Academy Romance
Zeroa Vandes arrived at Rye Redford's house early in the morning for training. The first thing he noticed was the complete chaos in the yard.
Personal belongings were scattered everywhere, and unmistakable traces of someone who had moved in a hurry remained on the grass. If he had looked more carefully, he would have spotted the abundance of empty liquor bottles, but Zeroa judged that something dangerous had occurred and immediately drew his sword.
Since Rye had instructed him to use a shield, Zeroa carried one on his back as well, though he still struggled with it. The sword in his hands felt far more familiar at that moment.
Memories of facing off against assassins flashed through his mind. Zeroa swallowed hard, tensed his body, and slowly stepped inside.
Zeroa advanced cautiously, and when he spotted the red-haired girl collapsed on the grass, he froze in surprise. He scanned the surroundings to confirm there was no threat, then rushed over to her.
"Are you all right?"
"Uhm..."
The girl groaned as if in pain. Concerned, Zeroa tried to embrace her, but she pushed his face away irritably and turned her body away.
The air still reeked of alcohol, yet Zeroa, still tense and oblivious, desperately grabbed her again.
"What on earth happened?"
"Aaah— Zeroa-ya?"
A raspy voice escaped the unconscious girl's lips. Assuming she had hurt her throat, Zeroa looked at her with deep worry. Rai, half-lidded eyes narrowed, watched him, then suddenly shot up.
"You came fast."
"... ... Do you know me?"
"Eh? Ah— you didn't wipe off your makeup. Hm, hmm— hello, Zeroa. I'm Rye Redford."
Rai cleared his throat and called Zeroa in his beautiful, youthful voice. Looking at Rai's rigid face, he still swayed unsteadily from the drink and kicked Aslan's fallen form with his foot.
"Hey, get up. It's morning."
"Aaah... leave me alone... my head hurts..."
"A guest has arrived. Pull yourself together."
Rai's foot, clad in black slippers that suited gentle girls, tapped lightly against Aslan's head. Aslan, irritated, swatted his hand away, yet his movements remained sluggish, unable to fully wake up.
"I'll wash up."
Zeroa stared blankly at the girl's exhausted face as Rai ignored him and walked into the house.
When Zeroa stood there, utterly confused about the situation, Aslan, who had been face-down in the dirt, suddenly jolted upright and looked around.
His spinning head locked eyes with Zeroa. Aslan scowled fiercely, turned away, and sat down.
"What— damn it, morning."
"... ... Aslan... sir?"
"Good morning, Zeroa. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die."
Aslan let out a deep sigh, picked up a water bottle from the floor, drank it down, and poured the rest over his head. The sunlight catching the wet strands gave him quite a dashing appearance, but Zeroa had no time to admire it.
Seeing Rai acting like a woman as naturally as possible and Aslan unconcerned, Zeroa wondered if he was the strange one, then shook his head.
"Um... Aslan sir? The instructor is a woman...?"
At Zeroa's question, Aslan laughed with a rough voice.
"Haha, that human dog is hilarious. He's a total beauty, right?"
"I... I suppose so..."
Aslan, who gave a strange answer to a question that wasn't even that, picked up a cigarette butt from the floor, glanced at it for a moment, then tossed it far away and simply lay down.
"An adventure with Rai was fun. Not even escaping was bad luck. If anything had gone wrong, it would have been a terrifying tightrope act that would've gotten me kicked out of the academy. Or maybe I would've been imprisoned in the infamous Pentas instead."
Aslan had barely survived thanks to Rai's cunning.
That guy had completely analyzed the entire guard corps' system. He knew exactly how they moved, how their reports worked, and what actions they would take, all from the palm of his hand.
He had escaped using a useless suit of armor, hidden the armor to slow down the guards' identification checks, stolen signal flares to divert their attention in a critical moment, and even pretended to be an academy student with a girl in front of the guards.
Just thinking about Rai, who had done all that with such a girl-like appearance that he even won the guards' favor, made it terrifyingly impressive.
