The Magic That Made My Heart Race
"What should I start with?"
I stood in the middle of the room and asked Freesia. She didn't seem to hear me at all, though—she just kept walking straight toward me.
Up close, her cute features stood out even more. Even though this was the first time I'd ever seen her face, something about her felt strangely familiar.
Freesia came right up to me, then stepped past and circled around behind me.
Smack!
"Hyaah!?"
Her hand suddenly slapped my butt, and I let out a startled scream. With my senses this sharp, any unexpected attack made a shriek slip out on pure instinct.
"Normally it'd be two, but... I'll let you off with one."
"Y-Yes? What?"
I had no idea what she was "letting me off" for, but I answered anyway. Had I done something wrong to Freesia?
No matter how hard I thought, nothing came to mind. We'd only just met, after all.
While I stood there completely bewildered, Freesia wore a thoroughly satisfied smile. Instead of answering my confusion, she cut straight to the point.
"Hmm... only about ten minutes left of lunch break... so this magic should do."
Her drowsy voice was so sleepy it almost made me yawn too. Freesia stretched a finger toward empty air and began drawing something.
The mana gathered at her fingertip traced out a magic circle.
As far as I knew, magic circles were normally drawn on surfaces—ground, paper, objects, whatever. I'd never heard of anyone casually sketching one in midair like this.
Her finger flicked and danced so quickly I wondered if she was even drawing it properly. Then it finally stopped.
Fwoosh—
The circle floating in the air blazed with light.
It didn't just glow. It drifted toward me, shrinking as it came, and settled right onto my chest.
I undid a couple of the upper buttons on my blouse to check. A small magic circle made of simple geometric shapes was now etched over my heart.
"Boss, what is this...?"
"I'm going to test some of the magic I've developed on you. This is one of them. Just tell me after school what you felt during this afternoon's classes."
"Then... what does this magic actually do?"
I needed to know so I could pay attention to the right things. But Freesia's face returned to its usual blank expression as she answered.
"That's a secret. If you know the effect, you might end up feeling it even when it's not really there... Figure it out yourself."
With that, she went back to the sofa and sat down.
"Alright, I need to get back to my nap... As long as you don't show up too late after school, any time is fine."
She flicked her fingers again. The blindfold that had been rolling on the floor flew through the air and settled over her eyes, while the teddy bear in the corner waddled over and nestled into her arms.
Then Freesia flopped sideways onto the sofa without another word.
Afternoon classes were about to start any minute, yet from the way she was acting she clearly planned to sleep like a log. Even if the magic department cared more about research results than attendance, I still wondered if this level of freedom was really allowed. Not my place to interfere, though. If I got on the boss's nerves and got fired, I'd only be hurting myself.
I carefully closed the door so I wouldn't wake Freesia, who had already departed for dreamland, and stepped outside.
"Today is free sparring. Pair up however you like and spar freely. I'll be watching, so no slacking off!"
The first partner I matched with was Seli. There was still plenty of class time left, so after sparring with her I planned to go a few rounds with Anne and Yuri, and even some of the other kids in class. But the one I could really cut loose against was always Seli.
Seli and I faced each other. At the same moment we both charged.
Normally our wooden swords would clash somewhere in the middle—
Clang!
Seli had only taken two steps when I was already right in front of her nose. For some reason I felt like moving more aggressively than usual today.
Even so, she casually blocked my unexpectedly fast strike.
Fine. I'd press her harder with even more aggressive movement, even faster attacks.
Thwack, thwack.
Yet Seli still handled my accelerated strikes with ease.
Clack, clack.
Then our swords locked and we entered a contest of strength. I wasn't sure what would happen if I went all-out, but right now we were evenly matched. Our eyes met over the crossed wooden blades.
In a fight, reading your opponent's gaze—and using your own—matters. So I looked into Seli's eyes, trying to catch her next move.
Fwoosh!
In that instant my face burned hot. Wh-what?
Flustered, I knocked her sword aside and jumped back several steps to put distance between us.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
I pressed a hand to my chest. My heart was pounding hard. What the hell is this?
Seli must have noticed something was off. She lowered her sword and walked over.
"El? What's wrong?"
Worry filled her face as she looked at me. She laid a hand on my forehead.
"You don't seem to have a fever... Are you okay?"
My already racing heart sped up even more until it felt like it was slamming against my ribs. I turned my head away, half-afraid she might actually hear it.
