Fake Breakup (3)

“Are you done talking?! You, you fat lump of a bitch!!!”

“Kyaaak?! Oh, Agnes-yang!”

“W-wait, Agnes! What are you doing?!”

“Don’t rush at Lillith, Lady Blaze!”

The fake breakup operation, designed to show others that Agnes and I had fallen out, successfully concluded thanks to her acting.

It was perfect: Agnes rushing at me with a hysterical voice, genuinely angry, and then Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot and Ethan, who had been waiting outside the plaza, appearing at just the right moment to pretend to mediate between Agnes and me.

Agnes was screaming at me, her face flushed with excitement, as if she had poured her entire soul into the act.

“Let go! Let gooo!! That Lillith! That, that bitch!!”

“C-calm down, Agnes! Why are you fighting with your friend?!”

“That kind of bitch isn’t my friend!! Friends don’t say things like that to each other!! You, you always thought that in your heart, didn’t you?! Short height and flat chest?! No curves on your body and a cold chest?! You wicked bitch!!!”

“…….”

Agnes’s heartfelt performance momentarily made me forget what I was supposed to say, and I just stared blankly at her for a while.

It was the first time I realized she had such a talent for acting, making her seem completely new compared to the Agnes I had known until now.

‘Her acting skills are one thing, but I didn’t expect her to go all out like this.’

When we practiced the argument beforehand, it felt so awkward that I had to make the situation feel more like a real fight. I never imagined she’d deliver such a realistic performance.

Who would think she was acting after seeing that? Anyone would see it as her genuinely angry and pouring out her rage at me.

Even Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot and Ethan, who were supposed to intervene only after a pre-arranged signal, rushed in so frantically that I wondered if they, too, had been completely fooled by Agnes’s acting.

I, too, was overwhelmed with emotion for Agnes, who was so earnestly playing along with my plan. I never thought Agnes would try so hard for me.

“Oh, Agnes. W-what if you’re really angry? We agreed to just pretend to fight.”

“B-but she… that Lillith…”

Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot, who had pulled Agnes away as she tried to rush at me, spoke to her in a low voice. I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying, but it was probably a quick review of the plan.

Meanwhile, Ethan, who had rushed to my side as soon as Agnes and I started our fake fight, put his arm around my shoulder and whispered cautiously.

“Are you okay, Lillith? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes, I’m fine, Ethan Young Master. We’re just acting out a fight, and no actual fighting has occurred.”

“…I-is that so? You’re not fighting?”

“Fighting? How could that be? This is a plan we devised with Agnes-yang from the very beginning. Ethan Young Master, you were briefed on it beforehand, weren’t you?”

“That’s true, but… this feels like it wasn’t in our pre-arranged conversation…”

That’s just how acting is. It’s natural to change course if a better ad-lib comes up on the spot.

Ethan looked at Agnes with a strange expression, as if he was worried about something, but it was highly likely that he was worrying unnecessarily.

No matter how much Agnes was acting, she wouldn’t genuinely get angry just because I mentioned a slight physical weakness. After all, she was the one who brought up that characteristic in the first place.

Still, for Ethan, who already knew about Agnes’s and my plan, to be so unsure, Agnes’s angry acting was truly superb. She was so awkward during practice, but she must be the type who excels in real situations.

“Wicked… wicked bitch… Huu, huff…”

Agnes even teared up, as if determined to fool everyone, and now I was starting to wonder if she really needed to go this far.

Of course, I was still grateful to Agnes for her enthusiastic performance, and everyone here would undoubtedly believe that an irreparable rift had formed between Agnes and me.

This should be enough to deceive Machart. He would assume that my connection with Agnes was completely severed and would naturally attack when an opportunity arose.

At that moment, Agnes, Ethan, and I, along with the unexpected Agnes, would all rush him together to stop him, and Gyeotmwa Jyosyegigot and Celista would join in to begin the full-scale battle-that was the fake breakup operation.

Thinking that the first step had been perfectly executed, I barely managed to suppress the urge for my lips to curl into a smile. If I smiled now, the subsequent plan might be disrupted.

Since it was the end of the semester, all Magic Department classes were over, so there was no need for Agnes’s escort until the next semester. The only remaining event was the Evaluation Duel a week later.

Just as I was congratulating myself internally, thinking it was a perfectly timed operation, Agnes, still acting tearfully, shouted at me one last time.

“You, you, just you wait!! I’m really not going to let you off the hook!! I’ll, I’ll definitely make you kneel and apologize to me!!!”

Thanks to Agnes, who exited with a perfect performance of a sorrowful loser until the very end, everyone’s attention was completely focused on her and me. The slightly precarious fake breakup operation concluded perfectly as she ran towards the Magic Department Dormitory.

