Do It Like You Did Before.
Do It Like You Did Before.
"Plan... pending, for now."
What grade would the professors decide to give me? I had no way of knowing yet, so I walked back to my seat without a word.
"...Pending? Why pending?"
"The professors are split."
"Is that even possible? Every single one's been unanimous until now."
"What's there to debate? Going by distance alone, isn't that a lower grade?"
As I slipped back among the students, not a single murmur escaped me. I could feel more than a few eyes staring openly, too.
"Maybe they used a scroll."
"A scroll? Doesn't cheating get punished on the spot?"
"Who knows. Not our business, so whatever."
Those gazes all had one thing in common, and it was decidedly not positive.
But I wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Enduring the stares of people who misunderstand you is a form of entertainment in its own right.
"Hey, Plan. What happened? What's going on?"
Becky whispered the moment I sat down. She'd been craning her neck, waiting for me to settle into my seat.
"Who knows."
"You... didn't use a scroll, did you?"
"I didn't."
"Yeah. I figured."
Becky wore a thoroughly serious expression as she went on.
"Somehow, with you... I figured you could pull off a good grade even without something like that."
I found myself curious about Becky's eye for things. For the first time in a long while, I was the one who opened the conversation.
"Then what do you think?"
"Huh? About what?"
"About the support magic I just demonstrated."
"Um... it flew really prettily?"
Just as I thought. I let out a deep sigh.
But in a way, even that level of observation is commendable. Most of the students watching didn't seem to register that I was performing purification at all.
Even if they don't grasp the exact principles, if they at least managed to observe it, that alone is a promising sign.
"It was seriously so pretty, but I'm so upset it didn't go further. It should've gone further than that Hailey girl..."
Becky, who'd been muttering, suddenly whipped her head toward me.
"Hey, how do you make it fly while leaving a trail like that? Can't you teach me too?"
I hold Becky's academic fervor in high regard.
Researching magic purely on your own is hardly the only correct path. Seeking advice and receiving instruction is equally close to the proper way.
The problem, however, was where to begin and end an explanation of the concept of purification itself. We were still in the middle of testing, so a formal, structured explanation would be awkward.
"Later, if I get the chance, I'll teach you."
"Later? When?"
After that, I found it too cumbersome to engage and ignored her. Fortunately, around that time, Violet resumed the test.
"Next, Trixie von Fritz."
The next name called was Trixie. To the students, she was the one who had set the problems on the Agora Board. To me, the female student I'd pegged as a drunkard.
I'd had my doubts as to why Becky was making such a fuss, but seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. At last, I could confirm it with my own eyes.
The word Violet's frog spat out was 'Malleability.'
"Begin whenever you're rea—"
Before Violet could even finish her sentence, Trixie used her magic.
With her arms still folded, Trixie gave a slight tilt of her head, and the earth attuned itself to her mana.
The formula she inscribed into her mind in an instant, the precise arrangement of her mana, and the soil of the earth mingled together, driving the malleability to perfection.
With a crunching sound, the earth compressed and molded itself into a beautiful little figurine.
The figurine, faithfully modeled after her own appearance, seemed to declare that she regarded her very existence as a work of art in its own right.
"Wow... that's seriously insane. Hey, Plan. Imagine getting on the wrong side of someone like that. Terrifying, right? You seriously dodged disaster."
Becky whispered to me like she was profoundly relieved.
'I wonder if the problem is just her drunken antics.'
Trixie is undeniably gifted.
Her mana carries a sharp keenness, and above all, the speed at which she calculated the arrangement of mana in her circuit was remarkable.
'Though she'll need to find the proper direction.'
The flow of mana invariably follows its master. That sharp keenness is only possible because of her monstrous ego.
The moment she loses control of it, it will become poison to her. Something she must be mindful of.
"A Grade."
Belatedly, Violet assigned the grade. As if she had expected it, Trixie had already returned to her spot.
"A Grade."
"C Grade."
"C Grade."
The test continued on.
"Next, Louis."
The moment that name was called, the eyes of a considerable number of female students began to sparkle.
Louis—I recalled him as the male student who'd been with Hailey.
A rustling sound from beside me made me turn my head. Becky was fiddling with mana wrapped around her hand, researching one thing or another.
"...What are you doing?"
"What was that? What am I doing? I didn't hear you."
Becky followed my gaze, glanced once at Louis, then shook her head firmly.
"Ah, Louis~ everyone says he's good-looking, but I never really saw it myself. Well, he's popular because he's good at magic too, I guess."
The magic Louis performed next was quite excellent.
"A Grade."
It was clean, extraordinarily faithful to the fundamentals. If you were to personify the textbook, Louis would be it.
Which is another way of saying he was a little bland to me. He lacked his own unique shade. In any case, he was undoubtedly a born gem in the rough.
"Louis, Hailey, Trixie..."
Becky began folding down her fingers one by one, going back over the students who had received an A Grade. Soon, her face went pale.
"Just imagining it is suffocating. Can I even go out there and do well..."
She turned her head sharply toward me and went on.
"Hey, Plan, you'll get an A Grade too, right?"
"Who knows."
"I'm telling you, I don't know a single person there...! You have to get an A Grade too!"
At that moment, Violet snapped her fingers, and the original lecture hall scenery unfolded before every freshman's eyes.
Three professors stood on the podium. Violet was the one who spoke.
"Today's test ends here. The results will be written on paper and distributed to you separately."
At those words, the students who'd received low grades let out heavy, deep sighs.
"Oh, and Plan."
"Yes."
I answered calmly. The professors' expressions remained inscrutable.
"Only Plan will stay. Everyone else may go."
The students filed out of the lecture hall, murmuring. Every last one of them stole a glance at me.
