The Dormitory
The Academy, situated in the neutral zone, had no separate residential facilities of its own.
Instead, every student staying there was assigned to the dormitories, without exception.
Up to this point, it hardly differed from the schools of the Empire or the other nations — but the Academy did have one rather unusual exception of its own.
That was the fact that men and women shared the same buildings.
And not merely divided across different floors or wings — there was no separation of space at all.
Still, in the interest of preserving at least a modicum of decorum, the Academy had put measures in place ensuring that each student could occupy only a single room.
Behind this absurd arrangement, one could imagine the influence of the students' parents played no small part.
Most of the students enrolled here were the children of high-ranking nobles.
Accordingly, it was common for them to enroll at the Academy with servants in tow, much as I had come with Seria.
The servants' duties included assisting with daily life, but their most essential role was protecting their young charges.
In the Academy's early days, rooms had been allocated by gender, as at any other school —
but a flood of protests insisted that protection was simply impossible under such an arrangement, and the school took extraordinary measures in response.
After all, they could hardly bring themselves to sanction true cohabitation at an academy full of young men and women. This much could be called a compromise.
"Which room do you think we should take, Sirius?"
The dormitories consisted of three buildings in total, one per school year.
Luna and I, about to move into the first-year building, were debating which floor to settle on.
"I'd say the first floor, honestly. It's convenient when you have to go to class and all."
Not being particularly fond of moving around, I offered my opinion in passing.
Luna wrapped her arms around her head as though deep in thought.
"The first floor is definitely convenient... but it has way too many drawbacks..."
"Such as?"
"It's noisy. Tons of people passing by all the time."
It wasn't wrong, exactly, but I didn't much care. A little noise was a fair trade for ten extra minutes of sleep in the morning, as far as my satisfaction index was concerned.
"Oh, come on~ it's fine. Everyone quiets down by evening anyway... and they're single rooms~"
"That's not what I mean..."
For reasons I couldn't quite follow, Luna squirmed and twisted where she stood, then spoke in a small voice.
"What if someone hears us...?"
Hm...? Hears what, exactly...? I thought about it for a moment, and then I felt the temperature of my face climb.
True, if rumors started flying, we'd become the talk of the Academy, and that would wear us down in any number of ways.
It was a perfectly reasonable concern — and I found myself nodding along in sudden, eager agreement.
"Yeah, the first floor does have its inconveniences~ so many things to worry about, too. Right, right, Luna, you're making sense for once~"
Sheepish, I scratched at my head.
"Pervert."
Luna's single word struck me square in the heart.
Wait, you're the one who brought it up first, though...
We looked into higher floors instead and settled on a corner room at the very top.
As a rule, when it came to charges and their attendants, the Academy would assign them adjoining rooms on the spot, so long as the relationship could be verified.
"Hmm... but the top floor is bound to be popular. We'll just have to hope for a bit of luck, I suppose."
When two or more students applied for the same room, the school would impartially select one at random, and the other would have to choose from among the remaining rooms.
At the reception desk, we applied for two rooms under the name of Count Iaros.
After our earlier spat with Seria and completing our dormitory applications, we set off to attend the welcome banquet held for the incoming students.
The evening banquet, Naturally, had to cater to the tastes of the highly placed, and it was lavish beyond description.
"Wow... the world really is a big place..."
Exotic-looking ingredients I'd never seen before and glittering light fixtures left my mouth hanging wide open.
Having grown up in a village at the edge of the border, and then in the colorless castle of Amelia, this was nothing short of a staggering experience for me.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong with you, Sirius?"
Luna jabbed me with her elbow, appalled at how openly awestruck I was being.
Oh, come on... sure, you're the Demon King's daughter... but this is all new to me, alright?
"That one looks genuinely delicious... and that too..."
"You're hopeless. You'll simply have to come visit my home sometime."
Luna grumbled in a tone that suggested something was bothering her.
Come to think of it, she had almost never told me anything about her real home — the Demon King's castle.
Maybe she'd simply never answered because I'd never asked, but she rarely spoke of her family.
Then again, Luna knew the full story of how I'd come to follow my master, so perhaps she had deliberately avoided the subject out of consideration for me.
"Oh, come now, my lady. What are you saying? I'm a member of the Iaros household too, you know!"
I said it with a mischievous, rolling grin.
Luna gave a scoffing laugh, as if I were hopeless, then leaned in and told me to lend her my ear for a moment.
"...So you're saying you're the same as my father, some human thing...?"
No, my lady...!
Of course not...!
