Ch.197Chapter 197

After completing high school normally, if you want deeper and more extensive education, you go to The Academy. That’s just how this world works. Everyone gathered here came to pursue their own studies, so perhaps that’s why it was hard to find anyone who approached their education half-heartedly.

Burning academic passion. That’s what gathers at The Academy. Every year, new people enter The Academy, and every year, others graduate.

Some choose to continue at academies, saying there’s no end to learning, while others decide they’ve studied enough and set out to find jobs. I was the type who watched all this from the sidelines.

Enrollment and graduation. Forming bonds with people, then watching those bonds depart.

There are pleasant memories and difficult ones too, but looking back, they’re all just memories that somehow become beautified and hazy with time. That seems inevitable.

To be honest, student life begins with enrollment and ends with graduation, so watching it all from the sidelines made me think it would eventually end. But my reality wasn’t like that, which was rather perplexing.

The year Karen enrolled, after a year passed, I faced Sera and Aria’s graduation. I thought that would be the end, but Sera and Aria advanced to graduate school, so there was no reason for a farewell.

Life isn’t so heartless that everything ends with graduation, but I found myself wondering if I would have to watch this cycle endlessly.

Despite having a human body, is it right to spend time so meaninglessly? No one could provide an answer to that question. What’s worse, Ouro, who should have been contemplating this with me, seemed to have no thoughts on the matter, so I had to come up with an answer on my own.

It’s urgent.

Shouldn’t I be doing something too? Spending days at The Academy happens naturally without doing anything special. It’s fine to follow the Professor around like a fixture, but it was clear that when the Professor eventually retired due to age, I would leave with her and be unable to do anything.

Now I’ll age too, and continuing as a fixture until then seemed somehow strange.

“I’m going to study now.”

I reached a conclusion. Rather than clinging to the Professor as a fixture, I wanted to become a student myself, either passing through like others or establishing myself at The Academy like the Professor.

For that, I needed academic credentials.

Considering that people typically stop at high school and come to The Academy for further studies, I felt strongly that I shouldn’t just do things normally. I thought I needed to study hard from now on just to establish myself at The Academy, so I planned to ignite my academic passion starting today.

“Oh? Study?”

The Professor seemed surprised to hear my declaration of intent to study at such an unexpected moment.

“Yes, I want to study and enter school. …Rather than actually attending, I want to take the Qualification Exam, graduate, and go to The Academy.”

“Don’t you want to try attending other schools?”

“No.”

I nodded.

While I wanted to study, I had absolutely no desire to go through years of compulsory education again. Besides, if I wanted to earn a diploma in 1-2 years, attending school would clearly be a problem as I wouldn’t have time.

Since it wasn’t worth spending years there, it made sense to choose not to attend.

“Then what about Ouro?”

“Huh?”

When I said I would study, the spotlight naturally shifted to Ouro. Since she looked older than me in appearance, the Professor’s gaze clearly conveyed the wish for us to have the same level of education.

Ouro looked at me with wide eyes. She definitely thought her workload was increasing because of me.

But what could I do? Education costs money, and it didn’t make sense not to tell the Professor or receive any support until the exam.

“…”

No peaceful sleep for me today either.

“How can Ouro have nothing while Ourr is getting her diploma? Don’t you want to study at The Academy with Ourr and the Professor?”

She avoided eye contact while sweating profusely. Whether the Professor understood my intentions or not, she stroked Ouro’s face like rice cake, encouraging her to develop enthusiasm for studying.

I’m not sure if it was encouraging, but it seemed to ignite a desire for revenge against me.

Not long after I started studying, the exam date approached quickly.

As Iris finished her final year and Karen was heading into her final year, I walked toward the exam venue to establish my basic academic credentials. It was to show that I wasn’t just letting time pass while everyone else was achieving something.

When the exam started, a series of simple problems appeared before me. After solving them easily, I came outside and gazed at the sunset that marked the end of the day.

“Ugh.”

My body felt stiff after sitting in a small chair for so long. As I stretched and shivered, the Professor, who had been waiting outside, approached with visible breath in the cold air.

“Ourr, did you do well?”

“I did extremely well.”

When I grinned, the Professor patted my head.

It was an exam I could take thanks to the Professor’s paper. It proved that I could live like an ordinary person, and because of that, I could obtain the status of a person rather than a fixture.

When I leaned my head slightly against the Professor’s body as she stroked my head, she patted my shoulder. She made it comfortable for me to rest my head against her. At first her clothes felt a bit cold, but after enduring for a while, they became warm, making me think this was quite comfortable.

“Good job. Next will be the high school education exam?”

“Hmm… it’s in September next year.”

“So soon? Will that work?”

“I’ll be fine.”

When I grinned, the Professor nodded.

“Well, Ouro has good memory too, she just doesn’t do it because she’s lazy. Maybe it’s because you’ve lived long, or perhaps your brain structure is somewhat different. In the smart direction, I mean.”

“I’m not sure about that… hmm.”

The Professor’s eyes sparkled as if she had discovered something new again. Since I didn’t want her to learn too much about me yet, I pretended to contemplate and subtly let it slide.

“Well, now that you’ve taken the exam. Shall we go eat something delicious?”

“Yes!”

I left the exam venue with the Professor and headed to where Ouro was waiting expectantly.

The results came out immediately after a month. As expected, I earned my middle school diploma, and the physical certificate arrived quickly, showing off its splendid appearance like an award.

Now that it’s February, although only six months remained until the next qualification exam, it wasn’t bad to indulge in this feeling for now.

“Look at this, look! This is my diploma. I’m a high school student now.”

I hummed while pushing the diploma in front of Ouro. Ouro glanced sideways and whenever I pushed it toward her, she grimaced and tilted her head in the opposite direction. I couldn’t tell if she was envious or if she genuinely disliked such things, but I was so happy that I didn’t care what she might say.

As I fluttered around the living room giggling, the Professor, who was watching, smiled wryly.

“Yes, congratulations. It’s even better now that you have the physical certificate.”

“I’ll get my high school education this year, and enter The Academy next year!”

Since I would be enrolling just as Karen graduates, I wouldn’t know many people, but if I’m with the Professor, that doesn’t really matter. Or, instead of entering The Academy as a student, I could continue as a fixture, following the Professor around and selectively attending her lectures.

Anyway, magic-related subjects were too easy for me to create, so they weren’t difficult enough to require much attention. I thought it would be better to learn about myself and other Demon Gods, including Ouro, after studying.

Watching this, Ouro sighed.

“Then I want to take it too.”

“What? Why didn’t you take it? Then you’ll be enrolling the year after next.”

I expected that Ouro, being quite intelligent, could do it quickly once she started. But since exam dates are usually fixed, missing one meant having to wait until the next year.

That’s exactly what happened to Ouro now.

Ouro mumbled and then glanced at the Professor.

“Let Ourr go later just once.”

“Huh? Hey!”

“Is it right for Ourr to wait a whole year when she worked so hard…?”

I shouted in surprise, but the Professor smiled wryly and began to comfort Ouro. Although Ouro pouted, there was no one here to take her side.

I giggled again and pushed the diploma toward her, and this time Ouro grabbed me and hugged me tightly from behind.

“You’re annoying.”

“Hieeeek!”

With my arms stretched out awkwardly and my waist wrapped by her legs, I couldn’t shake Ouro off no matter how much I struggled.

“H-help me!”

“…This is your karma, Ourr.”

I flapped around asking for help, but the Professor just shook her head.