92. A Sensitive Day
92. A Sensitive Day
My pleasant conversation with Silina came to an end.
Pina, who had been passed out the whole time, woke up like a ghost the moment the bell rang signaling the end of lunch and headed off to her next lecture.
Silina made me swear over and over never to tell anyone about the recording, then huffed and puffed her way to her next classroom.
As soon as we'd entered the private training hall, I'd asked Pina to start recording, and that had turned out to be a damn good call. I'd asked just in case, but I never expected it to come out like that.
Of course, she'd probably meant it as a warning for me to stay on my toes, but that didn't matter in the slightest.
What mattered was that I had landed a solid hit on Silina.
Anyway.
Left alone like that, I was waiting for Leona, the professor in charge of Friday afternoon classes.
And yet.
"...Why isn't this old lady coming?"
An hour had passed and Leona was nowhere to be seen. Thanks to that, I'd had plenty of time to think, but I was getting sick of those thoughts too.
So I considered calling her, but I couldn't do that either. The green light indicating Leona's status was off. It seemed she'd gone outside the academy.
Did she forget she has a lecture today?
...Surely not? I had my doubts, but then I thought that if it was Leona, she very well might have.
"Tch. If I warm up, she'll show up on her own."
In the end, I got up from my spot, stretched out nice and refreshed, and took off my coat.
At the same moment, ding— my Device went off.
"...Why is this guy suddenly—?"
Sedil Mershdoff.
A message came from the Dean.
*****
Sedil's message went on and on at great length, but to boil it down simply.
He'd received word from Leona, who had been out on external duties since yesterday, that her return would be delayed.
Therefore, today's afternoon lecture had no choice but to be canceled.
But I shouldn't worry about my grade. Today's canceled class would gradually be made up with supplementary lessons.
That was the gist of it.
In short, today's afternoon lecture was canceled.
I'd been a little excited, thinking about what I might learn that day and what I might find out, but well... it didn't really matter.
Since when have I ever been so disappointed about not getting someone's help with my training?
If there's no lesson, I can just train alone like usual.
Then there's no problem at all.
Right. If things were like usual, there'd be no problem at all.
Knock knock—
"Hey, open the door."
Today, I decided to put that off for a bit.
At this rate, I didn't think I'd be able to focus at all.
Knock knock knock—
"If you called me, don't make me wait. Open up already."
Rustle rustle— the fidgeting sounds from beyond the door stopped, and a thoroughly flustered voice came through.
"Eliarnes...? What? What about your lecture? Did you skip?"
"You're the one who called me first, so why are you surprised?"
"No, I didn't think you'd come this fast!! Ugh, j-just wait. Five minutes... no, two minutes...!"
The fidgeting sounds that had paused for a moment started up again.
Thud thud— I could hear her running around this way and that, and grunting sounds as if she were moving something.
Eight more minutes passed like that.
"...Done."
Creeeak, the door opened.
"You showed up all of a sudden, so I didn't finish tidying up... but come in for now."
Her complexion isn't great.
Her usually neat hair was all disheveled, and her eyes were sunken as if she hadn't slept. Seeing how her eyes were a bit red, it looked like she might have been crying too.
On top of that, all the windows were shut and even the blinds were drawn, so there was no ventilation at all.
The room was absolutely saturated with Stella's scent.
"...Hey. Why are you here now? I asked you to come after class today."
Stella herself seemed embarrassed by her appearance, so she put on a hoodie that had been lying on the floor and pulled the hood over her head.
"Aren't you going to your lecture? Weren't you supposed to have the Vice Dean's class today?"
"It got canceled."
"Hmm... is that so."
Stella smiled a subtle smile, let out a silly little nasal sound, and put on an air of leisure she didn't actually have.
"If you keep glaring at me like that, I'll poke your eyes out."
"Say it nicely!"
Tch, I clicked my tongue and plopped down onto a chair, unpacking all the things I'd lugged over.
"Have you eaten?"
"No, I haven't... huh? What is all this?"
Yuja tea, bananas, lemon candy, dark chocolate, seaweed soup.
Among those, I separated out the lunchbox containers holding the seaweed soup, rice, and simple side dishes and set them on the table.
"Sit down and eat."
"...I asked what this is?"
"Food and snacks."
"What...?"
Stella studied my face with a baffled expression, then chewed on her lip as she looked at the table.
"Why seaweed soup...? Why'd you suddenly bring all this?"
"Don't ask questions. Just stuff your face before it gets cold."
Stella sat down in a daze and picked up a disposable spoon.
"What the...? What is this? Why are you suddenly acting like this? Are you crazy? Are you insane? Is it because Eurasia's not here and you're so lonely and miserable and depressed? Is that it? Did you lose your mind? Or what... are you dying tomorrow? Don't tell me... did you screw up and you're about to get expelled?!"
"You, you little—"
For a second, I nearly let loose a thick stream of curses out of sheer irritation, but I clenched my molars and held it in.
I get that shitty time of the month every month too, so I know exactly how it is. With a depressed mood as the baseline, your emotions swing however the hell they want, your lower belly aches, your back throbs, and sometimes you even get indigestion on top of it.
