Misaligned Bonds (8)
Had something happened to her?
That desperate call made it plain enough—something was wrong. Because of it, Novena, who had been trying so hard to walk away with a composed face, had no choice but to stop in her tracks.
Scrape. Scrape. Scraaape.
The sound of feet dragging came from behind her. Was Adel trying to pull some prank again? If she came up and hugged her from behind right now, Novena wasn't sure she could hold back the emotions boiling inside her.
A shiver of unease ran down her nape. She wanted nothing more than to turn around at once, to see what was going on—what Adel was doing—
"…Don't look."
The plea that followed was so raw that Novena couldn't bring herself to ignore it.
And so Adel came up behind her at last.
"Novena. Here—take this."
She slipped a hand through the gap at Novena's side and held out a small brooch.
"This is…"
Even in the shadowed alley, the gems on the brooch hadn't lost their brilliance. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—seven petals of colored stone, arranged like a flower. It looked expensive. Very expensive.
Adel, who skipped meals because she had no money—where on earth had she gotten the funds for something like this? Had she stolen it?
The suspicion flickered through Novena for a moment. Even so, she couldn't say it out loud. Not when she saw Adel's hand trembling with anxiety at the fact that she hadn't taken the brooch yet.
She decided to sort out the rest later, and accepted it.
"What's this all of a sudden?"
She forced her usual curt tone, but Adel only answered with complete seriousness.
"Mm… because I don't want you to leave me."
What was she thinking? Coming out with something like that out of nowhere. Had ignoring Adel really wounded her so deeply that she felt she had to beg with a gift like this?
In the end, they were right back where they started.
"Fine. I get it. We'll talk later."
"Hehe… thank you."
If she'd known it would turn out like this… What was she supposed to tell the Crown Prince when he asked why she'd acted so impulsively? What was she supposed to tell her family?
No. No—dwelling on the same regrets wouldn't change a thing.
"I… I can't hug you, so will you at least hold my hand?"
A belated frustration welled up in her, but another thought rose alongside it. Since when had she started calculating every gain and loss like some politician, fretting over things that didn't matter? A family that couldn't even help a single friend—power like that was worse than having none at all.
The guilt came on thick. Adel was trembling for reasons Novena still didn't understand.
"Haa. You're not a kid."
"…Sorry."
"Forget it. What are you so scared of?"
In the end Novena turned, pulled Adel into a firm embrace, and wordlessly took in her quiet sobs.
"Thank youuu…"
With her chin resting on the crown of Adel's head, Novena could feel her jaw rattling from how hard the girl was crying. But Adel pulled herself together soon enough, left a thank-you behind, and headed off toward the plaza.
Somehow… I feel a little empty.
The warmth and the tremor still lingered. If she was struggling that badly, wouldn't it be better to drag her into House Altdorf by force if necessary? The thought crossed Novena's mind for a moment.
But she wasn't foolish enough to sink into fantasies that had no footing in reality. Once this operation was over—whenever that might be—once Adel was in better shape, she would sit down for an honest conversation and ask what that brooch really was. She made herself that promise.
And just like that, Novena left.
Watching her fluster and scramble, unable to hide her panic, I almost laughed out loud. Nobody else around here would know—that Novena was actually that cute underneath it all.
"Hehe. See? She didn't hate me after all."
She hadn't abandoned me. She hadn't gotten sick of me and walked away.
Back in the plaza, when the sudden flood of curses had come pouring down on me—when every word of theirs felt like it was digging into my insides, tearing everything apart—I'd kept my head down and forced the feelings under. And then, in that moment—
"Hey. Get over here."
Novena had appeared like a hero and saved me.
"Get out of the way if you don't want to get your ass beat and die, you bastards."
She'd always tried so hard to rein in that foul mouth of hers, and yet she'd spat out those vicious curses just to help me. After we ducked into the alley she'd even pinned me against the wall out of nowhere—showing me side after side I never saw coming.
It had made me so happy I barely had words for it. Though, uh… it had also been a little dangerous.
"Hehe… she didn't notice, right…?"
When Novena shoved me against the wall and her firm thigh brushed past my crotch… I really, truly couldn't hold back the rush of heat.
"Haa…. God. It's not like I'm some pervert."
Well—at least she didn't catch me. That was something. Either way, I was just glad I'd gotten another chance to talk to her.
"Alright! Time to move."
I'd been spiraling—what am I even doing, who am I putting myself through this for—and her timing had been perfect. How was I supposed to give up easily after that?
