Danya Catsnesia
Danya Catsnesia
— A sharp whistle.
The sound of something slicing through the air.
"Danya will personally team up with you! For free!"
In the blink of an eye, a girl appeared, blinking up at Ian.
Cherry blossom hair, cat ears that kept twitching. She was small enough that she didn't seem dangerous.
Beastkin naturally had enhanced physical abilities. That would be useful for scouting the forest.
"......"
This time, Ian glanced sideways at Rina.
Her expression was thoroughly flustered.
Her behavior had been distinctly strange.
Just moments ago, she'd been inching closer, as if she wanted to partner up.
A forest of shadows where someone could vanish without a trace, and a heroine who might be the culprit.
It was the worst possible combination.
There was no question who he needed to team up with.
Ian extended a hand to Danya.
"Alright. Let's work together."
Danya smiled and clasped his hand, shaking it.
"So you do know I'm excellent at tracking. Hehe. Good choice."
What he'd actually liked was that she wasn't a heroine.
She seemed to have gotten the wrong idea, but that was fine.
◆
He had several expectations for this tracking exercise.
'If it's the Shadow Forest, there's bound to be at least one or two hidden pieces.'
The first was hidden pieces.
The Shadow Forest was Fanta X Aca's designated eerie, mysterious location.
It was a non-playable region, so his knowledge was limited, but there was a strong possibility it concealed elements that could aid growth.
And the second was an ally.
'Between the disciplinary committee and dealing with the culprit, having an ally makes a huge difference.'
Allies were always useful, and the more, the better.
The problem was that Pongpongi's reputation was so abysmal that approaching anyone was difficult.
That was why his current situation—being partnered with Danya—wasn't bad at all.
'And the conversation's actually pretty entertaining.'
She had a slightly tsundere streak, but even when she acted annoyed, she answered every question he asked.
"I hate fake people."
That was her personality, she said.
Was this what it felt like to be friends with a talking stray cat?
Even standing up straight, she barely reached Ian's chest, which only reinforced the impression.
'I think I'm becoming a cat dad.'
Ian had plenty of questions anyway, so he was taking the opportunity to ask about this and that.
"If it was about mana detection, there were other people besides me. Why me, specifically?"
"...Because I was curious. You seem like you've changed."
"Hmm. In what way?"
Danya turned to look back at him.
Remarkably, she walked just fine along the forest path even while doing that.
"Your eyes are different."
Just as Ian found Danya fascinating, Danya found Ian just as intriguing.
To Danya, Ian had always been a profoundly shallow kid.
An existence who could only focus on himself, flailing aimlessly with no center. That wasn't being kind, Danya often thought—it was being stupid.
But the Ian who came back to school a week later was... how to put it?
His gaze had deepened.
It was directed inward, not outward, at himself.
Danya found it curious.
That change in Ian.
'I'd always looked at him with strange eyes, too...'
But now, there was none of that stickiness in his gaze.
'Hm.'
Not hot, exactly, but still kind of a weird look. Like someone staring at something fascinating...?
It was remarkably sharp insight.
Because Ian really was finding the Danya in front of him fascinating. The way she walked while looking backward without missing a step, her tail keeping her balanced, her ears twitching in every direction.
Those ears, that tail... a real beastkin. An actual beastkin.
Danya's eyes narrowed.
"You just had a rude thought, didn't you!"
This was exactly why she hated mages.
They were always harboring all sorts of shady thoughts on the inside while acting aloof on the outside. This one was probably no different.
"You could say that."
Danya was startled by Ian's response.
He just admitted it like that?
The fact that he said it so honestly made her anger fizzle out before it could ignite.
'He wasn't like this before.'
It was almost like the kind of straightforwardness she only ever felt among her clan friends.
"On that note, would it be alright if I touched your ears? They're really fascinating."
"Absolutely not!"
"Hmm. So it was a rude thing to say after all. I'm sorry. I got confused with the game—no, I got my etiquette mixed up."
"...Well, if you're going to go that far, fine. I'll accept your apology."
"Thank you."
Danya faced forward and bowed her head deeply.
She was having a hard time collecting herself.
He was way too honest.
And it had been so long since anyone had thanked her or praised her that she could barely keep the corners of her mouth from rising.
But letting herself grin would feel like losing.
Danya snapped at him.
"Hmph! Of course you should be grateful! Consider it an honor that the great Danya deigns to team up with you!"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
After a few rounds of their straight-shooting exchange, the two grew close in no time.
◆
Danya Catsnesia.
A genius of the Catsnesia clan, one of the continent's most prominent beastkin families. The Catsnesia were famed for their agility and physical prowess, but Danya was an exception—she had a talent for magic.
Within the realm of magic, she was regarded as a prodigy who appeared among beastkin once every hundred years.
But after enrolling at Lichten Academy, Danya's self-esteem had gradually begun to crack.