And fuck, even the tits I don't have hurt.
As if that weren't enough.
And what about the pads?
Fucking hell, it's absolutely awful.
It's damp and wet and sticky, and you feel every kind of shitty sensation there is.
So... today, I decided to hold back as much as possible.
"...I said just shut up and eat."
"You know you're being seriously weird today...?"
Stella blew on the still-steaming seaweed soup— hoo— and took a spoonful. Her eyes sparkled.
It felt like the question marks floating above her head all turned into exclamation points in an instant.
"...Whoa, what the? Why is this so good? Is this from the academy cafeteria?"
"It's expensive, so don't leave any. Eat it all."
"I asked if it's from the cafeteria!"
Leaving Stella behind as she shrieked "Bwaaah!" and started slurping down the seaweed soup— nom nom!— I got up from my seat.
"Muh hay?"
Chew chew— Stella, her cheeks stuffed to bursting with rice, tilted her head.
I was about to ask back, "Do you want me to sit here and watch you stuff your face?" but I decided to just keep my mouth shut.
What's the point of just sitting there watching someone eat?
It's awkward for both the person eating and the person watching.
So I just... decided to clean.
From what she'd told me last time, she didn't leave her room cleaning to the dormitory maids and did it herself.
And maybe because of that, the state of her room was an absolute disaster.
First things first, I should air the place out.
It wasn't that Stella's scent stank, but a person still needed some sunlight and clean air.
So I walked straight over to the window and— swish! I raised the blinds and— rattle! I opened the window.
Light poured in, brightening up the gloomy room, and the March breeze, a little chilly but still pleasant, filled the space.
"Ugh... it's bright."
Stella scrunched up her eyes.
Even so, nom nom! She kept working her spoon and chopsticks diligently.
She was especially focused on the seaweed soup.
Watching her like that, I felt oddly satisfied.
Of course I do.
No matter who it was, it felt good when someone enjoyed eating something I'd made.
Seeing her eat so heartily, I figured it would've been fine to just buy something from the academy, but since I'd made it myself, I decided to assume she was enjoying it even more.
Not the main academy cafeteria, but the cafeteria in the Signia building.
I had made it myself in the dormitory cafeteria, where students could freely use the kitchen.
Of course, the Signia building cafeteria had high-quality ingredients we could use freely.
But what Stella was eating right then had been made using ingredients I had on hand.
There was no need to worry about their condition.
I'd stored them in a very high-grade Artifact enchanted with Preservation Magic and Spatial Expansion Magic. When I actually tasted it myself, there was no problem at all.
And that's not all. That rice and those side dishes aren't ordinary either.
They were Ronan-brand... no, Eli-brand special nutritional rice and side dishes packed full of things that were good for you, not to mention things that were good for menstrual cramps.
If I priced out what Stella was eating right then, it probably would've come to about fifteen days' worth of meal expenses.
Of course, I'm not going to tell her that.
If that penny-pincher Stella heard the price, not only would she refuse to eat it, she'd probably throw up everything she already ate.
It was better for her to just keep eating it happily like she was then.
"Hey, use some wind barrier magic."
"Mmph? Why?"
"If I say use it, use it."
Following the chopsticks that had picked up a side dish, Stella's violet Mana took control of the wind filling the room.
Whoosh—! A sound like a dazed whistle rang out, and a wall of wind formed between me and Stella.
I poked at it— poke poke— and then immediately flung the blanket out over the bed— whump! At that, a somewhat strong scent of Stella wafted out.
And the dust that burst out— poof!— was a bonus.
There was already a lot of dust, but the bright sunlight made it look twice as bad.
"Wh-what the. Why are you suddenly cleaning?!"
"Ugh, shit. Have you ever even washed this blanket?"
"I-I have washed it?!"
"Washed it, my ass. Looks like you've never even beaten the dust out of it."
This was the room of someone who didn't even air it out regularly.
Clicking my tongue, I grunted— hnngh— as I lifted the blanket and leaned my upper body out the window. Then— whap whap! I shook the blanket with all my strength and beat the dust out of it.
Next, I tidied up the bed, spread the blanket back over it, picked up all the hair and odds and ends rolling around on the floor, and finished a simple cleaning.
And Stella's happy meal came to an end too.
That girl Stella. She kept telling me with her words to stop cleaning, but her body was honest.
She really ate every last grain of rice and every last drop of soup, completely clean. At this point, you could almost say she licked the bowl.
"Was it good?"
"Well... it's edible!"
She was pretending to be prim and proper with a thoroughly flushed face.
Seeing that ridiculous face of hers, I snickered— heh heh— and picked up the bag that had been bothering me for a while, the one shoved into a barely visible corner.
Since I was cleaning anyway, I might as well do it all.
"Huh? Huh huh?? Hey! Leave the bag there!!!"
And then.
Flutter flutter.
Papers covered in dense black writing fell to the floor.
Wait, I lifted the bag, so why did papers fall out?
I had that question, but I had no time to find the answer.
The papers on the floor.
The title written in large letters on those papers turned my mind completely blank.
[The Secret of House Eustetia.]