P-please, anything but the finger snap...!
For a moment there, I had actually forgotten about the Demon King's note.
Truly frightening people are the silent ones, as it turns out.
Watch out most for those whose thoughts you cannot read — that much I had learned from my master.
In that sense, the Demon King was frightening enough already, holding my very life in his grip — but the fact that I had no idea what went on in his head made him doubly terrifying.
I will be watching... suddenly I couldn't shake the feeling that my every move and word was being reported to somewhere.
Luna, who knew nothing of the note's contents, was flustered by the faintly queasy look on my face.
"It was a joke~ a joke. Why are you so spooked? It's fine."
"Right~ of course~ I'm... I'm fine... Your father could never be compared to something like a human... h-haha..."
"Sirius. I don't know what image of my father you've got in your head, but he's kinder than you think."
Well, of course you'd think that. You're his daughter.
Anyone here at the Academy — no, I could grab any demon in the entire Demon Realm and ask what they thought of the Demon King's personality.
The answer was a foregone conclusion.
A terrifying being — slip up just once, and it was a straight express ticket to the afterlife. That was the Demon King.
"Y-yeah... I'd love to meet him someday."
Still, if the day ever came when I did meet the Demon King, it would be better to go with Luna.
I could only pray I'd never have to storm the Demon King's castle to stop Seria from trying to kill him.
Inside the banquet hall, the crowd was thick and buzzing.
The students had apparently already begun forming their own little communities, eating together in clusters.
Luna and I loaded up our plates and sat down at a table for eight.
"Hey, Luna."
"Mm?"
Luna was chewing away with a blissful expression on her face.
"Shouldn't we... go somewhere and strike up a conversation with someone or other...?"
I knew today wasn't the only chance we'd have, but watching everyone else laugh and chatter away in their little groups made me worry that if we just sat here, the two of us would end up properly ostracized once the semester actually began.
I had never properly lived the school life.
My entire experience consisted of a brief spell in childhood, taking lessons from the village elder at the local schoolhouse alongside Seria and about ten other kids.
So I was quietly anxious.
It wasn't that the kids here were stronger than me and I needed to curry favor with them — I needed a foothold, something to let me approach Seria naturally.
If Luna and Seria clashed in earnest, with all the same energy as before and no intermediary at all, it wouldn't have been strange for the entire Academy to go flying.
I was racking my brain, working out my own careful little plan, but Luna seemed far too busy eating to care.
She loved food this much — I was honestly amazed she'd endured three years under our master.
"Hey, Luna... should I go ask that kid over there to eat with us...?"
Luna glanced in the direction I pointed and wrinkled her face.
"...That's your type...?"
Why does her train of thought only ever run down that one track?
I'd pointed at a girl nearby without thinking, and it seemed I'd guessed the wrong gender for the job.
"Ngh... that's not it... okay, then how about that boy standing over there...?"
"But we're eating right now, the two of us. Do we absolutely have to cram some third person in with us?"
Luna's reaction was lukewarm at best.
Fine... giving up...
There would surely be a natural opportunity to make new friends sooner or later.
Having abandoned the attempt to convince Luna, I polished off my plate — practically face-down in it — alongside her, and we left our seats.
Expensive food really does taste better, no two ways about it.
"Yes. Lady Luna Iaros, rooms 604 and 605, as you requested. Congratulations — you've been selected."
The staff member kindly informed us that we'd won the rooms we'd applied for.
"Oh, really? Thank you so much~"
Luna, clearly in good spirits, took the keys and handed one to me.
The sixth floor by way of the stairs wasn't exactly exhausting for either Luna or me, but it did take a while to get to our room, I had to admit.
But a nuisance of this degree was a cheap price to pay, I thought, for the advantages the top floor afforded.
Just imagining secretly sharing a room with Luna made my heart flutter at the mere thought of it.
Ever since the ring had turned her eyes blue, Luna felt like someone slightly different — and that difference had a charm all its own.
Chatting away as we climbed, we reached the sixth floor — and had no choice but to stop dead in the corridor.
"Oh my. What a coincidence...! I apologize for this afternoon..."
Standing before us, keys to room 603 in hand, was Seria, sweeping back her golden hair.
Rather than let Seria get under my skin, I found my head turning automatically toward Luna.
And sure enough, Luna stood with her arms crossed, glaring daggers at her.
"You really are something else, you know that?"
I could feel the fury churning and boiling inside Luna.
Two nails-and-needles sessions a day is pushing it, isn't it...? — or so I thought.