Misaligned Bonds (7)
Every gaze in the square swung toward Adel without warning.
The students made no effort to lower their voices. They raised them on purpose, spitting venom loud enough for her to hear every word.
"What about the kids who actually worked their asses off to get into the special unit?"
"She must've just spread her legs for some noble, riding that pretty face. How else does this make any sense? It's not like the headmaster or the crown prince is doing her favors."
"Fucking hell. Some rootless little bitch who only knows how to pull a trigger, and she's in the special unit? We'll be lucky if she doesn't piss herself the second real combat starts. Must be nice living life on easy mode."
Every line was pure, low-grade character assassination, each one crossing every line of decency. In the middle of it all, Adel stood like a herbivore ringed by predators, her slender shoulders trembling as she quietly lowered her head.
—Grit.
From a distance, Novena watched the entire scene unfold, both hands clenched so tightly her knuckles whitened as she fought to keep her rage in check. Every instinct screamed at her to charge straight into that crowd and drag Adel out right then and there.
But…
Do I even have the right?
Even in a situation this unjust, Novena could not simply ignore her family's standing. House Altdorf had once been a proud, long-standing lineage that built its reputation on solid, honest swordsmanship—yet the rapid rise of magic had stripped that strength away. They still held on to some influence only because they belonged to the Kingdom. Had they been a house of the Republic or the Military State, they might already have been "nationalized" out of existence.
While Novena wrestled with that conflict, the hostility aimed at Adel showed no sign of dying down. Like a wildfire racing across dry autumn grass, it only spread farther and burned hotter.
—Are you just going to keep watching?
Perhaps her patience had finally hit its limit. For a moment she almost believed she heard Hino whispering at her side.
"If this keeps up, Adel could actually get hurt."
"…Wait, that was real?"
Damn. Not a hallucination after all.
Hino had somehow appeared beside her without a single sound or hint of presence, the way she always did. Judging by the murderous mana light spilling from those violet eyes, she was just as displeased with the situation.
"If it bothers you that much, why don't you step in yourself? Adel seems to like you more than me anyway."
"Yeah. She likes my body."
Huh?
Hino's completely casual answer made Novena doubt her own ears. She tilted her head in a rare show of confusion.
"What… did you just say?"
"We slept together that night. Jealous?"
Bubble-bubble-bubble.
It felt as if a kettle had replaced her stomach. Heat boiled up inside her, rage already high and now joined by some nameless irritation she could not name. She could not hold it in any longer.
"You—fucking talk later."
"Why are you swearing?"
"Sh-shut up, you crazy pervert!"
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Novena stomped forward in pure irritation. Shoulders hardened by constant training, she drove straight through the mass of students like a living battering ram.
—Thud!
"Ugh!"
—Crash!
"Aaaah!"
"Wh-what the fuck, is that a goddamn bison?!"
Novena felt not the slightest hesitation. Every one of them was just another face behind a mask who had been insulting Adel. Family rules forbade harming unarmed civilians—but these people carried knives on their tongues. That made them armed enemies as far as she was concerned.
Like one of those prototype "magic tanks" the Military State was supposedly developing, she plowed through the crowd bare-handed until she finally reached Adel's side.
Normally Adel would have sensed her approach and thrown herself into her arms before Novena even finished closing the distance. Today, though, she still had her head bowed—maybe she was crying—and never noticed.
It hurt to look at.
Novena had always wondered about it, but the truth was that Adel received far worse treatment than she ever deserved. The rumors had grown so tangled that no one could even guess when or where they had started.
…Ugh. Not the time to think about that.
If someone was deliberately spreading the lies, she could hunt them down later. Right now the priority was pulling Adel out of this powder keg.
"Hey. Come here."
Novena deliberately let Adel hear her voice first, just in case the girl might misunderstand, then grabbed her arm with one hand and the hilt of her sword with the other.
"If you don't want to get beaten to death, move, you bastards."
She carved a path straight through them.
"Uh… uhhh…??"
Adel's confused voice floated from behind, but Novena was too focused on shoving through the students to catch it. Amusingly, the moment people realized it was Novena taking Adel away, the volume of the insults dropped off sharply. Escaping their stares became almost easy after that.
"No-Novena…! If we go too far…"
"Shut up and follow me."
"Ugh… okay."
Of course Novena had no intention of stopping there. The professors watching with sour faces and the teaching assistants trying to block her path were just as guilty as the students. The people who should have stopped this mess had stood around gawking like idiots and only now decided to intervene. Disgusting.
Every last one of them had brains pickled in politics; they clearly had some agenda for letting it happen.
"Unless you want to pick a fight with House Altdorf, get the hell out of the way."
That was their weak point. The teaching assistant blocking the path twisted his face and stepped aside. No one else tried to stop them.
Novena pulled Adel by the wrist past them and into a quiet, empty alley beyond. Luckily the plaza was surrounded by restaurants, so finding a place to hide for a moment was simple.
She stopped dead, turned, and carefully looked Adel over from head to toe—face, clothes, everything.
"No-Novena? Long time no see?"
