Unpredictable

Should I call it unpredictable? While watching the relay magic, Navier felt a strange chill spread from the center of her heart as she watched Ross, who was devastating the opposing team.

Ross’s words, whispered in her ear, elicited a reaction from many women in the stadium.

[It’s even better if you cry.]

,Kyaaaaak…!

“Oppa-yaaaa!!!”

His appearance was okay by her standards, and his arrogant demeanor and skills felt like a total thug, which instead stirred the young hearts of the girls in the stadium.

Even his hairstyle was different, making him feel unfamiliar, so Navier unconsciously rubbed her thighs together.

Because women are the ones who reach out to danger, thinking they won’t get pricked if they see sharp thorns on a beautiful rose.

The way he coordinated with his partner, Ellie, was even sexy.

Navier was also a woman. Of course, Ross has a cute girlfriend, and she promised not to cross the line… But just fantasizing alone wouldn’t be a sin.

The magician in charge of the relay magic noticed the heated reaction and zoomed in on Ross’s firm forearm holding the spear.

“Kyaaaaak…!”

Cheers erupted from the women watching the game. Navier was among them.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a wolf-like smile on his lips, he was perfect for a typical northern-born sub-male lead in a romance fantasy novel….

“…Navier!!!”

Navier snapped out of it at the sound of her friend calling her.

“Uh, uh… why?”

“Why else! The game’s over, so I’ve been telling you to go buy coffee during the break for a while now!”

Navier chuckled, naturally linking arms with her friend, who frowned and glared at her with an angry face, as if asking if she hadn’t been listening to her this whole time.

“I’ll pay!”

Navier, who got up from her seat, realized belatedly. That saying that often appeared in recent 19+ romance fantasy novels was not a lie.

,You’re getting wet is the start of something.’

We’re not exactly in a ,something’ relationship, but it’s a situation similar to a ,something’… Navier fidgeted uncomfortably and stopped by the bathroom for a moment before buying coffee.

***

As we headed to the waiting room after finishing the game, a big round of applause greeted us. The faces of the seniors welcoming the young juniors who had confidently won their first game were full of smiles.

“These bastards, they stirred things up so recklessly!”

Edward, the student council president and the most senior, put his arm around my shoulder, saying I did well. We weren’t that close, but I was guilty of making the seniors’ game difficult. I was tired, but I didn’t bother to pull away.

“Good job, Ross!”

Roel, who was running over, frowned at Edward’s hand on my shoulder, pulled Edward’s arm down, and placed his own arm around my shoulder. He puckered his lips as if satisfied.

“This is right…!”

“…This is wrong too. I’m going to wash up.”

With a sigh, I lowered Roel’s arm, and Roel smiled with a regretful face.

“Still, you did really well. It was a dangerous situation… That new technique was amazing. I could tell at a glance that you worked hard during the vacation!”

Was it because I received Roel’s recognition? Feeling embarrassed for no reason, I gave an awkward smile and grabbed the bath bag I had prepared to wash my sweaty body. It was a꿀팁(kkultip, honey tip) that the seniors who had experienced the triathlon had told me in advance.

“I’ll wash up quickly and cheer for hyung’s game.”

As I said that nonchalantly, Roel smiled brightly, unable to hide his joy. A slight sigh escaped at the sight.

Roel wants good brothers.

I don’t necessarily live a life of rejecting others, but to prevent the story from changing, I had to keep a certain distance from Roel.

As long as Ellie is by Roel’s side, the trigger of inferiority that had barely disappeared for Ross might be activated. That felt subtly frightening.

As I left the waiting room with my bath bag and change of clothes, I saw Ellie leaning against the wall as if waiting for me for some reason.

“You’re going to wash up, right? I’m going to shower too.”

Saying that, she grabbed the front of her sweat-soaked uniform and shook it. Because of that, I turned my head sharply without realizing it at the sight of the fair skin visible through the gap. The fact that there was a mole in a place that wasn’t usually exposed didn’t leave my mind even though I only saw it for a moment.

Ellie approached me closely with a pure expression as if she didn’t know anything. The scent of sweet strawberries mixed with a slight smell of sweat stimulated my nose. The scent was so intense that it felt like it was stimulating my instincts.

“I was waiting on purpose to tell you that you worked hard. I wanted to tell you right away when I felt grateful. Thanks to you, we won the first game easily.”

Ellie raised her hand and stroked my head as if praising a puppy. Her smooth armpit was slightly visible through the gap in her sleeve.

I, who had been stroked on the head by Luna a lot lately, unconsciously lowered my head and then hurriedly pulled my head away in embarrassment.

