Hearing the Circumstances
Irene strode briskly toward Class A. She threw open the classroom door with a forceful bang. The sudden intrusion by an outsider brought the entire room to a hushed silence.
“Ines.” A low, icy voice rang through the classroom. “Ines. Come out.”
“...?” Ines, who had been about to sit down, turned her gaze to the doorway. It was Irene—a face she knew all too well. But why was she here? There shouldn’t be any point of contact between them at this stage. With a question mark hovering in her mind, Ines followed Irene out of the classroom.
“Why did you do it?” Irene demanded without preamble.
“Do what?”
“You laid your hands on him.”
“Him?”
“Yihan! You hurt Yihan!”
“What… Oh.” Only then did the memory click. Yesterday’s rather violent scuffle.
“You’re making a big fuss over a simple scuffle.”
“What?! After you injured Yihan…! Do you really have a death wish?!”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you have what it takes to kill me.”
“You—!”
Holy power flared around both of Irene’s arms. She looked ready to strike Ines at any second. Yet Ines remained perfectly calm. At this point in time, she knew Irene was incomparably weaker than herself.
“Why don’t you stop? The rumors about you lately haven’t been kind. How much further are you willing to fall?”
“Ugh…!” Irene stamped her feet in helpless frustration. The rumors were true. The holy power rampage had been genuinely dangerous, and her inexplicable obsession with Yihan looked sinister to the other students. Irene herself knew this, which was why she had been so careful with her behavior. But the news that Yihan had returned injured was something she couldn’t tolerate.
“More importantly, why are you being so overprotective of Yihan? At this stage you two should simply be friends.”
“Friends? Yihan and I are not mere friends! We stayed together until death, and we are destined to spend the rest of our lives together!”
“The rest of your lives?” Ines thought. It was true that Yihan had shared some connection with Irene. But until the very end, he had only ever looked at her. He had been friendly with Irene, yet he never crossed the line. Irene hadn’t seemed to view him as anything more than a friend, either. If she had, Ines would never have allowed it. So Irene suddenly declaring such open affection was strange.
“How odd.”
“Yes! It must seem odd to you! Since you know nothing about Yihan and have no relationship with him whatsoever!”
“...You speak as if you do. What’s your evidence?”
“I know everything. Yihan’s past—and his future! We were bound by the Hundred-Year Vow!”
“Past and future?” At that moment, a sudden hypothesis flashed through Ines’s mind. “Don’t tell me… you also hold memories of him?”
“W-what?! H-how could you possibly—”
“So I was right.”
“You… you have those memories too?”
“Yes. We built a lifetime of memories together. Until death.”
“What are you talking about! Yihan stayed with me until the end!”
“...? I have no idea what you’re saying.”
“That makes two of us. What kind of delusion are you having?”
“It seems our memories don’t match…”
Whose memories were correct? The fundamental question rose in both their minds.
“It doesn’t matter who’s right. Yihan is my precious person. And I won’t stand by while anyone lays a hand on him…!”
Irene’s aura flared with murderous intent once more.
“Indeed. It doesn’t matter who’s right. Because in the end, Yihan belongs to me.”
“I won’t hand him over to a violent woman like you.”
“And I have no intention of handing him to a fool like you.”
“Watch your mouth!”
Irene raised her holy power. Ines rested her hand on her sword hilt. The students who should have stopped them were crushed beneath the pressure of their killing intent and could only watch.
“Do you really think you can beat me? In the last evaluation all you could do was stand there like an idiot while Yihan nearly got hurt.”
“Ha! I could have stepped in! Don’t get cocky just because you were a little faster!”
“You’re always like this. When Yihan comes back injured, all you can do is blow on his wounds from behind. You can’t protect him. You’re useless. The only one who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him is me.”
“Why you—!!”
Irene charged in a rage. Just as her fist and Ines’s blade were about to collide—
“Stop!!”
From the far end of the corridor, the very person both of them desperately sought appeared. At the sound of his voice, Irene’s fist froze mid-swing. Ines’s sword tip halted a hair’s breadth away. Both women turned their gazes toward him at the same time.
Yihan instinctively realized.
Ah. This just got even more dangerous.
What the hell is going on….
The fight between Irene and Ines spread like wildfire across the entire academy. It was only natural. Both of them were famous—the Saintess Candidate and the Sword Princess. And I, standing at the center of the storm, became famous right along with them.
“Yihan, you’re a total devilish man, aren’t you? Snagging two major players at once. Heh heh!” Angela plopped down at the desk beside mine and immediately started teasing.