Maybe Novena really was a hero. Not just for my body, but for my heart—a real one, in every sense of the word. My own personal hero.
"Hehe. Next time I see her, I should give her a Rainbow Flower too!"
Yeah. Once this purge operation was over safely, we could sit down and have a real talk—about the stalking problem and everything else.
By the time I got back to the plaza, the operation briefing was still going—the professor's explanation droning on as if nothing had happened while we were gone.
"Haa…"
Seriously. What was wrong with these professors? Petty as a bunch of brats. They discriminated against me this openly and still thought I wouldn't notice?
I'd wondered about it sometimes. Ever since I transmigrated into this world—ever since I stopped that first incident in the plaza—the harassment had been relentless and blatant. I'd figured there had to be a reason for that hostility, and that if I fixed whatever the problem was, it would stop. So I'd tried keeping my head down, killing my presence, shutting my mouth and eyes and ears like I didn't even exist.
Nothing changed. The world stayed hostile.
The only people who treated me like a normal human being were the heroines I already adored so much. And now even the professors and teaching assistants seemed to be ganging up on me.
Hah. If this kept going… how long could I last? Could I even stay sane?
I honestly didn't know. Only a few days had passed, and already half of what I wrote in my diary was I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I want to rest. Of course someone as inadequate as me could never fill the protagonist's shoes.
I fumbled a hand to my chest, checked the pistol hidden there, and only then felt a little calmer. Really—what would I have done if Novena hadn't shown up? Maybe I wouldn't have stopped at just touching the gun. Maybe I'd have drawn it right there, shot those bastards as an example, and loaded a save.
Ugh, so annoying! Couldn't I just drop all of this, cling to the heroines, and live easy? Leave a save file, kidnap Novena or Hino, live happily for a while, and come back later—
"Attention! We will now begin team assignments. Alpha Team on the left, Beta Team in the center, Theta Team on the right. Move to your preferred positions and receive confirmation from the professor in charge."
…Okay, that was going too far, even for me.
"Haa…"
Then again, the moment any one of the four powers collapsed, a world war would break out. Unless I buried myself deep in some mountain nowhere, there was no real way to escape the original story's flow. So—I'd try.
There'd been no separate announcement for Omega Team, so I just stood there blankly, letting useless thoughts keep spinning—until the students filing past started "accidentally" bumping my shoulder.
Bump. Bump. Bump.
I stayed put, swallowing the sounds of pain, saying nothing. And then—
Wham!
"Ngh…"
Now they weren't even pretending. A few of them shoulder-checked me full-on as they went by, hard enough that my whole body was throbbing. I couldn't check yet, but once I took my top off there'd probably be at least one bruise on my shoulder or side.
Brainless assholes. This body belonged to the heroines. Not that I could pick a fight with people whose status was higher than mine anyway. Maybe I should just memorize their faces and arrange for the original plot to kill them off.
"Omega Team, gather over here!"
Ah. Good—looked like I didn't have to keep standing there forever. Someone had finally used magic to broadcast the notice; a familiar woman's voice rolled out across the entire plaza. That tone—that particular brand of lazy irritation—had to be Professor Enut.
Even adrift in a sea of students, with no clear sense of where I was, I turned on instinct and found her. The eye-catching figure, the ample chest, the navy-blue hair—yes, that was her. It had been a while.
The only thing that struck me as odd was that Professor Enut was rear-support—she wasn't supposed to fight on the front lines—and yet here she was, acting for all the world like she was Omega Team's assigned professor. Well, no big deal. They wouldn't send a healing mage to the front, right?
"Professor Enu!! It's been so long!"
"Ah, it's you. Good to see you're looking better."
"Eheheh, you remember me?"
But all of my questions turned out to be pointless.
"You've probably already guessed, but I'll be taking direct command of Omega Team. Follow orders well—I'm counting on you."
Something about the situation had started to twist.
"Wait here for the other students. I need to go pick up the supplies. If you're uncomfortable, want to come with me?"
What kind of face had I been making at the unexpected turn? Professor Enut, about to leave at someone's call, kept glancing back at me with open concern, meeting my eyes again and again.
Haha…. God. I wasn't a child. What was this sulking? Other people had done me wrong, and here I was already acting spoiled just because I'd run into Professor Enut.
The worrying could wait. It wasn't something I could fix right this second anyway. So what if there was a problem? This was a main episode—there'd be a save when I needed one. I could just load and deal with things as they came.
I forced a smile and answered as evenly as I could.
"I'm fine! There's just a lot of people, so I'm a little tired."
"You sure? You've always been fragile."