“What, what are you doing.”

“Praise for doing well?”

Ellie, who was giving a playful smile, was the old Ellie I knew. The Ellie I liked being with without any burden.

“…You worked hard too. I’m going to wash up.”

Saying that, I hurriedly left the spot. When I arrived at the men’s shower room, I turned around and asked at the sound of footsteps following me.

“Why…?”

The women’s shower room should definitely be on the opposite side of the hallway, but for some reason, Ellie was following me.

As if answering my question, Ellie raised her fair hand and swept the hair that was wet with sweat behind her ear. That appearance felt very seductive.

“I heard that we’re the only ones using this shower room.”

It was an incomprehensible statement. It was not an answer to my question at all. So what was she trying to say.

As I looked at Ellie with that thought, Ellie, as if reading the question in my gaze, asked in a voice that was slower and closer to languid than usual.

“It means no one will know even if we shower together.”

I thought that this was when I should use the word unpredictable. What on earth was she talking about, men and women showering together in a place of education, a school? With a childhood friend and my hyung’s girlfriend…?

I let out a hollow laugh as if I had heard a mischievous joke at the ridiculous crazy talk. But Ellie, who was staring at me intently, seemed to be asking for my opinion as if it wasn’t a joke.

“…Are you crazy?”

Ellie gave a crooked smile at my clear rejection. It was an expression that I didn’t know whether it was a joke or serious. Isn’t Ellie the only one at the academy who confuses me?

I, who have an inferiority complex towards hyung, and a genius with a strangely twisted mind are quite a fitting combination, regardless of my intentions.

Ellie smiled with a regretful expression.

“It’s because Ross acted so cool in the game.”

The words ,If you liked the arrogant crazy bastard, ask Roel’ came to my lips, but I didn’t spit them out.

I still feel like I’m getting sucked in the more I talk to Ellie. Then the best thing to do is not talk.

As I, who had reached that conclusion, turned around to enter the shower room, Ellie’s words stopped my actions.

“I should have just gone in while you were showering. Then you wouldn’t have been able to refuse.”

I let go of the doorknob I was holding and turned around. I said clearly to Ellie in a cold, low voice.

“Cut it out.”

Ellie had an indifferent expression even at my threatening words. Rather, she seemed to have expected this reaction.

“We’re already over. We just temporarily went back to our old relationship because we had no choice. When the triathlon is over, I won’t even pretend to know you like I did during the vacation.”

I drew a clear line. Even if Ellie felt a little regret about growing apart from me, I was no longer interested in my relationship with Ellie.

But Ellie shrugged her shoulders with a surprised expression as if I had overreacted.

“It was a joke… Sorry, I guess you’re still very concerned about me.”

The person who crossed the line in an instant changed from Ellie to me. It was a very clever way of speaking. Getting angry or arguing here is itself falling for Ellie’s intentions. I feel like I want to take a big sigh.

A quick-witted girl who is good at leading conversations also has a talent for making the other person speechless. I clenched my jaw and glared at Ellie’s actions, which were beyond absurd and even rude, as if telling her to get lost.

But Ellie treated all my actions like a light joke and shone her obsidian eyes. It was a hypocritical appearance, but it was an appearance that suited Ellie. Filling her black eyes, which had a strange glow, with me, Ellie asked in a seductive voice.

“Were you disappointed that I acted like I didn’t know you?”

I didn’t answer. I left Ellie in the hallway and entered the shower room. I locked the door tightly, just in case she suddenly came in as she said.

I took off my clothes and went into the shower room and turned on the water.

Shuaaaa, the soft noise washes away the confused emotions.

I’m tired. The physical fatigue is a result of using the intangible, but the mental fatigue is because of Ellie.

It seems like a story that I thought was already over is about to start again. I feel so sick of it. My stomach churns at the sweet strawberry scent that still seems to linger at the tip of my nose.

As I unconsciously swept back the bangs that were wet with water and flowing down, I felt a stinging pain as my hair got caught in the ring of the covenant on my hand.

While taking out the hair caught in the ring, I stopped abruptly and stared blankly at the ring.

A cold chill ran down my spine. The sense of incongruity that I hadn’t noticed until now enveloped my whole body.

Ellie told me that she would give me her first time according to her calculations. She said that she believed that was the way for everyone to be happy.

But I rejected her offer and declared the end of our relationship for each other.

That act denied the calculation method that Ellie believed in. Then why….

Even though I abandoned Ellie’s belief that it was right for me to take her first time.

Why didn’t the Geass’s restriction activate?