The Tomato's Declaration of Victory, Night of the Foundation Festival
A boy who had slipped away from the boycott let out a long sigh. To be precise, it was a girl.
"Ugh, what did I do to deserve this trouble?"
The one disguised as Hanon was Hania Lepiddia, the daughter of the Imperial Knight Commander.
After learning that Isabel was pursuing Hanon, she had joined the boycott, anticipating that things could get incredibly messy.
Since she wore Hanon's face, no one questioned her presence.
Having suddenly ended up subduing and capturing a few members of the boycott, she let out another sigh.
Hanon had already slipped away the moment he clashed with Isabel's group.
He could have at least given me a heads-up.
She had meddled for nothing and only ended up suffering. Right now, all she wanted was to go back to her room and take a hot shower.
"Hania."
As she was trudging along, she flinched and raised her head at the sound of the voice. The owner of that voice was none other than Iris.
Her pitch-black hair fluttered in the breeze. Beyond her long, elegant eyelashes, her ruby-red eyes gleamed under the moonlight.
"What is with that appearance?"
Iris saw through Hania's disguise in an instant. Hania, who was supposed to be waiting in the dormitory, had appeared here of all places. Flustered, Hania couldn't find her words and merely parted her lips.
This reaction only solidified Iris's suspicions. Iris narrowed her eyes as she looked at Hania. Her gaze was sweet and magnetic, yet it carried an underlying chill that sent a shiver down Hania's spine.
"Hania, you aren't the type of girl to lie to me, are you?"
Iris's quiet warning followed. Hania was her devoted follower. To lie to Iris was practically a capital offense.
Hania quickly bowed her head.
"Of course not, Lady Iris."
She had promised Hanon to keep it a secret, but this was an absolute force majeure. There was no way out. Hania confessed everything to Iris, starting with the fact that Hanon was the mastermind behind the boycott.
Still, feeling guilty about breaking her promise to him, she tried to cover for him by adding that he must have planned all of this for Iris's sake.
Iris fell into a quiet silence as she processed the story. Anxious about her reaction, Hania fidgeted nervously.
"...I see."
Iris turned around without another word.
"Ah, Lady Iris, wait for me!"
Hania quickly pulled off her wig and colored lenses, scrambling to catch up with Iris.
For some reason, Iris's breath caught slightly. Her chest, which had always felt cold and hollow whenever the Foundation Festival came around, was filled with an inexplicable warmth tonight.
The sudden boycott threw Jerion Academy into utter chaos. Although the professors and assistant instructors running the festival eventually arrived to restore order, it was Isabel and her friends who played the most crucial role in resolving the situation.
They had stepped in to mediate and suppress a clash that could have easily escalated into a massive brawl between the boycott group and the student council. Thanks to their intervention, Isabel's reputation soared.
Most of the boycott members were apprehended and dragged before the professors and assistant instructors for questioning. Furthermore, the deep-seated corruption within Jerion Academy was brought to light. Not only the student council but also the academy's administration would be unable to escape severe public backlash.
As a result of the incident, several students faced suspension. Rozamin, the leader of the boycott, accepted his suspension calmly. In the original scenario, he would have screamed about the injustice of it all, but now, his face was a mask of complete resignation.
Even as he was being escorted to the dormitory under suspension, he called out to the students who had gathered in the commotion.
"Make sure you escape."
It was unclear who he was addressing, but leaving those cryptic words behind, he was finally led away by the assistant instructors.
Meanwhile, Student Council President Sylvester Drapen found himself in an incredibly difficult position after cutting such a disgraceful figure during the incident. Even though the corruption had started before his tenure, the students fiercely interrogated him for turning a blind eye to the student council's long-standing malpractices.
Sylvester had already been labeled as incompetent, and now, people seized the opportunity to tear him apart from all sides. Outside Jerion Academy, the Drapen Ducal family faced a relentless political onslaught spearheaded by the 3rd Princess's faction.
Ultimately, Sylvester was branded with the disgrace of ruining the student council. He resigned from his position as president. In truth, he was in no position to remain in the student council anyway.
Although the other student council members tried to dissuade him, Sylvester merely shook his head.
"My staying will only create more trouble for everyone. I'm sorry. I know it looks like I'm just running away."
He offered a bitter smile.
"But maybe... I've been doing nothing but running away from the very beginning."
Leaving behind a lonely figure, Sylvester returned to being a regular student.
With both the president and vice president gone, the student council was thrown into a state of emergency. However, the student council office was temporarily shut down anyway, as imperial inspectors dispatched to the academy began a thorough investigation of Jerion Academy.
In the process, assistant instructors, associate professors, and even full professors could not escape scrutiny. Consequently, a heavy, restless atmosphere hung over Jerion Academy. Although there were rumors that new faculty members and assistant instructors would be appointed soon, that transition would take time.
A wind of change was blowing through Jerion Academy. In a sense, the boycott had achieved its goal.
Given the sheer chaos, the academy decided to transition to self-study for the next three days. Since the students were already highly self-disciplined in their training, the absence of professors for a few days wouldn't pose much of an issue.
And so, in this period of transition, I arrived at the classroom for self-study. But the moment I stepped foot inside, I was forcibly dragged back out, landing myself in an incredibly awkward predicament.
"Lightning Sweet Potato."
"Hanon."
"You."
Seron Parmia, Iris Haishirion, and Isabel Luna. The three of them stood in front of me, blocking my path.
