Searching for the Protagonist (1)
The weekend passed, and the long-awaited Monday arrived. The other students from the old school building headed to the training grounds with Instructor Esta for combat training, while I sat alone in the classroom set up in the old school building, a large magic pad placed in front of me.
"Is this the magic pad for real-time remote lectures?"
"Yeah, that's right. It's a system the academy staff worked hard on all week to build."
Instructor Cardisha pointed to the magic pad in front of me, which looked like a fairly large tablet.
"What do you think?"
"It's impressive."
What was I supposed to say? It instantly reminded me of that time when a pandemic was raging and everything was done remotely from home—sitting in front of a camera and mic to conduct classes.
We even did franchise training remotely back then.
Right in the middle of expanding the business aggressively, that problem cropped up, so I handled the training just like this. Looking back now, maybe I should've gone down in person, but everyone—schools, government offices—was doing it that way, so there was no choice.
Anyway.
If such a system existed, no one would be more familiar with it than me.
"Instructor Cardisha. Is it right to adjust it like this?"
"Whoa, you got it right away? Yeah, that's it. That way, your face shows up on the video feed, like this."
Cardisha placed her instructor pad next to mine. It displayed my face along with the other students who had already connected, each in small screens. There was a slight lag, and the quality wasn't great, but at least the faces were visible.
"Instructor Cardisha. Could I take a look at the instructor pad for a sec?"
"Not just a sec—you can look as long as you want. But why?"
"I want to check if the students wearing the magic pants have them on properly."
"Oh, right?"
Instructor Cardisha pulled up a chair next to me and set the magic pad down.
"...Then won't they see that you're sitting with me?"
"The students can't see this screen. And the one leading the first lecture right now is Dean Ederson anyway."
"Ah, I see."
If it's Dean Ederson, he'd look the other way even if I was messing around with a woman off-screen below.
"You're sure they really can't see?"
"Why? Got a pretty lady next to you and wanna brag to the other students, like 'I'm with a girl right now'?"
"That's part of it."
"Hahaha. It's possible. They've just blocked the function for now."
Instructor Cardisha fiddled with my student panel, and a password prompt popped up.
"It's the first remote lecture, right? So everyone's got a lot of worries. Especially since Phoenix undergrad doesn't have those issues..."
She swept her hand over her face dramatically.
"Some of the male students said it feels embarrassing to have their faces shown to others while wearing magic pants during class."
"Ah."
I got it immediately.
"Yeah, I wouldn't exactly want to see other guys' faces either."
Staring at the instructor panel during lecture, watching guys shudder in their seats mumbling "coming" or throwing their heads back with a "kuh-heuk" before returning to a sage-like expression—that'd be torture.
"Other guys? Girls are fine?"
"Yes."
"Whoa, you're being pretty blatant about it."
"Knowing what their orgasm faces look like could be reference for later, right?"
"Hmmm..."
Instructor Cardisha shot me a meaningful glance and giggled.
"Then if it's a face you can't tell if they've climaxed or not, no one would notice?"
"Guess we'd have to check with our bodies then. Shame it's not girls, though..."
I pointed to one young man amid the all-male grid of screens.
"See this guy covering his lower jaw with one hand, looking all serious?"
"Oh, him? ...Isn't he just messing around with the features right now?"
"Normally, yeah."
Male instinct. With a new system or gadget, guys dive in and explore it themselves before reading manuals or instructions. The student I pointed to was tapping away at his magic pad with the most serious face in the world, eyes darting left and right—
"......."
Shudder.
He squeezed his eyes shut for a split second, then opened them. That look screamed "I just came," no doubt about it.
"Look at this. Doesn't his gaze suddenly sparkle now?"
His eyes started gleaming like "From now on, I'm gonna live a healthy, improved life."
"...Hit with reality?"
"Yes."
"Hmm, I can kinda feel it. Okay, I get the idea. ...But hey."
Instructor Cardisha pointed seriously at one unmoving male student.
"After you blow your load like that, don't you have to clean up right away?"
"Ah, about that."
I drew an X in the air with my finger.
"The magic pants have anti-spill magic, so it's fine. You can release if you want, or hold back and just feel the sensation without ejaculating."
"Whoa...."
"And most will hold it in anyway."
If we call the guy who just came "Rapid Shot"...
"I told them ejaculating drops efficiency, and it does. Coming is fine, but if they can't hold it and squirt—"
Bam!
No sound, but one student's screen shook violently.
"—the effect weakens, so they'll get mad at themselves and step out for a bit."
Basically shotgun blasting. He stood up with an irritated scowl and stormed off somewhere. He'd rush back as fast as possible and sit down again. I'd just assume he went to the bathroom. Definitely not the shower, no cleaning magic or quick rinse involved.
"They can't see each other's faces yet, but if they could, it'd turn into a pride contest, right?"
"...Pride contests over this?"
"It's important. Sure, varies by person, but if someone comes back in under three minutes after leaving once..."
That guy shouldn't be wearing magic pants—he needs to train holding it in manually first.
"They're all logging in now."
One by one, the academy's male students appeared in the grid screens.
Searching.
Why did I push for remote class? Why distribute magic pants and check every guy's face one by one?
There has to be one.
The one who should've been here in the old school building.
The protagonist.
I know his face—default customization, all variants. So I search.
Filtering out extras.
Filtering named sidekicks.
Filtering big names like Student Council President Keiar.
"This student—is he wearing the magic pants?"
"Yeah. He is."
"He's calm."
Scanning faces one by one, I'll definitely find him.
... ... ...
[Week 3 of March, Monday Afternoon.]
"Phoenix is eating lunch alone on the rooftop today?"
"Yes. Seems like he's got a lot on his mind."
Phoenix had left. He always ate with us under some pretext, never alone unless classmates were sick or overslept in the morning.
"Something serious happen?"
"Hmm... No idea, Instructor Cardisha?"
"How should I know?"
Cardisha, who had assisted with the remote lecture alongside Phoenix that morning—well, technically—shrugged.
"Just my personal hunch, though."
"What?"
"Maybe he wants at least one guy around?"
"No way."
Rydmila firmly shook her head at Instructor Cardisha's suspicion.
"If anything, he'd exclude boys, not wish for one in the old school building."
"Really? He looked super down, though. Guys need their bro talk, right?"
"Phoenix is a bit different, I think..."
Unia scratched her cheek awkwardly with a smile.
"Was he really that depressed? Should I go check?"
"Nah. He said he had important stuff to do alone."
"......Maybe."
Evangeline tentatively raised her hand and mimed stroking up and down in the air.
"He's doing this?"
"D-Don't say that so casually!"
Rydmila flushed red and yelped.
"Right. If he was, he'd do it in his room or..."
"Unia. Why are you looking at me? We're not like that."
Instructor Esta drew a firm line at Unia's gaze.
"Unless it's a life-or-death medical procedure."
"......."
"It's medical. Medical."
"So, what exactly is Phoenix...?"
"Hmm... He was muttering to himself a bit."
Instructor Cardisha tilted her head and continued.
"Looked like he was searching for something—and got flustered when it wasn't there."
"Why isn't he here."
No protagonist.
"Not a single absence."
The protagonist hadn't enrolled.