Well Done, Chris!
"Well done, Chris!"
Professor Repli of Sirionella Private Academy pulled Chris into a fierce embrace after his leisurely victory in the morning's obstacle race. He lifted the boy clean off the ground and spun him around in place. Chris accepted the enthusiastic welcome with his usual blank expression, quietly thinking to himself, It's soft.
The professor's belly, stripped of any firmness and swaying freely, offered a bouncier sensation than most beds. If he had to compare it to something, jelly or a slime might come closest. A sour whiff of sweat reached his nose as well, but Chris paid it no mind.
Well, as long as he's happy.
Professor Repli was pleased with his performance. That alone was enough.
After roughly thirty-six rotations, Chris returned to the ground. A bespectacled girl approached from behind with timid steps.
"Um, I'm sorry."
The sudden apology caught him off guard. Why was she apologizing? Chris stared at her blankly, genuinely puzzled, and the girl shrank back further before speaking again.
"I-I mean, we're on the same team, but I couldn't help at all…"
Ah, that. The morning race had indeed been Chris's one-man show. As the trapper who had participated alongside him, it was understandable that she felt guilty for contributing nothing to his win.
"It's fine. I wasn't expecting anything from you anyway."
"Ah…"
At Chris's indifferent reply, the shadow on the girl's face deepened.
"You idiot!"
Shubi smacked the back of Chris's lion-maned head with his palm. When Chris turned to look at him with a blank, questioning gaze, Shubi shook his head.
"You'll hurt Toko's feelings if you say it like that."
"What did I do?"
Honestly, Chris couldn't understand a word of it. It was a fact that she hadn't helped, and it was also a fact that he hadn't expected her to be of much help. He had simply stated the truth as it was. So why would Toko be hurt?
"It's okay. You know how he is. He just joined the race without thinking and said whatever came to mind."
Shubi understood Chris's personality perfectly. The real meaning behind those words was probably closer to "I never thought anyone would help me." Chris had no sense of teamwork to begin with and was the type of individualist who didn't care whether someone helped him or not. In other words, what he had said to Toko wasn't meant as disregard—it was indifference. In a way, it was an even worse attitude for a teammate, but Shubi desperately tried to cover for him so Toko wouldn't misunderstand.
"It's fine. It's true that my skills are lacking compared to Chris's."
Even after Shubi's explanation, Toko's gloomy expression didn't brighten. She knew the truth as well. Sirionella Private Academy was certainly an elite institution, well above average among the magic academies in the Ellemental Kingdom. Yet this year's Sirionella team was nothing more than Chris's one-man squad. It wasn't because their abilities were lacking—it was because Chris's talent was simply that exceptional.
"Next time, I'll work harder so I can actually help the team."
His talent was on par with Aaron Dice, the student council president of Benedict Academy, the kingdom's finest. Thanks to him, Sirionella Private Academy now had a real shot at winning the Academy Tournament. Everyone present had witnessed his skill firsthand and understood. There was nothing wrong with Chris. If Sirionella failed to win despite that, the fault would lie with the rest of them for failing to support him properly. Even if they couldn't help, they couldn't become obstacles either. Toko clenched her fists, quietly steeling her resolve.
"Mm, that's a good mindset."
She felt self-loathing and lacked confidence in herself. But she chose to use that very feeling as fuel to burn brighter. Professor Repli waddled over to her, his belly swaying, nodding at that fact alone.
He struck his self-proclaimed dignified pose—one he practiced in the mirror every day—adjusted his glasses, and spoke.
"But don't shrink back too much. Hold your head high with confidence. You are all like stars in the night sky above the city."
Hidden among the lights of the concrete jungle, they usually went unseen, yet they were undoubtedly there. They continued shining in place, waiting only for the moment someone would notice them. Their light was never insufficient. They were simply biding their time.
"And Chris. You shouldn't say things like that to your teammates either."
"……"
"Just as two or more stars come together to form a constellation, you all shine brighter together than you do alone."
There it was again—Professor Repli's pompous speech time. Unlike Shubi, who had grown somewhat numb to it after hearing it so often, Chris listened intently, his usual detached demeanor nowhere to be seen.
"From now on, no more apologizing for not being helpful to the team! Instead of thinking about how you can help, focus on winning together. Think 'we' instead of 'I'! Treat someone else's mistake as your own!"
"Yes."
"Yes…"
Chris and Toko nodded in unison. Satisfied, Professor Repli nodded back.
"Alright, everyone eat a good lunch! And give it your all in the afternoon too—fighting!"
He thrust both arms high above his head, the flab on his upper arms jiggling. His belly floated momentarily against gravity. There was no burning desire for victory in his words—only affection for the children. Whether they won or not didn't matter much to him. He simply hoped they would reap the rewards of their efforts.
"Sorry. I was too harsh."
"Mm, no, it's okay."
For his sake, they would win this tournament. They would defeat Benedict Academy—the undefeated powerhouse no one had ever beaten—and secure such an overwhelming result and justification that no one could ever remove him from his position.
Chris still didn't fully understand why he had been scolded, but he apologized to Toko anyway to follow Professor Repli's words. As he looked at her, his white eyes sank a little lower.