His hidden background—whether he had served in the guard corps or had done something that would get him pursued by them—Zeroa could tell he knew the guards too well.
When he returned, Rai raised a toast, saying it had been fun, and the two of them drank until dawn. Aslan, still dazed and holding his throbbing head, looked at Zeroa with blank eyes.
"There was no real reason."
"There was no real reason?"
Zeroa had been pondering what "real reason" could involve cross-dressing when he started cleaning up the chaotic yard. Aslan, who had been lounging comfortably, found staying still bothersome and got up to help.
After washing up and returning to his original brown-haired, brown-eyed appearance, Rai sat on top of empty liquor bottles all night, watching them.
"You two, clean up too."
"If you fed us and let us sleep, you should do your share. Non-involved Zeroa is helping too."
"Non-involved Zeroa isn't helping? Then you two should clean up."
"Kid, suddenly you're so responsible. You're not like that normally. Pervert."
"You're the pervert, you idiot."
Zeroa, hearing the word "pervert" exchanged back and forth, thought about Rai's cross-dressing and kept quiet while cleaning. Then something occurred to him, and he looked at the two of them with a pure expression.
"By the way, a pervert appeared in the city yesterday."
"Eh? Pervert?"
"Yes. A duo with abilities good enough to make the entire guard corps move, but they haven't been caught yet. Still, it's weird."
Zeroa's words made their gazes meet, but they didn't notice. He explained what had happened the day before.
"Despite their great skill, there's something off about their crimes..."
"What... did they steal underwear?"
"Yes. They stole women's underwear... not theft, robbery."
Zeroa tilted his head at Aslan, who blurted out yesterday's events without a care.
"They forcibly stripped a woman of her underwear and fled with only the underwear. Thankfully, they didn't do anything to the victim, but the guy seems way too weird and disturbing."
"That's... truly a terrifying pervert."
Aslan, having learned the charge he was falsely accused of, gulped.
It was so horrifying a crime that the only better fate would have been to disappear into thin air from the gallows. Aslan, who had nearly become a lifelong underwear fetishist, looked at Rai with grateful eyes.
Rai, who had helped but didn't know the suspect had committed such a thing, awkwardly nodded.
He had only lent a helping hand lightly, yet he had saved a man's entire life.
***
"Due to an unfortunate incident, training was cut short early. However, this training's first-place team came from Class B. I'm not sure if it's worth celebrating..."
Leila looked at the seventh team advancing for the award with a contemptuous gaze.
Rai and Cesset, with their arms crossed in a proud V shape, were waving their hands energetically and making a huge fuss. Aria stood as always, but Zeroa had turned his head away, avoiding the eyes of the other students.
The stares from the academy students toward them were anything but kind. Especially Philia glared at Rai with pure contempt.
"Yes. The seventh team received a total of sixty-two tokens treated as scores, finishing first among the fifty teams. Of these, fifty-seven tokens were obtained through a transaction with the brilliant instructor, Master Rye Redford, who 'rescued' and 'purchased' them from the princess with the price of a life."
Indeed. Rai had defeated the assassins and, as naturally as breathing, demanded tokens from Emilia and Philia.
After stealing every last token from Emilia and Philia, the seventh team had automatically become first, and the training ended right there.
"That despicable human! Turning something honorable into money!"
"This is fraud! The first-place prize must be returned!"
"Step down!"
The students erupted in complaints, but Rai simply smirked.
"If you're upset, go rescue the princess yourselves. Life is more precious than tokens."
Seeing Rai dance in a way that was impossible to watch without anger, the students exploded. Leila slammed the table, silencing half the room.
Leila, calming the heated atmosphere, began the award ceremony that no one wanted to participate in.
While Aria received hers in silence, the students watching Zeroa receive his award gave him cold stares. When Cesset and Rai were awarded, they spat curses.
Cesset, holding the product high above her head with both hands, and Rai, who had been walking circles around her and showing off, received a slap from Leila and fell quiet.
"The product is a mana circulation auxiliary gadget made at Delok Magic Workshop. It will be helpful during your mana training, so keep at it."