…At least, that’s what I thought at the time.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And, a week later.

Back in reality, I was quietly lost in thought in the Evaluation Duel waiting room.

I still hadn’t fully resolved the question of why I had to take the final Evaluation Match with the monster ranked first in the Magic Department.

‘Why would Agnes specifically want to conclude this semester by having an Evaluation Duel with me?’

The incident in front of the Student Council Building a week ago should have been enough to show our discord.

But for her to continue that act into an Evaluation Duel here, no matter how I thought about it, something felt strange.

This made it seem like what Agnes and I did back then wasn’t acting, but that she genuinely held a deep grudge against me. Otherwise, nominating me as her opponent for the Evaluation Duel made no sense at all.

What if, what happened that day wasn’t acting, but she was truly furious, which led to such a realistic performance? It wouldn’t be entirely impossible, but…

“…Ah.”

Right, perhaps I had been thinking too narrowly.

No matter how I thought about it, it was a bit strange. The performance Agnes showed me then was so realistic that it couldn’t possibly be called mere acting.

If Agnes’s angry demeanor at that time wasn’t acting but genuine, and if I considered the meaning of her last words about not letting me off the hook, it wasn’t difficult to grasp the implication.

‘…Agnes’s performance hasn’t ended since that day.’

I almost fell for it too.

Agnes had predicted from the start how she would act if she were truly furious with me. One of those actions would be to drag me into the Final Evaluation Match and use me as a test subject for all sorts of magic.

It would be strange if, after screaming and raging so much, she didn’t summon me to the battlefield where she had the greatest advantage.

If she was going to act, she would do it thoroughly. If she wanted to make people believe she was truly furious, she would need to show the typical actions of someone enraged until the very end.

In other words, Agnes was looking much further ahead than I was. She was preparing a perfect performance that would leave Machart no room for suspicion based on the circumstances.

‘Well, I got played.’

To think she would lead me into such a natural situation without even telling me beforehand.

At first, I thought I would fix Agnes’s awkward acting, but in reality, I was the one following Agnes’s lead.

It was a relief that I realized it now, at least. I had genuinely been worried that Agnes was truly angry with me and intended to break off our friendship.

「The Luminor Academy Magic Department 2nd Year, 1st Semester Final Evaluation Duel will now begin! The first duel is between Luminor Academy Magic Department 2nd Year Head Student, Agnes Elizabeth…」

Hearing the voice calling Agnes and me from outside the waiting room, I walked towards the Evaluation Duel arena with a slightly lighter step.

Agnes’s and my fake breakup act was now heading towards its climax.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As I walked to the Evaluation Duel arena, Agnes naturally came into view, walking from the opposite waiting room towards the center of the arena.

Her eyes held a serious resolve, as if she had made some kind of vow. It was a look I hadn’t seen in a long time, especially after seeing her eyes soften considerably while spending time with her recently.

It was a similar expression to the Agnes who had called me a crazy bitch on the first day of Spiritology class. In some ways, she even seemed more resolute than she had back then.

Seeing that she had even brought along the Lesser Flame Spirit, Inferno, or whatever it was called, that I had given her right before the Spiritology class ended, it seemed she had truly come fully prepared.

‘Hey, you! Big-breasted one!’

“Yes?”

‘You made our Agnes cry! No matter if you’re Agnes’s friend, I won’t let you off this time!!’

“…….”

To think she would even make her own spirit act angry.

As I quietly admired Agnes’s thorough preparation, the spirit’s owner immediately followed up with a provocation directed at me.

“…Lillith.”

“Yes, Agnes-yang.”

“…You, I’m really not going to let you off this time.”

“What do you mean by ‘not letting me off,’ Agnes-yang?”

“…I’m going to clearly show you the difference in our abilities and make you genuinely kneel and apologize in front of me.”

For words spoken to an opponent in an Evaluation Duel, it was a rather cute provocation.

Of course, even though this Evaluation Duel was staged for the operation, I had no intention of meekly falling to Agnes’s magic.

If I lost too obviously, my first-semester evaluation grades would plummet out of the top 10, and there was a chance it could arouse suspicion in Machart, who might be watching this match from somewhere.

Although it wasn’t a planned duel, since it had come to this, I intended to fight a proper battle.

“I hope your dream comes true, Agnes-yang.”

“…….”

-Kkwaaak.

Agnes gripped the staff in her hand even tighter and retreated to the boundary line of the arena. I also put distance between us and prepared for the Evaluation Duel.

This was the final stage of the temporary fake breakup act, started to deceive Machart.