Unmasked So Soon
Morning run, then training with Aisha.
Morning martial arts class, getting under Isabel's skin just a bit.
After lunch, student council paperwork with Nikita.
Afternoon joint class, ignoring Card and focusing on the lecture.
Before dinner, preparation and information gathering for the mock battle.
Occasionally, overtime at the student council office with Nikita.
After dinner, reviewing lessons, doing assignments, and training.
Nighttime, sleep.
This has been my daily routine lately.
If it were the old me, I would have thrown a fit—or at the very least, collapsed and slept through the entire next day.
But Bikamon's stamina was beyond imagination.
As far as I could tell, this body would probably be perfectly fine even if I stayed up for three days and nights straight.
Its sheer physical endurance and recovery rate were that absurdly high.
'Bikamon, you idiot. You should have been training your body instead of wasting your time on magic you had no talent for.'
Why on earth had he insisted on making a fool of himself trying to learn magic?
Of course, I wasn't completely ignorant of Bikamon's backstory.
His family, the Niflheims, was originally a lineage of prestigious mages.
Overshadowed by his magically gifted older brother, Bikamon had desperately clung to magic as if his very life depended on it.
Unfortunately, he possessed a hopeless lack of talent for it.
To make matters worse, even his younger sister had awakened the 'Primal Magic,' hailed as the second coming of a great archmage.
Consumed by misery, Bikamon had only grown more obsessively attached to magic.
'Blinded by jealousy and envy, he failed to cultivate his actual strengths.'
In the end, what was done was done, but it was still a shame.
Regardless, his physical gifts were proving to be a massive help to me now.
Stamina is power.
My physical strength was growing at a rate that made me truly understand the weight of those words.
"Senior, I've added a new routine today that targets both the arms and chest!"
Perhaps because of that...
Aisha's training routines had been getting progressively more bizarre lately.
Blessed with iron stamina herself, Aisha seemed absolutely thrilled to finally have a training partner.
Every morning, she would arrive even earlier than me, setting up the training equipment with a bright, beaming smile.
It seemed she had actually been quite lonely training all by herself this whole time.
"Senior, today is leg day! Let's strap these on before our run!"
Setting aside her innocent face, the gear she brought out was looking more and more ominous by the day.
Still, seeing her so genuinely happy didn't feel half bad.
Most importantly, Aisha's training was undeniably effective.
"Training together is so much fun!"
Having finished today's session, Aisha looked down at my collapsed form and flashed a refreshing, healthy smile straight out of a sports drink commercial.
I had no idea what she was made of, but her stamina showed absolutely no signs of depleting.
No wonder she had enough energy left over to swing that massive greatsword around like a toy.
She used to have a somewhat cold image.
But now, far from being cold, I realized just how innocent and rambunctious she really was.
Even so, thanks to her, I managed to stagger back onto my feet.
Watching Aisha, whose stamina eclipsed mine, sparked a competitive fire within me.
One day, I would build up enough stamina to swing a greatsword around like it was nothing, too.
"Senior, it looks like the training is really paying off. Your physique is getting better and better!"
"...Is it that obvious?"
"No, but your muscles are speaking to me."
My dear, what kind of terrifying thing is that to say?
But Aisha's words held truth.
Perhaps due to the intense training, my body was visibly toning up, even beneath the Bandage of the Veil.
To see results this quickly meant his innate muscle quality was on another level.
Bikamon really should have walked the path of a martial artist.
"It's all thanks to you."
"Ah, hehe, no way. It's mostly because you worked so hard, Senior."
Aisha let out a shy giggle, and to shake off her embarrassment, she began swinging her greatsword even harder.
I felt like the wind pressure alone might blow me away, so I really wished she would stop.
"Anyway, Aisha, I'd like to do a mock battle to prepare for the upcoming evaluation."
I spoke up quickly before she could actually send me flying.
"Could I spar with you?"
"With me?"
Aisha's eyes went wide.
She slowly lowered her greatsword, a broad grin spreading across her face.
"I won't go easy on you just because you're my senior. Are you sure you're okay with that?"
"Of course. That's exactly what I want. You can play as rough as you like."
"I can't wait to see you unable to get out of bed tomorrow, with your legs shaking like jelly."
"Have you considered that it might be the other way around? Aisha, don't even think about leaving your bed that day, you'll be crying your eyes out."
"W-What on earth are you two talking about?!"
At that moment, an unexpected voice cut sharply through our conversation.
When Aisha and I turned our heads, we saw a girl with striking, sun-kissed orange-blonde short hair.
Isabel Luna.
The main heroine of the Flame Butterfly Chapter, and the very girl I was struggling to save from her destined suicide route.
Isabel was staring at Aisha and me, her face flushed crimson from her ears down to her neck.
It seemed seeing my face first thing in the morning had made her blood boil.
We were steadily becoming sworn enemies.
Satisfying.
"Isabel Luna. What brings you here so early?"
When I addressed her by her full name, Isabel took a sharp breath and glared at me venomously.
"...You and I are on morning duty today."
Ah, right. Now that she mentioned it, we were.
I had completely forgotten about it in the heat of my training with Aisha.
"Aisha, let's finish our talk later."
"Yes, Senior. Good work today."
Receiving Aisha's polite bow, I walked over to Isabel.
"I need to stop by the dormitory first. I'm a mess."
