Charge Complete
“That concludes today’s roll call. You’ve all worked hard today.”
The moment the dorm supervisor’s words fell, the students sprang into motion. Some headed straight for dreamland; others clustered with friends to chatter. And into my room came Yuri.
She arrived in long-sleeved, long-legged pajamas of thin, comfortable fabric, clutching only a pillow. The second I let her in she broke into a bashful little grin, as if something wonderful had just happened.
“This takes me back. Ehehe…”
Yuri padded straight to my bed, flopped down, and began rolling around like a contented cat.
“Hmm~ So this is El’s bed~”
“We’re both in single rooms. It’s not like the beds are any different.”
Unless someone swapped out the sheets, every single-room bed was identical. There was no reason to stock different models room by room. My perfectly reasonable observation did nothing to stop Yuri from continuing her happy wriggle.
“But it feels even cozier than mine~”
Watching a girl my own age sprawled across my mattress was a little embarrassing, yet seeing how much she was enjoying herself made me reluctant to stop her. I simply tidied my desk and got ready to study.
After a few more minutes of rolling she seemed satisfied. Face-down on the mattress, she drew one long, deep breath, then finally pushed herself upright.
“Mm! Charge complete! All right, let’s get started.”
Charge? Come to think of it, she’d startled awake earlier after dozing off. She really must be exhausted. Was teaching me that draining?
Yuri settled into the chair beside mine at the desk, just as before. She scooted a little closer; the faint scent of soap told me she had washed up in the meantime.
“Where did we leave off?”
“We finished the basics. Only the application section left.”
True to its name, the application section was packed with every conceivable example problem.
“From the way you solved those earlier, you’ve already got the fundamentals down. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
“That’s only because you explained everything so clearly.”
“Ehehe.”
My thanks and praise earned another bright smile. Yuri was in higher spirits than usual; the smiles kept coming.
“I’ll be counting on you for the rest as well, Teacher!”
Matching her mood, I threw in a playful half-bow, half-sincere and half-teasing.
“Of course. Ask me anything. Shall we begin?”
And so private tutoring with Teacher Yuri resumed. She gently walked me through things I had never encountered before—how to approach each problem, which parts demanded focus, how carefully one had to handle them—drawing on her own experience to explain every detail.
…Putting it that way makes me sound like some kind of scumbag.
Jokes aside, thanks to Yuri’s thorough guidance I could at least claim I had caught up on mathematics. I hadn’t mastered it completely, of course, but the rest would come with practice.
I stood and walked to the small refrigerator that came standard in every room. Magical appliances like this weren’t cheap, yet given the academy’s dorm fees it was hardly surprising each room had one.
I pulled out a bottle of milk I had stored earlier and held it out to her.
“You’ve been talking a lot. Thirsty? Want something to drink? Not much of a selection, though…”
The fridge held little more than water, milk, and coffee. At this hour, with no all-nighter planned, coffee was out. That left water or milk, so I offered the milk first.
“I can warm it up if you’d like.”
I vaguely remembered hearing that warm milk helped with sleep.
“Mm, please.”
I took a second bottle for myself, heated both until steam just began to rise, poured them into mugs, and handed one to Yuri.
“I really got a lot of help from you today.”
“No. You would’ve figured it out quickly even without me. Your written scores are about the same as mine, after all…”
“It only looks that way. In reality I’m always scrambling to keep up. If I’d missed class like this without your help, catching up would’ve been rough.”
It wasn’t a joke. Without Yuri I would have spent several more days alone, clutching my head in frustration. Plans with friends would have fallen through in the meantime.
So the gratitude I offered her was completely sincere.
“I’m glad I could help even a little… I’ve only ever received help from you. There was never anything I could give back.”
Yuri gazed down at the mug cradled in both hands, her voice soft and subdued.
Hearing that quiet tone, I drained my own milk in one go. Even lukewarm, the sudden heat stung, but I swallowed it down and stood.
I stepped behind the chair where she sat, rested my hands lightly on her head, and drew her gently back into a soft embrace. A little embarrassing, yes—but wasn’t this the moment a man showed a bit of generosity?
“I wish you’d have a little more confidence in yourself, Yuri. You’ve got so many good points.”
Nestled quietly in my arms, she simply listened. The gesture might have been a touch forward, but it was also a sign of closeness. I stroked her hair and continued.
“If you ever feel scared, no matter the situation, think of me. I’m always on your side.”
I was a false childhood friend she didn’t truly know, yet the kindness she had shown me was more than I deserved. The least I could do was meet it with sincerity.
I still lacked the courage to reveal my real past, but this much I could give freely.
“Sss~ Fuu~”
“Hya?!”
Yuri, who had been listening in silence, drew a deep breath and then exhaled against me. The warm puff of air through her thin pajamas tickled my stomach; I yelped before I could stop myself. She paid no mind, simply looking up at me with her usual gentle smile.
“Mm! Charge complete again!”
What exactly did you just charge this time, Miss Yuri?
“It’s a promise, then? El is always on my side. And no matter what happens, I’ll think of you and keep going.”
“If I can be of any help at all, anytime.”
I shrugged and returned the same smile.
“Well then—study’s done, so let’s get some sleep.”
Yuri had already finished her milk. She set the empty mug down and stood. Midnight was creeping closer; staying up any later would only hurt tomorrow’s classes.
“Shall we get ready for bed?”
I pulled a spare set of bedding from the corner and spread it on the floor. The floor itself was heated, and my assassin days had left me unfussy about sleeping surfaces—I could sleep on bare ground if I had to—but there was no need to be deliberately uncomfortable.
I laid my usual pillow atop the makeshift bed and prepared to turn in. Yuri stood nearby, tilting her head left and right as she watched me.
