Cake and Breakups
After class ended, Professor Dana came looking for me. “Want coffee or green tea?” she asked.
“Coffee, please.”
I nodded and followed her to her private office. She moved the coffee pot with practiced ease, the machine whirring as hot water filtered through the grounds.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
I took a sip. The coffee was pleasantly bitter, with a rich aroma that rose from the cup.
“Haah… This is really good.”
“Glad it suits your taste. I’m sorry for suddenly calling you over like this. Thanks for coming anyway.”
“It’s fine. If you call, of course I’ll come.”
No student at the academy would ignore a summons from Professor Dana. She was one of the nation’s proudest heroes, ranked third among the 5 Greats. Standing her up simply wasn’t an option.
…Though if it were Plea, she might actually do it.
Just as the thought crossed my mind, Professor Dana, now seated across from me, carefully broached the subject.
“From what I saw in class today, Plea seems to be keeping her distance from everyone. Is she being bullied or anything like that?”
For a split second, Aria’s mind flashed to the way she herself had picked fights with Plea, but she quickly shook her head.
“No, that’s not it. Thanks to how she performed during the aptitude test, no one’s bothering her. If anything…”
“If anything?”
“If anything… the other students are afraid of her. Because Plea is… impossible to understand.”
Everything about her was shrouded in secrecy. Even the students who had witnessed her strength didn’t know the details of her private life. All they knew was that every test she participated in had been bizarre, that she was absurdly powerful, and that she possessed a certain streak of cruelty.
I cautiously lifted my lowered gaze toward Professor Dana. She was clutching her coffee cup with a somber expression.
“Could you… tell me if anything happened to Plea?”
“Yes.”
Aria answered, her voice carrying a slight tremor, recounting everything Plea had done since enrolling.
“Ha… After hearing all that, I think I understand why the students avoid her.”
Dana let out a heavy sigh, her voice laced with complicated emotions.
“Haah… No wonder everyone kept glancing at her during the first class. So that was the reason. Has Plea ever gotten angry at the other students or… hit anyone?”
“No. Plea hasn’t bullied anyone. Most of the rumors about her hitting people are just exaggerated gossip.”
Whenever a rumor like that spread, Aria had moved quickly to verify the truth. She had been ready to pounce on even the slightest evidence, but every single story turned out to be baseless hearsay.
“Phew… That’s a relief. I was worried she might go on a rampage, but I guess it was just needless anxiety.”
Dana placed a hand over her chest and exhaled in relief. Unable to hold back her curiosity any longer, Aria asked,
“Um… Professor, what exactly is your relationship with Plea?”
“Our relationship, huh…”
Dana’s face clouded with a hint of guilt as she answered.
“Years ago, at the request of an acquaintance, I taught Plea for a few years. The technique I demonstrated in today’s combat class was one I taught her back then.”
“Ah, so that’s why…”
No wonder her hand-to-hand combat skills were so strong. If she had learned directly from Dana, it made perfect sense that no one could beat her.
“Plea was strong, wasn’t she?”
“Insanely strong. Now that I know you personally trained her, it finally makes sense.”
If that overwhelming power was the result of Dana’s direct instruction, everything clicked into place. The reason Plea had been treated as something of an outlier in previous tests was probably because her strength would have skewed the evaluations for everyone else. After all, being a disciple of one of the 5 Greats meant her combat ability was already at a passing level, and her aptitude was something her teacher would understand better than anyone.
As I nodded in understanding, Dana gave an awkward smile and trailed off.
“Taught her… I’m not sure I deserve to be spoken of so highly…”
“Pardon?”
“No, it’s nothing. More importantly, is there anything else you’re curious about regarding Plea?”
“Curious about…”
There was one thing. Plea’s strange personality. That bizarre, almost cruel temperament that made it impossible to guess what she was thinking. I wanted to ask about it, but bringing it up to her teacher felt rude… Still, if not now, I might never get another chance to learn more about Plea. Gathering my courage, I spoke.