“No…. I didn’t do anything, and I had zero intention of doing anything. Snagging them? Give me a break….”
“But seriously, what exactly is the relationship between the three of you? Saying there’s nothing going on feels way too… intense. It really looked like you all knew each other well,” Philip offered with rational suspicion.
“I want to know too. What the hell am I supposed to call this relationship?”
That was when the classroom door opened. A male and female student entered and walked straight toward me.
“Are you Student Yihan?” the young man asked. His face wasn’t familiar. Probably a senior.
“Yes, I am.”
“Regarding this morning’s disturbance, the student council would like to ask you a few questions. Would you accompany us as a witness?”
“Ah… yes.”
Of course. The student council held significant authority here. They even handled disputes between students. I followed the senior quietly to the student council room.
The moment the door opened, I felt as if I’d been struck by lightning.
“Welcome, Yihan. This is our first time meeting face to face like this.”
The Imperial Princess of the Empire and one of those damn heroines.
Claudia Lumenhardt sat in the president’s seat.
Claudia Lumenhardt. Her full middle name was long and grandiose, but I simply called her by her first and last name. She preferred it that way. A woman with lustrous platinum blonde hair and amethyst eyes, every gesture and article of clothing radiating dignity and authority. A woman who could smile perfectly, behave with perfect courtesy, and discard people with perfect ruthlessness.
Since she was a senior, I thought I wouldn’t get entangled with her. Yet here I was, facing Claudia like this? I knew she was the student council president, but still… Handling Irene and Ines was already difficult enough. Now I was getting tangled up with her too…
“Please sit here. Is black tea all right?”
“Yes, that’s fine….”
Claudia took the head seat of the U-shaped sofa arrangement while I sat on the side. The senior who had brought me prepared the refreshments, and two cups of black tea were placed before us.
“As you know, the reason I called you here today is the disturbance from this morning. Student Irene and Student Ines… Both were highly anticipated even before enrollment, yet your name kept coming up in their conversation.”
“Yes, somehow it turned out that way…. I didn’t want any of it….”
“Is there a reason for that? Why would those two students fight over you?”
“I’m not sure…”
“Really?”
“Yes….”
“Even the smallest clue would help. Is there nothing that seems suspicious to you?”
Claudia’s eyes sharpened with piercing light. I had seen that look many times before. No matter what I said or what lies I told, that gaze would see straight through to the truth. In truth, she was every bit as intelligent and perceptive as that stare suggested.
Maybe I should mix in an appropriate lie. It wouldn’t matter if the other heroines learned I had regressed, but if she found out I had regressed, things would get troublesome.
“It actually started during the holy power evaluation. You know that Irene went into a rampage during the test, right?”
“Of course. It was an exceptionally bright light. I doubt there’s anyone in the school who doesn’t know about it.”
“Yes. At the time I offered her a little help. She seemed extremely agitated, so I spoke a few words to calm her. It actually worked.”
I didn’t mention that I had intervened directly. That would have given me away instantly.
“Hmm, I see. And then?”
“After that, the rumors seem to have gotten twisted. Stories like how I supposedly suppressed Irene’s holy power.”
“Hehe, that must have been quite troublesome.”
“Yes, it was. Anyway, because of that incident, it seems Ines also took an interest in me. During practice she asked to team up with me. I guess that rubbed the other one the wrong way. That’s about all I know.”
“I see…. It looks like there’s more beneath the surface, but you aren’t lying.”
Claudia gave a small nod.
“However, that isn’t everything.”
She set down her teacup as she spoke.
This woman’s perceptiveness was on another level. She had probably already drawn several clues from our short conversation. How much did she actually know? Dealing with her was always exhausting.
“For more details, it seems we’ll need to call the parties involved. Thank you for the information. This is a small token of appreciation.”
Claudia offered me a small box. Inside was a fountain pen engraved with the student council emblem.
“Thank you. I’ll make good use of it.”
“Yes. Thank you for sparing time from your busy schedule. You may go now.”
“Yes.”
Claudia rose from her seat and personally saw me out of the student council room.
Click. The door closed, leaving me alone in the quiet hallway.
And something felt strange.
That’s odd….
What was it? Why? We had simply talked normally and drunk tea….
Ah. It was too normal. That was the problem.
Claudia must have regressed as well. So why was she acting as if she felt nothing toward me?
Was a heroine who would finally leave me alone finally here? Should I be happy?
No. That was the biggest problem of all.
Claudia had always been that kind of woman. She hid everything about herself while drawing out everything from others.
Claudia…. What are you thinking?