Delok Magic Workshop was one of the continent's most renowned magic item crafting shops. A workshop of about a dozen master artisans produced high-quality goods, but with so few people, the output was limited.
Even Legandia Academy struggled to obtain items from them. The saying went that even with money, you couldn't buy from Delok, and the products were so rare.
As the students stared at the name Delok with envy, Rai stared blankly at a bracelet-shaped gadget that covered his entire wrist and asked Leila.
"How much is this?"
"It's from Delok, but compared to their usual products, it's mass-produced, so it's not expensive."
"Then how much?"
"... ... Because many people buy and resell the items, the second-hand price is higher. A new one is fifty gold, but selling it would probably net around one hundred fifty gold."
Rai kept pressing for the price of the award he had received from the academy, which annoyed Leila. She sighed and explained.
Fifty gold was a significant amount for an academy student. Moreover, if sold second-hand, the price could triple. Zeroa recalled his living expenses at home and calculated that he could eat and survive for ten years. His mouth fell open as he stared at the bracelet.
Even after hearing the price, Rai still looked indifferent. He tossed the bracelet toward Philia sitting in the front row.
"You borrowed my sword, so consider it paid."
"... ... That borrowed sword wasn't even worth one gold... I have no money left to repay the rest, so..."
"It's fine. It's considered paid."
The sword Rai had lost to the assassins during the escape had been a cheap training weapon he had bought just to use for training, sold at a weapons shop without much care.
Honest Philia hesitated to refuse because the difference between the bracelet and the price was too great, but Rai cut her off and walked away casually.
When Philia tried to get up because she couldn't stand the debt, Cesset ran over and draped her arm around her, calling it their couple's bracelet and showing it off to the other students. Thanks to Cesset's fuss, Philia missed her chance and awkwardly smiled at Rai, who was teasing the students.
Knowing her personality well, Cesset forcibly slipped the bracelet onto Philia's arm and patted her, saying it was useless anyway since Rai had brought training auxiliary tools.
***
Aria sat alone on a bench, staring at the bracelet on her wrist. She was a distant relative of the Emperor, and her father, who was a duke, belonged to the Bricqueville family. Delok products weren't rare in their household.
Even if something was extremely expensive and rare, their father, who spoiled his daughter terribly, would sell the family name if Aria wanted it.
Their family home had even rarer magical items and priceless treasures. But Aria found the bracelet on her wrist far more precious than any of those.
It was a product she had directly obtained. Of course, the background of Rai stealing the tokens with the price of a life was there, but the bracelet symbolized the five days they had fought together as comrades.
Rai, who was strangely unpredictable yet dependable, always bright and bringing her into conversations even though she was quiet and lacked eloquence. Cesset, cheerful and always ready to talk. And Zeroa, whose pure eyes held a kind warmth.
The bracelet she had earned was more valuable together with her seven team members.
Having Aria, someone who shared such deeply grateful moments with her that they could become memories, she gently rubbed the bracelet as if it were a priceless treasure.
Aria, who had always stayed at home, felt an indescribable thrill at the idea of being with her comrades.
It wasn't something that could be compared to the adventure stories she had read in fairy tales as a child, but the first time Aria had fought hardships alongside others, her heart raced.
After staring at the bracelet for a long time, Aria looked up and saw Zeroa approaching her.
Because she had always been overprotected by her family, everything on the street was fascinating to her. In return, every week Zeroa brought her street food.
The time they spent together was short, and they didn't talk much, but it was precious to Aria.
Yet since the assassins had appeared during training, Zeroa had seemed to avoid her. Aria's heart ached. Even when their eyes met, he would turn away and pretend not to know her, and when she tried to approach, he would dodge.
Naturally, Zeroa hadn't visited the bench where they had met every week.
Aria worried that she had done something wrong. She rarely met people and didn't know how to behave around them. She had accidentally offended him without realizing, and he might be disappointed. Since Zeroa was kind, he wouldn't get angry over small things, so she must have been wrong.