Looking at the three girls, each harboring entirely different intentions, I pondered for a brief second. Should I run?
"Don't even think about running away."
Seron, having already anticipated my patterns, snapped sharply. She had even blocked my escape route. Talk about returning a favor with hostility.
Putting Seron and Isabel aside for a moment...
I looked at Iris with a questioning gaze. Was there any reason for her to go out of her way to wait for me like this?
As I stared at Iris, my eyes met Hania's, who was standing quietly behind her. Her shoulders flinched, and she quickly bowed her head in silence.
...I've been caught.
Realizing what had happened, I swallowed a heavy sigh. Well, I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later.
The problem is...
They say it's better to get a beating over with quickly, but I had absolutely no idea whose wrath I should face first.
The three girls glanced at one another. Since they had all confronted me the moment I arrived, none of them seemed to have anticipated this three-way standoff. Surely, the one who backed down first would be the mature one here.
Right then, Iris spoke up without hesitation. As expected of the Third Princess. She truly possessed a grand presence.
"Hanon, come to my room after classes are over today."
She didn't just have a grand presence; she had just fired a massive cannon. Iris spoke in an incredibly casual, familiar tone before turning on her heel.
Naturally, "her room" meant the female dormitory. That in itself was highly problematic, but the implication that I had been slipping in and out of the Third Princess's private quarters was bound to be interpreted in a scandalous light.
At her bombshell statement, Isabel and Seron's jaws dropped simultaneously. Both of them stared at me with eyes wide with sheer shock.
"Y-You... Sweet Potato, you absolute madman."
Seron, who was the only one here who knew my true identity, stammered. If I were truly Hanon, I could at least hide behind the excuse of being the princess's cousin. But I was Bikamon. Sneaking into the princess's bedchamber under a false identity was practically a death sentence.
"You...!"
I quickly raised my hand and clamped it over Seron's mouth. She squirmed against my grip. She had been about to snap at me, seeing Hanon's face, but the moment she remembered I was actually Bikamon, her face flushed a brilliant crimson. She was still as easily flustered as ever.
*Grab—*
At that moment, someone grabbed my wrist. I looked down to see Isabel holding me, her eyes chillingly calm.
"What exactly did you do with Lady Iris every night?"
We slept. But if I say it like that, I'll be socially executed on the spot.
"...I just had some business to attend to."
"Oh, really? 'Business' in the girls' dormitory." Isabel offered a sweet, chilling smile. "...Even though you left right in the middle of doing it with me."
Well, we did leave in the middle of a battle, but...
"W-What?!"
Seron stared at me with her eyes practically bulging out of her head. Why was Isabel making this situation even more complicated? Was she doing this on purpose?
Isabel let out a soft snort, turned on her heel, and walked away. In the end, only Seron remained. Once I released her, she slowly raised her head. I quickly averted my gaze.
"Well, I should probably get going too—"
"Where do you think you're going?"
The moment I tried to slip away, Seron grabbed my collar in a vice grip. Unable to take another step, I stopped and looked back at her.
"Seron, about what happened yesterday..."
"Save it. Just tell me the truth."
Yeah, there's no wriggling out of this one.
"Lightning Sweet Potato. Are you Senior Bikamon, or are you Hanon?"
In the end, I threw up my hands in defeat. Honestly, the moment she caught on to my identity, there was no point in trying to deny it anymore.
"I'm Bikamon. I had to return to Jerion Academy in this guise for certain reasons."
Hearing my answer, Seron bit her lip. She looked as though she had a mountain of questions, but was carefully filtering them in her head.
"...Did you come back because of Senior Nikita?"
So that was what was on her mind. Seeing her shoulders slump as she waited for my response, I let out a soft sigh.
"I can't say she has nothing to do with it, but she isn't the sole reason."
Nikita was important, of course, but I had a far more critical objective. I had returned to this academy to prevent this world from plunging into a bad ending. But obviously, I couldn't tell her that.
"...But you used to love Senior Nikita."
"That was in the past."
Besides, that was the old Bikamon, not me. More than anything, due to the effects of the Bandage of the Veil, I had likely lost the capacity to feel love altogether.
"Right now, I don't have feelings for anyone."
Seron fell silent at my words. Then, without warning, she yanked my collar forward. She was a martial arts student, after all; her sudden burst of strength caught me off guard, pulling my face inches from hers in an instant.
She lightly bumped her forehead against mine, a playful, mischievous smirk spreading across her lips.
"Then that means I don't have to give up yet."
I stared at her, completely dumbfounded.
"You do realize I was posing as Hanon, right?"
"I don't care about that."
Seron let go of my collar, a look of pure relief washing over her face.
"Because you're still the prince I fell for."
"I thought I was just a sweet potato to you."
"And even if you were a sweet potato, I never disliked you. It's just that my feelings for you have grown even deeper."
Seron offered a bright, radiant smile.
...Did this girl undergo some kind of awakening? She's blurting out these embarrassing lines without batting an eye.
"Prince Sweet Potato."
Seron declared, planting her hands firmly on her hips.
"Prepare yourself. I don't care about anything else, but I have absolutely no intention of losing this battle."
Her vibrant, confident smile possessed a charm so dazzling that even I felt my composure waver for a split second.
Just what exactly was I supposed to prepare myself for? This battle... was shaping up to be an incredibly turbulent one.