Ch.30Chapter 30

*Sniff*. I sat awkwardly on the sofa, pouting and sniffling.

The Professor held me for a long time. She even stroked my head as a bonus. The Professor was the one who spanked me, and now she’s the one comforting me.

Is she telling me not to be too childish? Or maybe that we should maintain proper manners with each other. Something like that, I guess.

I knew I was throwing a tantrum, but I still wondered if this was really necessary. My bottom was still stinging.

“Ourr, you shouldn’t do that elsewhere. Understand? If you want something, you need to clearly state what it is. Lying on the floor like that is a bad habit. You won’t be able to do that when you’re older, will you still try?”

“……”

“Hmm?”

“N-no…”

I clenched my fists tightly. After I shook my head in response to her question, the Professor said “That’s right” and hugged me more firmly.

The moderate warmth and pressure enveloping me made me feel good without even realizing it.

“Good, no more tantrums from now on, okay?”

“…Yes.”

“And…”

The Professor smiled wryly as if giving in. She put me down on the sofa for a moment, went into the closet, and took out her wallet from a coat hanging in the corner.

My eyes sparkled at the sight of several bills being pulled from the wallet.

“…But no welcome party. Those are usually drinking gatherings, right? Ourr shouldn’t be drinking alcohol.”

“Ah, I won’t drink.”

“Hmm, but you might drink when you think I can’t see you, right?”

It was hard to argue against that, so I slightly averted my gaze. The Professor approached me and pinched my cheek.

“Owwww.”

“I’ll give you money, but this time be satisfied with just receiving pocket money. Honestly, you probably don’t have anywhere to spend it anyway.”

The Professor said this and then released my cheek. I rubbed my stinging cheek.

Is it true that I really have nowhere to spend money, as the Professor said? Since we’re together almost 24 hours a day except when I go out on errands because I’m bored, it did seem like I had nowhere to spend money.

Besides, whenever I found something I wanted to buy, the Professor would open her wallet anyway.

Still, I hadn’t asked for money without any thought, so I nodded for now. I looked at the bills in my hand and folded them to a size that would fit in my pocket.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s go eat.”

The Professor said this and got up from her seat.

The next day arrived. Thursday morning was “About Demon Gods,” a first-year lecture day. The day to meet Karen. Before the lecture started, I contacted Karen to come near the Professor’s research lab.

I was sitting in the lab staring at my phone when I saw Karen calling, and I jumped up from my seat.

“Professor, I’ll just go out front for a bit.”

“Hmm? Karen?”

“Yes.”

Since I had already spoken to the Professor about it, there was no difficulty in meeting. I slightly opened the door and approached Karen, who was standing in the corner of the hallway.

“Hi!”

As I approached waving my hand, Karen waved back.

“B-but why did you ask me to come all the way here? …There are a lot of graduate students in this building, so it’s a bit…”

First years wear blue, second years wear red, and third years wear black. But since the base is white, it seemed she felt a bit intimidated when seeing seniors who were either completely white or completely black.

I was used to it, so I didn’t mind whether they were completely white or completely black.

Karen’s uneasy gaze scanned the surroundings. She seemed to be watching the professors and graduate students passing through the corridor. I dug into my pocket earnestly as Karen clearly showed her desire to finish her business quickly and leave.

Karen looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Here.”

I handed her the paper that would resolve her question. Currency, paper made of fiber with special value.

“…Huh?”

“See! I told you I’d manage somehow. I told you to trust me, right?”

“No, it’s not about trust or anything. Can you just give money like this? No, no! I can’t accept this.”

Karen shook her head. Her ponytail swayed as she moved.

Her hand extended back toward me. My mind went blank at the sight of Karen refusing the money I had given her.

If she had no friends because she had no time to hang out, couldn’t we just make time? If the problem wasn’t lack of time but lack of money, that could be solved, right?

Was even this consideration coming across as hurtful to Karen?

“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

That wasn’t my intention, so I tightly gripped the returned bills and hung my head low. Karen then put her hand on my shoulder, flustered.

“N-no! I was really happy that you thought of me…! Of course, with that money, I could go to the welcome party and drink as I mentioned yesterday.”

“Then why?”