Becky looked at me with eyes full of worry right up to the end, but ultimately she couldn't withstand the professors' gazes and left the lecture hall.
When at last only the four of us remained in the lecture hall, Violet spoke again.
"Plan will be taking a retest."
I nodded without a word of complaint. If that was what had already been decided, I had only to accept it.
Even if my remaining mana was next to empty.
"Which school of magic are you most confident in?"
"I handle them all at the same level."
"All, the same?"
A hollow laugh escaped Violet's lips. She went on with an expression that showed she found the whole thing rediculous.
"What did I say during the test?"
"'Begin as soon as you're ready.'"
"No, I said to stay put, didn't I? I told you very clearly to stay put."
I had nothing in particular to say to that. Was that not quiet enough? All I did was demonstrate the best I was capable of with this body.
Violet created a mana crystal and sent it over in front of me.
"Do it like before."
"'Like before'..."
I drew upon the near-empty dregs of my mana.
Regrettably, this body currently holds no mana sufficient to purify it. In other words, doing it "like before" was impossible from the start.
Coating my finger in mana, I flicked it lightly against the crystal and sent it far away. No, I swept it aside. Having this crystal near me was repulsive.
To me, a mana crystal that hasn't been purely purified is just an impurity by its very existence, no different from dust or a speck of dirt.
The crystal shot forth briskly to the other end of the lecture hall, only coming to a halt after covering a distance roughly similar to where Violet had stuck the signpost earlier.
Violet tilted her head at an angle, eyeing me with an inscrutable gleam. With a low "Hmm..." she opened her mouth again.
"Why don't you do it like before?"
Because I have no mana. Instead, I posed a question in return.
"It'll be an A Grade, won't it?"
"What...?"
At my words, Violet's brow twitched.
◈
"Professor Violet~ Are you still upset that Plan got an A Grade?"
Someone carefully set a teacup down in front of Violet, who was wearing an irritable expression.
It was none other than Professor Audrey. The elegant fragrance of tea tickled her nose.
"It can't be helped. The decision's already been made. Drink this and soothe your mood."
Violet, Leska, and Audrey—the three professors—had visited the faculty-exclusive café inside Märchen Academy to unwind after finishing the freshmen's grade testing.
The truth was, they had intended to help Violet unwind, but the problem was that the person in question was still thoroughly displeased.
Wearing a sullen expression, Violet spoke.
"I'm telling you, the grade that student received isn't the issue. He keeps trying to pick a fight with me."
"Oh, come on. He's still just a student. How could he possibly dare to pick a fight with a professor? Perhaps Professor Violet is being a little too sensitive..."
"Who's being sensitive! You're the one who's soft, Professor Audrey! Be quiet for a minute!"
"Ah, yes..."
Professor Audrey hunched her shoulders and sipped her tea. Violet's sharp gaze swung toward Professor Leska this time.
"Professor Kuellin! You say something too. You're the one who brought up the scroll in the first place, which put him in the retest!"
The male professor called Kuellin broke into a nervous sweat and averted his eyes from Violet's glare.
"Well, the thing is... does it even make sense for a freshman to perform that level of purification? Naturally I assumed he used a magic scroll to cheat."
Violet's razor-sharp gaze remained fixed on Kuellin. Kuellin cleared his throat with a "hem, hem" and looked toward Audrey.
"And I wasn't the only one who thought that. Didn't Professor Audrey also agree with the scroll theory?"
At that, Audrey hurriedly set down the teacup she had been about to sip.
"Ah, w-well, of course I did! Who in the world would think a student who enrolled as an F Grade would perform purification support and output assistance?"
"Yes, that's exactly my point. Purification is a concept you're supposed to learn in your upper years. How could we not be suspicious when a freshman uses it?"
Violet pressed her fingers to her throbbing temple.
"Enough, both of you, stop it. The scroll is not the issue here. If he had used a scroll in the first place, I was standing right there watching—I couldn't possibly have missed it."
"Then, Professor Violet, what exactly are you angry about...?"
Violet shot a glare at Professor Audrey as if to ask how she could possibly not know, and Professor Audrey averted her gaze.
"During the first test, I clearly told him to only assist the output value. But then he did the purification support as well, without being asked. And when I tell him to do it again, he conveniently leaves out the purification? What exactly is he trying to pull? He's messing with me!"
Audrey looked at Violet with a troubled expression.
"But still... Wasn't it you who gave Plan the A Grade, Professor Violet?"
"So if he has A-Grade skill, am I supposed to not give him an A? What do you take me for?"
"Ah, right..."
The other two professors shook their heads as they sipped their tea, and Violet, as if her throat were parched, picked up her own teacup.
'What exactly is that kid?'
Violet was lost deep in thought.
It was true that Plan's skill demonstrably corresponded to an A Grade, but that alone was not the reason he'd received one.
When you pieced together the three professors' accounts, Plan's record was bizarre beyond belief.
He had entered Märchen Academy as an F Grade, yet in a matter of days he possessed the requirements to perfectly perform output assistance.
That point alone would have been enough to astonish anyone, but Plan didn't stop there.
He had even demonstrated purification, an advanced concept. Because of that, the two professors had even suspected him of using a magic scroll.
Violet felt a suspicion she had tucked away in a corner of her mind begin to stir again.
'As I thought, the one who interfered with my projection magic...'
When her thoughts reached that point, Violet let out a hollow laugh of sheer disbelief.
If Plan really was the one responsible, then didn't that mean he could handle the school of interference as well?
'...I'm going to be keeping my eye on you for a very, very long time.'
In any case, Violet is the professor in charge of the A-Grade freshmen.
She doesn't know what he's hiding or what goal he's working toward, but she resolved to keep a meticulous watch over his every move.
Hmph. Violet lifted her teacup with a dissatisfied expression.