5. Handsome Men and Beautiful Women
5. Handsome Men and Beautiful Women
July at the Imperial Academy was a rather busy time.
Not only were there final exams to wrap up the semester, but there were all sorts of assignments as well.
Students usually spent their days quite busily because of such schedules, but one student here was different.
"Noah! How long are you going to keep sleeping!?"
"......Ah. Iris, good morning."
"What part of this is a good morning? The 3rd period is already over, you know? The next class is a practical one!"
"Ah, was it?"
Even though it was a class covering important topics in many ways, the black-haired, gold-eyed student who had been fast asleep rubbed his eyes a little and got up at his childhood friend Iris's words.
He was a bit bigger than his peers, after all.
Plus, because Iris's voice was quite loud, the gazes of the students around them briefly turned in that direction.
But as if everyone was already used to it, it was a common sight since the entrance ceremony, so they didn't pay much attention.
"Noah, let's get ready to move quickly. Final exams are coming up soon, shouldn't you listen properly to the next class?"
"Yeah. That's true."
The boy who had woken up from his sleep nodded appropriately at his childhood friend's words, packed his textbooks, and slowly began to rise from his seat.
He was much bigger than his childhood friend.
He was well over 180cm, and his face was quite handsome, so the female students in the class naturally looked his way, but....
"Noah, you forgot this, didn't you?"
"Thanks."
"Heh."
Because of the childhood friend who took care of such a boy by his side, it wasn't easy for anyone to approach him easily.
In the first place, it wasn't an easy opponent to strike up a conversation with even if they did approach.
Everyone just watched the two of them quietly leave the classroom.
"Noah, you went to bed late again yesterday, right?"
"I suppose so."
"Still, shouldn't you go to bed a bit earlier on weekdays? No matter what, if you do that, the teachers will scold you, you know?"
"......They don't really scold me, though."
"That's true, isn't it? They did seem much more lenient with Noah than I thought."
As they slowly moved, the sight of the two talking in the hallway appeared to other students as something a bit closer than a typical childhood friend relationship.
Noah of the Swordsmanship Department, who was tall and dependable, and Iris of the Magic Department, who was small but lovely.
The distance between the two commoner students was much closer than that of typical friends, so people naturally thought they were in a relationship of that sort.
"Heh, still, you should attend the Academy properly. What are you going to do if you get scolded by your mother later because of this?"
"At that time, I'll just make up a decent excuse, saying it was because I was doing well."
"Geez."
The conversation was about such close topics that it was truly like that.
Generally, talking about the other person's parents like this was something only done by people who were quite close.
Especially if it was a conversation between the opposite sex, it was even more so.
'...They're flirting in the hallway.'
'These days, why are the freshmen so pretty and handsome....'
The other students watching the two in the hallway just ended up thinking things like that.
In fact, they were just a normal pair.
Even though it wasn't a special relationship as they thought.
They were just ordinary people from the same hometown, childhood friends.
"I always think about this, but the Swordsmanship Department and the Magic Department... besides that, everyone is divided up. Why do we do Combat Studies class all together?"
"Huh? Well, it's not just 1-on-1, we also gather together for things like cooperative training, right? Isn't that why we do it all together?"
"Hmm.... That's true, but in that case, I feel like they should just make a completely different subject. When you say Combat Studies, don't you just think of 1-on-1 combat?"
"Is that so?"
Anyway, the place where the two childhood friends slowly moved to was the lecture hall dedicated to Combat Studies.
Unlike a typical lecture hall, it was like an auditorium with no desks at all.
The floor was made of a material with friction rather than a smooth one, and it was a place where all sorts of weapons were stored in the warehouse.
At the same time Noah and Iris entered the lecture hall, one girl who had been chatting noisily in a group finished her conversation and began to approach them, clack, clack.
She was shorter than Noah, but a little taller than Iris. She lightly flicked her smooth, golden side hair that reached her waist with the back of her hand, pushed it back, and groomed her bangs slightly to reveal her forehead.
She then gave a smile that was quite gentle, in her own way, which she hadn't shown to the other students a moment ago.
"Noah~"
"Ah, Katrina. You arrived early?"
"Yeah, I arrived early and was waiting for you, you know?"
"Was that so?"