This... I hate to say it, but I was acting exactly like a girl who'd just fallen in love... Well, Cielian was a hero candidate, so she could be terrifying sometimes, but at her core she was kind-hearted, beautiful, talented, and even came from a good family. A perfect all-rounder any person would fall for.
But even if Seli was a beauty, we were both girls, right? Then again, the novel she'd lent me last time had girls falling for each other too.
No—wait. I used to be a guy, so reacting like this was actually natural, wasn't it? Barely safe?
Still, the timing felt weird. It never happened normally, yet the moment we were exchanging blows it hit me out of nowhere? People say love comes suddenly, but still...
"El? Seli?"
Anne and Yuri, who'd been sparring nearby, must have sensed something odd. They came over.
"What? Is El hurt somewhere?"
Anne figured out the problem was on my end, not Seli's, and stared straight at my face the same way Seli had.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
The second our eyes met, my heart—which I'd thought had calmed a little—went completely wild again.
Hey, heart. What the hell do you think you're doing? If you're a person and not a beast, maybe remember that you were just pounding over Seli a second ago and show a little conscience.
I whipped my head the other way—and now Yuri's face filled my vision.
"El? You okay?"
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.
"Eh...! Ah... I-It's nothing!"
I accidentally used formal speech, but I didn't have the luxury to care about something that small.
Was I really this shameless? I wasn't a person—I was a beast!
I'd just been pounding over Seli, and now Anne made it race again, and Yuri made it race a third time. Sure, all three of them were beautiful, but this was still a shock.
"I... I'm just tired. Yeah, tired... I think I need to rest in the infirmary for a bit."
I stood up and immediately headed for Professor Ferent.
"I'm feeling really exhausted. Would it be all right if I went to the infirmary?"
My heart still wouldn't calm down. My face was probably still bright red.
"Hm? If you're the one saying that, you must actually be in bad shape. All right. I'll let the next professor know. Rest in the infirmary until you feel better."
I barely managed to stop Seli, Anne, and Yuri from escorting me all the way there, then fled as if running for my life.
The place I was standing now was in front of room 707 in the Magic Building. Instead of going to the infirmary, I'd carefully made my way here so no one would notice, straight to Freesia's laboratory.
Creak.
I turned the doorknob gently. It wasn't locked, so it opened easily.
"Um, Boss?"
No answer. Freesia was probably still asleep. Waking my employer felt awkward, so I sat in a chair off to the side and thought things over carefully.
Earlier I'd been too flustered to think at all, but now that I'd calmed down I could roughly guess what had happened. It had to be the effect of the magic Freesia cast on me.
I'd spent quite a bit of time with Seli, Anne, and Yuri already. Sure, my heart had raced a little now and then, but never like this—never so hard I completely lost control of myself.
"Phew. So I wasn't a shameless bastard after all."
I'd almost convinced myself I was trash.
"Nn...? Is it already evening?"
My muttering must have woken her. Freesia sat up, pulling off her blindfold and rubbing her eyes. Still hugging the teddy bear, she stretched her free arm high overhead, looking exactly like a sleepy kitten.
"No. Class is still going on."
"Hm? Then why are you here?"
"It's because of the magic you cast on me earlier. My heart started racing so hard I couldn't focus in class, so I slipped out."
I reported everything that had happened without leaving anything out.
"Hmm... The intended effect was acceleration of physical actions, but... it accelerated the heart instead... Then if I modify the third stroke of the circle..."
Before I knew it she was muttering to herself. Had she already diagnosed the problem and started fixing it just from the brief experience I'd described?
I doubted magic was normally that easy to correct, and of course I knew it wasn't. Still, since I didn't understand magic in detail, I couldn't fully grasp just how impressive what she was doing really was.
"Ah... I'll dispel the magic for now. Today's experiment ends here. If I need another test I'll call you again... And of course, if you ever need extra pay, you can come by anytime."
She drew a much simpler circle than the one she'd used to cast the spell. The magic circle etched on my chest faded away.
"Here... today's pay."
A pouch landed in my hand. I peeked inside and found enough silver coins that counting them quickly would be difficult—more than enough to get me through the immediate situation.
"Call me anytime!"
Loyalty, loyalty!
I left the laboratory, leaving behind a Freesia who—unlike when she'd fallen asleep earlier—was now completely absorbed in thought. Thankfully I made it to the infirmary and got into a bed before class ended.
But when Seli, Anne, and Yuri came looking for me after class, my heart started racing again—not as badly as before, but enough that residual magic energy was clearly still lingering. So I had no choice but to skip the rest of the day's classes and keep resting.