Clash

Thanks to the vigorous reconciliation of bodies since early this morning, I felt as if fatigue was crushing my entire body.

Perhaps it showed on my face, as Luna, who had just finished showering and returned, sat beside me with a worried expression. She smelled fragrant.

, Ross… are you okay?

In the morning, she was full of resentment and awkwardness, but now Luna was her usual lovely and cute self. Luna being happy by my side was my top priority.

“I’m fine. I have something prepared for times like these.”

“Huh?”

With a reassuring expression, I took out a red potion bottle from my dimensional storage. It was a fatigue recovery potion that Rosalyn-sunbae had sent me out of the blue during vacation. I had put it in my dimensional storage thinking I might use it someday. It was the perfect situation to use it.

“It’s a fatigue recovery potion Rosalyn-sunbae gave me.”

As soon as I emptied the potion bottle, the fatigue in my body disappeared in an instant along with a cool, refreshing sensation.

As I smiled contentedly, Luna, who had been watching me, let out a sigh of relief and gently hugged my arm.

Even though I was the only one who drank the fatigue recovery potion, Luna looked so energetic that I almost imagined her skin was glowing, as if she didn’t feel any fatigue at all.

Luna looked into my eyes and whispered with a lovely smile.

“Ross, I really, really love you. I’ll love you forever.”

“…Looks like the confirmation was thorough.”

After a light kiss, Luna smiled bashfully. Her appearance was so cute that I couldn’t help but stroke the back of Luna’s concave head. It was so fascinatingly concave.

According to Luna, her mother had tried to create a pretty back of the head for Luna, who was the only daughter among her children, when she was young. I don’t know if that effort worked, but anyway, her concave head was one of Luna’s many charms.

“Let’s get up now.”

There was still about an hour before the match started, but if Luna wanted to talk to Ellie, it was better to leave now.

I headed straight to the stadium with Luna. When I opened the door to the waiting room, Ellie was sitting in her seat. Ellie, who grinned at me, instantly hardened her expression at the sight of Luna following behind.

Ellie, who scanned me and Luna up and down, turned her gaze to Luna.

“…Looks like you came to cheer?”

In response to Ellie’s slightly sharp voice, Luna replied in a gentle voice.

“That’s part of it… I also have something to show Ellie-ssi.”

“To me?”

As Ellie tilted her head slightly with a puzzled expression, Luna nodded vigorously.

“I also have something to say separately.”

Silence fell in the waiting room for a moment. Feeling caught in the middle of their seemingly glaring contest, I scratched my head silently.

Ellie stared at Luna for a moment, then twisted one corner of her lips.

“Okay. Ross, can you step out for a bit?”

At Ellie’s words, I turned to Luna and gave her a look asking if she was okay, and Luna nodded with a smile. Following the order to leave, I opened the door and left the waiting room.

***

Until the moment Ross opened the door and left, the two of them did not take their eyes off each other.

Ellie, noticing that the way she was being looked at was different from before, crossed her legs with a condescending expression to seize the initiative.

“So, what is it you wanted to show me?”

Despite Ellie’s rude attitude, as if she were dealing with someone inferior, Luna presented a notebook she was holding in her left hand with a relaxed smile.

“This. I created a new type of detection magic to be used in the second match, the maze.”

Ellie, who received the book at Luna’s explanation, examined the contents. Ellie, who had been looking at the book with a condescending expression, gradually hardened her expression, closed the book, and glared at Luna with a cold expression.

Luna tilted her head slightly with a gentle smile, as if she had expected that reaction.

“How is it?”

The sound of gnashing teeth echoed in the waiting room. Suppressing the urge to tear the book apart right away, Ellie asked in a low voice.

“…Why does it seem like some of my composite magic is mixed in with this magic?”

At Ellie’s remark, Luna blinked her eyes and replied in a playful voice.

“That’s right. As expected, you recognized it without me having to explain? It’s a magic I created after being inspired by the magic Ellie-ssi showed in the first match. I amplified the effect by adding the formula of composite magic to the existing guiding magic.”

At Luna’s explanation, Ellie lowered her gaze for a moment, then raised her head again and smiled brightly.

“You even made magic for me like this… Thank you. For the effort you put into making magic that you can’t even use yourself.”

At Ellie’s blatant mockery, Luna smiled slightly and said gently.

“No. There’s no need to thank me. It’s also to help Ross, and I’ll be able to use this magic even better thanks to Ellie-ssi.”

“You?”