“Um, El?”
“Hm?”
“Why are you spreading bedding on the floor?”
“?”
Was she asking why I wasn’t sleeping on the bare floor? Of course that wasn’t what she meant; I simply couldn’t grasp her actual meaning.
“Weren’t we going to sleep in the bed together?”
“Ah…”
As fellow girls she could say that without a second thought. But for someone who had once been a man, simply sharing a room with a girl already pushed my limits. Sharing the same bed? I wouldn’t sleep a wink—and I was fairly certain I’d die of embarrassment. Or worse, do something unforgivable.
That could not be allowed. So I lied in self-defense.
“I talk in my sleep a lot. You wouldn’t get any rest if we shared. So let’s sleep separately. You’re my guest tonight—take the bed.”
“…I don’t mind sleep-talking. I do it too.”
“No! Mine is really bad. Seriously. So I’ll take the floor, you take the bed. Okay?”
I was practically pleading. Yuri hesitated a moment, then finally relented.
“Tch… I wanted to sleep in the same bed like we used to… Fine, just this once.”
With that she snatched up the pillow I had set on the floor.
“But! I can’t sleep comfortably without something to hug… so I’m taking this!”
If that was all it took to settle things, she could have it.
She didn’t know I had more spare pillows, of course.
I retrieved another fluffy one from the same storage spot and placed it on the floor. Fortunately Yuri voiced no complaint. Apparently she hadn’t stolen my pillow to leave me pillow-less; she simply needed something to hold while she slept.
“All right, hop into bed. I’ll turn off the light.”
I watched her settle contentedly under the covers, hugging the pillow tight, then switched off the lights and lay down myself.
It had been a while since I’d slept on a hard floor instead of a mattress, but the bedding made it perfectly comfortable.
“Still… sleeping like this together brings back old memories… Even if you don’t remember them, El…”
Yuri believed I had lost those childhood memories after the demon attack and the hard years that followed. A faint note of loneliness colored her voice in the dark room.
“Then why don’t you tell me some of those old stories? Listening might jog something loose.”
Of course no amount of listening would create memories that never existed. But talking might ease her loneliness a little, and that was reason enough.
“Should I? Come to think of it, you’ve gotten even cooler than you used to be…”
And so the old stories between Yuri and “Elicia” began.
The time they wandered too far into the forest and got scolded by their parents. The time they teased Elicia’s little brother until he sulked. The way Yuri used to cling to her older brother…
Listening to memories that weren’t mine, my eyelids grew heavy.
“Nngh…”
Sunlight streaming through the window and the cheerful chatter of birds coaxed my eyes open. Normally the alarm clock woke me; today I had somehow risen a little earlier.
I tried to sit up, only to find something pinning me down.
Still half-asleep, I glanced at whatever lay across my body and discovered what looked very much like a human arm.
?
Thinking I must be mistaken, I blinked several times and looked again. The arm was still there.
???
I carefully freed one hand and poked the arm-like object resting on me.
?????
Definitely a human arm. Why was it here?
Morning fog still clouded my thoughts, but I forced them into gear and traced the arm from fingertips upward: slender fingers, a delicate wrist, then the sleeve of a thin pink pajama top… until I reached the face of its owner.
“Whoa!”
Yuri’s face right in front of me banished every last trace of sleep. Yet I still couldn’t make sense of the situation.
Why was Yuri sleeping beside me? In my memory she had been on the bed—at least until I drifted off. She had even fallen asleep first; her voice had grown softer and softer while telling stories until it stopped altogether. And I, hyper-aware of sharing a room with a girl, had taken longer than usual to fall asleep. I was certain.
Had I somehow climbed onto the bed and…? No—looking around confirmed we were still on the floor where I had spread the bedding.
So Yuri had come down here. But when?
She had even declared my bed more comfortable than her own. Why would she deliberately leave it for the floor?
I tried to get up, but she was clinging to me so tightly I could neither rise nor escape without waking her.
I moved with infinite care, inching free—only for her to sense it every time I nearly succeeded and pull me back into a firm hug. Each time, the scent of her shampoo brushed my nose.
…The fact that I was noticing that right now probably meant I really was a pervert.
I remained trapped in that awkward limbo until the alarm finally rang.
Ding-ding-ding~ Good morning~
The sound must have reached her as well; a soft little moan escaped and she stirred.
I turned my head carefully. Her half-open eyes met mine.
“Ehehe… Good morning, El.”
“Y-yeah…”
Even awake she hugged me tighter than before, then drew in a deep breath—huuup~ haaah—several times, just like last night, before finally releasing me.
“Mm! Morning charge complete!”
Apparently the whole “charging” thing was simply one of Yuri’s habits. Suddenly bright-eyed and energetic, she rose first. Only then could I stiffly push myself upright; my body had been so tense that even standing felt like work.
“Um… Yuri? Why were you on the floor…?”
“Beats me~ I don’t really know either?”
Her expression was genuinely puzzled—yet the constant soft smile suggested she was in an excellent mood.
A noble young lady who had almost certainly never slept on a floor before, yet she looked completely refreshed. Last night she had praised my bed’s comfort; maybe she simply wasn’t picky about sleeping arrangements.
“R-right…?”
“Well then, I’ll head back to my room to get ready for class. See you later.”
“Huh? Yeah. See you.”
Well, I hadn’t done anything wrong. And I had slept soundly enough, so no harm done… right?
I saw her off with a smile as she left, still hugging the pillow tightly, then began tidying the bedding.
Hm? This one looks similar, but… isn’t this Yuri’s pillow? She must have mixed it up with mine and taken the wrong one.