episode_0025

The place Yerena took me to was one of the ordinary jewelry shops along the street.

Ordinarily, girls tend to like beautiful and sparkling things like jewels. However, the girl in front of me, aside from swordsmanship and training, had no interest whatsoever—a half-mechanical ice princess who had lived her life without any concern for such matters.

She was the daughter of the wealthy Northern Duke’s family and known as the next candidate for the position of the future Northern Knights Commander. Despite being a girl who had no need to bow down with money wherever she went, she didn’t wear just an ordinary earring.

It was no surprise that I was amazed watching Yerena head towards the jewelry shop.

“It’s not that I’m interested in this kind of thing. It’s just that something suddenly came to mind after hearing your words.”

Yerena casually replied while looking around the jewelry shop.

Although it was a jewelry shop, the prices were definitely not low. Yet, for a girl who had grown up as the Northern Duchess and seen all kinds of jewels, it was unlikely that a place like this would catch her eye.

Before the curiosity of what she might have seen here could even disappear from my mind, Yerena picked out a hairpin.

For some reason, it had an amethyst of a color I had seen somewhere before embedded in it. A black hairpin.

“Huh?”

Before I could even think that this combination of colors seemed familiar, Yerena smiled slightly and delicately ran her fingers through my hair.

It was only natural that my thought process came to a halt.

A girl who, despite becoming friends, still didn’t smile easily. It was a situation where she gently stroked my hair with a subtle smile, making it seem like I had become someone precious to Yerena.

My heart began to beat uncontrollably fast. Yerena’s fingers delicately touching my hair made it feel as though I had become someone important to her.

“Uh…”

With my eyes tightly closed, I couldn’t help but feel Yerena’s touch, even though I knew my face was turning as red as a beet.

I was sure I had decided to buy something for Yerena. So why was Yerena buying a hairpin for me? The question arose only after Yerena had already completed the payment.

Though it felt somewhat intrusive to disturb Yerena’s seemingly good mood, I was afraid of just receiving gifts after saying I would give. Thus, I timidly asked, “What do you want, Yerena?”

“Hmm? If I wanted something, Cyan, you’ve already given it to me.”

“Huh, me?”

I quickly searched my memory. It hadn’t even been ten minutes since I was led by Yerena to the jewelry shop, but what had I given her in that time?

Even though I wasn’t at an age where dementia would set in, I couldn’t recall the answer no matter how hard I tried. As I was feeling confused, Yerena’s soft touch reached me.

“Hehe, Cyan can be a bit dense sometimes.”

“Huh…?”

Yerena murmured with a small smile. Completely shedding her usual mask, she looked at me in the guise of an ordinary seventeen-year-old girl, which felt rather awkward.

It wasn’t an unpleasant awkwardness. It was the gap felt between her usual cold image and the comfortable neighborhood older sister-like image. It approached with a different kind of charm.

If earlier it had just ended with my heart beating faster, now it had completely dropped with a thud.

Yerena, who had come close to my frozen body, answered my question in a comforting voice as if whispering.

“When Cyan looks at the hairpin, he’ll think of me every time. I’ve already received my gift.”

“Huh? Uh, yeah…?”

Yerena’s voice was so different from her usual self. I asked if I had heard correctly, but there was no response.

“…”

Just, Yerena looked at me with an expression devoid of her usual emotions.

Only the slightly flushed tips of her ears proved that the figure beneath the mask Yerena had just shown me was not a figment of my imagination.

Time, which flowed as if it were eternal, eventually comes to an end.

This applies to the time spent with friends as well. Before I knew it, the clock in the district square was pointing at nine.

Eating the sandwich I had bought a while ago between Yerena and Regina, I quietly gazed at the evening sky.

“Did everyone have fun?”

“Yeah. The training time we sacrificed doesn’t feel wasted.”

“I… coming to the district area with friends like this is my first time. That’s why…”

Regina, who had been wandering around all day, leaned her body against me quietly, nibbling on the sandwich, and murmured softly.

“How was it? Wasn’t it boring?”

“Of course not…! Today was really, truly… a new day.”

