From Magi to Meadow
Plip. Enrollment confirmed.
A single tear rolls down from the corner of Eugene's eye.
It's hot. A warmth utterly different from the ones that soaked his pillow every night.
"This is..."
Eugene rubs his eyes roughly with his sleeve and looks at Ruen.
In her palm burns a beautiful crimson mana.
Formed mana.
But its shape is unlike anything seen in nature or from other mages. Not a single stream, but a flowing liquid.
Clear mana, utterly free of the foulness felt from magi.
As Eugene stared, mesmerized by the mana for a long while.
At last, the crimson mana in Ruen's hand overflows with a plip.
"Oh, uh."
The girl reaches out her other hand to catch it, but misses.
Even stretching her legs out straight to block it, Ruen's efforts are in vain.
Her height is just a bit too short for that.
—Whoosh!
The ground, which had only withered, dried grass remaining. Mana spreads across it.
"Kkyaak...!"
With Ruen's shrill scream, a glow erupts.
"Professor!!!"
Eugene's vision is blocked by the light.
But considering the skill she had shown. There must be a reason for such a reaction.
To begin with, the source of that mana was nothing but magi, so Eugene felt even greater unease.
Eugene covers his whitened eyes with one arm and extends the other toward Ruen, engulfed in light.
—Rustle.
A novel sensation touches Eugene's hand. Softness. Fibers brimming with moisture.
A texture utterly out of place in this spot.
"F-fuck... I knew this would happen...."
Eugene cautiously lowers the arm covering his eyes at the sound of Ruen's voice.
Greenery comes into view.
The dead, dull brown meadow grasses have vanished.
In their place rise grasses up to Eugene's waist. Between them bloom flowers of every color. A sweet floral scent tickles his nose.
"Achoo!"
Ruen, buried in the newly sprouted life, lets out a sneeze.
A gentle breeze sweeps over the fresh young blooms.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Euuuwaa...."
It was a sneeze that felt like it sucked out my very soul. Guess I have a pollen allergy.
"Gonna die...."
I rub my stinging nose furiously and shuffle forward slowly.
Every time I move, the tall grasses rustle against my cheeks, tickling them.
"This is...?"
Once fully out of the thicket, I see Eugene staring blankly at the spot behind me.
I turn my head too, looking at where I'd just been.
Mana particles not yet absorbed into the ground. Beneath them, a flower field in every color.
"Mana without any refinement...."
I let out an awkward laugh and straighten my clothes.
Green sap stains spotting my white outfit here and there. Looks like I'll need to do laundry again when I get back.
Did it just yesterday....
Filling the tub with soapy water and stomping away at it—that was just last night.
Next time, I should either use magic more casually or invent a washing machine.
"Whew."
I sigh and lift my gaze back to Eugene.
He's blinking rapidly, lips twitching.
"You said this was mana transformed from magi, right...?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"But that seems..."
Eugene trails off. But I can guess what comes next.
"A bit flashy, huh?"
I flash a grin.
To my eyes, magi is just one form of mana.
When absorbing it from magic beasts, I couldn't easily discern the type, but seeing Eugene's made it click.
Magi is mana infused with negation. Negation.
Magi denies everything in the world. It screams "no" at all things, "that's wrong."
No matter the subject, magi contradicts it.
"I flipped the magi."
And so, what was born was utmost purity.
"How did you..."
I slap the back of the still-dazed, murmuring Eugene.
"That's for you to figure out from now on."
"......Can I even do it?"
Eugene clenches and unclenches his palm with a bitter smile, voice shrinking.
"When my body's already full of magi..."
Eugene's worries are needless. I've long mastered how to teach someone.
"Ahem."
I stretch out my fingers, pointing at a tree behind Eugene.
"Huh?"
"Hug that."
Eugene tilts his head but obediently hugs the tree.
The method that turned the hopelessly inept Kian into someone reliable enough to entrust the North to while I was away.
That method being.
"Bite down hard."
"Yes, got i—huh?"
To fill it with your body.
Eugene, seeing me load crimson mana into both hands, hurriedly ducks behind the tree.
Of course, that worry's needless too.
"Here I go?"
"W-wait a—"
Do it enough times, and it'll happen.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The academy's main building was engulfed in unprecedented chaos.
Precisely, the academic affairs office on the first floor.
Administrator Claire tossed off her glasses perched on her nose bridge and cradled her face in her palms.
"This is driving me insane."
The reason she was going mad lay piled on her desk.
Enrollment forms for a single class.
A familiar task she had to do every semester start, since capacity wasn't infinite.
But.
"Haa...."
Even after sorting for days, the mountain remained.
"Please, for real."
Just organizing applications from nearly every magic student was overwhelming enough.
"Why the hell are you applying for a magic theory class?"
Claire mutters to herself, stamping 'rejected' on yet another non-major's form.
Thud!
Even as the sound echoes through the office, her colleagues pay it no mind.
"Here, have this."
"...Thanks."
Because even non-parties fully understood her pain.
Normally, no matter how many applications flooded in, it wouldn't take this long.
Just rank by grades or professor's criteria and select the top slots.
That's how it should've been.
—Will you select Professor's class by grades like the others?
—Uh... why?
Claire clutches her head at the next words echoing in her mind.
—Oh! If there's a special criterion, I'll prioritize it.
—Hmm. In that case...
Professors had varied ways to pick qualified students.
Most by grades; some secretly by family.
But the new instructor Ruen.
—Pick the kids who seem fun.
Had proposed an unprecedented criterion.
"How the hell am I supposed to know that...."
A question she'd already asked Ruen herself. The cheerful reply:
—You can do it!
A simple answer that left her speechless.
"I wanna quit...."
Entrusting everything to personal judgment. An utterly vague standard.
But she couldn't just haphazardly select for a class with such unprecedented popularity.
Claire slumps over her desk, recalling the instructor's name.
Ruen Eterno.
Impressive backing. Skills boldly on display.
If such an instructor complained 'not fun enough'...
"Haa...."
Claire had no confidence she'd handle the fallout.
So she'd found a way Ruen might accept.
Reviewing every entrance exam answer sheet.
Claire herself was a mage who'd graduated the academy with top grades.
She could find students meeting that 'fun' criterion.
If only it didn't mean poring over sheets till her eyes fell out.
"Never doing this again."
Sighing at her third straight night of overtime, Claire flips to the next page.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The letter announcing enrollment complete arrived just two days before my second class.
"Why'd it take so damn long."
I take the papers delivered to the dorm supervisor's office and yawn.
It was a class I planned to run casually anyway.
Telling the admin lady to pick whoever felt a bit guilty, so I'd phrased it roundabout.
"Pretty busy, huh?"
Start of semester, makes sense.
I nod to myself, plop on the bed with the papers, and scan the contents.
A weekly class of 47 total.
45 felt too few, 50 too many—my Goldilocks number.
"Mm."
I smile contentedly at the listed names.
All the ones I wanted were there without fail.
"Claire and I are on the same wavelength."
For a random pick, they fit perfectly.
Definitely soulmates.
"Gonna leave next semester to Claire too."
Grinning, I tuck the papers into the drawer.