No matter how urgent, I couldn't go on duty covered in sweat and dirt.
Isabel let out a heavy sigh and suddenly tossed a bag at me.
It took me a moment to realize it was my own bag.
When did she even grab this?
"...Card gave it to me on his way out this morning. He told me you'd be here. Your school uniform is inside."
So that was why she came all the way out here.
I looked at Isabel with an expressionless face.
"I literally just said it. I can't go looking like this."
Just because I had my uniform didn't mean I could put it on over all this sweat and grime.
"I can help with that~"
Another figure emerged from the bushes.
Sporting a tiny star tattoo near her eye and dangling earrings, she looked at me with sleepy, droopy eyes.
So she had a tag-along.
One of Isabel's close friends.
Sharin Sazaris, from the Magic Engineering department.
The top second-year student in Magic Engineering.
Clearly not a morning person, she let out a long yawn, drew her wand, and gave it a light flick.
Instantly, droplets of water materialized over my skin, absorbing the sweat and dirt before evaporating into thin air.
A highly skilled application of water magic.
"All clean now, right? Bel, let's gooo. I want to go to the classroom and sleep~"
Sharin clung to Isabel, calling her by her nickname, and Isabel nodded in response.
Then, Isabel shot me a displeased sidelong glance.
Since the hygiene issue was resolved, she expected me to follow.
A stubborn urge to do the exact opposite flared up inside me, but I held it back.
I didn't want to get demerit points for being late to duty either.
While I didn't care about my reputation among the students, maintaining a diligent image in front of the professors offered plenty of advantages.
So, I slung the bag over my shoulder and turned around.
Isabel's brow furrowed deeply as she grabbed my sleeve.
"Where do you think you're going? We have duty, remember?"
"I'm going to change my clothes over there. Why, did you want to follow and watch? What a vulgar hobby."
"N-No! Ugh... Sorry for grabbing you. Just go change."
Apologizing even in a situation like this...
Seeing her offer a proper apology even to someone she considered an enemy gave a glimpse into her true nature.
Leaving a flustered, blushing Isabel behind, I headed toward the trees.
As I walked away, I could feel Sharin's gaze lingering on me from a distance.
With those sleepy eyes of hers, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.
Sharin was a wild card for me as well.
Her defining character trait was her extreme whimsy.
She was the type of character who would suddenly say, "I'm done," and drop out right in the middle of a battle.
Sharin's fickleness was practically a debuff-level issue.
Yet, her raw stats and talent were so peerless that in the game, I would occasionally recruit her as a mercenary in desperate times and just pray to the RNG gods.
Please, don't let Sharin's mood swings ruin this run today.
Now that the game had become reality...
I had absolutely no way of predicting how her whims would manifest.
'It's best not to get tangled up with her right now.'
I quickly changed my clothes and stepped back out.
As if she had been waiting, Isabel immediately spun on her heel and marched off.
I gave Aisha a brief nod of farewell and followed close behind.
The three of us walked in near-total silence.
Needless to say, there was nothing but tension between Isabel and me.
And Sharin, who despised mornings, did nothing but yawn and drift along like a ghost.
"Sharin, walk straight."
"Mmm... but I'm so sleepy~"
Because Sharin was such a heavy sleeper, there were many in-game events where Isabel had to drag her out of bed by force.
Normally, Lucas would have been the one walking alongside them here.
If Lucas were here, the atmosphere would have been warm and lively.
They would have chatted happily about today's classes, the latest academy rumors, and other trivial things.
They would have shared so many pleasant conversations.
'But because of this duty rotation, I'm the one standing in his place.'
And all we had was a suffocating, desolate silence.
It was Sharin who broke the uncomfortable silence first.
Having arrived at the entrance of the Magic Engineering building, she was about to part ways with us.
"Have a good class today, and don't fall asleep."
"Mom, let me sleep for five more minutes~"
"Sharin, your mom isn't here."
Isabel patted Sharin's head, gently coaxing her as she clung to her.
When she was with Sharin, Isabel's mood seemed to lift slightly.
Yet, even Sharin couldn't fill the void that Lucas had left in Isabel's heart.
Without Lucas, Isabel's tragic end was an absolute inevitability.
As I stared at her, Isabel suddenly turned her gaze toward me.
Ah, time to pick a fight.
"We're going to be late for morning duty."
"...Are you seriously the one saying that?"
True enough.
But I decided to play the shameless villain.
Since my destiny was to be hated anyway, I might as well make her hate me thoroughly.
"I bet your friend Lucas was just as sluggish as you are."
Isabel's face instantly turned ice-cold.
She bit her lower lip hard and gently pushed Sharin away.
"You won't be able to say things like that for much longer."
Glaring at me with pure, unadulterated hatred, she spun around and walked away.
Excellent. The hatred stacks were building up nicely.
I had to keep up the good work.
Today's duty was bound to be incredibly frosty.
'Well, let's just get this over with.'
Having grown quite used to this by now, I started to follow after Isabel.
Grab!
But I was stopped in my tracks.
And by the most unexpected person, no less.
"...Sharin Sazaris?"
"Hey, hey... listen~"
She held my wrist in a tight grip, drawing out her words in her usual lazy tone.
Her deep-blue hair, shimmering like a brilliant galaxy, tilted to the side as she leaned in.
"Why are you disguised as that person?"
Oh, holy shit.