Regina, looking up at the sky with nostalgic eyes as if reminiscing about the day, leaned on my arm and asked, “Sian…?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time, could you come out with us like this again…?”

“Of course.”

I replied and moved a bit closer to Regina. It wasn’t time yet to reveal our secret to Yerena.

As our cheeks almost touched, I hugged Yerena and caressed her back affectionately, speaking in a tender voice.

“We promised, didn’t we? I said I would show you a world you haven’t seen before. Break ‘fate’ and help you move on to the second year.”

“… ”

“So, look forward to it, okay? There are quite a few places I wanted to travel together as adventurers. Let’s graduate and travel together.”

“Yes…!”

Sian, who was too close to Regina, did not notice Regina’s face turning red. She simply thought Regina’s voice was trembling more than usual and moved on.

Regina, who tried to compose her expression, took a big bite of her sandwich and happily mumbled, “Mmm. It’s delicious…”

“Eat a lot, Regina. You need to grow quickly.”

“Well, if I eat this much, I’ll grow enough…!”

Regina, who hastily responded, choked on her sandwich without swallowing properly, muttering with a suppressed voice. I took out a handkerchief and wiped Regina’s mouth.

“Yeah. Our Regina is growing so much. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Uh…”

Realizing that she would only embarrass herself by answering further, Regina weakly lowered her head and made a somewhat dissatisfied expression.

“Hmph, you’re going to say I’m cute anyway…”

“Oh. How did you know?”

“Because Sian told me to have confidence.”

With a slight but still assertive posture, Regina pushed her chest out a bit and made a proud expression.

I smiled at her and replied, “Yeah, admirable.”

The moon rose high in the sky. As curfew approached, the bright city lights one by one began to dim.

For some reason, I enjoyed watching that sight. It felt like ending a joyful day with the city.

After crumpling the sandwich wrapper and throwing it into the trash can, we got up from where we were sitting together.

Today was enjoyable, but now, as new students at the academy, our leisure time is almost over.

Tomorrow, formal classes begin. And the midterm exams are less than two weeks away.

“No more playing after today. Now that the semester is starting in earnest and the midterms are approaching soon, we should study hard from tomorrow.”

“Uh… If you don’t know something, feel free to ask me.”

“You can come to me too. I’m a bit confident in studying.”

“Ahaha… I appreciate both of your suggestions. However, I want to try studying on my own for now. I’m not good at focusing when there are friends around me while I’m sitting at a desk.”

Although I said that, I had a separate reason for rejecting their suggestions.

Yerena and Regina’s academic performance must be incredibly good. Yerena is a natural genius, and Regina must have memorized all the problems from numerous past exams.

The issue lies in the fact that both of them are not very good at teaching average students like me.

Geniuses see problems differently from ordinary people. Moreover, Yerena isn’t even particularly good at explaining things.

If I were to go to Regina, I might be able to ace all the tests, but… what’s the point of memorizing answers and acing exams in the first place?

“I see… That’s too bad.”

“Well, if you change your mind, come find us.”

“Yeah. Thank you both for the suggestions!”

As we chatted and walked away, students around us engaged in lively conversations.

Perhaps they came to enjoy the leisure of freshmen like us. People really do think alike.

Watching them, I noticed the clock above the main gate pointing to half-past nine. Realizing that even our last break was almost over, I turned to them.

“Well then, I’ll head back now.”

“M-me too…”

“Me too. Good night, everyone.”

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.

.

Returning to the dormitory, I tidied up my room with few belongings and got ready for bed. Just as I was about to drift off comfortably, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

“Oh, wait.”

Remembering something I had forgotten, I hastily rummaged through the drawer for my coin purse.

“…Huh?”

No matter how much I searched, all I found were a few coins and one silver coin. Since I had already spent all the money I had set aside on the academy entrance fee, there was no way I could have any money left.

With recent events like the duel with Yerena and meeting Regina, I had completely forgotten about many things.

“Sigh…”

Putting the wallet back into the drawer without energy, I sighed and thought to myself.

Tomorrow, I should visit the adventurer guild within the autonomous zone.