“D-Do you know why Plea’s personality is like that?”
I squeezed my eyes shut as I blurted it out, but Dana answered as if she had been expecting the question.
“That child never had any friends growing up… She also lived apart from her parents and never received a proper education. That’s probably why.”
“An education…?”
“Yeah… It’s not a pleasant story, but Plea never even received homeschooling, let alone public education. She only ever experienced the world through the internet. Thankfully, she has a good nature, so she never went astray.”
An environment where she couldn’t even receive public education… It was beyond anything Aria could imagine, yet she took another step forward to learn more about Plea.
“Could you tell me the details?”
“Not everything, just parts of it… Would that be enough?”
“Of course.”
Impressed by the firm reply, Dana thought that Plea had found herself a good friend and began recounting a slightly altered version of Plea’s living situation.
The result was devastating.
“That can’t be…”
Aria covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. According to Dana’s edited story, Plea had lost her parents at a young age, suffered abuse at the hands of cold relatives, learned about the world only through the internet, and had only ever met Dana—making her enrollment at the academy possible only through her help. She had become the tragic heroine of the story.
*
While Aria was bursting into tears during her conversation with Dana, what was Plea doing?
“Time to eat!”
Class was over and I had nothing else to do, so I headed to a dessert café and ordered a delicious-looking cake.
“D-Do we really have to come here together?”
Siwoo and I. Staring at the freshly served pink, extravagant cake, I licked my lips, stabbed it with a fork, and brought a big piece to my mouth.
—Munch munch.
“We don’t have a choice. This cake is a couples-only menu item.”
Well, it wasn’t like I wanted to pretend to date a guy. But what was I supposed to do when the cake I wanted was couples-only?
“No, there’s a solo menu too. Why do we have to get this one?”
“I’m planning to order that one after we finish this and say we broke up.”
Siwoo smacked his forehead. There was actually a groundbreaking method to order both the couples and solo menus at once!
“I’m not some kind of cake shuttle!”
“What’s wrong with friends doing it? You like sweets too anyway.”
“That’s true, but still… that’s that and this is this.”
Despite his complaints, Siwoo frowned and took a big bite of his own cake. Regardless of his mood, the cake was genuinely delicious.
“Damn, it really is good.”
“Right?”
Watching him eat so happily made me oddly satisfied. He might not look like it, but this guy was my best friend—the one who would defeat the final boss and grant me true freedom. I had to build up some goodwill however I could.
With that thought, I also chewed on my cake. It was sweet and truly delicious. And since I had a full scholarship, it was free too.
I sucked on the drink I’d bought to go with the cake and looked down at the now-empty plate.
“We already finished it.”
“Yeah, but… are you seriously going to do it?”
Siwoo gave me an uneasy look, but I told him that ordering like this at dessert cafés was pretty common. I’d seen the tip on a community site I frequented—order both the couples and solo menus—and it had thousands of recommendations, so it had to be reliable information.
“Just trust me.”
I confidently thumped my chest and rang the bell to call the waiter.
“Yes, how can I help you?”
“I’d like to order two more items.”
When I pointed to the solo-only cake on the menu, the part-timer added with an awkward expression,
“Um, customer… This is a solo-only menu. Couples can’t order it…”
“We just broke up.”
“Excuse me?”
“We broke up just now, so we’ll switch to a single seat and order this.”
The part-timer’s eyes trembled with confusion. They probably never imagined someone would order both menus in such a creative way. Still looking unconvinced, I kicked Siwoo’s shin with my heel, my face inexplicably flushed.
‘Hey, you act too.’
‘No… Haah… Fine…’
After exchanging glances, Siwoo dragged a hand down his face and said to me,
“I’m tired of someone like you. Let’s break up.”
It was my turn to respond, but before I could, another voice cut in.
“Siwoo, you… You! I can’t believe you…!”
Aria, her eyes red and brimming with tears, flung open the dessert café’s front door and shouted at Siwoo.