She stared at me again, as if trying to read my real intentions. For all that cool exterior, she really was as warm-hearted as anyone. To think she'd take an interest in feelings that even I—and everyone else—had been ignoring.
Was this stack number two, after Novena? Heh. Honestly, that put me in a good mood.
"Yes. I'm okay."
My voice came out noticeably brighter than before. Only then did Professor Enut, still looking a little unconvinced, decide it was better to go and come back quickly—and set off.
"Have a good trip!!"
I decided to keep it simple. Complicated situations could be unraveled one piece at a time. As long as I got through this episode safely, the next one would play out at a leisurely pace inside the Academy.
Once I'd made that resolution, the blatant stares from the Omega Team students didn't feel so frightening. Fortunately—whether because no one knew when Professor Enut would return, or because there weren't many people around to pile on—no one came at me with direct provocation here where Omega Team had gathered.
Meanwhile, even as students hurried to choose their teams, the professor's announcements kept rolling.
"The identity of the student who died today has been confirmed. I will only say that they belonged to the Kingdom. Furthermore, it was a clear warning killing carried out with deliberate intent, so there is a high probability the perpetrators are on the same side as those who instigated the terrorist attack on the Academy."
So that was it. The murdered student had been from the Kingdom—no wonder the Crown Prince and his people had been so on edge. And with them already half-convinced I was their enemy, of course I looked suspicious.
Mm. Honestly, it was pretty irritating. I even considered looping infinite save-loads until I found a timeline where the Crown Prince died and everyone else survived. Not that I actually planned to do it. The balance among the four powers was delicate as glass. If the Crown Prince—one of the Kingdom's pillars—died, the Kingdom's strength would crater overnight. And that would lead straight into one of Novena's bad endings that I'd seen for myself.
For Novena's sake alone, the Kingdom itself couldn't be allowed to fall. Not unless she decided to abandon her house and turn her back on the Kingdom entirely—and even then.
"Enemy attention is focused on us, including this purge operation. For the time being, refrain from going anywhere alone. That is all for today's announcements. From here on, move according to your assigned professor's orders."
One way or another, the purge operation was finally starting. Professor Enut returned late, followed by teaching assistants loaded down with supply crates. My eyes locked onto one of the ration boxes packed full of food and refused to let go.
Ugh. I'd managed at least one meal yesterday and today, so I hadn't expected to feel like this—but the hardtack, jerky, and energy bars inside looked so good I could barely stand it. My mouth watered, but I was still someone who could tell public from private…
"It's free distribution, so take as much as you need. If anything runs short, we'll restock—don't hold back."
…Did I really need to draw that line? Add the private to the public and it all becomes private anyway, right?
Professor Enut's words felt like a hand at my back. I couldn't hold out any longer. I'd already gone without breakfast and then thrown up on top of it—my stomach was glued to my spine.
I shoved past the other students and started cramming food into my arms as hard as I could manage.
"Huh."
Sighs and snickers rose behind me, but what choice did I have? This was about survival. What would a bunch of silver-spoon brats who'd never wanted for anything know about this kind of hardship?
"Um, Adel? Can you actually carry all of that?"
"Hehehe. Don't worry about it."
I held up the food piled in my arms for her to see—then, for the first time in quite a while, opened the system window, went into my inventory, and dumped every last bit of it in.
"…!!"
Heh. Of course she was surprised. From everyone else's point of view, it would have looked like I'd used spatial storage magic—or maybe teleportation. But I had no intention of explaining. A little spite never hurt.
"See? Don't worry so much. I'm pretty capable in my own way!"
"Ah—right… just like Lutera said."
I swallowed the urge to drag Professor Enut off somewhere and talk right then and there. Instead I gauged the empty slots in my inventory and started packing in bullets, magic scrolls, basic recovery potions, tripwire for traps, steel bearings, gunpowder—everything I could think of.
Did clearing out a cartel really call for this much prep? Maybe not. But all of it would be useful not just now, but later too.
"…I suppose I should be glad we at least aren't short on supplies. Anyway—everyone seems ready. Let's move out."
"Professor, where are we going?"
A student asked the question after Professor Enut's declaration. Anyone who didn't already know the truth would naturally wonder. Professor Enut wore a mischievous little smile and answered in a low voice, as if deliberately trying to spook them.
"Support Alpha Team at thirty-minute intervals. Support Beta Team. Breakthrough support for Theta Team. After that, stand by for emergencies. Understood?"
Right. We weren't heading to a single battlefield.
Every battlefield was where we had to go.