Aria sat on the bench every day waiting for him, but he never came.
Two weeks later, when Zeroa appeared, Aria looked at him with eyes filled with unease and anticipation.
Zeroa's gaze was steady, without any wavering. When he stared at her with those strong eyes, which he had previously avoided, Aria grew even more anxious.
She wanted to apologize, but her lips wouldn't move. Zeroa approached her and offered a small rice cake stuffed with meat and vegetables.
"It's been a while. I bought rice cakes today."
"Yes..."
Unable to say what she wanted to say, Aria accepted the rice cake and placed it quietly on her lap. The warmth seeping through the wrapping paper tickled her thighs, but she stared at the rice cake in silence as if frozen.
Zeroa, uninterested in the rice cake, sat in his place and simply gazed at the darkness illuminated only by the streetlight.
After a long silence, Zeroa lowered his head to Aria.
"Thank you first. If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have survived there."
"No. I was able to gain strength thanks to you, Zeroa."
Zeroa, who knew it was just humble words, smiled bitterly. He had only gotten in the way and done nothing.
Everyone there had sacrificed their bodies to save their lives, and it would have been better if no one had been there at all.
"We could have stopped them together."
"..."
Zeroa's expression turned sad at Aria's words. Thinking she was surprised because he had made another mistake, Aria was bewildered, but Zeroa smiled bitterly and spoke.
"I wasn't helpful."
"... ... No..."
Aria, who knew the pride of a knight by watching her family's knights, answered without confidence.
Her eyes looked as if she might cry, but soon the sadness vanished. Zeroa looked at her with eyes full of strength.
"If I say something that would make you angry..."
"..."
"I will protect you, Aria."
Zeroa vowed like a knight's oath. Aria watched him in silence. So many people had said such words to her beautiful face before.
Such words had long grown tiresome, but Aria simply watched Zeroa with a blank expression, seeing a young man who had become a man full of strong conviction.
"I know that just claiming to protect the weak doesn't earn trust. But I will definitely become strong. When you are facing enemies, Aria, I will protect your back. I'll stand beside or behind you and fight together, so please wait just a little longer."
Even though he said he would protect her, he was ultimately saying they would fight together.
And that awkward promise reached Aria deeply. Everyone had only said they would protect her and hide her away, but no one had said they would fight together.
When Zeroa said he wanted to stand on the battlefield with her as comrades, a beautiful smile formed on Aria's lips. It was a smile of happiness that her father had never seen even once.
"Yes, I'll wait. Please stand right beside me."
"Yes. I will definitely stand there."
The two smiled at each other.
"Youth."
Rai leaned against the railing on the rooftop of the distant building, watching the two of them. Though far away, he was secretly eavesdropping, and seeing their childish play made him laugh uncontrollably.
"What are you doing, asking for help from a guy?!"
Philia shouted from behind. Rai turned around, grinning.
Due to the punishment for burning the sub-principal's statue. On the surface, it was because he had started a fire inside the academy, so he had to clean an old warehouse on the rooftop.
Philia, who had been dragged there by a bet from the duel and the value of the Delok gift, had been lounging around doing nothing while scolding lazy Rai.
The warehouse was a mess that would take days to clean, yet the idiot was slacking from the beginning.
Rai's expression, as if he had secretly eaten something sweet, didn't sit well with her.
"Ah, now that I think about it, there's no reason to make me do it all."
"... ... That's the sub-principal's order to you."
"So I just have to stand here. You can clean, or not."
"..."
Philia tried to return the bracelet, saying "You gave it to make me help clean?" but was dragged into an ultimatum that she had to pay one hundred fifty gold at second-hand price.
Yet here too, Rai tried another ultimatum, making Philia tremble.
If she had one wish right now, it would be to slap that disgusting face.
"Ahem— just kidding. Just kidding. Here, here, can I clean this?"
In the odd atmosphere, Rai laughed brightly and started cleaning the items, while Philia let out a small sigh and helped him, saying it wasn't that place.