Ellie, who burst into a hollow laugh, smoothed her lips and said.

“Composite magic isn’t something anyone can use just by knowing the formula. It’s a method of finely adjusting magic power from where the formula continues and subtly combining it with the formulas of other magic. Even a slight twist can cause an accident… You, who aren’t even from the Magic Department, can do it?”

As Ellie sent a suspicious look, Luna made a sound of “eum” and nodded her head.

“Yes.”

At the sight of Luna smiling with her eyes as if telling her not to worry, Ellie kicked off the chair and stood up.

“Don’t lie!”

Ellie shouted loudly as if having a seizure, glaring at Luna. But Luna was just smiling silently. It felt like mockery towards herself, and Ellie clenched her fists.

“Shall I show you?”

“What…?”

“A more efficient and faster method.”

Saying that, Luna moved her arm leisurely. When she tapped the leather bracelet on her left wrist, something popped out of the bracelet. It was paper, as if she had torn a notebook and rolled it up.

“The solution to the problem is simple. All you have to do is combine the formula with a pre-made composite magic scroll.”

Ellie couldn’t take her eyes off the paper in Luna’s hand. It’s not parchment. Was it a lie after all? Ellie was about to point that out, but Luna’s actions were faster.

As if demonstrating, Luna used the magic recorded in the book she had shown Ellie. The paper in her hand lost its shape like ash and crumbled, and a huge flow of magic power spread out through the waiting room.

“How is it?”

Luna’s smile, demanding feedback on her magic, was full of mockery. Ellie gritted her teeth.

“Yeah, it’s definitely safer to do it that way. But… isn’t it a little… ridiculous to say it’s efficient while using a scroll that costs several gold per magic? I don’t care if you want to throw money around……”

Ellie, who was criticizing as if cornering Luna for making a slip of the tongue, trailed off as she watched Luna tapping her bracelet silently and continuing to take out scrolls.

“I think there’s a misunderstanding. The scrolls I make only cost the price of the paper.”

At Luna’s words, Ellie replied in a rough voice as if having a seizure.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you think such a lie will work? Such scrolls don’t exist anywhere in this world!”

“That’s right. They don’t exist anywhere. That’s why I said it, right? That I made them.”

At Luna’s brazen appearance, Ellie smiled and asked.

“You? How?”

“Ross gave me a gift. Even if it’s not parchment, I can make it as long as I can write on any paper.”

As if telling her to check, Luna held out the paper she had taken out. Ellie received it and confirmed that it was indeed not parchment, but ordinary paper with the formula of composite magic drawn on it.

“Why, why would he… just, to someone like you….”

“Someone like me…?”

Luna’s voice changed. A low voice full of gloom. Not only that, but there was an eerie echo. But Ellie moistened her dry lips and glared at Luna with a venomous look so as not to be intimidated.

At that gaze, Luna only wore a gentle smile like an adult dealing with a naive child.

“To me, who will spend my life loving Ross forever, you say ‘someone like’…?”

At the teaching-like voice, Ellie unknowingly took a step closer to Luna. Biting her lip, she suppressed her emotions and put them into each and every word.

“You stole Ross, who was my childhood friend, and now you’re proudly stealing my magic too?”

Looking straight into Luna’s eyes, who was staring at her silently, Ellie added with a smile.

“Thief.”

Luna didn’t say anything at Ellie’s words. After staring at each other for a while as if having a staring contest, Luna suddenly burst into giggles.

“You’re calling me a thief… You’re still so shameless.”

“What?”

As Ellie glared at her in disbelief, Luna tilted her head with an innocent expression.

“Then, what should we call someone who forcibly kissed someone else’s boyfriend?”

Ellie bit her lip silently. Luna, who puffed up her cheeks slightly, looked straight at Ellie and asked.

“Do you really think I stole Ross?”

When Ellie didn’t answer and glared at her, Luna said with a gentle smile and a strange voice.

“That’s strange…. Ross said he’s never dated anyone but me. Surely he wasn’t anyone’s to begin with….”

Luna, who murmured softly as if whispering, rolled up the sleeve of her school uniform and carefully stroked the inside of her right arm. As if responding to that touch, a mark that Ellie also knew clearly emerged on Luna’s arm.

At the beginning of the semester. It was the trace of contraception magic learned during sex education for female students. Ellie distorted her face as she realized its meaning.

“You, you… my thing….”

To Ellie, who was muttering as if spitting out fragmented words, Luna said in an extremely affectionate voice.

“I also had Ross’s first time.”