Adel flinched under that blatant scrutiny, but she made no move to pull away. After the way those students had treated her, fear would have been natural. Instead she simply submitted, quiet and obedient, to whatever Novena did. It felt like watching a cat that only ever growled at its own master, and the satisfaction that rose in Novena's chest was almost embarrassing.
…Satisfaction? God, am I the crazy one here?
This was not the time.
As a trained swordswoman, Novena's eyesight was excellent. She saw Adel's condition with painful clarity: the reddened rims of eyes that had clearly been crying, the bloodshot irises, the faintly swollen lips, the soft flush on both cheeks. It was easy to imagine how much the barrage of insults had hurt her.
And yet…
"Heheh, it feels so good seeing you like this! But why that face? Hmm? Is something wrong?"
Adel was strangely, impossibly bright. Even after Novena had shoved her away and put distance between them. Even after Hino—her last remaining friend—had vanished after that cryptic talk about "proving" something. Even after she had been forced to endure those vicious personal attacks with no one to help her.
Her eyes still shone the same way they always did. The soft curve of her eyes and the gentle smile she turned on Novena were the real thing. She looked genuinely happy.
Don't tell me… she took drugs again? I never heard anything about that. Or did that bitch Hino do something?
Hino was an illusion mage. She could easily have messed with someone's mind.
Damn it.
If Novena had been tailing her like usual, she could have checked for herself instead of standing here wondering. Now she was actually regretting that she hadn't committed the crime of stalking. The self-reproach that rose in her throat was hard to name.
If Adel had been selfish and greedy like the other students, Novena could have forgotten her without a second thought. No matter how hard she tried, though, her feet always ended up carrying her back to Adel's side, as if she had no choice.
Was she feeling something special after all?
The moment that thought crossed her mind, the image of Adel's plump, swollen lips rose unbidden.
—Gulp.
For some reason her mouth kept going dry. She swallowed, then stared at those lips again, needing to confirm the truth.
Adel's lips were the same soft, warm pink as her hair and eyes—peach-colored. Soft enough that a single touch might make sweet juice spill out, soft enough that she suddenly wanted to bite—
Wait. Don't tell me she and Hino…?
—Grit!
The sudden suspicion made Novena clench her teeth. She shoved Adel's shoulders back against the wall.
"Ah?!"
She had controlled her strength, so the impact against the wall shouldn't have hurt. That did nothing to change the fact that Adel was now trapped between Novena's arms, practically caged against her chest. Whether from fear or something else, Adel wore a dazed expression and began rubbing her thigh against the one Novena had planted between her legs.
Novena nearly lost her composure at the soft sensation. She forced her face back into seriousness and asked the question that mattered.
"Did you sleep with Hino?"
"U-uhh? No? We slept separately…?"
The answer was far too weak. Adel's eyes slid away as if she had something to hide.
—Grit.
Fresh anger surged up. Until now she had always met Novena's gaze, held her hand, even hugged her. Why the sudden avoidance?
"Then what was that about? You said you saw Hino's n-na…"
"Na-na?"
"Her naked body!"
—Huff, huff, huff.
As a proper noble young lady, Novena could swear with the best of them, but truly vulgar words still sat awkwardly on her tongue. She shouted "naked body!" loud enough to shake the alley, then felt heat flood her face and had to let out a long breath.
Why was it so hard to stay clear-headed around this girl? It felt like some unknown magic had her under a spell.
"Oohoho, so that's what you meant~?"
From that moment Adel's tone changed completely.
Her eyes took on a sultry gleam. She offered a smile soft enough to make her lashes flutter, then leaned into the space Novena had created by pinning her to the wall, looking straight up into her face.
"Mm-hmm, Hino came out of the bath and never expected I'd already be awake. So I ended up seeing her body with only a towel covering it. Couldn't really help it."
"…You saw it."
Novena's eyes began to glaze over. Adel continued in a honeyed voice.
"But it was such a shame, you know? If you'd been there too, Novena, it would've felt just like a pajama party. We wouldn't even have needed separate rooms—we could've played and slept all together in one. Haa, I was so sad you weren't there. I spent the whole day wondering what I'd done wrong."
"Ah."
Step by step, Novena backed away. The hand that had held Adel and the one braced against the wall both flew up to cover her burning cheeks. Adel's voice kept circling inside her head, and she could not bring herself to ask the question that would sound like an accusation of something far more intimate.
Ah, damn it. Damn it damn it damn it damn it!
If she could have, she would have kicked her blankets a hundred times to work out this strange, ticklish feeling. But she was still standing right in front of Adel, and under that open, expectant gaze it was already far too late to do anything of the sort.
In the end:
"…Y-you. From now on don't just stand there like an idiot taking it. Fight back! And if you need help, ask for it! Got it?"
"Heheh, okay~"
"I-I have to go to the cleanup operation, so we're done here. Don't push yourself just because you got into Omega Team and get hurt. If you come back injured I won't let it slide!"
"Eheheheh, okay! I like you, Novena!!"
Novena could not bring herself to deny the words. She turned and tried to flee the alley in a hurry—
"…Novena! W-wait…!! I have something to give you, please!!"
Adel's desperate call stopped her cold.