—“a random draw.”
In the original it claimed to be random too, but at that point it always paired the player with the heroine who had the highest affection.
I bit my lower lip to hold back the laugh rising from deep inside.
Go, Basil! Getting forcibly tangled with a heroine is a protagonist’s destiny!
It was Ricotta who broke the surrounding silence.
“As long as you don’t get in the way, that will be enough.”
She tossed that single line at Basil, then turned without the slightest lingering attachment and left her seat.
What remained in the space she vacated was a chilly air and Basil, still trembling faintly.
Still, their relationship’s better than before.
Just as my mind was swelling with hope while drafting a new scenario—
“Saya!”
My name was called.
Ricotta, who had been leaving, and Basil both turned their gazes toward me at the same time.
Depending on who my partner was, the entire board of this exam would flip completely.
I swallowed dryly and waited for the name that would decide my fate.
“…Ravne!”
Students looked back and forth between me and the soft-smiling girl with light purple hair on the far side, faces full of disbelief.
What? Ravne?
At the unexpected name my mind went blank for a moment.
The third heroine,
the Saintess candidate, Ravne.
To me, who carried the high-risk, high-return Trigger Needles, she was a partner heaven itself had sent.
The perfect shield and reliable supporter who could flawlessly cover my unstable attacks.
Today… the combination is almost unnervingly good.
While I was still thinking about the next move, Ravne moved first.
As if by prior agreement the crowd naturally parted to open a path for her.
Wherever her footsteps fell, the noise quieted and a warm gentleness spread.
When she finally stood before me she looked at me with a shy smile that somehow didn’t quite match her holy aura.
“Saya.”
A voice like clear spring water calmly settled my chaotic heart.
“Last time we crossed blades… but this time we’ve become comrades who will entrust our backs to each other.”
Her light purple eyes sparkled with pure trust and expectation, not a single speck of falsehood in them.
“I’ll do my best as well, so please, Saya… don’t get hurt, and let’s do well together.”
Ravne held out a white, slender hand. That hand held no calculation, no suspicion—only pure faith in her partner.
I hesitated a moment, then took her hand in return.
A warm, soft sensation. It was clearly a kind of warmth I had rarely felt in this cold game world.
“Yeah, Ravne. I’m counting on you too.”
Holding her hand, I looked across at the real protagonist standing far on the other side.
Our Saintess so full of love,
I will be borrowing a little of your power for the stage of the protagonist couple.
In the end it’s for the sake of love,
so please be generous and forgive me…
Just then, Ravne—who until a second ago had been smiling warmly at me—opened her mouth.
“No.”
…Huh?