"Hmph, you came with your childhood friend again today...? I guess since you're from the same hometown, you're close."
"I suppose so."
After arriving in front of Noah, the girl with blue eyes didn't say a word to the girl with purple eyes standing next to him, only looking up at Noah as she spoke.
The girl standing next to Noah looked at the blonde, blue-eyed girl with quite a terrifying gaze.
A gaze that anyone could see was filled with hostility.
However, Noah, who was between the two girls, didn't pay much attention to the situation and continued to answer Katrina's words.
"They say today's class will be a cooperative battle, would it be okay if we teamed up?"
"Yeah. Actually, if it's a teammate like Katrina, I'd like that too."
"Heh heh, that's a relief. I'd really like a guy like Noah, too."
"It would be good if we included Iris in the party like last time."
In the process, he gave a rather oblivious answer.
But somehow, the conversation continued well.
Iris was still occupying one side of Noah, and Katrina was in front of Noah, slowly walking backward as the conversation continued.
A story of handsome men and beautiful women.
Naturally, gazes were bound to be drawn to them one by one.
It was only natural that the process of one man being flanked by two women and talking so naturally would catch the eyes of the students in the same space.
Even so, for the male students to feel jealous, the boy had a great physique and was too handsome.
And the female girls possessed a fresh and unique beauty that suited such a boy.
Everyone just watched.
Most of them had no choice but to do so.
"Oh right, Noah? Do you want to come visit my family's territory this summer break? My father said if I made friends, it would be fine to invite them, what do you think?"
"Territory?"
"Yeah, you'd be invited to the Valerance Duchy, coming as a guest. What do you think? Since you'd be coming as my guest, naturally everything would be comfortable."
Even though the two were commoners.
One of them was a noble daughter of a Duke, after all.
It was a fact known to everyone that if you unnecessarily interfered with such a noble daughter, especially one who was deeply loved by the Duke, your future would be quite messed up.
"Hmm.... For now, I don't think I can give you a definite answer yet."
"Aha, is that so? Are you thinking of going back to your hometown?"
"My hometown is...."
"Noah, you have to go down, right? You need to meet your mother and father this time to say hello. And you have to tell them how you've been doing at the Academy, right?"
"That's true."
Of course, his childhood friend didn't think much of it, though.
A process where a battle of nerves unfolded quietly.
However, in such a situation, Noah didn't pay much attention.
He answered normally, but it wasn't an answer that came from thinking properly; he just answered casually.
Then the Academy class began.
The boy began to attend class as usual.
The boy who spent the class time normally with other students, with two female students right next to him, and then welcomed lunchtime.
He filled his stomach with the two female students with the Academy school meal that Katrina, who was now used to it, bought for him.
After talking for about 30 minutes in a cafe that they arrived at due to Iris's insistence....
He sent the two to their class first.
"Kadi-nim, what are you doing?"
"...Ah, you came again?"
"I came to see you, nim."
He had come to the convenience store as naturally as a routine that had already been going on for 3 months.
It was the time before lunch break ended, the time when most students who were solving their lunch at the convenience store had already left.
It was a time when there was only about one customer, Noah, and only the snow-white beauty remained inside the convenience store.
"Tsk tsk.... Do you have too much time on your hands? Huh?"
"It's not that I have too much time, but it's not like it's noon where I can't come to see you, nim."
"You talk big for someone who came to see me this morning, too."
"Since I saw you in the morning, I thought I should see you at lunch too."
"Stop talking nonsense, aren't you supposed to go to your next class?"
"There's still about 5 minutes left, so it'll be fine. If I'm late, I'll just talk my way out of it."
"......Sigh."
Noah spoke with a smile, showing an expression he hadn't shown to the two female students earlier.
"Nim, is there nothing I can help you with today?"
"No. For some reason, there's no one who broke a bottle today, no one who spilled soup... it's a very comfortable day. At least until someone arrived?"
"Who are you talking about? Did some troublemaker come by? A 3rd year trying to buy alcohol?"
"......Sigh."
He talked more than usual and just, chatted a lot like that.
Eventually, the Academy lunch break ended.
And he continued until the class time started.
So he was scolded a little by the Academy instructor, but fortunately... since the class was a swordsmanship class.
The teacher there, too.
Was of a similar type to the two female students from before.
So there was no problem at all.