Among her clan, she was treated as a magical genius, but once she actually arrived at the academy, she found the place teeming with people just like her.
The proof was that she hadn't made it into the top integrated class, Aether, and was stuck here in the Mezai class.
Moreover, she was running up against the innate limits of being a beastkin, which made training in magic even harder.
Mages needed to absorb the mana corresponding to their elemental affinity from the many ambient energies in nature.
But a beastkin's senses were inherently acute.
She sensed countless types of energy, and the more she sensed, the harder it was to single out the elements she needed.
The very trait that was a beastkin's strength had become Danya's weakness.
Danya thought to herself.
She was a misfire. A dud.
Maybe it would have been better if she'd never had any magical talent at all.
Just as she was sinking into unrelenting gloom—
'The tracking exercise!'
Wandering through nature was a field she had more confidence in than anyone.
Plus, her clan's sacred ground was at the northernmost edge of the Great Mountain Range. Danya had roamed through those mountains as easily as walking through her own home.
Something like scouting the Shadow Forest was absurdly simple.
'Finally, a chance to shine!'
Life began to return to Danya's face.
'A forest like this is nothing compared to the Great Mountain Range!'
The Mezai class kids were all the type to shut themselves in their rooms. Pale-faced mages who knew nothing but their own excellence—they'd be a piece of cake.
Danya clenched her fist.
'I'll stomp them all beneath my feet.'
Nobles, and even the wealthy ones. Most of the kids studying magic came from well-off families. The refinement they spoke of was nothing but pretense to Danya, which made it hard to get close to them.
So long to the tear-jerking grades that had kept her at rock bottom!
◆
"Ah. So that's why you wanted to team up with me?"
Ian, who had been following behind Danya, tilted his head.
"But if that's the case, wouldn't it make more sense to go solo?"
They were at the entrance to the Shadow Forest.
Danya and Ian, now a team, were walking the forest path together.
Danya, confident in the woods, walked ahead while Ian followed behind.
Truthfully, Ian still harbored a small suspicion.
He didn't know why Danya had suddenly wanted to pair up with him.
That was why he'd asked for her reason—to break the ice of their first meeting.
Flustered, Danya's shoulders gave a light twitch.
Her answer came only after a long pause.
"...Because I'm not very good at tracking mana traces."
Ian understood.
'So she wanted to shine in a class she's confident in, after all.'
A choice to maximize her own share of the spotlight. A fairly rational reason.
"But why me, specifically?"
"Huh? Because you looked like you didn't have any friends."
"......"
Ian reeled at the fastball she'd suddenly thrown.
This kid really knew how to deliver a direct hit.
The truth was, loners always sensed something in each other.
Whether it was the relief of 'Oh, that person's a loner too!' or the distinction of 'You and I are different kinds of loners, you know.'
'Danya seems like the latter.'
She seemed like a type with a somewhat stronger 'tsun' in her tsundere nature. Still, there was no reason to be pointlessly wary.
Ian let out a light sigh.
Even the kids who approached him had to be suspected at least once. That was how overwhelming the influence of the heroines—the story's main players—really was.
'Anyway.'
Ian generally gave back as good as he got.
Having been on the receiving end of a direct shot, it was time to return the favor.
During the time he'd been an observer in Pongpongi's body, he'd naturally had a brief chance to gauge the class atmosphere.
Even if she wasn't quite on Pongpongi's level, anyone could see Danya fell squarely into loner territory.
"So you should be grateful to me."
In response to Danya's gaslighting, Ian beamed.
"Didn't you not have any friends either?"
Bingo.
Danya abruptly veered toward a nearby flower.
"O-oh, my! Such a pretty flower."
Yeah. You're obviously reading from a textbook.
That one definitely hit home.
Ian let out a quiet chuckle.
Anyway, a beastkin mage.
'That really is a rare tech tree.'
Ian recalled some of Fanta X Aca's strategy guides.
He was pretty sure there had been a beastkin mage build among them.
How did things like that end up in his head?
'Because I'm the one who wrote all those guides.'
Ian was the type who had to taste shit to truly know it was shit.
As a result, he'd cranked out an obscene number of deeply perverted guides.
'Now I remember.'
The beastkin mage.
The concept was unbelievably twisted breeding play, but if it was feasible, the potential was limitless.
The sharp beastkin senses that had been an obstacle to mastering mana would, at a certain point, become a launchpad that turned that obstacle into a rocket booster.
Ian looked at Danya walking ahead.
Her gently swaying tail. Her twitching ears.
'Might not be a bad idea to raise her up.'
Fanta X Aca prided itself on a difficulty curve that was tough to overcome alone.
Which meant you were forced to make use of 5-star heroines.
But if he could cultivate kids whose potential hadn't yet bloomed like this—
'That would be a solid workaround.'
There was no rush.
He'd grow stronger himself first.
After that, he could spare whatever was left to help her out.