＊ ＊ ＊
Meanwhile, while Sirionella Private Academy began their lunch in a relatively relaxed atmosphere, another team faced their lunch break in a far more somber mood.
"Uh, um…"
Whether it was because of the unexpected defeat in the first match, Marily and Togun—who had participated directly—along with Arina and Jeon Raydel, who had watched, remained silent.
This is quite the problem.
How was he supposed to break this frozen atmosphere? Professor Karlsen scratched his cheek while gazing worriedly at the gloomy children who showed no interest in eating, then clapped his hands.
"Ah, do you all happen to know this?"
With everyone's attention on him, Professor Karlsen grinned unpleasantly and muttered in a conspiratorial whisper while glancing around.
"I heard Professor Vivaldi was recently diagnosed with hemorrhoids."
What exactly is this professor trying to tell us?
Arina scratched her cheek awkwardly at the sight of him suddenly exposing another professor's private matters.
"……What exactly are you trying to say?"
Unlike Arina, who didn't know how to respond, Jeon Raydel openly stared at him with a look of utter exasperation. At the question, Professor Karlsen feigned surprise and let out an awkward laugh.
"Ah, was it not funny? I thought I'd lighten the mood with an amusing story."
Not only had the story not been funny, but the mood hadn't improved either. In the end, Professor Vivaldi's private issue had been exposed for nothing. Yet Professor Karlsen showed no sign of guilt and continued.
"Well, the point is this. There are people in this world who have it harder than us, so don't let one loss get you down."
It sounded like a conclusion he had just made up on the spot. Jeon Raydel shot him a deeply skeptical look. But after staring at that shameless face for a moment, he let out a long sigh.
"It's not that we're particularly discouraged."
He turned his head sharply.
"I was just thinking that, as expected, winning the tournament won't be easy since things aren't going according to plan from the start."
Winning the first match should have been simple. It wasn't just Marily who had thought so.
I never imagined there was another monster like that hiding in this tournament.
A mage who looked extraordinary at a glance. The fact that even Jeon Raydel's ability couldn't clearly discern his limits spoke volumes about his exceptional skill.
Dealing with the student council president alone was already difficult enough.
What should they do from here? The earlier silence had been born from pondering that very question.
"……How annoying."
Marily's reason for staying silent was different. It wasn't because things hadn't gone according to plan or anything like that. Chris's indifference—completely ignoring her interference—had simply rubbed her the wrong way.
If only I'd known about him from the beginning…
She would have hit him with hardcore penalties right from the start, before even analyzing the penalty magic circle. If she had, they could have bought significantly more time. Perhaps the outcome of the first match would have been completely reversed.
I should have been wary of him instead of Nepiri.
It was fine. At least they had identified one person of interest after just the first match. If they stayed on guard, he wouldn't be an unstoppable disaster. Besides, they hadn't even used their trump card yet.
"Come to think of it, you were planning to use it at the end, weren't you?"
"……Yeah."
"I specifically told you not to. If things had gone wrong, our trump card might have been exposed in a low-point match."
The Benedict Academy representative team was one thing. After the Mana Up app incident, rumors about Togun had already spread throughout the academy. But other academies were different. To them, Togun's existence—who could neutralize even superhuman-level attacks—was clearly a joker card. That was why they had wanted to save it for higher-point matches, but he hadn't been able to hold back…!
He probably noticed.
He might not have figured out exactly what it was, but he had definitely sensed that Togun possessed some special power. On top of already being a top priority target alongside Aaron Dice, they had handed him such a big hint.
"Haa. Really. You're the only one I can rely on in this team."
With a sigh, Marily buried herself in Arina's arms.
"So, do you have confidence in winning the afternoon match?"
Because of their loss in the morning match, the afternoon match had become all the more important. On top of that, the afternoon match carried relatively high points. Aside from the Benedict Academy representative team, other academies would likely send out their ace members.
"Yeah, I'll do my best."
If it had been any other time, she might have hesitated or fumbled her words. The fact that Arina answered so decisively meant she had a fair amount of confidence in her own abilities.
"Good. I'll be counting on you, Arina!"
Showing trust in that confidence was the natural thing for a teammate to do. As Marily gave Arina a thumbs-up, Jeon Raydel replied with a displeased expression.
"I'm participating too, you know?"
"Yeah! Just make sure you don't hold Arina back! If you come back defeated, I won't let you off!"
"That's pretty bold coming from someone who confidently stepped up and lost."
"What did you say?! Are you done talking?!"
Marily snarled like an angry cat at Jeon Raydel's provocation. The gloomy atmosphere from earlier had vanished without a trace, replaced by their usual lively energy. Professor Karlsen nodded with a satisfied smile.
"As expected, revealing Professor Vivaldi's private matters was a stroke of genius. The mood has recovered nicely."
"No~ That probably wasn't it~ Definitely not~"
Professor Clara set down the lunch boxes the children would eat and immediately shot down his theory. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she was certain Professor Karlsen's guess was wrong.
"Ah, you've arrived! Everyone, lunch is here!"
Even though he had clearly heard her, Professor Karlsen casually changed the subject. Professor Clara could only click her tongue in a spot where no one could see. What a truly unpleasant guy, she thought, glaring sharply at Professor Karlsen as he picked up a lunch box first.