“But that’s money you worked hard to save, right? How could I take that? Even if I did, I couldn’t spend it so easily.”

I stared blankly at the money.

It wasn’t money I had worked hard to save; it was just money I got from throwing a tantrum in front of the Professor. I was giving it all to Karen since I couldn’t go to the welcome party anyway, but getting it back like this gave me a strange feeling.

I gave the money thinking of Karen, but Karen returned it thinking of me. If she had just accepted it, I would have simply thought, “That’s good,” without any particular thoughts.

I wanted to feel a sense of satisfaction, but instead, I was left with mixed emotions.

“Then, you don’t have to go to the welcome party?”

“Yeah, I’m planning to go to the library after morning lectures tomorrow.”

“…What about friends?”

“It’s okay. I need to study hard to get a scholarship.”

“You must be good at studying, Karen.”

“No, I’m just working hard to meet the national scholarship criteria.”

I thought she was talking about a merit-based scholarship, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Since she was studying to receive a national scholarship, I wondered if she found studying difficult.

Karen didn’t seem to want to accept this money. But I wanted to do something for her, so I furrowed my brow.

“Ah, if you want to study, would you like to meet some seniors?”

“Huh? What seniors?”

“I know some third-year friends in the Magic Composition department.”

“…But we’re in different departments? I’m in Demon God Research.”

Karen pointed to herself and said with a troubled expression.

“Doesn’t Sera also take Demon God lectures?”

“Well, there are people who study demon god magic, so that’s possible…”

“I’ll ask for you. Wouldn’t it be nice to help each other study and become friends?”

When I asked with a bright smile, Karen smiled wryly and waved her hand.

“No, I don’t want to bother the graduating seniors.”

“What about second years then?”

“…Hmm, I don’t know. Let’s think about it slowly since we have a lecture now. I’ll go ahead? You’ll sit next to me, right?”

“Yes, I’ll sit next to Karen. Keep a seat for me!”

“Okay!”

With that, Karen walked away. Behind me, I heard the sound of a door creaking open.

“Professor?”

“I was wondering what you were talking about so intently…”

The Professor peeked her head out and looked at me. With her beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, she seemed to be showing them off. Meeting that gaze made me feel frozen in place.

Maybe I should have gone farther away to talk.

As I hesitated and stuffed the crumpled money into my inner pocket, the Professor was giving me a look that suggested she wanted me to come back.

I turned around and went back to the Professor, who opened the door wide for me to enter. As I went into the research lab, the Professor’s hand came to rest on my head.

Her hand gently stroked my head a few times.

“Were you trying to help your friend with studying?”

Huh? I wondered if she hadn’t seen the part where I tried to give money to Karen.

I thought she would say something about the money, but it seemed she had only heard the latter part of our conversation. If that was fortunate, I smiled wryly.

“Well, she said she needs to study hard to get a scholarship…”

“So you were trying to introduce her to friends. If you form a study group later, I could supervise it.”

“In that case, um, should I ask her?”

When I cautiously asked the smiling Professor, she nodded and said it was fine.

“I don’t know about others, but Sera would probably agree right away.”

“…Wouldn’t that be something even academy applicants wouldn’t know much about?”

“Well…? Isn’t it the mindset of graduating students to want to grab onto any professor they can?”

I hesitated slightly, but the Professor seemed to think differently. Well, if she had been a professor for a long time, she would know what attitudes students show, so she probably knows better than I do.

Wait, how many years has the Professor been a professor? She looks young, so maybe not that many years?

With this sudden question in mind, I stared at the Professor.

“What is it?”

“How old are you, Professor?”

“…Suddenly?”

As I rolled my eyes, lost in thought, the Professor grabbed my head with both hands and started shaking it back and forth.

“Waaaaaah.”

“You shouldn’t ask things like that.”

“I’m dizzy…”

With my vision spinning, I couldn’t maintain my balance properly, and suddenly my skirt with the belt started to slip down.

Gasping, I grabbed my skirt. I managed to prevent it from falling to my ankles and making me trip, but I couldn’t completely stop it from coming undone again today.

Groaning, I pulled it back up and glanced at the Professor. The Professor smiled wryly and then gathered her things.

“Now that you’ve tightened your belt, shall we go?”

“Ah, yes!”